Translator: AkazaTL
Proofreader/Editor: JWyck
***
Chapter 147
It wasn’t strange to know this information, but the issue was that Zhao Xiaoyu had described it so vividly and confidently that one might think she had witnessed it herself. At this, Zhao Xiaoyu gave a rare, slightly playful smile: “In any school, building a good relationship with the gatekeeper is always useful.”
Her words successfully eased the heavy atmosphere in the class, and smiles appeared on everyone’s faces. They began chatting about other topics, trying to restore the class' usual vibe.
Until the bell rang for the first class, Zhou Renjie and the others hadn’t returned. Just as everyone was getting worried and considering checking the teacher’s office, the two finally returned, one after the other.
From their expressions, it was clear the result hadn’t changed despite their arguments. Zhou Renjie’s face was even gloomier than before, but he no longer taunted Mo Xiaotian, as if he was wary of something.
And Mo Xiaotian, for once, seemed to read the room, cautiously following behind Zhou Renjie, as if afraid of angering him. Su Bei could only say he had some emotional intelligence, but not much. With this behavior, Zhou Renjie would likely only get angrier.
Back at his seat, Zhou Renjie remained silent. When Ai Baozhu asked, he just shook his head, forcing an ugly smile: “The teacher said the result can’t be changed.”
Su Bei felt that if it were just such a statement, Zhou Renjie’s expression wouldn’t be this bad. Logically, the teachers at “Endless Ability Academy” wouldn’t mock him for not getting the slot, as even without it, he was still a promising Class S student.
Zhou Renjie must have an issue himself.
After the second class ended, Su Bei, under the pretense of going to the bathroom, pulled Mo Xiaotian out of the classroom. Feeling someone following, he turned to see everyone from the class except Zhou Renjie trailing behind.
Su Bei: “…”
He couldn’t help but complain: “You all followed me out—didn’t Zhou Renjie say anything?”
Lan Subing smiled awkwardly: “Earlier, Mingbai said he was worried you and Mo Xiaotian might badmouth Zhou Renjie, so he wanted to eavesdrop. We just came along.”
Su Bei: “…”
So, sacrifice him to save themselves, huh? To hear gossip, they sold him out. He fell silent again. No wonder Zhou Renjie didn’t stop them or follow—Wu Mingbai’s excuse made it hard for him to intervene or tag along to hear his own badmouthing. That would seem odd.
Su Bei sighed internally. Zhou Renjie was suffering from caring too much about his pride.
They all went to the sports field, where it was open and less likely to be overheard. Wu Mingbai got straight to the point: “What did the teacher say to you guys? Why did Zhou Renjie look like that when he came back?”
Mo Xiaotian honestly summarized: “The teacher said the result can’t be changed. They considered multiple factors before giving me the competition slot. Then they said they wouldn’t pursue Zhou Renjie’s actions this time and told him to reflect carefully.”
After that, he scratched his head, looking confused: “I didn’t quite understand their conversation after that. Not pursuing the fact that we fought too hard? Then why only say it to him and not me?”
At this, Su Bei and the others exchanged glances, realizing what was going on. Zhou Renjie’s stiffness that afternoon and the unusual wounds on those who fought him were likely caused by items.
But these items probably weren’t ability-related, maybe just ordinary blades or something. Otherwise, the academy wouldn’t have protected Zhou Renjie, no matter how badly he was hurt.
“Don’t worry about it. Just focus on preparing for the midterm competition,” Jiang Tianming sighed. “Let’s go back.”
Back in class, the atmosphere was still odd but much less tense than before, as if things were gradually returning to normal.
The next class was Meng Huai’s. Upon entering, he first glanced at Mo Xiaotian and Zhou Renjie before launching into a veiled scolding: “Some people value winning above everything else. Friendship, reputation, even their lives—none of that matters as much as winning.
I say, for people like that, we shouldn’t waste medical resources. Let them fight for victory, and afterward, we’ll just find a nice burial spot for them. That’s already more than generous.”
After venting, he felt much better and moved on, skipping the topic: “Alright, let’s talk about something else. The past month of training must have been tedious for you all, right?”
No one responded. First, they were stunned by his quick change of mood. Second, his words implied a change in training content. Who knew what that change would be? Answering now could easily backfire.
Meng Huai didn’t care whether they responded. The training plan would proceed regardless: “The student council is collaborating with us to give you a fully funded trip to visit some of our partners.”
It sounded nice, and Mo Xiaotian was the first to believe it, exclaiming in surprise: “That’s great! But, Teacher, didn’t you just mention training? Does this count as training?”
“Of course. It trains your social skills as Ability Users and… some other things.” Meng Huai turned and waved his hand, writing three locations on the blackboard.
They were “Alpha Ability Academy,” “Delicious Nightmare Beast Farm,” and “Ability User Job Base.”
“These are three partners of ‘Endless Ability Academy.’ You’ll be split into three teams to visit these places for inspections,” Meng Huai said, using the computer to show three images of the entrances to these locations.
Su Bei knew of “Alpha Ability Academy,” a famous foreign ability academy, ranked first in its country.
“The first place is a renowned foreign ability academy. We’ve always had exchange programs with them, and this year, we plan to send five of you there.
The second, ‘Delicious Nightmare Beast Farm,’ is a long-time partner of our academy’s cafeteria. Many of the nightmare beast meats in the point system cafeteria come from there, including the nightmare dragon meat you ate a few days ago, which they discovered and we helped capture.
The third place, if you ask Class F students, they’ve probably heard of it. It’s a base specifically for graduates with little combat ability but who wish to stay in the ability world, providing them with job opportunities.” After introducing the three places, everyone had their own thoughts. In Su Bei’s opinion, he definitely wanted to go to “Alpha Ability Academy” the most.
Without a doubt, it would have the best environment and plenty of plot points. Exchange programs were always his favorite part of manga.
The other two places surely had their own plots, but Su Bei wasn’t as interested. He only hoped to be assigned to the academy team; otherwise, the other two seemed like they’d be troublesome.
Meng Huai didn’t give them much time to discuss. After showing the photos, he announced the groupings: “Jiang Tianming, Si Zhaohua, Lan Subing, Su Bei, Ai Baozhu, you five are one group, going to ‘Alpha Ability Academy,’ led by me.”
Hearing this, Su Bei raised an eyebrow, understanding the intent. This group was exactly the main team selected for the midterm Tri-School Tournament, clearly meant to use this opportunity for training.
“Feng Lan, Qi Huang, Wu Jin, Li Shu, Ling You, you five go to ‘Delicious Nightmare Beast Farm,’ led by Lei Ze’en. The rest go to ‘Ability User Job Base,’ led by Ye Lin.”
The latter two teams weren’t strictly grouped by monthly exam results, appearing more randomized. But Mo Xiaotian and Zhou Renjie being together in the “Ability User Job Base” team made Su Bei wary. With those two together, it felt like something might happen.
After announcing the groups, Meng Huai didn’t bother saying more: “You leave next week. Your team leaders will inform you of the details then, so I won’t say much now. Go prepare. You’ll be staying at least a week, so bring toiletries and such. Some of these places are remote, and daily necessities might be hard to buy.”
Meng Huai then began teaching the lesson properly, but no one was focused, their minds already on the next week’s activities.
Su Bei was pleased to be going to his preferred destination. “Alpha Ability Academy” was fairly well-known, and as Class S exchange students, the treatment would surely be good. Plus, following the protagonist meant plenty of plot points—a win-win.
As soon as class ended, everyone began discussing excitedly. The five in the same team naturally grouped together, and Ai Baozhu said happily, “I have a pen pal studying at that academy. I can meet her there!”
“Your pen pal?” Si Zhaohua asked, slightly surprised. “Someone you know in real life?”
Ai Baozhu nodded: “From the Burlington family. You know, our families have a long-term partnership.”
Then she turned to the group: “I’ll ask her tonight if there’s anything we need to watch out for at their academy, so we don’t make fools of ourselves.”
No one objected. Lan Subing thought for a moment and said, “Should we go buy daily necessities together this weekend? Or I can have my family buy them and send them to us?”
Her words were mainly directed at Jiang Tianming and the others, as Ai Baozhu and her group surely didn’t need Lan Subing to prepare their supplies. She herself had specific brands she used and wouldn’t be comfortable with others.
“I wonder what we’ll do as exchange students…” Jiang Tianming said, frowning. “How about we ask the seniors after class?”
The seniors he referred to were the upperclassmen in the student council. After joining the student council last semester, they often worked together, and Jiang Tianming had made a few good friends there.
Notably, these daily life moments were also depicted in the manga, in a separate slice-of-life spin-off. Even the time when Mo Xiaotian and the others learned to knit scarves for Su Bei was included, earning both laughter and touching emotions from readers.
But since these daily moments were scattered, Su Bei wasn’t sure when they’d be drawn, so he didn’t plan to stir things up in the spin-off.
The main storyline was already tough enough; let the daily life stay light forever.
The school day passed quickly. Back in the dorm, Su Bei opened the manga app on his phone and quickly checked the latest updated content.
The manga naturally started from before the monthly exam, spending several days building up the tense atmosphere. Then the teachers announced the exam rules, and everyone signed up for different tracks.
There was a specific panel showing their signup list. Seeing the signup list, which should exist in reality, presented in the manga made Su Bei sigh inexplicably.
This feeling was so strange. Were the manga he read like this too? Was there a real world behind them?
Pushing aside these fleeting thoughts, Su Bei continued reading. During the plot where everyone discussed which track to sign up for, the conversation between Su Bei and Li Shu when they went out to eat was actually drawn.
When he said, “I’ll definitely be selected. If there’s a dark horse, it’ll only compete with you for the last slot,” the bullet comments flooded in.
“So domineering! His kingly aura is overflowing!”
“Absolute confidence in his strength.”
“Though it’s a bit arrogant, he’s not wrong.”
“Su Bei: ‘Everyone below me is equal.’”
“He looked so cool saying that. I love it.”
Probably because this chapter had a lot of battles, the author didn’t linger on setup and soon moved to the official monthly exam.
The first exam was Su Bei’s. The previous page had Meng Huai announcing the special track’s exam content, meaning the special track examinees had no time to strategize in advance.
And Su Bei, the first to go, became the guinea pig for everyone to understand the rules and buy time.
The others watched him take the stage, their eyes showing worry, calmness, curiosity, or schadenfreude, all depicted in the manga.
Amid bullet comments like “Su Bei will just knock them out,” the manga’s Su Bei stood still, a faint golden glow emanating from him, effortlessly eliminating all five opponents.
Bullet comments: “???”
“I genuinely didn’t understand?”
“Is this the power of [Destiny Gear]? It’s too OP!”
“Your Bei-ge is still your Bei-ge.”
“Though I don’t get how Su Bei did it, he’s so strong!”
“Cool! This speed is definitely first!”
Next were Li Shu and Feng Lan’s exams. Li Shu’s ability hadn’t been shown much in the manga before, so this was a rare chance to display his strength. Controlling five opponents successfully, his illusion ability was undeniable.
The next bullet comment surge came after Feng Lan’s exam, when Su Bei threw a burning paper ball into the classroom.
“This works???”
“Well, well, well, prophesying like that?”
“66666666”
“How can Su Bei coordinate so perfectly with Feng Lan?”
“I said, why was there a shot of them locking eyes earlier? So that’s why!”
“You prophecy duo, keep this up, and I’ll start shipping you.”
“Hahahahaha, Qi Huang, why are you enabling them?”
Since Su Bei was observing the whole time, he didn’t linger on this. The next plot was his main focus—the group’s trip to the library.
Heaven and earth, the author actually drew this scene. The manga’s perspective was this: at noon, bored, the group followed Su Bei to the library.
Jiang Tianming trailed behind Su Bei, looking for books, and his gaze was soon drawn to a black book. This book in the manga wasn’t ordinary, faintly emitting a black glow.
This glow wasn’t from the book itself but was added by the author to highlight its uniqueness, making it noticeable to readers.
Jiang Tianming picked up the book and started reading. Unlike Su Bei, who knew exactly what he wanted to read and studied it carefully, Jiang Tianming flipped through it casually, quickly reaching the content Su Bei wanted him to see by noon.
The manga depicted this moment, with Jiang Tianming’s shocked expression paired with his inner thoughts: “What? The appearance of nightmare beasts was caused by a meteorite?”
Seeing this, Su Bei let out a sigh of relief. Now that this was out in the open, things would be easier. The rest depended on his actions.
The readers were naturally in an uproar.
“What the heck? Nightmare beasts weren’t always there?”
“A meteorite? I smell a conspiracy.”
“Is this leading to an alien invasion plot?”
“Seems like the main storyline?”
“The book’s color is interesting too, pure black cover…”
Obviously, they wouldn’t discuss anything substantial. Su Bei flipped to the support track’s matches.
Zhao Xiaoyu and Lan Subing’s matches weren’t particularly interesting to Su Bei, as he knew their abilities. In this monthly exam, they didn’t display anything beyond their known strengths and won easily.
Wu Jin’s match was slightly more intriguing. He didn’t hide his [Succubus] ability this time, directly using his charm.
This was also the first time his face was fully shown in the manga. Like Su Bei’s first appearance, his face was given its own panel, framed with beautiful purple irises, giving a stunning and dreamy vibe.
The author’s art was excellent, but such detailed brushwork was rare in the manga. This panel stood out starkly from others, making Wu Jin’s face seem like it was on a different layer, shifting from a silly, hot-blooded shonen manga to a beautiful art style.
“AAAAHHH, so handsome!”
“I knew Wu Jin was a big hottie!”
“Seeing this face, I’ve got my new favorite.”
“Succubus? Little bro, you’re hitting my XP!”
“This setup… I’m obsessed.”
“Old Thief, you have this skill, why don’t you use it normally? I want Su Bei, Feng Lan, and Si Zhaohua in this style too!”
Just from these bullet comments, Su Bei could feel Wu Jin’s popularity soaring. His popularity was already decent, as the author had hinted at his uniqueness before, and attentive readers had noticed.
His popularity might not have matched the protagonist group or someone like Su Bei before, but after this reveal, that was uncertain. Looks were justice, after all.
In terms of appearance, the author wasn’t too biased toward Wu Jin. Su Bei, Si Zhaohua, and Feng Lan had similar solo shots when introduced. Almost no one in the protagonist group was unattractive, but these few were particularly striking.
That said, Wu Jin’s was drawn with more refinement, complete with special effects. That was fair—he was the group’s beauty standard, after all.
In this plot, Su Bei gained one useful piece of information: Wu Jin’s ability could charm anyone without Advanced Mental Energy, even academy teachers, though only briefly.
But someone like Su Bei, with Advanced Mental Energy, especially as he gradually mastered it, wouldn’t be charmed by Wu Jin—maybe a momentary daze at most, not enough to affect him. This showed how strong Wu Jin’s ability was.
After the special and support tracks, it was the defense track. Ai Baozhu and Wu Mingbai’s matches each had their highlights. In Wu Mingbai’s match, the teacher’s concerns were drawn in the manga, resonating with Su Bei.
He agreed with the teacher. Wu Mingbai indeed lacked a breakthrough moment to elevate his ability from the relatively common [Earth Element] to something more, or to achieve a qualitative leap from quantitative growth.
It wasn’t that [Earth Element] was weak, but as the examiner said, it was too common. While directly awakening an element itself was rare, many had abilities related to the earth element.
The [Earth Element] ability was just a combination of these smaller earth-based abilities, easily countered. If it could summon something as powerful as a meteorite, that would be strong enough, but Wu Mingbai was far from that level. To make him stronger, he’d either need to change his ability, like Zhao Xiaoyu, or evolve it like Class B’s Han Lu into a stronger form.
Since both had been done, Su Bei felt Wu Mingbai might take a completely different path. Replicating someone else’s growth wasn’t as interesting as innovating his own.
Next was the attack track. The intelligence Zhao Xiaoyu gathered about Han Lu before the match was drawn in the manga. Readers outside the manga were thinking along with the characters about how to deal with Han Lu.
When Su Bei said he’d choose to surrender immediately, the bullet comments were full of “Hahaha.” Su Bei just shook his head helplessly. No one believed the truth—what could he do? He was helpless too.
Likely to save space, Qi Huang and Si Zhaohua’s exams were combined into a match between them, efficiently showcasing both in one plot, reducing narrative clutter.
Si Zhaohua had his pride and didn’t plan to use his ultimate move against Qi Huang. But Su Bei thought he might also be saving it for Han Lu.
Like Su Bei, Si Zhaohua would worry whether Han Lu could copy his ultimate move. If even that could be replicated, he’d have to be cautious.
The duel between Si Zhaohua and Qi Huang was drawn beautifully, with both able to fly and use ranged attacks. Amid a sea of flames, pure white feathers danced, creating a breathtaking scene.
Ling You’s performance was average; her ability wasn’t suited for arena battles. The author showed her match against Han Lu. Since it couldn’t highlight Ling You’s strength, it showcased the new character’s abilities instead.
Mu Tieren’s match was what Su Bei focused on. He expected the author to reveal more of Mu Tieren’s unique traits in this duel.