Polyglots' Duel

Those that could see the girl's face saw a blooming smile and were mesmerized. The few that had been there from the beginning started conversing, "She's a red-ranked freshman and has won three chess matches in half an hour! Who is she?"

"I don't know, but her name is Xi Lian. I heard her when her opponent asked for her name."

"I've never heard of that name."

"I haven't either! She should have nine points now. When I was a freshman, it took me two weeks to get nine points, but it's only the second day school started!"

Cheng Tu and Bao Bao looked each other. Xi Lian? That's the friend they were looking for!

Xi Lian was watching her opponent walk off dejectedly, when she suddenly heard two pairs of footsteps running towards her. Turning around, she saw her two friends.

"Bao Bao, Little Rabbit, has the half hour ended already?" she realized she forgot the time! Still, chess matches normally took hours to finish, yet she finished three!

This time, Cheng Tu spoke faster than Bao Bao and his tired voice became lively, "Boss Lian, I heard the crowd say you won three duels! Is that true?"

Xi Lian laughed, "It's true!

The two of them looked at her with admiration. "How did you two do? Did you find an opponent?" Xi Lian didn't forget about them and asked them with worry.

Bao Bao radiated joy, "I went to a chemical lab and asked some people to a duel. In the end, I found a sophomore and since he was a higher rank he couldn't reject my challenge! We competed in whoever mixed the most items until they got an explosion won! In the end, we both mixed fifty four different types of chemicals, and everything exploded in his face, haha!" Bao Bao couldn't keep in her laughter and held her tummy with her two arms."

Then a shout intervened, and a sophomore from the crowd asked her, "Are the chess matches still going on? I want to watch more!"

'Ah? Did the crowd become addicted to watching her play chess?'

Xi Lian responded with a shout, "I'm bored of chess now! I won't play anymore today! If I decide I want to play again then I'll set up the matches here again next time, alright? This same exact location, don't worry!"

The sophomore shouted back an agreement and the crowd dispersed.

Cheng Tu's eyes looked like they could shoot out stars any minute. "Boss Lian, you've become famous! And now we know you have thirty-three points!"

Bao Bao hit his back, "Tell Boss Lian what you did!"

"Haha! Boss Lian, guess how many points I have now?"

Xi Lian looked at him curiously, "How many?"

"I have six! I set up a stand on the streets and shouted for musicians to duel with me! A freshman and I dueled for the whole half hour using the violin, and the crowd became our judge! The result was I got 24 votes and he got 21 votes. It was a close call, but I felt so alive! Now I have six points, I knew I wouldn't lag behind Bao Bao."

Bao Bao looked at him annoyed, "It's good you did good, but why did you have to include me? All you have is one point more than me, alright?"

Xi Lian looked at them comforted. Her two babies were growing up...she was worried for them at first and didn't want any failures to discourage them. It looks like her worry was pointless! Her babies were so amazing!

Wait, why was she calling them her babies? She must stop thinking like this! They were friends, alright...friends...

Bao Bao praised them. "It's only been half an hour and we've already won some points. If this keeps up then wouldn't we be the fastest freshmen to reach blue rank?"

Cheng Tu was excited, "That's right! At first I thought I wouldn't have been able to do anything in this place full of geniuses and would stay a blue rank until senior year. Boss Lian, and Bao Bao, you two are my lucky stars! Just half an hour has gave me and Bao Bao three points, and Boss Lian has gotten nine points." His eyes were filled of gratitude.

The two girls rolled their eyes and told him thanks like this weren't needed between friends.

However, Xi Lian told them that soon, freshmen and other grades would all start dueling and complete other achievements for points. Especially freshmen, they have already caught on that points and rank meant everything here. She was sure everyone's already seen a case of bullying even though it was the second day. Bao Bao and Cheng Tu understood this clearly but they couldn't think clearly in a moment of success. They were still younger after all.

"It's only been half an hour after lunch. We still have many hours and the entire day tomorrow. Should we continue dueling so that we get a head start from the others settling in?"

All three of them had a determined look on their faces and they split up again. This time, the agreement was to meet up in front of Mall A since the chemical lab Bao Bao went to was nearer there. The time set was two hours.

First, Xi Lian went to the library and bought twenty books. The, doing the same as before, Xi Lian stood in front of the entrance of Mall A. But this time, she chose to write on a large cardboard sign with a marker. The sign read: "Dueling with polyglots for three points. I have here twenty books, ten sets of the same two books in the same languages. Winner will be decided by whoever is able to translate the entire book. If both players are able to translate the same book, the another book will be switched at random. The books were bought just two minutes ago; you may check the receipt so you know that I haven't read the book beforehand." She was certain in her choice of duel. Although she hadn't cheated by reading the books beforehand, she knew twelve languages, and all ten of the languages in the books were languages she knew.

Soon, multiple people came forward to accept her challenge. Xi Lian dueled with the one who had stepped forward first. Another one of the challengers also volunteered to be the referee.

Going through the badge practices, the duel officially started. "May the duel begin!"

The first randomly chosen book was in English.

At matched paces, the two opponents correctly said word for word each term, "The Bubonic Plague spread havoc throughout the people and ----" The opponent was alarmed after they both finished translating at the same time. While he was able to match up to her pace, his breath was quick and he had an accent. However, his opponent spoke English fluently as if she was a foreigner and wasn't Chinese. However, her exquisite Chinese face was clear as day. Could she really be Chinese, or does she just look like it?