A Free Win?

After finishing that day's Root-Solidifying Stance and Foundation Building Fist practice, Ye Ziheng headed to the bathroom for a shower, drenched in sweat.

He was a student in First High School's honors class. Ever since Antu City had gone under lockdown and evening classes at school were canceled, he had been training even harder at home each night than he had at school.

His martial arts talent wasn't anything special, but fortunately, his family was very well-off. They could often afford expensive martial arts supplements, and every so often, he could even enjoy a meal of Ferocious Beast meat that boosted his Blood-Qi Value.

As a result, his Blood-Qi Value wasn't low. Even in the honors class at First High School, where strong students were everywhere, he ranked around 50th.

This month, his father had gone to considerable trouble to obtain two doses of a new martial arts supplement called "RN-003" through special channels. It hadn't even officially hit the market yet.

The supplement was extremely effective, raising his Blood-Qi Value from 4.90 to 5.55 in just one month.

Thanks to that, he had made a bit of a splash at today's midterm exams, raising his Blood-Qi Value ranking from 49th to 41st.

Unfortunately, "RN-003" was expensive even for his family, and could only be obtained through special channels. Its effects were also so potent that each dose needed time to be fully absorbed. Taking too much would place a serious strain on his body.

If the College Entrance Exam hadn't been so close, his father wouldn't have spent so lavishly to help him improve quickly. Even then, he might not have managed to get his hands on those two doses.

So Ye Ziheng had run out of "RN-003" several days ago. If he could have taken it continuously, he was confident he could have reached the Sixth-Rank of Qi this month.

Still, not everything had gone smoothly for Ye Ziheng at today's midterm exams.

His Blood-Qi Value had risen too quickly in a short time, and his Body Control Degree hadn't kept pace. Instead, it had fallen from 86 to 81, earning him a special warning from his homeroom teacher.

He had agreed on the surface, but paid little heed inwardly. He believed that rapidly raising his Blood-Qi Value was the key, and that he could make up for his poor control through training later.

But in the simulated combat portion that followed, he immediately learned the hard way what it meant to have poor control.

Despite giving it everything he had, he had scored only 90 points, ranking just 50th in his class—a far cry from his Blood-Qi Value ranking.

He couldn't shake the feeling that his classmates were talking behind his back about him being a "one-subject wonder," and he felt deeply embarrassed.

That was the main reason he had trained harder than usual after getting home that evening.

After showering, he returned to his bedroom and looked at the Virtual Pod beside his bed. His father had given it to him for his birthday a few months earlier.

It had provided him with plenty of entertainment in his spare time between studying and martial arts training.

Especially after he discovered the Heaven Martial Battle Net, he had quickly become hooked, playing fifty ranked matches in just a few days.

But when he talked about the Heaven Martial Battle Net with his classmates, they had all laughed at him.

In the high-pressure environment of First High School's honors class, students competed over everything.

Their Blood-Qi Values, cultivation levels, class rankings, even their family circumstances.

But Ye Ziheng had never imagined that they would even compete over their win rates on the Heaven Martial Battle Net!

Whenever he had free time after studying and training, as long as he wasn't mentally exhausted, he would keep playing ranked matches. He had simply enjoyed the thrill of battle and hadn't cared about winning or losing. As a result, after fifty matches, his win rate was only 52%.

Yet among the honors-class students who had played ranked matches on the Battle Net, almost everyone had a win rate above 60%, and a few had even reached 70%. Among them, he seemed like an oddball.

Unfortunately, accounts on the Heaven Martial Battle Net were tied to real identities. He couldn't switch to a new account or delete his account and start over, nor could he erase his past match records.

So, to raise his win rate, he completely changed his strategy:

He stopped playing ranked matches on a whim and focused on training first. Only when his strength had clearly improved would he cautiously play a few matches.

If he lost, or if his rising rating started matching him against tough opponents, he would immediately stop playing ranked and return to training.

He repeated this cycle to keep his wins under control.

This way, his win rate began to climb steadily.

55%...

60%...

Then, some time ago, he finally raised his win rate to 65%. Even in the honors class, that put him above average.

Recently, Ye Ziheng had been preparing for the midterm exams and hadn't logged into the Heaven Martial Battle Net for a while. He was itching to play.

Besides, he had improved somewhat since his last ranked match, so he planned to play a couple of rounds and unwind after the stress of exams.

When he was matched with an opponent, he noticed that the anonymous player was in a promotion match, just like him. Out of habit, he checked the other player's Blood-Qi Value first. It was only 4.51, far lower than his own.

A flicker of delight crossed his mind, but then alarm bells rang! With such a low Blood-Qi Value, reaching the 990 rating bracket was definitely abnormal. This person was likely a tough opponent!

But after taking a closer look at the player's record—[197 total matches, 53.8% win rate]—he immediately relaxed.

"So he's just a 'rating porter' who slowly ground his way up by playing a lot. What a scare."

After all, the ranked rules had a protection mechanism for disparities in Blood-Qi Value. As long as someone played enough matches and their win rate didn't tank too badly, they could theoretically keep gaining rating.

Then he noticed the other player had a [Previously Encountered] tag. Since he couldn't remember them at all, Ye Ziheng concluded that this was probably someone he had beaten easily before—not worth worrying about.

"Looks like the system's handed me a free win and is promoting me to Bronze." His confidence surged, and he prepared to enjoy a crushing victory.

The countdown for the preparation period in the battle arena quickly ran out.

The moment the fight began, Ye Ziheng took the initiative, intending to finish off his opponent as quickly as possible and advance to the next rank.

But to his surprise, the anonymous player with the blurred face didn't dodge or retreat. He charged straight at Ye Ziheng.

"Hm? He actually dares to clash head-on with me? Does he not understand the absolute difference in Blood-Qi Value?"

When a chance to earn free points like this fell into his lap, Ye Ziheng was only too happy to take it. He immediately threw a punch to meet his opponent's.

But the result of their fists colliding was completely different from what he had expected. His opponent's Fist Strength was only slightly weaker; there was no overwhelming advantage.

"What incredible Body Control Degree! It has to be over 90! Otherwise, there's no way he could unleash that kind of power..." Ye Ziheng understood at once. Thinking of his own barely-above-80 control, a nameless irritation rose in his chest.

He immediately put more force behind his punches and attacked more fiercely, hoping to deal with this annoying opponent as quickly as possible.

But after more than ten exchanges, Ye Ziheng grew more and more alarmed. His opponent's mastery of fist techniques far surpassed his own.

His moves were neutralized one by one. In return, his opponent's seemingly unremarkable counterattacks made him extremely uncomfortable.

"Something's wrong... This feels all wrong! What happened to my 'free win'?!"