Matthew Atkinson
Oxford, United Kingdom
"Matt."
His elder cousin walked into the campus, came up to Matthew, patted Matthew on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Good lad, it's only been a year, but you've completely changed. If it weren't for your unchanged eyebrows and eyes, I wouldn't have recognized you."
That was true.
Because Matthew has indeed changed a lot during this period.
The changes the Kryptonian Bloodline brings about were amazing. And day by day, his body continued to change and develop.
It was no exaggeration to say that Matthew was a completely different person now than he was in high school.
He was now taller than his elder cousin Maximus.
He also had a strong physique, was all muscle, and had a very low body fat percentage.
"Cousin, you've changed quite a bit, too. The army really did toughen you up." Matthew said.
The original owner of this body didn't actually have a very good relationship with this elder cousin.
After all, there was an age gap between them, so they couldn't play together when they were kids.
However, the two of them were now grown up, and for the sake of the old man, at least on the surface, their relationship was still harmonious.
...
A moment later, Matthew led Maximus to the restaurant, had breakfast with him, and then accompanied his older cousin on a tour of the university.
They wandered around until 10 a.m.
Then Matthew told his cousin to wander around on his own while he left to meet up with his teammates.
After he arrived at the lounge, his teammates arrived one after another.
"Mister Matthew, we're teaming up again." Filip Walker said.
The two had teamed up once before in the third layer of the supernatural realm.
"Yes. And call me Matthew."
Matthew responded with a smile, then looked into the lounge and saw two unfamiliar figures.
Over the past month, except for Natalie, all the other members of the group of ten had received challenges from other freshmen.
After all, everyone thought that following Natalie this time would be an easy win.
Who wouldn't want free attribute points?
Even Matthew had a hothead who challenged him.
However, Matthew easily outmaneuvered him.
But two primary representatives were challenged and defeated by other students.
They are Karina Pearce from Class A and Emma Jackson from Class B.
The two who successfully won the challenge were a man and a woman.
Therefore, the original team has changed.
A moment later, all the participants arrived.
Filip Walker immediately said, "I think we all need to get to know each other a little better."
The ten participants this time were similar to those in the previous third layer of the Fighting Tournament, except that a few new members needed to get to know each other.
Therefore, Filip Walker and others reported their relevant information.
"Miss Natalie and Matthew go without saying, they're both celebrities..."
Filip Walker was very good at handling things and directly told Natalie and Matthew to skip over them, turning his attention to the newcomers.
The newcomers were also very conscientious, immediately standing up and reporting their information.
"Hello everyone, my name is Lucian Richards. My ability is the mutant Sabertooth Tiger bloodline. My main talent is self-healing. Currently, as long as my internal organs are not damaged, external injuries have basically no effect on me. In addition to self-healing, my nails can transform into tiger claws, which have considerable attack capabilities."
After his words, Lucian Richards even extended his palm.
Everyone noticed that Lucian Richards's hands were unusual, larger than usual, and had brown hair growing on the back of his hands. Most noticeably, his fingers had no visible nails.
The next moment.
-Clang
Five sharp claws sprang out from the fleshy pads of Lucian Richards's fingers.
It looked extremely sharp and very similar to a tiger's claws.
The others found Lucian Richards's "tiger claws" very novel and kept looking at them.
Just as Lucian sat down, another boy stood up.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Orion Duncan. My ability is the Paramecia-type Strong-Strong Fruit, which can currently amplify my strength by 25%. And my current strength attribute has reached exactly 500 points."
Although Orion Duncan's introduction was a bit short.
However, everyone was somewhat surprised after hearing this.
Orion Duncan's Devil Fruit ability could increase his strength, and his current strength attribute had reached 500 points.
This would mean he currently has a power of 625 strength. While not comparable to someone like Natalie, who has over 1500 base attributes, those who chose the Strength Path also needed to develop their Constitution.
Someone with 500 Strength should have at least 250 Constitution.
This would show that, with the effect of his ability, Orion had a power close to 1000 total attributes, and at this stage, having that kind of power was quite significant according to the standards.
Moreover, the true power of the Strong-Strong Fruit was revealed as its multiplier rate increased over time, meaning Orion's potential was high.
No wonder Orion won his challenge and became a member of the team.
The last one was a girl.
This girl looked very unusual, even strange.
Although she was wearing loose clothes, they still couldn't hide her exaggerated muscles.
"Hello everyone, my name is Zoe Chapman. I don't have any special abilities. What I obtained in the Holy Land is the Super Soldier Serum. After using it, my constitution, strength, and agility attributes increased by over 100 points. The side effect is that it made me look a bit big..."
"Currently, my constitution, strength, and agility have all reached over 300, with my strength attribute exceeding 400."
These words surprised everyone once again.
All things considered, Zoe Chapman's total attributes have exceeded 1,000.
This attribute was higher than that of many of them.
After the three people finished introducing themselves, it was time to choose a "team captain".
The Competition Layer involved many decisions, so they needed a strategist "captain" to lead them.
"Regarding the selection of a team captain... I think we don't need to choose one, right?"
Filip Walker, that kid, loves to flatter and said directly, "Besides Miss Natalie, I really can't think of a more suitable candidate."
After words were spoken, regardless of their thought, at least on the surface, they all agreed.
Only Natalie disagreed. "Matthew is more suitable for the captain position than I am."
Everyone was surprised by these words.
Natalie didn't say much, only saying, "In the previous layers, I was able to get an SSS-grade mission rating by following his instructions, so listening to him is definitely the right thing to do."
Everyone was surprised again upon hearing this.
There were rumors that Matthew played the role of the strategist, while Natalie was only responsible for providing damage and protection.
At that time, many people did not believe it.
After all, Natalie was a top student in high school, and although Matthew wasn't a bad student, he wasn't better than Natalie.
Now it seemed the rumors were actually true.
"Then this time we'll follow Matthew's orders." Filip Walker said immediately.
Everyone naturally agreed.
Since Natalie has said so, who would dare to object to Natalie and ruin their relationship with her?
Matthew did not object.
Since this supernatural realm layer was conducted in full view of everyone, it didn't matter who the team leader was.
This time, Matthew couldn't hide behind the Supernatural Realm announcements and use Natalie as a shield.
And that was how the team captain was decided.
...
At eleven o'clock, everyone left the lounge and went to the training grounds.
Now, the training grounds were already full of people.
Apart from the freshmen at the University of Oxford, the majority were teaching and university staff members, as well as supernatural guests.
When Matthew and his group appeared, everyone turned their eyes to them.
Among those gazes were admiration, pride, envy, expectation, and even jealousy.
Envy and jealousy mostly came from the freshmen, but they were a minority.
Most of the freshmen looked expectant.
Because they have a clear understanding of themselves, they couldn't get 100 attribute points in the Supernatural Realm most of the time.
Now, they didn't have to exert any effort or take any risks. And still, they could earn 100 attribute points just by watching Natalie Russell lead the team to victory.
Could there be a better outcome for them?
They wish every layer of the supernatural realm could be like this, so they could keep winning effortlessly.
As for pride, it naturally comes from Grand Magister Russell.
Any parent would be incredibly proud to have a daughter like Natalie.
"It's the last minute. Everyone, please get ready." A university staff member shouted.
Upon hearing this, everyone joined hands.
This was the way to enter the supernatural realm as a group. There was no other way.
One minute later.
At 11:11 a.m.
Everyone on the training grounds had vanished.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.134: Escape Mode
Ch.135: Riddles of the First Escape Room
Ch.136: Second Escape Room