Opening Eyes

Mo Li turned back arrogantly, casting a provocative glance at Jiang Yao.

Jiang Yao brushed past him, sighing inwardly; having lived two lifetimes, he naturally understood such adolescent mindsets perfectly.

Come to think of it, this stunningly talented Mo Li and Jiang Yao were "fellow countrymen" from the same planet.

It was just that the two had never gotten along; to be precise, it was a one-sided grudge held by Mo Li against him.

Children are simpler than adults, so the world of children is also more naked and cruel than that of adults.

Especially within a race like the Lingtong Race that practices social upbringing, where family bonds are absent and the society consists solely of adolescents with teacher-student and classmate relationships, one can imagine what it would be like.

In his previous life on Earth, where power did not belong to the individual, the prevalence and cruelty of school bullying were enough to shock adults, let alone in a world where power belongs to the individual.

Although the Lingtong Race was considered a civilization and human lives were usually not lost under the teachers' supervision, that was as far as it went.

As one of the top geniuses on the planet, Jiang Yao naturally wouldn't be a victim of bullying; possessing an adult's mind and a worldview brought from Earth, he was naturally not a bully either.

And the person who caused the most trouble was this radiant genius, Mo Li.

Or rather, it was precisely because he was a genius that he had the ability to bully others; if you couldn't even beat someone, how could you talk about bullying them?

There were a few times when Jiang Yao, unable to stand it, clashed with Mo Li, leading to a feud.

However, both were geniuses of the same level, and Mo Li could not—and dared not—do anything to Jiang Yao.

But in Mo Li's heart, Jiang Yao was already considered his rival, or even an enemy.

Jiang Yao didn't take Mo Li's provocation to heart and had already regained his calm. Although he had a cheat, having lived a life of superiority and standing out from the crowd for over a decade, it would be impossible to say he didn't have a bit of a genius's arrogance.

Even though he knew that the geniuses in the Swallowed Star world were like mountains beyond mountains, and he clearly understood that his current location and race were merely a "newbie village," light-years away from the truly top-tier geniuses in the universe.

But everyone has a sense of wishful thinking; how could he not have the thought, "If I didn't have a cheat, I might still be a genius"?

Over the past decade, the praise and flattery from his teachers alone could have made him drift away.

And this wishful thinking had now dissipated by more than half.

Not to mention others, he could absolutely never achieve the kind of stunning control Mo Li displayed.

He had initially accepted the fact that he, a "town-level genius," was merely mediocre among the "town-level geniuses"; now, he was just seeing how mediocre he really was.

In fact, compared to many of the youths outside the arena who had lost their composure, showing frustration and whose "genius worldviews" had collapsed, the reason he could accept it so quickly wasn't because he had lived another life, but because he had a cheat.

I won't compete with you guys on talent.

Thus, everyone only saw Jiang Yao, who appeared extremely calm and seemed to have a few tricks up his sleeve, calmly scoring a low result of "a few" particles.

It was only slightly better than the result of Kedu, the tall youth who had appeared first, been hyped up by the "straight-A students," and then crashed.

Compared to the average level of 50,000 particles, it was quite a gap, ranking 37th out of the more than forty participants who had already been tested.

"Seeing his arrogant and aloof attitude on the spaceship, I thought he was something special. Is this it?"

"Mo Li, didn't you say he was from the same planet as you? Being mentioned in the same breath as you for so many years really does you a disservice."

"Always acting like he looks down on people, but he's nothing more than this."

Mo Li, who had the most stunning performance in the first round, was now surrounded by some youths who, under Mo Li's cold sneer, discussed Jiang Yao without any restraint.

Even with a cheat to rely on and a self-proclaimed composure, Jiang Yao felt wronged hearing such slander.

He hadn't ignored people on the spaceship because he was arrogant; he had been communicating with the Taihuan Token Envoy, trying to figure out the quality of this cheat, so how could he have the time to socialize with a bunch of kids?

Besides, they had no common language.

Don't let the fact that these youths were all imbued with great power and were living nuclear weapons fool you; limited by their social structure and living environment, they were actually more naive and simple than Earth teenagers of the same age.

Of course, it might be precisely because they were naive and simple that they could keenly perceive that Jiang Yao had a subtle "condescending attitude" toward them—the condescension of an adult toward children—and this was something the youths, who were still in the "the world revolves around me" phase, could not tolerate.

Jiang Yao, who had been forced to make enemies unintentionally, could only sigh in helplessness.

Before long, the first round of assessment ended.

There were 63 people in total, and Jiang Yao ranked 49th, tasting the feeling of being at the bottom for the first time since his transmigration.

The one ranked first was Mo Li, who was almost a tier above the second place.

Regarding this result, only a few were happy; most were as devastated as if they had lost their parents.

This reminded Jiang Yao of a relative's child in his previous life who had been top of the class since childhood, only to find that after getting into a top-tier university, their academic ability was only in the lower-middle range of the class, leading to a mental breakdown, excessive pressure, and dropping out of school.

The collapse of a "genius worldview" happens in an instant, and it is extremely cruel.

Prose, however, looked much more relaxed, lacking his previous sternness and coldness, even appearing gentle, and he did not mock the fragile "former geniuses" as he had on the spaceship.

Could it be that Prose's previous suppression in attitude and words was actually to help this batch of geniuses accept reality early and alleviate the pain of falling from grace? I couldn't tell; he looks so rough, yet his mind is quite delicate.

Jiang, the "village-level genius," was still able to spare some thought to analyze the behavior of this Lingtong Race powerhouse despite his bottom-tier ranking.

"The next round of assessment targets explosive power."

Prose looked at the youths who had been boiling with excitement over the news of the Peak Genius Tournament not long ago, but now had no trace of frivolity or restlessness, and said gently: "Use spiritual power to manipulate the shuttle-shaped weapon to penetrate the light screens. There are ten layers of light screens in total; the number of layers you can penetrate is your multiplier of explosive power."

"The final grading is based on the results of the three rounds combined, so it is not yet time for conclusions. Everyone, cheer up!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kuman beside him had already waved his hand, his spiritual power forming a wall, erecting ten light screens.

This round was not like the first one where there was such a huge gap; the poor ones could penetrate three layers of light screens, the good ones could barely penetrate five, and most could penetrate four.

Jiang Yao reached the fourth layer of the light screen, which was considered the standard level for a first-tier Planetary.

Three people had reached the fifth layer of the light screen, and Mo Li was one of them.

After all, so-called explosive power was also related to control; it was only logical that someone like Mo Li, who had already reached the micro-level in spiritual force manipulation, could unleash a stronger force amplitude.

"There are quite a few good seedlings in this batch."

"Indeed, especially that boy named Mo Li. If he practices secret techniques for force amplitude, he could likely reach the first level very quickly. If we cultivate him well, he might be able to use the Lone Star Disk in three years, and perhaps even stay in the Middle Dormitory after his first major competition."

"It will still depend on the final willpower assessment. If his willpower intensity is up to par, he could even be compared to Nan Ying. He is arguably the most outstanding genius we've seen in the last decade."

The assistant examiners beside Kuman chatted softly, though Kuman and Prose did not interject.

The group of youths on the sidelines who had already finished their tests listened to the examiners' conversation. Since most of them had not yet learned the guile of adults, their expressions were varied, as colorful and chaotic as a painter's palette.

There were the conceited, the sullen, and the defiant.

Mo Li, who had been praised, felt a sense of defiance mixed with his arrogance. For a genius, even the slightest hint of reservation from others sounded grating; having dominated the first two rounds of assessments, he naturally didn't believe there was any room for debate regarding his talent, and he was even more eager to tackle the final willpower assessment.

Conversely, Jiang Yao, having once again realized that his own talent was utterly mediocre, had adopted a "nothing left to lose" attitude and no longer cared about the third round.

Prose turned a blind eye to the exchange between the assistant examiners and the reactions of the youths, seemingly indifferent.

A strong person must be able to withstand both slander and praise; this was a hurdle every genius had to overcome.

"The final assessment concerns willpower intensity. While willpower can indeed be trained over time, there are no secret techniques or reliable methods to enhance it. As far as I know, even illusions have a very limited effect on improving willpower."

Prose's voice rose: "The best aid for tempering willpower is actually pain. If you have the opportunity to step into the Stellar Level in the future, you will understand my words today. Precisely because improving willpower intensity is so difficult, innate willpower talent is equally important."

"Whoever wakes up the fastest possesses the highest willpower intensity. The longer you remain submerged, the weaker your willpower!"

Just as the crowd felt puzzled by Prose's words, the golden-haired youth Kuman, acting as the chief examiner, revealed a smile for the first time since the assessment began, and then—

He opened his eyes!