His majesty the pope who spreads the holy light (20)
Translated by: Niladri
self-edited
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Maple Leaf Collegeâs internal preliminary competitions were open to all students. Everyone qualified to register, regardless of grade credits, and even people from other colleges and professionals were allowed. But every student could apply once, so unless they were confident of passing the internal qualifier with their own strength, they wouldnât casually risk their future.
The students who excel in the preliminary contest, even if they fail to win in the main competition, they were extremely likely to obtain favor of a master from one of the departments.
Ionas chose the most difficult competition system. After the final 20 of the warrior divisionâs qualifying competition would be decided, he would begin to challenge directly from the twentieth place. If he could win against everyone in the top 20 without being defeated even once, he would be able to participate in the college competition directly. The only advantage of this system was that it was fast and would take only one day.
Although Lu Heng promised that he would be sitting in the audience and would always be within the other personâs sight, Ionas could not be bothered with the long and arduous knock-out system and chose the alternative method without a thought, which was rarely chosen by anyone.
This caused another sensation in the academy. On that day, the arena was packed with spectators. In fact, majority of the students were there to witness the genius with the first-rate aptitude, being taught a lesson in reality due to overestimating his capabilities. After all, aptitude only indicated potential, and in this internal qualifier, many senior students who had registered for graduation with the Adventurerâs Union outside will also return to participate. These well-known senior students couldnât be compared to the rookies who had never seen blood.
However, the ones that were educated in reality were the audience of the entire arena. The new student, Ionas, went guns blazing all the way. During the first few fights, the audience consoled themselves that those students were out of practice, and it was not surprising that they had been defeated by the freshman with top qualifications. But when Ionas challenged to the top ten, the jaws of the people in audience fell all the way down.
Although it was no fun to watch the Golden Dragon beating children, Lu Heng, being his companion 1, could only sit in the audience and watch the whole show in order to avoid the kind of incident that happened last time.
Ionas from who knows where heard the college tradition, saying that upon achieving a victory, it should be shared with their beloved and that God would bless them. So every time he beat up someone, he would come to the front row of the auditorium.
Obviously, Ionas completely forgot that he was the Dragon God. Now, even if he had no godhead and could not freely use the divine power, he was still a demigod. At this time, Lu Heng thought it was a wise decision to watch the game wearing a cloak.
For example, in this moment.
âThe glory of victory, I am sharing with you.â The blonde black-haired teenager went to the auditorium and looked up at the man whose face was hidden by his cloak. It wasnât until the man put his index finger and middle finger together, a little before his forehead, that the teenager returned to the center of the field satisfied, and waiting for the next opponent to play.
At the beginning, the students in audience had been enthusiastic, but by this time they were indifferent. After all, watching the same scene more than a dozen times in a day, anyone would act like this.
The last scene, standing in front of Ionas, was an acquaintance, Rhett, the warrior of the Blood Wolf Squad.
Rhett was also surprised. âIonas? I thought it was just the same name, but I didnât think it was you.â
Ionas frowned at the strong-looking warrior in front of him. In his eyes, except for his spouse, the entire race looked the same: âWho are you?â
Rhett was choked half to death by the familiar attitude: âIâm Rhett of the Blood Wolves Squad.â
âBlood Wolf Squad?â Ionas seemed to think of something. âCouldnât get the dragon eagleâŚâ
âYes, that was us.â Rhett scrutinized the other personâs expression. He was afraid that the other person will call him a useless person, which would make his own qi go into disarray from anger, so he interrupted him.
The time for relaxing was over, and the referee on the high platform indicated that they could start.
Rhett was so excited that he could meet Ionas here. Because, he had long wanted to beat and break the nose of this aristocratic young master since he bought his meal. Although the priest with him saved Eddieâs life, but these two things were different, and the noble young man was as rude as before. At most, he should do it lightly, so as not to make him lose so dishonorably.
Rhett was ready to use his strength to let the noble master know that he could not hunt the Dragon eagle, not because his team was too weak. However, all of this remained in his fantasies, as Rhett lay on the ground, looking at the sky. He has not yet figured out how he lost.
Rhett only saw him raising his hands. With a flicker of his mind, he then saw Ionas in front of him. When the opponentâs fist was about to make contact with his abdomen, the other person was so fast that he wasnât even able to see him coming. Ionas suddenly slowed down and let him block the punch. After repeating the same thing several times, Ionas kicked him away.
The strength he put into the kick was just enough to fling Rhett away, and it wonât hurt him too much. And that person, despite having never used battle spirit, this monstrous strength was precisely what made Ionas so arrogant. Rhett lay on the ground thinking that since the other person deliberately stayed his hand to avoid letting him lose so badly, this Ionas was definitely a good man.
Rhett waited for Ionas to pull him up, a tradition in the arena. The winner will pick up the loser who falls to the ground, and then the loser congratulates the other party on winning, saying that winning or losing will not affect the friendship of being each otherâs classmates.
However, Rhett felt that he had been lying for a long time, and after havingrecovered a little strength, hr observed that Ionas hadnât come yet. Rhett had barely stood up when he found that Ionas had already reached the edge of the field. He looked up and said something to a man in the audience. Then he leapt into the audience and pulled the man away.
Rhett decided to withdraw his initial opinion. It seemed the noble young man was as obnoxious as ever.
Lu Heng and Ionas stood at the exit of the arena waiting for Rhett to come out. Just after final last match was over, the referee announced that Ionas had got the unfathomable 2 position for the college competition, and he rushed over and jumped into the auditorium. Lu Heng was pulled all the way out of the arena towards his dormitory. After promising a series of things regarding the âdeepening the emotionsâ bedtime ceremony, Ionas reluctantly promised to return later.
Lu Heng had reasons to wait for Rhett here. The final part of the collegeâs competition was a field experience carried out in teams. Every team could bring a priest. Generally speaking, students chose priests they were familiar with. Therefore, if Lu Heng wanted to go with Ionas during his field experience, it was the best choice to form a team with Rhett.
âIonas?â It was strange to see them standing at the exit. The noble young man seemed to be waiting for him. Was he trying to apologize for the affair just now? No, absolutely impossible. Rhett shook his head and threw off this whimsical idea.
âRhett, may I have a chat with you?â Lu Heng lifted the hood that covered most of his face.
âAh, Joseph, it was you. Long time no see.â Seeing Eddieâs saviour, Rhett grinned immediately and went forward to give the other person a warm hug.
This hug, of course, was stopped halfway by Ionas: âDonât touch my partner casually.â
âYou, you have such a relationship!â Rhett was all shocked. âI always thought Joseph was the godfather of Ionas!â
ââŚâ Lu Heng really wanted to ask if he appeared so old. Although his body was over two hundred years old, it was still very young in appearance, and compared with the tens of thousands of years old Ionas, his age was not even a fraction of the other personâs.
The three chatted with each other all the way to the cafe in the college dining hall and met Eddie, who had just finished the test by the college teachers. The four men found a quiet corner and sat down.
âAs soon as I came back to college, I heard my grandfather mention something about you. I didnât expect that we would be classmates.â Eddie said.
âEddie, you didnât tell me about it, so my eyes were wide in disbelief when I saw Ionas in the arena.â Rhett shouted a little discontentedly.
âSince we returned to college, itâs the first time we are meeting, isnât it?â Eddie rolled his eyes.
Lu Heng laughed, interrupting the momentum of the two menâs escalating quarrel: âThereâs actually something I want to trouble you for help.â
âDonât be so polite. We will do anything we can within our capabilities.â Rhett smiled brightly.
Although Eddie rarely agreed with him, he still nodded.
âIâm sure your scores are sufficient to qualify. I want to join Ionas in the final field battle portion, so I was hoping to form a team with you.â Lu Heng was no longer polite, and conveyed his request directly.
Rhett was delighted when he heard this: âHow can this be regarded as us helping? Itâs clear that I and Eddie will benefit massively from this.â
âOriginally we were troubled about which priest to invite. Ella recently went to the Vatican to study and would not leave for a while. Itâs very kind of you to invite us to join Joseph.â Eddie also smiled.
The four-man team was settled. Rhett and Eddie, who were very familiar with Maple Leaf College, had saved Lu Heng a lot of effort by covering things like pre-match preparation.
Saying goodbye to Rhett and Eddie in front of the dormitory area, Ionas almost completely leaned on Lu Heng and said in a grieving tone: âToday, in order to participate in that preliminary contest, I havenât touched you all day. Why canât I put those things in that precious library directly?â
Ionas automatically overlooked the fact that Lu Heng used his fingers instead of his lips to kiss him after each fight, which was not enough for the greedy dragon.
Lu Heng raised his hand and ran it through his hair. âYouâve been asleep for a while and you donât know much about the mainland. The building where the treasure library is located was built in the era of the gods. At that time, in order to preserve the inheritance for future generations in the mainland, the whole library was built by the God of Casting 3, and the outside of the walls were blessed by the gods. Even you canât break in.â