Having a powerful lord as a father figure, what's wrong with just wanting to draw cards?

"Hey, do you dare say that again?"

The other person shrugged, not taking Edward's threat seriously at all: "I can say it as many times as I want, Class A, a bunch of good-for-nothings, nothing special."

Just as a conflict was about to erupt, Argyle stepped forward:

"I'm the class monitor of Class A. If you have something to say to me, I'll consider whether to answer you with words or fists."

"Finally, someone who can speak for us has arrived. I won't waste any more words. I'm here to issue you a challenge."

"War letter?"

"Two months from now, in the midterm class ranking competition, get ready for Class B to drag you down and trample you underfoot! That's all!"

After saying that, the group walked past them in a grand procession.

After buying their food at the cafeteria, they sat down at a long table, their initial good mood completely ruined.

Nancy looked worried. She had no interest in or desire for conflict between people.

Edward was still angrily cursing them.

“Argyle, what should we do?” Aivi asked.

Now that Argyle is the class monitor, his will represents the will of the class, so it's important to ask for his opinion.

"Since they want to fight, then let them fight. We don't need to be afraid of a group of people who can't even get into Class A."

Nats punched his fist in the palm, his fiery fighting spirit almost overflowing from the corners of his wildly upturned mouth:

"I'm going to beat all their teeth out!"

"Domi, what do you say?" Argyle looked at Domi. In his memory, Domi never made a mistake.

Domi was calmly eating the food on his plate, seemingly unaffected by what had just happened.

To him, this sarcastic challenge was no different from children playing house; his rich life experience gave him such strong confidence.

"We're bound to be challenged by them in the class ranking competition. Just like you said, as long as we show our true skills, there's no reason for us to lose."

“But Argyle, we cannot ignore factors other than combat strength.”

"Other factors?"

“Like human nature.” Domi picked up his fork and gestured. “I don’t know exactly what he’s going to do, but being wary of Schneider is definitely the right thing to do…”

The next morning, in Stewart's class.

"The so-called class ranking competition is a process of redistributing limited resources. With more resources than others, the strong will become stronger and the weak will become weaker."

"But if someone has more resources than others but can't beat someone who was originally in a lower position, then they'll lose all face. I absolutely will not allow that to happen in our class!"

The fearless Domi retorted, "Teacher, are you afraid of being laughed at by your colleagues?"

"Oh, how could that be? The teachers are just looking out for you."

A hint of guilt flashed in Stewart's eyes as he said this, but he hid it well.

"Without further ado, today I'll introduce you to the specific rules and regulations of the ranking competition. Listen carefully."

"The ranking competition is something every class member has to participate in. To participate, you need to pay 1000 GPA points as an entry fee. It is divided into the 'front battlefield' and the 'rear battlefield'."

"The main battlefield is the team competition. You need to form three three-person teams to participate in the capture-the-flag competition in a simulated environment in the ranked arena. The 'flag' is fixed. As long as you are within the range of the flag and there are no enemy players around, you can slowly gain the points provided by the flag."

The first team to reach 1000 points wins. The winner and loser either swap class rankings or remain unchanged. This is arguably the most crucial step.

"But the rear battlefield is equally important, because it can provide off-site support to the front battlefield."

For example, if a student who is good at theory solves a problem before the opponent, they can provide their teammates on the front line with the exact location of the flag in the early stages, saving them time in searching and giving them an advantage. In the later stages, they can also speed up the rate at which the flag provides points.

For example, students with physical advantages can outperform their opponents in skill competitions such as horseback riding, archery, and running. These advantages can be transformed into supplies and special skills for teammates on the front lines.

Supply is like quickly replenishing magic stones, and special skills are like transferring everyone in a designated area to another location, or prohibiting the use of magic for a period of time.

If these advantages are utilized properly, it's not impossible to turn the tide in a desperate situation.

"So to sum it up, the class ranking competition is not a competition of one person or one team, but a competition of everyone in the class."

After Stewart spoke at length, everyone in the audience fell into deep thought.

In fact, most people just want to reap the benefits without sowing.

Why not let the best players handle the competition? Even they might not be able to win 100% of the time.

But no matter how much they planned, they never imagined that they themselves would also have to play, and even be able to influence the balance of the game to some extent...

Stewart gave everyone time to understand and digest the information, and then continued:

"To practice teamwork among the three-person squads in advance, the three squads to participate in the main battle will be selected today. Anyone want to volunteer?"

Upon hearing this, most people in the vicinity of his gaze instinctively turned their heads away.

"If none of them want to, then I'll just pick one randomly."

"Dominic, Edward, and Argyle, you three brothers can team up, Captain Argyle."

“Nats,”

"Me?" Natsu pointed to himself, looking completely bewildered.

"Yes, it's you, you, and Nancy Ai's team. I have high hopes for your team."

“As for the last team…” Stewart looked around, a sly glint in his eyes: “Let Schnell, Wilcost, and York take the field. As for the captains of the other two teams, you can choose yourselves, I won’t interfere.”

"Keep up the good work and give me an answer before this afternoon."

That's all for today, get out of class dismissed!

182. Chapter 179 (178) The Family Throne

"You three brothers have formed a team?"

In the familiar room, Shia, wearing an apron, served tea and water.

Only that man could make a princess act like a submissive wife.

"Yeah, the homeroom teacher forced us to do it, slurp~" Domi picked up his teacup and sipped a mouthful of fragrant black tea, savoring the aftertaste. He was also leisurely rubbing a soft lump of coal in his hand.

"With the three of us teaming up, I have no idea how Class B is going to win."

"Maintain organization and discipline, don't give the other side any opportunity, in short, don't be careless."

"Suck~"

"Suck~"

Shia, holding the tray, stood to the side and rolled her eyes: "So why are you two here too?"

Argyle's expression was calm and relaxed: "I'm just here to have a cup of tea with my sister-in-law. You can't kick me out, can you?"

Edward simply copied what he saw, completely unfazed.

Since they were so sweet-talking, Xia decided not to chase them away. Serving one Mi was already her limit; if there were two more, she wouldn't have any personal life left.

After putting the tray back in the kitchen, she sat down around the table and offered some advice based on her experience:

"I know you are all very strong, but without teamwork, it is easy to lose in team competitions. May I ask, do you have a specific battle plan?"

The three looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison.

I knew this would happen...

Shia sighed, then recounted her experience in the ranked matches, including most of the unexpected situations that could occur in actual combat, such as mosquitoes, weather, terrain interference, and setbacks in the rear battlefield...

The most important thing is squad conflict. Sometimes it's not just two squads that meet; there are even cases where three squads band together and start fighting as soon as they meet.

"This leads to another possible way to win in the ranking matches: when all the players on one side are completely unable to fight, the other side will be declared the winner. In this way, the strategy of grouping up at the beginning to try to wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop becomes feasible."

Xia's words greatly broadened the three people's thinking. Indeed, listening to the experience of those who have been through it all can make things much easier.

Argyle stroked his chin and said in a deep voice:

"According to what you're saying, Shia, we really need to practice teamwork too."

Edward's eyes lit up: "Like a cool combo?! I have a suggestion! First, have Domi use shadow magic to hide us. Once we spot someone, the three of us will jump out, Big Brother will use an earthen wall to surround everyone, and then I'll unleash my fury and smash them with fireballs!"

After hearing this somewhat immature idea, Domi couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth: "But we're still inside Big Brother's mud walls."

And why does this combo move feel a bit like... well, you know? It's so familiar... Oh no, my brain's growing out of this tumor.

"You can find a chance to escape when the time comes!"

"That's easy for you to say... but there are 'friendship wounds' there."

Finally, after a long silence, Argyle stopped Edward's crazy idea:

"I think we shouldn't get bogged down in this kind of formalistic 'combination technique,' but rather think about what the original intention of using combination techniques was."

"The original intention..." Speaking of this, Shia felt a bit emotional: "I think all the actions were to severely injure the opponent so that they would lose their ability to fight."

"To sum it up, it's about dealing the most damage with the least cost." Domi summarized Shia's words perfectly.

At this moment, their minds were united.

Argyle and Edward cast envious and jealous glances their way. They had thought Domi would be the last one to find a girlfriend, but he and his future wife were already so in sync, while they didn't even have a girlfriend...

What a disgrace! What a disgrace!

However, what they said did answer his question very well, and Argyle nodded in agreement:

"Yes, as long as we deal damage, that's the point of combo skills. So we just need to find opportunities in actual combat and then unleash our most powerful magic."

"My earth magic can be used to control the field, create suitable space for you to deal damage, and protect you when necessary."

"It seems my fire magic can only be used for high-damage output."

"Then I can assassinate, engage in close combat, scout, disguise, and, when necessary, launch precise, high-damage long-range attacks..."

This naturally refers to the 'Elemental Great Bow' that he developed in the magical ruins.

It's a self-created, miscellaneous skill that uses ice magic to form a huge bow, reinforces it with a layer of earth, uses lightning as the string, and attaches arrows made primarily of spirit-devouring energy, covered with a layer of shadow magic that is both real and illusory. Finally, it uses the hands of Susanoo to draw the bow into a full moon shape and fire it.

Its power is astonishing. Back in the Xisha Islands, a single arrow could pierce through a giant scorpion beast. The power it would have on a human is unimaginable...

However, the existence of the Soul Devouring Energy cannot be exposed to the world yet, so the main body of the arrow needs to be changed. Domi plans to use a light arrow as the main body.