"I think I've heard of him too, but even so, he's only a 4th Grade student right now. How strong could he possibly be?"
"Yeah," the fat boy chimed in.
That person shook his head. "That's where you're wrong."
"Director Zhi Guan paid a huge price to poach him from the Kanto region."
"He's a super genius to begin with. His strength is no weaker than those older students."
"And since he can only reach 4th Grade by the time of the competition, otherwise, he might have already advanced to 5th Grade or even 6th Grade."
"I don't think that's possible. You think way too highly of him," a skinny boy said.
That person shook his head. "It's true. I heard in the forest today that a lot of people had fallen to him."
"Several 5th and 6th Grade senior students were among them."
"Is that true?" the others asked in surprise.
"I think Eichi has a very good chance of becoming the dark horse of this Cross-Country Race," that person said seriously.
"Hiss!!"
He was that impressive? After hearing that, several people remembered Eichi's name.
Eichi felt quite pleased to hear others praising him like that.
Besides those few, another group in the distance was also discussing him.
In the middle stretch of the river, several large tents had been set up together, with a group of 7th and 8th Grade students gathered there.
They were the top ten students of the 7th and 8th Grades, all extremely powerful. This time's rules had been set by them.
As for why they had so coincidentally gathered here, it had to be said that having participated once before was an advantage. They knew where the rivers were and could use them as places to rest at night.
They happened to know