Chapter 140: The Exchange Tournament for Human Geniuses of the East and West

After finishing his introduction, Li Qi finally produced a stack of forms and placed them on the table.

"I believe many of you are aware that the quadrennial Exchange Tournament between the Eastern and Western human geniuses is about to begin! However, for the sake of those who are uninformed, I will explain it once more." Li Qi patted the stack of forms and continued.

"This is a microcosm of the Continental War, a game of chess between the two races, and simultaneously a means to protect and hone our top-tier talents."

"Because students of the Central Transmigration Academy and O’Neal Academy—the highest institutions of learning for the Western humans, named after the first Rule-level powerhouse of the Western race—are exempt from participating in the Continental War until they reach the Hero rank, many students lack experience in confronting transmigrators. Thus, the two nations 'randomly' select a plane as the competition arena, allowing the geniuses of both races to engage in actual combat against transmigrators."

At this point, Feng Xue had a rough idea of this so-called Exchange Tournament. To put it bluntly, it was similar to the Chunin Exams in the Naruto world, though far more rigorous, and on a much larger scale and higher level.

"Each time this tournament is held, the great powers of both races stake a significant amount of exclusive resources. Therefore, your battles are not just for yourselves, but for your race as well!"

As the Earth continues to expand, under the shroud of the Laws, it has become increasingly dangerous, but the output of fantasy resources has also grown. Any powerhouse who reaches the Mythic rank usually heads to Earth to gain experience.

Over time, many of these powerhouses have established human strongholds on Earth. While they are tiny compared to the territories of alien races, they provide a steady harvest of various rare resources.

According to the Transmigrator Act, any settlement established by a transmigrator has its harvests belonging entirely to the founder. In other words, many resources are monopolized by the families who establish these settlements.

Beyond a small amount that circulates within their own race, these monopolized resources are impossible for other races to obtain. To acquire them, aside from war, the only option is to compete through these high-stakes duels.

"However!" Li Qi’s tone shifted abruptly. "Even the top academies cannot guarantee that all students are above a certain standard; there are bound to be those who get by on luck or try to fish in troubled waters. To avoid bringing shame to your race, you must pass a preliminary selection before you can participate in the Exchange Tournament!"

"This is not only to select those capable geniuses but also to let you adapt to the atmosphere of the tournament in advance, so you won't lose your composure the first time you encounter an alien transmigrator!"

"The Central Transmigration Academy has a total of 1,643 Transcendental-rank students, but there are only fifty spots for the tournament. Each of you is already a genius chosen from among millions; I hope that even among your peers, you will still prove to be geniuses!"

"Now, those who wish to participate may come up and take a form. I will not force those who do not wish to; after all, you are all freshmen, and having just ascended to the Transcendental rank, you still require more training and study." Li Qi patted the forms again, his tone gentle, showing none of the ferocity one might expect from a Mythic-rank powerhouse. "However, if you do not participate this time, and you have not reached the Hero rank in four years, you will be required to participate in the next one."

Yet, all twenty students in the class stood up and walked forward one by one to collect the registration forms. Not a single student opted out.

That’s right—everyone present was among the top geniuses of the human race. Whether they had been promoted from the Extraordinary Class or were Transcendental upon enrollment, which one of them wasn't a darling of heaven?

To make them flinch was not something a competition like this—where not even a lifespan deduction was at stake—could achieve.

In reality, the academy’s offer for freshmen to opt out was not without reason. After all, everyone is a genius; if they fail in the competition, it might cause a student to doubt their own talent.

It was like a student who was always first in their original school, only to realize upon entering a prestigious academy that they were suddenly no better than the rest. This sense of disparity could cause a straight-A student to suffer such a blow that they immediately fall behind.

But of those sitting here, who wasn't absolutely confident in themselves? Until they suffered a real setback, these geniuses would not understand such truths.

...

"Tell me, what does this 'psychological intervention' mean?" Feng Xue was carefully reading the registration form when he discovered a clause stating that one could receive free psychological intervention after the preliminaries. An ominous feeling began to grow in his heart.

"That?" Li Qi said, as if he had just remembered, with a carefree air. "The world for your preliminaries is a rather troublesome plane. It might cause some damage to your mental state, so the school has specifically arranged for some psychologists. You can go in with peace of mind."

"What do you mean 'peace of mind'? You saying that makes me even more uneasy, you know?" Feng Xue’s face was covered in dark lines. However, Li Qi’s casual remark allowed him to roughly guess the potential problems in the next world—

"Mental damage? A supernatural horror world? Or pure mental attacks? EVA-style mental pollution? The Otherworld from Silent Hill?" Several possibilities jumped into Feng Xue’s mind, but he couldn't reach a definitive answer.

Feng Xue continued reading the so-called registration form, and the more he read, the stranger it became.

Aside from some basic disclaimers, there were several bizarre rules:

1. No equipment or items of any kind, including supernatural or mundane objects, may be carried.
2. Clothing is restricted to a three-piece set (underwear, top, and pants). Women may carry one additional non-underwire bra. None of the above may be enchanted or contain any supernatural properties.
3. No jewelry of any kind may be worn (including hair ties or hairpins). Cosmetics are prohibited. Gloves, shoes, and socks may not be worn.
4. Those with spatial abilities must clear their storage space, or they will be disqualified.
5. Each student may carry one water bottle with a capacity not exceeding 1000ml, containing no supernatural power, of any shape or thermal insulation capability.
6. Moral and professional conduct evaluations are suspended for this competition.

Feng Xue was stunned after reading these terms. Forget weapons and armor—they wouldn't even let them wear hair ties! What kind of world were they going to? Was this some kind of wilderness survival game? Even in wilderness survival, at least let people wear shoes! What was the point of banning shoes?

After reading the form, Feng Xue suddenly realized that this preliminary round might be far more difficult than he had imagined!

However, rules were rules. After Feng Xue signed his name, he noticed a few girls seemed to hesitate, but driven by their inner pride, they all eventually signed.

On the contrary, Mu Qianrou, that tomboy, didn't hesitate at all, as if going bare-faced or being forbidden from wearing shoes was of no consequence.

Feng Xue only wanted to say one thing to her: "Girl, you are truly a hero!"