Chapter 90 – Slip Away?
With his puny physique, even if he didn’t die, he’d at least sustain immense physical wounds if he went there. Furthermore, he relied heavily on his looks to acquire meals. If he was tormented in that manner, his image would be destroyed.
“Very good, you guys definitely didn’t disgrace our Prodigy Society. As the president, I feel extremely gratified. You guys should rest properly for the next few days; there’s no need to partic.i.p.ate in the morning exercises,” Ma Dong said magnanimously. He originally wanted them to make a public appearance during the morning exercise to instill a sense of belonging among the new members.
Barran shook his head. “President, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’ll definitely be punctual and partic.i.p.ate in the morning exercises.”
Against such a conscientious member, Ma Dong couldn’t say anything to refute him.
☀
The month-long baptism had varying effects that differed from one person to the next. For w.a.n.g Zhong, the baptism made him feel as though he had cast away his old self to be reborn again. During his adolescent years, his frail and sickly body had begun to undergo a transformation after the fate stone had appeared in his soul sea. Although the host’s soul power became restricted, w.a.n.g Zhong’s body became exceptionally strong and st.u.r.dy.
On the surface, his body didn’t seem comparable to that of a heavy soldier like Barran, but only w.a.n.g Zhong knew how truly powerful his body had become. w.a.n.g Zhong paid extraordinary attention to the refinement of his body, but in this era where soul power and techniques determined everything, the strength of one’s body was often overlooked and disregarded.
Training was normally in the form of self-training, and Grace seemed to have awakened all of w.a.n.g Zhong’s hidden potential in his body during this month-long baptism. While the others simply felt extraordinarily exhausted and toughened, he and Grai became more and more driven by the ‘snacks’ awarded to them.
Under the nourishment of the fate stone, w.a.n.g Zhong’s body began to erupt with powerful life force, allowing him to move his limited soul power with greater ease and skill when he used it.
Over this one month period, The peak value of w.a.n.g Zhong’s soul power rose slowly, attaining a growth of about a few gra.s.sos. It had not hit the range of seventy yet, but his enhanced mastery over his soul power allowed him to use his soul power more easily and smoothly. Many people a.s.sumed it was enough for the body to be on par with their soul power, but this was a common misconception. In fact, only with a body that has vast strength would the true might of one’s soul power be then properly displayed.
It had been a while since he’d last entered the OP, and as such, w.a.n.g Zhong felt a slight itch in his heart. He also wanted to see whether his month of refinement would enable him to perform better during actual combat.
There was still some time until the academy reopened, but the academy’s OP training grounds had started to become more populated. 80% of the people in the training grounds were freshmen. After all, the pa.s.sion the freshmen had was several levels higher than the senior students.
Second years were comparatively more cautious and wouldn’t casually enter battle without sufficient preparations. As for the third and fourth years, they were already starting to consider their future occupations and held greater value over their win rate within the OP. Although this way of thinking would not do much to improve their strength, this entire process was a part of reality and a fact they had to live with.
Not every student would be able to cast their heroic soul, so an all-rounded transcript was needed to pave the way to their future.
Of course, the freshmen wouldn’t consider this fact at all, with graduation being a couple of years away. What they had was the pa.s.sion and the boldness to try.
Due to w.a.n.g Zhong’s partic.i.p.ation in the group training, the academy had increased his usage rights by a few levels. He only had to wait five minutes before a room was found.
After a month of living a completely different kind of life, engaging in the OP system was a refres.h.i.+ng change of pace for him. Every cell in his body was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with fighting energy.
During this period of time when All-Mouthy King was away, the OP system did not remain dormant. On the contrary, due to its relations.h.i.+p with the CHF, the frequency of matches between experts of the heroic and elite divisions doubled. Those who truly reached the elite division didn’t need to care as much about their win rate as the other students. So long as there was enough time, they would be able to cast their heroic soul. The only things they pursued were quality and time.
Naturally, the top ten ranked videos were all dominated by the elite division experts. Furthermore, newer videos were being added at a rapid pace due to the stimulation provided by the Great Compet.i.tion. Due to their yearning for glory and honour, every single soldier’s abilities was rapidly increasing.
Humans were a strange lifeform. So long as they have hopes and goals, they would burst forth with potential that would shock anyone, even themselves.
The CHF’s Great Compet.i.tion matches would, without a doubt, be able to satisfy the needs of these few arrogant youths. They all wished to carve their names on the CHF Great Compet.i.tion’s holy grail. This was especially true this year, as their names would be eulogized for the next couple dozen years, or even the next hundred years.
This was an irresistible enticement to every heroic soul soldier.
Naturally, w.a.n.g Zhong didn’t think too much into it and directly entered matchmaker in search of an opponent upon entering the OP. The opponents he’d faced the last few times hadn’t been bad, and he believed that they should be even better this time round.
When All-Mouthy King appeared, an uncountable number of skylinks began to ring. Most recently, there had been an increase in the frequency of experts appearing in the OP system, with those from the elite division dominating the rest. Match after match of brilliant battles had made everyone shout out in gratification as they were all textbook examples of a fight.
For Sharmie and Laura, their popularity had skyrocketed. While the popularity they had attained the previous year was due to their talent and background, this year it was their strength that had captured the attention of many. Laura’s battle video had made it into the top five rankings since soldiers loved experts, especially those that had shown great creativity during their matches. Some time ago, Sharmie had overshadowed Laura, but now, the situation had suddenly reversed.
After tempering themselves this year, Sharmie and Laura had become the epitome of elite division experts, each with their own style and pride.
Right now, they were also compared based on their attractiveness. Anyone else would have stayed low key, but for these two beauties, it was impossible to remain low profile even if they had wanted to. It was said that quite a few trading companies have gone to their academies in the hopes of obtaining their endors.e.m.e.nts. In this era, the greatest stars were naturally heroic soul soldiers.
It was without a doubt that both Laura and Sharmie refused. With their backgrounds, they didn’t need to partic.i.p.ate in such things to increase their fame or to improve their standards of living.
Laura and Sharmie, being the current favourites of the crowd, had appeared in the waiting room after All-Mouthy King entered the OP system. All of a sudden, All-Mouthy King’s fight had a different feel to it. After all, All-Mouthy King was mainly viewed upon as a cannon fodder. For the experts from the mainstream elite division, they didn’t care much for him. While he performed sensationally in his matches, any stronger soldier could easily toss him aside. In the end, his fame was short-lived and many experts saw him as a person simply fooling around.
However, All-Mouthy King;s victory over Lei Bing caught the eye of a few of the experts from the elite division. Additionally, just when they a.s.sumed that he would continue to fight, he had suddenly disappeared for a month. Many wanted to know the reason behind his disappearance.
It was obvious that he had reached his lowest point during his last matchmaking selection with Lei Bing… his strength was only at that low level. Continuing to pretend would only result in letting the cat out of the bag.
A month was enough to make his supporters in the cannon fodder division lose a bit of their confidence. There was no logical explanation for not having a match for such a long time. Naturally, a few of the more loyal fans staunchly believed that All-Mouthy King was undergoing some training mission. They had faith that he would definitely return!
In this world where marvelous and brilliant matches were fought intensely, a month was a very long period of time. It was long enough for the majority of the crowd to have forgotten about him. Yet, at this time between being forgotten and remembered, he had returned.
The cannon fodder division was the liveliest upon seeing the All-Mouthy King. When they saw Laura and Sharmie appearing, they seemed to have re-found their sense of belonging and hope. Look, two of the hottest elite division experts have come to watch. What else do we have to worry about?