When he regained consciousness, the first information he captured was... the referee's loud voice.
"what?!"
Chapter 349: A Predicted Confrontation (Part )
After hearing the referee's voice, the contestant who was full of confidence "just a second ago" was suddenly stunned. Before his brain could continue to function, his vision began to return to normal.
First there was a groggy haziness, followed by a blur of bright light in the darkness.
Finally, he opened his eyes, and the strong platinum light shone directly into his pupils, causing a sharp pain in his brain.
"I...what's wrong with me?"
Sitting up dazedly, he realized that he was lying down. The ground underneath him was hard but clean, and it felt like... a stretcher in the medical department?
"you are out."
While he was at a loss, a deep male voice came from beside him.
Turning around, I saw a tall and thin middle-aged man with an ordinary face and a very lazy expression. He was leaning on a staff in one hand, wearing a blue and white wizard robe, and standing beside in a slightly lazy posture.
"You are... Mr. Danny?! The great wizard who captured the Empire's most wanted criminal!?"
When the boy saw the man's appearance, he immediately recognized his identity. He became extremely excited for a moment and even forgot that he was still puzzled about his situation. He jumped up.
"Well……"
As a result, because the movement of standing up was too intense, blood could not be supplied to the brain, and his vision suddenly went dark. His body swayed and he almost fell down.
"Oh, forget about the 'big one'. My qualifications are not worthy of this title."
The middle-aged man dressed as a wizard smiled indifferently, and with the hand that was not holding the staff, he slightly supported the boy to help him maintain his balance.
"Thanks……"
The boy thanked him quickly, rubbing his aching temple and excitedly said to Danny:
"Mr. Danny, you are my idol... no, my hero!
"Your glorious deeds of subduing the wanted fugitive are known to everyone in the empire. The first time I heard about your feat, I was deeply shocked by your courage and bravery!
"After learning that you were going back to Twilight City, I planned to meet you there. I didn't expect to meet you in such an occasion... What a coincidence!"
"Is that so? Haha, it's really a coincidence."
Danny nodded and said in a very cold manner.
There was no change in his facial expression. Facing the fanatical admiration of others, he showed neither embarrassment nor pride. It seemed as if he had no emotional fluctuations and always looked completely tired of everything.
"By the way...how did I lose?"
After the passion cooled down a little, the boy suddenly recalled his previous doubts and turned to look at the stage.
Princess Candice just walked off the stage and disappeared backstage. Several student union members came out to clean up the venue briefly, and then the host appeared and read out the names of the next group of contestants.
He had realized that he had lost, and in the most complete way possible.
There are two main criteria for judging failure in this game.
One is that the contestant's body is knocked off the stage and enters the area outside the stage.
The other is that if one player suffers a life-threatening injury, the strong person from the school who is guarding nearby and is responsible for the player's life safety will immediately rescue him, and the referee will directly declare the other player the winner.
Obviously, his situation belonged to the latter: he lost consciousness due to some spell related to the spiritual realm and was directly judged as a failure by the referee.
But he couldn't figure out...how all this happened.
He was clearly confident of victory just a second ago, but how come the situation completely reversed in a split second...even he himself didn't have time to react?
"Besides... this thing is broken, too."
He reached for his waist and took out an exquisite little pendant carved into the shape of a long sword from the grid sewn on his belt.
At this moment, not only is its surface dull and covered with rust-like marks, but there is also a very obvious crack in the middle.
This is spiritual equipment that can help him transform into green mist for a short period of time. It was bought not long ago, but is now useless.
This thing was worth a lot of money, but it was nothing compared to his family fortune, so he threw the remains on the ground without any regret:
“What on earth just happened…?”
? "Maybe you're just unlucky."
Danny said nonchalantly.
The boy wondered: "Bad luck?"
Danny glanced at him, shrugged nonchalantly, and began to explain leisurely...
"interesting……"
On the other side, standing on the rooftop, Principal Luo Meng looked at the scene that had just happened in the distance, stroking his short but not messy stubble on his chin with interest:
"Is it luck?"
With his eyesight and knowledge, he saw clearly everything that had just happened.
When Candice was halfway through drawing the pattern, Roman knew she was basically winning.
Because he recognized the spell corresponding to that pattern, it was the basic spell of the spiritual branch of the "Mutation" field, "Mind Blast".
The effect is simple. At the moment of activation, a "shock wave" is generated that directly acts on the spirit, expanding in all directions at an extremely fast speed, causing severe shock to the minds of all spirits within the range except the caster.
However, judging from the final effect and the casting speed, this spell should have been learned by Candice in a hurry. Logically speaking, the boy who specializes in the field of "mutation" should be able to resist it easily.
But what happened was that he was in a state of green mist at that time, and his spirit lost the protection of his physical body and was directly exposed to the outside world.
And he indeed had not expected that Candice, who was good at spells in the "Giant" field, would actually perform the "Mind Blast" in the "Mutation" field.
Thus, without any preparation, the impact of the "Mind Blast" hit his unprotected spirit body, knocking him unconscious on the spot, and his form automatically returned to human form.
The spiritual equipment that helped him abandon his physical body for a short period of time was also scrapped.
He was then declared defeated without a doubt and carried away to receive treatment by medical staff.
The reason why this is a coincidence is that such a swift victory is entirely based on the condition that the opponent chooses to transform into green mist and attack directly by touching the opponent.
The reason why the boy chose this method of attack was that Candice launched a long-range attack with the help of the bracelet.
Because of the enhancement of spiritual items, the strength of her long-range attacks is not too weak, so the opponent cannot completely ignore it.
At the same time, although he was clearly a "giant" wizard, he paradoxically chose the most inefficient long-range attack in theory, and successfully aroused the opponent's self-esteem and competitive spirit, making him feel the urge to fight quickly and decide the winner.
Equipped with spiritual items that were not suitable for long-range attacks, I didn't know why I had to learn the "Mind Blast" temporarily, and my opponent happened to be quite arrogant...
The simultaneous occurrence of a series of conditions with low probability of occurrence led to this duel in which the outcome was decided within a few seconds.
Luo Meng deduced in his mind that if there were no such coincidences, and Candice and her opponent were fighting purely on their physical strength...
The result is difficult to tell in a short time, and Candice's chances of winning are smaller. After all, in a face-to-face arena, the straightforward "Giant" wizard is indeed at a disadvantage against the cunning and flashy "Mutation" wizard.
"But is it really just a coincidence?"
Roman was skeptical.
Candice's reactions throughout the whole process were so calm and composed, as if all of this had been planned and rehearsed in her mind many times before. It didn't seem like the reaction she would have when she was extremely lucky and encountered various coincidences.
Could it be that...she somehow knew her opponent in advance and designed a special countermeasure?
"Forget it, let's wait and see, it's not a big deal..."
Not taking the matter too seriously, he shook his head and continued to watch the next fight with a comfortable attitude.
After Candice left the stage, the competition continued for five or six more rounds. About an hour later, the preliminary round held on the first day of the "Academic Competition" ended. Including Candice, dozens of winners were selected and successfully advanced to the next round.
The time passed noon and came to two or three in the afternoon, when the sun was the hottest and the temperature was the highest.
After briefly explaining the results of the game, the host announced the end of today's game, and the audience, guests and staff left one after another.
The huge venue suddenly became empty. The cold and quiet scene formed a sharp contrast with the original bustling scene, giving people a sense of detachment, absurdity and weirdness.
"It's over... Let's go meet little Candice. I haven't seen her for a while."
When the air became completely quiet, Romon, who was wearing very light clothes, completely ignored the sun that was almost melting the ground. His figure flashed again, leaving a crack that quickly healed on the spot, and then came to the ground.
Braving the steaming heat, he maintained a relaxed look and walked in a certain direction, pacing slowly while muttering to himself with a slight smile on his face:
"I wonder if she misses me... Well, a girl of this age wouldn't be interested in chatting with an old man like me..."
"Boom!!!"
At this moment, an extremely loud roar rolled down from the sky!
It was a short, violent, low and extremely penetrating muffled sound, like thunder, an explosion, or the sound of some extremely large and hard object shattering, which made people tremble.
"Um?!"
Ro Meng's eyes focused, realizing that something was happening. He immediately stopped restraining his perception and fully expanded his perception, which was second only to that of a demigod.
An invisible pressure that was identical to his status suddenly spread out, causing everyone in the entire campus to feel a sticky and terrifying chill running up their spines, and they all shivered.
"This is……"
The moment his perception unfolded, it was as if a traveler groping forward in the night suddenly touched something strange and slippery in the darkness.
Extreme uneasiness and shock quickly crept into his heart, and all the muscles in his body tensed up instantly. All the spirituality in his body was called to the extreme at this moment, like a bowstring stretched to its limit.
"!"
I looked up suddenly and saw the blazing sun above the sky was still dazzling.
With the naked eye, nothing unusual could be detected, nor could the source of the loud noise that shocked the entire school be found. It was as if it did not exist at all, and was just a weird collective hysteria.
However, in the eyes of Luo Meng, a legendary expert who had reached the level of a smelter...
This side of the sky, however, is a completely different landscape.
The sky, which should have been clear, cloudless and crystal blue, was now covered with dense zigzag lines. The trajectories of these zigzag lines were completely irregular, rushing around in the sky in a mess.
The sun's platinum-colored sunlight passed through these huge and extremely long broken lines, being refracted into countless indescribable chaotic colors.
As dirty and filthy as the colors flowing on the surface of slop in the sunlight, it seemed to contain billions of weirdness, horror and mystery, intertwined with those crooked traces.
This ominous, unclean, depressing and horrifying scene covered the entire sky, making people dizzy and dizzy, as if the whole person had fallen into a chaotic, mind-polluting kaleidoscope.
"Ho ho... ho ho..."
At this moment, Romon heard unspeakable screams, whispers and mumblings. The timbre was distorted and the content was incomprehensible. The source of the sound was so close that he could not imagine it. It was as if countless twisted, hideous, and painfully struggling evil spirits had drilled into his ear canals and were crying wildly in his eardrums.
"This...this is..."
Looking up at the grotesque and absurd scene above, listening to the lingering mutterings and wails in his ears, Roman's face showed unprecedented fear and panic.
With his lips trembling slightly, the metallurgist slowly and intermittently uttered a term:
"...Secret...Realm...Projection..."
Chapter 350 The Beginning
After arriving outside the library, Qi Ji saw at a glance the bizarre, dirty colors and traces of chaos in the clear sky.
"Wow, what a grand scene..."
Looking up, she suddenly felt an invisible pressure pressing down heavily from above her head.
Although it is insignificant to her, by the standards of human transcendents... it is considered a very terrifying power.
“And this sound…is everywhere.”
After carefully listening to the extremely piercing and terrifying sound that suddenly rang in his ears, Qi Ji frowned slightly:
"It seems to be related to the initial loud noise?"
Whether it was the bizarre and distorted visions in the sky, or the wailing and mutterings that filled the air, these strange phenomena...none of them happened in the real world.
If one does not have a sharp enough inspiration, then apart from the initial roar like thunder out of the blue, one will not be able to detect anything unusual.
In order to detect these anomalies, people’s perception is required to be very high. Unless one is a “psychic”, “magician” or “oracle”, one will not be aware of anything at all.
If one wants to see and hear something basically the same as what Qi Ji is seeing and hearing now, one must at least reach the realm of a "metallurgist" or a "saint".
In Qi Ji's inspiration, countless imperceptible "filaments" intertwined and woven together to form an incomparably huge and towering "dome", covering the entire Imperial National University.
The height of this "dome" is over a thousand meters, almost touching the clouds. Whether it is the "broken lines" that reflect countless strange lights in the sky, or the ubiquitous and uncomfortable noise in the air, they are all confined within the "dome".
