Waiting for pizza to fall from the sky was one of the great pleasures in life.
Bright and early the next morning, a blazing rainbow of light illuminated the skies across all four anima storms, and the delicious, heady smell of ripe energy roused the students immediately.
They knew that the anima dew had finished condensing within the anima c.u.mulonimbuses.
Energy had overflowed out of the anima storms throughout the night, creating disparate droplets of anima dew across the lake. However, these were slim pickings compared to the cornucopias of anima dew to be found within the storms.
Still, there was no point in eying the fruits beyond their reach. None of them was strong enough to scale the Stairway to Heaven.
“Li Luo, we’ve gotten a total of 295 anima dew droplets from the large anima c.u.mulonimbus!”
Lu Qing’er and the others rushed over excitedly to report the good news. They had carefully stored all of it into their anima gourds, and the final count was in.
Even before this, they had sort of estimated a figure somewhere in this range, but the results were still music to their ears.
“295 droplets… that’s more than ten times a medium anima c.u.mulonimbus. Large anima c.u.mulonimbuses are awesome.” Yu Lang’s eyes were round as saucers.
Li Luo nodded fervently. The difference between medium and large anima c.u.mulonimbuses was exponential. Then again, there were only four of them available, and all the schools were supposed to fight over this. It made sense that the rewards would have to be commensurate with the rarity.
It was a nice, fat boost that would save them a lot of legwork.
“If we can fill five anima gourds, we can prepare to move on to the Dragon’s Belly and lay some groundwork for the second half of this compet.i.tion. If we can’t, then we might have to wait a few more days,” Li Luo said cheerfully. “Our goal is to send five people to Dragonbone Island.”
At the start of the compet.i.tion, Li Luo had initially set a goal to send three people. But with this unexpected haul, he could now afford to aim a bit higher.
Five people—he could take all the Violet Vibrance squad leaders. Strength-wise, they ranked the highest.
“Besides Jing Taixu, Sun Dasheng, and Lu Ming’s schools, the others will at most be able to send one or two contenders. If we can send five, we’ll be at a good advantage.”
Qin Zhulu, w.a.n.g Hejiu, and the others nodded. With that advantage, they would be well-positioned to take the win.
And all this was possible because Li Luo had boldly staked his claim to an anima storm.
Even his bitter rival, w.a.n.g Hejiu, was very polite to Li Luo now. He had no complaints about Li Luo’s contributions as their commander.
Bai Doudou and Bai Mengmeng hurried over.
“Li Luo, we’ve collected an additional 180 drops from the small and medium anima c.u.mulonimbuses.” The sisters beamed, flushed with excitement at their riches.
“180 drops, huh…”
Li Luo repeated gleefully. They had taken over 400 droplets of anima dew just with this one play. In the last week, they had only managed a little over 100.
He was thanking his own guts for not accepting Jing Taixu’s offer.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Li Luo said to his school, “I’m happy to announce that we’ve met our goal. We have enough to send five people through the Dragon’s Belly to the final showdown at Dragonbone Island.”
The other students cheered.
“But if my calculations are right, we not only have enough to send five people through the Dragon’s Belly, we also have an additional 80 drops of anima dew. That’s a heck of a lot. I say we see if we can scrounge up a couple dozen more on the way there. If we can, we would be able to send yet another person along as a bonus.”
“That’s a great idea!”
Duze Beixuan, the ultimate Li Luo hater, was the first to leap to his feet.
Among the students, of course the five Violet Vibrance squad leaders were the strongest.
But if there were to be one more, who would it be but him?
The others were receptive to Li Luo’s suggestion as well. An additional person wouldn’t hurt.
Seeing no objections, Li Luo smiled. “Well, then the next question is: who should the additional person be?”
“Who else but me?” Duze Beixuan shouted immediately.
In terms of strength, he was a little weaker than the other Violet Vibrance squad leaders, but compared to the rest of the Violet Vibrance students, he was the strongest.
“Can’t say for certain. Strength isn’t all about punching people in the face. Neither are you strong enough to punch enough faces with enough strength to make much of a difference. I think more brains would serve us better, eh?” Yu Lang piped up. In truth, he was not aiming for the additional slot at all. He just wanted to take some wind out of Duze Beixuan’s sails.
“Are you calling me brainless?” Duze Beixuan snarled.
“I’m calling you brawn-less.” Lu Qing’er’s cool voice cut through their quarrel.
The students turned to her. It seemed like she was interested in contesting as well. With her ice resonance being a lower eighth-grade, and her background as the young mistress of the Golden Dragon Bank, she might have resources beyond the means of the others. She was a worthy consideration for their ranks.
Li Luo grinned at them. “Anyone else interested?”
Bai Mengmeng, Xin Fu, Qiu Luo, and all of the others shook their heads. They were fine sitting this one out.
Li Luo nodded. “Well, let’s draw lots, then. That’s fairest.”
There was a general murmur of a.s.sent, and Duze Beixuan swallowed his irritation.
Li Luo took a twig from nearby and divided it into three pieces, gripping them in his fist. “Longest stick gets the sixth slot. Any objections?”
The three nodded acceptance, then reached out together to draw sticks swiftly from Li Luo’s fist. They compared them.
“Looks like the slot is mine,” Lu Qing’er said triumphantly, holding up the longest stick with a smile on her pretty face.
In truth, she was not that interested in getting to Dragonbone Island. She knew that her strength would probably not make much of a difference one way or the other, but she just wanted to spend a little more time with Li Luo. Maybe help him out a little.
Duze Beixuan’s face was sour as could be, but he had to accept the result.
Yu Lang couldn’t care less. Even if he had won the lot, he had intended to give it to Lu Qing’er. He didn’t want to go to Dragonbone Island. They would kick his scrawny a.s.s there.
Besides, his a.s.s had already been badly abused in this compet.i.tion. Due to no effort on his part.
With the sixth slot decided, Li Luo clapped his hands together. “Well, that’s settled. Let’s get moving, people.”
The students scattered off to make their preparations, but one person lingered. Lu Qing’er, with her hands clasped coyly behind her back, looking shyly at him.
“What?” Li Luo asked, a little uncomfortable at being stared at this way.
“Well, thank you,” she said softly, twirling the twig piece in her fingers.
“What are you talking about?” Li Luo asked innocently.
“The end of my twig looks a little strange. You grew it with your wood resonant power, didn’t you?”
“Student Lu Qing’er,” Li Luo said loftily, “I have no idea what you are talking about. I am a fair commander, and the Astral Sage College has put its trust in me. If you tarnish my reputation, I will report you to Vice Princ.i.p.al Su Xin.”
He turned and left.
Lu Qing’er stared at his hurriedly retreating figure, her eyes glowing with happiness.