Destroyer of Ice and Fire
Chapter 123: Group drawing
"Ayrin, donât tell me you donât even know that."
Moss said in a quiet voice, "Itâs precisely because dragons of pure lineage can take the forms of both a dragon and a human. The thing that sparked the War of the Dragons is that some Draconic scholars started to raise the opinion dragons were merely another form of man. In their point of view, there wasnât any hard evidence that could prove which form was the main form. They even thought that dragons were merely men with special bloodlines who could switch between two different forms. This was pulling the dragons that many people previously worshiped as gods down to the same level as ordinary people. In a nutshell, they only had a special bloodline. Thatâs why Ned, the most powerful among the dragons, the one men called the Evil Dragon King later on, couldnât bear it any longer, and ultimately launched the War of the Dragons to govern the other races as a ruler."
"Then, can Stingham also transform into a dragon?" Ayrin couldnât help but feel curious. He pointed at Stingham, and said in a hush, "Didnât teacher Carter say he had green dragon blood?"
"He could, in theory. His dragon bloodline shouldnât be low-level. That said, if itâs not a pure-blooded dragon bloodline, you can only transform into a dragon for a limited time and canât maintain it forever," Moss said.
"Isnât that very powerful then?" Ayrin couldnât help but mumble. If he hadnât seen with his own eyes that chief adviser called Angil switch between dragon- and human-form, he simply couldnât believe a man could enlarge into such a dragon.
"I heard that affinity for arcane power becomes better in dragon form. That means that when using the same arcane skill, the power would be a bit greater." Moss nodded. "Also, whatâs more important is that a dragonâs body is particularly huge⊠When the same arcane skill hits his body, the injury is comparatively smaller. His vitality seems even more tyrannical this way, he can take more of a beating."
"Thatâs right." Ayrin blinked. "If my Evil Flaming Eye hits a huge dragon like this, itâd be a small black hole at most probably."
At this moment, Angil said from the royal stands, "I am chief adviser Angil. I am very honored to be in charge of the drawing ceremony for the Hegemonical Cup of Starry Skies Braves this time."
"The reason I descended here in the form of a dragon isnât to display the might and prestige of dragon bloodlines. Itâs to make every participant think, if there were hundreds of dragons forming an army, if such an army were about to destroy the kingdom you protect, would you still have the courage to rush into battle with the other braves?"
"To serve or to die, to obtain the final victory through unyielding battles. To trade even your own life for your companionsâ survival, for victory in war. Whatâs true bravery, whatâs your mission? Those arcane masters who fought without regard for their own lives, what on earth were they trying to achieve? This is a problem we have to always keep in mind."
"To be afraid of responsibilities, to wait for someone else to fight for the kingdom without fighting yourself, this is pure selfishness. Thatâs why, from the very start, the vocation of an arcane master is to fight. Those of you who can stand in this place, youâre all bound to be the elite of the kingdom. Thatâs why I hope that, no matter on this field or hereafter, you can shoulder your mission and become a true brave warrior!"
"Believe me, as long as you always hold on tight to the conviction of an arcane master, from today on, men will remember your names sooner or later!"
One couldnât say that Eicheâs chief adviser Angil spoke that many words, but the entire arena became silent for a long time. Then cheers and applause soared like a tsunami.
In such a moving atmosphere, Angil declared with a faint smile the official start of the draw.
As soon as he heard the draw was starting, Stingham immediately couldnât help but shout, "Let me do the draw, Iâm the most handsome!"
"Weeds-level teams will be weeds-level teams. They donât even know that, theyâre even yelling about going to draw themselves." Mocking voices soon rose around them.
"Whatâs that supposed to mean?" Stingham looked around. He saw that the ones who spoke were from team Mountain Kings, the ones who came into the field after Rinsyi and co.
"He still doesnât understand what itâs about."
"What are you looking at, what an idiot." Several members of team Mountain Kings directly looked at Stingham with contemptuous eyes. From the shapes of their mouths, it was very easy to tell what they were whispering.
"What the hell is it with these guys? They actually keep trying to make trouble for us, do they want to die or what!" Stingham was so angry veins bulged on his forehead, to the point he wanted to charge their way.
Even Sophia couldnât stand it any longer. She couldnât help but explain in a whisper, "In this drawing ceremony, they donât need every team to send someone to represent them. The distinguished guests they invited over for the occasion will be the ones doing the drawing. These guests are all characters like the chief adviser, either important figures in various clans or leaders of the armies. Theyâre all arcane masters standing at the peak of the kingdom."
"It doesnât matter. Stingham, you acted very well, itâs enough to confuse the opponents," Belo, the one who most disliked Stingham, readjusted his glasses, and said with a straight serious face.
"I wasnât faking it!"
Gnashing his teeth, Stingham stared at the people from Mountain Kings Academy. "Even if I didnât know about it and said something wrong, so what? These guys have been staring at us from the beginning. We never provoked them, but they keep trying to find trouble for us! They actually have the gall to mock my incomparably wise handsome wargod self. I absolutely have to beat them up until they canât even recognize each other."
After swearing for a bit through clenched teeth, Stingham suddenly lifted both his hands and clasped them together in front of himself, looking especially pious.
"Stingham, what are you doing?" Ayrin couldnât stop himself from asking.
"Donât disturb me, Iâm praying," Stingham said with in all seriousness. "Iâm praying for the draw to put us directly together with team Mountain Kings, that weâll face them in the first match already."
"Hurry up, put us together with team Mountain Kings.
"Put us together with team Mountain Kings already!
"You have to put us together with team Mountain Kings!"
After answering Ayrin, Stingham once again started mumbling to himself, praying as hard as he could.
"Is that useful? He really doesnât need to fake anything to look like a big idiotâŠ" Many people in team Holy Dawn couldnât help such a thought from popping in their heads.
"Group one upper half, Dragon Breath Academy, Hornwood Academy, Cerwyn Academy, Square Castle AcademyâŠ"
Just at this time, everyone couldnât help but shake. In the royal stands, chief adviser Angil was already reading out loud the results of the draw.
The sixty-four teams that came from all over the kingdoms were divided among eight groups in the upper or lower halves.
"Upper half, group three, Silver Trout Academy, Acorn Academy, Harrenhal Academy, Mountain Kings Academy, Longtable Academy, Rapier Academy, Salt Armor Academy, Holy Dawn Academy!"
"What?"
When they heard about group three, everyone from Holy Dawn Academy was struck dumb, while Stingham suddenly cheered.
"Donât tell me the prayers were really useful?"
Moss was really speechless. "We really got drawn in the same group just like in his prayers?"
"Itâs really too miraculous!" The girls from Agate Lake Academy also stared blankly.
"Hurry hurry hurry. In the group stage, we have to face Mountain Kings Academy in our first match!"
"You have to let us face Mountain Kings Academy in our first match!"
"Gods of Doraster, hurry up and make us face Mountain Kings Academy in our first match!"
Stingham was already praying very devoutly at this time.
"Donât tell me this guyâs gonna be like a blind cat stumbling on a dead mouse and hit the mark again?"
Chris, Ayrin, Moss, and the others all looked at each other.
"Silver Trout Academy against Longtable Academy!"
"Acorn Academy against Rapier Academy!"
"Harrenhal Academy against Salt Armor Academy!"
"Mountain Kings Academy against Holy Dawn Academy!"
When they finished announcing the specific match-ups for the first three groups, everyone in Holy Dawn Academy and Agate Lake Academy had a blank foolish face.
That sort of coincidence really happened. Holy Dawn Academy really faced Mountain Kings Academy right for their first match!
"Ahahahaha!" After staring blankly for a few seconds, Stingham immediately laughed, wild with joy. "How about that. When it comes to my brilliant handsome wargod self, even my prayers are more useful than others!"
"âŠ"
"Did we really draw that weeds-level team?"
"Whatâs that fellow laughing for?"
On the other side, the people in team Mountain Kings hadnât come back to their senses yet.
"Ahahahaha!"
After a short time, all the members of team Mountain Kings started to laugh as well. "Our luckâs unexpectedly so great, we actually ran straight into a weeds-level team just like that!"
"Is that weeds-level team really dumb? Theyâre meeting us in the first match, but theyâre still happy over there."
"That bunch of guys is really excessive." Sophia frowned, looking at team Mountain Kings pleased beside themselves. "Even if they look down on someone, they should hide it at least. They donât even have the most basic of manners."
"Silver Trout Academyâs the seeded team?" Ayrin thought a while and asked, "I think itâs the team we saw just a bit ago, that team that wears silver school uniforms?"
"Thatâs right. You canât say the results of your draw are good, you canât say theyâre bad either. Luckâs average probably." Sophia nodded. "Team Silver Trout is ranked seventh. Breith Magazine ranks them as an outstanding team⊠You havenât run across the top three from last year, monster-level academies like Dragon Breath Academy, Abel Academy, or Golden Stag Academy. But you still have two strong veteran teams like Mountain Kings Academy and Harrenhal Academy."
"Luckâs not too great and not too bad either?" Ayrin nodded. "Next, we just have to wait for your group."
"Lower half group one, Golden Stag AcademyâŠ"
"Itâs Rinsyiâs school!" When they announced group one in the lower half, Ayrinâs eyes suddenly became stern and icy.
"Golden Stag Academy, Hawkmoon Academy, Orkmont Academy, Agate Lake AcademyâŠ"
"What!"
Ayrin, Sophia, and the others sucked in a deep breath at the same time.
As it happened, Agate Lake Academy was actually drawn together in the same group as Golden Stag Academy!
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