A Card In Hand

Chapter 56: The Supernova Unlimited Challenge

As the three elders entered, the lively chatter among the new trainees quickly subsided.

Everyone knew what the presence of these three old men signified—they were the temple elders from the Pantheon of Myriad Realms, tasked with observing the newcomers.

Gaining their favor could be a direct ticket into the Pantheon of Myriad Realms for the superstars among them.

Of course, that privilege was reserved for the supernovas.

The weaker novices should first think about how to develop their talents and strive to break through a thousand in combat power!

“Dear students, we hope our presence does not disrupt your meal,” the leader of the elders, a gaunt and seemingly lifeless old man, began with a nod, greeting all the newcomers before smiling warmly.

“Usually, we would wait until you have completed your graduation to introduce the future challenges for summoners and the training assistance from the Pantheon of Myriad Realms. However, your cohort is quite special, so we came early. If you don’t mind, may we take a little of your time?”

“Welcome, esteemed seniors!” Lie Feng quickly led a round of applause.

“No need for applause, students. We’re not here for a meeting, nor is this a solemn venue. Continue with your meals, just be as relaxed as Student Li Ao,” the lead elder said, lifting his hand gently to indicate that formality was unnecessary.

Though his words suggested ease, the reality was starkly different for anyone not named Li Ao.

While Li Ao could afford to be carefree, munching on a greasy chicken leg without a care, an ordinary trainee couldn’t afford such casual behavior without appearing foolish.

After all, Li Ao’s demeanor was acceptable because of his prodigious talent, which allowed him some quirks.

But for those who are not geniuses…

Being recklessly informal would only make them look foolish.

Despite his soft tone, the lead elder’s voice reached every newcomer in the Grand Dining Hall as if he spoke directly into their hearts: “Today, we are here for three matters.”

“The first matter concerns us greatly. We’ve noticed that many talented individuals in your cohort lack sufficient funds, to the extent that they cannot afford the fee-required combat power test in the fourth newcomer trial. It pains us deeply to see future kings, future legends, struggling even with basic necessities like this. As your seniors, we feel immensely ashamed that we overlooked your struggles. After appealing to our superiors, we have decided to start providing a certain amount of sponsorship to all new trainees, beginning with your cohort.”

As he spoke, no names were mentioned.

Yet all eyes turned to Li Ao.

He was likely the only one so impoverished that even the combat power measurement fee was beyond his means.

While others like Shuanghan refrained from the tests to conceal their strength rather than due to financial issues, only Li Ao would be destitute enough to struggle with such fees.

For a new trainee, five silver stars were trivial, but only Li Ao could be so broke that he needed to mooch meals off others.

Ling Long struggled to suppress her laughter.

It was a hard battle.

Huo Mei, less discreet, laughed aloud.

The idea that the king of the new trainees, who could dominate all his peers, was as broke as Li Ao was truly unique throughout history.

Of course, anyone familiar with Li Ao’s background could understand his situation: firstly, his lazy nature never drove him to earn money; secondly, his status as a distant relative in a family branch meant that being penniless was the norm; thirdly, he likely devoted all his time to training, never sparing a thought for financial matters…

Thus, Li Ao became the only summoner in the history of Tianfeng Continent known for never caring for or feeding his battle beasts.

Luckily, even the unreliable Fuxi occasionally fed them.

Otherwise, the Stone Bear would have starved.

Returning to the matter at hand.

The elders’ urgency in visiting probably stemmed from worries about Li Ao starving.

The image of a New King starving in his dormitory would indeed become a legendary joke.

With money on offer,

How could anyone refuse?

Everyone benefited a bit from Li Ao’s presence, given how brutally he beat everyone in their duels!

As the three elders took turns distributing cards to everyone, people only then realized that the amounts on these cards were not small figures.

After a brief and rapid comparison, the newcomers understood the amounts they received.

The amounts in the cards were allocated based on the combat power value of each person.

Newcomers with a combat power under one thousand who hadn’t made it to the Challenge List.

The ratio of sponsorship money to combat power.

One to one hundred.

For example, the sponsorship money Fuxi received was equivalent to two and a half platinum dragons.

Newcomers with combat power under one hundred, regardless of their strength, were all allocated at a hundred ratio, meaning even the weakest among them received one platinum dragon.

For those who were on the Challenge List, there were different amounts: those ranked eleventh to twentieth received one hundred platinum dragons, the top ten received two hundred, and Li Ao, as the New King, received three hundred.

One platinum dragon equals ten gold shields, which equals the lowest currency of one hundred thousand copper coins.

This was no small amount of money.

Especially for Li Ao, who received three hundred platinum dragons, there was no longer any need to worry about food expenses.

The amount of money was trivial compared to the honor; the amount of sponsorship clearly represented the recognition of the newcomers’ strengths by the Pantheon of Myriad Realms!

In previous years, the Pantheon indeed rewarded supernovas, but never ordinary newcomers, and past supernovas never received as much as a hundred platinum dragons; a mere fifty was the share.

This year, anyone on the Challenge List could easily outshine them.

Awesome!

Our batch is just that awesome!

For a moment, the newcomers felt honored to be part of this batch.

Applause thundered.

The newcomers spontaneously started applauding, with loud whistles and cheers rising.

“No need to thank us, this is what we, the old fellows, should do. We have overlooked your difficulties before,” the leading elder signaled everyone to pause, then announced a second matter: “Our Pantheon of Myriad Realms, to make up for this batch’s work errors, has decided to compensate you all. We have applied for and approved thirty gold-grade native cards for summoners, which will be available to the top twenty on the Challenge List and some newcomers who have shown outstanding talent potential.”

“Newcomers with a combat power above five hundred will be given silver-grade native cards. Those below five hundred, a unified bronze-grade native card.”

His words were drowned out by the cheers of the newcomers.

The newcomers were about to go wild.

We don’t even think about the gold-grade native cards anymore, silver-grade native cards were something that previous supernovas could only contract, when did ordinary newcomers like us get such benefits?

Even the bottom newcomers felt immensely excited, a bronze-grade native card was not bad either.

Previously, the lowest newcomers always got black iron-grade native cards.

This year, everyone was upgraded by one level.

How could they not be ecstatic?

How could they not jump for joy?

It took a long time.

After the newcomers had vented their excitement, the three elders, led by the foremost one, announced a third matter: “Given the outstanding performance of the newcomers this batch, our Pantheon of Myriad Realms sincerely invites all students to participate in our Unlimited Challenge for Supernovas. Note, this is not limited to those on the Challenge List but is open to any student who is confident in their combat power! We will waive your registration fees and will provide some material support when needed to ensure every newcomer can participate in the New Star Challenge without any obstacles! For example, student Li Ao, you no longer need to worry about your food expenses, and if you accept, we could even provide you with a small service team!”

“The Unlimited Challenge for Supernovas is a point-based competition, involving participants from this batch and the previous two, vying for the championship over three batches.”

“Those who win the championship and accumulate points to reach the Golden Honor or above will gain the qualification for the legacy of the Legend Path, and we will also offer those with a legacy qualification a recommended spot on the Celestial Path.”

“Fellow students, come participate in the Unlimited Challenge for Supernovas!”

“You will find that once you succeed in reaching the top, the Path of Legend will have already been beneath your feet…”