Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

Chapter 324: Mentor Arena and Elimination Tournament Format

The match had been over for a while, but the many spectators below the stage still wore expressions of astonishment.

What had just happened in that match was truly too shocking and extraordinary.

The Lix Kingdom, as a large kingdom, was widely known for its formidable strength. Even the academies of the Empire, except for the top two, wouldn't dare to look down on them.

For such a powerful academy to lose to a small kingdom was already enough to make people's eyes pop out—it was absolutely the biggest upset in the many years since the Academy Grand Competition began. Not to mention they were completely crushed by a Half-Orc, and the other side didn't even seem to have taken it seriously...

If you told people about this, no one would dare believe it; most would think they had lost their minds.

Yet this was the fact that had just unfolded before their eyes not long ago.

The Doria Kingdom was about to cause a major upset!

Leaving aside the shock of the crowd below, even within the Doria Kingdom's Royal National Academy team, the students were currently looking bewildered.

Previously, knowing this match was against the Lix Kingdom, a large kingdom, they hadn't held any hope of winning. They thought it best not to go on stage and humiliate themselves...

As it turned out, they indeed didn't go on stage, but what happened before their eyes directly shattered their worldview.That usually silly-looking Half-Orc was actually so fierce? The geniuses of the Lix Kingdom were like children in front of her, easily handled.

Thus, they couldn't help but start to recall if they had ever offended this elder sister.

Fortunately, Ellie had rarely interacted with them before, so they hadn't even had the chance to offend her.

Flora, as the supervisor, was also somewhat surprised.

Of course, she knew Ellie wasn't weak. She had already been promoted to Elite Level before departure, and with that treasure plus Lin Mo's help awakening the bloodline within her, her strength had increased dramatically again, so Flora had confidence in her.

But after that, Ellie hadn't made a move, so Flora wasn't clear on exactly how strong Ellie was now.

Originally, she thought Ellie would most likely be able to take care of all the opponents except their ace, and could also have a bout with that Warren, but whether she could win was still uncertain in her mind.

After all, Warren's reputation was well-established; his talent was in no way inferior to her own, a once-in-a-century genius for the kingdom. Plus, coming from a large kingdom with a prominent family background, his strength was such that even if Flora herself went up, she estimated it would be hard to win easily.

But judging by Ellie's performance, it seemed she hadn't even exerted much effort... So her current strength had already surpassed her own?

Forcing down the shock in her heart, Flora couldn't help but recall when she first met her—this Half-Orc was just an adventurer with mediocre talent back then.

How much time had passed? How could such a huge change have occurred?

Including Finnie too... Although she knew this girl, who was like a younger sister to her, had extremely strong talent, possibly even surpassing her own, her current leveling speed was still unbelievably fast.

Flora pondered for a moment, her gaze finally settling on Lin Mo.

No need to guess; it definitely had something to do with this guy.

But what method could make their strength improve so rapidly?

Flora was utterly perplexed, but then she noticed Eve's gaze was also fixed on Lin Mo, carrying a hint of hesitation and contemplation.

It seems her thoughts are the same as mine...

Flora remembered that Eve had been in frequent contact with Lin Mo and the others recently and had even explored a Secret Realm alone with Lin Mo.

Does she know something?

It's no wonder Flora thought so much; the speed of Lin Mo and the others' improvement was simply too unbelievable. Anyone would find it hard to stay calm.

If he really had some miraculous method, then what about herself...

Leaving aside Eve and Flora, each with their own thoughts, the representative from the Lix Kingdom side was currently both shocked and furious. However, having just lost face so badly, they ultimately had no dignity left and could only note this matter for now, to settle accounts later.

"Doria Kingdom, huh... Hmph, you'd better make it into the elimination rounds!"

Even though they lost this time, they still didn't regard the Doria Kingdom as a major rival on par with the other great kingdoms or the Empire's top two academies.

The reason was simple...

During the group stage, everyone fought individually. If a true prodigy emerged, there might indeed be some possibility of an upset. But in the elimination tournament, it wouldn't just be students or mentors taking the stage; it would be a mixed battle with both mentors and students together.

Those geniuses from the Doria Kingdom indeed had astonishing talent, even comparable to the top geniuses of the Empire, but...

What about their mentors?

In a small place like the Doria Kingdom, the higher the level, the slower the strength improvement becomes due to resource scarcity.

For mentors under 30 years old in small kingdoms, reaching level 15 is already quite an achievement. But in large kingdoms and empires like theirs, they have Transcendent Level mentors overseeing things.

That Half-Orc, Lin Mo—no matter how dazzling they are now, once they enter the elimination tournament, they ultimately won't be able to stir up much trouble in front of Transcendent Level Powerful Experts.

That being said, from another perspective, for a small country like the Doria Kingdom, being able to defeat them in the group stage and break into the elimination tournament was already a tremendous surprise.

The Lix Kingdom had ultimately become the stepping stone for their fame-making victory.

Listening to the endless stream of discussions and exclamations around him, he could no longer stay there and hurriedly led the students away.

......

The news of the Doria Kingdom Academy's stunning upset victory over the Lix Kingdom's First Academy spread throughout the entire Imperial Academy at an extremely fast pace.

Almost every academy participating in the competition quickly learned of this unprecedented, earth-shattering upset. At the same time, Ellie's name spread along with it. Everyone now knew that the Doria Kingdom didn't just have a hidden Lin Mo; they also had a Half-Orc who was even more formidable than him.

After that, the Doria Kingdom Academy's subsequent matches could all be described as smooth sailing.

The remaining 11 matches that day, including the 13 matches on the second day, were all won without much suspense.

Lin Mo didn't even need to make a move anymore. As long as Ellie stood on the stage, the students from other academies either surrendered directly or took a beating and then surrendered.

Of course, due to some rumors with a misleading nature, Lin Mo rested for a few matches but still went up to make an appearance, displaying strength similar to people's previous impression of him—that is, around level 13 Swift Warrior.

Because of Ellie's presence, almost no one paid attention to him now.

A few individuals did recall that at the end of the Hunting Competition, Lin Mo's score had suddenly increased exponentially, which didn't seem possible for a level 13. But upon careful thought, the situation was already chaotic by then. It was possible it was just a little trick by the Doria Kingdom, feeding him points to prevent the prepared rewards from falling into others' hands.

Thus, the information about the Doria Kingdom's mysterious contestants gradually became clear.

Eve was confirmed to be close to Elite Level, Sherfilia was confirmed as a level 11 Elite Level Assassin, Lin Mo was confirmed as a level 13 Swift Warrior, and Ellie was a level 15 strength-type Warrior, but with astonishing speed, almost comparable to an Elite Level Assassin.

After two days of matches, the situation for the elimination tournament was basically clear... The reason it was "basically" was, of course, because the mentors' matches hadn't started yet.

The final day of the group stage was for battles between mentors. The rules were the same as for students, but because there were fewer mentors, they could finish within a single day.

The mentors' victory points counted as half of the students', meaning a full win would only yield 13.5 points. But this couldn't be ignored either; it could very well cause the current standings to change again.

Of course, even so, the hearts of the Doria Kingdom team were steady and calm.

After all, they had achieved the astonishing feat of a full victory in the student arena matches over the first two days, currently ranking first in their group with a full 26 points!

Even if the mentors lost all their arena matches, they would still securely make it into the top 8 and advance to the elimination tournament.

For a small kingdom, this had already exceeded their goal for this trip.

So these past few days, Elvish had been wearing a cheerful, smiling expression.

As for going further... like winning another match in the elimination tournament and entering the top 16, that was asking too much. While not absolutely impossible, it would depend on luck.

The list of 32 academies in the elimination tournament wasn't all from large kingdoms or empires; there were also a few from medium-sized kingdoms.

If luck was good enough to encounter these few, there was indeed a bit of a chance.

The mentors in these medium-sized kingdoms weren't much stronger than Flora and the others, only one or two levels higher. Two kingdoms had mentors whose highest was only level 17. On their side, among mentors close to 30 years old, there were some who had reached level 16, so they might not be unbeatable.

It just depended on whether they would have that kind of luck.

Lin Mo sat in the spectator stands, watching the matches on stage with great interest.

Having fought on stage for two days (though he hadn't gone up many times in total), suddenly becoming a spectator was actually quite interesting.

Flora's talent was undeniable, but she was still somewhat young, having just graduated not long ago. She was at a bit of a disadvantage in a competition with an age limit of 30.

Some mentors from other kingdoms were seven or eight years older than her, with more resources available daily, so their strength was naturally greater than hers.

Especially when facing opponents like the Lix Kingdom...

Because they lost to the Doria Kingdom in the student arena matches earlier and suffered great humiliation, the Lix Kingdom was going all out, intending to teach them a lesson.

Fortunately, Flora and the others weren't foolish. They first fought a few younger mentors to test the waters. When the other side started sending out their tough characters, they very wisely surrendered directly, not giving them any chance for revenge, which infuriated the Lix Kingdom mentors.

But from these mentor arena matches, the gap between them and the mentors from medium and large kingdoms was already apparent.

In the end, out of 26 matches, they only won 5 and lost 21.

Their final ranking naturally slipped down to the middle position of 4th place in the group.

After the matches ended, these mentors were all dejected, somewhat unable to hold their heads high.

After all, their own students had achieved a full victory, but they had dragged the team down, giving back the points. It was really quite embarrassing.

But there was no time for them to be disheartened. The Academy Grand Competition schedule was very tight. Starting tomorrow, it would be the true white-hot stage of the competition: the elimination tournament!

The elimination tournament consisted of five rounds, single-elimination format. One match decided victory or defeat, depending not only on strength but also heavily on luck.

If luck was bad and they encountered the champion early, even with strong strength, they might be eliminated prematurely.

Of course, the competition format had some avoidance mechanisms for this.

The top two from each group would not meet in the first round, which was a bit of a reward for their group stage performance.

"Regarding the elimination tournament, I'll briefly explain..."

Elvish looked at the students before him. Even now, he still felt a sense of unreality.

A representative from a small kingdom, perpetually at the bottom, had actually broken through and entered the elimination tournament.

"For the elimination tournament draw, aside from the first-round avoidance system which doesn't concern us, everything else is random. So... the probability of drawing a strong opponent is extremely high. If we really encounter an opponent that's difficult to defeat, everyone just needs to do their best and display our style. There's no need to feel too much pressure."

After comforting them, Elvish began to talk about the main matter: "In the elimination tournament, unlike the previous group stage, it's no longer an arena format but a mixed battle format!"

"At the start of each match, all 10 students will directly take the field for a mixed battle. When the match time exceeds 10 minutes, or when the number of injured students leaving the field on one side reaches 3, one mentor will enter the field. If the time exceeds 20 minutes or the number leaving the field exceeds 5, two more mentors will enter. Finally, when the time exceeds 30 minutes, or the number of students leaving the field exceeds 7, the last two mentors will also enter the field."

So that's how it is...

Lin Mo pondered with interest. This format was quite interesting.

It allowed mentors to participate but also gave students sufficient opportunity to perform. This way, even if they lost due to weaker mentor strength, at least they could display their own talent and strength, preventing geniuses from being buried.

"Then, if those large kingdoms let their strongest mentors enter the field from the start, wouldn't weak kingdoms still be unable to fight?"

Milun asked.

"That's why the order in which mentors enter the field is also according to their levels. The two strongest mentors on one side must be the last to enter."

Elvish quickly answered this question and added, "Also, if the first mentor to enter is defeated, the next two mentors can immediately enter the field. Similarly, if those two mentors are defeated, the final two mentors will also immediately take the stage."

Afterwards, Elvish explained some rules and details in more depth and repeatedly comforted them, managing expectations to prevent them from being too devastated if they lost later.

After all, this time, their Doria Kingdom Royal National Academy had indeed risen too high, too quickly.

Taking too big a step wasn't always a good thing.

"Alright, it's getting late. Everyone hurry back and rest... Tomorrow morning, the elimination tournament begins."