You Ditched an R-Rank, Now That I’m an SSR, You Wanna Cry?-Chapter 36: One man defends the title, standing until the very end.

"The academy selection rules are quite simple."
"Ten Contracted Spirit battle arenas have been set up,"
"Throughout the day, you can take the stage to defend your position at any time, defeat as many challengers as possible, and accumulate your defense time!"
"At 6 PM, we will rank participants based on their total defense time."
"The ten Spirit Tamers with the longest defense times will represent our academy in the provincial competition!"
The principal of Chuanbei personally announced the competition rules, his voice booming through the arena.
This method was sufficiently fair.
As long as a Spirit Tamer had enough spiritual energy reserves and strong enough Contracted Spirits, their defense time would naturally be longer!
It also avoided the unfairness caused by successive battles.
After hearing the rules.
The entire venue erupted with excited discussions:
"As expected, it's the same as before - ranking based on defense time duration!"
"After all, it's extremely difficult for one person to defend until the very end. In successive battles, even if the Contracted Spirit is strong enough, the Spirit Tamer's spiritual energy won't be sufficient."
"Without doubt, the seeded contestants this round include School Belle Mo and God Yuan's combination, and they're also the only first-year participants!"
"You've all probably seen that video, right? God Yuan is indeed handsome and powerful, but when it comes to the current overall top Spirit Tamer in Chuanbei, it should be Senior Han Guang!"
"Senior Han Guang's Contracted Spirit team composition is too strong - a level 70 SR, plus two level 80 A-tier Contracted Spirits!"
"......"
The Contracted Spirit Battle Arenas square was completely packed with over ten thousand seats!
In addition to the entire school's teachers, students, and Contracted Spirits, there were also outsiders who came to watch.
Such as elders and younger members of Spirit Tamer families.
They wouldn't miss seeing their family's young Spirit Tamers perform in the competition.
The Mo family members, the Jiang family members - all had arrived!
And cameras from major television stations had filled every corner of the venue, ensuring absolutely clear real-time broadcast footage!
Previously, Chuanbei Spirit Tamer Academy didn't receive this much attention - such selection competitions would only attract one news media outlet at most.
But now that they had someone like Xia Yuan, an extremely active SSR, everything instantly changed!
Not long after being summoned, below level 50, he participated in conquering Abyss Instances bosses, and also defeated three A-tier Contracted Spirit assassins at the train station.
These achievements were quite exaggerated, making people pay attention!
After hearing the rules, Xia Yuan yawned boredly, pointing at the Contracted Spirit arena and asking:
"As long as we stay up there longer, our chances of becoming first are greater, right?"
Mo Shiyu nodded, "That's correct."
Xia Yuan asked again, "My power is quite hard to control, what if I accidentally kill them?"
Mo Shiyu held a hair tie between her rosy lips, gathering the waterfall-like smooth black hair behind her into a neat high ponytail, revealing her smooth jade-white swan-like neck:
"They won't die. The Contracted Spirit arenas are specially made - Contracted Spirits that die in battle there will return to the Spirit Tamer's Contracted Spirit space, though it consumes a large amount of spiritual energy."
Xia Yuan showed a smile, "That means I can attack freely!"
Mo Shiyu thought about the destructive power of his skills - even the arena barrier probably couldn't withstand them - and couldn't help saying, "Know your limits. Don't use full strength, and you probably won't need to use full strength anyway..."
Xia Yuan waved his hand, "Understood."
Cheering sounds rose from the spectator stands:
"Woo! God Yuan is so handsome!"
"God Yuan, look over here, we're here!"
"My God Yuan fighting in a school competition - isn't that like fishing in a barrel? First place is within easy reach!"
"I bet no one can break through God Yuan's defense!"
"......"
Xia Yuan turned to look and saw the Mo family members waving at him.
Mo Cheng and Holy Light Knight had both come.
Holy Light Knight wasn't wearing her holy light armor this time.
However, the holy light little loli seemed to be preventing her own radiance from being too dazzling, wrapped entirely in a large coat with only two small eyes visible.
She was still playing with her game console, and when she saw Xia Yuan looking over, she waved at him and shouted loudly:
"Xia Yuan, you guy, you better take first place, otherwise I wasted my time coming out under this blazing sun to watch you!"
Xia Yuan cheerfully gave her an "OK" gesture.
When Mo Shiyu saw Holy Light Knight, her expression turned resentful.
She always felt the other party had corrupted her SSR, actually playing those kinds of games!
Remembering that day's scene made her blush with shame, and she immediately said angrily, "Xia Yuan, interact less with Holy Light Knight from now on. That guy may look holy, but she's not holy at all!"
Xia Yuan went "Huh?" and pretended not to hear.
The competition was about to begin!
All participants gathered around the ten arenas, silently waiting.
However, the surrounding participants immediately moved away when they saw Mo Shiyu and Xia Yuan, switching to other arenas.
They didn't want to encounter the great demon king right from the start!
Similarly, on the other side, Han Guang, considered to have the strongest overall strength, also had no one daring to stand near him.
Mo Shiyu and Han Guang looked at each other across the sea of people, tacitly understanding not to stand under the same arena.
Both sides had their considerations.
As fellow schoolmates, they didn't want to have a major battle right at the start, then exhaust their spiritual energy and be surpassed by others.
Besides, it would expose their trump cards for people from other academies to exploit.
But Xia Yuan didn't think that much, saying boredly:
"That guy called Han Guang has many Contracted Spirits, seems he even has an SR, just like Little Light. Later I'll fight him, see what his Contracted Spirits are really like..."
Mo Shiyu immediately stopped him, "No need. Picking strong opponents from the start would just waste your spiritual energy for nothing, wouldn't it?"
Xia Yuan thought about it - that made sense. "But when time is about to end, if I have extra spiritual energy, I can test him out then!"
Mo Shiyu knew she couldn't dissuade him, so she could only sigh, "We'll talk about it then."
Xia Yuan stood behind Mo Shiyu, playing with her ponytail, thoroughly enjoying himself. "So, when do we go up?"
Mo Shiyu felt like the ponytail at the back of her head was about to become spiral-shaped and take off. Angrily, she turned around and swatted his paw away.
"We go up right from the start, and we have to persist until the end!"
Xia Yuan rubbed his chin, "I naturally have no problem, but can you handle it, Fatty Yu?"
Mo Shiyu took a deep breath, "I'll do my best!"
The square loudspeaker sounded:
"Time's up!"
"I declare the selection competition officially begins!"
As the Chuanbei principal finished speaking.
The ten arenas gradually filled with defenders.
Xia Yuan stepped leisurely, making a single jump to mount the arena, waiting for brave challengers.
Everyone was watching him. Seeing Xia Yuan take the stage right from the start, several people actually pulled themselves back mid-air, not daring to join him on the same stage.
Just kidding!
Going up now would be suicide, wouldn't it?
Even though you can't die on the arena, it consumes a huge amount of spiritual energy to resurrect.
Mo Shiyu summoned Little Black, and her defense time started counting!
The other arenas were fighting intensely, fiercely heated.
But only Xia Yuan's arena remained calm and peaceful.
Only he stood there alone, bored with his hands in his pockets...
The spectator stands buzzed with discussion:
"No way? No one dares to challenge him? Then what are we watching?"
"Who would dare? Haven't you seen the video? Three high-level A-tier Contracted Spirit assassins were all brutally defeated!"
"SSR is just too overpowered. But if they use successive battles to exhaust the Spirit Tamer's spiritual energy, they should be able to knock him down, right?"
"That depends on whether they have the courage to try!"
"I want to see the SSR's combat power with my own eyes. Could a few brave souls please challenge the evil dragon?"
"......"