A constant stream of system prompts came flooding in.
Su Yuan smiled brightly and stretched his muscles a bit, “Sorry, I didn’t control my strength properly.”
The bound system required him to collect Emotion Points to receive rewards. That meant he was destined to live a fierce life.
Tolerate humiliation and swallow anger? Not a chance.
If you piss me off, I’ll just beat the crap out of you!
“How dare you!”
From the stage, Zhao Ridou was furious. His figure flickered and in a flash, he appeared beside Su Yuan.
At that moment, Su Yuan turned his head and met Zhao Ridou’s gaze. A faint golden glint flashed through his eyes.
For an instant, Zhao Ridou’s heart shuddered slightly. It was as if… standing in front of him was not a student, but a powerful wild beast!
[Fear +5]
Of course, that feeling only lasted a split second. After all, Zhao Ridou was a 3rd stage cultivator, while Su Yuan was just a rookie who had only just awakened.
But even that brief moment of pause was enough for Principal Xiao Jianguo to step in and block between the two.
“Director Zhao!” Xiao Jianguo’s gaze was sharp. “Young people who’ve just awakened naturally want to try out their strength. That kind of drive and energy is a good thing. But you… what exactly are you doing?”
Hearing that, Zhao Ridou cursed inwardly. But Xiao Jianguo was also a 3rd stage cultivator like him. If he forcefully stepped in to defend his son, not only would it gain him nothing, he’d also become a laughingstock.
He took a deep breath, eyes locked on Su Yuan. “Fine! Fine! Fine! Just awakened a D-rank Talent and already so aggressive… You’re really something! Su Yuan, right? I’ll remember you!”
[Anger +8]
Su Yuan grinned, “Sorry, Director Zhao. I’m not a D-rank. The Talent-Testing Stone just malfunctioned earlier.”
Su Yuan saw no point in hiding his Talent. That was just a waste of time. Showing his strength and Talent to get more resources was what any sane person would do.
Besides—pretending to be weak to ambush others was already outdated.
A dragon can still devour a tiger!
He even deliberately smiled and asked, “Or is it that your eyes are getting old, and you didn’t see the vision that appeared behind me just now?”
“…”
Zhao Ridou’s mouth twitched.
[Resentment +5]
He took a deep breath and snapped, “What vision! Ignorance is bliss! Do you have any idea? Talent-Testing Stones are specially developed by the Great Xia Empire Research Center, tested tens of thousands of times! Even if your gender was wrong, the results wouldn’t be! Even if you tested 10,000 more times, it wouldn’t change! A D-rank Talent is just that, D-rank! Lying to yourself—what’s the point? I bet you just used some kind of special item to fake that vision!”
Principal Xiao Jianguo thought for a moment and asked, “Su Yuan, what Talent did you awaken just now? The result from the Talent-Testing Stone shows D-rank, but the vision you displayed… was indeed quite unusual.” This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
…
Over at Class 1’s area, Xu Anyan frowned as she glanced this way.
She was very clear that Talent-Testing Stones almost never made mistakes. Plus, as a reincarnator, she naturally knew Su Yuan’s Talent was mediocre.
But then… how could she explain the vision just now?
…
While everyone had different reactions, Zhao Rizhu, who had just been slapped flying by Su Yuan, finally climbed to his feet.
A bright red palm print covered his cheek. His lips were swollen, and even one of his front teeth had been knocked out, causing a whistling sound when he tried to speak.
“I phithing huth! You darth hithh me?! Whath your promphem!?”
[Anger +10]
Before his Talent had awakened, getting punched by Su Yuan was enough to make him angry. But now that he had awakened and was proud of being an SS-rank genius, getting slapped in front of everyone made his rage skyrocket.
Xiao Jianguo glanced at Zhao Rizhu and gave a light cough, “Director Zhao, although your son’s Talent is quite good, his temperament still needs some polishing.”
Zhao Ridou’s face twitched. He nearly coughed up blood.
His son got slapped by Su Yuan, and this old man turns around and criticizes his son’s bad temper?
While the two school leaders squared off, Su Yuan suddenly asked, “Principal, according to the Education Bureau’s rules, after awakening our Talents, martial artists can issue ‘duel challenges,’ right?”
Xiao Jianguo was stunned, then nodded, “That’s right. As long as both sides agree, a duel challenge can be held—but no killing is allowed.”
Su Yuan nodded, then looked at Zhao Rizhu with a friendly smile, “Hey, you look pretty pissed. How about I give you a chance for revenge? Want to have a fight?”
Woah!
Everyone present was stunned!
Su Yuan was going to challenge Zhao Rizhu, the SS-rank awakener?
You had to understand—after awakening, that’s when one could start absorbing source energy to cultivate. In other words, everyone was now at the same starting line, all at 1st stage Awakening Stage.
So the only thing that determined combat power was Talent!
How did Su Yuan dare?
Meanwhile, Zhao Rizhu was nearly jumping for joy the moment he heard Su Yuan wanted to duel him.
To him, getting slapped earlier was clearly because of a sneak attack. If they fought head-on, Su Yuan wouldn’t even be able to touch his finger!
He spat and narrowed his eyes with a sinister look, “What? You think just because Xu Anyan heavily injured my Dark Demon Wolf earlier, now you have a shot at winning? Don’t be naive! Even if my Dark Demon Wolf is down to only 30% strength, it can still crush you easily!” This story is hosted at g.com.
Su Yuan smiled, “Just say it—do you dare or not?”
Zhao Rizhu lifted his chin proudly, “Anyone afraid is a dog!”
At this moment, Zhao Ridou, who had remained silent, finally spoke. He sneered at Su Yuan, “Kid, you’ve got guts! Fine. After the Awakening Ceremony ends, the two of you will fight in front of the whole school. Let it be the highlight of this year’s ceremony. How about that?”
Xiao Jianguo frowned deeply. He understood what Zhao Ridou was plotting—clearly he was trying to buy time so Zhao Rizhu’s Dark Demon Wolf could recover.
Zheng Yuan looked a little worried, “Brother Yuan…”
But Su Yuan didn’t mind at all.
Since he needed to collect Emotion Points, if he was going to do it, he’d go big! Beating Zhao Rizhu in front of the entire school would bring in a huge amount of shock value!
So he agreed instantly, “Sure! Right after the Awakening Ceremony ends!”
“Bold!” Zhao Ridou smiled coldly. He’d achieved his goal. If anyone dared touch his son, they’d have to pay the price!
Just like that, the ceremony continued.
Unfortunately, it seemed like all the luck had been used up earlier.
In the subsequent tests, only 2 B-rank Talents, 2 C-rank Talents, and 5 D-rank Talents were revealed. Nothing else noteworthy happened.
Finally, this year’s Awakening Ceremony at Lan City No.1 High School ended successfully, with impressive results.
There was one SSS-rank Talent: Xu Anyan.
One SS-rank Talent: Zhao Rizhu.
One A-rank Talent: Zheng Yuan.
Four B-rank Talents, four C-rank Talents, and seven D-rank Talents.
Out of nearly 1,000 students, only 18 awakened Talents. That was a rate of less than one in fifty.
And this was still considered the best result in the history of Lan City No.1 High School.
It showed just how rare Talent was.
Which was why Su Yuan, a supposed D-rank Talent, daring to challenge an SS-rank like Zhao Rizhu, left many people both astonished and in awe.
Regardless of the outcome, a lot of people admired Su Yuan’s courage.
…
In the center of the field, the crowd gave the two of them space.
Su Yuan and Zhao Rizhu stood on opposite sides.