Eve of the Team Battle

Huo Yuhao ran out of the examination hall happily, finding that he felt a sense of satisfaction after finishing the test. This feeling is like completing a very difficult task; you realize that you are quite capable. Of course, this only applies until the results are released.

There naturally wouldn't be any surprises with this exam, but the future might be different. The place he is going to enter later is Shrek Academy, the number one academy on the continent. Although the exams there value combat as he mentioned, you cannot be an illiterate fool. School education is a system; even if most of it doesn't seem very useful, when combined, they can shape a person.

In this learning process, one exercises their way of thinking and reasoning ability. It is like a math problem with two possibilities; you might stop after solving the first one. After you get it wrong, you might develop an awareness to consider it next time. This is a skill.

This skill might be applied to various fields, or it might be forgotten entirely. This is a matter of probability. Only those who can develop this ability through education have achieved the goal; as for those who have it naturally, they are called geniuses and didn't need help in the first place. They will find knowledge on their own.

In the world of Soul Masters, where combat is the primary focus, such knowledge is even more necessary. Combat kills people. If you don't want to die, you must be strong. A person's strength is formed by many aspects. There are mainly three: talent, personality, and knowledge reserve.

Talent determines your upper limit, personality determines your lower limit, and the amount of knowledge reserve determines how much of your potential you can actually display.

Talent is easy to understand: "Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration, but that 1% of inspiration is more important than the 99% of sweat."

Personality goes without saying. Even if a person possesses vast wealth and power, if they are a good-for-nothing who has no way—or rather, dares not think about how—to solve a simple problem, what is the use? A loser is a loser. Of course, a person can change. It is not unheard of for good people to turn bad or bad people to wake up, but what is the probability? Why should the world change for you? There are plenty of people struggling and living hard lives who want to change.

One must strive for self-improvement; those who save themselves are always helped by others.

Knowledge reserve needs to be discussed carefully. Combat is about striking the enemy and causing damage while preserving yourself to the greatest extent. In other words, landing your own Soul Skill on the enemy while dodging their attacks.

It sounds simple, but the act of attacking itself is very troublesome. How much soul power should you expend to release your Soul Skill? When should you release it? Where should you release it? How do you ensure it hits the enemy? And many other questions.

If you only have high-damage abilities but cannot guarantee a hit or your own safety, it is useless. More importantly, there is the enemy's ability. In the Continental Soul Master Tournament, you can find ways to gather intelligence, but will you panic if you know nothing about the enemy during an encounter? You cannot be like that.

You must judge the enemy's abilities through their Martial Soul and performance before they attack you, and then deploy corresponding measures. This is a skill a Soul Master should possess. You cannot die and then complain that your abilities weren't utilized.

Higher-level combat involves coordination between Soul Masters. Low-level Soul Masters naturally favor Power Attack and Agility Attack types, but by the mid-level, a well-trained group of mid-level Soul Masters can beat a group of Power Attack Soul Masters of the same level. The massive buffs from Support System Soul Masters and the debuffs on the enemy, the battlefield division and control capabilities of the Control System, the timing and battlefield entry of the Agility Attack type to find gaps for a one-hit kill, and the "turtle shell" of the Defense type that you wouldn't dare dream of breaking through at the same level—all these advantages combined can create a situation on a local battlefield where you fight two or even seven, breaking them one by one.

This is the most entertaining part. Low-level fights are just brawls, and high-level ones are too powerful and easily become a joke. This is a small part of the reason for the Continental Soul Master Tournament.

Shrek Academy is the master of this Soul Master system. Ten thousand years of accumulation have given the teachers enough experience to adjust the combat adaptability of the students. There is no place richer in the accumulation of Martial Souls and Soul Skills; as long as you can master them, you can see through 90% of Soul Masters at a minimum. You can also have the most suitable teammates and relevant training. Everyone who gathers here is an elite, all possessing top-tier talent and ability.

The knowledge of this system is not so easy to master. Even if those with strong mental power can memorize it by rote, it is useless if you cannot integrate it. Now, there is also the knowledge of the Soul Guidance Department, which requires a different kind of talent. The top-tier Martial Soul talent inherited for tens of thousands of years is not effective here. But it will eventually change the world, regardless of the will of these people.

The power of Soul Tools is increasing day by day. Soul Guidance Masters of the same level can already go toe-to-toe with Power Attack types. Not to mention their role in protecting the "glass cannons" with powerful firepower in team battles. Team battles have always been where Shrek holds absolute dominance. If they lost the championship a few times due to accidents, it wasn't a failure of combat. The Three Great Empires produced a few peerless geniuses who defeated the Shrek Team with absolute individual heroism. No one would question Shrek's ability because of this. However, the strength of the Sun Moon Empire has been growing stronger in recent sessions. The emergence of team-battle Soul Tools has left traditional teams in a panic. It is foreseeable that they will only get stronger in the future.

These things are too far away for Huo Yuhao right now. Bei Bei and Tang Ya are teaching him the precautions for team battles. Both of them are offering advice on self-preservation for a Support System Soul Master based on their own professions. As a functional support, you must protect yourself to the maximum extent to be effective. Many people in the team can handle the output; as the core of this system, you must play your role to win.

At this time, your own awareness is very important. In summary, it is about where the enemy will appear and where you should stand. It seems very simple; anyone can say, "If the enemy rushes over, just run." But in fact, countless geniuses emerge every year—this person is so strong, that person has a top-tier Martial Soul and top-tier Soul Skill combination that is invincible. In the end, they fade into the crowd after every tournament, unable to perform. Even those victories of extreme individual heroism were won within a team.

This awareness is not something everyone has; there is a gap even among geniuses. Huo Yuhao must lay a good foundation in this short time; he must never hold the team back in the competition or become a "soft-legged shrimp" in the tournament. Countless people have already proven that such people exist. They crumble the moment it counts.

Therefore, the two of them emphasized repeatedly that he must stay calm. When the team battle starts, there is nothing for him to do; don't think you can counter-kill, that is an illusion. Only when your level is high enough to judge whether you can fight should you talk about counter-killing.

At this stage, just use your Soul Skill and then run; you don't need any extra thoughts.

Throughout this afternoon, the two of them taught Huo Yuhao how to avoid various ways of dying based on their experience in cutting down support types, which benefited Huo Yuhao greatly. It made him fully feel the helplessness of being a "glass cannon." If a Power Attack type pounced on my face, I, a useless Soul Master whose Martial Soul is the Spirit Eye, would have no way to deal with it. Huo Yuhao thought to himself.

Most of the time was spent in laughter. No matter how nervous you are about an exam, it all depends on your performance. Maintaining a good mood to participate is more important than anything else.

The next day, Huo Yuhao woke up from his meditation. After practicing the Purple Demon Eye, Huo Yuhao watched the rising sun, the breeze blowing through the rows of trees on the road, causing the leaves to rustle. The ultra-long-range vision and super-strong perception brought by the Spirit Eye and abundant mental power allowed him to carefully feel the vibrant life. His soul was cleansed, so he took a deep breath and shouted at the window: "Ahhhhhhh!"

Then, a voice cursing him came from outside. A guilty Huo Yuhao quickly closed the window. Several months of jungle life had indeed affected his habits, making him forget the existence of neighbors. However, after that shout, his whole person felt clear, and in places he didn't know, the grayness was slowly fading. A comfortable life does indeed erode one's will, and the wildness shaped over several months was about to be worn away.

But such a change is also a good thing. Being bitter and deep every day cannot shape a good child, nor is it conducive to future growth. He should learn to face the annoying things of every day with optimism and happiness; being worried every day without a goal will lead to depression.

No one can help with this illness; only changing the social environment can. You can change your living environment or change your environment—there are two ways. Of course, most people won't get this disease; this disease is only caught when people are too full and have nothing to do. When rural farmers drink pesticides to commit suicide, do you see anyone saying it's depression? Does anyone care when so many people commit suicide? So, as long as you don't have money and aren't full, you won't get depression; just go hungry for a few days and you'll be fine.

Huo Yuhao had a somewhat extreme personality due to seeing his mother being bullied in his childhood and his own experiences, but as long as no one provokes him, he will slowly get better.

And so, after being taught and laying a good foundation, Huo Yuhao happily ran back to the dormitory to practice hard. Recently, the increase in soul power had dropped significantly; the improvement brought by practicing the Mysterious Heaven Skill was offset. Forcibly increasing cultivation does have a price, and he should use it less in the future. He should only use it when breaking through bottlenecks, like the 19th or 29th-level hurdles. In an emergency, it can increase strength to provide an extra layer of protection for his own safety. He cannot always rely on Tian Meng and Electrolux to bail him out; being strong yourself is the real strength. They cannot help Huo Yuhao become a god; such things must be done by himself.

The team battle will last for several days, and safety is not a trivial matter. It requires a large number of strong people to guard it. At this time, students don't know how to control their strength, nor do they understand the consequences of hurting people. You can act recklessly outside, but not here. If you kill someone, someone will seek revenge. Everyone is more or less related; you don't know who has a good relationship with whom. Leaving such conflicts is like leaving a big bomb for yourself. Accidental deaths during the growth of Soul Masters are too common. A tiny mistake can kill someone, and if it's intentional, it's even harder to escape. Revenge for killing one person is a small matter; the important thing is the method of revenge. If you say it was an intentional act during team coordination, the impact is smaller. If you make a small move while hunting for a Soul Ring in the Star Dou Great Forest and disturb a hegemon-level Soul Beast, then it gets interesting.

Hegemon-level Soul Beasts are not just Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts; they refer to those race-based Soul Beasts with great dominance. If it were a Hundred-Thousand-Year Ice Silkworm, see if you are scared or happy. Once such a beast gets angry, or if you do something, many people will die. Shrek Academy has also paid a painful price for this. A Title Douluo can indeed block a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and Shrek's might even be able to kill one. But that would take forever. Not to mention disturbing other Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, how would the students below face the numerous Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts?

A series of painful lessons led to the current method of strong people leading a small group of students to enter in batches, even if this consumes a lot of resources. The time of a Title Douluo is very precious.

Therefore, killing is now strictly prohibited. Of course, it might be looser when facing commoners. After all, commoners can't turn the world upside down.

This team battle was drawn by lots according to different systems. Huo Yuhao was lucky and didn't have to fight in the first round. He could observe how others did it and give himself a warning. Learning is not as good as watching, and watching is not as good as doing it once. Improving a little more is always good.

But everything must be tested by the team battle two days later. Watching the game every day will not improve your own level of competition. Other people's things are ultimately theirs and don't suit you.

Watching the games over the past two days, there was only one feeling: chaotic, very chaotic.

There was no entertainment value at all; everyone on both sides was doing their own thing. The only highlight was the Power Attack, Agility Attack, and even Defense Soul Masters beating up the Support and Control types. Mainly the Support types; the Control types at least had some control to delay things. Most Support types were there to support others. What else could they do but run? They were directly hung up and beaten. The first to be eliminated. It's all thanks to their seniors' teaching; wait until they form a team later, and these people will be begging for mercy.

Once the "glass cannons" died, the rest was a showdown between "real men." It's not that there were no girls, but because Martial Souls suitable for girls like the Radiant Goddess Butterfly are too rare. The rest were all fist-to-fist, flesh-to-flesh attacking Martial Souls.

The first to be eliminated in this big melee was the Agility Attack type; low-level ones have no attack power and can't break defenses. They were easily hit by stray damage and eliminated.

In the end, only the Power Attack and Defense types remained. They fought until the sky was dark and the sun and moon were dim. No one could beat anyone, and in the end, they couldn't even tell who was on their own team and started fighting each other—either their brains weren't working or their muscles had entered their brains and they couldn't tell the difference.

Among them, the Support type was not without highlights. The people from the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, as the leaders of the Support system, showed off quite a bit. Directly turning the Nine Treasures to provide Glazed Tile buffs, morale was greatly boosted. Her side heavily suppressed the opponent, but when victory was in sight, she was unlucky. If you show off like that, who else would they hit if not you? The Power Attack type opened the way, and the Agility Attack type rushed straight over and cruelly defeated her off the stage. Her own people had all gone to charge, and no one was protecting her.

Various situations made Huo Yuhao's heart go cold. No matter how strong Berserk is, it's impossible to fight these beasts for so long. He sadly discovered that he seemed to have no ability to save his own life. So, he made up his mind to practice the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track hard.