As soon as Shi Yu stepped out, he saw Jiang Nannan walking towards him. The latter smiled and came over to greet him.
"Going to eat breakfast?" Shi Yu asked with a smile.
"Okay," Jiang Nannan readily agreed, noticing the little Behemoth on Shi Yu's shoulder. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Where did this little monkey come from?"
She hadn't seen Shi Yu adopt such a little monkey anywhere yesterday.
"Yi ya!" The little Behemoth was very displeased with Jiang Nannan's address of 'little monkey' and fiercely waved its fists at her.
Because of its small size, it didn't have much deterrent power, but it made Jiang Nannan think it was very cute. This little monkey seemed very intelligent.
"This little guy somehow ran into my room last night. I thought it was cute, so I decided to adopt it," Shi Yu explained casually.
"Is that so? Can I hold it?" Jiang Nannan really liked this little Behemoth.
"Yi ya!" The little Behemoth proudly waved its hand in refusal and did not agree.
"It's only close to me. Maybe another time," Shi Yu saw the little Behemoth refuse and didn't force it.
"Okay," Jiang Nannan was a little disappointed, but soon a smile reappeared on her face, and she went to eat breakfast with Shi Yu.
The competition was tomorrow, so they could still rest today.
The quarterfinals arrived, and Shrek Academy's match was once again scheduled as the first one.
Their opponent was an Academy from the Sun Moon Empire. In the Sun Moon Empire, this Academy's overall strength was second only to Sun Moon Royal Academy, and it was also a strong contender for the championship.
From the top 16 onwards, the competition format was fixed: team battle, individual battle, and two-two-three battle method were all required.
The best-of-three system meant that winning two of these three competition formats would result in overall victory.
The first to start was the team battle, which was what a pure Soul Mentor Academy was best at.
Shrek Academy directly gave up the team battle. Anyway, this competition was a best-of-three system. As long as they won the next two matches, they would win.
This was the decision they made after discussion, and it was also approved by Xuan Lao.
The individual battle began, and Shi Yu was the first to appear, powerfully defeating one Soul Mentor after another, directly achieving a one-versus-seven victory.
Shrek Academy won the second match by a large margin.
Next was the two-two-three battle method. Ma Xiaotao first led Huo Yuhao to battle, and they won the match without any surprises.
Shi Yu participated in the second match, with Jiang Nannan as his teammate, and the two also successfully won.
There was no need for the third match. Shrek Academy won two consecutive matches after conceding the team battle, winning this match and successfully advancing to the semifinals.
Their opponent in the semifinals was Sun Moon Royal Academy. That's right, it was the strongest Academy in the Sun Moon Empire, Sun Moon Royal Academy.
They were assigned to the same half of the bracket, meaning only one Academy was destined to advance to the finals.
This was different from the original story. The two Academies did not meet in the finals but met in the semifinals instead.
The two Academies in the other half of the bracket were Di Ao Academy and Star Luo Royal Academy.
The four Academies that entered the semifinals did not change, only the matchups changed.
Shrek Academy and Sun Moon Royal Academy meeting in the semifinals caused quite a stir. It was destined that one of the champions and runners-up from the previous competition would stop in the semifinals.
Whether it would be Shrek Academy or Sun Moon Royal Academy was hard to say.
Most likely, it would still be Sun Moon Royal Academy.
Although Shrek Academy's strength was damaged, they had Shi Yu, a monster-level student who kept Shrek Academy's strength still powerful.
Especially in the individual battle, his performance was even better than the previous main members of Shrek Academy.
Almost everyone assumed that Shrek Academy would definitely win the individual battle.
They also had a very high possibility of winning the subsequent two-two-three battle method.
In other words, Shrek Academy could still use the tactics from the quarterfinals, conceding the team battle and striving to win the latter two matches to win the entire match.
Sun Moon Royal Academy was also aware of this, which gave them a headache.
The semifinal match day arrived, and the audience gathered at Star Luo Plaza was somewhat impatient for the match to start quickly.
Today was the first match of the semifinals, which was Shrek Academy versus Sun Moon Royal Academy. Whoever lost would go home.
The team members from both Academies had arrived at the scene.
The Star Luo Emperor also came to the scene. Today, he had an additional general by his side, Duke White Tiger, who was definitely one of the top figures in the Star Luo Empire.
"I wonder if Shrek Academy will choose to give up the team battle today," the Star Luo Emperor said with a hint of curiosity, looking at Shrek Academy's resting area.
Duke White Tiger, who was beside him, shook his head and said, "I don't think so. The risk of doing that is too great."
"Sun Moon Royal Academy's overall strength is much stronger than their opponents in the quarterfinals. Their individual battle and two-two-three matches are not absolutely guaranteed wins."
"That's true. After all, there are also Soul Emperors in Sun Moon Royal Academy," the Star Luo Emperor thought for a moment and felt that this made sense.
Sun Moon Royal Academy was strategizing, and Shrek Academy was also making final confirmations.
"Are you really decided on giving up the team battle?" Xuan Lao confirmed with Shi Yu.
This was something Senior had proposed because the team battle of a top Soul Mentor Academy like Sun Moon Royal Academy was too powerful and difficult to defeat.
Even if Senior could use Naruto's Instant Transmission, Senior wasn't confident in defeating the opponent.
And in the team battle, the opponent's consumption would definitely be less than theirs. If they fought fiercely in the team battle, they would be very weak in the subsequent matches, and even the individual battle might not be guaranteed to win.
Instead of doing that, giving up the team battle might make it easier to win the overall match.
This was the case in the quarterfinals, and Senior still felt this way when facing Sun Moon Royal Academy in the semifinals.
"Didn't we already agree on this? I don't want to change the decision," Shi Yu said.
Ma Xiaotao was a little hesitant. Doing this against Sun Moon Royal Academy was not a small risk.
Jiang Nannan, Huo Yuhao, and others did not speak, leaving it entirely up to Shi Yu and the others to decide.
After all, their role in the team battle was relatively limited, mainly depending on Shi Yu and Ma Xiaotao.
If Shi Yu, the main force, judged that giving up the team battle would be better, then it might indeed be better to just give up.
"If you lose, you won't get that reward," Xuan Lao reminded him.
Senior didn't say that Shi Yu would have to bear responsibility for this.
Shrek Academy was able to reach the semifinals this time entirely thanks to Shi Yu. Even if they lost this time, Senior wouldn't need to bear any responsibility.
"I don't want that reward to just disappear. Don't worry, I have a certain degree of confidence," Shi Yu said with a smile.
The reason Shi Yu planned this was to maximize the possibility of winning, not to lose the match.
"Since you've decided, let's do it this way," Xuan Lao could only choose to support him at this point.