CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54 YIN DAMAGE MOVE

The bell for class rang on time, and all the students who had been watching the commotion returned to their seats.

In the Star Martial Class, there were three cultural lessons in the morning, while the afternoon was devoted to martial skills training, taught by hired Star Martial Warrior teachers who imparted Basic Combat abilities.

「After lunch.」

Wang Lan still habitually went up to the rooftop, as he had grown accustomed to this way of relaxation. After a period of study, standing on a high floor and gazing into the distance, with the breeze blowing through his hair, he felt incredibly refreshed.

But when Wang Lan arrived at the rooftop, he found to his astonishment that there were four lounge chairs set up, each accompanied by a sun umbrella. Xu Xiangwen and Gong Feiyu, the two scamps, were already lounging in chairs, flipping through magazines.

A cola straw was at Xu Xiangwen’s lips. SLURP...

The serene atmosphere of the rooftop was instantly shattered, leaving only the ostentatious air of a gold-sand beach.

"Wang Lan, you’re late..." Xu Xiangwen slightly lifted his pitch-black sunglasses. "What do you think? Satisfied?"

Wang Lan took a deep breath and approached the edge of the rooftop. The old campus area was right before his eyes.

"My carefully selected feng shui spot... ruined completely by you two clowns. A perfectly good rooftop, and you set up lounge chairs? And sun umbrellas? Why don’t you just set up a barbecue grill while you’re at it?"

"Good idea! I’m also sick of eating takeout every day. Feiyu, why don’t you bring some food tomorrow, and we’ll grill it ourselves?"

"Are you serious?" Wang Lan had never realized before how ridiculous these two could be.

"Do you think this rooftop belongs to your family?"

"It’s not owned by my family... but! This building was constructed by the Xinyu family, so only we have the right to use the rooftop. Otherwise, why do you think such a good feng shui spot would allow us to set up lounge chairs and sun umbrellas?"

"Heh..." Wang Lan felt he had no common ground with them.

He sat down on the lounge chair beside Xu Xiangwen. "Xiangwen, what’s the situation with our class?"

Xu Xiangwen slowly moved aside his magazine. "Are you asking about Song Bo, Wu Xiaowei, and the others?"

"Not just them, but also the so-called divide between commoners and the wealthy... I feel that our class, with just fifty people, is split into seven or eight groups. To put it nicely, people are sticking to their own circles, but to be blunt, it’s full of cliques. It’s supposed to be one class, right?"

"That... You’re not used to it because it’s your first class. It’s not as complicated as you think. In fact, it can be divided into five categories."

"’Just’ five categories? That’s a good one! What ordinary class gets divided into five categories? Your elite circle is truly complex."

"What elite circle? You’re now one of us, part of the elite quartet. You’re one of our own!"

Xu Xiangwen took a gulp of cola and chuckled. "Although we’re still students, we’re also Star Martial Warriors. As Star Martial Warriors, it’s inevitable to be categorized.

Do you know about the disdain chain in the Star Martial Warrior world?"

"There’s a disdain chain?"

"It’s just a term. It’s like stage actors looking down on movie actors, and movie actors looking down on TV actors. Do they truly disdain each other? Certainly not. It’s just an implicit status issue, and it’s also related to strength.

In the Star Martial Warrior world, at the top of the disdain chain are the Star Martial noble families. These are families with inherited talents and Star Martial Skills. Our class has three of them. They don’t associate with us, and we don’t associate with them.

Below them are Star Martial Warrior families and what they call the ’noble’ families. Star Martial Warrior families refer to classmates whose parents are Star Martial Warriors. Besides what they learn at school, they can also receive private tutoring from their parents and practice with Soul Beads provided by them.

And then there are people like us, the so-called ’nobles.’ But ’noble’ isn’t a term we came up with. It was those idiots from the Commoner Genius Association who coined it.

We prefer to call ourselves the ’cash-spending clan.’ If luck won’t save the unlucky, then spend cash to change your fate.

Our type of people usually come from families that run companies or businesses, but our parents are ordinary people. We made our families proud by awakening our Star Martial Warrior talents. Our families, of course, are willing to spend a lot of money to support us.

Star Martial Skills, buy! Soul Beads, buy! Weapons, buy, buy, buy!

Because of this, some idiots become envious and intentionally exacerbate the conflict. The majority of our class comes from commoner families; commoners make up more than thirty out of the fifty students.

Their parents are ordinary workers. Even if they work their hardest, it’s already difficult enough to support a household, let alone afford Soul Beads and skills for their children. Some can’t even afford to eat their fill."

Wang Lan: "..."

"That’s an exaggeration! Can’t even eat their fill? Isn’t the goal this year to eradicate poverty? How many people would have to be executed for that to be true?"

"You’ve only recently awakened and haven’t attended any practical classes, so it’s normal that you don’t know." Gong Feiyu said with a smile from the side. "Did you notice this morning that most students in our class are rather thin?"

"I did notice that. After all, Star Martial Warriors need to train."

"That’s not actually the main reason. In our first year, the Star Martial Art teacher taught us a method to extract Star Power from our cells—something not found in textbooks. Star Martial Warriors can extract energy from their cells to increase their Star Power.

But this method has a drawback. After extracting cellular energy, you’ll lack nutrients and feel very hungry. A Star Martial Warrior’s appetite is generally twice that of a normal person. If they extract cellular energy, their appetite will skyrocket tenfold.

Their parents are mostly ordinary workers. Even if both parents work themselves to the bone, it’s already a struggle to cover family expenses, let alone satisfy such a ravenous appetite.

Most children from ordinary families aren’t well-fed. But it’s an unavoidable situation. If they don’t want to go hungry, they shouldn’t extract cellular energy. But if they don’t, they can’t keep up with the others. So..."

"Sometimes we do feel sympathy for these students. In the first year, we often treated our classmates to meals. But ever since the Commoner Genius Association appeared, we stopped putting ourselves in an awkward position.

The president of the Commoner Genius Association is Duan Ziqi. He’s said to be a genius who came out of an orphanage. He awakened his Star Martial Warrior talent at age eight and is very strong. He founded the Commoner Genius Association, specifically inviting talented commoner students to join.

Initially, their creed was that even children from commoner families could surpass us ’cash-spending elites’ if they worked hard enough. But their message gradually twisted, and they began inciting commoner students to resent us.

When we treated classmates to meals out of kindness, they portrayed it as us giving handouts or charity, implying that anyone who ate with us was a beggar or something similar. In the end, our good intentions backfired, making us look bad from every angle. So, yeah... we stopped treating people to meals after that.

But although there’s a rotten apple in the Commoner Genius Association making things nasty, most of the other classmates are pretty decent. Everyone has just tacitly accepted their respective circles, leading to the situation you’re seeing."

"It’s true what they say: wherever you have people, you’ll have complex social dynamics!" Wang Lan sighed. "So, which circle do I belong to?"

"Do I even need to say it? You’re obviously in our circle."

"But my family doesn’t own any businesses, and my mom is a Star Martial Warrior. By that logic, I should be part of a Star Martial family."

"Nonsense! Your mom is the Flame Emperor, one of the Five Emperors. The Star Martial family circle wouldn’t dare accept you. If anything, you’d belong to the Star Martial noble family circle. But their standard requires a four-generation Star Martial Art lineage, and you’re only the second generation.

Besides, even though your family doesn’t own a company, you earn way more money than my old man, okay? In Suzhou City, you own three office buildings in the business center.

You rake in eighty million just in rent each year, there’s a shopping mall in Modu City worth three billion, and two more in the Imperial Capital. You’re the real deal, a tycoon. Let’s become sworn brothers, shall we?"

"Who did this?" Suddenly, a cool voice rang out. Jiang Xinyu had appeared on the rooftop, seemingly out of nowhere.

"I did it. You like it?" Xu Xiangwen said smugly, nudging his sunglasses up.

"It’s too showy. There’s a baseline test this afternoon!"

"So what if there’s a test? We haven’t slacked off during the summer vacation."

"Hu He told me that Song Bo and his gang are planning to give Wang Lan a hard time this afternoon. Their Star Martial Skills aren’t great, but their Basic Combat abilities are solid. Plus, they fight dirty—no holds barred, truly underhanded moves. Be careful!"

"Underhanded moves? Like what?"

Gong Feiyu slowly stood up. "For example, Monkey Steals Peach, Black Tiger Heart Pluck, Thousand Year Kill."

COUGH! COUGH! COUGH! Wang Lan shivered with revulsion, goosebumps prickling his skin. "That’s just sleazy."

"What’s sleazier is they don’t differentiate between guys and girls!"

「In the afternoon, the class bell rang.」

In the martial arts gym, students from their class sat in a fan shape on the wooden floor.

"This assessment will primarily test your combat strength, comparing it to your performance in last semester’s final assessment to see if you’ve improved or regressed," the middle-aged coach said indifferently, holding a name list. "The assessment will consist of paired fights. Students whose names are called will come forward to participate. Once your assessment is complete, please take a seat on the opposite side.

A summer vacation, two months. I’m sure you all had a very comfortable time, didn’t you? However... you are Star Martial Warriors, born with a mission to fight, to get stronger.

For a Star Martial Warrior, there are no holidays, no rest, no comfort. When there’s a battle, you fight. When there isn’t, you train.

On a grand scale, you shoulder the heavy burden of protecting human civilization. As long as the threat remains, your nerves must always be taut. On a smaller scale, in less than a year, you’ll be taking the college entrance exam. Whether you become a dragon soaring in the vast ocean or one confined to shallow waters will depend on your consistent efforts.

This assessment focuses on testing your combat strength, to see whether you’ve improved or regressed since last semester’s final assessment. The assessment consists of paired fights. Those whose names are called, please come forward to participate. Once your assessment is complete, sit on the opposite side.

Jiang Xinyu, Song Qi."

As the assessment began, Jiang Xinyu, touted as one of the top three powerhouses in Suzhou No.1 Middle School, could easily overpower other students even without using Star Power or Star Martial Skills. The student paired against her was virtually defenseless.

Yet, in several instances where Jiang Xinyu could have finished the fight with a single hit, Wang Lan could see she was holding back. She also gave Song Qi ample opportunity to display his skills. However, after five minutes, Song Qi was knocked to the ground and conceded defeat.

"Mm, you both have made significant progress in your combat skills over the summer. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you, teacher!"

"Next two, Ma Chengcheng, Xu Jiayu!"

The combat level at Suzhou No.1 Middle School... seemed quite average to him. So far, he felt that out of the people who had competed, only Jiang Xinyu might be a match for him. After all, his silver-level Basic Combat skill was something even a typical Star Shine Stage student might not possess. Unless it was a Star Shine Stage practitioner specializing in combat, anyone else would likely get a good thrashing from him.

"Next pair, Xie Sisi and Song Bo!"

"Ah?" On hearing this matchup, Xie Sisi’s complexion immediately turned pale.

Song Bo stood up with a smug look, swaggering forward as if he were the most impressive person in the arena.

"Song Bo, Xie Sisi is not very strong in combat. Don’t hit too hard."

"Got it, got it. How could I ever hit our class leader!"

"Song Bo, please instruct me!"

"Please!"

They quickly engaged. Xie Sisi’s combat ability... well, her movements were textbook but rigid, lacking any real drive or adaptability. There could only be one reason for this: she trained alone, with no one to spar against. No matter how much one practices alone, it ultimately amounts to mere posturing without actual combat experience.

Suddenly, a sly smile touched Song Bo’s lips, and his entire demeanor shifted dramatically. With a swift movement, he closed the distance, landing three sharp knife-hand strikes on the joints of Xie Sisi’s arms, followed by a sudden punch.

Wang Lan shot to his feet, but it was too late. Xie Sisi was struck squarely in the chest by a palm and sent flying backwards.

SPURT—

Blood sprayed through the air, the sight shocking all the classmates pale.