My starting summon is a small skeleton-Chapter 150 - 149 preliminary competition is over

The match between Team 018 and Team 038 began at Arena A28.

The match was set to start at four in the afternoon.

And before four, Lu Wu had brought Team 042 over to secure a spot.

After all, this match was of critical importance to Lu Wu, as it would determine whether he could avoid entering the top eight or not, so of course, he had to come and watch.

"Excuse me, may I sit here?"

Team 042 had just settled down when a very gentlemanly voice sounded from nearby.

At the same time, the figure of Jiang Beifeng appeared beside Lu Wu.

"Although I’d like to say no, I guess even if I did, you wouldn’t leave, would you?"

Lu Wu made no attempt to hide the disdain on his face.

As for Jiang Beifeng, he didn’t seem to take any offense and even said with a smile, "I didn’t expect to have only met once and yet Xiao Lu understands me so well. It seems we have great compatibility. How about it, Xiao Lu? Once you enroll, why not become my student?"

Lu Wu raised an eyebrow, "Not to mention our bet isn’t about enrolling at Jiangbei, even if it were, the outcome of who wins and who loses is still uncertain."

"I happen to think that the outcome is quite clear already."

Jiang Beifeng pushed up his glasses, naturally taking a seat beside Lu Wu, then continued, "If you still had four cards in hand, it would be hard to say, but unfortunately, I’ve taken three of your cards, leaving you with only the 038, which is a bad one at that. I don’t believe you have any chance of winning."

When Jiang Beifeng said this, Lu Wu was still calm, but Lin Jianfeng became quite agitated and pointed at Jiang Beifeng’s nose and cursed, "Despicable wretch, your actions are bribing and manipulating the competition, which is a serious violation.

I will report you to the Alliance!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Beifeng burst into laughter, pushing up his glasses, "I am displeased with such an accusation.

How could you tarnish my reputation like that?

I am the Director of Admissions at Jiangbei University, and I have the authority to recruit students. Recruiting a few students during the competition is perfectly normal, how can that be considered bribing?

As for manipulating the competition, that’s even more ludicrous. Those teams are all promised students from Jiangbei University. As a teacher at Jiangbei, helping them plan their tactical strategy for the match is only to be expected.

I’m acting within the bounds of reason, morality, and the law here; if you continue this way, I might have to sue you for defamation."

"You!"

Hearing Jiang Beifeng’s speech, Lin Jianfeng was enraged, not expecting someone to be so shameless. But Jiang Beifeng placated with a smile, "Just kidding, just kidding, don’t get mad. After all, we’ll be from the same university soon, so there’s no need to spoil the harmony over such a minor issue."

His attempt to pacify only made Lu Wu’s eyebrows furrow even more.

"It looks like Director Jiang is quite confident of victory. Since you’re so confident, how about we raise the stakes to 500,000 instead of just 50,000?"

At Lu Wu’s bold suggestion, Jiang Beifeng actually seemed a bit daunted.

He was a little uncertain, wondering if this youngster really had some sort of confidence at this moment?

However, he quickly adjusted his attitude, responding with a smile, "No need, I’m not greedy. 50,000 is just fine."

By this time, the match at the arena had already started.

Both team captains were undergoing the handshake and talk phase, and seeing this, Lu Wu lost interest in Jiang Beifeng and instead focused his attention on the arena.

Meanwhile, down below the arena.

Team 018’s captain, Zhou Kai, and Team 038’s captain, Zhao Lun, shook hands.

Zhou Kai looked at the faint dark circles under Zhao Lun’s eyes and sneered, "I heard you were last-minute cramming at Lu Wu’s place last night?

How about it? Confident about beating us?"

"Yes!"

Team 038’s captain, Zhao Lun, was clearly an honest person.

Xiao Lu had failed to notice the sarcastic tone, he nodded honestly and said quite seriously, "Mr. Lu has already taught us a surefire strategy, we will definitely win!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Kai immediately found it amusing and teased, "Oh, a surefire strategy? Well, bring it on. I hope this so-called surefire strategy of yours can give me a little surprise!"

"I’ll do my best!"

Seeing Zhao Lun nodding sincerely, looking a bit silly, Zhou Kai suddenly lost the interest to provoke and tease the fellow any further.

He finally understood why Director Jiang had failed to sway him; it turned out this guy was a simpleton.

Bullying such a simpleton didn’t bring him much of a sense of achievement, better to finish him off quickly.

So, Zhou Kai waved his hand, ending the conversation phase.

The conversation over, the battle between the two teams swiftly began.

Team 018’s first Summoned Beast was a Little Rock, whereas team 038 sent out a Young Leaf Grass.

Everyone was dumbfounded when Young Leaf Grass appeared.

"Are you kidding me? Using Young Leaf Grass as the vanguard? With its thin skin, isn’t it supposed to be held back for later?"

While everyone was astonished, Zhao Lun scratched his head and shared their strategy.

"Mr. Lu said that team 018’s Summoned Beasts will appear in the order of Little Rock, Fire Bird, and Goblin.

Since we don’t match up to you in terms of strength, we can only try to win by exploiting attribute suppression; hence, our lineup will be Young Leaf Grass, Water Ball Turtle, Cave People."

Zhao Lun’s revelation left the audience even more flabbergasted.

Did he just spill their entire strategy?

Was he playing dumb or really dumb?

Team 018 was unsure if Zhao Lun was acting or not, but one thing they did know was that the opponent’s disclosed order of Summoned Beasts was indeed their planned order, which made team 018 somewhat panicked.

Could it be that Lu Wu had truly seen through them?

Team 018’s captain, Zhou Kai, had good mental resilience and quickly adjusted his mindset.

"So what if he saw through it? In the face of absolute power, all strategies are a joke. Besides, now that he’s revealed their order, how could I possibly stick to our original plan?

Forget it, let’s fight first!"

At his command, the battle between Little Rock and Young Leaf Grass on the arena officially commenced.

However, the battle was even more puzzling once it started.

Little Rock’s side was fine; it attacked Young Leaf Grass earnestly, following its master’s orders.

But the situation with the Young Leaf Grass was different.

This little creature, not even a meter tall, made up of six leaves in a humanoid shape, started dashing around the arena as soon as the battle began, using its speed advantage to distance itself from the opponent, all the while scattering seeds as it ran.

These seeds quickly took root and sprouted, and soon, bunches of vibrant green grass grew.

The audience was confused.

Wasn’t team 038’s purpose in deploying Young Leaf Grass to use attribute suppression to take down Little Rock?

What was the point of this frenzied grass planting?

But they quickly understood; as Young Leaf Grass continued planting, the arena soon turned into a sea of green.

And with the arena vastly green, Young Leaf Grass could just squat in any patch of grass and effectively disappear, leaving Little Rock, which had been in hot pursuit, completely confounded.

Where’s the grass?

Where did that blade of grass just now go?

"Keep guard, watch out for sneak attacks!"

Now Zhou Kai and his team finally understood, Young Leaf Grass was setting up the battlefield.

With the terrain arranged like this, Young Leaf Grass instantly held a geographical advantage. If it launched a sneak attack now, it had a chance to defeat Little Rock.

Team 018 became cautious for the first time.

However, as Little Rock remained on guard, Young Leaf Grass showed no sign of rearing its head.

The silence all around carried a sense of hiding till the end of time, leaving Team 018 utterly confused. What kind of tactic was this?

"It’s wrong, the grass is expanding, it’s trying to spread all over the arena, stop it quickly!"

After a standoff for a few minutes, Team 018 finally realized that something was amiss.

But by the time they wanted to stop it, it was too late, and they were at a loss for what to do; they didn’t even know where Young Leaf Grass was.

In desperation, Team 018 had no choice but to make Little Rock clear the grass.

But Little Rock was a Rock Type Summoned Beast without a grass-cutting skill. It could only try to uproot it by force, but clearly, its pace couldn’t keep up with the grass planting. Moreover, every time Little Rock pulled up grass, Young Leaf Grass would sneakily activate its skill to attack it.

After several attempts, Little Rock became exhausted without any effective result, completely toyed with by Young Leaf Grass.

"Damn!"

Unable to restrain himself, Zhou Kai let out his exasperation. He knew that his side had lost this battle.

It was a particularly humiliating defeat, not because their Summoned Beasts were inferior, but because on paper, Little Rock was actually much stronger than Young Leaf Grass. Even with attribute suppression, Little Rock could have won a head-on battle.

But the problem was that the opponent didn’t engage in direct combat at all.

Now, with this situation, the opponent firmly held the initiative, and it was nearly impossible for Little Rock to win.

Indeed, in the end, with no other options, Zhou Kai could only allow Little Rock to roll around wildly in hopes of hitting Young Leaf Grass by chance with area damage.

As a result, Little Rock spent all its energy in a burst of effort without causing substantial damage to either Young Leaf Grass or the grass. Finally, exhausted, it was easily knocked out of the ring by Young Leaf Grass.

"We won!"

Young Leaf Grass secured the first victory with absolute superiority.

Team 038 and those on their side couldn’t help but cheer.

Even Jiang Beifeng in the audience couldn’t help but praise the tactic.

"This strategy is impressive! To come up with such a tactic overnight, you truly live up to the title of Genius Cultivator.

Quite impressive!"

The victory of Young Leaf Grass somewhat uplifted Lu Wu’s spirits, and he was finally willing to engage Jiang Beifeng.

"You seem not to be panicking at all?"

"What’s there to panic about? The strength of Team 018 is clear for all to see. Losing the first match doesn’t mean much, and besides, in the second match, Team 018 will quickly..."

Jiang Beifeng was cut off by Lu Wu before he could finish.

"Are you about to say, ’Team 018 will quickly make a comeback in the second match’?

With the terrain Young Leaf Grass has created, the start of the second match will become a death trap for them?"

"Hm?"

Jiang Beifeng was startled, but he quickly realized the severity of the situation, his expression turning grave.

"You’ve already planned this far?

With the current situation, Team 018 has no choice but to use Fire Bird in the second match and burn up all the grass Young Leaf Grass has planted!"

"Yes, this environment is too favorable for Young Leaf Grass. If Team 018 doesn’t send out Fire Bird, Goblin fighting Young Leaf Grass in this environment might not win, and even if he could win, Water Ball Turtle could take out Goblin in the next match."

"To protect Goblin from being easily defeated, Team 018 can only choose Fire Bird!

And this is exactly what you’ve been hoping for?"

Jiang Beifeng pushed up his glasses and quickly pinpointed the issue: "There’s something wrong with that patch of grass!"

Lu Wu didn’t keep them in suspense this time.

"Correct. While Young Leaf Grass was growing that patch, it used the Enchanting Fragrance Skill in addition to its planting skill.

Right now, the Enchanting Fragrance locked in the grass is harmless, but once it’s set on fire, the Enchanting Fragrance will burst out with the thick smoke, covering the entire arena, leaving Fire Bird with no place to hide."

Now that Lu Wu had come clean, Jiang Beifeng fully understood the situation: "So, you’re saying, from the moment that patch of grass was sown, the outcome was already decided.

It doesn’t matter whether Fire Bird comes out as the second or third, the result will be the same.

If it’s the second, it’ll be exchanged with Young Leaf Grass, then Water Ball Turtle and Cave People will have the advantage of a two-on-one vehicle wheel battle against Goblin, or Water Ball Turtle goes first to wear Goblin down. Either way, Goblin will be taken out.

If Fire Bird is third, it can only exchange with Water Ball Turtle, and maybe Team 038 can win even more easily."

"Completely correct!"

Lu Wu found that talking to someone smart was refreshing – there was no need for explanations, as the other person understood everything with just a hint.

Of course, if Jiang Beifeng could, he would prefer not to understand because this was anything but pleasant.

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"It seems we’ll have to continue our bet!

Fine then, let’s meet the day after tomorrow and hope you can still put on such a splendid show."

After saying so, Jiang Beifeng stood up and left.

He didn’t glance back at the arena again, because he knew the upcoming matches were unnecessary to watch.

And indeed, it was as so.

The subsequent matches unfolded as Lu Wu and the others had said.

In the second round, Fire Bird took the stage and immediately set fire to the grass.

The ensuing thick smoke billowed, and because the arena was specially protected, the smoke couldn’t escape, covering the entire arena. Fire Bird got directly affected by Enchanting Fragrance, following Young Leaf Grass in elimination.

Then, Team 018’s Goblin faced Team 038’s Water Ball Turtle.

They fought fiercely. To be fair, Team 018’s Goblin was strong, but it was faced with a tough opponent with high Defense.

Even more fatally, the opponent knew exactly where Goblin’s Weakness was.

After half an hour of exhausting combat, Goblin barely managed to defeat Water Ball Turtle, only for Cave People to enter, target the Weakness, and swiftly eliminate Goblin.

Thus, Team 018 suffered a confining defeat to Team 038.

With this defeat, Team 018 had lost three matches in a row, tying Lu Wu and his team in points, although Team 001 also lost two matches the next day.

The final points for the preliminaries of Group A were announced.

Teams 002 and 003 were tied for first place with 41 points.

Teams 001, 018, and 042 were tied for second with 39 points.

Now, Lu Wu was only one match against Team 001 away from the top eight, as well as 50,000 points.