Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 107: Academy Tournament

Yuka picked up the opticomputer on the table, ready to leave for her match.

She heard the butler on the bed hum and whine, "You’re not taking me again! You didn’t take me all day yesterday. Don’t you love me anymore? Are you seeing some butler else?"

Thinking about her conversation with Kenji yesterday, Yuka felt a bit guilty and responded evasively, "No, of course not. How could that be? I like you the best."

"I’m not taking you because I have a match, and the result will affect my scores at UUA," Yuka patted the butler’s round head and said. "Once I’m done today, I’ll be free and will always carry you with me. Bye-bye."

The butler exclaimed, "Yay!"

...

Yuka and Ayoi walked up to the fourth floor and entered the match room.

They lay down in the holographic pod, returning to the familiar pre-match virtual room, waiting for Kenji to announce the rules for the second round of the competition.

Yuka looked around and noticed that not many students had made it to the second round, just over a hundred.

Moreover, in the second round, the trend of forming teams and alliances became more apparent; almost no one was alone in the classroom.

"Congratulations to everyone for making it to the second round," Kenji appeared on the big screen again, his expression serious. That was completely different from the slightly red-eared nervousness of yesterday.

Yuka sat up straight, and listened as he continued, "The map for the second round is a village called Sakura Valley. Please note, that this is a map with people and insectoids. You will be randomly placed into the map by the system, and we will also assign you a villager. You need to protect your assigned villager from harm by insectoids."

"The competition time is still 100 minutes."

"The first rule is, within these 100 minutes, if you only ensure your own survival without protecting the villager, leading to their death, you will only receive a basic score of sixty points."

"The second rule—please pay attention—attacking each other is not allowed in this round. For each insectoid successfully killed, you will earn ten points. Similar to the last round, if multiple people attack the same insectoid, the student dealing the highest damage will earn these ten points. However, please note, even if your accumulated kill score reaches 100 points, but your assigned villager dies, you can only get the basic score of sixty points for your academic exams, and will not advance to the third round of the Tournament."

"I wish you all the best in the match."

Yuka thought, ’So this means, only by killing ten or more insectoids and protecting the assigned villager from death can one advance to the third round.’

Right after Kenji announced the competition rules and disappeared from the screen, the classroom erupted into intense discussions.

"This is way too hard!" someone exclaimed.

"We have to fight insectoids and also protect the villagers," another one added.

"There might be none of us advancing to the third round, and the Tournament might have to change its rules again," a student speculated.

Hearing this, Fred sneered and said, "Huh, that’s impossible. Only mediocre people like you will be eliminated."

The boy Fred mocked, a student from Heraclitus Academy, got so angry that he rolled up his sleeves, wanting to confront Fred.

However, his companion held him back, advising him to stay calm to avoid getting disqualified from the competition for fighting.

Reluctantly, the boy lowered his fists and glared at Fred.

While others were worried about how to advance in the second round, Yuka felt surprisingly relaxed.

The harder, the better. This time, she was sure she’d be eliminated right at the start.

The game began.

The over one hundred and fifty students sitting in the room were instantly placed into the map by the system.

In the commentary room, Yonda had already explained the competition rules to the audience.

The comments all agreed that the second round was much harder than the first, but also more exciting.

[I’m here to watch the chosen one, Number 666.]

[Me too, I really want to see what tricks he has up his sleeve this time. Will he wipe out his teammates right from the start?]

[Haha, you guys are so mean.]

[Go Heraclitus Academy!]

"Now, all the contestants have entered the map," Yonda commented, glancing at the chat. "This is a village in a valley, built along a river, with many Sakura trees."

Yonda directed the system to move the camera to the village entrance, showing a massive cave entrance.

"The insectoids will come in from this entrance to attack the village. The number of insectoids is endless, so it’s best for the contestants to kill ten insectoids right at the beginning to secure their advancement. The longer they wait, the more insectoids will appear, the fewer people will be left, and the greater the pressure on each individual, making advancement more difficult." freewebnσvel.cøm

Only a few viewers were seriously listening to Yonda’s commentary and analyzing the pros and cons. Most were concerned with another question.

[Where is the chosen one?]

At that moment, Yuka was standing halfway up the hill next to the village.

The village was built along the riverbank, with intersecting paths and densely packed houses. There was smoke curling up from the chimneys. The picture was strikingly familiar.

’Too similar,’ Yuka thought. The village was almost identical to the one she had lived in her past life. She had spent two years in a village on the frontline of an insectoid invasion. There, she had worked tirelessly every day, forging iron, carrying bricks, and helping the villagers build houses and high walls to resist the insectoid invasion. She had even led the village’s young and strong to fight the insectoids. It was a life of constant toil and battle.

Years later, when someone else came to take over her duties, Yuka left the village. When she returned for a visit, she found the place had been long abandoned. From passersby, she learned that the village couldn’t withstand the overwhelming insectoid swarm and had been destroyed.

That day, wandering through the ruins, Yuka saw buildings she had helped construct, still bearing her marks. But the people who had lived there, who had offered her water, shared their food, and gifted her wild fruits, were all gone.

Standing desolately in front of small stone monuments erected for the deceased villagers, Yuka felt an indescribable emptiness and sorrow.

But that was all in her past life. And this was just a virtual map for a competition.

Yuka didn’t dwell on these memories for long. She looked down at her mecha for the competition, noting it was the usual silver combat model.

The left-hand cannon had been replaced with a barrel. It seemed likely to allow for more precise shots at the insectoids’ brains without causing widespread damage to the village or accidental harm to teammates. Perhaps this change was a lesson learned from the first round of The Tournament.

"Young miss," a voice pulled Yuka back to the present.

Yuka turned to see a little girl walking to her. The girl, carrying a basket and dressed in coarse clothes with her hair tied in a bun, looked up and said, "I’ve collected the mushrooms. Let’s go back to the village. The village chief said he’s preparing a big feast to welcome and thank you all for protecting us."

Yuka was momentarily speechless.

The viewers were equally astounded.

[Wow, that looks so real! Who created this high-quality NPC for the map?]

[She called her ’miss’? Is the chosen one actually a girl?]

[Why isn’t the chosen one speaking? I want to see how intelligent this NPC is.]

In the Sakura Valley village map, Yuka crouched down and softly asked the girl, "What’s your name?"

The girl didn’t respond. Seeing Yuka move, she automatically initiated the next part of her programmed behavior. Turning away, she said, "Please, hurry up and follow me."

She didn’t reveal her name because her programming didn’t include such dialogue. She didn’t need a name; she was just an ordinary guiding NPC on the map.

Even though Yuka knew the girl was a robot, she couldn’t help but feel a wave of emotion. Gathering herself, she followed the little girl down towards the village.

Down in the village, the previously allied contestants had gathered together, bringing their assigned villagers with them.

Lory turned to Jiro and remarked, "It’s good these NPCs understand us and don’t run around or make noise. That would have been too troublesome."

The game setting cast them as protectors of the village, so the villagers were very cooperative, doing whatever they were told. This made the game easier to some extent, avoiding pushing the players to a breaking point.

Since this round prohibited them from attacking each other, everyone set aside their competitive thoughts. Their plan was to focus on the insectoids, quickly eliminate ten, and advance to the third round. Nobody wanted delays or unexpected incidents like in the previous round.

Meanwhile, Ayoi said to Alex, "The insectoids won’t just appear out of nowhere. They must be coming from somewhere. I’ll ask a villager."

She turned to the man who had introduced himself as the village chief and asked, "Sir, where is the entrance to the village?"

The village chief, with a slow and aged voice, replied, "It’s one kilometer to the east."

Hearing their conversation, others decided to head to the entrance first, aiming to cut off the insectoids at their source. But they didn’t want to leave the villagers unprotected in the village, so they had them follow along, planning to find a safe spot for them once the insectoids appeared.

Yuka, still going the mountain, was in a dilemma, slowing her pace.

She really wanted to be eliminated right at the start of the second round. However, if she got eliminated, the little girl would be left unprotected and likely perish in the insectoid swarm. Despite knowing the girl was artificial intelligence, Yuka couldn’t shake off her concern.

After much thought, Yuka decided not to kill any insectoids and simply to survive the hundred minutes with the girl.

She knew this would be difficult, so she planned to find others to team up with. Her strategy was to assist them when appropriate without dealing the highest damage to the insectoids. This way, she could contribute without getting kicked out of the team, protect the girl, and last the duration of the match – achieving two goals at once.

Yuka’s plan seemed sound, but as she followed the little girl back to the village, she found it eerily deserted. There were no mechas in sight, nor any villagers.

Yuka wondered aloud, "Where is everyone?"

The audience reacted with amusement:

[Hahaha, the chosen one’s so funny, like always!]

[It’s her own fault for being slow. Another player who was even further from the village managed to catch up with the main group, but she didn’t.]

[Is she going to hide in the village for the entire game, like she did in the cockpit last time?]

"Escaping won’t be easy," Yonda commented, noticing the chat. "If the contestants at the source of the insectoids manage to kill ten and leave the village, all the pressure will shift to her. Once the swarm enters the village, it’s unlikely she’ll survive."

Yuka bent down to ask the little girl, "Hey, kiddo, where is the entrance to your village?"

She had also deduced that the insectoids would likely appear from the entrance and that the other contestants must have headed there.

The little girl remained silent, as her programming didn’t include a response to this question.

The viewers continued to chat:

[Uh-oh, she doesn’t know.]

[It’s one kilometer to the east! Hurry up, go join the main group!]

[What’s the point of shouting here? She can’t hear you. Just let it be.]

[No, I believe in her. She must have some other clever move up her sleeve.]