Chapter 206: Entering the Secret Realm, Cheating is Awesome

Finally, ten minutes passed.

As the morning sun officially rose above the horizon, Chen Shouzheng’s booming voice rang out:

"The Academy Competition officially begins now!"

"You will now enter the Secret Realm in order of your rankings from the last Academy Competition!"

"First up... the Array Academy."

The moment his voice faded.

The competing students from the Array Academy strode forward, heads held high with pride, and stopped before the Secret Realm entrance.

The entrance to the "Shadowland" Secret Realm was a black, swirling wormhole hovering above the ground.

Wang Haichen led the charge. He stood before the wormhole, struck a confident pose for the camera, and then leaped in.

Soon, all the teams had gone in. It was finally the Beast Taming Academy’s turn.

Chu Sheng didn’t go in first. Instead, he waited for all his teammates to enter before casually strolling in himself.

And with that, the Academy Competition truly began.

On the main field, the upper-right corner of the large screen began to display the real-time total points for the seven academies.

Currently, all seven academies had 0 points.

So, how were the total points calculated?

When Demon Beasts reach the Fourth-Grade Realm, they form Inner Cores of varying sizes and shapes within their bodies, and the Demon Beasts in the Shadowland were no exception.

Points were calculated based on the Inner Cores that teams obtained from slaying Demon Beasts.

No!

To be precise, points were calculated based on the Inner Cores a team possessed—regardless of whether they were obtained by slaying Demon Beasts or by snatching them from other people.

A Fourth-Grade Early Stage Demon Beast Core was worth 1 point, Middle Stage was 2 points, and Late Stage was 3 points.

A Fifth-Grade Early Stage Demon Beast Core was worth 4 points, Middle Stage was 5 points, and Late Stage was 6 points.

A Sixth-Grade Early Stage Demon Beast Core was worth 10 points, Middle Stage was 15 points, and Late Stage was 20 points.

As for Seventh-Grade Demon Beasts... none had ever been discovered in the Shadow Secret Realm, and there was no record of one being slain in any previous Academy Competition.

Besides, a Seventh-Grade Demon Beast was a High Grade Realm existence, far beyond what these students could possibly handle.

Nevertheless, a point value was still provided:

A Seventh-Grade Demon Beast Core: 100 points!

...

「Inside the Shadow Secret Realm.」

Everyone was randomly teleported to different locations within the Secret Realm.

The moment Su Li landed, her face went pale and she began to throw up. Random teleportation was still a form of spatial travel, and while most people felt a bit dizzy upon arrival, Su Li... was particularly sensitive.

She gritted her teeth and steadied herself against a tree trunk, warily scanning her surroundings.

Little did she know, a pair of pitch-black eyes was staring down at her from above.

BEEP.

Suddenly, a soft sound came from the watch on her wrist.

It was the first global coordinate reveal!

During a coordinate reveal, every contestant’s watch displayed the locations of all other participants, with each academy’s coordinates shown in a different color.

This reveal mechanism would repeat every hour. Its purpose was to encourage the contestants to "hunt" one another. Because of this system, you couldn’t lay low even if you wanted to.

Su Li stared nervously at the screen. There was a surprising number of coordinates near her, which meant quite a few contestants had been teleported to this area.

The Beast Taming Academy’s coordinates were black. Su Li quickly located the nearest black dot and immediately set off toward it.

’I should find a teammate to regroup with first.’

’I wonder if it’s the Divine Locust...’

...

「Meanwhile, on the main field.」

Suddenly, an elimination alert blared from the screen’s speakers.

"The first eliminated contestant has appeared!"

UPROAR!

The field instantly erupted in an uproar.

"What? It’s been less than a minute and someone’s already been eliminated?"

"Which academy are they from?"

The crowd immediately glued their eyes to the large screen, which was already showing a replay of the elimination.

It turned out a student from the Elixir Academy had been extremely unlucky, getting teleported to the inner region of the Secret Realm right at the start.

The moment he landed, he was ambushed by a Peak of Fifth-Grade Demon Beast lying in wait.

Fortunately, his Combat Suit’s Guardian Aura automatically activated. The student only suffered minor injuries, but it also meant he was officially eliminated without having earned a single point.

The replay ended. On-screen, the student was being hauled away by a teacher toward the Secret Realm Exit, his face a mask of utter dejection.

"Man... talk about rotten luck."

"Yeah, a Peak of Fifth-Grade Demon Beast is tough enough as it is, but getting ambushed the second you land? Who could possibly survive that?"

"Over before it even began. That’s just brutal!"

"He’s from the Elixir Academy, so they’re already down one person. Things just got tougher for them... It’s over. The Elixir Academy isn’t going to end up in last place, are they? This is the team led by the Future Empress, after all."

"Heh, you’re overthinking it. Last place? Not a chance. As long as the Beast Taming Academy is in the running, the Elixir Academy will be second-to-last at worst."

"Haha, good point. That’s a relief."

...

「Inside the Shadow Secret Realm.」

That unlucky student wasn’t the only one teleported into the inner region.

There was also... Chu Sheng.

In fact, Chu Sheng’s position was even closer to the core region than that other student’s.

The space within the Shadowland was enormous, even larger than all of Hong Kong Island. This was the magic of Secret Realms. Though Hong Kong Island itself was small, it contained a vast number of these pocket dimensions.

If one were to include the space within all its Secret Realms, Hong Kong Island’s total area would likely be dozens of times larger than its physical footprint.

The entire Shadowland was divided into three zones: the outer region, the inner region, and the core region. The primary distinction between them was the Grade of the Demon Beasts that populated them.

The outer region was mostly home to Demon Beasts of Fourth-Grade and below. The inner region contained mostly Fourth and Fifth-Grades, along with some Sixth-Grade Early Stage beasts. The core region, however, held beasts from Sixth-Grade Early Stage and up, including Middle Stage and even Peak Sixth-Grade creatures.

To avoid disrupting the Secret Realm’s ecosystem, the teachers from Hong Kong Island University had never conducted a full-scale, forced exploration of the core region. As a result, many parts of it remained uncharted.

During the Academy Competition, students were generally advised against entering the core region, especially not venturing deep inside it.

Otherwise, they did so at their own peril.

Chu Sheng felt no discomfort upon landing.

He didn’t immediately look at his watch. Instead, he directly activated [Nether Vision]!

Upgraded to Level 8, his Nether Vision now had a coverage of 20,000 meters. Instantly, a massive field of perception spread out in a radius with Chu Sheng at its center.

Within this 20,000-meter radius, Chu Sheng could use the Instant Teleportation Ability of his [Boundless Wings] to arrive precisely at any location in an instant.

This was a true cheat!

Chu Sheng closed his eyes and began to rapidly scan the 20,000-meter area with his "God’s Perspective."

A 20,000-meter radius was an enormous area, but the Shadowland was far, far larger. Therefore, even Chu Sheng’s Nether Vision couldn’t cover the entire inner region—not by a long shot.

’One... two... three...’ Chu Sheng first counted the number of contestants within his perception. ’Only three. It seems most people really were teleported to the outer region.’

But Chu Sheng wasn’t concerned with the other contestants, not even those from the Beast Taming Academy.

If they got eliminated, so be it. Chu Sheng wasn’t going to worry about them for the time being.

What he was really focused on was the number of Demon Beasts nearby!

’One... two... three... forty-five, sixty... ninety-nine...’ ’Holy shit! Just within a two-thousand-meter radius, there are nearly a hundred Demon Beasts! And they’re all Fifth-Grade or higher!’

’Isn’t this a jackpot!’

Chu Sheng had been wanting to slay some Demon Beasts to level up his minions in the Nether Flame Insect Nest, but he’d been stuck at the Beast Taming Academy with no opportunity to do so.

Well, now fortune had come knocking! Chu Sheng immediately flew toward the nearest Demon Beast.

’By killing these Demon Beasts, I can absorb their Life Energy and get Inner Cores for points. It’s killing two birds with one stone!’

However, Chu Sheng quickly discovered... that he had been far too optimistic!!!