246: Chapter 238 Preliminary Rounds End and Group Matches

Faced with the strike falling from the sky, some contestants in the secret realm stayed where they were, calmly accepting their fate of being eliminated and preparing to lie flat and wait for death; others were either reluctant to part with the resources they had collected or were dissatisfied with the 'domineering' behavior of the Eight Great Academies and began their respective resistances.

Some hid deep in the mountain ranges, using the mountains to block and weaken the impact, combined with various life-saving methods, attempting to survive the incoming attack; others had already summoned their spirit beasts and set up various measures before the countdown ended, trying to go head-to-head with the incoming strike.

However, no matter what mindset they held or what methods they used, when the attack from the Mechanical Fortress truly fell, everything appeared utterly powerless.

Those who lay flat waiting for death were actually fine, as they were already prepared; when the attack fell, they only felt their vision go dark, and they, along with their spirit beasts, were sent out of the secret realm together, without even feeling much pain.

Those who prepared in advance to go head-to-head had at most half a day to prepare; how could they possibly withstand the continuous accumulation of seven days by Wuxiang? They originally held the thought that they could at least manage to resist a bit, but when they actually faced the attack, all resistance was like thin paper, collapsing at the first touch.

As for those contestants who tried to use cover to weaken the attack, because of Zhu Yan's existence, Wuxiang also had very good research on spatial aspects, so their so-called weakening methods had no effect at all.

While the attacks launched by the Mechanical Bastion were still in mid-air, the surrounding space began to fluctuate, and then the attacks that were still falling directly passed through layers of space, accurately landing on the positions where those people were hiding.

Because of this, these people's encounters were also the most miserable; in a sturdy, enclosed space, an explosive attack that had accumulated seven days of energy directly unfolded, and it was under circumstances where they had no preparation at all. That feeling—only those who experienced it would know.

Inside the Mechanical Bastion, looking at the text sent by Wuxiang on the screen in front of him stating 'All marked targets have been cleared,' and the standard storage devices that suddenly appeared and floated in mid-air, Xu Yan calmly said to his teammates beside him, 'It's over.'

Regarding this 'as it should be' result, the people present did not show any emotional fluctuations either. They looked toward Xu Yan just as calmly, and after replying with words like 'Oh' or 'Okay,' they continued doing their own things.

In this way, while the members of the Third Academy School Team were busy with their own tasks, the finale of this secret realm Survival Competition arrived.

As the bell representing the end of the competition rang, Xu Yan and the others simultaneously put away the tasks in their hands and flew out of the Mechanical Bastion. After everyone left, the Mechanical Bastion, which had already retracted most of its instruments and equipment, was directly reclaimed by Wuxiang.

Then, a spatial gate opened, and a suction force pulled in all the contestants in the secret realm—namely, the ten members of the Third Academy School Team. Space shifted, and they returned to the University League venue.

Compared to before everyone entered the secret realm, the original eight Void Portals in the venue had been replaced by eight screens. On the screens were the rankings and points of the teams that had entered the corresponding secret realms.

Fifteen minutes after all teams had returned from the preliminary secret realms, the content on the screens began to change. Starting from the bottom, the names of the teams began to be quickly deleted, until finally, only the top eight teams remained on each screen.

At the same time, the voice of the venue's host reached everyone's ears.

'The University League preliminaries have officially ended. For the teams that did not appear on the screen, unfortunately, your journey in this University League is about to end. Although you did not enter the second round, you have shown great style. I hope you will have a better future.'

'During the University League, your status and benefits as contestants will still be maintained. Next, you can choose to leave on your own or stay within the league's secret realm.'

'As for the sixty-four teams on the screens, congratulations on successfully advancing to the second round of the league. Next, I will announce the rules for the second round.'

'The second round is the intra-group matches. Except for the first-place team in each group, the remaining fifty-six teams will be randomly and equally divided into eight groups. They will face off in pairs; the winner gets one point, and the loser gets no points. The top two teams in each group will enter the third round.'

'Next, the grouping begins.'

As the host's voice fell, among the eight screens, except for the top team on each, the names of the remaining seven teams began to change rapidly. When the word 'Stop' fell from the host's mouth, the final grouping information appeared before everyone.

Looking at the teams in each group, the contestants present showed various expressions. Some were happy and excited to see that the competition in their group was not strong, while others frowned and tensed up because they had entered a 'Group of Death.'

Of course, as the top seeds, Xu Yan and the others naturally didn't have much of a reaction. Possessing absolute strength and confidence, they didn't even care much about the grouping results as long as they didn't encounter opponents of the same level as the Eight Great Academies.

After the grouping was announced, this seven-day 'Opening Ceremony and League Preliminaries' also came to a close. The various teams left the venue one after another and returned to their respective stations.

After returning to their station, Xu Yan took out the standard storage device obtained after harvesting all the contestants in the secret realm and began to divide the loot.

The quantity of resources was quite large, but the quality could only be described as average. There were only a dozen or so rare resources, and there wasn't a single one of the level that could catch the eye of Xu Yan and the others.

In this regard, the group, who had already anticipated this, did not show any disappointment. For good things at the level of Natural Treasures, with their long-lasting effects, unless they truly countered each other, they wouldn't trigger the mechanism of being kicked out for wasting them.

If they were in that position and encountered good things of that level, plus the rule that half of the harvest would be randomly dropped upon elimination, they would definitely eat them first regardless of whether it was a waste or not.

After a simple calculation of the value, it finally ended with Xu Yan taking 27% and the remaining nine people dividing the rest equally. (Because the others also had the ability to harvest, but Xu Yan was the one who ultimately did it, Xu Yan was able to take more, but not too much more.)

After the grouping ended and a day of rest, the second round of intra-group matches began.

Over the next seven days, Xu Yan led the members of the Third Academy and conducted matches against the other seven teams in their group respectively.

Individual matches, multi-person matches, arena matches, and team matches—various forms of combat unfolded under the choices of both teams.

The final result was, naturally and without surprise, seven victories in seven matches, ranking them first.