Matthew Atkinson
Oxford, United Kingdom
"This Victor is no ordinary person."
"Indeed, he's not simple. In the first three layers of the supernatural realm, he got an S-grade mission rating every time. This time, he even achieved more and got an SS-grade mission rating. That's very impressive."
"He's a genius. Such achievements have never been seen before. He's just a bit unlucky to be in the same year as Miss Russell, which completely overshadowed him and made him seem ordinary."
"Yes. Without Natalie Russell's sudden emergence, this guy would be the strongest freshman this year."
"Do you think this kid can catch up with Natalie Russell?"
"Hehe, you are dreaming, mate."
...
On the internet, the discussion surrounding Victor was extremely heated.
Some netizens even believed that Victor would become Natalie's rival in the future.
Matthew was also a little surprised by the news about Victor.
Although the fourth layer was easier for those who didn't participate in the Artifact Hunt Event and only focused on increasing their Kill Count, reaching 25,000 Kill Count was a significant achievement.
The fact that no one had ever accomplished this before, with Viktor's team and the Natalie-Matthew duo being the first to do so, was a testament to this.
Matthew's incredible success in the fourth layer was due not only to possessing more Attribute Coins than anyone else, but also to his knowledge of how the OASIS world worked, as seen in the Ready Player One movie.
This Victor certainly didn't have the same advantages as Matthew.
Reaching over 25,000 Kill Count was really impressive.
He was truly a talented individual.
But Matthew had no trouble understanding why.
Rumble-Rumble Fruit was one of the most powerful Devil Fruits in the One Piece universe.
In addition to its serious damage output, long-range attacks, and swift movement, it also greatly enhanced a person's perception thanks to the electrical network it created.
It wasn't unreasonable that Victor had already achieved a 3 S-grade mission rating with this ability.
And if he had gone into the previous three layers with the same teammates, it meant they had achieved the same result.
It wouldn't surprise Matthew if the same team entered the fourth layer with around 3,500-4,000 Attribute Coins.
And with that budget, it was possible to buy weapons and abilities that would allow for a 25,000 Kill Count.
...
The next day, Matthew got up early and went to campus.
Today, Professor Holland would be talking about the content of the fifth layer of the supernatural realm.
Matthew wanted to learn about this layer, and he didn't want to miss it.
When Matthew arrived in the classroom, the students looked at him with complicated expressions.
Matthew was very familiar with that kind of gaze.
Every time he achieved an SSS grade in the supernatural realm, his classmates looked at him like this.
Soon, the bell rang.
Professor Holland walked into the classroom and began his lecture.
"Today I'm going to talk about the fifth layer of the supernatural realm."
"The fifth layer of the supernatural realm is very special. Officially, it is called the Competition Layer, but in private, all the universities prefer to call it the Academic Competition Layer."
Upon hearing this, the students all looked on with curiosity.
Professor Holland continued, "This time, the Supernatural Realm is forcing us to form a large group. Up to three hundred people can hold hands and join the layer simultaneously, entering the Supernatural Realm as a single group. Moreover, there are no restrictions. Anyone with supernatural abilities can enter this layer."
The students were taken aback by what they heard.
A supernatural realm layer for a group of three hundred people?
That was fine.
What the heck was "no restrictions"?
If anyone with supernatural abilities could enter, does that mean that powerful individuals could also enter the Supernatural Realm?
They were all still freshmen.
Wouldn't they be at a disadvantage when compared to a powerful being in the same supernatural realm layer?
"Do you think that having no restrictions and allowing strong individuals to enter will have a huge negative impact on you?"
Professor Holland asked with a smile.
Many students were nodding.
"Don't worry. How could such a basic mistake happen in the Supernatural Realm?" Professor Holland said, "No matter how many people a group sends, even if it's a full three hundred people, in the end, only ten freshmen can be selected to become official team members and represent the group in the battle."
"And groups are generally formed by universities."
These words shocked the students once again.
One student immediately asked, "Professor, are you saying that a group can only select ten members to represent themself in the competition? What about the others? Are they just there to watch?"
The last sentence was originally a joke.
Unexpectedly, Professor Holland nodded. "That's right, they're going in to watch the show."
The students were stunned.
This kind of supernatural realm was indeed very novel.
"So, does that mean many of us won't have to risk our lives this time?" a student asked.
"Yes." Professor Holland nodded again and continued, "The fifth layer of the supernatural realm can be said to be one of the safest of the first ten supernatural realm layers. Only the ten members representing the group are in some danger and might lose their lives."
Seeing that some students were still raising their hands out of curiosity, Professor Holland waved his hand and said, "Don't be impatient. If you have any questions, ask them later. First, let me finish explaining some of the rules of the fifth layer of the supernatural realm."
Upon hearing this, the students could only suppress their curiosity and look at Professor Holland.
"The fifth layer of the supernatural realm is actually a competition between various groups."
"Simply put, it's a competition for freshmen from universities around the world."
"Each university will send ten freshmen, five of whom will be official team members and the other five will be substitutes."
"After entering the Supernatural Realm, almost all non-freshmen who are spectators will not receive any rewards. Only those who are in the champion team can get some rewards."
"Those freshmen who did not participate in the competition will receive a basic reward of 20 to 100 attribute points."
"Representative competition team members will receive the full reward."
He paused for a moment.
Professor Holland said, "Was my explanation a bit complicated? Let me give you a simple example."
"For example, our University of Oxford currently has only 157 freshmen in three classes. We still have nearly half of the spots left, and they certainly won't be left empty. At that time, some of the university managers and teaching staff will also go. Then other supernaturals can also be invited to join as spectators until we have a total of three hundred people."
"Natalie Russell from Class A will definitely compete. If she wins the championship this time, she and her four official teammates will receive a reward of 275 spirit points, and the captain will receive an additional reward of 80 spirit points."
"As Natalie's classmates and new students, because Natalie won the championship, you will receive the highest level of basic reward, which is 100 attribute points, even if you did not participate in the competition."
"We teachers, along with the other invited supernaturals, will receive a reward of 20 attribute points if Natalie wins the championship. If Natalie doesn't win, our trip will have been in vain."
"Simply put, only ten people actually will contribute. The others will just collect attribute points."
"Do you understand what I'm saying?"
As soon as Professor Holland finished speaking, the students looked at each other in bewilderment.
No one expected the fifth layer of the supernatural realm to be so bizarre, with rewards distributed in this way.
One student couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, I remember that India has relatively few universities, and each of their universities has a large number of students, sometimes even more than three hundred freshmen. What do they do then?"
"It's straightforward." Professor Holland said with a smile, "They can divide into two groups, or even three groups."
"Anyway, only freshmen can get attribute points, and there will be only one champion team. They can split into as many groups as they want."
"Of course, there are also restrictions on group divisions. Each group must have a minimum of 100 freshmen."
"If some universities don't have enough freshmen, they'll have to borrow students from other universities."
A student who likes to nitpick asked. "What would happen if a group actually joined the layer with fewer than 100 freshmen?"
"The consequences will be severe." Professor Holland said, "There have been instances where freshmen in that group were still able to enter the fifth layer of the supernatural realm. But they lost their eligibility to participate and were unable to receive any rewards."
"The others in the group will enter the next layer of the supernatural realm according to their respective supernatural realm layers."
"For example, someone who has just finished the 19th layer of the Supernatural Realm and joined that group was forcibly teleported to the 20th layer of the Supernatural Realm alone because there were not enough freshmen."
"Without teammates and without adequate preparation, encountering something like that is almost certainly a death sentence."
Upon hearing this, the student who was prone to overthinking was immediately terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.
---------------
Author's Note: You folks can also read up to +50 chapters on my P@treon Pages as an early access privilege.
You can also read "+1 Free Chapter" and see some pictures as aFree Member.
www.patreon.com/spell_merchant
P@treon Page Name: Spell Merchant
www.patreon.com/vanguard_v
P@treon Page Name: V For Vanguard
Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.130: Representatives of Oxford University
Ch.131: Challenge Modes of Fifth Layer
Ch.132: First Day of October