CUAA, Qualifiers Begin (2-in-1)

"I saw it, thank you," Bai Xiaowen said calmly, but there was no smile on her face.

The contract that Sister Zheng spearheaded with Bai Xiaowen clearly stipulated that once Bai Xiaowen started live streaming, she could apply for a featured spot—there are a total of ten featured spots in the Awakener live streaming category, so as long as there is coordination, there is no problem in not being able to squeeze out a featured spot.

Fu Qiu was just using platitudes; Bai Xiaowen naturally understood his true meaning. He even imagined a conversation in his mind:

--No matter how handsome or charismatic you are, or how good your live stream is, so what? If my platform management doesn't recommend you, you won't have any viewers.

--Are platform management so great?

--Yeah, that's how arrogant the platform's management is. (If you keep talking, they'll ban your livestream!)

Fu Qiu smiled and said, "Bai Xiaowen, I have high hopes for you. Actually, Manager Liang should have contacted you this time, but that wouldn't have shown the sincerity of me and the platform, so I contacted you personally. I hope you understand."

"Of course I understand." Bai Xiaowen tilted her head.

"Then Saturday night at eight o'clock..."

"I'm not going," Bai Xiaowen said bluntly.

"..." Fu Qiu was silent for a moment after being rebuked, then forced a smile and said, "Bai Xiaowen, it's not nice to be so disrespectful."

"No."

"... Why?"

"The stated reason is that I don't like being treated like a fool, especially by women," Bai Xiaowen said slowly. "As for the deeper reason... well, the stated reason is enough. Goodbye, Vice President Fu, have a good day!"

Fu Qiu was about to speak again when he heard a "ding-dong" sound, and the call ended.

In the spacious hotel room, Fu Qiu shook his head and tossed his phone onto the table. "This is utterly unreasonable, completely out of control."

Fu Hong, dressed in a suit, walked over. "I've said it before, this 'slap followed by a sweet treat' approach isn't suitable for everyone."

Fu Qiu: "I thought that someone capable of obtaining Hero Class would at least be a bit more mature. Giving me these superficial and deeper reasons is just pure arrogance. What good will this breakup do him?"

"Bai Xiaowen is already a Level 4 Hero Class, right?" Fu Hong suddenly changed the subject, saying with admiration, "He's leveled up so fast."

Fu Qiu sneered, "So what? Compared to Ling Feng, he's worthless!"

"You're spouting nonsense again. Does Hero Class require participating in a league to have any value?"

Fu Hong shook his head. "Venturing into the Wilderness Zone and the Spirit Realm is also where the value of an awakened being lies. Besides, the guild has created a file on Bai Xiaowen, and after studying it, we found that he might be able to compete in the league, but he's just not as good as the tank-type Hero Class Ling Feng. However, how many Ling Feng have there been in Jinghai City in recent years?"

After a pause, Fu Hong added, "And he also has the talent to create perfect-grade potions, which is rather terrifying."

Fu Qiu glanced at Fu Hong: "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Don't you understand what I mean, my dear sister?" Fu Hong chuckled. "So what if a genius like him has an excessive sense of pride, or even if he's a little arrogant? He has the right to be."

"You still want to recruit him?" Fu Qiu said coldly, "I'm afraid he won't agree."

"Yes, he won't agree," Fu Hong with a hint of melancholy. "After all, Li Beihai has hooked up with an only daughter. That gorilla really does learn from his mistakes. Back then, Ling Feng was lured in by your charm, sister..."

"Shut up, or I'll slap you."

Fu Hong wisely shut up, then thought for a moment and smiled, "Sister, I have an idea..."

Taoran Residence.

Li Shuyi took off her virtual reality headset, her face flushed, looking very happy.

"Xiao Wen, I've reached Silver Tier."

"Yes, congratulations." Bai Xiaowen said with a smile. He didn't mention Fu Qiu's matter.

"I feel like my strength has improved a lot since I came back from the Kane Plane," Li Shuyi said happily. "Especially that +7 golden one-handed sword, it's so useful when dealing with Awakened Ones. It doesn't seem to absorb much Life Value, but it's surprisingly effective at crucial moments."

Following Bai Xiaowen, the beautiful Li gained quite a few benefits during her month-long Kane Plane.

Moreover, her advancement from level 3 to level 4 is not as simple as just leveling up; it represents progress from Beginner Awakened to Intermediate Awakened. The newly added passive skill "Thunder Mark" alone has further enhanced Li Shuyi's damage output.

Li Shuyi's advancement to the Silver Tier rank wasn't the limit of her skill. Just like Bai Xiaowen, today's ranked match was merely a warm-up.

With the CUAA qualifiers approaching this weekend, the match schedule for the first round of the Jianghai Division has finally been released.

Jinghai University's first-round opponent is Jinling University!

In everyone's eyes, this battle was extremely crucial.

Jiangnan University has always been the top team in the Jianghai Division. With Qi Ruifeng on the team, their strength is overwhelming, and they are basically guaranteed a spot in the next round.

The other qualifying spot is the target of competition among the other five universities. Among these five universities, Jinling University, which produced a new Hero Class, Jiang Yi last year, is the biggest competitor.

If they can beat Jinling University, they'll be halfway to the next round. Similarly, if they lose... well, they're basically doomed.

Over the weekend, Bai Xiaowen gathered the University Team members for a short training session.

With less than a week left until the CUAA Jianghai Division Qualifiers, most of the University Team's main players are still training separately. They only have one real team match, which is against the original University Team members led by Liu Fei.

Bai Xiaowen checked the strength of the University Team members and was somewhat disappointed by the results. The improvement of the University Team members was not significant, with only two people advancing to the next level: Xiang Hui and Feng Zi'ang. During the month that Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi had been adventuring in the Spirit Realm, they had also each gone to the Spirit Realm once and both had advanced to the crucial level 4.

Bai Xiaowen specifically asked about Han Xu's situation. As the team's main tank, Han Xu had a pretty good piece of Gold Equipment in his Storage Space [Earthwalker Dragon Bone Plate Armor], but his strength was 4 points too low, so he couldn't equip it for the time being.

Han Xu also has a bottle of perfect-grade Ruby's Might Enhancement Potion. If the enhancement is successful, he can wear this equipment, which will greatly improve his survivability and defense.

Han Xu replied that he hadn't taken it yet, as he was worried about failure. His plan was to try taking the potion after reaching level 5 and breaking through to 10 points in spirit.

The Enhancement Potion has a side effect of doubling the pain with each use. This is Han Xu's fourth attempt at enhancement. If it fails, the pain level for the fifth enhancement will reach an alarming level; basically, he shouldn't even consider it before reaching 20 points of mental strength. His caution is understandable.

Fortunately, Han Xu's combat experience has already filled the experience bar for leveling up to level 5. He is trying to acquire a Spirit Realm Ticket and go to the Spirit Realm to level up in the near future.

Although the main members of the University Team haven't improved much, Bai Xiaowen isn't too worried about the qualifying rounds or even the subsequent CUAA main tournament. This is because he and Li Shuyi have made tremendous progress in the past month.

The battle with Kawahara Nobue, the awakened Japan warrior, where Bai Xiaowen defeated a level 5 Hero Class and still had energy left, further confirmed his strength. It wasn't that Kawahara Nobue was too weak, but rather that Bai Xiaowen had become too strong!

Looking at the information sheets of the five team members, Bai Xiaowen, after a long period of thought, proposed several different tactics. In the remaining days, he would practice the tactics with the main players, while the substitute players would be the only ones to practice with.

Fortunately, it was just a simulation exercise, so the main team couldn't go all out; otherwise, Bai Xiaowen alone could have easily defeated the entire reserve team...

Even with restraint, the substitute team was still utterly defeated. Chen Guowei complained about this several times.

Bai Xiaowen didn't comfort him; in fact, Chen Guowei was indeed a bit lazy. Xiang Hui, who was at the same level as him, had already advanced to level 4 and become Intermediate Awakened, while Chen Guowei was still stuck at level 3...

Bai Xiaowen threatened Chen Guowei, urging him to hurry up and improve his strength, whether he went to the Wilderness Zone or the Spirit Realm. There was only one month left before the University Team assessment, and if he remained stagnant, he would have to give up his substitute position—after all, Yan Xiaoxin was the one who made the most progress among the assessment members.

Chen Guowei's complaints were just empty words. After being intimidated by Bai Xiaowen, he became quiet and dared not complain or slack off during training.

Actually, Bai Xiaowen had considerable influence with Yan Xiaoxin regarding the University Team member evaluation. He only needed to mention it, and Yan Xiaoxin would definitely give him face and let Chen Guowei stay on the team. However, Bai Xiaowen did not want to help Chen Guowei in this way. Since he had embarked on this path, there was no room for comfort.

Before the match day, the main team finally managed to practice their tactics quite well.

The second weekend after Bai Xiaowen's return, the day of the match.

The competition venue was chosen to be the S-01 underground Psionic Training Ground at Jinghai University, while the audience gathered in the auditorium to watch the match on a large screen.

It was just a qualifying round, so it didn't attract many people; the majority of the audience were students from Jinghai University. There were also a few dozen students from Jinling University who came specifically to Jinghai University to cheer on their University Team.

However, for the media, this battle held extraordinary significance. It was clear to everyone that this opening match would largely determine which university would secure the second qualifying spot!

What's more, there are two young, Hero Class students leading the charge.

Bai Xiaowen needs no introduction. Strongest Top Scholar in History, Hero Tier in the defense of Jinghai Base City, and a genius teenager with C-Tier World Fame... His popularity has been rising recently, obviously due to the promotion of the young master of medics, which has added another layer of halo to Bai Xiaowen.

Jiang Yi is also quite a spectacle. Since his successful Class Change, he has never revealed his profession in public. Apart from a few people at Jinling University, no one knows what his abilities are.

Moreover, Jiang Yi's confidence in an interview more than a month ago only added to the intrigue.

Therefore, the opening match still attracted some media from Jinghai City and Jinling City. Although there were fewer than ten people including reporters and photographers, it was still a considerable number.

Both teams appeared together at the front of the auditorium, with flashbulbs going off frequently.

Jinghai Daily reporter Wei Xiaoxiao, like a lively little deer, led the photographer through the crowd:

Hello, Bai Xiaowen.

"Hello, Sister Wei, is your internship over yet?" Bai Xiaowen has a remarkably good memory.

"Almost there!" Wei Xiaoxiao was delighted that Bai Xiaowen remembered her. "Bai Xiaowen, how confident are you about winning this competition?"

"One hundred percent certainty."

"Wow, so confident?" This answer stunned Wei Xiaoxiao and the reporters from the other two companies, but excitement followed.

A reporter squeezed through the crowd and asked, "Bai Xiaowen, Jinling University has a Hero Class Jiang Yi. What do you think your chances of winning against him are?"

Bai Xiaowen smiled, "Since I'm 100% confident of winning this opening match, then facing Jiang Yi is naturally also 100% certain of victory."

"Isn't Bai Xiaowen a little too confident?" another reporter from Jinling Evening News said with some dissatisfaction.

Bai Xiaowen smiled and shook her head, her voice clearly resounding throughout the auditorium through the microphone. "No, I'm just stating a fact. There's no need to lie about this kind of thing; excessive modesty becomes hypocrisy. To be honest, I really wanted Jiang Steadfast Resolve retake the National College Entrance Examination to see if he could get a higher score than me, but unfortunately, he realized it too late."

The entire audience erupted in cheers.

The students at Jinghai University applauded, and some even whistled.

"Is this the new captain of the University Team? He speaks with such a commanding presence."

"Whether he's truly capable or just spouting off is unknown, let's give him a round of applause and support."

"Wow... I'm already a fan because of his looks. Just like the rumors say, the new captain of the University Team is the number one heartthrob at Jinghai University!" The girl who said this weighed 200 pounds and majored in psionic cuisine.

Chen Guowei whistled from the players' bench and laughed heartily, "Old Bai, why does that sound so familiar? Isn't that what Jiang Yi said before? Old Bai has given it all back. Hahahaha, that's hilarious!"

On the other side, Jiang Yi's face darkened. He had already been interviewed and, following the instructions of the teacher in charge, had refrained from making any offensive remarks. He hadn't expected Bai Xiaowen to provoke him so directly.

The teacher leading the group from Jinling University quickly whispered, "He's deliberately trying to provoke you, don't fall for it..."

Jiang Yi: "Teacher Zhang, can we still call the reporters over?"

Teacher Zhang: "..."

Fortunately, the host's voice rang out. "The match is about to begin. Both teams, please check your participant badges and take the elevator to the underground training ground S-01! Also, please invite the captains of both teams to come up on stage and draw the match mode!"

The reporters left the stage one by one. Before leaving, Wei Xiaoxiao grabbed the photographer's camera and snapped two close-up shots of Bai Xiaowen. Then she clenched her little fist and gave a thumbs-up before jumping off the stage.

Teacher Zhang said to Jiang Yi, "Alright, no amount of talk is as convincing as a victory. Give them a good comeback in the game!"