novelraw Chapter 138: The Explosive Post-Match Interview
Chapter 138: The Explosive Post-Match Interview
To say there weren't any teams that secured three points in one breath and advanced directly to the top eight would be a lie.
But...
To single-handedly sweep twelve opponents, maintaining an absolute, crushing advantage to secure easy victories throughout the entire process—since the inception of The Jade State League, Fly was the first and only one to do so!
No wonder this staff member had a look of pure admiration plastered across their face.
"Not even Lysander Thorne did it?" Fly was somewhat surprised, having assumed that Lysander Thorne had also pulled off sweeping all opponents.
"Lysander Thorne only participated in one Jade State League, and they didn't utilize this tactic of ours," Mr. Carter explained, his memories of Lysander Thorne quite vivid.
At the time, Lysander Thorne had always served as the anchor for Star City High.
Besides, the other competitors from Star City High back then weren't exactly weak either.
They just couldn't compare to the monstrous competitors from Sovereign High, which was why they ended up holding Lysander Thorne back.
During the group stages, they all put on decent performances.
Lysander Thorne only had to step in once before they advanced to the top eight.
"I see." Fly nodded, then followed the staff member's lead and returned to the arena.
Knowing there was still a post-match interview segment, quite a few spectators were willing to stick around and watch.
The moment Fly emerged from the competitor's tunnel, the entire stadium erupted, chanting his name like a roaring tsunami.
The reporter in charge of the interview was a young woman in her early twenties, dressed in a rather formal dress. She stood there nervously clutching a microphone, her face filled with the greenness of someone fresh to the workforce.
Feeling the passionate atmosphere of the crowd, she couldn't help but exclaim, "It seems our Fly is incredibly popular!"
"Hello, Fly. I'm Celine. It's a great honor to interview you today," Celine said with a smile, carrying herself with natural grace.
Celine? Hearing this name, Fly couldn't help but take a closer look at her. She did look... awfully familiar.
Noticing Fly's odd expression, Celine chuckled and said, "Were you thinking of my older sister? She works as a reporter for the Star City broadcasting station and actually interviewed you during the Freshman Invitational."
"She told me all about it, you know. She had a very deep impression of you."
"Oh, that explains it." Fly nodded, looking as though he had just seen the light, though inwardly he was silently grumbling: Are the reporters in this world just like Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny from Pokémon?
Nevertheless, Fly still greeted her obediently, "Nice to meet you, Celine!"
Even though Fly had grown accustomed to fighting under the watchful eyes of thousands, he was still a bit green when it came to interviews, his smile appearing rather shy.
S-so cute! Celine blinked her big, sparkling eyes, screaming internally.
Handsome looks and overwhelming strength.
Yet when he spoke, he was as bashful and adorable as a boy next door.
It gave Celine the sudden urge to just gobble him right up!
Her gaze was progressively turning a bit starry-eyed.
Cough, cough.
Ultimately, it was the cameraman who shot Celine a hand signal, snapping her out of her fangirl fantasy. She cleared her throat awkwardly.
"First off, let us congratulate Star City High for successfully advancing to the top eight knockout stages."
"This is your first time participating in The Jade State League, Fly. You must be feeling pretty excited right now, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I'm thrilled," Fly nodded cooperatively.
"The draw results for the top eight are already out, and your next opponents will be the elite prodigies of our very own Sycamore High. Do you have anything you'd like to say to your opponents for the upcoming match?"
"Well... friendship first, competition second?" Fly thought about it for a moment; it wasn't like he had any history with the competitors from Sycamore High.
Better to keep it humble and polite so as not to step on any toes.
"True enough. Star City and Sycamore City are neighbors, after all. No matter what the results are tomorrow, sportsmanship should come first," Celine nodded in agreement.
But, she also felt that Fly was being a bit too timid, holding himself back.
Stolen novel; please report.
While such a safe and generic statement wouldn't cause any blunders, it was ultimately too bland to generate any real buzz.
As a TV station employee, doing her part to bump up the ratings was still a necessity.
"In that case, Fly, among all the teams participating in the top eight, is there any specific competitor you're particularly eager to face?" Celine pressed on.
She figured Fly would mention the prodigies from Sovereign High.
After all, among this year's freshmen, Sovereign High's The Glacier Seven were incredibly famous. Even right after enrollment, they had already amassed massive popularity across the internet.
An unstoppable warrior like Fly would surely want to challenge the strong, right?
Who knows, Fly might have even been keeping a close eye on them behind the scenes.
Celine mused to herself.
"There's no one I particularly want to fight. Honestly, I don't know much about the competitors from the other schools," Fly replied truthfully after some thought.
Up until now, aside from Fairy Beixuan and Jade Flute Fairy, he genuinely had no idea who the other schools' competitors even were.
But those two... Fly shook his head. As long as everything went smoothly, he'd run into them sooner or later anyway, wouldn't he?
Hearing Fly's answer, Celine was momentarily stunned.
She never expected his response to be so vague.
But on second thought, it wasn't all that surprising.
A Beast Warrior like Fly surely spent the vast majority of his time cultivating, so it was completely understandable that he wouldn't pay much attention to trending internet topics.
Following that, Celine asked a few more routine questions regarding martial cultivation.
For example, what made him choose a roach as his Beast Totem, what his daily training regimen looked like, and if he could share any cultivation insights or experiences.
Fly answered each one with safe, middle-of-the-road responses.
Considering his own unique circumstances, Fly naturally kept his cards close to his chest.
His answers throughout the entire interview could basically be summed up in one sentence: "Eat well, sleep well, and train hard..."
"Yep." Fly even gave a final nod to cap it off.
"What an incredibly unpretentious approach to cultivation," Celine couldn't help but chuckle.
It seemed this interview wasn't going to make any waves online after all.
Too ordinary, too bland.
Absolutely zero talking points.
"Just one last question," Celine said, maintaining her professional smile, while inwardly resolving to seize this final chance to stir up some buzz or controversy.
"During your match against Sun-Peak High's Jasper Locke, you said that Star City High's only goal this year is the championship."
"Is that true?"
Celine blinked playfully, a sly glint in her eyes.
Looking at the handsome, bashful boy next door standing in front of her, it was hard to imagine him spouting such a domineering declaration.
However...
Given how guarded his previous answers had been, he'd probably just beat around the bush or flat-out deny it when faced with this question, right?
Celine thought to herself.
But in the very next second...
Fly stated bluntly, "I did say that."
The moment those words left his mouth, a look of pleasant surprise lit up Celine's face. Perfect! This interview's engagement just got saved!
She could feel that the previously shy and bashful Fly had completely vanished, replaced by a Beast Warrior radiating an aura of sheer confidence.
"Haha..." After a brief pause, Celine chuckled and said, "I truly didn't expect you to have the guts to try and snatch The Jade State League championship right out from under the noses of those powerhouse prodigies."
"But then again, as a Beast Warrior, that's exactly the kind of ambition you should have!" she added.
"Snatch?" Fly raised an eyebrow.
What did she mean, "snatch" the championship from those powerhouses?
Perhaps in the eyes of others, those powerhouse schools possessed more cultivation resources, boasted stronger faculty, and offered exposure to a much wider world.
But in Fly's eyes, with the system backing him, he was the true protagonist of this world!
The competitive fire deep within Fly's bones was fully ignited by Celine's phrasing. He looked straight at her and declared with unabashed arrogance, "The championship is ours to begin with. They're the ones who have to 'snatch' it from us. In other words, they are the challengers."
"Huh?" Celine was stunned once again, a flush of pure excitement instantly spreading across her cheeks.
How was this a bashful boy next door?
This was clearly an unparalleled martial saint looking down on the mortal realm!
The other teams in The Jade State League were the challengers?
Sovereign High.
Willow High.
Sycamore High.
They were the challengers?
Fly's words were simply too domineering!
KPIs for this interview? In the bag!
In fact...
The very instant Fly finished speaking, the entire stadium went absolutely ballistic!
"Is this Fly really that arrogant? The Big Four of Martial Studies are the challengers? How dare he?"
"Where did he just single out the Big Four of Martial Studies? He clearly meant that every other Martial Studies High School is a challenger!"
"Hahaha, interesting! It's been a long time since I've seen such a brazen Beast Warrior."
"True, but then again, has there ever been a track record of sweeping every opponent in the group stages in the history of the league? Certainly hasn't happened in recent years, as far as I can remember."
"Anyone can talk big. Let's see him get past Sycamore High first."
"I'm actually starting to look forward to Star City High's next match."
"You go, little bro Fly! I'm rooting for you!"
"He's just a big fish in a small pond who has no idea how vast the world truly is. His arrogance stems from pure ignorance. Wait till he runs into those monsters from Sovereign High, he'll probably piss his pants."
"Just wait till he has to eat his words."
...
For a time, the spectator stands were ablaze with heated discussions.
While many people had high hopes for Fly's performance, quite a few felt he was simply too ignorant and far too arrogant.
Once the knockout stages kicked off tomorrow, he would realize just how foolish his words today truly were.
But regardless of how you looked at it...
Whether they favored Fly or doubted him.
Deep down, everyone was brimming with anticipation for tomorrow's knockout matches!
Meanwhile...
Inside the Star City High competitor waiting room.
Mr. Carter and Jett's jaws had dropped so far their mouths formed perfect "O"s.
Even Genevieve, 'Emperor' Valerius, and Dean Sterling had expressions of sheer awkwardness written all over their faces.
Claiming the championship was already in the bag, and that the other powerhouse schools were the challengers.
Where did he get the nerve!
Even if he truly thought that, he shouldn't just blurt it out so casually!
The pressure of the competition was already immense, and now, Star City High had painted a massive target on its back.
When the other schools faced Star City High, they would undoubtedly go all out, eager to teach them a brutal lesson.
Things had just gotten incredibly complicated. Wasn't this just dialing up the difficulty for themselves?
What's more, this was a live broadcast!
Wasn't practically everyone in the Jade State going to see this interview?
"Feels like if we lose, the sheer tsunami of backlash..." Mr. Carter swallowed hard, turning to look at Dean Sterling.
Dean Sterling's expression wasn't looking much better.
The two stared at each other, entirely at a loss for how to clean up this mess.
"From this point on, we absolutely cannot afford to lose a single match," Vic ground out, clenching his jaw so hard his gums were practically bleeding.