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

　After calming down a bit, Dak noticed that the boys at his desk were discussing the two professors' excellent results, clearly feeling proud of them.

　Looking at the front row seats, Professor Harvey and Professor Jones were also raising their glasses in celebration with their colleagues.

　While preliminary results don't mean everything, they do demonstrate some ability. The fact that students and professors from St. Mary's Academy occupied three of the top ten spots is proof of the academy's strength!

　Of course, the representatives from various countries sitting at the head of the table were also congratulating each other.

　The Sky City is represented by the "Fairy Dragon" Parvanagret. The Sea Clan is represented by Prince Camel Poseidon, a sea prince with fin-like ears and scales on his neck.

　It is said that the Kamer are the most noble race in the sea—the Sea Kings! The Sea Kings' status among the sea creatures is equivalent to that of the Behemoths among the orcs. Although not the only royal family, they are the royalty among royalty—the kings of kings! However, human understanding of the sea is very limited, and the Kamer are only the second Sea King to set foot on land in the last hundred years.

　Therefore, human understanding of the Sea Kings is limited to their physical characteristics.

　Apart from their ears and scales, they are virtually indistinguishable from humans in appearance.

　Kamel, as the brother of the current Sea Emperor, led the Sea Clan to participate in the World Cup, which is enough to demonstrate the Sea Clan's attention to the changes of the times.

　At the same time, it also seems to reflect that the depths of the ocean are not calm.

　The resurgence of the gods has brought too much pressure to the world.

　Whether they were living in seclusion, hibernating, or lying down, even seemingly unrelated individuals were forced to take action.

　The announcement of the final list of winners from the preliminary rounds is still ongoing.

　Dak's attention, however, fell on the table next to the head of the table. At that table, he finally saw Prince Charles, who had been missing for two days.

　Charles and Eliza sat side by side, but both of them were slightly leaning to one side, chatting and laughing with the person on that side.

　As expected of a prince and princess, they maintained perfect composure even in this setting, completely unlike their private demeanor. Dark had already learned from the information provided by the maid that Charles and Elizabeth had both successfully advanced to the preliminary rounds.

　Eliza clearly made full use of her audition time to play around, yet she still managed to advance, demonstrating that her abilities should not be underestimated.

　Charles, though quiet, also managed to advance, leading some to wonder if he was being fed by someone.

　However, Charles's "successful advancement" was only based on his own statement and was known only to a small group of people.

　Moreover, even when facing that small group of people, he did not reveal the names of his contestants.

　However, only 128 contestants advanced, and the list was basically finalized when the final round of the preliminary selection ended.

　Afterwards, the intelligence personnel only needed to use the "classic elimination method" on these 128 candidates to quickly narrow down the scope and limit his candidate identity to a few candidates.

　In fact, by 8:30, the intelligence personnel of "Scorpio Palace" had narrowed down the scope to just three people.

　"Choose one of three, there's only one truth!" This familiar detective puzzle is no challenge for Dick at all.

　He quickly glanced at the information on the three people and identified the one with the highest probability.

　His name was John Reeders, and he was registered as a minor nobleman from a remote area.

　Despite John Reeds having black hair and eyes and wearing a mask, his travel records are difficult to forge.

　The person staying at the hotel in his place was not the same person as 111IP9 at all.

　After leaving the competition venue, John Liddells could only come to this League Hotel.

　This Alliance Hotel was jointly funded and built by the Magic Alliance and the City of Freedom.

　In other words, Dark can freely access the surveillance footage from the hotel corridors.

　He granted her authorization, and Laura went to investigate herself, quickly obtaining irrefutable proof that John was indeed Charles.

　However, despite this, Dark didn't lack emotional intelligence enough to publicize the eldest prince's player affiliation everywhere.

　He only paid attention to the eldest prince's competition record.

　Intelligence personnel kept records of all the matches that were shown on the projection television.

　By compiling these records, a table of all 128 contestants' magic card usage can be obtained.

　If he wanted, Dark could immediately obtain the eldest prince's magic card usage list.

　But now is not the time.

　In addition, the eldest prince's ranking in the preliminary selection points is 101.

　"Sister Eliza has also advanced, and she's even in the top fifty!" Anna and Angie exclaimed excitedly.

　But what they said next was less pleasant to hear. "Sure enough, this is the result of grueling training."

　"This is terrifying! Even that sister Eliza could become ten times stronger in such a short time! I don't want to go through that kind of hell, Anna!"

　"I didn't want to either, Angie."

　"What should we do, Anna?" "There's only one way, Angel." "What way, Anna?"

　"As long as Sister Eliza can meet Father's expectations, he will let us go!"

　"That's true! Let's cheer for Sister Eliza!" "Go, go! Can I have a bite of your strawberry?" "Ha!"

　Let's set aside the noise coming from the next table.

　"I wonder how many of my opponents in the academy competition will make it through the preliminary rounds."

　The topic that Marscare inadvertently brought up became the focus of discussion among Dark and others.

　No matter how strong or famous the top-ranked players are, they don't attract much attention from the students.

　Their focus is always on those familiar and acquainted players.

　As the list of qualified players is gradually released, more and more familiar names are appearing.

　First, there's St. Mary's College itself.

　In addition to Dark, Pandora, and their deskmate Sherlock Holmes, the students who qualified for this World Cup qualifying tournament also included three senior students: Gina Grant, Elouri Clarissa, and Winnies Cardi.

　Of course, Ergane must not be overlooked.

　Her ranking is second only to Pandora Doragon.

　In addition, although many students signed up for the competition, they unfortunately failed to qualify.

　Ergani publicly claims to be a third-year student at St. Marian Academy. But all the real third-year students know that she isn't a student at all. Her only official position at St. Marian Academy is as Professor Darkdemon's assistant.

　Therefore, the students all assumed she was a "professor".

　At this moment, Ergani was also sitting at the professors' table, not among the students.

　So, excluding Ergani, a total of six students from St. Marian Academy qualified through the preliminary rounds.

　While this number may not seem like much, it's actually quite staggering. A closer look reveals the truth.

　This is almost the entire roster of the senior students from St. Marian Academy in the Academy Championship.

　—Except for the swap between Darkimon and Marscare.

　However, Mars was not discouraged. He confidently declared that he would definitely qualify for the next World Cup, and that his opponents would be in for a rude awakening.

　Next up was the Holy Church Mystic Academy, which also had a large number of students advancing. Neither the highly anticipated "Holy Son" nor the "Holy Daughter" made it to the next round. The "Holy Son" lacked sufficient raw talent, while the "Holy Daughter" was clearly holding back. The upperclassmen students continued to perform better.

　Saint Zachary Lancelot, the "Judgment Knight" who was the captain of the senior group, successfully qualified with a ranking of eighty.

　Next is "Eternal Knight" Matthew Hygard, ranked 102nd, second only to Prince Charles.

　"Knight of Wisdom" Calron is ranked 106th.

　"Holy Knight" Percivalis, ranked 113th. This is the group of four who successfully advanced from the Holy Mystic Academy.

　However, apart from "Judgment Knight", the other three contestants are all ranked outside the top 100, and they are quite close in rank.

　If they have already given their all in the preliminary rounds, then their advancement this time will be extremely difficult.

　Even if they successfully enter the preliminaries, they probably won't survive a single round.

　On the other hand, if you could meet them in the qualifiers... that would be extremely lucky.

　"He probably completed the KPIs set by the academy by giving it his all," Dark thought to himself.

　Six students advanced from St. Mary's Academy, and four students advanced from the Holy Mysticism Academy. And their...

　The number of students advancing from the remaining six colleges was relatively small.

　First, there was the Royal Academy of the Kingdom, where only one person advanced—Quintina Nos stood out from the crowd, and her ranking was quite high.

　Secondly, the public magic academy had no students advancing.

　However, among the goblin and dwarf contestants, there are several who rank quite high, but they are older.

　Then there's the War Totem Academy... Surprisingly, someone from this magical academy in the orc kingdom also successfully advanced.

　Moreover, that person was not the "Lion Prince" Grace Leon, nor even any student from the senior group, but the captain of the junior group—Eva Herst of the "Eagle Kings"!

　Dark still remembers that Evahurst won the favor of "Heroic Soul Cloud Eagle" during the Academy Championship, which was the heroic soul of the orcs' former "Sky Overlord".

　She must have already achieved a status similar to that of a hero in the orc kingdom.

　However, relying solely on a "hero's soul" makes it difficult to surpass those senior orc mages.

　She must have had many other adventures as well.

　As for "Prince of the Lions" Grace Leon... he didn't even appear in this qualifying round.

　Whether it was because he had fallen out of favor or for some other reason, Dark didn't bother to find out anything about him, nor did he care. In any case, there were still the Elf Magic Academy, the Sky Magic Academy, and the Ocean Magic Academy remaining.

　Most of the students from the Elf Magic Academy were also present at this preliminary selection.

　Among them, the most eye-catching second-year student, Nono Artemis, also participated.

　But she did not advance.

　In fact, none of the students from the Elf Magic Academy advanced this time.

　The one closest to advancing is the senior group captain, "Child of the Night" Chloe Artemis.

　But he stopped climbing the ranks at the last step.

　Darke reasonably suspected that the Elf Magic Academy had also set a task for them: "None of them are allowed to advance."

　—Although it seems illogical, who knows?

　Next up was the Sky Magic Academy, where two students advanced: Tiffany Neham of the Celestial Race and Nathaniel David of the Golden Mammoth Race.

　Finally, there is the Ocean Magic Academy.

　This magic academy, which originated from the sea tribe, did not perform particularly well in this preliminary round.

　The "mermaid" Carola Marjorie and the "Naga" boy Tim Doris, both favored by the gods, did not exert their power.

　In the end, only "Deep Sea Devil" Selena Teresa successfully advanced to the preliminaries.

　Moreover, he barely made it into the next round, ranking 127th!

　It's important to know that the last few contestants all had the same score, and the ranking was determined entirely by who got that last point first.

　Selena probably only thought of "giving it a shot" at the very end, but unexpectedly she actually made it to the top.

　That concludes our discussion of all the students who participated in the academy championship.

　Compared to these students, there was another group of people that Dak was equally familiar with, and quite a few of them advanced to the preliminary rounds.

　Among them are the "Twin Paladins" Albert Grantham and Emily Grantham.

　Also participating are "Elf Princess" Lucia Artemis, "Grassland Elf" Zeniburns, and "Forest Elf" Isaiah Roger. Another "Forest Elf" named Norma Roger did not register for the competition.

　Finally, there's some good news.

　Five maids from the Duke of Dimon’s mansion also advanced to the preliminary rounds, and two of them ranked quite well.

　Among these five maids was Hannah, whom Dark knew very well.

　Hannah is one of the deputy head maids of the "Lion Palace". She has half black cat blood and is the captain of the Temple of Life investigation team.

　Dark was rather surprised that Hannah had advanced to the preliminary rounds. In his mind, Hannah had never been a qualified mage.

　Besides Hannah, another deputy head maid from the "Leo Palace" also successfully advanced to the preliminary rounds.

　That's Ms. Joliet, the captain of the investigation team for the "Stardust Ruins"!

Chapter 1525 He Wants to Embark on His Destiny (4k)

　Ms. Joliet also obtained a "Stardust Armor" during her exploration of the Stardust Ruins.

　If she builds her deck around this "Stardust Armor," she might indeed have a chance to advance from the preliminary rounds.

　Most of the battle maids in the Duke's mansion have undergone magical enhancement through "Netherworld Fire" and then received a comprehensive upgrade through "Divine Feast Ritual," resulting in an extremely rapid increase in their overall material resources.