Astral Apostle
chapter-277

The guests from the various official organizations who came to watch the battle all had a certain rank. At the very least, they were in the middle management level. This was not the first time they had visited the Supers Academy’s freshmen competition.

They had seen many new students who relied on their powerful superpowers to perform well. Although they would occasionally be surprised by all kinds of novel superpowers and watch with relish… no matter how strong their superpowers were, it was difficult to hide the unique “fresh feel” of the new students.

This was a temperament derived through the use of their abilities and their newbie combat performance. It was a characteristic unique to rookies and newbies.

The invited guests usually worked in different departments and had been in the superpower circle for many years. They were all veterans and could easily distinguish the aura of a newbie.

However, they felt a sense of contradiction from Zhou Jing.

It had the tenderness of a newcomer, but also a unique calmness and sophistication. It was the most obvious in battle, and it was more like the confidence of a veteran.

It was just like painting. A newbie would think hard about the painting and change it. The concept was not clear enough, but the veteran would confirm the idea at a glance. He was confident and seemed to be doing it casually, but he was actually in control of the entire situation.

He could toy with a Class S potential and crush him in a one-sided battle. Although Zhou Jing’s physical fitness was also very strong, his skills and experience were even more outstanding.

He was clearly a freshman who had just entered the school for a month, but he had such a seasoned temperament that attracted the interest of many guests.

“This person is quite powerful. Is he really a new student of this batch and not a senior?”

An officer from the Scarlet Nation military wore gloves and casually rubbed the buttons on his sleeves. His tone was curious.

Shen Xinqin smiled and explained, “He’s indeed a first semester freshman. His name is Zhou Jing. At first, he had Class C potential, but later on, he was promoted to Class B. Recently, he seems to be about to be approved for Class A.”

“Interesting. I feel that his combat style is different from most new students. Is he talented or is there another reason?” A member of the Supers Bureau pondered.

......

“There are always talents in the world who can break common sense.” The Supers League’s scout chuckled, “This kid is not bad. If his performance can maintain this level, I think he has the potential to become famous. After he graduates, he might come to my place to compete.”

The group chatted happily.

The officer of the Astral Exploration Bureau narrowed his eyes and patted Shen Xinqin’s shoulder.

Shen Xinqin understood and nodded.

She was the vice dean of the academy and also an official member of the Exploration Bureau. It was also her mission to screen talents for the Exploration Bureau. The files of students who performed well would be recommended to the bureau.

Generally speaking, students would not enter the service list before graduation, but the files of some of the talents would be screened in advance for the Exploration Bureau to carry out internal recommendations… Especially for the captains of the various Explorers to see if there were any aptitude users worth paying attention to in every batch of students.

This was because the explorers who were chosen to serve had to carry out missions, so they naturally had to form a team structure. Usually, they would be equipped with experienced explorers as captains.

Before the team leader officially traveled, he had the right to choose the members he needed in the file according to the mission he was assigned. This service list was also an important source of manpower for every Astral Confluence Period.

Explorers who had made many contributions and reached a certain rank could even form their own fixed team. During each confluence period, they would have priority to decide if they wanted to participate in this recruitment.

Therefore, in every batch of new students in the academy, there would always be some selected to be the reserve personnel of the Exploration Bureau. If some of the talents were chosen by certain captains, they would always be tracked and paid attention to. They would even be booked in advance before graduation, and many teams would fight for them.

As for Zhou Jing’s performance, it caught the eyes of the officers in the Exploration Bureau. They decided to observe him further. If his performance was still outstanding, they would put him on the internal recommendation list.

...

The higher-ups had their own thoughts as the competition continued.

Because of Lin Kun’s defeat, there were only four Class S left in the core team. The Gem Faculty was now in a passive position.

After the first round of 20 matches, there were 12 people who advanced for the Crown Faculty, and eight people who advanced for Gem Faculty. This meant that they only needed to fight eight matches in the second round, giving the Crown an additional four people to adjust.

In the beginning, the Gem Faculty still did not intend to send out the seeded players first in the second round. Instead, they wanted to send out the contestants from the second best tier first in exchange for better promotion chances. On one hand, they wanted to avoid sending out more points in the subsequent rounds. They planned to fight to the death using their core players after entering the third round.

However, the Crown Faculty made a strategic arrangement to let ordinary contestants fight against the second best tier from Gem. The Crown Faculty aimed to lose more of the matches to the Gem Faculty for the weaker students, controlling the strength of the other party who would enter the next round.

Then, the Crown Faculty would let their core players go on stage whenever they had to choose first, causing the Gem Faculty’s plan to use their seeded players to claim easy victories to fail. They were forced to fight head-on, in order to get rid of those hard bones to chew.

The Gem Faculty could only give up on their original plan and adapt to the situation. Unfortunately, its effect was limited.

Zhou Jing did not go on stage until the Gem Faculty helplessly selected a Class S core to go first. Only then did Zhou Jing attack.

Although his opponent’s superpower was novel and caused Zhou Jing some trouble, he still finished off his opponent and won.

After the second round, five people from Gem advanced to the third round, including only two Class S potentials.

In the face of such a situation, the Gem Faculty could only choose to attack using their core players in the third round and fight head-on. If they could defeat the strong enemy and advance, they would still have a chance to obtain points in the future rounds.

As for the other three ordinary contestants, the Gem Faculty decided to give them away after seeing the situation. They did not want to give the Crown Faculty a chance to continue to be guaranteed a spot… As the side with fewer people, ordinary contestants who were not core members would basically be a walking bundle of points for the opponents in the later rounds.

During this period, Zhou Jing went on stage again and faced another Class S from Gem Faculty. After fighting for a while, he also won the competition and displayed his ability to “torture noobs”.

Tang Liu, on the other hand, had lost. He was defeated by the last Class S opponent because he was lacking in combat intelligence. He had merely relied on his High Speed Movement to fight.

After leaving the stage, Tang Liu’s face was filled with frustration. He felt that he had lost face in front of Zhou Jing, and he was no longer embarrassed to speak in the tone of a boss. He sat at the side and sulked.

In the third round, three wins and two losses. Only two people from Gem Faculty advanced to the fourth round, leaving only one Class S core player. Their situation was quite miserable.

With just the two of them, there was no room for strategic adjustment in the Gem Faculty. The remaining Class S was successfully finished off by Zhou Jing again, and he was eliminated.

Soon, the dust settled on this match. In the fourth round, everyone from the Gem Faculty was eliminated.

The two sides had fought four rounds, and Gem had only obtained 24 points, while Crown had won 35 points. Moreover, they had eliminated all their opponents before the fifth round, giving them an additional 4 points reward. Therefore, Crown had accumulated a total of 39 points in this group arena.

There was a 15-point difference between the two sides!

Zhou Jing won all four rounds and won 10 points for the Crown Faculty — but getting points was not the most important thing. Eliminating the seeded players in the opponent team was the main point that the gap between both sides widened so considerably.

Zhou Jing’s greatest contribution was to defeat four Class S seeded players in a row, disintegrating most of the enemy’s points and establishing a huge difference in points in this match.

The big screen announced the results of the group arena between the two sides. The students from the Crown Faculty in the stands immediately boiled up like a sea of joy.

“Zhou Jing! Zhou Jing!”

“Not bad, brother. You can fight!”

“He crushed through four Class S in a row. Impressive!”

Unlike the cheering students from the Crown Faculty, the students from the Gem Faculty were all dejected.

The students from the Banner Faculty were much calmer. They only smiled and clapped.

Only Li Xiaoyin ignored the others and happily waved a little flag and shouted like a fangirl. She shouted “Jingjing” loudly, attracting everyone’s attention.

Xu Lingyun was also excited, “Brother Jing is really amazing. He’s even more ferocious than I thought!”

Hearing this, Li Xiaoyin chuckled, “I knew Jingjing had it in him!”

Xu Lingyun became curious, “Speaking of which, the day after tomorrow will be the battle between Banner and Crown. Sister Yin, will you fight Brother Jing?”

Li Xiaoyin’s eyes lit up, showcasing her eagerness.

“That’s right. Although we’re familiar with each other, he’s so good at fighting. I won’t go easy on him when the time comes.”

...

On the other side, the waiting area of the Crown Faculty was also in a festive mood.

Everyone happily surrounded Zhou Jing and praised him.

Chief Instructor Li Yun was all smiles as he gave a thumbs up.

“Zhou Jing, well done. You’re the greatest contributor to this battle!”

“Everyone has contributed. Your tactics were also very important.”

Zhou Jing waved his hand modestly.

It was only after some maneuvering that he could face the Class S core players of the opposing team in every round. Otherwise, even if he won, the difference in points might not be big.

After four consecutive battles, Zhou Jing was also a little tired. Many parts of his body were wrapped in gauze.

Although he had won, he was not unscathed… Those who could be evaluated as having Class S potential naturally had their own uniqueness. They were all strong opponents, and only when facing the familiar Kun Kun could he fight so casually.

However, with his rich experience and skills, his physical strength had reached the level of a Rank 2 Super, and his instinctive combat skills had reached an intermediate level. In the end, he still defeated his opponents one by one. Zhou Jing’s combat enthusiasm was finally sated, and he also accumulated new experience dealing with different superpowers.

At this moment, Deng Yunjie clapped his hands to attract everyone’s attention.

“Everyone has done well in this arena. There’s no need to doubt Zhou Jing’s contribution. However, everyone, don’t relax. Although we won this arena competition with a huge advantage, and such a difference in points makes it difficult for the Gem Faculty to turn the tables, we can’t be completely at ease. There’s still the team competition next. Only by adding the points from the arena and the competition can we determine the winning faculty today…”

His encouragement made the happy crowd restrain themselves.

Zhou Jing however did not show much of a difference on his face.

He was only participating in the arena, and the team competition had nothing to do with him. He would not have a chance to step out then, so he only needed to watch from below the stage.

The format of the team competition was similar to the arena. It was also a round of advancement and points system. Only some details had changed.

Class S players all went to the group arena, so most of the team competition would be fought by the Class As.

However, because there were many people, the scene was more lively and chaotic when they fought. After all, there was too little time for them to get used to each other, so the team naturally did not have much tacit understanding.

Compared to the intense and technical one-on-one battles in the arena, the team battles were more like a carnival. Zhou Jing watched and noted down many outstanding students.

After fighting for a long time, the two sides were basically evenly matched. In the end, Crown Faculty lost a little and obtained 27 points. Gem Faculty did slightly better and obtained 31 points.

In the end, the total score of the arena and team was 55 points for Gem and 66 points for Crown. The huge difference in points in the group arena determined the victory.

The Gem Faculty had lost very badly today. The disadvantage in points caused their chances of winning to be extremely low, but it was not that there was no chance of turning the tables.

The new student competition would be held for three days, and every faculty would have to face the other two. The result of the draw tomorrow was the Gem against the Banner. If they could get enough points from the battle flag, they might have a chance to win in the final ranking.

Although the chances were slim, there was still hope…

However, the next day, the hope of Gem Faculty was completely shattered.

This time, it was the Crown Faculty’s turn to sit in the stands and watch the show. Zhou Jing watched from the beginning to the end as he saw the Banner Faculty slaughter the Gem Faculty.