Picking Up Attributes From Today

Panda Novel

Crash!

As though a meteor crashing into Earth, their fists clashed against each other. Together with a thunderous boom, with the two of them as the center, raging winds from the resulting shockwaves swept outward to every corner of the ring.

The next moment, something that no one ever imagined even in their dreams happened—Chester, who was in the air, suddenly cried out, and his form flew backward like a cannonball!

He then fell onto the ring, stumbling all the way almost to the edge of the ring before barely managing to steady himself and come to a stop.

His right arm was a bit twisted, and the entire arm—together with his body—was trembling slightly, and he even had a look of agony on his face!

On the other hand, Meng Lei stood where he was, completely fine. There was neither redness in his face, nor was he out of breath. He even blew at his fist coyly with a calm and easy expression, forming a stark contrast with Chester.

“…”

The whole venue was filled with silence.

No one made a sound at all.

Everyone was flabbergasted.

In the private room, the blond elderly man found himself somewhat tongue-tied. “Isn’t Chester a Ninth-Grade Warrior? Why has he been thrown out with a punch?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

The muscular elderly man laughed wryly and replied, “That little fellow named Meng Lei has an even stronger body than Chester! At preliminary estimates, he has already attained at least ninth-grade mid-level status, perhaps even high-level!”

“This…” All the academy presidents looked at one another in silence.

“A 16-year-old Ninth-Grade Great Magician and Ninth-Grade Warrior! Is he a monster?!”

“Fred, just how exactly does that little fellow cultivate? Why is he such a mutant when he’s only 16 years old?”

Even Flit the 66th, who had been calm and collected the whole time, found it incredible by now. He shifted his gaze to President Fred, eager to know the key to all of this.

Fred gave a wry laugh and replied, “I don’t know the concrete details, either, but my guess is that there’s highly likely a Dragon King-class expert backing that little fellow!”

“What?!”

Flit the 66th was terribly shocked. His razor-sharp eyes instantly landed on Fred, and he asked, “Fred, are you serious?”

All the other academy presidents also looked at President Fred with horrified and incredulous expressions. The Dragon King-class was no trivial matter; one mustn’t joke around like that!

Fred gave another wry chuckle as he replied, “Your Majesty, I can’t be sure whether or not it’s true because I’ve never personally met that expert, but there’s likely no mistake about that!”

No mistake about that?

Then, wouldn’t that mean that there really was a half-deity backing Meng Lei?

Flit the 66th fell silent at his words. His fingers drummed lightly against the chair’s armrest, no one knowing what exactly he was thinking.

The other academy presidents also sank into contemplation. The enormous private room fell into pin-drop silence at once, leaving only the teenage girl and the rest of the princes and princesses looking at one another in confusion.

At that moment in the fighting ring, as a piercing pain came from his right arm, alarm, horror, and incredulity filled Chester. As the top genius of Dragon People Magic Academy in the past, he had refused to graduate all this time for the sole purpose of amazing the world with a single feat and to shine brilliantly.

Yet he had been defeated by a 16-year-old grunt when this was just the qualifying round!

Chester had received a huge blow from this, and he couldn’t help but question his life now.

Meng Lei’s voice rang out at this point. “Are we continuing this?”

“I’ve lost!”

After staring long and hard at Meng Lei, a dejected Chester went down the ring. He knew that he would only end up humiliating himself if he continued the fight—admitting defeat was his only option now.

“Meng Lei is the victor for this match!”

The host’s voice resounded throughout the arena.

“Meng Lei!”

“Meng Lei!”

“Meng Lei!”

All the spectators in the whole venue broke into deafening, resounding cheers at once. They shouted Meng Lei’s name hysterically as if they had gone mad.

In response, Meng Lei gave them a smile, and then, he turned and went down the ring.

The matches were still ongoing.

The victors advanced while the losers were eliminated.

Each match lasted an average of five minutes, and approximately ten matches took place every hour.

The matches carried on all the way from the morning into the afternoon. At 3 p.m. in the afternoon, all 51 matches finally concluded with 52 victors emerging in the end (one contestant drew a bye1)!

“I officially announce the end of the two-man matches! Now, let us begin the most exciting challenge matches!”

As the host returned to the ring, he said in a resounding, passionate voice, “All losing or eliminated parties may challenge any of the 52 victors. If the challenger can defeat them, they shall take their place and join the ranks of the victors!

“However, each person only has a single chance to issue a challenge…”

“There’s even a segment like this at the end?”

Meng Lei was rather surprised when he heard the host. However, when he thought about it, he found it rather understandable.

The current group of 52 emerging victors wasn’t the strongest of the lot for sure. There was no lack of people stronger than them among the eliminated parties.

After all, the free-for-all was riddled with loopholes, while the two-man matches were too imbalanced and absolute. All of these could lead to people with strong abilities being… brutally eliminated!

The challenge matches identified gaps and made up for what was lacking in order to give these people a chance. As long as they could seize the opportunity, they would be able to obtain a spot.

“I hereby announce the official start of the challenge matches!”

Whoosh!

Right after the host’s announcement, a stream of light suddenly shot toward the ring and landed within.

It was a muscular man. Roughly 2.5 meters tall with intertwining muscles all over him, his whole body was filled with explosive energy.

“My name is Mondan, and I wish to challenge him!”

With two heavy hammers in his hands, the muscular man pointed at the contestant benches with the hammer in his right hand and declared in a low, muffled voice.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

All the spectators in the house looked toward where he was pointing, and then, they saw the person being challenged seated on the bench.

For a moment there, all the spectators became awfully excited.

“Meng Lei!”

“Someone is actually challenging Meng Lei!”

“Teach him a lesson, Meng Lei! Show him what you’re capable of…”

“Someone is challenging me?”

Meng Lei was rather bewildered.

The challenge matches were the eliminated contestants’ last chance. On top of that, they only had one chance to issue a challenge. As long as there was nothing wrong in their heads, everyone would know that they should be challenging the weakest there.

Or alternatively, the guys that didn’t look very strong.

Yet someone was actually challenging Meng Lei now. In addition, the very first challenger in the ring had specifically pointed him out to challenge him…

“Do I look that weak?”

Somewhat displeased, Meng Lei got up and walked toward the fighting ring.

I drove back the ant tide at North River Pass, blasted the fighting ring in the free-for-all, and defeated Chester in the two-man match…

I’ve made a great name for myself and crushed all my opponents in every match!

Yet I’ve actually given you the impression that I’m very weak!

Good! Very good!

…

“Haha! Someone has challenged that little fellow right away!”

Flit the 66th couldn’t hold back his laughter. “Everyone, why do you think that big guy is challenging that little fellow? Does he look that weak?”

“Your Majesty! In my opinion, there are two reasons for this.”

The smiling muscular elderly man replied, “Firstly, that little fellow Meng Lei is simply too young. Even if he has made a great name for himself, hearsay means nothing while seeing is believing. Therefore, others are still unwilling to concede defeat at this point.”

“That makes sense!” Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Secondly, it’s because he’s too famous.”

The muscular elderly man chuckled and went on. “Among the 52 victors, that little fellow is definitely the most famous of them all. A 16-year-old Ninth-Grade Great Magician, the top genius in history, the hero that drove back the ant tide at North River Pass… and so on.

“He’s much more famous than all the other contestants. Due to his fame, as long as one can defeat that little fellow in a match, they’ll be able to take his place and become famous with a single match.

“Gaining fame with a single match, you know! Cultivators like us pursue nothing but fame and fortune, after all. Who would be able to resist the allure of fame and fortune?”

3

“That makes sense!” Everyone nodded once more.

The muscular elderly man added, “Of course, there’s no lack of those that are reluctant to concede defeat, too. They are indignant at being defeated by a 16-year-old boy, so it’s also likely that they would challenge him.”

“Yes!”

At this point, the match had already started.

Mondan, the bronze-hammer-wielding muscular man, was incredibly mighty and powerful. He charged toward Meng Lei like a raging bull. Judging solely from his might, he had an extremely strong and powerful body, and he didn’t lose out in the least, even when compared to Chester the Green Dragon Person.

“Die, kid!”

The muscular man let out a furious bellow. He raised his hammer high into the air and swung it viciously toward Meng Lei. This strike of his contained a might so incomparably fearsome that it was enough to smash any Eighth-Grade Magical Beast dead.

“You actually dare to challenge me when you only have this bit of strength?” Meng Lei snorted.

A fiery-red glow suddenly blossomed around his right fist, and it went smashing toward the heavy hammer crashing down on him.

Crash!

The hammer and Meng Lei’s iron fist clashed against each other, and the muscular man felt a great, unparalleled force coming from his hammer. The web between his thumb and forefinger was directly crushed by the impact with a snap, and he felt intense, piercing pain.

“Ahhh!”

Right away, the hammer fell out of his hand, and the muscular man retreated backward as he cried out.

“You overestimate yourself!”

Meng Lei then kicked the hammer, instantly sending it flying out like a launched cannonball. It crashed into the muscular man’s abdomen with pinpoint accuracy and blasted him right out of the fighting ring!

“Fire Dragon Battle Aura!?”