What happened at the Training Ground spread through the entire school at an astonishing speed.
In no time, nearly every student at Muyang Third Middle School knew the name Qin Chen.
First Year, Class One.
A petite girl barely five feet tall, her hair tied into twin tails, immediately ran up to a stunningly beautiful young woman with a cool expression and long black hair cascading down her back when she heard the news.
"Ruohan! That big guy Li Meng was beaten by Qin Chen from Seventh Class, the one with a Star Energy Aptitude of just one point!"
"I heard that Qin Chen is at the Body Tempering Third Layer, and that muscle-brained fool Li Meng even said Qin Chen is stronger than you and Zhou Feng!"
"Honestly, he's so ignorant!"
"That guy last challenged you to a fight on the very day the Class Battle ended, and you beat him with ease!"
"Several days have passed since then. You broke through to the Body Tempering Third Layer just two days ago, Ruohan, and you're now a whole lot stronger. How could Qin Chen possibly be your match!"
"That guy Li Meng probably has no idea how quickly you've been improving, does he?"
The petite girl chattered nonstop, every word defending the long-haired beauty before her, whom she called Ruohan.
Jiang Ruohan's expression didn't change in the slightest. She said calmly,
"His mouth is his own. He can say whatever he wants!"
"I just can't stand how he keeps spouting off when he clearly doesn't know anything!"
An Xiaoke pouted and said indignantly.
Her best friend Jiang Ruohan was, after all, a powerful figure ranked first on the Wild Ranking.
And Li Meng had actually said Qin Chen was stronger than Jiang Ruohan?
What a joke!
Jiang Ruohan had a Star Energy Aptitude of seventy-five, making her one of only two students in the first-year class with an aptitude above seventy.
Her family wasn't quite the richest in Muyang City, but it was definitely among the top five.
To her, Body Tempering Fluid was practically something she could use as bathwater.
Whether it was her own talent or the resources available to her, Jiang Ruohan was among the very best students in Muyang City.
So An Xiaoke simply couldn't believe Qin Chen was a match for Jiang Ruohan.
Seeing An Xiaoke still looking indignant, Jiang Ruohan gave a helpless smile.
Why did it seem like An Xiaoke was more worked up over the news than she was?
Still, she truly didn't care much.
Personally, she didn't put much stock in rumors.
Rumors always grew more exaggerated with every retelling.
As the saying went, words could be terrifying. She had no idea how many versions the story she'd just heard had gone through.
But whether or not Li Meng had actually said those things, she had absolute confidence in herself.
At Muyang Third Middle School, she had no rivals!!
Meanwhile, Qin Chen had arrived at the building housing the Star Energy Aptitude testing machine.
This was the school's equipment room.
All kinds of training equipment related to the Body Tempering Realm were kept here, including the Star Energy Aptitude tester.
The other training equipment was free to use, but the Star Energy Aptitude tester required an application and a fee.
After entering the room, Qin Chen scanned his surroundings, then settled his gaze on the administrator nearby.
He strode over and stopped in front of him.
"Hello, I'd like to use the Star Energy Aptitude tester!"
The man raised his head slightly, glanced at Qin Chen, then said coolly,
"Twenty thousand Star Coins per test!"
"Okay!"
Qin Chen nodded and paid the twenty thousand Star Coins without hesitation.
He'd already learned the price before coming to test, so it didn't come as a surprise.
Still, it hurt to pay.
He had less than thirty thousand Star Coins left.
Having so little money made him feel terribly insecure!
He needed to make earning Star Coins a priority!
Of course, Star Coins didn't exist as physical money now; they were just a string of numbers stored on the Star Net.
Otherwise, when he killed He Yi's family, he would've searched them for valuables to fill his empty pockets.
Qin Chen had decided: once he finished using up his time in the Gravity Room today, he'd start earning Star Coins tomorrow.
But for now, he'd see how much his Star Energy Aptitude had increased.
The administrator glanced at Qin Chen's back, a trace of contempt in his eyes.
He'd encountered people like Qin Chen before.
Every year, there were always a few people who wondered whether the machine was broken, since their Star Energy Aptitude couldn't possibly be that low.
But their test results were always exactly the same as when their aptitude had first awakened.
In his view, it was simply that they couldn't accept reality.
There was no way the Star Energy Aptitude tester could malfunction. Nothing like that had ever happened before.
No matter how many times they tested, the results couldn't possibly change.
A dozen or so seconds later, Qin Chen reached the machine.
It looked like a liquid-nitrogen cryogenic chamber from his previous life. It was practically identical.
Without hesitation, Qin Chen stepped inside.
Having used one before, he wasn't unfamiliar with the process.
Less than two seconds after he entered, the metal panels on either side of the machine began closing slowly, eventually leaving only his head exposed.
Then blue specks of light appeared inside the machine, racing around at astonishing speed.
Standing inside, Qin Chen felt nothing unusual.
Ten seconds later, the blue specks suddenly vanished. With a rumble, the door at the front of the machine slowly opened to both sides.
At the same time, a light-blue screen appeared before Qin Chen.
[Star Energy Aptitude: 34]
Qin Chen's eyes visibly lit up.
A Star Energy Aptitude of thirty-four points!
That put him around the middle of Seventh Class.
And today was only his third day with the Burning Meridian Merging Spirit Art.
The future looked bright!
Although the higher one's Star Energy Aptitude, the slower it was to improve, his short-term gains were still quite impressive.
He figured it would take no more than a week to surpass Wang Jing's fifty-one points.
And that was him being generous with the estimate!
In short, the Burning Meridian Merging Spirit Art was a Combat Skill he truly loved.
Qin Chen walked out with a smile on his face the whole way. The administrator, who had glanced at him, couldn't help but feel baffled.
What was going on?!
Whenever students came back to test their Star Energy Aptitude, they usually left looking utterly dejected, their eyes vacant.
Why was this student the opposite?
Shouldn't reality be rubbing his face in the dirt when he discovered his Star Energy Aptitude hadn't changed at all?
How strange!
With that thought, he immediately opened the backend data. As the administrator here, he could check the usage records for every machine.
"Thirty-four points?"
"That's just average! What's there to smile about?"
"Is this student right in the head?"
Seeing Qin Chen's Star Energy Aptitude, he couldn't help muttering aloud.
He shook his head and paid no more attention to it. In his view, Qin Chen definitely had something wrong with him.
Testing one's Star Energy Aptitude didn't require registering student information. All one had to do was pay.
So he didn't know that Qin Chen's Star Energy Aptitude had only been one point before this.
Otherwise, perhaps he wouldn't have looked so baffled.
Before you continue