The Academic Demon

Dong Huaiming's face flushed red as he fiercely retorted, "Becoming a transcendent is the only dream I've ever had!"

"How can you call a dream chaser's aspirations a case of chuunibyou?"

"Besides, I have evidence!"

"Superpowered people really do exist in this world!"

As he spoke, Dong Huaiming climbed out of his chair, found his wheeled suitcase, and, without caring how much trouble it was, dug out a laptop.

He booted it up, opened an encrypted folder on Drive D, and entered the password.

All in one smooth motion!

Inside the hidden folder, sixty-five short videos quietly awaited playback.

"These are proof that superpowered people exist in this world!"

Dong Huaiming quickly tapped the touchscreen and opened one of the short videos.

The protagonist was a gaunt young man with dyed blue hair and red three-tomoe colored contacts.

His voice was somewhat grating—a typical duck's quack.

"Today, I, Uchiha Goudan, am going to demonstrate starting a fire with my bare hands!"

He held half a piece of firewood and, as he spoke, suddenly rubbed it between his hands.

Bang!

A ball of flame burst out!

Half the piece of firewood turned into a torch and burned fiercely, crackling loudly.

"Superpowered, right? How cool is that?"

"Come on, bros, show some support!"

The video ended there.

"This was recorded from Kuaishou, and there's also Bilibili..."

Dong Huaiming solemnly opened the second video. "Although they were quickly deleted by an irresistible force, I still collected them through various channels."

Everyone in this high-speed train had received an invitation from Caolu Academy. They were all genius youths and highly intelligent young people, and there were plenty of empty seats, so anyone could sit wherever they wanted.

Hearing the conversation among the three, several others in the carriage came over as well, apparently very interested in the topic.

Dong Huaiming grew increasingly excited and tirelessly introduced everyone to the origins and release dates of the short videos.

When they had finished watching the eighth video, Su Qiangwei suddenly spoke. "To be fair, am I the only one who thinks this is a magic trick or a photoshopped creation?"

"There must be white phosphorus on that firewood, right?"

"With tricks like 'Fire Rose' and 'Flame in Palm,' I could perform them for you too, as long as I had the props."

Dong Huaiming closed the laptop, looking somewhat angry. "You can insult my character, but you can't insult my intelligence!"

"I'll stake my reputation on this: it absolutely isn't a magic trick!"

"With my intelligence, how could I possibly confuse magic tricks with superpowers?"

As he spoke, he looked toward Ma Ran, who had remained silent beside him.

"Do you think transcendent beings exist in this world?"

Ma Ran closed the laptop in his hands, slightly curled the index finger of his left hand, and lightly tapped the cover twice. He gave a slight nod and said with certainty, "They do."

Dong Huaiming burst out laughing, his face filled with relief. "Brother Ran really is on the same side as me!"

Su Qiangwei? What kind of worthless nobody was she?

She was just a pretty young girl. Getting her approval was useless anyway.

But the recognition of a stern big shot like Ma Ran, who radiated an aura that warned strangers to keep away, truly lifted his spirits!

"Although I'm only a 'Mortal Bone,' but..."

Dong Huaiming launched into a chuunibyou-style declaration. "Since superpowered people really exist, then..."

"Why can't cultivators exist too?"

"I believe that with my brainpower and learning ability, I can definitely step into the transcendent realm, ride the wind through the void, wield a sword across the nine heavens, and live forever!"

"Even without a spiritual root, if cultivation and technology were combined, there must be a possibility of creating artificial spiritual roots."

His train of thought had wandered rather far.

Dong Huaiming was a hardcore chuunibyou patient, with one string of niche slang after another.

Under his explanation, everyone learned that "Mortal Bone" was a term for ordinary people.

The corresponding term was "Heaven's Chosen," referring to those who naturally awakened superpowers.

Once the conversation got going, the top students quickly became familiar with one another.

"I looked into Caolu Academy's background. It's an ordinary club at Xiangyang First Academy, with nothing special about it."

"Maybe it just happens to have the same name?"

"After becoming a member of Caolu Academy, you can enjoy benefits like tax exemptions, free tickets, visa-free travel, home-purchase discounts, guaranteed admission to prestigious universities, and prearranged employment. If you say it's an ordinary university club, that's definitely impossible."

After becoming a member of Caolu Academy, one could receive a whole pile of benefits.

The only thing missing was having girls sent directly to them.

Su Qiangwei was even less interested in dealing with these people.

She stared intently at Ma Ran. "Were you serious just now?"

Although they had been classmates for three years, she had never paid any attention to him before.

Based on her recent interactions with him, Ma Ran was not the sort of person who would say something against his true feelings merely to accommodate someone else's emotions.

He was a titanium alloy straight man!

Ma Ran glanced lightly at Su Qiangwei and gave a noncommittal "Mm" in reply.

Su Qiangwei immediately felt a chill rise from the soles of her feet and shoot up her spine into her mind, making her scalp tingle.

As a good young woman born in New China and raised under the red flag, she was a staunch materialist.

She had always sneered at supernatural phenomena, believing they were tricks used by con artists.

She believed that qigong masters, traditional martial arts grandmasters, and people claiming special abilities were all frauds and scum!

But now...

Su Qiangwei no longer dared to be so certain.

After all, Ma Ran was someone who had defeated her, so his words carried a certain weight.

Could Dong Huaiming really have guessed correctly?

Was Caolu Academy a superpower club?

The true side of the world?

A mysterious admission ticket?

Ma Ran did not care about Su Qiangwei's emotional journey or changing feelings.

With a thought, a medal appeared in his field of vision.

"At last!"

The God of Scholars medal, which had originally gleamed bronze-red, gradually transformed into a dazzling golden-red!

Once he focused his attention slightly, Ma Ran immediately received feedback: under the influence of the Acting ability, the God of Scholars medal had now been upgraded into the Academic Demon!

Was a demon stronger than a god?

Not necessarily.

This was mainly related to Ma Ran's subconscious mind.

After all, the proliferative abilities—the medals—he had obtained were all derived from the Acting ability and were closely connected to his perceptions.

Before Ma Ran's reincarnation, most of those who called themselves gods had been beaten until even their mothers would not have recognized them, ending up in miserable states. Only a tiny number had been relatively resilient.

But those with the character "demon" in their names or nicknames were all incomparably domineering and formidable figures.

Without exception!

He had originally been somewhat worried that the Acting ability might be weakened by his reincarnation, but it seemed that he had only been overthinking things.

The influence of scoring full marks on the emergency special examination needed time to ferment.

Naturally, the upgrade of the proliferative medal had been delayed as well.

During the Academic Demon medal's upgrade, the people Ma Ran harvested as leeks included not only the students of Qingquan High School and their family members, represented by Su Qiangwei, but also the relevant staff of Caolu Academy and other institutions of the same level.

After the first derivative medal advanced from God of Scholars to Academic Demon, Ma Ran soon noticed the changes in his body.

His memory, comprehension, analysis, and calculation abilities had all improved across the board!

His mental faculties had grown much stronger!

In terms of calculations, Ma Ran was now practically a human computer.

In terms of memory, he had reached the level of controlled hyperthymesia.