Nock Fletcher continued and reiterated the dos and don'ts of the tournament which are always the same in every tournament.
The main points are that killing each other is prohibited, and extensive violence against already lost participants is also prohibited. Weapons such as explosives and lethal poisons are prohibited. Only equipment which is worn by participants is allowed and other objects are not allowed.
Storage rings and storage bags are not allowed since you never know what they might contain. In addition, getting tokens from others would be difficult if the participants stored them in Storage rings.
Anyway, judging by the rules, the tournament was going just the way it was described in the novel. The rules were the same as what was there in the novel and I expect the dungeon we are going to be teleported to will also be the same.
After Nock Fletcher was done explaining the do's and don'ts, we were given 30 minutes before we were to be teleported into the dungeon.
The time given was for participants to recheck everything that they had and also for them to make a plan before entering the dungeon.
The students walked to their respective professors. Professor Mia was the person in charge of making plans for the students at the Ace Academy.
Professor Mia has already guessed what type of strength is needed to win the first round of the tournament. It was more about cooperation between participants than individual strength.
It was advantageous to Ace Academy since she believed that the overall strength of Ace Academy was higher than other schools.
If the battle shifted more towards individuals, the chance of losing against Arcane Academy was high. Since cooperation was needed, she did not seem to be as concerned about her student.
"The plan is simple. The portal is random and will split you all. Regardless of what happens, you are to search for each other first and foremost! Don't you dare wander around. You never know where your enemies will be hiding waiting to strike you. Lisanna will command the team after entering the dungeon. Make sure you all find her and stick together with her. Listen to the decision she makes!"
"And also be extra careful when dealing with Omar Noel. Don't fight him and try to avoid him if possible."
Even if the student succeeded in defeating Omar Noel, it would not be worth it. Fighting Omar Noel was tantamount to losing lots of mana and energy. With storage rings being disallowed, carrying potions was also not convenient.
So if your mana gets exhausted, you have to wait for it to refill by itself. Not only that, getting injured means that your combat power is weakened for the whole competition unless there are healers to heal you.
Fighting with Omar Noel will only result in injuries, so it wasn't worth the effort. The competition was not about defeating him but to gather 10 tokens.
Professor Mia thought that as long as Lisanna and other students stuck together, even Omar Noel would not make any unnecessary move against them.
Even for Omar Noel also, fighting with Lisanna and Lyon was not worth it as it would only get him exhausted.
Professor Mia also gave different advice to different students. She has observed the students and knows their personalities. She made sure that they understood the meaning of cooperation and comply with her command.
She didn't want them to disobey her, only to fail in the first round. People like Zion and Lyon hardly know the definition of cooperation and would rather fight alone.
Therefore, Professor Mia made sure to sternly tell them about cooperating with other fellow students.
"Zero, I know that you are good at cooperating with others. I believe that your Art will be very useful in this round. Make sure to help other students."
She has already seen how Zero fights with his teammate during mid-term. She can only describe his teamwork as perfection.
Zero supports other students with his Ice Magic while also focusing on the enemy. He was the definition of a supporter-type fighter.
Therefore, Professor Mia was not worried about Zero not listening to her instruction. Even if she didn't instruct them, she believed that Zero would have cooperated with others.
Professor Mia believes that Zero would play an invaluable role in ensuring that Ace Academy has as many participants qualify for the second round.
The other schools were also discussing and making various plans but everybody had similar plans. That was for the students of their respective schools to stick together and fight when they outnumber other students.
"Thirty minutes is up! Participants return to the stage."
Reaching the forefront, Nock Fletcher surveyed the crowd of students.
"Please step before the Portal. The first round of the tournament will begin shortly!"
Starting with Ace Academy, the Top-5 Academy took the first line in order of the previous Tournament of Academies ranking.
The Heroes from The Authority then poured the mana and activated the portal and students could sense an oppressing aura from the portal.
Upon sensing the aura released by the portal, it was similar to Rank-D dungeons but they were not certain since they can't judge the rank of the dungeon accurately with just their senses.
Nock Fletcher gave plenty of time for the participants to calm their nerves and prepare for what was coming next.
"Alright, youngsters. Time to go! Do your best!"
With it, the students started to enter the portal. Lisanna was the first person who went inside the portal and soon other students followed.
Since Ace Academy students were leaving first, my turn was just around the corner. Next to the Ace Academy line was Arcane Academy which was ranked 2nd in the last Tournament of Academies.
Just when it was my turn, I noticed Omar Noel who was first on the Arcane Academy line. He was glaring at me and when our eyes met each other, Omar Noel sneered at me and made a hand sign with his thumb down.
He was clearly provoking me. I guess that he was really instructed by Professor Frey to beat me.
Smiling at him, I entered the portal.
(Lets' see whether you will be able to maintain your arrogant face when you meet me in the dungeon. )