CHAPTER 67 - CHALLENGE

Class soon started. It was a minor class on the fundamentals of Mystic Arts. Subsequently, Lina transported the students to a different civilization, where they would learn from an old and highly experienced instructor in the field of Mystic Arts for half a year.

The objective of the class was for the students to grasp the fundamental workings of a Mystic Art and potentially master two Basic Mystic Arts. Han Wu was surprised by the concept of Mystic Arts, as he had initially assumed it was synonymous with magic. He quickly learned, however, that Mystic Arts operated on fundamentally different principles from magic.

A helpful analogy would be that of a gun. Learning magic would be akin to mastering the operation of the gun and focusing on various handling techniques to inflict the maximum possible damage. On the other hand, the study of Mystic Arts would be about understanding the gun’s construction and energy flow, and upgrading it so it had insane firepower.

The class proved to be highly educational for Han Wu. He not only gained an understanding of the fundamental principles of Mystic Arts but also successfully learned two Basic Mystic Arts: Illuminate and Ignite.

Even though these Basic Mystic Arts, Illuminate and Ignite, were kind of weak, about as strong as a lightbulb and a lighter, respectively, their real advantage was that they could be used anywhere as long as there was elemental energy around.

Mastering two Basic Mystic Arts in just six months while in that civilization was considered a significant achievement, so in recognition of Han Wu’s performance, Lina presented him with a reward—a Rank 1 Mystic Arrow Tower. This unique tower could draw upon the elemental energy present in the surrounding air to materialize arrows of different elemental properties. Due to its versatility, it was a fairly expensive building.

However, that gift from Lina just made the other students’ envy skyrocket, and after returning to Imperial College, as soon as class ended, they swarmed Han Wu in his seat and wouldn’t let him leave. Qin Shuang, however, wasn’t having it—she stepped forward and stood in front of him, like a fierce hen protecting her chick.

Refusing to allow their intimidation of Han Wu, Qin Shuang reprimanded the surrounding students, her tone unwavering, “What do you think you are doing? You better not even think about bullying him!”

His frustration reaching a boiling point, Xu Tie almost yelled at his beloved goddess, his voice rising with resentment and envy. “Goddess Qin Shuang! This is none of your business. Just stay out of this!”

“Yeah, Goddess Qin Shuang! This has nothing to do with you. Our focus is solely on Han Wu.”

“Oi, Han Wu! Stop being such a wimp and hiding behind a girl! Face us like a man!”

With a deep frown, Han Wu stood up from his seat. He couldn’t believe the audacity of these people, discriminating against him on his first day[1]! He knew he had to settle this once and for all to avoid future headaches.

“So, what exactly do you want me to do?” he asked.

Xu Tie’s face darkened with a scowl as he retorted, “Hmph! You are just a transfer student who obviously used underhanded tactics to get into this class. You have no right to be here with us! I want you out of this classroom, now!”

“And if I refuse?”

“Then we’re going to beat you black and blue until you beg to leave!”

Xu Tie’s threat was immediately supported by the chorus of voices from the other students. Han Wu just looked at these so-called geniuses, his eyes narrowed.

These guys are on the reserve list for a reason—they’ve got to be strong. Perfect! I can finally test out the strength of my ten Cockroaches in a real fight! I’m not letting this chance slip away.

Han Wu nodded. “Alright, fine by me! But you all need to understand this: if I win, you will not come near me again. Got it?”

Han Wu wanted to deal with this once and for all, so it would never happen again.

Xu Tie sneered. “Fine by me. But you’re dreaming if you think you’ll win! So, the moment you lose—which you will—you must quit this class! That’s the deal!”

With a confident nod, Han Wu turned his gaze towards the students. “So, do you want to fight me one-on-one or one-against-many?”

Xu Tie was itching for a fight with Han Wu, wanting nothing more than to demonstrate his power. “Do you really think you are strong enough to take all of us on? I can crush you with just my core race!”

Qin Shuang pulled on Han Wu’s arm, her voice filled with alarm. “Listen to me, Han Wu, you really shouldn’t fight Xu Tie. His core race is the incredibly rare Elite Iron Skin—even my Thunder Sparrows might not be able to win against them!”

“Iron Skins!” Han Wu exclaimed, a spark of intrigue lighting his eyes. He had approached the impending fight with the expectation of an easy win, but suddenly, this core race made things a lot more interesting.

The peculiar Iron Skins were known to be a rare race. Han Wu had never encountered them before, although Tian Wen had mentioned them once during a lecture. He was totally surprised he was actually meeting someone with Iron Skins as their core race.

“Listen up, transfer!” Xu Tie said with a super smug grin. “You’ve still got a chance to give up. But don’t come whining to me when I utterly crush your pathetic units!”

He was practically bursting with pride that his goddess had seemingly recognized his strength.

“Give up? You’re seriously underestimating me. But fine, I’ll play along—I actually do want to see how strong these Iron Skins are supposed to be,” Han Wu said with a sneer.

Qin Shuang stomped her foot in frustration and silently cursed Han Wu for being such a stubborn oaf. I told him not to be rash, yet he still wants to fight! Does he seriously think his skeletons are invincible?

“Alright, let’s go to the school’s arena then,” Xu Tie said, strutting ahead.

Han Wu followed, and all the other students piled in behind, ready to watch the show. Qin Shuang trailed after them, her thoughts a whirlwind of plans to make sure the stubborn oaf didn't get kicked out of class.

Neatly arranged along the edge of the arena were two rows of specialized landing pods, set up specifically for student sparring sessions. Han Wu and Xu Tie each entered their designated landing pod before settling on the format of their impending battle.

Han Wu carefully checked out the formats listed in front of him: Heroic units, Unique units, Elite units, all-out army battles, 5v5 team fights, and even 10v10 melees. Xu Tie, being totally confident in his own power, just let Han Wu pick whatever he wanted, because Xu Tie was absolutely sure he was going to win no matter what.

Han Wu went with a massive 10v10 on random terrain. Immediately after his choice, the match commenced, and both students’ visages appeared above a vast, empty field spanning approximately 10 sq km.

The next step involved each student carefully choosing the ten units they intended to pit against their opponent. Immediately after their respective choices were made, the ten selected units materialized beneath them.

“I don’t know if you’re just plain stupid or unbelievably arrogant to pick 10v10 instead of a real army battle!” Xu Tie scoffed. “Do you honestly believe your units are strong enough—”

Xu Tie froze mid-sentence as his eyes landed on the ten Cockroaches that Han Wu had summoned. He was so stunned by what he saw that he nearly slapped himself in disbelief—these were ten Heroic life forms radiating a bizarre aura, and upon closer inspection, they even seemed to possess draconic bloodlines!

Despite his confusion over the apparent lack of vitality in Han Wu’s summoned units, Xu Tie’s confidence in his own ten Heroic Iron Skins remained unshaken. His forces comprised nine Heroic Iron Skin Strongmen and a unique subspecies, the Steel Skin Strongman. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with, capable of even contending against a Lord life form for a short period of time.

Upon entering spectator mode, the rest of the students were equally puzzled by the sight of Han Wu’s ten Cockroaches. These units were entirely unfamiliar to all of them. Qin Shuang, too, was visibly confused, as she had no memory of Han Wu possessing these particular units.

One of the students possessing an Inspection-type ability successfully analyzed the data of the Cockroaches and exclaimed, “Those are Heroic Flesh Golems!”

“Wait, Heroic Flesh Golems? Is Han Wu seriously using them against the Iron Skins? What a terrible waste of such powerful units! I swear, if my Heroic Flesh Golems were destroyed by those Iron Skins, I’d be in tears!”

“Whoa! He must definitely be from some super-rich family to just throw out ten Heroic Flesh Golems right away! I remember they cost about three million Divine Points each! That’s like thirty million in total! Maybe that's how he managed to secure a place on the reserve list!”

Since Qin Shuang was the only one who knew Han Wu’s real financial struggles, she was totally baffled by how he suddenly got so rich. She made a mental note to ask him about it the second the battle ended. In the meantime, she just sat there, patiently waiting for the match to start.

With the eyes of their classmates fixed upon them, the two combatants commenced their duel.

1. Though six months had passed in that civilization, the day hadn’t yet ended in the Divine Civilization ☜