Douluo: What the hell is the academic master development system?

Chapter 566 New Competition Rules
In addition, the villa even has a small training ground, built with special materials and a soul tool defense system, which can defend against most soul skill attacks below the Soul Saint level.

When they first moved into this villa, everyone on the Shrek Academy team was deeply moved.

This hotel is so luxurious, with twenty rooms, which is more than enough for a group of only a dozen or so people. Daily meals can be customized and are all provided free of charge by the hotel.

This is the most premium service and amenities available to the participating teams in this year's competition. Only eight teams are entitled to this. The Shrek Academy team is staying in Villa No. 1.

In this respect, the Sun and Moon Empire appeared very grand; this villa was not only the most luxurious, but also symbolized that they were the champion team of the previous tournament.

Therefore, after resting in their own rooms for a while, everyone, including those from the Tang Clan, gathered in the large conference room on the top floor to discuss tactical and competition format issues.

The Sun Moon Empire's change to the competition format this time was very sudden, and it was quite different from the initial draft they received from the academy.

As per the competition rules, the entire competition is divided into two stages: preliminary rounds and finals. Teams representing sects and academies are all mixed together.

The preliminary rounds were indeed a knockout tournament. However, this knockout tournament seemed to have lost some of its original flavor. The competition venue was set in the outskirts of Mingdu, instead of the city center where the competition was originally supposed to be held.

One of the instructions that caught Chen Ping's attention the most stated that, for both the preliminary and final rounds, only the diameter of the playing field would be limited, but the height would not.

Chen Ping knew clearly that the Sun Moon Empire was favoring the Soul Saints and Soul Masters that they possessed.

As long as they possess a flying soul tool, a Soul Master at the fourth-ring Soul Master level can soar through the sky and launch air-to-ground attacks.

Undoubtedly, this competition rule is of great benefit to Soul Masters. After all, carrying a flying Soul Tool in battle is already a common occurrence, which is a huge advantage.

Ironically, the Sun and Moon Empire offered a perfectly reasonable explanation.

The Sun and Moon faction claims that with the advancement of cultivation methods and soul tools, air superiority will inevitably be contested in future battles, thus testing the air combat capabilities of soul masters is necessary.

This statement left the Douluo Three Kingdoms speechless with bitterness, especially those sects that lacked financial resources and were participating in the competition for the first time. They were completely dumbfounded, as some sects simply couldn't afford flying soul tools.

Even so, they still had to reluctantly admit that the Sun and Moon Empire was quite right.

The four kingdoms of Douluo Continent are the Sun Moon Empire, the Star Luo Empire, the Heavenly Soul Empire, and the Fighting Spirit Empire.

In reality, only the Sun Moon Empire possesses a truly large enough group of Soul Masters. This competition format is blatant favoritism.

Of course, these rules might have had some impact on Shrek last year, but for Shrek this year, where everyone is equipped with flight display, these rules are purely beneficial.

What level of flight soul guide device does your Sun Moon Empire use? Do you even know what a turbofan engine is, buddy?
Therefore, both the Shrek team and the Tang Clan members burst out laughing when they saw this competition rule.

It's likely that the Star Luo Royal Academy, led by Xu Jiujiu, followed a similar path, given that the Star Luo Empire's border troops had previously purchased a large number of new flying soul tools. One can only say that Mu En's choice was quite decisive.

On the eve of the great era of soul tools, the government stubbornly forced martial soul system students to use soul tools. The seeds planted five years ago have finally borne fruit today.

Regardless of the circumstances, it is a foregone conclusion that the academies and sects of the Sun Moon Empire will see a significant rise in their rankings in this competition.

Mu En was able to change the entire atmosphere of Shrek Academy by using a rule that allowed the inner court to calculate comprehensive scores using soul tools and select the best candidates. Naturally, the Sun Moon Empire could also rely on a single rule to significantly boost the rankings of all its academies and sects.

Having the power to make the rules makes it so difficult to argue with others.

Fortunately, the Sun and Moon Empire didn't dare to go too far. In addition to this, the scoring method for the individual elimination rounds has also changed slightly, and will be calculated based on the remaining number of participants.

In other words, if one side can defeat seven opponents in the individual elimination rounds, they can score seven points based on the remaining seven members of their team, and the subsequent team matches can be skipped.

Because a team only has five points, there's no way to turn the tide. Of course, in such a major competition, it's almost impossible to take on seven opponents at once.

Therefore, if the winning team fails to score more than five points in the individual elimination rounds, a team match becomes inevitable. This gives the opponent a chance to turn the tide.

Of course, the tiebreaker is equally important. Points from each match will be recorded. In certain special circumstances, these tiebreakers can be decisive.

For example, in most cases this tournament, there is no need to continue with the loser group qualifying rounds. Instead, the teams can compete based on points after the knockout stage, and the teams that did not qualify directly in the first round can advance based on their points.

The new regulations of the Sun Moon Empire were immediately met with resistance from a large number of academies and sects in the Douluo Three Kingdoms. Although many academies followed suit and soul tools gradually became more common as Shrek Academy, a top-tier institution, began to have all its students use soul tools, this matter was somewhat delayed.

In addition, a single flying soul tool costs thousands of gold soul coins to manufacture, but the improvement is far less than that of a ranged or defensive soul tool. Therefore, apart from a few soul masters who can arm themselves to the teeth, there are indeed not many soul masters who actually equip themselves with flying soul tools.

Unfortunately, despite the resistance, this rule was deliberately released by the Sun Moon Empire to boost the rankings of its own academies and sects. After giving an explanation, they pretended to be dead. Many academies and sects had already come, so they couldn't just turn back immediately because of this rule, could they?

Therefore, after several days of chaotic and disorderly boycotts, the new competition is about to begin as scheduled.

Regardless of the specifics of the power struggle between the Sun Moon Empire and the participating parties, at least for the people of the Sun Moon Empire, the Empire's decision to hold the competition on a vast plain in the suburbs was a great boon. This meant that the event could accommodate a much larger number of spectators.

The draw ceremony took place the day before the start of the competition.

Among the 167 participating teams, the luckiest team will be the one that gets a bye.

However, perhaps because the person who went to draw lots was He Caitou, a big, dark-skinned guy, they naturally didn't get a bye.

Well, while fair skin doesn't necessarily mean good luck, it's best not to entrust lottery-related matters to someone who looks unlucky.
(End of this chapter)