"Wow! Won again!"
"Holy crap, that was a brutal shot! Cut the opponent and their weapon in half!"
"Tsk tsk tsk, this guy wasn't good enough. Didn't even make Lin Ran use his second stage..."
"Yeah, Lin Ran just used this ability, like a golden dragon soul he found somewhere, and defeated him with ease."
"Hmm? This guy's not bad, he actually made Lin Ran use his dimensional gate blast once. Not bad at all..."
"Just wonder if anyone can still force Lin Ran into his third stage."
"Probably very difficult. Even Su Chen, as strong as he is with his demonic sword, could only push Lin Ran to his fifth stage. Anyone else who sees the third stage is likely at their limit."
"..."
Watching Lin Ran continue his rampage in the arena, the audience had become somewhat numb to his dominance.
Thus, they reached a common conclusion.
Lin Ran was essentially a human boss!
The reason was simple: Lin Ran truly resembled a boss...
Bottomless health bar, all-seeing awareness, monstrous attacks, grand AoEs, and so on, it was all there.
The most ingenious part was that Lin Ran's fighting style was exactly like fighting a boss – unlocking new abilities as time passed and health decreased.
Currently, Lin Ran's most frequently used method was his Golden Dragon Martial Soul.
Since he was crushing weaker opponents anyway, it felt good to use overwhelming force.
So, the audience labeled Lin Ran's Golden Dragon Martial Soul state as Lin Ran's first stage;
Using the King's Treasure was the second stage;
Accessing the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was the third stage;
Entering the Room domain was the fourth stage;
And the appearance of Susanoo was the fifth stage...
They didn't understand Lin Ran's specific abilities and could only categorize them in such a rough manner.
Because Lin Ran basically dominated everyone he fought, the only way to gauge an opponent's strength was through Lin Ran's attitude.
As for whether Lin Ran had even more exaggerated abilities later on, no one knew.
After all, Su Chen's earth-shattering attack only pushed Lin Ran to his fifth stage...
It seemed that before entering the top sixteen, Lin Ran would likely only need to use up to the third stage.
Not long after, the final list of the top sixteen was finally released.
Lu Qiufeng clicked his tongue in regret.
Only four of their students managed to reach the top sixteen.
Lin Ran, Luo Qingyan, Lan Ruoqiu, and Bai Ziye.
It was clear that the ones who reached the end were these well-rounded contestants, capable of handling various situations and opponents.
The others had fallen due to their lack of comprehensive talent.
Take Lu Qianqian's Elemental Spirit Body, for example. As a long-range magic artillery, her output was terrifying.
However, against assassin-type talents who could easily close the distance, she was easily trapped and killed.
Huang Chong's Sky-Piercing Divine Bow was similar, just of the physical damage type.
Guo Yu Zhou's Star Mist was invincible for crowd control and maxed out on defense, but its damage was too weak. He eventually lost to someone with a defensive talent after exhausting his magic.
As for Lan Ruoqiu's Withered Ash Bones and Bai Ziye's Soul Severing Demon, both were capable of both offense and defense.
Xu Sheng, who also possessed a balanced offense and defense through his talent and bloodline, fell to a cryo-control talent.
Because he wasn't fast enough, he was truly beaten badly, tortured to death.
After that match, Xu Sheng felt like he was going to throw up.
It could only be said that sometimes, having strength alone wasn't enough.
The saying goes, good strategy is better than good execution.
Letting those who were difficult for you be eliminated by others, and then you eliminate those people, makes advancing much easier.
Otherwise, if you encounter someone who counters you, you'll just be suppressed.
"Four people making it is already a record breaker compared to previous years, and you're still not satisfied?"
"Look at Xiangchu University in the distance. As a top 10 university, they don't even have a single person in the top sixteen, and they're still doing fine."
Lin Miao patted Lu Qiufeng on the shoulder.
"Let's go to the stage and clear it for the people who need to draw lots."
The matches for the top sixteen to advance to the top eight were no longer held simultaneously to ensure better viewing experience. Instead, they were played one by one.
This way, the audience could enjoy it to the fullest.
After all, the event organizers had spent so much money, relying on the final, most exciting matches to be broadcast, and earning back the money through traffic, advertising revenue, and so on.
There was no way they would let go of this cash cow.
"Awesome, Qingyan! You're really lucky with the draw!"
Lin Miao happily shouted, excitedly waving her fist as she saw the draw results.
Luo Qingyan drew into the first half of the bracket, while Lin Ran was in the second half.
This way, their two strongest contestants wouldn't meet prematurely.
The only possibility of them meeting would be in the final.
As long as they could secure first and second place, their individual event scores would undoubtedly be the highest.
Since Lin Ran's match was later, he finally got to rest and watch from the sidelines.
Luo Qingyan was the first to compete, facing a dark-elemental crowd-control talent.
This opponent's strategy was to slowly wear down the opponent, using dark-elemental debuffs and reductions to torture them to death.
Unfortunately, this was completely ineffective against Luo Qingyan.
With her SSS-grade talent Divine Angel, bloodline ability Soul of the Angel, and special equipment Heart of the Angel, she was the nemesis of all dark elements.
And if she used Fallen Angel, she would become the nemesis of all light elements...
Light and darkness were inherently counteractive, and with the overwhelming quality of energy, Luo Qingyan had a significant advantage.
Thus, Luo Qingyan only needed a few rounds of bombardment with divine magic to crush the dark-elemental contestant.
Lan Ruoqiu and Bai Ziye, who were in the same half of the bracket as Luo Qingyan, also won their matches after fierce battles.
This way, Yan University occupied three of the eight spots in the upper half, a very promising situation.
As for the lower half...
Lu Qiufeng smiled as he watched Lin Ran take the stage.
In his mind, Lin Ran, the sole representative in the lower half, was even more secure than the other three.
So, what was the situation of Lin Ran's opponent?
Lu Qiufeng looked over.
Jiang Siqi, captain of Wunan University, a top 10 university.
This person was quite mysterious.
After all, her talent was extremely special.
The name of this talent was Fate Summoning, which allowed her to communicate with the void and summon various strange creatures to fight for her.
She could also temporarily merge her body with the summoned creature to control it directly.
Or, she could remain outside and imbue herself with the same attributes as the summoned creature.
In a sense, it was quite similar to Lin Ran's Operation Fruit allowing him to control the Black Dragon's body.