The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　Although it was very impolite, quite a few people who heard him speak at that moment couldn't help but complain in their hearts.

　Only Lord Sunamontilfali explicitly mentioned "hybrid".

　The City of Freedom is home to hybrids, and among them are many pure orc hybrids.

　This means that the orc kingdom also rejects mixed-race individuals.

　Although the treatment of orc-human hybrids is much better than that of orc-human hybrids.

　But they always belong to the lower end of the social hierarchy.

　Furthermore, some inherently opposing races will simply eliminate any hybrids who possess the blood of the other race.

　But the Lionheart simply dismissed it, saying, "They're all of orc blood, what's the big deal about being mixed-race?"

　etc.

　We have already sent people to contact Mephis Graham, but have not yet received a clear answer.

　However, we can discuss the reply later; right now, we need to clarify our attitude towards mixed-race individuals.

　Support the hybrid race, support the City of Freedom, support the Magic Alliance! If King Lionheart gets slick, even the fox-men and the wolf-men will have to step aside!

　……

　Seeing that they couldn't get anything out of the Lionheart, the group continued watching.

　The second-ranked candidate in this preliminary selection is Professor Steven Harvey of St. Marian College!

　"As expected of an academy professor, second only to Mavis." King Lionheart raised his hand and clapped his hands in a measured manner.

　The host on the screen is introducing Professor Steven Harvey's background. Of course, the main point is to state that he is a professor at St. Mary's College and to introduce his "achievements" during his teaching career.

　Clearly, the intention was to dispel public aversion and fear of his identity as a necromancer.

　Professor Steven Harvey's "achievements" that he can openly discuss are mostly concentrated in the medical field, which makes it easy for him to gain public favor.

　Under Ms. Marilyn's introduction, he became almost an incurable miracle doctor.

　But this obviously had no effect on those who had dueled with Professor Harvey.

　Third on the list is Cortoinby, the court mage.

　King Austin finally felt triumphant, and immediately began to express how highly he regarded Cole and how much he supported his research.

　Just like Cortoda's team J'

　The fourth contestant to advance was an elven royal.

　The elven royal's name was Alvaartmis, a relatively rare male elf among the moon elves.

　The Elven race is a matriarchal society, and the Moon Elves even possess a secret technique that allows them to conceive naturally and only have females remaining.

　But even so, it can't control the freedom to date.

　There are always moon elves who fall in love with male elves and have children with them. Although the ratio of these children to males is predominantly female, there are always males. Alvaartmis was undoubtedly one of the lucky ones born under these circumstances.

　His seniority is even higher than that of the current Elf Queen.

　However, because elves have long lifespans, it is not apparent from their appearance.

　He was extremely handsome, even beautiful, and possessed a youthful charm. The Elf Queen Vera Artemis did not offer much commentary on her "uncle."

　Unlike the previous contestants, Alvaartmis was very famous even outside of the Elven race.

　On the one hand, he made great contributions during the war.

　On the other hand, he was the Dumas of the Elf race, and he was not averse to meat or vegetables, and did not even care about racial barriers.

　Therefore, Alva Artemis is a difficult person to evaluate. But no one doubts his abilities.

　Fifth in the preliminary rounds, it's finally Professor Pavarotti's turn. Professor Pavarotti is a very famous dueling master, so he naturally needs no introduction.

　Moreover, she is not only a dueling master, but also the noble dean of St. Marian Academy, and even has royal blood. She is a well-known figure in the noble circles of the capital.

　As for whether her relationship with the human royal family is good or bad

　As far as Dak knows, at least some have acknowledged their mothers. But that's about it.

　She was the product of a marriage between a royal woman and a mountain giant.

　Emily Rida Ingersoll ranked sixth in the preliminary rounds.

　Amelida Ingersoll is an immortal being from Sky City, whose race is called the "Twilight Clan".

　She is the older sister of Pamela Ingersoll, a lower-year student at the Sky Magic Academy!

　That's right, the two are of the same generation.

　But there is a full thirty-year age difference between them.

　The "Twilight Clan" is an ancient race that was recorded as extinct long ago. But after thousands of years, they have reappeared, and they are a pair of sisters.

　It would be a lie to say that those present weren't interested in their backgrounds.

　However, Sky City was not an easy force to deal with, so such thoughts could only remain in his heart.

　Incidentally, the Sky City delegation was once again led by its deputy city lord, the "Elf Dragon" Parvana Lemaître.

　Then, ranked seventh, is Pandora Drogon!

Chapter 1524 Three Choices? There's Only One Truth! (6k)

　Chapter 1524: There's Only One Truth in the Three-Choice Question! (6k)

　When talking about Pandora, one cannot help but mention the "White Dragon".

　The claim that she is a hybrid of a white dragon and a human has been circulating for some time. However, what truly fueled this claim was her outstanding performance in the academy championship.

　The more outstanding a contestant's performance, the more people will study and analyze them.

　Pandora is undoubtedly the most prominent student in this cohort of St. Mary's College.

　She continued to perform exceptionally well in the World Cup qualifiers. As a student representative of St. Mary's College, she tied for the top ten with the college's professors, further highlighting the high educational standards of St. Mary's College.

　However, her unique performance in the preliminary rounds also plunged her into a vortex of public opinion.

　The Holy Church was, after all, the only orthodox religion in the Kingdom of Yunic, and more than 70 percent of the king's people were "general believers" of the Holy Church.

　Therefore, openly opposing the Church is tantamount to damaging the goodwill of the 70% of "general believers".

　After this selection process, Pandora gained more and more fervent supporters, but inevitably lost much of her grassroots support. She was essentially now on the opposite side of the Holy Church. While this opposition might not seem significant to the Church, the public can sometimes be more sensitive to it than the Church itself.

　This is compounded by Professor Steven Harvey's unabashed display of necromancer skills.

　This led some fanatics to classify St. Mary's College as a "cult".

　Most people would find it hard to imagine the kind of hatred between Pandora Drogon and the Holy Church.

　Those who know even a little about this would probably find it difficult to get involved. This is a matter between the Holy Church... no, this is a problem between the Patricis family and Pandora and her daughter. If it is to be resolved, it can only be handled by the parties involved themselves.

　Then it's eighth place.

　The eighth place in this preliminary round finally went to Louis Kennan, the "disciple of the wise."

　This contestant, who initially took first place in the preliminary rounds, managed to barely retain his top-ten ranking after 36 hours of intense competition.

　He finished eighth, which is a very good result.

　His teachers and family must be very proud of him.

　Then came the ninth place.

　Archbishop Harpagon Molière.

　Even though the duel was stopped in the last ten minutes of the preliminary rounds, Archbishop Molière remained firmly in ninth place.

　He is the only member of the Holy Church among the top ten, and also the current leading figure of the Holy Church.

　Of course, this doesn't mean he's the strongest mage in the Holy Church. First of all, the Holy Church's officially recognized strongest figure—Pope His Holiness Sith—didn't participate in this World Cup at all.

　Secondly, Archbishop Caleb Norris was also absent. Jeanne d'Arc, the Holy Church's renowned heroine who had gained fame in past wars, was merely a spectator.

　Even if the selection is made from among the contestants, the audience can easily find many clergy members who are no less accomplished than Bishop Molière.

　Among the younger generation are the "Twin Paladins," the Grantham siblings. The older generation includes renowned powerhouses such as the "Bloody Saintess," Hayley Saint Meredith, and the "Sunrise Singer," Eva Elthorpe.

　In addition, there is the newly appointed archbishop, Lance Gascoyle, who has recently gained great fame.

　Lance Gascoigne was an archbishop who was promoted around the same time as Sabrina Melville. He was very young, not even thirty years old. Because of his outstanding appearance and eloquent speech, he gained a large number of fanatical followers.

　However, I heard that he is secretly called the "Speech Bishop," specifically referring to his ability to give double-digit speeches a day.

　Because Dak read the Daily Joker, he unexpectedly knew quite a bit about the gossip surrounding this newly appointed archbishop.

　However, since we've mentioned "Bloody Saintess" and "Rising Sun Singer," I have to say one more thing.

　Hugo Hughes, the "Magic Weatherman" who had previously traveled to the Mountain of the Gods with Dark and others, also participated in this audition.

　Although his performance wasn't particularly outstanding, he still managed to advance to the preliminary rounds.

　Gwendoline Ulysses, who was actually a powerful member of the royal family, did not participate.

　It is slightly different from the Holy Church, which is full of powerful figures.

　Among the players sent by the royal faction to the World Cup, the strongest is basically the court mage, Cole Toynbee.

　Another well-known group is the "12 Heroes," including Noah Sharp.

　Anyway, His Majesty the King said that "quality over quantity" is the key to success in the competition. As for whether he secretly sent other strong contestants, only he knows the answer.

　Just like the Holy Church, in addition to its official teams, it also sends people to disguise themselves as ordinary contestants to participate in the competition.

　A neutral identity can avoid many troubles. In particular, it prevents being deliberately targeted.

　In short, the preliminary selection process is generally like this.

　The tenth place winner was a contestant from the Sea Clan. That Sea Clan contestant's name was Will Smith.

　He was large, about 2.5 meters tall, with a round face and a round belly, and looked rather obese.

　From his appearance alone, it was impossible to tell what type of sea creature he belonged to. But he made no attempt to hide it.

　The host, Marilyn, directly stated his race during the introduction. This Will Smith is actually a Titan whale!

　Titan whales are an extremely ancient species, with legends about them dating back to several ages before the gods.

　Races like these generally possess the bloodline of ancient divine beasts. With the arrival of the Age of Gods, the divine beast bloodline within them will awaken to varying degrees.

　Titan whales have extremely long lifespans and virtually unlimited growth potential. However, their body structure cannot support this endless growth. Once their size exceeds their capacity, they can only sink to the seabed and enter an endless period of hibernation.

　Therefore, it is difficult to say whether ancient Titan whales still exist in the deep sea today.

　Even what appears to be the deepest part of the ocean could simply be the back of a Titan whale. However, Will Smith is not that kind of Titan whale.

　His ability to transform into human form is the best proof of this.

　In fact, many ancient giants, including Titanosaur, did not have the ability to change their body shape.

　Will Smith can only be considered a marine with some Titan whale blood.

　Therefore, it is conceivable.

　Although he has been using magic cards to fight since the start of the competition, his physical strength is likely beyond the reach of humans and other demi-humans.

　If you encounter him in the qualifiers, you really need to be careful!

　Orcs, Humans, Elves, Half-Giants, Twilight Clan, Dragonkin, Sea Clan

　The racial composition of the top ten in the preliminary rounds is truly diverse.

　Looking at the rankings displayed on the projector, Dak couldn't help but sigh.

　Although magic was created by humans, it is not merely a technology that only humans can learn; it is more like a variant of magic. However, unlike magic, it does not require as much talent.

　A mage's potential is almost entirely determined by their own talent.

　However, the upper limit of a mage depends on a variety of factors, with magical talent being only one of them, and only a certain minimum requirement needs to be met.

　Therefore, it is precisely because humans are inherently disadvantaged in magical talent that they are able to reach the forefront of the times in this field.

　Even excluding Professor Pavajohns, a half-giant and half-human, and Senior Pandora, a half-white dragon and half-human, among the top ten in this preliminary selection, there are still four pure-blooded humans, ranking second, third, eighth, and ninth respectively. This almost occupies half of the top ten.

　Moreover, the strongest people in human history did not participate in this World Cup at all.

　The sudden sigh brought some emotional ups and downs.