"Teacher, Shrek seems to be very famous. So many people are discussing them."
"What a bunch of short-sighted fools. Some even think the Shrek people are handsome. That Thousand Hands Asura must be Tang San, right? He still has so many fangirls, even though he's all pockmarked now."
"And that Evil Eyes White Tiger should be Dai Mubai. 'Evil Eyes,' indeed. I think he's cross-eyed."
"I agree."
A young man in a white robe, accompanied by three uniquely graceful girls and a tall, simple-minded young man, walked into the Sotou City Great Soul Arena.
Walking in from the entrance of the Great Spirit Arena, Ning Rongrong and the others noticed many passersby discussing a Spirit Master team called the Shrek Team, including quite a few children of nobles.
In this World where Spirit Masters are the mainstream, Spirit Masters are an extremely noble profession. A major hobby of nobles is to watch Spirit Fighting competitions. If they encounter talented individuals, they will even spend heavily to recruit them and show goodwill. Many nobles also like to choose Spirit Masters with good Aptitude to be their sons-in-law.
They had already placed blind bets with heavy gold coins on Shrek Academy's match tomorrow. Most people favored the Shrek Team, who had already performed excellently, and were very optimistic, even betting on the terminator and winner of tomorrow's match.
The so-called terminator is the person who ends the match, defeating the last opponent.
The winner is the best-performing member of the victorious team, also known as the MVP.
Fifty to sixty percent of people bet on Thousand Hands Asura to be the terminator and winner, because he performed the best in the match against the Royal Fight Team.
About thirty percent of people bet on Evil Eyes White Tiger, and about twenty percent favored Evil Fire Phoenix.
Only one to two percent of speculators placed a portion of gold coins on this "Heart of Fire Battle Team" that had never shown its face.
As an academy adjacent to Shrek Academy, Ning Rongrong and the others were relatively familiar with Shrek's situation. Just by listening, they could guess most of their codenames.
Ning Rongrong pouted her small mouth. She couldn't do anything about these people's ignorance: "Teacher is right. The prejudice in people's hearts is indeed a great mountain."
"Their good performance in the Spirit Fighting competition doesn't mean we're bad. You'll cry when we win."
"I can only say that these people haven't tasted anything good. Even those boys from Shrek can be their idols, sigh~" Ning Rongrong was very helpless.
"Yes, yes, yes, Rongrong, you've tasted good things, and you're even eating alone," Meng Yiran grumbled from behind.
"Alas, Meng Yiran, I know you really want to get the reward for victory, but please don't shout yet."
Ning Rongrong sighed, "I really want to eat alone, but Teacher won't let me."
"Where do you want to eat Teacher? Hehehe~"
"Look at you, you really don't know how to talk. How can Teacher be eaten? How can you treat Teacher as food, Meng Yiran? That's not good. You can be glib, but you can't be greedy."
"Alright, stop bickering, you're about to fight. You're still so disunited. Do you really want to lose?"
Xin, who was walking in front wearing an plain mask, heard Ning Rongrong and Meng Yiran bickering and felt quite helpless. Zhu Zhuqing was better; her personality was quite cold, and she rarely made a fuss, only agreeing when she felt something was right.
But Meng Yiran was different. She grew up with her grandparents, just like Ning Rongrong, both doted on by their families. When these two got together, Xin, who was talkative, got a headache.
"Don't worry, Teacher, we'll definitely win!" Ning Rongrong said confidently.
Zhu Zhuqing was calmer: "Rongrong, don't be careless. Teacher said that team battles are not like one-on-one fights, and we only have four people participating. If Shrek Academy sends out the standard team battle number—seven people—then it's like one of us has to fight nearly two Spirit Masters. Our pressure is still very great."
Wang Sheng also nodded: "Rongrong, have you forgotten the encouraging words Teacher posted on the classroom wall? Arrogant soldiers will lose!"
"Sister Rongrong~ Are you deliberately being arrogant and planning to intentionally mislead us during the match? So that we can't get Teacher's reward, and only you will know what Teacher looks like. Sister, you have some bad intentions~"
Meng Yiran looked at Ning Rongrong suspiciously and said faintly.
"Hey~ I—I didn't! How could I mislead you? I didn't!"
Ning Rongrong flatly denied it!
"Teacher, control Meng Yiran, she's slandering me!!!"
...