National destiny: Global tower climbing skills have decreased by 10,000 times.

When the chef called, Ye Fei was still asleep in bed.

"Big brother! Da Kun is holding an internal selection competition today, are you going to watch?"

The cook's voice was filled with excitement: "I've already spoken to Da Kun, and he said we're welcome to come. Let's go check it out!"

Ye Fei, holding the phone, pretended not to know: "What selection competition?"

"The Neo Academy, the one I went with you last time. Now they're selecting three academies to participate in the regional competition."

"I told you, Da Kun mentioned it to me the other day, telling us to go and support them when we have time."

Ye Fei hummed in agreement, then pretended to think for a moment before asking, "What time?"

"It starts at ten o'clock, so it shouldn't be too late yet."

"Alright, let's go then."

The chef's laughter came from the other end of the phone: "Alright, brother, I'll wait for you at the door, the usual place."

Ye Fei hung up the phone and put it down.

He glanced out the window; it was already broad daylight, and the sun was shining in through the window.

Lin Xi should already be competing now.

……

Neo Academy, the selection competition venue.

The competition area for trainees is located in the training hall on the second floor. Each trainee has their own cubicle so that they do not disturb each other.

The multi-functional hall on the first floor has been converted into a viewing area, with a huge viewing screen facing the audience, displaying the real-time competition footage and rankings of each student on the second floor.

The coaching staff sat in the front row, with several monitoring terminals in front of them, allowing them to access any student's deck and operational details at any time.

The back rows were occupied by school staff and a few parents who had been invited to observe.

Da Kun sat in the middle of the first row, holding a list of students in his hand, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Coach Wang isn't here today? How can the main instructor be absent without his presence?" one coach commented.

"He took the day off today, saying there were some things to take care of at home, and he'll be here later," another coach replied.

Coach Lu sat next to him, swiping his fingers across the tablet, bringing up various data.

"The first round of A4 has pretty good seeding," Coach Lu said. "It's a comprehensive test of the students' basic skills. There aren't many elites, but there are a few pitfalls in the question marks. If you don't handle them well, you can easily crash out."

A young instructor leaned over and said, "Most students will probably choose this route, right? We've recommended similar maps in our course materials."

Coach Lu said, "Well, this map is quite traditional, without much variety. As long as your basic skills are good, you should choose this route."

Da Kun nodded: "Let's see."

On the spectator screen, the countdown reached zero. All participants started simultaneously.

The coaches focused their attention on the windows of several key trainees.

"Look at Du Feiyang, he's as steady as ever, not taking the risk of going for the four question marks, and still choosing the standard three fires and one shop," the young coach said.

"Moreover, he's currently in the lead and looks like he's about to reach the elite level."

"Kim Young-ye was on the standard route, but he stopped in front of the first shop... and picked up a 'Cold Wave' card. That's quite clever," Coach Lu commented.

The competition progressed smoothly. With the first level more than halfway through, most participants were neck and neck, with differences within ten seconds.

The coaches occasionally exchanged a few words of advice in hushed tones, and the overall atmosphere was fairly relaxed.

The turning point came after the second store.

"Du Feiyang has sped up." Coach Lu's eyes narrowed.

"He drew a 'focused attack' card, which perfectly complemented his electric ball."

On the spectator screen, Du Feiyang's ranking jumped from third to first, and the gap between him and the others was widening rapidly.

His progress was significantly faster than others; his card selection was decisive and almost without pause.

"This kid is in good form today," Coach Lu said with a smile.

After the second fire, Jin Ying also began to exert himself. His pace was a little slower than Du Feiyang's, but every step was steady and solid, without any unnecessary movements.

"Jin Ying has caught up and is now in second place," the young coach said, "about ten seconds behind Du Feiyang."

"These two have basically secured the top two spots." Coach Lu leaned back in his chair.

"We can't tell who's in third place yet. We need to observe the others, besides those two."

His gaze swept across the other trainees' windows. Most of them had already fallen far behind Du Feiyang and Jin Ying.

The scores of the students ranked third to tenth were very close, and anyone could have gotten third place.

Lin Xi looked at the shop in front of him. There was neither "overclocking" nor "rocket punch". The current deck construction was not even close to "state machine".

He lingered in the store for a long time, looking at the only "High-Speed ​​Escape" card. After much hesitation, he finally decided to buy it.

"Sigh, bad luck. Although it's not a core component, I'll make do with this one for now."

Starting from the second level, Du Feiyang and Jin Ying maintained a distance from the other trainees, while the two of them overtook each other, keeping a close and competitive pace.

When it came to the final boss, Du Feiyang had a slight edge and took first place. Jin Ying was slightly behind, only a dozen seconds slower, and came in second.

"Hmph, this kid, let's see if he can still be so arrogant." Du Feiyang looked at his first-place record, slammed the mouse on the table, and glanced triumphantly at Jin Ying in the distance.

However, after finishing her attack, Jin Ying sat there with her eyes closed, resting and ignoring him.

The first round of the competition ended quickly.

Lin Xi eventually managed to clear the third level with a large deck, but he didn't manage to draw any "State Machine" components throughout the entire game, resulting in a very scattered deck.

Finally, with the help of potions and repeated skirmishes, they barely managed to defeat the third boss.

"Eighteen in total," Coach Lu said. "More than expected."

"Yeah, based on their usual win rate, A4 shouldn't be too easy."

"Who are they?" Da Kun asked, sitting next to him.

"Let me see... These students are usually quite diligent, so it's no surprise they passed."

"Number 18... 25... 27... Lin Xi?" The young coach noticed a window at the back.

"Isn't this the one who was sleeping in class just a few days ago? How did they pass the first round?"

Coach Lu leaned over for a look: "It's only A4, you can get through it with good luck, this seed isn't difficult."

"Their true skill level will only be revealed later on."

Coach Lu didn't say anything more and turned his attention back to the other trainees.

The first round is over.

The final rankings popped up on the spectator screen: Du Feiyang was first, and Jin Ying was second, with only twelve seconds between them.

The third to tenth place were very close, and Lin Xi ranked 16th—he barely made it into the next round of 32 to 18.

Sixteenth place. Lin Xi looked at her score and breathed a sigh of relief; she had almost been eliminated in the first round.

Da Kun looked at the list and frowned slightly: "The first two are fine, but this third place... is quite poor, and it's about the same as the fourth, fifth and sixth place."

Coach Lu nodded: "In the second round, A5, the difficulty increases, and even more people will fall behind. Hopefully, someone will step up."

Ye Fei and the chef walked in through the entrance to the lobby on the first floor.

The spectator area was already quite full, so the two found empty seats in the back row and sat down.

A huge spectator screen faced the audience, displaying a countdown to the second round of matches.

"Brother, we're late. The first round is already over." The cook lowered his voice. "Look at the rankings, Du Feiyang is first, Jin Ying is second... How come these two are so far ahead of everyone else?"

Ye Fei didn't speak, his gaze sweeping over the list on the spectator screen: Lin Xi was ranked sixteenth, with the words "advanced" marked after her name.

His gaze lingered for a moment. He wasn't surprised by this result; at least he had advanced, which was something to be thankful for.

Through these days of intensive training, he was very clear about Lin Xi's current level.

Although his progress has been rapid, he has already mastered the "state machine" playing style.

But the problem is that if he doesn't draw the key cards, he won't be able to maintain the balance. If he tries to build a deck in a deliberate way and ends up with a "neither fish nor fowl" deck, it might backfire.

After all, a week is just too short a time.

"I hope he understands," Ye Fei thought to himself.

He glanced at the monitor screen again. Lin Xi, sitting in the distance, was rubbing her hands together, looking somewhat nervous.

Soon, the second round of the competition began.

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