Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Wang Lan and Jiang Xinyu had known each other from a very early age—how early? Wang Lan had seen Jiang Xinyu when she still wore split pants.
From childhood to adulthood, Jiang Xinyu’s personality had always been extrely competitive, and everyone around her complinted the naturally extraordinary and favored daughter of heaven. The only exception... was Wang Lan!
"Why are you here?" Wang Lan asked with a smile.
"You won!" Jiang Xinyu blurted out without preamble, but there was not a hint of defeat in her tone; rather, it was a declaration of victory.
"I won? What did I win?"
"You’re still so annoying, pretending not to know when you actually do. Can’t you just let win once?" If others saw the Ice-Snow Queen Jiang Xinyu talking to a boy like this, their jaws would probably drop.
"Are you talking about the exam? You can’t seriously have been competing with in secret all these years, can you? How boring can you get?" Wang Lan remarked sarcastically.
"You think this is boring? Boring for you?" Jiang Xinyu suddenly beca a bit agitated.
"Isn’t it boring? You’re a Star Martial Warrior, and for the college entrance exam, you just need to pass the minimum threshold for the written test to be considered successful. Going to such lengths over a matter of pride? Ever heard of ’Praise be to sixty marks, any more is a waste’?"
"Heh, n."
"What do you an?"
"Spouting that any more is a waste, and yet you? Since elentary school until now, you’ve been first place in every exam, basking in the glory of being the top student. Must feel quite vain, huh?"
"Not at all. If I weren’t forced, who would bother trying so hard? Aren’t beds cozy? Aren’t couches soft?"
"Is it because of the bet?" Jiang Xinyu asked, her cheeks slightly flushed as she lowered her head.
"No, I never make bets with people. Because of a damned trial task, I have to be first place a thousand tis in a row. Is this sothing a human should do..." Wang Lan muttered to himself, resting his hands behind his head. "Class is about to start, gotta run!"
WHOOSH—
A gust of wind blew past, and the air suddenly got a bit colder.
Wang Lan stiffly turned his neck, only to et a pair of cold eyes filled with murderous intent. "Have you really forgotten? Or should I say, you never cared in the first place?"
"Not good!"
Xu Xiangwen’s face changed dramatically as he shouted, quickly shutting the eye that had opened on his forehead, "Xinyu is about to make a move; she’s freaking out."
As his voice fell, two figures flashed instantaneously, rapidly heading toward the rooftop where Wang Lan was.
"Ah? Why is your temper still the sa? Exploding at the slightest thing!"
HISS—
In a blur before Wang Lan’s eyes, Jiang Xinyu appeared in front of him with a trail of afterimages, grabbing his collar.
"Need to remind you? Eight years ago, third grade..."
"Xinyu, don’t be rash..." A cry of alarm rose, interrupting Jiang Xinyu’s words. Xu Xiangwen and Gong Feiyu hurried onto the rooftop with panicked expressions.
"Right, Xinyu, if you’re angry, you can just break Wang Lan’s legs. Any of the three legs, just don’t actually push him off; that could kill soone."
"Damn, Gong Feiyu, are you even speaking human? Aren’t you going to save ..." Wang Lan, with half his body already over the edge of the rooftop, looked frail, helpless, and pitiable.
"What are you guys doing here?" Jiang Xinyu’s face turned cold, but she gently let go of her grip. With a slight blush on her face, she casually flicked her long hair back. "Forget it; let’s just forget it. It’s ti for class."
Wang Lan patted his chest and straightened his disheveled collar.
"I’m telling you, Lan, congratulations on successfully defending your title again." Xu Xiangwen wrapped an arm around Wang Lan’s shoulder, leaning in to whisper in his ear, "Nicely done. You’ve utterly dominated her over eight hundred tis; not many people can be that ruthless."
"Was it you, you bastard, fanning the flas on the side? Otherwise, why would Xinyu explode? I knew you were up to no good, trying to kill to inherit my Q coins, right?"
"Sorry, I’m Xinyue Eight, a Purple Diamond mber; your Q coins are nothing to ."
"Are we done? Shall we go? How about barbecue tonight?" Gong Feiyu suggested with a bright smile on his face.
"I’ll pass. I’ve got so things to do tonight." Wang Lan was now focused on studying the system, having awakened it along with his Star Martial Warrior talent. For the three of them, their future was likely to hold more partings than etings, but as far as Wang Lan was concerned, there would be plenty of ti.
Jiang Xinyu’s behavior had indeed been abnormal today. Wang Lan propped his chin and pondered. It had been a long ti since he’d seen Jiang Xinyu in person, aside from online contacts. In reality, Wang Lan was busy studying and practicing problems, while Jiang Xinyu was busy with her cultivation.
Even their recent online chats had been just a few simple greetings, and he couldn’t rember doing anything to offend this woman, whose temper seed to grow with her age. Why was she so... agitated today?
Suddenly, Wang Lan shuddered.
Eight years ago, third grade?
That ti, Wang Lan and Jiang Xinyu tied for first place. Even with the sa scores, both being first, Jiang Xinyu insisted on being ranked above Wang Lan. Could I agree to that? If I did, what about my trial task?
In the midst of their argunt, the two seed to have made so kind of bet...
"Wang Lan, you annoying man, I, Jiang Xinyu, swear that I will do better than you in the next exam."
"Good luck, I believe in you."
"Waaah, I’m so mad! If I can’t beat you, I’ll... I’ll... I’ll jump off from here!"
"Why such dark thoughts at such a young age? How about this—if I win, you beco my wife when you grow up, how does that sound?"
"And if I win?"
"I’ll be your husband."
"Deal! It’s settled!"
Wang Lan had known Jiang Xinyu from a very young age and knew this girl could be impulsive when excited. She was also incredibly stubborn. The more you tried to talk her out of sothing, the more determined she beca. If she said she’d jump, she might really do it.
After all, they were just kids, and Wang Lan had treated it as a joke and soon forgot about it. Besides, Wang Lan rembered the initial bet was for the *next* exam, and since then, they’d had, if not a thousand, at least over eight hundred exams.
This girl’s persistence is no longer just persistence. It’s beco an obsession, Wang Lan chuckled and shook his head.
And with Jiang Xinyu’s intelligence, couldn’t she tell it was just childish banter? Who in the world would take a ten-year-old’s bet seriously? Maybe she wasn’t talking about that ti... I’ll have to think about it more.
Since it was the last day, there was only one class in the afternoon. It wasn’t really a class, just the handing out of sumr howork. There were so assignnts from the teachers, and also the ’gifts’ prepared for the students by Extinction Master.
As expected: five years’ worth of college entrance exam questions, three years of mock tests, and analyses of various commonly mistaken problems... Analysis, my foot!
When faced with a stack of howork even heftier than the one at the start of school, the students of Class One fell into despair. So even stared at the foot-thick pile of assignnts, muttering to themselves.
"Mad... Extinction Master is mad, Lan is mad... everyone’s mad..."
With his backpack in tow, Wang Lan hopped on the bus and went straight ho.
In the business center of Suzhou City, Wang Lan owned three office buildings, each over thirty stories high. Before his mother’s disappearance, she had handed them over to professional managers to handle. No need for business operations, just renting them out for the rent inco.
Wang Lan’s ho was in the Xinyu Building, on the top floor in a flat of five hundred square ters. There was a private elevator that went straight up and down, operated by a fingerprint lock that only Wang Lan could use.
The parking garage was split into three levels. The first and second were public, but the third had been converted into a training area. The walls were lined with PS armor. When powered, this armor could create a strong magnetic field, rendering ordinary weapons unable to even scratch it unless its power source was exhausted.
Wang Lan lay on a chair in the training area, his thoughts sinking into his Spiritual Sea of Consciousness. First, he had a hundred skill points, and secondly, he had a Star Martial Skill called Self Healing.
Usually, when Awakening a Star Martial Skill for the first ti, one’s overall attributes would be enhanced. The weaker the foundation, the more pronounced the enhancent. However, Wang Lan’s foundation was not weak. His attributes had already reached a high level even before activating the system.
As for how much enhancent, that required actual asurent.
Wang Lan approached the strength-testing machine, took a deep breath, and threw a lightning-fast punch.
BOOM—
"Two hundred kilograms."
A look of joy appeared on Wang Lan’s face. His previous maximum punch force had been only one hundred and fifty kilograms. In other words, after awakening as a Star Martial Warrior, his punch force had surged by a quarter.
Wang Lan took another deep breath and, employing the Mana-channelling technique of Inch Strength Fist, threw another punch at the target.
BOOM— A loud noise erupted.
"Seven hundred kilograms."
Wang Lan was overjoyed. Previously, his Inch Strength Fist could only produce a maximum force of four hundred kilograms. Seven hundred kilograms was beyond the lethal force of an average person. Aside from a few naturally gifted individuals capable of delivering attacks of over six hundred kilograms, for a normal person, three hundred was the limit.
That a sixteen-year-old with a slim figure like Wang Lan could produce a punch force of seven hundred kilograms demonstrated the physical quality of Star Martial Warriors.
Furthermore, the advanced combat power of Star Martial Warriors ca from Star Martial Skills, and the Inch Strength Fist Wang Lan just used was rely a Basic Skill. With a Basic Skill’s power already surpassing that of most of his peers in the Star Martial Class, Wang Lan’s baseline was stronger.
But the next experint was key. Inch Strength Fist was the skill Wang Lan focused on cultivating. It was currently at the Bronze 3 tier, and leveling it to Bronze 4 required ten points. Without hesitation, Wang Lan allocated skill points to Inch Strength Fist.
After adding ten points, the original Bronze 3 beca Bronze 4. Following the skill upgrade, Wang Lan clearly felt his muscles seed more flexible, allowing him to control his strength more smoothly than before.
"Ha!"
He punched again, making the strength-testing machine boom.
BOOM—
"Eight hundred kilograms—"
Wang Lan’s body shook, his eyes filled with astonishnt. Eight hundred kilograms—a whole one hundred kilograms more than before! To a Star Martial Warrior, this increase might seem tiny, almost negligible. However, the truly astonishing part was that Wang Lan had achieved this leap from seven hundred to eight hundred kilograms in just a few seconds. If he had relied on his own cultivation, not to ntion how long it would take, just reaching eight hundred kilograms, constrained by his physical developnt, would have taken at least a year.
"I’ve struck it rich, truly struck it rich... Ten skill points, a matter of seconds, and I’ve saved a year of hard cultivation. Skill points, indeed the cornerstone of my cheating life."
"As long as I have enough skill points, who the hell needs to race on the track? I’m going to fly!"
Wang Lan suppressed the urge to put all his skill points into Inch Strength Fist. As a studious genius, he couldn’t let go of his intelligence just because he had acquired strength. Intelligence is a valuable asset; I can’t just toss it aside.
Skill points are precious. Figuring out how to maximize their benefit requires careful allocation.
It takes ten skill points for a Black Iron skill to advance to Bronze. Ten points are just enough for a Bronze skill to level up one tier, but they’re enough to raise a Black Iron skill by one quality level. If I relied on cultivation alone, upgrading from Black Iron to Bronze would take at least three years. This is the most cost-effective investnt.
My Unard Combat is at Black Iron 8. I’ll add two points to upgrade it to Bronze 1.
Suddenly, there was a mont of confusion in Wang Lan’s eyes, and then he beca clear-headed again.
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