The new student gathering at Pearl Institute.
Recently enrolled students had packed into the school's enormous stadium.
Good grief! There were not only more than four thousand new students, but even more returning students from the school's other campus.
From the densely packed seats, the crowd looked like a swarm of ants, all gazing toward the stage.
Even the scattered voices of the students blended into a magnificent chorus.
Most eye-catching of all was the enormous creature beside the stage—nearly as large as a soccer field!
At that moment, the summoning department's contestants made their way down the passage.
"I've finally made it to the big stage. This is my first time."
The summoning department's king, Wang Jianghe, looked around.
Jiang Yu was also observing the four contestants from the summoning department.
The strongest among them was a Ghost Wolf at its mature stage, followed by a Flame Demon Giant at its adult stage.
Behind them were a Venomous Giant Lizard and a Three-Horned Python. Both were juvenile-stage creatures, and neither had much combat strength.
Just then, the four contestants from the summoning department turned toward Jiang Yu.
They knew that Jiang Yu's summoned creature was a living dragon.
They didn't know what it was, but it looked incredibly imposing. The summoning department's reputation rested on him.
At that moment, a dozen staff members around the stadium began broadcasting announcements.
"Students, please quiet down. I'm the dean of our academy, and I'll be presiding over this new student gathering."
The dean looked out at the students, whose faces brimmed with excitement, and spoke passionately:
"Once again, welcome to Pearl Institute, one of the most prestigious universities in the country!"
"But I have to warn you: those who slack off and wait for others to do the work will find themselves left behind."
"Everyone who walks out of Pearl Institute must be someone capable of changing the world!"
"And each of you has limitless potential! I believe in you!"
When the speech ended, the applause rolled through the stadium like waves.
Yan Yuhuang glanced at the cheering students around him. He, too, felt quite excited.
He had come here to see the world. Sure enough, Bo City was far too small...
As the applause began to die down, the dean continued:
"I believe you'll all have a wonderful opportunity to work together."
"I'm looking forward to it!"
"Now, let me introduce the five contestants from the summoning department."
With that, the five stepped forward.
Led by Jiang Yu, they walked out into the middle of the stadium.
All the spotlights in the venue fell on them.
Jiang Yu looked around at the people with all kinds of expressions.
He couldn't help thinking: This feels so cool!
"Want to become the focus of everyone's attention? Want access to all kinds of resources?"
"Challenge them! Defeat these five summoning department contestants, and you'll become the focus of everyone's attention."
The dean raised his voice.
The students' excitement was stirred up, and their cheers seemed ready to shake the sky.
Tens of thousands of eyes gleamed as they fixed on the five people at the center.
In the southwest corner of the stadium, a few unfriendly gazes also turned toward the striking young man in the middle.
"So that's Jiang Yu? You actually lost to him?"
A hot-tempered young man laughed.
"That was just an accident," Yan Yuhuang replied through gritted teeth.
Ever since he'd failed to beat Jiang Yu, he'd become a laughingstock among their circle.
"All right. Just wait. I'll teach him a lesson."
The hot-tempered young man spoke with confidence.
He wanted everyone to know that even at Pearl Institute, the people from their family could still crush the competition!
At that moment, a tall man with a sinister expression and a murderous aura spoke up:
"I'll make sure those country bumpkins understand that the people who brag too much usually end up at the bottom."
"Don't go dreaming about climbing to the top. Even if they make it through, they'll still be under our family's thumb."
The young men from the various families laughed dismissively at his words.
Although the man's words were vicious, what he said wasn't entirely unreasonable.
What drew even more attention, though, was Jiang Yu's striking appearance.
A beautiful girl sat upright nearby.
Her hair fell in dark waves, framing a face as lovely as a fairy's. Her delicate features were refined, and she carried an air of elegant nobility.
Quite a few people around her secretly glanced at the unusually beautiful girl.
But those furtive gazes were soon met by a glare from the girl sitting beside her.
When the girl saw Jiang Yu step onto the stage, she tugged excitedly at the beautiful girl beside her and said:
"Yuxin, look at that person! He's so handsome!"
"I think his name is Jiang Yu..."
Ding Yuxin gave a faint smile, as gentle and graceful as a lotus. She glanced at Huang Xingya and replied:
"Oh, he is quite handsome."
Huang Xingya's eyes sparkled as she gazed at Jiang Yu.
Ding Yuxin, however, was a little puzzled. Her immense mental strength had sensed something unusual about Jiang Yu.
Of the five contestants from the summoning department, none had the same confidence Jiang Yu did.
Even the gloomy, dark-haired young man, Wang Jianghe, was trembling.
He muttered under his breath:
"Damn it. That's way too much of a show for our summoning department."
"If I screw this up, we'll be a laughingstock."
After the five had finished showing off, they stepped down.
The other four contestants glanced at the calm, composed Jiang Yu.
Their hearts finally settled a little.
At least Jiang Yu's here. There's nothing to worry about.
The dean announced the start of the challenge.
Wang Jianghe nervously looked toward the mature Ghost Wolf beside him.
He couldn't help thinking that the summoning department's combat strength was nowhere near that of the other students.
Their five-person group simply couldn't compete with the others.
They were up against twenty people, and with the Ghost Wolf already exhausted, it was defeated by a contestant from the ice-element magic department.
The Flame Demon Giant in second place drew quite a few gasps from the crowd.
It was already an adult, after all, and elemental creatures were usually much stronger than ordinary summoned beasts.
Unfortunately, the ice-element and water-element magic departments had teamed up to take it down.
The remaining three contestants didn't last much longer.
They were taken out almost immediately.
"The other side has joined forces and brought forty people. They'll have to send up sixty just to be sure they can take down all five of us."
He looked toward Jiang Yu at last. All the summoning department's hopes were resting on him now.
"Give it your best!"
"Yeah!"
Jiang Yu nodded, then walked toward the center of the arena.
The stadium was filled with cheers and excitement.
"Is this year's summoning department especially weak? This may be the smallest crowd of contestants we've seen in the past decade at Pearl Institute."
A dean standing nearby expressed his own opinion.
The dean said nothing, but he looked forward to seeing what the young man would do.
The new students were curious to see exactly what the person who had made it to the end could do.
The arena fell quiet.
Behind Jiang Yu, a moon-white star pattern appeared.
Space split open, and a small shadow darted through the rift.
It was a little black dragon.
The entire stadium was silent for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Come on, that counts as a summoned creature? I thought he'd show us something more impressive!"
"Even the assistant dean's summoned beast could beat that thing!"
"There's no way a little summoned creature like that can beat a whole team from the summoning department!"
"Are the summoning department's resources really being wasted on this?"
Countless jeers and insults filled the air.
After all, everyone knew one thing about summoned beasts: the bigger they were, the stronger they were, and the smaller they were, the weaker they were!
The little dragon seemed able to sense the hostility around it. It looked at them with an innocent, puzzled expression.
Jiang Yu wasn't someone who would simply let that go either.
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