Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Before arriving at the Star Martial Hall, Wang Lan thought the outfit he was wearing would make him the most striking guy there, but after he arrived, the prouder he had felt before, the more foolish he felt now.
Who were the people getting their Star Martial Badges? Ninety percent were junior high school graduates. And Wang Lan, standing at 1.76 ters, truly stood out. Especially with that Fiery Cloud Cloak—every wannabe teenager was staring.
Don’t think Wang Lan was only two years older than those eighth graders; during puberty, two years could make a huge difference. Wang Lan was just 1.6 ters tall when he graduated from ninth grade, and now he was 1.76 ters.
And with the average height of the middle school students there being around 1.5 to 1.6 ters, Wang Lan felt completely out of place in that crowd.
He had forgotten that the first few days of sumr vacation were the peak ti for junior high graduates to get their Star Martial Badges.
"Scholar God?" A chubby kid suddenly smacked Wang Lan’s shoulder excitedly and called out.
"No, you’ve got the wrong person."
"No way! I worship your portrait every day. There’s no chance I’m mistaken."
"A portrait?"
"No, I an, there’s a poster of you at the supermarket opposite our school, and my room’s walls are covered with them! I haven’t flunked a single subject in ninth grade, all thanks to my devout faith. You are indeed His Eminence, the Scholar God."
"Actually... I’m his younger brother. His na is Wang Lan, and my na is Wang Feng. As you know, he’s already in eleventh grade this year, and he’s just an ordinary person. I’m in the sa year as you; I just had the luck to awaken," Wang Lan replied in a low voice.
"Really? What is the Scholar God like at ho? Does he get up before dawn every day and study for twenty hours?"
"How could that be possible? You’d drop dead from working that hard."
"Right. If hard work alone could turn you into the Scholar God, then many would have claid that title by now. The Scholar God must be soone who doesn’t need to study anything to know it—soone who can play gas and sleep in yet still co first in exams."
"It’s not like that either. Talent is certainly key, but hard work is indispensable. A perfect score is 100 points on a test. Hard work can earn you 95, and talent is that last five points."
"Is that so? That makes sense. From a rational perspective, exam results are pretty mystical. Like , last year, whenever I felt like I did well, I’d end up unsatisfied with my grades. In my final year, I just gave up. For exams, I’d rely on guessing, and on copying for what couldn’t be guessed, and yet I still managed to score above 60."
Rational, my foot! Using rational analysis to explain mysticism?
"Next!" While speaking in hushed tones to the chubby kid, it was Wang Lan’s turn to reach the registration desk.
Wang Lan respectfully took out his ID card. "Wang Lan? Sixteen years old. You’ll be a senior next sester, right?"
After confirming Wang Lan’s identification, the staff mber asked with surprise, "Weren’t you a failure in soul stimulation? This is the registration desk for Star Martial Warriors."
"I know. I’ve just awakened."
"Awakened? How is that possible? Co on, Open your Star Palace and let see."
Wang Lan had previously opened his Star Palace in front of Huang Feilong, but that was in private. Doing it in front of so many people felt a bit embarrassing, especially since the chubby kid he’d conned in the queue was giving him mournful looks like a widow cursed with seven lifetis of ill-fated love.
Wang Lan couldn’t help it. If he admitted it then, the middle school students behind him would probably start exclaiming. To date, the Scholar God forum was still among the top five busiest sections on Suzhou City’s bulletin board service.
Wang Lan took a deep breath and exerted himself. The Star Palace above his head opened, a Starlight shining within.
"Huh, you really awakened? Weird, Soul Resonance didn’t trigger your Star Martial Warrior talent. How did you awaken?"
"Maybe... I was in a good mood, I guess."
The lady at the registration desk clicked away on her keyboard, and soon, a printed form was handed to Wang Lan.
"Follow the procedure on the form and take the tests one by one. After completion, go to the badge distribution area to receive your Star Martial Badge. The Star Martial Badge is integrated with a bank card; the staff who provides you with the badge will explain it to you clearly."
After thanking her, Wang Lan turned to leave. Just as he took a step, he felt soone blocking his path. Wang Lan was still looking at the procedure on the form and slightly sidestepped.
But the person seed to do it on purpose and once again moved to block Wang Lan’s way. Only then did Wang Lan look up and find Jiang Xinyu scrutinizing him. The situation was sowhat awkward.
"Jiang Xinyu, what a coincidence..."
"I’m accompanying my sister to get her Star Martial Badge. What are you doing here? Wait, is that a Star Martial registration form you’re holding? You’ve awakened a Star Martial talent? You..."
"You seem more excited than I am," Wang Lan said with a wry smile, then turned towards Jiang Xinchen beside her. "Yo, Chenchen, long ti no see. You’ve grown so much, almost catching up to your sister now."
"Nice to see you, Lan!" Jiang Xinchen and Jiang Xinyu, though sisters, had completely different personalities. Jiang Xinyu was the classic Ice-Snow Queen: strong, domineering, with a ferocious temperant—a veritable guardian deity for the ho.
But Jiang Xinchen was quite introverted, like a well-mannered young lady from a respectable family. The only downside was that she didn’t talk much, and trying to have a conversation with her could be quite awkward.
Jiang Xinchen was two years younger than Jiang Xinyu and had not awakened any Star Martial Warrior talents. While her sister had automatically awakened at the age of nine, Xincheng had only done so after this Soul Resonance.
"Xincheng has already finished the test; you haven’t yet, have you? I’ll take you!"
With soone guiding him, Wang Lan naturally wouldn’t refuse. "Actually, all that health check data is useless. There’s no need to test it. What really needs to be tested are strength, speed, reaction ability, and combat ability."
Jiang Xinyu, familiar with the process, led Wang Lan to the testing area. The Star Martial Hall had opened less than half an hour ago, and the main group was still queuing for basic item tests. Consequently, there were very few people in the comprehensive testing area, aning almost no queue at all.
The rules of the test were simple. There would be a circle with a diater of one and a half ters on the testing ground, and Wang Lan needed to stand inside it. Surrounding him, thirty-six tennis ball launchers were set up.
Of course, the number of launchers, their speed, and even their angles would be adjusted according to the difficulty level. The levels ranged from one to nine, with freshly awakened Star Martial Warriors naturally starting at level one.
Level one difficulty involved launching tennis balls directly at the participant. The balls were coated with white powder, and Wang Lan had to block with his arms or evade, ensuring no balls hit his body. This level of test posed no difficulty for Wang Lan.
Wang Lan didn’t even need to move his feet, casually blocking all the tennis balls with ease.
"Switch to level two difficulty," Jiang Xinyu whispered to the operator.
At level two difficulty, another tennis ball launcher was added, creating a crossfire with the first. Not only did the number of balls double, but the speed also increased significantly.
Still, this level was no issue for Wang Lan. The tennis balls were launched roughly every three seconds. This speed was several magnitudes slower than Huang Feilong’s full-speed punches and kicks.
"Increase it to level five difficulty," Jiang Xinyu instructed indifferently.
"Miss, level five is the difficulty for professional Star Martial Warriors, and he has just awakened as a Star Martial Warrior..." the staff mber asked, sowhat surprised.
"From what I know of him, his strength has definitely reached a professional level. I want to know where his limit lies now. I’ve always thought that he’s been training so hard because he couldn’t accept his fate, but I never imagined he would miraculously awaken as a Star Martial Warrior. Just set it to level five."
Jiang Xinchen looked at her sister in surprise, then at Wang Lan, who was effortlessly handling the test. Level five was a height she looked up to. After being forced by her sister to train every day for years, she had barely reached level three. Was Lan that strong?
Level five added eight more launchers, firing from all directions at increased speeds of one ball per second. With eight launchers, this was essentially the sa as launching eight balls every second.
If translated to an opponent’s punch speed, it was like facing eight punches per second. Even worse, the launchers were not static, aning the balls could co from any direction or angle at any ti.
Even among Star Shine Stage Star Martial Warriors, those who could last five minutes under level five difficulty were rare.
The sudden spike in difficulty startled Wang Lan. He had assud this was a routine test for Star Martial Warriors. He had done his howork. Failing the Star Martial Warrior test would an no Star Martial Badge.
But... is the Star Martial Warrior test really this hard? Isn’t it a 99% pass rate? Am I just that bad? Are other freshly awakened Star Martial Warrior kids this strong?
Wang Lan didn’t realize that this comprehensive testing platform was managed by the Xinyu family. Normally, passing level one difficulty would suffice. Level five was professional level, aning that passing it would qualify soone as a professional warrior.
What’s professional, you might ask? Singers who can participate in ’I Am a Singer’ are professionals, athletes who can compete in the Olympics are professionals, and those who can play in the World Cup are... well, let’s just say I didn’t say that.
The sudden increase in difficulty caught Wang Lan off guard. In that mont, he felt as though he was facing a group attack by five Star Martial Warriors of Huang Feilong’s caliber.
Blocking, dodging, rolling, leaping, blocking while dodging, and rolling while blocking—the tennis balls showered down like a storm, Wang Lan’s agile body moving through the maelstrom like a phantom.
The newly arrived Star Martial Warriors suddenly stopped in their tracks, staring dumbfounded at the scene unfolding before them.
"Holy shit—"
"Did we co to the wrong place? Is this the professional-level evaluation area? No, it’s for newly awakened Star Martial Warriors, right? Wasn’t it supposed to be easy? Just dodging twenty incoming tennis balls counted as passing, didn’t it?"
"Maybe... we were misinford. It’s not a total of twenty balls, but twenty per second?"
"At this difficulty, I can confidently say I’d easily last half a second."
"Who on earth designed such an inhuman test? I’m not taking it."
"I heard if you don’t pass the comprehensive assessnt, they won’t issue a Star Martial Badge..."
"What kind of international joke is this? Is this difficulty humanly passable? Is that even human in there?"
"If it’s not sothing a human can pass, then what the hell is that thing inside?"
"That person is certainly not human. I strongly suggest that once he’s done, we capture him and send him to the zoo as a top-priority protected species for research—a new species has been born!"
Most of those gathered were middle school graduates, each more capable of running their mouth than the last. Inside, however, Wang Lan was a bundle of nerves, his brain highly tense. This level of test difficulty was obviously not intended for newly awakened Star Martial Warriors. Even Huang Feilong would struggle to pass it.
Could it be... Huang Feilong has been misleading all these years? What about his claims that my fighting ability is no less than that of soone at the early Star Shine Stage? And that if Star Martial Warriors aren’t allowed to use Star Martial Skills or amplify their physical qualities with Star Power, there are few below the Star Shine Stage who could match ?
I don’t believe you, you mischievous old codger! You’re terrible!
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