<h4>Chapter 125: Intense Competition, Posturing Fatty</h4>


    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios


    “If it’s about that, then there’s no need for you to worry at all.”


    Mr. Dirk shook his head with augh and went on. “The exchangepetition’s prizes are much more attractive than what you can imagine, and they will attract hordes of experts.


    “Because of this, apart from current students, there are actually arger number of contestants that aren’t from the academies. They join the academies in name just to obtainpetition eligibility.


    “Additionally, there are many seniors that should have graduated simply refuse to do so, and they stay in the academy to pursue their studies for several years, all for the sake of obtainingpetition eligibility, too.”


    “You can actually do that?” Meng Lei was a little startled at what he heard. “In that case, aren’t current students like us at a huge disadvantage?”


    “Yes, but there’s nothing to be done about that. The prizes are simply too attractive.” Mr. Dirk shook his head and added, “Frankly speaking, if it wasn’t because my age doesn’t fulfill the requirements, even I would want to register for and join the exchangepetition. How unfair. This is simply too unfair!”


    Meng Lei was renderedpletely speechless. Was this really an inter-academy exchangepetition? Even the experts in themunity were rushing all the way here to join thepetition.


    “It can’t be helped. The current students tend to be very young, and it ismon for most of them to beparatively weaker. This leads to a severeck in showmanship quality to the exchangepetition, and the level ofpetitiveness in thepetition also bes very low as a result.”


    Mr. Dirk exined with a smile, “Therefore, they can only rx thepetition requirements and allow more experts to participate.


    “However, there’s ultimately still a 30-year-old age limit. Otherwise, it’s possible that even some of the shameless old antiques would show up. Thepetition won’t be able to go on anymore that way.”


    “Alright, I see.”


    Meng Lei shook his head and then asked, “When does the exchangepetition start, Mr. Dirk? Where is it held, and what do I need to do?”


    “Thepetition officially starts half a monthter, and it’s held at the Imperial City. However, before you go to the Imperial City, we, the Fire Dragon Kingdom, will first conduct a preliminary round of filtering—in other words, the qualifying round.”


    Mr. Dirk exined, “The exchangepetition stiptes that each kingdom holds only 50petition spots, and the contestants for these 50 spots will be selected via the qualifying round.”


    “Only 50 spots per kingdom?”


    This dumbfounded Meng Lei.


    There were over 70 academies in Fire Dragon Kingdom’s capital city alone. After adding up all the academies in the whole kingdom, the number of current students far exceeded 100,000, not to mention that there would even be experts from themunity.


    Yet there were only a total of 50 spots despite there being so many contestants?


    Thepetition sure was tough.


    “In that case, I’ll have to join the qualifying round first?” asked Meng Lei as he raised his eyebrows.


    “Yes, that’s right.”


    Mr. Dirk replied with a light nod, “The one-week qualifying round will start in two days. After that, the selected winners will head to the Imperial Capital on the tenth day to represent the Fire Dragon Kingdom in the exchangepetition.”


    “Alright, I got it!” Meng Lei nodded slightly.


    “Meng Lei, Dous Magic Academy is in charge of hosting the qualifying round this year. Don’t forget to attend it two dayster.”


    “Got it, Mr. Dirk.”


    After hanging up, Meng Lei continued his study of wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic, striving to master it and get it down within two days.


    ...


    Early in the morning, two dayster, Meng Lei woke up and left his condominium after he was done packing his things.


    He had only just walked out of the condominium when he bumped into Fatty Hart and Daniel right away. The two of them were in high spirits and all pumped up.


    Fatty Hart chuckled and said, “Old bro, you’ll be the champion of the qualifying round for sure. We offer you our congrattions in advance!”


    “Here’s hoping things will go like what you’ve said,” Meng Lei replied with a smile.


    Then, with a wave of his arm, he let out the magic carpet and said with a smile, “Let’s head there together.”


    “Seriously, old bro, riding an old and tattered flying carpet when you’re already a billionaire? Aren’t you concerned that it’ll cramp your style?” Fatty Hart remarked as he looked at the magic carpet in disdain.


    Then, with a grand wave of his arm, he let out a shiny golden magic flying carriage. It bore a striking resemnce to a magnificent falcon, except with a dragon head and was covered all over in golden dragon scales.


    There were only four words to describe it—crazy cool, mighty, and domineering!


    Fatty Hart tossed his long hair and said awfully coyly, “Let’s go. We can take my vehicle instead!”


    “What the heck? Isn’t this thetest version of the collector’s edition of Dragon-Falcon magic carriages? One costs over five million gold coins, you know! Where did you get that from, Fatty?”


    Stunned by the golden vehicle’s sudden appearance, Daniel couldn’t stop gasping in shock.


    “Haha! I had a small windfall recently thanks to old bro!” Fatty Hart looked awfully smug. “Hehe, you know what I mean.”


    “You’ve used up all of the red packets I gave you to buy the carriage,” Meng Lei eximed as he looked at Fatty Hart.


    He had given Fatty Hart a few red packets, and they had added up to two to three million gold coins.


    He had already spent them all!?


    “Haha, I, Fatty, have no worries about food or clothing, but what I dock is a high-end vehicle that matches my status. Frankly speaking, I’ve been eying my old man’s carriage for a very long time now.”


    A snickering Fatty Hart went on. “I’ve wanted to steal it and bring it out all this time. s, my old man keeps too tight of a watch over it, so I didn’t have a chance at all. Therefore, I secretly swore to myself that I must buy a vehicle that’s even cooler than his for sure someday. And now, my wish has finallye true. I’m so happy!”


    “You wastrel!”


    A corner of Meng Lei’s lips spasmed in response.


    “Haha, let’s go!”


    Fatty Hart pulled open the carriage door and said, “Today is the day that old bro’s gonna go on a rampage. You have to ride a presentable vehicle for sure! Only then will it match up to old bro’s status!


    “Hop on, old bro!”


    “...”


    The five-million-gold-coin magic carriage was naturally incredibly shy. They had only just risen into the air when it attracted several astonished, envious gazes.


    Yet Fatty Hart the dummy, still chose to show off on purpose, insisting on circling leisurely around the campus. He even moved at an awfully slow pace, attracting countless envious and jealous exmations.


    Fatty Hart’s vanity was greatly satisfied upon hearing all the screams and exmations. Only then did he leave the academy, fully content with his achievements.


    And then... He started to show off again.


    He drove slowly in crowded ces and moved quickly in sparsely-popted areas.


    That smug look of his gave Meng Lei a serious itch to beat someone up. “Fatty, at the speed you’re driving at, we won’t be able to reach Dous Magic Academy even by next year!”


    “Hehe!” Fatty Hart gave him an embarrassed smile and immediately pulled the control lever. The magic carriage instantly sped up, turning into a stream of light that flew outward. In less than ten minutes, they arrived at Dous Magic Academy.


    “You’ve actually somehow dragged on a few minutes’ journey into an hour...” Meng Lei griped after casting a nce at his pocket watch. “Seriously, Fatty!”


    Dous Magic Academy was already packed with a sea of people by now. Several long queues snaked in front of the academy entrance, causing Meng Lei to be rather troubled. “With that many people here, when are we going to have to queue till?”


    However, Fatty Hart replied, “Old bro, look at the banner above. There’s an exclusive passageway for contestants like you guys.”


    Meng Lei hurriedly looked over. True enough, he noticed a few banners hanging at the academy entrance, among which, one featured a fewrge, gold-gilded words—”Contestants, please enter via the exclusive passageway at the side door!”


    The rest of the banner disyed other information, such as the number of gold coins external parties needed to pay in order to enter the academy to watch the battles, directions after entering the academy, the seatingyout, and so on.


    “What the heck? The fee to watch the matches actually goes as high as 2,000 gold coins!?”