Social Anxiety

"Which examination hall are you at?"

"Come to the command building."

He had assumed the command building would be highly conspicuous, but after Gu Yan found it, he realized that the entire building had actually been constructed by hollowing out the mountain behind the Ability Department.

However...

"How do I get inside?" He wasn't here to take the examination, and he didn't have an Ability Certificate of a high enough level. There was simply no way he could get in.

Should he go get a certificate first?

All the higher-ups were proctoring the examination in the command building. There was no way an S-rank certificate could be issued without going through them.

Qin Hong'an didn't need to take this examination at all, but Xu Muchi had suddenly decided to proctor it this year, so he had brought a group of higher-ups along to accompany her.

Over the past several decades, or perhaps even longer, Qin Hong'an had never seen Xu Muchi take an interest in this sort of thing since he had first become involved in the field. He figured it was because the nation had suffered heavy losses during the operation to besiege the Herrscher of Reason in December, forcing her to take the matter seriously.

There could be no gaps in their combat strength. The deaths of several S-rankers would be an enormous loss to any major nation.

"I wonder if a new S-ranker will appear this year."

"The young people nowadays are much stronger than us old bones!"

"Senior Xu, uh..."

Conversations continued to break out around them. Qin Hong'an was just about to chat with Xu Muchi when he noticed that she was looking at her phone.

Then she stood up and walked straight out of the building.

Cold sweat broke out on Qin Hong'an's forehead. He didn't dare ask any questions, and everyone else immediately fell silent as well, focusing their gazes on her and wondering what was going on.

What did Senior Xu mean by this? Could it be that she found proctoring too boring? No, how could someone like her be afraid of boredom?

Could she be... too disappointed in these people? Was there no one who had caught her eye?

At the thought, Qin Hong'an grew restless and even somewhat ashamed. The Ability Users had such poor potential. As the leader of headquarters, he must have been considered negligent in his duties!

In truth, Xu Muchi had merely gone out to pick up a handsome guy without a ticket.

"Are you busy? I can come another day." That would be even better. He could be lazy for another day.

"I'm not busy. Let's go." Unfortunately, Xu Muchi wasn't busy at all. In fact, she could be said to be quite free, which left Gu Yan disappointed.

"Here? I'm not here to take the examination." Seeing that she intended to return to the command building, Gu Yan said helplessly.

"I know. It's inside here. Is there a problem?" Xu Muchi tilted her head, seeming rather puzzled.

"Won't there be too many people?" Gu Yan asked tentatively, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"What are you afraid of? Social anxiety?"

Gu Yan said nothing, merely putting on a bashful expression.

"..."

Only Xu Muchi could hold back. If it had been anyone else, they would definitely have cursed him out.

"I thought you'd be happy to have a chance to show off in front of all the higher-ups." After all, protagonists in most male-oriented webnovels were like that. Xu Muchi shook her head slightly.

"I have social anxiety," Gu Yan said calmly, completely unconcerned.

Quite a few people nearby heard him and turned their strange gazes toward him. Who loudly announced that they had social anxiety?

"It's fine. You don't have to worry about anyone else. Just perform well and inspire them."

Gu Yan froze. So she wasn't just planning to have him compete in front of the higher-ups—she also wanted everyone taking the examination to watch?

Was she trying to turn him into a textbook example?

"I thought you didn't care about this sort of thing." Gu Yan was surprised. Xu Muchi didn't seem like someone who would guide others.

That was indeed the case. However, Xu Muchi vaguely felt that the disaster was far from over. If they wanted to protect this nation, more people needed to work for it.

She had witnessed this place's rise and fall. It was her home for countless years, so naturally, she cared deeply about it.

The two entered the mountain, and Gu Yan began examining the inside of the command building.

Although it was inside the mountain, it wasn't dark in the slightest. The building had seven floors, excluding the underground levels, and was shaped like an inverted U. They entered through the opening, where an empty space lay before them, roughly the size of a basketball court.

Numerous facilities and machines were arranged across the open space. There were spectator stands all around, with people scattered across them. Gu Yan estimated there were more than four hundred.

The examination method was somewhat unexpected, though. Anyone could actually watch from the sidelines. The Ability User examination had probably been developed over a long period of time, with some internal cultivation and healthy competition involved.

Xu Muchi led Gu Yan straight toward the center of the arena, drawing discussion from the people around them.

Gu Yan's gaze also swept continuously across the surroundings. Staying alert in an unfamiliar environment was never a bad thing.

"Didn't you say you had social anxiety? Why does it seem to me that they're the ones afraid of you?" Xu Muchi asked softly from ahead of him, her voice carrying a distinct hint of amusement.

Gu Yan's wary gaze was far too sharp, like a tiger pretending to sleep. Everyone he swept his eyes over avoided meeting his gaze, and the discussions in the stands fell silent as well.

True social anxiety: making the general public feel fear.

"What do you think of these people?"

Gu Yan thought for a moment before answering, "There are a little too few of them."

Their combat strength was lacking. It would be difficult to resist the collapse.

"What else?" Xu Muchi asked casually, as though she were merely making conversation.

What else?

Gu Yan fell silent this time. He wasn't very good at judging people. If she insisted on making him say something...

The girl in the sixth seat from the back of the third row on the left had nice legs, while the lady in white in the first row on the right had a very generous bosom. He hadn't paid attention to anything else.

Oh, right. There was also an old man among the proctors who had been staring at him with a beaming smile. He had gotten goosebumps all over and preliminarily judged him to be a perverted old man.

But he definitely wasn't going to answer that way.

"They're all pretty young." After thinking briefly, he decided to brush her off with a random answer.

"You're right. That's because once Ability Users pass the age of forty, their potential has basically been fully developed, and it becomes difficult for their strength to improve. Naturally, they won't participate in the examination."

"So you want them to start paying attention to martial arts and open up a new path for them?"

Gu Yan's eyes lit up. He felt that he had found the key point.

Under normal circumstances, Ability Users focused on developing the talents they were born with rather than practicing ancient martial arts. In their eyes, that would be putting the cart before the horse.

Then he thought of something and asked, "What about Xu Ying?"

"Xu Ying's ability can indeed use vitality to stimulate and fill the gaps in one's potential, but..."

At this point, Xu Muchi paused. Then, with a thought, she told Gu Yan through telepathy, "To fill those gaps, one would have to extract all the vitality from a living person, preferably the person's blood relative. He believes this method harms the natural order and violates human ethics, so he has never used it. This information also became top secret."

Gu Yan was shocked for a moment as well. He hadn't expected Xu Ying's ability to be so terrifying. Fortunately, he was a normal person... No, fortunately, he was a good person. Otherwise, he would definitely have been a poisonous tumor.

"So because the price is too high and their combat strength is lacking, you had to find another way to improve them?"

"That's right. Although martial arts doesn't provide much of a boost for ordinary people, it's extremely effective for Ability Users. It can bring the greatest possible benefits at a relatively minimal cost. So..."

The two had already reached the center of the "arena." A silver longsword appeared in Xu Muchi's hand. Her aura climbed to its peak, and her Sword Qi turned razor-sharp as she pointed it at Gu Yan.

"Are you ready?"