399: almost

“It’s my turn!”

Chen Du thought to himself.

After stepping onto the ring, Chen Du sensed a set of numbers through his Mental Energy: 95VS96. These numbers were in a black font, almost blending with the darkness of the Underground.

If he wasn't a local, he wouldn't have been able to see them. Fortunately, Chen Du's Mental Energy was unparalleled among Martial Artists, so he naturally didn't miss it.

The reason it's described as unparalleled is because even if his 25.7-Rank Mental Energy could only exert 50% of its power, it still surpassed 20-Rank Mental Energy, which is the upper limit for a Martial Artist's Mental Energy.

Otherwise, if he couldn't find his spot after stepping onto the ring, he might truly have been suspected.

After finding his spot, position 95 was already occupied, indicating that his opponent had arrived earlier than him.

Looking at the opponent's back, Chen Du felt it looked familiar, as if he had just seen him recently, but he couldn't immediately recall a matching person.

Only after standing on the opposite side did Chen Du realize that this 95th contestant was the Toad Civilization alien who had been in front of him in Question Chamber 1172.

No wonder his back looked so familiar.

When Chen Du cut in line, the opponent had turned back to look, so they had met once before.

“I didn’t expect us to be quite fated.”

The Toad Civilization alien was also slightly surprised to see Chen Du, and he said with a smile.

“Indeed.”

Chen Du also responded with a faint smile. When there were no conflicts of interest, everyone's hostility wasn't as strong.

“No chattering during the match!”

Beside them, the Sky Soaring Warrior serving as both the Warden and referee for this arena, reprimanded them.

Both of them fell silent. Chen Du glanced at the referee out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know what Civilization the alien belonged to, but his Life Strength was quite high, a full 24 Ranks. Just one more Rank and he would be an Advanced Aerial Warrior.

“Contestant 95, from Source Water Territory, Toad Civilization, Wentai.”

“Contestant 96, from… Gloomy Land Territory, Shushu Civilization, Wu La.”

When the Warden read Chen Du's information, a hint of surprise appeared on his face. He hadn't heard the name Gloomy Land in a Heroes Assembly match for who knows how many years.

He held the portraits from their registration in his hand. After confirming there were no substitutes, he announced the start of the match.

The Warden’s voice wasn't loud, but most of the spectators were Martial Artists, some even stronger than the Martial Artists in the ring, just not participating for some reason.

Their hearing was excellent, and upon hearing the words Gloomy Land, they all felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity.

It was like a quiet, introverted student in class suddenly participating in various competitions and activities, and actively answering questions in class.

When the two had just stepped onto the stage, some people in the audience were discussing which Territory Chen Du was from, because they didn't recognize many of the aliens. Guessing the Civilization was impossible, so they just started a betting pool to guess the Territory.

Unfortunately, no one guessed that Chen Du was from Gloomy Land, but this was normal. In every Heroes Assembly, Civilizations from the Three Gloom Lands were almost never seen.

“I didn’t expect you to have such a background.”

Wentai licked his dry, thick lips and said leisurely.

From his perspective, Gloomy Land was known as the weakest of the eighteen Territories, so the strength of the Civilizations within it was naturally imaginable. This Shushu Civilization might be a standout there, but it depended on who they were compared to.

Moreover, his own Life Strength Rank was 18.5, which was 0.5 Ranks higher than his opponent. Although the fight hadn't started yet, Wentai knew.

This round was a sure win for him!

Chen Du knew the other party's words were derogatory, but upon closer thought, there seemed to be no problem.

He was, after all, from a Surface Civilization. To this Toad Civilization, he indeed had a great background. The other party was not wrong!

Even a lion uses its full strength to fight a rabbit. Now, with the opponent still underestimating him, it was naturally the best possible situation for Chen Du.

Chen Du didn't respond, maintaining a serious demeanor. This behavior made Wentai think Chen Du was afraid of him, which made him even more composed.

However, Wentai wasn't a brainless person. The preliminary stage had to be completed in one go. If he won this match, there were still more matches to come, so he had to conserve his physical strength as much as possible.

Although Wentai felt very sorry for Wu La opposite him, he had to end it as quickly as possible.

At that instant, Wentai moved, but it wasn't his body, but his mouth. He quickly opened his mouth, and a pink tongue shot out like a venomous snake.

It seemed to have a lock-on function as it struck towards Chen Du. During the process, the Surface of the pink tongue developed a metallic hard texture, clearly some kind of hardening ability.

Among the spectators below, besides those from the Three Gloom Lands, there were many aliens from various Civilizations of the other fifteen Territories.

Immediately, a Civilization from the same Source Water Territory recognized this ability:

“This is the unique innate ability of the Toad Civilization, ‘Toad Lick-Hole Hand’!”

“It’s a powerful physical attack. A lick from that tongue would at least take off a layer of skin!”

Seeing this, Chen Du narrowed his eyes. The moment the tongue descended, he executed a small displacement, avoiding Wentai's lick at the cost of a slightly soiled hem.

He seized the moment before the opponent's tongue could retract and surged forward.

Having experienced countless battles, Chen Du's experience was naturally incredibly rich.

Although this ability was new to him, Chen Du instantly imagined it as a rapier.

A rapier is primarily a stabbing weapon, but once thrust, it must be retracted before it can be thrust again. The moment of retraction is the rapier's weakness.

The opponent's tongue-spitting attack followed the same principle. Although Chen Du was seeing it for the first time, his rich experience allowed him to instantly find a countermeasure.

Before participating in the match, Chen Du roughly estimated that 50% of his strength was comparable to a 19.9-Rank, with 7 Mystic Treasures Awakened, and Martial Skill at 1% of Entrance to the Microscopic level.

As for whether it was slightly stronger or weaker than this configuration, Chen Du himself couldn't say for sure, only that it was roughly estimated to be in this range.

However, in reality, Chen Du wouldn't encounter such a configuration, because a contestant who could achieve 7 Mystic Treasures and Martial Skill at 1% of Entrance to the Microscopic level would not be at 19.9 Ranks; they would have already advanced to Skysoaring.

Although Chen Du could only exert 50% of his strength, his combat ability was absolutely that of a Super Genius. He just didn't know how he compared to the Super Geniuses of the Underground.

This was also why Chen Du wasn't confident in placing in the top three.

Chen Du's speed was incredibly fast, even faster than the opponent's tongue attack just now.

Just this one move was enough for anyone with eyes to judge that Contestant 96 was stronger than Contestant 95.

The result was as expected. Chen Du swung his spiked club, knocking Wentai unconscious like whipping a top.

“Second-Order Martial Skill?”

Beside them, the Sky Soaring Warrior serving as the Warden, showed a surprised look when he saw Chen Du's attack carrying Qi.

If the opponent had come from one of the five strongest Territories, it would have been less surprising, but this Shushu Civilization was from the weakest Gloomy Land!

Such a remote and backward place actually produced such a Genius!

Unbelievable!

After a brief shock, the Warden immediately announced the result of the match.

“Winner, Contestant 96. Please return to your waiting area.”

Chen Du nodded and left. As for Wentai, the relevant personnel here naturally carried him away.

Contestant 58, from Show Hair Civilization, seeing Chen Du return so quickly, asked a question:

“Did you get a bye?”

Chen Du naturally understood what the other party wanted to express. He must have thought he encountered a “spectator.” After thinking for a few seconds, he nodded:

“Something like that.”

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