Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 111: The Third Round

Donny asked the boy in front of her, "Did you make it to the third round of the tournament?"

The boy shook his head, a bit embarrassed, and replied, "I didn’t, but the tall guy did."

Donny then turned her gaze to the tall boy next to her. The tall boy nodded at her, his voice a bit hoarse, "You’re here to form an alliance with me, aren’t you?"

Donny nodded.

The third round was a battle of honor between academies, so those from the same academy didn’t need to compete against each other, especially since the final exam scores had already been decided in the first and second rounds. Donny asked him, "Do you know who else made it to the next round?"

The tall boy shook his head.

Donny turned and saw Fred at the stairs not far away. She quickly walked up to him and asked, "Fred, did you get into the third round?"

Fred turned sharply, his voice fierce, "What do you mean? Are you here to mock me, Donny?"

"I’m not," Donny frowned. "I didn’t know you didn’t make it."

Stung, Fred snorted coldly and was about to walk away, but then he heard Donny shout to the next floor, "Alex, did you make it to the third round?"

"I did," replied Alex.

Fred stopped his steps, unbelievingly turned around, and asked Alex, "How could you possibly make it? Your psychic power is so weak! Did you cheat?!"

"I didn’t," Alex retorted, no longer afraid of Fred since their last fight. "No one ever said my psychic power was weak. It’s you who assumed it was weak and mocked me in front of everyone. No matter how I defended myself, none of you listened."

So later, he simply stopped mentioning his psychic power level, letting them mock him.

Fred then remembered that he had never seriously asked about Alex’s psychic power level, arrogantly assuming it was low, barely enough to pass the mecha specialization threshold.

Fred clenched his fists tightly, his eyes red with anger. He stared at Alex like a furious bull, ready to charge at any moment.

Seeing this, Donny stepped in front of Alex and warned Fred, "Fred, if you attack a classmate now, you will be punished."

Fred felt mocked by Alex’s gaze, overwhelmed with anger from being fooled and deceived. Remembering his royal heir status and not wanting to be laughed at by others, he snorted coldly, maintaining his dignity as he went downstairs.

No one knew how embarrassed and humiliated he felt inside. He didn’t want to admit that Alex was better than him, but the fact slapped him hard in the face.

Ayoi and Yuka, having watched everything, leisurely came down the stairs and stood behind Alex. Before Donny could ask them, both Ayoi and Yuka said in unison, "We both made it to the next round."

Ayoi and Alex’s advancement was within Donny’s expectations, but Yuka’s success totally surprised her. She had always seen Yuka as a girl who needed protection, like a fragile vase, and didn’t expect her to reach the third round.

Before Donny could ponder further, Yuka smiled at her, a bit embarrassed, and said, "It’s because I was lucky."

Yuka internally wept, cursing her luck.

Donny nodded in understanding and continued, "Can you ally with us then?"

Ayoi and Alex agreed, but Yuka shyly said to Donny, "Well, I’m not very strong, so I won’t hold you back. You don’t have to worry about me once you’re in."

Donny had indeed been considering the possibility of Yuka being a burden to the team. However, being straightforwardly addressed by Yuka, who didn’t seek their protection in the first place, left her somewhat taken aback.

Apart from Yuka, the others exchanged their numbers and entered the restroom together. They discussed potential maps and tactics for the next day until they returned to their dorms in the evening to rest and prepare for the next day’s competition.

Yuka, on the other hand, spent her afternoon leisurely strolling around the white building, snacking and shopping. In the evening, she returned to her room to play games and watch TV shows, thoroughly enjoying her relaxed state.

The butler approached and asked, "Master, are you taking me to the competition tomorrow?"

"Of course, I am," Yuka replied, patting its round head. "How could I leave you here alone?"

The butler, easily appeased, forgot about the past days’ neglect. It crawled into Yuka’s pocket, connecting to the opticomputer to help her play a match-three game.

The next morning at 7:30, the butler woke Yuka up. After rubbing her eyes and nudging Ayoi awake, they washed up, had breakfast together, and then gathered in the lobby.

Now she was ready to board the spaceship headed to the planet where the third round would take place.

Kenji was in the lobby, counting the attendees. His voice softened as he saw Yuka approaching, "Please board the ship in an orderly manner."

Yuka, walking at the end of the line with Kenji following her, turned to ask quietly, "Is the planet for the competition far from Capital Octoxis?"

Kenji replied, "Not exactly."

Yuka glanced out the window. Outside, a large number of the Alliance Army members were boarding another spaceship, seemingly accompanying them to the competition planet for protection.

The competition planet was indeed not far from the Alliance star, and it took less than half an hour by spaceship to reach the destination.

Less than forty students had made it to the third round, and they disembarked from the spacecraft onto an open field, waiting for Kenji to announce the competition rules.

The Alliance Army had arrived earlier and scattered upon disembarking, heading towards the distance.

Kenji glanced at the time and promptly announced the rules to the students at 8:30 AM. "Congratulations on reaching the third round. The map for this competition is called Misty Land."

Yuka listened to Kenji, her eyes drifting to a nearby valley obscured by white mist, where no scenery was visible.

"Your mechas will be randomly placed by the system," Kenji continued, "Before the competition begins, the Alliance Army will lead you to find your mechas. Once everyone has found their mechas, the competition will officially start. The duration is still 100 minutes."

"In this map, students from the same academy can contact each other using the communicators built into their mechas. However, you can only communicate with students from your own academy; others cannot hear you. There are live broadcast cameras installed on the field, shaped like red dragonflies." Kenji gestured to a Red Dragonfly flying in the air, and a logistics staff member immediately controlled it to fly to Kenji’s finger.

Pointing at the Red Dragonfly, Kenji turned to the crowd and said, "This kind of flying device. If logistics staff notice you are in danger through the live broadcast, the Alliance Army will come to rescue you immediately. Also, there is a hidden distress button inside the mecha. When the mecha is damaged, the distress button will automatically pop up. If you want to quit the competition, press the distress button, and the Alliance Army will take you out of the field."

Though injuries in a real combat map were inevitable, the participants couldn’t help but feel nervous as they were about to enter the map.

The Red Dragonfly timely broadcasted the expressions of the contestants to the Alliance audience watching the competition.

[The guy on the far left seems really scared.]

[I understand, these kids are freshmen, and it must be nerve-wracking to pilot a mecha for real.]

[The beautiful girl also made it to the third round, go beauty!]

[Who here is the Chosen One? Does anyone know?]

[I guess it’s the prettiest one.]

[Forget it, I bet it’s the short-haired, muscular girl. The beauty in the middle looks too frail, not like the Chosen One.]

"Rule number one of the competition: students from the same academy are not allowed to attack each other, but you can attack students from other academies. Each kill earns ten points, and the scoring rules are the same as before," Kenji’s voice refocused the attention of the contestants.

"Please pay attention, each mecha’s cockpit is equipped with a sensor. You are allowed to attack other parts of the mecha, but when targeting the cockpit, you can only attack the sensor! Violating this rule will result in immediate removal from the competition by the Alliance Army and disqualification. If the sensor on your mecha is destroyed, you are eliminated."

Yuka understood that the risk of the cockpit being shattered was much greater than other parts of the mecha being damaged, hence the rule to only attack sensors.

"Surviving for 100 minutes earns a basic score of sixty points. If you fail to survive until the end of the match, you won’t score."

"Rule number two: within this map, there are five treasure chests, one wooden chest for each academy. Each chest contains an Oniyon, which can be captured, and the locations of all chests are public knowledge. An Oniyon is worth fifty points. If at the end of the match, your academy’s Oniyon is not in the hands of someone from your academy, every student of that academy will lose fifty points; if you successfully capture another academy’s Oniyon, each student gains fifty points. Good luck to all contestants."

After hearing the rules, Yuka and her companions exchanged glances. These rules were strikingly similar to those of the underground arena’s team competition.

But now was not the time to wonder about the underground arena’s organizer, their identity, or motives. The quadrennial Academy Tournament’s final round was upon them.

Whether it was the spectators watching for entertainment, gamblers who had placed early bets, the president watching with keen interest, the nervous classmates around, or Kenji’s gentle gaze—nothing could deter Yuka’s resolve to get out as soon as possible.

Since the competition was being broadcast live, the audience would definitely learn she was contestant Number 666. She didn’t care about the embarrassment; her plan was to have her mecha damaged at the start and then press the distress button to leave the field.

With determination, Yuka glanced at Kenji, and amidst his puzzled look, followed the Alliance Army that was leading her to her mecha.