Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

More people gradually arrived in Venice from different countries. The little place suddenly had three times the number of tourists it had previously. The canals, bridges, squares, public ferries suddenly felt a lot more crowded.

Venice was not a huge place, so it could only hold a limited number of people. The local government eventually limited the number of visitors.

The main reason why a calm city like Venice was suddenly crowded with people was none other than the World College Tournament!

There were not many international tournaments for Mages across the world, and most Magic Associations did not recommend old Mages fight one another in duels with a live broadcast on television. Magic was, after all, a noble and sacred art, and was dangerous and destructive at the same time...

The only people suitable for taking part in a magic tournament were young, energetic students. Their achievements could also reflect how successful the academic system of a country was. Eventually, the World College Tournament had turned into a grand event that was held every four years. Students whose strengths were neither too powerful nor too weak were the most suitable group to take part in magic duels.

The flags of many countries were hanging highly at the governor's palace in Venice. Thirty-two teams representing their countries had made it to the finals in Venice. These teams all had performed well when challenging the defending teams of different countries' Training Hall and carrying out the missions given to them. The ranking also reflected a country's magic standard to a certain degree, and would usually end up as the final ranking with a small margin of difference.

Basically, every country that made it to the finals in Venice was considered a strong magic country!

Thirty-two flags were hanging in the air. As the sun rose in the east, the blasts of magic spells echoed across the beautiful city along the shoreline. The sacred light descended upon the city, onto the young, energetic faces of the representatives of each country. The national anthem of Italy was sung with great spirit, while the young Mages enjoyed the limelight of being watched and admired by the whole world. Many students had long waited for this day to arrive, as from this moment onward, they were no longer a small and nameless Mage. They might even become a reputable Mage after joining the Parthenon Temple, the Sacred Hall of Liberty, the Holy Judgment Court, or the Holy Saint Peter Church! Their names would fire up the crowd wherever they went!

Meanwhile, the attendees of the ceremony mainly consisted of worldly-recognized, powerful Mages!

"Allow me to express my gratitude to America's Sacred Hall of Liberty, Asia's Dubai Magician Tower, Europe's Saint Paul Church, Africa's Cape of Good Hope Magic Castle, and Australia's Sacred Victorious Altar! I sincerely welcome you to Venice! Many thanks to the Hunter Union, the World Renowned Clans Association, the Shoreline Alliance, the Parthenon Temple, the Holy Judgment Court, the Ancient Royal Guards, Tokyo's Shrine of Mages, Tehran Magic Ridge, and Saint Paul Church...thank you for joining us despite the long distance. Last but not least, the main protagonists of this grand magic tournament, the candidates consisting of the most talented young Mages chosen specifically from every school in thirty-two countries..." Venice's governor, Fabio, was giving his opening speech in high spirits.

The opening ceremony was not particularly spectacular, yet the Mages that attended were all world-recognized. The factions and organizations they represented were highly looked up to by every Mage.

China's representative was Pang Lai, the chief of the Royal Guards. The Ancient Royal Guards that the governor mentioned in his speech represented the strongest group of Mages in China, with power surpassing the members of the Enforcement Union, the Pearl Oriental Tower, and the Imperial Magicians...

The names representing each country similarly referred to the famous factions or organizations of their respective country. Among them, the Parthenon Temple and the Holy Judgment Court were particularly well-known.

Even though the Parthenon Temple, the Holy Judgment Court, and the Hunter Union had originated from a specific country, their influences in the world were comparable to the Magic Associations of the Five Continents.

As such, if anyone referred to the world's most powerful magic organizations, there were eight of them in total.

Therefore, in terms of status, Mo Fan's role as a Hunter Master was actually very impressive! The ranks of the Mages in each of the eight organizations were actually comparable to one another. A five-star Hunter Master was equivalent to the mayor or general of a city.

Unfortunately, Mo Fan had not reached five stars yet. He was still quite a distance away.

A seven-star Hunter Master was referred to as a Senior Hunter. The status of a Senior Hunter was very impressive. It was very common for Magic Associations, the military, the local government, or a country's president to ask a Senior Hunter for help.

Mo Fan was highly motivated to become a Senior Hunter. Even though he was now a four-star Hunter Master after resolving the Drowning Curse, he was still far from impressive as a Hunter Muster. He could imagine himself drooling just looking at the job requests worth a few hundred million, or billions, as their rewards!

Zhao Manyan was fairly familiar with the important people of the various factions. He could not help it, since his life mostly revolved around upper magical society. Knowing the people in charge and leaders of various factions was a basic requirement for a disciple in his clan.

------

After the opening ceremony ended, it was time for the exhilarating, highly-anticipated ceremony whereby the teams drew their opponents.

There were thirty-two national teams, and no matter how the brackets were going to end up, every match between two national teams was surely going to turn into a bet with a huge pot involved. Otherwise, why would people that never cared about what was going on in their countries or magic tournaments suddenly be so passionate about the World College Tournament?

On top of that, the World College Tournament was held every four years, and had always been a hot topic across the world, as it was closely related to the glory and fame of a country. On the other hand, the money that was involved in the bets during this period was often comparable to the total sum of imports and exports for a country...

"Captain, you'll do the drawing," Advisor Feng Li told Ai Jiangtu.

The captains of each national team stepped forward. Long ago, the advisors were the ones doing the drawing, but for quite some time, the captains had taken over and become the ones to do the drawing instead. It was kind of an honor, since the drawing process was being broadcast live, allowing the world to see the captains of each team.

Ai Jiangtu had an imposing attitude, and did not even bother checking the opponent team that he had drawn. He simply let the judges take a glance at it, and went back to the team.

Thirty-two teams... even the teams from stronger countries were nervous. The first opponent they drew was very crucial, as a strong country would prefer not to fight against another strong country so soon. It would force them to expose their strength very early. The weaker countries were also hoping that they had not drawn a strong country as their opponent, as they would be disqualified right at the start of the tournament. No one would even remember their names and faces as they returned to their country in shame. If they did not perform as expected, they would even be scolded by their people. In a society with freedom of speech, ordinary people were the ones that would scold them in the worst manner. Even if they were utterly clueless about magic, they would still sound so righteous that others would mistake the person as being some smurf account from a respectful Mage.

As such, leaving the excitement aside, the members of the Chinese team were feeling great pressure, too. Apparently, the Chinese team was quite unlucky in the previous World College Tournament, stumbling into the American team in the second round, and were totally wrecked by their opponents.

If they still failed to achieve an impressive result this year, the officials back home would probably be extremely mad. Could they even talk peacefully with other countries? They would simply be the target of mind games from the leaders of other countries when they suddenly said something along the lines of, I heard that your national team lost again. It would immediately urge them to flip the table!

The others placed their attention on Ai Jiangtu, trying to tell if he actually looked relieved or worried after learning who their opponent was. However, Ai Jiangtu kept the same stern face throughout the process. He looked pretty much the same all the time. The rest of the team was wasting their time trying to read his mind.

Before Ai Jiangtu could announce who their opponent was, the Japanese team suddenly yelled out in joy and spoke in English in Japanese accents.

"Lucky! So lucky!"

Actually, they were just trying to say, We are f**king lucky!

Mo Fan and the others had already met the Japanese team when they were taking down the Red Ornaments Guild. The Japanese were simply a bunch of show-offs. Mo Fan still had a vague impression of their names and appearance.

The guy that yelled out in joy was Akira Matsuki, who had also been interested in the Dark Noble Mantle. He was currently looking at them with a hostile, scornful grin.

"So they are our first opponent?" Mo Fan asked aloud

Almost half of the Japanese team had turned their heads toward the Chinese team. Akira Matsuki, Shou Watani, and the gentle girl in the sailor uniform were their 'old friends'.

"It seems like it," Nanyu revealed the team their captain had drawn with a wry smile.

The thirty-two teams that managed to make it to the finals differed in terms of strength, too. The Japanese team was considered above average among the teams. It was quite fateful for the two countries to stumble into one another at the start of the tournament!

"I seriously don't understand why they look so happy, like they are sure to win against us," Jiang Shaoxu scoffed at the Japanese team's reaction.

"It's mainly because they think we are weak because of our ranking in the last World College Tournament. Our team wasn't actually weak, but it was very unfortunate that they had to fight against the American team," Jiang Yu said.

"Let them have their fun for now, they won't even have the chance to cry when the day comes!" Guan Yu snapped coldly.

------

On the other hand, the Japanese team had restrained themselves from feeling over-confident. They immediately focused as they discussed how they were going to handle their opponent.

Their Advisor Fujikata Tegami was not as optimistic as her students. She glanced at Mo Fan in his blue shirt over on the Chinese team and asked, "Was that guy the one that fought Casso, the leader of the Red Ornaments Guild?"

"Oh, he is! I almost forgot about him!" Shou Watani immediately recalled.

When the two teams cooperated to take down the Red Ornaments Guild, the strength that Mo Fan had displayed was absolutely shocking. He was surely going to be a tough opponent!

"What is there to be scared of? I bet he's the only person we have to look out for on their team. Do you really think he can carry the whole team alone?" Yosuke, who just joined the Japanese team recently, spoke up.