Chapter 2012: Inter-academy freshmen Tournament

Sam's celebration reverberated throughout the whole region.

He hopped from one academy to another as he destroyed his own records from previous visits. He is already being talked about by how he dominated the competition, now this incident only increased the gossip.

That night, the Deans announced the date for the Inter Academy Freshmen tournament and only an announcement of that level suppressed the gossip about Sam a bit.

After the announcement was made, Sam called for a meeting with his friends.

This time the rest of the team, who are yet to break through to Divine Plane are also here. This meeting is also held in the same room under the hub.

After they came, Sam took out several jars of wine and slid one each to the team.

"Our plans until now are an ultimate success. We dominated the freshmen top ranks and we are going to dominate the Inter academy freshmen tournament. I wish we could celebrate a bit grandly, but we still need to be a bit on stealth mode.

So, let me go through what our next phase is going to be like.

Soon the other players are going to come here. The planetary disaster task is not going to take long as it has a fixed time, so they might even be halfway there.

And once the players are here, the advantage we held over the region will be gone. The fact that we belong to the same group will be out and before that happens, we need to create enough groundwork.

Once the news is out, we are all going to be targets.

The academic authorities will target you, the students will be after you. But the worst part is that seniors will be after us as well. They are the ones we need to vary.

Instructors of the Academy have many limitations because of rules. But seniors have no qualms about taking revenge. We need to prepare well for that.

So, our next tasks are going to be focused on that."

"What do we need to do?" Philip asked as he started enjoying the wine.

"First you guys need to understand the student hierarchy properly.

You must have already noticed something weird here. The cultivators of the Divine Initiation Initial Stage are freshmen. That is the criteria for entering the academy and they are considered Grade 1.

But the Middle stage of Divine Plane Initiation is already categorized as Grade 2.

And you already know that there are only Four Grades in these academies. I have done my research and this is how they categorized it.

The reason Grade 1 is small is to make the new students get used to the competitive level of this place. That is why they have a separate freshmen tournament as well.

Once they enter the Middle Stage of Divine Plane Initiation, they will be under Grade 2 and stay in Grade 2 until the Peak of Divine Plane Initiation. Grade 3 will be Divine Plane Pre-transcendence Initial stage to Peak Stage. Grade 4 is the Divine Plane Transcendence Initial stage to the Peak stage.

Once a student gets out of Grade 4, they will become Instructors. These instructors are Divine Plane Consummation Stage cultivators and they start teaching different grades based on their understanding of concepts as they attempt to enter Godhood.

This is the unofficial Grade 5 but no one calls it that as there are no teachings they receive as students, instead they become teachers as they try to unravel the principles of nature and become gods. This is also the true Demi God Stage where they can build a Divine Dimension of their own.

The stronger the Divine Dimension they build in this stage, the stronger their starting point will be once they enter godhood."

"Wait, but why did we only see Middle Stage Divine Plane Initiation cultivators? They are practically the only ones in the academy apart from the freshmen."

"That is because, at the start of every academic year, a special dimension will be opened for all the seniors. They need to be at least at the Late Stage of Divine Plane Initiation to enter it. That is opened by the gods with a bunch of resources dumped over there.

These students fight for them and come back.

As for why the Middle Stage people were left alone, they are the ones closest to freshmen in strength, so they are perfect for accommodating the new freshmen into the academy.

The academies might have a solid competitive spirit attached to them, but from what I can see, they do care about their students when they just entered."

"So, that means these seniors are going to be our problem in the future? When are they coming back then? How long do we have to prepare?"

"They will be back any day now. The dimension closes right before the Inter Academy Freshmen tournament. It will be the perfect time for the juniors to be introduced to the hierarchy of the academy.

Also, the seniors form opinions of the students as they get to see the performance first hand."

"That's great. So, we are acting immediately. What's the plan?"

"I would be sending you guys a list of seniors through your wristband. The ones that are focused on their cultivation more than they care about the factions and politics, but they are the important influencing factors in the academies.

We managed to get the freshmen attached to the hub. We need the rest of the seniors to do the same.

The recommendation of the instructors and Deans would of course work in our favor, but we need an extra push.

The people on the lists that I give are the ones with most rivals. Most people want to be them or beat them. All you need to do is meet them and act respectfully before challenging them to a battle.

Of course, the battle would only be fair if both of your cultivations were on the same level. But in Divine Plane even if they suppress the cultivation level, the natural state of bodies itself would be too far apart."

"That's where the hub comes in. We will challenge them to a simulated battle inside the hub and we let the recording out for the rest of the world to see.

This will increase the intrigue of the other seniors."

Philip finished Sam's words.

"That's right. I am giving you all the information I have about these targets. You use that information to your benefit. You have been with me for so long, so you should know how to use information properly."

"Got it." Everyone agreed.

Then Sam turned to the team members who were at the peak of Astral Plane. They are on the verge of a breakthrough, any day now they would enter the ranks.

"I want to say that I don't mean to pressure you, but that is exactly what I mean to do.

I need you to break through to the Divine Plane by the time I go to the Finals of the Inter-Academy tournament that happens between all the regions.

I need you guys to execute some serious plans that influence our path forward in this realm.

So, tell me. Can I count on you guys?"

"Don't worry Sam, that is what the target we set for ourselves and we are all on the verge of achieving it. Just give your orders and we will execute."

"Thanks. Anyway, while you are at it, I need some push in the Astral Region..."

Sam went on to explain the rest of his plans.

At first, he thought the Academic Realm was the place where he would struggle the most. He felt this would be the biggest challenge to his strength, intellect, and the organization as well, but it turns out it is not.

The opponents are weak save for one. They are the same as everywhere else. Maybe a little tougher, but that is about it.

This academic realm is not a challenge at this point. It is a stage to perform.

Sam is using all the knowledge, inventions, and experience he gained from all of his previous exploits to put up a performance here. This is like a place for him to play around after all the challenges he faced and experiences he accumulated.

This is going to bring great joy for him.

He would like to see the faces of those gods as he destroyed each one of their treasured academies.

Sam ended the meeting soon and went to check on Stone.

Stone has adapted to the new skeleton very soon. It didn't even feel weird, particularly with the strong muscles as well.

Now, he is back to physical training. His muscles are being enhanced once again and this helped him get used to the new skeleton much better.

Stone started practicing combat techniques in simulations as well.

Days passed like this and soon it was time for two things.

Sam performed marrow transformation surgery on Stone and the seniors are back from the dimension.

It is time for Inter Academy Freshmen Tournament.