Even many teachers who had reached the sixth or seventh tier didn't have this confidence, let alone the students.
The scene of Ling Xiao being severely beaten was still fresh in their minds, and they didn't believe they could be stronger than Ling Xiao.
If they pushed this master too hard, and two meteorites descended, wouldn't the fortress be flattened?
Who could withstand that!
In the face of absolute power crushing all else, no competition system could guarantee that they wouldn't be utterly defeated…
After a perfunctory sweep of the surroundings, Ma Te nodded:
"Then let's present the awards! Hurry and bring out the rewards!"
"We are all practical people, no need for those flashy, empty gestures, let's focus on the real stuff!"
Han Zixi had already anticipated this. He directly brought out the trophies and redemption coupons.
A grand procession emerged, holding a somewhat ceremonial award ceremony for Lin Ran and the others.
Lin Ran's outstanding performance also naturally earned him the FMVP of this freshman exchange competition, along with an additional trophy and reward.
The champion received three Epic Equipment Redemption Coupons and three Epic Natural Treasure Redemption Coupons;
The FMVP received an extra Epic Equipment Redemption Coupon and an Epic Natural Treasure Redemption Coupon;
Adding to that was the Universal Redemption Coupon promised by Han Zixi, allowing him to choose anything from Xiangchu's academic credit warehouse!
A bountiful harvest!
His equipment and talent attributes were about to undergo a brand new upgrade!
Lin Ran was already eager to return to Xiangchu and raid their treasury…
Xu Sheng, Guo Yuzhou, and the others who had tagged along also wore beaming smiles.
This was truly our "Kobe and I scored 81 points together" night.
Basically, they did nothing, just played a supporting role, and they won the championship. So comfortable!
And the group that was completely out of place, such as Su Quan, Su Changgong, the elders of the Su family, Wang Yuanqing, and other Xiangchu competition officials… all chose to leave dejectedly.
Since this grand event did not belong to them, and none of them had the capability, it was realistic for everyone to go their separate ways…
As for Lu Qiufeng, he quietly sidled up to Cui Site again:
"Old Cui, how is it?"
After a long heart-to-heart talk earlier, these two individuals with similar personalities, hobbies, preferences, and styles had become intimately familiar within half an hour, lamenting only that they hadn't met sooner.
Cui Site sighed:
"Too many things have happened today, and the situation has far exceeded expectations…"
"As a councilor, I probably can't resolve so many issues on my own. I can only report to the council first."
"After deliberation by the speaker and the others, a satisfactory outcome will surely be reached."
"However, the benefits I promised Lin Ran and Luo Qingyan beforehand will definitely be honored, not a single bit less."
"In fact, after the speaker and the others evaluate, the benefits will only be better and greater. You can rest assured about this."
Lu Qiufeng nodded with a smile:
"That's good then…"
"After all, if you guys cause any trouble, it won't be me who comes to settle the score, but our boss."
"You can rest assured about that too!"
Seeing Lu Qiufeng mention Ma Te again, Cui Site's heart twinged, and he gave Lu Qiufeng a displeased glance.
Before he had interacted with Ma Te, only hearing the legends about him, Cui Site had thought Ma Te would be a kind and benevolent old man.
But after meeting him today, he realized that while "kind" was somewhat accurate, he was far from benevolent.
He had even taken a kick from him…
It seemed that to avoid this old man appearing before him again, he absolutely had to fight for greater benefits for Lin Ran in front of the speaker.
For such an unstoppable force, he needed to be clever and prioritize building good rapport as soon as possible!
As for the mess with the Su family, it would have to be decided by the speaker.
Although Cui Site deeply abhorred the Su family's extreme self-interest, to the point of betraying national and human interests, the complexity of the forces behind these influential families made resolving it extremely troublesome.
Many things required careful consideration and deliberation, emphasizing a lack of decisiveness.
Take Su Lie's case for instance. If Ma Te hadn't intervened so forcefully, without decisive evidence beyond mere words, who would dare to directly judge Su Lie?
Let alone kill him.
Even though the entire nation knew that this was highly probable, they still couldn't act that way.
Su Lie's fate would likely be to be taken back by the Su family, bearing only the pressure of public opinion, which was harmless and wouldn't affect him in the slightest.
After thousands of years of development, nearly three-quarters of the influential families had gradually become deep-rooted, thriving tumors.
Amassing wealth, hoarding resources, monopolizing secret realms, occupying forbidden lands, dominating provinces, draining the common people…
They were like a lingering Sword of Damocles hanging over the entire Dragon Country, extremely dangerous and unstable, with the potential to fall upon the Dragon Country at any moment.
Slowly eroding these powers might not even keep pace with a fraction of their development.
After all, there were at least a hundred such influential families that were well-known in the Dragon Country.
They had weathered storms and reached this point, so they were undoubtedly exceptionally shrewd.
Therefore, besides brute force breaking through cleverness, there was almost no other way.
Just like Ma Te's powerful execution of Su Lie today, which could truly inflict a heavy blow on the influential families.
To completely eradicate them required not only great boldness and courage but also a young heroic figure to lead, taking the baton from Ma Te.
…
Evening.
By this time, all the participants had successfully returned to Xiangchu via small aircraft.
They were preparing to spend their last night here, exchange the competition rewards they had received, and depart tomorrow.
Lin Ran, holding a significant sum of money, immediately took Luo Qingyan to the exchange counter to inquire about all the items in Xiangchu's academic credit warehouse.
First, the regular rewards!
A total of four Epic Equipment Redemption Coupons and four Epic Natural Treasure Redemption Coupons from being champion and FMVP!
Lin Ran first chose four different natural treasures, but their effects were all aimed at increasing his maximum health.
After all, with his current abilities of percentage-based health recovery (Nature's Heart and Nature's Spirit) and the ability to exchange blood for natural energy (Nature's Heart) and magic power (Ring of Souls), the thing that could maximize his strength was precisely his maximum health! 138 Read Net
Phoenix Tail, Sulfur Grass, Amethyst, and Immortal Herb were consumed one after another, directly leading to a further increase in Lin Ran's maximum health and combat power!