The venue for the secondary defense was located in the main defense hall of the Magic Tower's central layer.
This space was astonishingly large, with a vaulted ceiling over a hundred feet high, embedded with several rows of crystal chandeliers that lit up the entire hall as bright as day.
Directly ahead was a wide, elevated stage with ten long tables set up on it, which served as the seats for the ten judging professors.
Behind it, the floor rose in tiers like steps, with rows of seats arranged in a dense arc that could accommodate over a thousand people at once.
All participating students would sit here to listen to others' presentations while waiting for their turn to go up.
At this moment, the hall was already more than half full. It was noisy with chatter, and the air was thick with a mixture of tension and anticipation.
“I'm so nervous... I must make it to the final defense this time!”
“Don't even talk about it. My hands are still shaking right now.”
“I heard that several dark horses have emerged this year, so the competition is definitely going to be even fiercer.”
Greg walked through the crowd, listening to the whispered conversations and deep breaths around him, feeling a bit emotional.
He could understand their nervousness. This felt just like the college entrance exams, tied to their future prospects and their parents' reputation. Who wouldn't be nervous?
But fortunately, he was currently a master of taking exams unprepared. With his head full of standard answers refined thousands of times by the player community, he had absolutely no reason to be nervous.
He threaded through the crowd and walked toward the stairs ahead.
Just as he was about to step onto the stairs, an aqua-blue figure walked out from a side corridor, arriving at the stairs at the exact same time as him.
Their eyes met in the air, and both of them paused slightly.
Looking at the person in front of her, Vivian gave a slight nod, her tone calm but carrying a hint of softness: “Good morning, Greg.”
Greg was startled for a moment, then also nodded: “Uh, good morning, Vivian.”
Greg had originally thought that after what Allie had said last time, there would be at least a bit of awkwardness when they met again.
But Vivian's expression was as calm as usual, as if that incident had never happened at all.
This made Greg breathe a sigh of relief in secret.
Although he already knew Vivian's feelings for him, before reaching his desired ending, he would not... or rather, could not, establish a relationship with any woman.
Otherwise, the balance he had worked so hard to maintain would tilt to one side, causing the entire table to be flipped. That was a situation he absolutely did not want to see.
Moreover, there was a vast difference in their social status, so there was even less reason to rush.
Greg turned his head, glanced at the judging professors who were taking their seats on the stage, and said to Vivian:
“The secondary defense is about to start. You should go up first.”
Vivian glanced at him and didn't decline, nodding gently: “Okay.”
She turned around and stepped onto the stairs.
As she walked up, she reached out to gently brush a lock of hair behind her ear, her movements natural and elegant.
She kept her eyes forward, but the thought in her heart was firmer than ever—even if she couldn't have him all to herself, she had to stay by his side.
This time, I won't let go again.
“Greg, over here, over here!”
Not long after Vivian went up, just as Greg reached the top of the stairs, he heard a rough and familiar shout.
He looked up toward the sound and saw Rom vigorously waving one arm at him, with Corwin sitting right next to him.
The two of them were sitting in a relatively forward position, which offered a great view.
Greg walked over, and Rom and Corwin conscientiously nudged inward, freeing up a seat for him.
“Thanks.”
Greg sat down.
“Don't mention it. What's there to thank between the three of us?”
Rom waved his hand carelessly, then immediately leaned in, lowering his voice and winking as he asked:
“Besides, you're quite the dark horse. That beautiful blue-haired girl who was just talking to you—what's your relationship with her?”
Greg's mouth twitched slightly: “...”
You guys are way too gossipy!
Greg replied without changing his expression:
“You've misunderstood. She's our Student Council President. We just happened to run into each other and exchanged a few words.”
“Oh, so that's how it is.”
Rom nodded, then changed the subject:
“By the way, how are things going between you and Victoria? Last time we came back, you were just cleaning the place like crazy and didn't tell us what actually happened.”
Although Corwin didn't say anything, he also leaned in with great interest, his eyes behind his glasses sparkling with a thirst for knowledge.
Greg felt his temples starting to throb again.
These two roommates were great in every other way, but he was truly helpless against their love of gossip.
He could only casually brush them off first:
“Uh... thanks to your understanding, there's been some progress.”
Then he immediately changed the subject:
“How is your preparation for the secondary defense going? Do you have confidence in passing?”
He knew that if he didn't change the subject now, these two guys would definitely go on and on about romance.
Sure enough, the moment Greg brought up the secondary defense, Rom and Corwin cooled down instantly, the fire of gossip on their faces extinguished.
Rom scratched the back of his head, his tone tinged with helplessness:
“I have some confidence, but I doubt I'll pass. After all, only twenty students present will qualify for the final defense. The competition is just too fierce.”
Corwin also let out a bitter smile and pushed up his glasses:
“Same here. But I still hope my score this year can surpass last year's, at least to prove that I've improved.”
Greg nodded and didn't say anything more.
He was well aware of how brutal this selection process was.
Although more than half of the students passed from the preliminary to the secondary defense, there were only twenty slots in total from the secondary to the final defense.
These twenty slots were determined by the on-the-spot grading of the ten judging professors sitting at the very front. Only the top twenty scorers would qualify.
Among these ten professors, five were from the Five Great Academies, while the other five were representatives chosen from other academies to balance them out. Therefore, there was no possibility of bribery or favoritism.
Besides, there were over a thousand pairs of eyes watching them in the hall. Who would dare to play dirty?
He patted Rom and Corwin on the shoulders and comforted them, “It's fine, just do your best. Don't worry about empty titles.”
Rom rolled his eyes at him:
“You have the nerve to say that? You secretly took first place in the preliminary defense behind our backs. When Corwin and I saw that the top spot was you, we were completely dumbfounded.”
Corwin also scratched his head in embarrassment:
“Yeah, it was indeed a bit... mainly because we saw that you didn't even take out your books in the dorm. We thought that even if you were a student from a prestigious academy, your grades wouldn't be that great, but we didn't expect...”
Rom chimed in, “We didn't expect you to be a hidden academic genius. It's really admirable.”
Greg smiled and replied casually, “Hehe, I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Greg was telling the truth; he was indeed standing on the shoulders of countless big shots from the player community.
But Rom and Corwin clearly took it as modesty, and their gaze toward him carried a few more hints of admiration.
Rate on N.U.
