Chapter 341 - Truth
Han Wu gave the Holy Blue teacher a silent glance. Leng Ning and Meng Qi followed his example, dropping their blood onto the test kit. Their blood had a faint silver color, though not as pronounced as the silver light in Han Wu’s.
The teacher from the Holy Blue Academy, with a smug look, began his accusations once again. “This is irreparable proof that these kids cheated!” he declared. Then, turning to the trio, he asked, “Well? What more do you have to say for yourselves?”
The referee who had antagonized them chimed in. “Hmph, I knew it! A useless academy like yours can only produce students of poor quality. I’m not surprised at all.”
Mr. Bai felt his world crumbling. He stared at the three of them, a mix of confusion and betrayal on his face. “The academy never forced you to get excellent results from this competition. Why would you destroy our reputation like this?”
With a calm voice, Leng Ning replied, “Please be patient, Teacher. The test results aren’t out yet.”
Noticing how calm the trio seemed to be, the referees curiously watched the reagent in the blood test kit. The reagent was supposed to change color to show the presence of drugs. Unexpectedly, even after a full minute, the reagent didn’t darken; on the contrary, it became even clearer. It was definitive evidence that the Azure Sea Academy team had not used any illegal drugs.
The Holy Blue teacher couldn’t believe his eyes. “W-what? How is this possible?”
Still in denial, he rose from his seat and, pointing at Han Wu, began a new accusation. “Wait! The new drug must be able to avoid the blood test kit’s detection. Yes, that must be it! That’s why they were so willing to do the test! It has to be!”
However, none of the other referees could agree with the new accusation. The chief referee cleared his throat and said, “We already included a reagent that would react with the active ingredients of the new drug. As such, there’s no reason to doubt the validity of the blood test kit.”
“How then do you explain the abnormal color of their blood?” the teacher demanded, yelling at the chief referee with a furious expression.
With a sigh of exasperation, the chief referee turned to face the three. “Now, I suppose you have some explaining to do about the unusual color of your blood.”
Leng Ning and Meng Qi looked at Han Wu with questioning expressions, waiting for him to decide what to do. After a moment of thought, Han Wu decided to explain.
“Normally, no one would have the right to pry into our personal matters, but since certain... shameless people are determined to frame us...,” Han Wu paused, staring pointedly at the arrogant referee-teacher pair.
He continued, “And we did promise to cooperate with this investigation, we have no choice but to reveal our secrets. Our blood is a different color because of a lucky encounter[1]we had. As our academy’s representatives, we three went to Dragon Seal to train, and that was where we encountered something extraordinary—”
“Ridiculous!” the Holy Blue teacher interrupted. “So many people go to the Dragon Seal every year to train, and I’ve never heard of anyone’s blood changing color—”
He stopped suddenly, sensing the chief referee glaring at him, and wisely shut up.
“That’s why I called it a fortuitous encounter,” Han Wu retorted, rolling his eyes. “You do know what that means, don’t you?”
The chief referee’s interest was piqued, and he ignored the Holy Blue teacher, whose face was reddening in fury. “So, what happened in the Dragon Seal?”
“Well, we found evidence of Great Dragons; a massive dragon bone, to be exact.”
The office immediately went completely silent at his words, but soon, some of the referees started laughing.
“He’s an amusing one. He could’ve just said he wasn’t going to tell us why his blood was silver. Great Dragons? Everyone knows they’re just a legend!”
“Haha! I have to admit, he has a good imagination, bringing out Great Dragons!”
Han Wu wasn’t offended. He understood why the natives of the Assist Civilization didn’t know about Great Dragons. Their civilization was a lower-ranking one, far beneath the Divine Civilization, so it made perfect sense that they wouldn’t know.
Seeing the serious expressions on the trio’s faces, the chief referee remained hesitant. “Young man, could you tell me more about this evidence?”
To avoid any future trouble for his team, Han Wu decided to end the issue once and for all. “Our Skills mutated after absorbing energy from the dragon bone. If you don’t believe me, we can show them to you.”
Meng Qi showed off all three of his Skills. The referees surrounded him, meticulously analyzing his abilities. A few even struck his body to test the mutated Skills, and they all ultimately confirmed that Meng Qi’s Skills had indeed been mutated.
Leng Ning went next. Being a damage dealer, most of her Skills were offensive, and she demonstrated all of them: Frost Dragon Fang, Frost Dragon Blizzard, Frost Dragon Eye, Frost Dragon Breath, and Frost Dragon Possession.
The referees were completely enthralled by her Skills. They could clearly see that her abilities had been affected by the energy from the dragon bone to a greater extent than Meng Qi’s, causing them to mutate even further.
The referees were especially shocked by her Frost Dragon Possession. In that form, all her damage was amplified, and even Inferior Masters would not be able to survive being frozen by that attack.
With the proof now provided, Leng Ning swiftly deactivated her Skills. Still not satisfied, the referees turned to look at Han Wu expectantly. They had more or less ascertained that he was the leader of the group, based on Meng Qi and Leng Ning’s attitude.
Han Wu inwardly rolled his eyes, then showed them his Skills. That compensation had better be good after all the time we’ve wasted here.
The Dragon Fireball was a powerful attack that covered a wide area, and its Black Flames and Blood Fuel effects could burn any living object. The Dragon Shield was thick and powerful, with the ability to return projectiles.
Han Wu also demonstrated Silver Strength, a powerful buff capable of empowering even Inferior masters. He then explained his newest Skill, Dragonfall, which he had never used before and wasn’t certain of its power. Finally, he showed his last Skill, Summon Erebard.
The referees were shocked at the sight of the one-meter-long Erebard. Though small, his dragon aura and affinity for all four attributes were unmistakable. All the referees assumed that the silver dragon Erebard would eventually become as strong as a Grandmaster once it matured.
If Han Wu had known their thoughts, he would have laughed at their ignorance. A Grandmaster would be powerless in front of a fully grown Erebard. A mature Great Dragon had strength on par with a Sage life form, which was why they were able to invade other civilizations so easily.
After the trio demonstrated their Skills, the Holy Blue Academy’s complaints and accusations were dismissed. The chief referee announced his decision: the Holy Blue Academy had to compensate the three for defamation damages and issue a public apology to the Azure Sea Academy in addition. Should they refuse, they would be banned from the competition forever.
The Holy Blue teacher slumped to the ground after hearing the decision. He had not only lost face for himself, but for his entire academy as well.
The antagonistic referee tried to sneak away, but Mr. Bai would not allow it, not after the humiliation the man had caused. He quickly filed a complaint with the chief referee, who, in a rage, fired the referee and banned him from ever being employed by the competition committee again. Han Wu was satisfied by the outcome.
With the compensation received and the public apology heard, the trio took a much-needed rest to ensure they would be at their best for the remaining matches.
1. I finally got to use this term lmao ☜