Mu Ningxue's lips curled slightly. She put away her Ice Crystal Brake Bow and slowly returned to Lin Chen's side, remaining silent.
It took a long time for the mentors to recover. As the saying goes, amateurs watch the excitement, while experts watch the technique. The strength Mu Ningxue displayed was far superior to that of an Advanced-Tier Mage, and seeing her effortless demeanor, they were all astonished.
The mentors exchanged glances, as if discussing something!
"Mu Ningxue, your strength has been recognized by us. We will submit an application, and you will temporarily join the National Government's training as a substitute," the mentor with the tiger-striped forehead said.
Upon hearing this, Mu Ningxue smiled faintly and nodded gently!
"This is impossible, this is impossible! Mu Ningxue, without the Mu Clan's support, how could you possess Advanced-Tier strength? You must be from the Black Vatican, you must be from the Black Vatican!" Mu Tingying shouted loudly, her expression somewhat frenzied, causing the teammates beside her to move a step away.
However, her frantic words received no response; instead, they caused the faces of the five mentors to darken.
"Enough! Disperse for today. We will reassemble when the substitute members arrive!!!" Dean Song He reprimanded.
Mu Tingying was startled, realizing her rudeness. She left with a resentful expression, not looking back.
Lin Chen and Jiang Shaoxu exchanged glances. Jiang Shaoxu immediately walked over. Under everyone's surprised gazes, Lin Chen left with Mu Ningxue and Jiang Shaoxu, one on each arm.
After they had walked far away, Mu Ningxue and Jiang Shaoxu, who had appeared to be smiling, simultaneously abandoned Lin Chen. Lin Chen, left standing alone, only felt a chill.
For the next few days, Lin Chen's Little Japan was not easy. Mu Ningxue and Jiang Shaoxu seemed to have become good sisters, staying inseparable all day and giving Lin Chen no good looks.
Lin Chen could only swallow his pride and act like a good boy. Fortunately, when there were outsiders, Mu Ningxue and Jiang Shaoxu still gave Lin Chen face!
Time flew by, and Zhao Manyan and Mo Fan arrived one after another. Lin Chen also became familiar with some of the team members.
Ai Tutu's brother, Ai Jiangtu, was also an internal member of this team and served as captain. It's unclear how Ai Tutu described Lin Chen, but Ai Jiangtu proactively challenged him. Lin Chen, however, was not interested. After demonstrating his strength, Ai Jiangtu also knew when to retreat. After this, the two became familiar, sometimes even meeting for a meal.
On this day, the team gathered again. After a few days of getting along, the entire team had split into several factions. Lin Chen, Mu Ningxue, Jiang Shaoxu, Zhao Manyan, Mo Fan, and Nan Jue often hung out together. Nan Jue had neat short hair, and her handsome appearance often led people to mistake her gender. Her solemn and authoritative demeanor masked her exceptional feminine charm, but this concealment did not diminish her appeal. She and Mo Fan had known each other for a long time, and because of this, she often hung out with Lin Chen's small group.
The others, like Gong Yu and Jiang Yu; Zu Jimin and Li Kaifeng; Nan Rongni and Mu Tingying; all had the makings of small groups. Nan Rongni tried several times to integrate into Lin Chen's small group, but all attempts failed, and she eventually gave up pretending, directly colluding with Mu Tingying.
Only Ai Jiangtu performed his duties as captain well, not having particularly good relationships with anyone, nor offending anyone.
The team's lineup was quickly finalized. The official members were: Lin Chen, Ai Jiangtu, Nan Jue, Zu Jimin, Li Kaifeng, Gong Yu, Jiang Yu, Jiang Shaoxu, Mu Tingying, and Nan Rongni, totaling ten people.
The substitute members were: Zhao Manyan, Mo Fan, and Mu Ningxue, three people.
Mu Ningxue didn't care about being a substitute or not. Unlike in the original work, the current Mu Ningxue did not lack any resources. This competition was merely to showcase herself and clear her name.
"Your ultimate goal is to participate in the Venice Water City National Government's contention, which is the World University Tournament. This National Government's training is not only to hope that you can gain more practical experience and magical knowledge, but also that you need to obtain the entry ticket for the Venice National Government's contention. Nearly two hundred countries in the entire World are participating in this competition, and not every country is qualified to appear on the Venice Water City arena..." Mentor Feng Li said to everyone with a powerful voice.
The five mentors all instructed them on what to say, and everyone diligently took notes.
There was no grand welcoming ceremony, and it was even unknown when the National Government's team, which everyone was watching, would truly embark on their training journey, nor were the specific individuals publicly revealed. This was the case for every country. Only when the Venice Water City Tournament ceremony opened would these competitors truly be revealed to the World!
After the five mentors finished their instructions, everyone officially embarked on this training journey. Because everyone's bank card identity information was frozen before departure, they would face the predicament of becoming unregistered individuals and having no funds!
This was also part of the training, but such training made everyone distressed.
If the training failed, the consequences would be severe, because the National Government's team was not just their team; there were other backup teams. If their team failed the training, someone from the backup teams would take their place!
Finally, after being assigned a location, everyone was dropped off in a remote small fishing village.
"Let's go to the fishing village and ask around first!" After realizing the seriousness of the problem, Ai Jiangtu spoke up.
Ai Jiangtu was the captain appointed by the five mentors, and everyone had to follow his arrangements. When Ai Jiangtu spoke, everyone stopped muttering and walked towards the backward small fishing village.
The small fishing village was not far. Passing through the seemingly flimsy small grass fence, one could immediately see a dozen short old houses made of a mix of wood and stone. They looked somewhat damp and gloomy from years of erosion by the sea breeze!
Everyone entered the fishing village in a grand procession, but they saw fewer people in the village than there were in their own group. The children with muddy pants squatting by the doors had probably never seen so many young and beautiful big brothers and sisters. Their eyes blinked, and as soon as everyone approached, they scurried back into their houses, peeking out from the windows.
"It's you again! Don't think that just because we're poor and uneducated here, we're easy to bully. I'm telling you, this old man isn't someone to be trifled with!" An old man with dark skin, wearing wooden clogs, rushed out, holding a paddle he usually used for rowing.
The old man was wrapped in rough cloth, his eyes bright and piercing. His strong, capable hands gripped the paddle tightly, looking as if he was ready to fight to the death with their group.
Seemingly encouraged by the old fisherman, several other young people also came out, holding various objects.
On my Patreon, I have several advance chapters available if you're interested in more than 100: For $1, you get 20 fewer chapters than the $2.50 tier. For $2.50, you get 40 fewer chapters than the $4 tier. And for $4, you get them all.
The number of chapters is updated every 7 days and increases by 7 to 8 chapters.
My Patren: paroncom/FanTranslator