Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

---

"Speaking of which, doesn't that mean our team is fighting the first match in the tournament?" Jiang Yu asked seriously, after taking a closer look at the badge Ai Jiangtu had drawn.

Everyone was so occupied by checking out who their opponent was that they had completely forgotten about the order of the matches. When they looked at the schedule on the giant screen closely, they realized they were actually fighting the opening match!

The opening match was extremely important, as the whole world would most likely be watching the first match of the tournament. If they were able to stand out during the opening match, they had basically made a name for themselves!

Even though strength was the most important thing for a Mage, luck was extremely important too!

"Let me handle these Japanese!" Guan Yu was extremely impatient. He was very excited when he learned that they were participating in the opening match.

They had gone around the world and trained hard for a year just to make a name in this tournament, especially given how it would greatly affect the faction supporting them!

"The opening match is a five-on-five team battle. We'll need to pick five representatives, and the Japanese will pick five, too," Advisor Feng Li said.

Since the advisors were present, they were the ones making the calls.

Feng Li scanned the team. He first looked at Mu Tingying, Nanrong Ni, Li Kaifeng, and Zu Jiming, and said calmly, "You four are still recovering from your injuries. You won't be taking part in the opening match."

The four widened their eyes. Did the advisor seriously just bench them before such an important match?

"Advisor, my injuries won't affect me by much, please let me take part in it!" Li Kaifeng immediately protested.

"Silence!" Advisor Feng Li snapped coldly. Li Kaifeng immediately clammed up.

Knowing that they had missed out on such a great opportunity, Mu Tingying, Zu Jiming, and Li Kaifeng glared at Mo Fan. They had the urge to simply burn Mo Fan into ashes with the raging flames in their eyes.

Meanwhile, Mo Fan was obviously gloating. He felt like he should have gone harder on them, so they would not even have had the chance to take part in the entire tournament!

"What are you even proud of? So what if you're strong on your own? It's a team battle, you could not even match a single finger of mine in a team battle!" Zu Jiming blurted out, unable to stand Mo Fan's gloating look.

As a Poison Mage, he was incredibly weak at fighting solo duels. However, the Poison Element was incredibly strong and annoying in a team battle. After all, it was one of the most unpredictable Elements. The poisons that different Poison Mages cast were actually different.

Similarly, Nanrong Ni was quite weak at fighting solo duels. As a pure supporter with the Healing and Blessing Elements, it did not make any sense to not let her participate in the duel. However, she was benched because of her injuries. Mo Fan was so serious at hurting them that the Lightning Tyrant had ended up torturing them for the entire week.

"We'll obey the advisor's arrangements," Nanrong Ni said, seeming extremely obedient to the order given to her.

However, after learning Nanrong Ni's true character, Mo Fan kept feeling how fake and vicious the woman was, in quite a scary way!

Mo Fan initially had a fairly good first impression of her. She was friendly, gentle, calm, and compassionate, yet when he realized that she was faking all of it, he felt extremely disgusted by everything she did!

That being said, the woman had really done a great job, being able to wear her cover so perfectly!

"Mo Fan, you will sit too," Feng Li waved his hand. He did not want to let Mo Fan display his talents in the opening match.

Mo Fan smacked his lips and murmured, "The team is likely going to lose without me."

"Mu Ningxue, Jiang Shaoxu, Guan Yu, Nanyu, Jiang Yu, you five go," Advisor Feng Li picked the five candidates.

"I don't think it's a great idea trying to preserve our strength against the Japanese team?" Song He and the other advisors immediately spoke up when they saw Feng Li's arrangements.

The two strongest members on the team were Ai Jiangtu and Mo Fan. The only time they fought a team together was when they were going up against the team at America's Training Hall. In the end, even the American team was wrecked completely. It clearly showed how outstanding they were.

The overall strength of the Japanese team was on par with the Chinese team. They would have to try their best in order to win the match. Since it was the team's first match, Song He and the other advisors thought Feng Li was trying too hard to preserve their strength, since he did not pick either Mo Fan or Ai Jiangtu.

Feng Li pondered for a while. His eyes scanned the members of the team.

"Old Feng, I think it's better if we win the first match," an aged voice came from behind the resting area.

An old Mage with gray hair and ordinary clothes had shown up. His vivid eyes naturally landed on Jiang Yu, who quickly went up to the old man and greeted him.

"Chief, you're here too!" Song He was fairly surprised when he saw the old man with gray-white short hair.

"He's the Royal Guard's chief, Pang Lai, that I told you before. Jiang Yu is his star student. He's the strongest Summoner in our country," Zhao Manyan told Mo Fan softly, knowing that he struggled to recognize people.

Mo Fan immediately understood the implications. To his surprise, he saw someone else familiar standing behind old Pang Lai. It was the president of the Clock Tower Magic Association, Han Ji!

Han Ji did not seem surprised when he saw Mo Fan. He said with a faint smile, "Not bad, you've made it to Venice."

"Were you seriously worried that I was going to be disqualified?" Mo Fan asked in return.

"Not really, but I heard that you aren't the most well-behaving person, so I was worried that you were going to be expelled or something..." Han Ji answered amiably.

------

Han Ji talked to Mo Fan for a bit, before everyone went back to deciding on the candidates for the opening match.

Feng Li was most likely trying to preserve their strength, since exposing it too early would place the team in a disadvantageous position. The other teams would surely pick on them, especially when an Element was weak against certain Elements. If they put Mo Fan or Ai Jiangtu in the opening match, the other countries would surely target them. If your Fire was strong, they would send out two Water Mages. If your Lightning was outstanding, they would send out a meat shield with the Earth Element. If your Curse Element was impressive, they would send out a Psychic Mage...

The difference in terms of strength between the Mages was no longer huge since they were chosen as representatives of their national team. Someone like Mo Fan, who could take on a few Mages on his own, would be doomed if he encountered a strong Psychic Mage!

Ai Jiangtu was the pillar of the team, and Mo Fan was the ace. Feng Li did not want to use both his trump cards in the opening match. Even if they lost the first match, it would not affect their team by much.

However, others had different opinions.

"The first match is extremely important. If we lose, what the whole world says will turn into great pressure to the members, preventing them from performing as they are expected to. Let Xiao Ai go, we must win the first match," Royal Guards chief Pang Lai stated.

Feng Li thought about it again, and finally agreed to let Ai Jiangtu join the first match.

Ai Jiangtu replaced Nanyu. The captain would be leading the team in the opening match.

"Advisor, Shou Watani of the Japanese team is fairly strong, too. We met each other at the Caribbean Sea. I think he won't be any weaker than me," Ai Jiangtu stated firmly.

Even though Mo Fan had taken all the limelight when they were fighting against the Red Ornaments Guild, the others did fight the local government army and the remaining Mages of the Red Ornaments Guild. Ai Jiangtu purposely kept an eye on the Japanese team's captain, and he only had one word to describe the captain: strong!

As a matter of fact, if the guy called Shou Watani had been able to take on the Red Ornaments Guild's leader, he would have been able to beat him, too!

"Even you don't have the confidence to take him on?" Pang Lai asked curiously.

Ai Jiangtu was extremely popular with the authorities. After all, he was the rising star from the military. He was so powerful that he could easily crush anyone of the same age. He was like an instructor that had blended in with the students.

"I can't say for sure, it mainly depends on our Domains," Ai Jiangtu said.

"If you aren't feeling confident, let me go, my hands are itching!" Mo Fan was a great fan of fights.

"Piss off!" Feng Li snapped at him.

"I will try my best to secure our first victory," Ai Jiangtu promised.

Not feeling confident did not necessarily mean they would lose the match. Ai Jiangtu was only feeling that Shou Watani's strength was somewhat hard to measure, so he would have to keep an eye out for him. However, since he was chosen to fight the first match, he would not let his country down!

"Mmm, that's the spirit, go for it!" Feng Li nodded.

---

In the end, the candidates were Mu Ningxue, Jiang Yu, Jiang Shaoxu, Ai Jiangtu, and Guan Yu.

"By the way, aren't we lacking firepower with this combination?" an advisor asked.

Just looking at the Elements the five candidates had, none of them had the Fire Element, which was the best offensive Element. Only Jiang Yu had Lightning as his secondary Element, but his Lightning was like the output of a little battery compared to Mo Fan's. It was unlikely that it could come in handy.

"I guess we'll have to leave the offense to Mu Ningxue," Song He said.

The only person with a destructive primary Element was Mu Ningxue. Her Ice Element was capable of defense and offense. If the whole team was leaning more toward utilities and defense, she would be fully responsible for the team's offense!

After roughly discussing their strategy, the candidates began to prepare themselves for the match.

There were quite a few stages in Venice. They were at the stadium where the opening ceremony was held, yet the stage for the match was bigger than four soccer fields. It was quite shocking, especially given how hard it was to secure such a large space in Venice, where every inch of the ground was as valuable as gold.

The scale of the stage reflected the wealth of the spectators. The seats were densely crowded, but considering how dangerous a magic battle could be, even with the barriers in place, they would not allow too many people to watch the match at the stadium. Besides, with modern magic technology, they could easily transmit the match with options of different views such as skybox, side-view, close-ups, or front-view right into the spectators' eyes.