224: The third round of rankings has ended.

After their initial shock, sensing the extremely tempting aroma wafting through the air, Lin Heng and the other two ultimately abandoned their previously conceived plans of escaping or dying together.

Since things had come to this, they might as well eat first.

Having figured this out, the trio relied on the camaraderie they shared with Xu Yan to successfully secure one of the Barbecue Grills—complete with meat, vegetables, and ingredients from the sea, land, and air—all while enduring the angry glares of the surrounding hungry “diners.”

After tasting the delicious food prepared by Xu Yan, the three exchanged glances, quickly reached a consensus, and devised a ranking method that was both childish and surprisingly reliable.

Given the situation, Xu Yan, who held the absolute advantage, had already secured the first place in this Ranking Match. The spots from second to fourth place, following Xu Yan, would be decided on the battlefield of the Barbecue Grill they had claimed.

On the condition that they did not damage the Barbecue Grill or the food on it, the three individuals and their Spirit Beasts would use their respective abilities. The final ranking would be determined by the total amount of food grabbed and consumed by the three parties (humans + Spirit Beasts).

After setting the rules, their battle commenced, witnessed by Xu Yan, the specially invited Referee.

Space Manipulation, Power of Heavenly Punishment, Dragon Clan Secret Arts—various powerful forces demonstrated their capabilities under extremely precise control on the thousand-meter-long Barbecue Grill.

Watching the various forces collide, merge, cooperate, and backstab on the Barbecue Grill, they even saw several powerful abilities and skills that the trio had never displayed before.

Xu Yan, who was watching this 'Food-Grabbing Battle' from the side, suddenly felt that the power and strength they were currently demonstrating were significantly greater than what they had shown during the previous rounds of training and ranking.

Surely, a single bite of food couldn't genuinely ignite the hidden trump cards and potential of these few people, could it? It shouldn't be that serious—thought a certain anonymous School Team member who lacked neither resources, ingredients, nor fine cuisine.

After a fierce struggle, relying on the convenience of Spatial Power and the Void Stomach ability—which was automatically learned due to the frustration of seeing delicious food but being too full to eat more—Lin Heng and his three Spirit Beasts successfully consumed nearly half of the food on the grill, securing first place in this Food-Grabbing Battle.

As for second place, it was taken by Qian Ming and his Dragon Children, who possessed enormous size and appetites, consuming about 30% of the food.

Chen Ling, who had ranked first in the second round of the Ranking Match, took third place with a consumption rate of just over 20%. This was because the dietary preferences of his contracted Spirit Beasts leaned more towards elemental types; although they could eat normal food and enjoyed it, their conversion rate and digestion speed were ultimately inferior.

Just like that, under these somewhat dramatic rules and results, the third round of the Ranking Match concluded, with Xu Yan and Lin Heng once again returning to the first and second spots.

After the rankings were decided and all the food on the grill was consumed, the four people harmoniously and amicably left the Ranking Secret Realm and returned to the Training Secret Realm.

Then, as expected, they were met with the collective gaze of all the School Team members and the Coaching Team.

Of course, most of these gazes were directed at Xu Yan.

The reason was that ever since the Ranking Match began, the screen in the Training Secret Realm had been live-streaming everyone's performance in the Ranking Secret Realm. School Team members were live-streamed while they were in the Ranking Secret Realm, and after being eliminated, they watched the live broadcast along with the coaches.

In this way, Xu Yan's series of actions in the Secret Realm, as well as the trio's ultimately farcical method of determining the rankings, were all witnessed by the outsiders.

While the other School Team members felt various emotions regarding the abilities and trump cards exposed by the trio during the food-grabbing, they also unanimously grew curious about the taste and effects of the food Xu Yan had prepared.

Finally, following the enthusiastic requests of the crowd and the payment of a considerable fee for the meal and preparation, Xu Yan demonstrated his culinary skills once again inside the Training Secret Realm.

After taking the first bite of food, even though there was neither training nor Ranking Match currently taking place, everyone present spontaneously began to replicate the actions of Lin Heng and the other two in the Ranking Secret Realm.

With such deliciousness and such powerful effects, what did it matter if they exposed some abilities and trump cards just to eat a little more? If they ate less of this good stuff than others, the distance between them would only gradually widen.

A single gathering successfully brought out various abilities and skills that the School Team members had never used or fully displayed before. They even ended up facing off against members of the Coaching Team in a series of fierce struggles.

After the grand feast, which combined delicious food and combat, they arrived at the final stage of this training session.

"The content of the final round of training is very simple: one-on-one or even multi-on-one guidance from Overlord Rank Seniors. The duration of the guidance depends on how satisfied the Seniors are with you, with a guaranteed minimum of one day, and a maximum lasting until the end of the training session."

Based on your rankings, you will receive varying numbers of Request Slots. You can use these slots to select an entity from the list of Seniors we provide to guide you. One Spirit Beast consumes one slot, while a Beast Tamer consumes 1 + (the number of Overlord Rank Spirit Beasts they possess / 2) slots.

Besides the active Request Slots we provide, your Innate Talent, opportunities, and contracted Spirit Beasts will also attract corresponding Seniors to guide you. This situation does not consume Request Slots."

Listening to Kong Ji's description of the final training round, Xu Yan naturally focused his attention on the latter half.

Combining the information he had received from Mo Yi, Kui Fang, Kong Ji, and Xuan You, it seemed that this University League was an extremely important nexus point, where human and Spirit Beast Factions were all plotting within certain rules using their respective methods.

Because the mainstream system is the Beast Taming System, the bond between Spirit Beasts and humans on Blue Star is extremely profound. Also, due to their respective Innate Talents, when Beast Tamers choose Spirit Beasts, they often select entities that are more compatible with their own talents, thus forming one or several systems.

Currently, the Spirit Beasts on Blue Star, with the exception of a very small number of Mutated Entities, are more or less connected to those powerful or top-tier Clans.

This final round of training was clearly the Third Academy capitalizing on the desire of the major Spirit Beast Clans to intervene in the events of the University League, thereby securing benefits for the students while also profiting from the various Clans.

After all, none of the Clans or entities associated with the Spirit Beasts contracted by the ten members of the School Team were simple.