Chapter 10

In any case, he had never expected the "warlike Esper Ability Users" described in the memories transferred to him to be kind to him.

But—

Qi Yue raised a hand, drawing his gaze away from the students and down to his palm. His eyes narrowed slightly, their expression dark.

The good news was that the Panel had personally admitted he had an Esper Ability.

The bad news was, how was he supposed to use it? No one had ever told him. Not the Panel, and not Beixing.

Qi Yue: "..."

Ridiculous.

Forget it. Qi Yue lowered his hand.

First, he would finish the task Teacher Jian had assigned him.

"..."

Because they hadn't "resisted" Qi Yue's taunts, was he regretting that he couldn't take action after holding back for half an hour during his match with Beixing?

The students Qi Yue's gaze swept over immediately went on full alert.

"In that case..." Qi Yue looked at the Class F students again.

"Are you ready?"

Qi Yue waved the record sheet in his hand.

Jin Yuxuan, who had found himself in Qi Yue's crosshairs and received a ruthless warning when Qi Yue made an example of him, had a bad feeling. He stepped back and stood beside his partner. It seemed he couldn't finish his match early and get away from the transfer student after all.

The students looked at one another.

Zhao Yu stepped forward with his good friend. "Um... how about us?"

When someone stepped forward, Qi Yue nodded. "All right, get ready."

Zhao Yu and his friend stood in the middle of the open space.

Qi Yue pressed the timer, and the second match began.

Jin Yuxuan: "..."

Zhao Yu, who had spoken up for Beixing and Jian Haosen, was actually getting preferential treatment. His mood was terrible.

Class F's physical training lesson that week was quieter than any before it.

The dormitory.

"Ha... Teacher Jian... haha..." Beixing's mumbled laughter came from the heap of cloak Jian Haosen had placed on the dorm bed.

"What's the silly boy saying? Mumbling away..."

Puzzled, Jian Haosen leaned in to listen and made out what Beixing was saying in his sleep.

"Qi Yue said my Esper Ability... had something to do with a god, a deity... and he said I was 'not bad,' haha..."

"..."

Jian Haosen drew back and saw that even in his sleep, Beixing's grin was harder to suppress than an AK's recoil.

Many people called Beixing cursed, contaminated trash. Qi Yue alone had treated Beixing's Esper Ability as a gift from a deity. So that was what they had been talking about during the 3,000-meter run.

As if infected, Jian Haosen smiled. He could imagine how hard Beixing must have worked to appear reserved when he heard those words.

"Congratulations." Jian Haosen ruffled Beixing's soft brown hair, tucked him in, and closed the dormitory door behind him as he left.

Outside the fence at the edge of the field.

Jian Haosen didn't return to the field. He walked over to Liao Yuanliang.

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Jian Haosen slapped Liao Yuanliang on the shoulder.

"You know perfectly well." Liao Yuanliang knocked Jian Haosen's hand away. After being turned down by Dean Li, he had stayed behind but still failed to catch a glimpse of Qi Yue's Esper Ability before the Crystal Ball did. He was not in a very good mood.

Following Liao Yuanliang's gaze, Jian Haosen spotted Qi Yue. Qi Yue watched the students sparring with a detached expression, with no one around him.

"He's got those monkeys completely under control. New Humans with Esper Abilities really are different from an Old Human like me."

"New Humans, Old Humans, what's the difference? We're all human, and we're all going to die sooner or later. It's not as if we can live forever." Liao Yuanliang didn't much like Jian Haosen's self-defeating remark. Jian Haosen, who had been classified as an Old Human, had a hard time among the Esper Ability Students.

"I heard First Hunter Academy has made Dean Li another offer. An S-Rank Hunter was the price. At this rate..." Jian Haosen shrugged. "You really can't say for sure about eternal life and the like."

Thinking of the defective A-Rank product Lu Zhaoxi, Liao Yuanliang fell silent.

"All right." Jian Haosen waved behind him. "You should head back early too. We'll find out the answer tomorrow. A little more time won't make a difference."

Liao Yuanliang didn't leave until the physical training lesson ended.

Using his position as homeroom teacher, Liao Yuanliang was talking to Jian Haosen about taking Qi Yue to the dormitory. His voice wasn't low; he was clearly speaking for Qi Yue, who was nearby, to hear.

Every monster that encountered Beixing was doomed to melt, while "Teacher Wu" had suffered a mental breakdown. Qi Yue raised his head as he took a drink of water, looking at Liao Yuanliang out of the corner of his eye.

In that case...

As the homeroom teacher, his Esper Ability should be stronger than those of the Class F students and "Teacher Wu," right? How much would the stronger homeroom teacher be affected by him, who had an Esper Ability from the same source as Beixing's?

His situation absolutely couldn't remain "uncertain" forever. He had to seize every opportunity he could use to "verify" it.

Time to act.

He lowered the mineral water bottle, screwed the cap back on, and tossed it in an arc into the trash can, where it landed with a clatter.

"Qi Yue, let's go. I'll take you to the dormitory."

Liao Yuanliang's voice rang out.

"Teacher Liao, thank you for the effort." The moment Qi Yue turned to face Liao Yuanliang, his lips curved into a smile, and he started walking toward him.

200 cm.

150 cm.

Closer and closer.

100 cm.

Qi Yue watched Liao Yuanliang's every movement with smiling eyes, slowing his steps. He couldn't see Liao Yuanliang's facial features, so he could only judge by his body language. If anything seemed wrong, he would stop and back away immediately.

But...

Liao Yuanliang didn't react. Qi Yue continued forward.

70 cm.

50 cm.

30 cm.

Qi Yue stopped one step away from Liao Yuanliang.

Qi Yue: "..."

Liao Yuanliang showed no reaction at all.

Had he really copied Beixing's Esper Ability? That couldn't be true.

Liao Yuanliang held out a black bag to Qi Yue. "These are things the academy provides to every student. Your ID Card is inside. It's for meals, identity verification during the Monthly Assessment, redeeming points, entering the dormitory..."

"...Okay, thank you, Teacher Liao." Qi Yue took the bag.

The Panel had even said he would "grow stronger against stronger opponents." Just where, exactly, was he stronger now?

Absolutely... absurd! He wanted some peace and quiet.

On the way to the dormitory, Liao Yuanliang wore an honest, good-natured smile as he indirectly questioned Qi Yue, trying to uncover the "unknown" information on his profile.

Qi Yue was not in a very good mood. Unable to lie, he resorted to the all-purpose art of brushing people off:

"Is that so?"

"Hahaha..."

"I see."

"Well, there's really nothing to be done about that."

"How could that happen?"

Liao Yuanliang: "..."

Polite but distant and cold, without a single opening. This conversation was going nowhere!

After seeing Qi Yue into the dormitory without getting any useful information out of him, Liao Yuanliang left in a gloomy mood.

As everyone knew, the Red-Haired Twins didn't produce gossip. They merely transported it.

That very day, various rumors about Qi Yue, the Class F transfer student, spread throughout the Esper Ability Academy through paid subscriptions to the Red-Haired Twins' account.

No one knew which student had added the following line in red to the circulating profile.

"I heard Class F got a really cocky transfer student. Please be sure to teach him a lesson."

The next day.

Eight in the morning.

Liao Yuanliang came in carrying a box and set it on the teacher's desk. Someone followed him in: the Dean of Studies, Yu Kaicheng, who held a record sheet.

Qi Yue, who was not in a very good mood, sat in the last seat and watched the homeroom teacher open the box and take out a Crystal Ball.

"..."

For some reason, Qi Yue had a bad feeling about this.

Liao Yuanliang said, "This month's Esper Ability Testing Day is about to begin. Students, please come up in order for your Esper Ability tests when your names are called!"

Chapter 10

Qi Yue: "..."

Bad omens always came true. Maybe they should just destroy everything.

Judging by the students' reactions, they were used to Esper Ability Testing Day. Except, of course, for him, who knew nothing about it.

He still hadn't found an answer to the question about his Esper Ability, and now a new problem had suddenly appeared. Just in case, he had to quickly come up with something else to say to deal with his Esper Ability "failing" as it had in front of the homeroom teacher.

If the Crystal Ball didn't react...

What should I say?

"...Qin Zhijie, Shao Man, Zhao Yu..." Liao Yuanliang had already begun reading the students' names from the list.

The students whose names were called stood up and lined up in the aisle. One by one, they walked up to the front and placed their hands on the Crystal Ball.

As a transfer student, his name should have been added to the end of the list, giving him plenty of time to observe. Qi Yue leaned back against his chair in a casual pose. Looking naturally toward the front, he observed how the Crystal Ball reacted to the different students' Esper Abilities.

Mist swirled inside the transparent Crystal Ball, and the sounds of trickling water, chirping insects, and birdsong could also be heard. There were many differences, but similarities as well. Some had the same Esper Ability, but it manifested differently in different students because of differences in their individual strength.

In any case, the Crystal Ball reacted to them all. The homeroom teacher described each Esper Ability and assessed its rank.

While Qi Yue used his eyes, his ears didn't get a rest either.

From the students' conversations, Qi Yue learned that the person beside the homeroom teacher, recording his descriptions, was the Dean of Studies, Yu Kaicheng—a stern, old-fashioned, meddlesome, nagging old man, according to the students.

"Why is everyone sitting so far away from Qi Yue?" After recording the eighth student's Esper Ability, Yu Kaicheng frowned at the transfer student sitting with Beixing in the back row.

He had been watching for a full fifteen minutes. During that time, every student whose name was called had preferred to take the long way around to the side aisle rather than pass through the middle aisle closer to Qi Yue.

Class F already had Beixing, who was forced to be an outcast, and that was bad enough. They couldn't have another.