Stardust Magic Tool

The first year of high school flew by, and before they knew it, they were in their second year.

Then another month passed.

Suddenly, the school buzzed with noise.

The second-year Seed Class.

Dubbed the birthplace of all the prodigies in the grade.

"I'm telling you, I tossed a Fire Seed over and sent that Giant-eyed Stinky Rat scrambling. A little demon like that couldn't even handle one hand from your Brother Fan!" Mo Fan boasted loudly about his heroic deeds, the Banner behind him making Mu Bai's face twist in discomfort.

Due to some delays, the Banner honoring Mo Fan had only been delivered a few days ago.

It had given him a huge boost in face, and plenty of people found it hard to believe.

Still a student, and here he was asking his mom if he could snack on the table—while someone else was already out hunting demons?

His loyal lackey Zhao Kun San jumped in again: "What's with the attitude? Who knows if you just picked off a half-dead demon?"

Mo Fan shot Zhao Kun San a disdainful look and grinned. "There are ten lotuses in the pond. I only pick one, but you pick nine. Know why?"

"Why?" Zhao Kun San asked dumbly, just like Mo Fan had before.

Mo Fan raised his middle finger. "If you suck, practice more!"

"Damn it!"

"Don't hold me back—I'm gonna wipe that smug look off his face!"

The guys erupted, and the classroom turned into chaos.

Especially Mu Bai, whose face was as sour as a toad's.

Mo Fan laughed heartily.

Man, Jiang Yuan's lines really worked like a charm.

One poke and they blew up!

"Mad that you lost, huh? Hey, I'm just strong, and I've got the Banner." Mo Fan taunted the crowd, his expression unbearably cocky.

Tsk, the Banner was Jiang Yuan's doing too.

What a solid bro.

Jiang Yuan sat right behind him, chatting with Zhang Xiaohou.

"What's all the noise about?" Xue Musheng walked in from outside. He was now the Seed Class's homeroom teacher.

Xue Musheng looked stern. "I could hear you arguing from downstairs. The whole teaching building—besides our class—which other one is like this?"

"The Seed Class doesn't even act like one. Watch out—you'll get overtaken by the regular students, and then you won't even get a whiff of the Stardust Magic Tool!"

"Stardust Magic Tool? Are we getting Stardust Magic Tools?" a student asked.

Xue Musheng stood at the center of the podium. "That's right. The school has issued Stardust Magic Tools to our Seed Class today."

"Awesome! We can use the Stardust Magic Tool now!" Zhao Kun San cheered.

"What are you yelling about?" Mo Fan shot back. "Don't you know using the Stardust Magic Tool depends on rankings? First is Jiang Yuan, second is me, and third is your master Mu Bai. By the time it's your turn, who knows when that'll be."

Xue Musheng was right there, so Zhao Kun San swallowed his retort and fumed in silence.

"Jiang Yuan, you're first in the assessments, so you get to use the Stardust Magic Tool for a month. Come up and collect it." Xue Musheng carefully pulled out an exquisite precious wooden box from his chest, drawing everyone's gaze.

Jiang Yuan walked up to the podium, took the box, and cracked it open for a glance. Inside was a small piece of Azure Dust Stone.

Others wanted a look too, but Jiang Yuan had already closed it.

With the Stardust Magic Tool secured, Xue Musheng stressed in a very heavy tone, "The Stardust Magic Tool is extremely, extremely, extremely precious. Remember, not a single scratch. Use it with the utmost care, and return it on time without fail. I've warned you—this is no joke!"

Everyone knew how important the Stardust Magic Tool was.

The classroom chanted in unison, "Got it."

"Jiang Yuan, let me see what the Stardust Magic Tool looks like," Mo Fan said curiously.

"No. If you touch it, it'll break."

"Tch, just don't want to share, huh. Making up excuses like that. And here I thought we were bros. I despise you!!"

"Seriously, if you touch it, it'll break."

"Get lost!"

That night, in Jiang Yuan's place.

He was carefully examining the Stardust Magic Tool.

The school-provided Stardust Magic Tool was Mortal grade, boosting the user's cultivation time by 20%.

For someone like him and Mo Fan, who could cultivate ten hours a day, that 20% meant two extra hours.

To put it in perspective, ordinary people could usually only manage about five hours a day.

That was nearly half of it.

Jiang Yuan had already been cultivating for ten hours today. It wasn't until he got home that he finally tried using the Stardust Magic Tool.

He put on the Stardust Magic Tool, sat cross-legged, and entered a meditative state.

Two hours passed quickly.

Jiang Yuan opened his eyes and let out a deep breath. "Such a good item, and I can't just keep using it. I really need to figure out a way to swindle that Azure Dragon Pendant over here."

That last sentence was, of course, a joke.

As always, Mo Fan's Azure Dragon Pendant could only be held by him. Even if someone else got their hands on it, not only might they fail to activate it, but it would also bring a heap of trouble.

The little azure dragon had set its sights on Mo Fan alone.

The Azure Dragon was a sacred beast, and the White Tiger was one too.

He just wondered if the sacred beast White Tiger from the Tianshan Mountains could turn into a pendant.

A bold idea suddenly popped into Jiang Yuan's head—he wanted to negotiate with the White Tiger, see if it would transform into a pendant for him to use.

"Ah," Jiang Yuan let out a long sigh, shaking off the unrealistic thoughts in his mind.

He had already checked the price of Stardust Magic Tools at the Hunter's League. The cheapest, Mortal-grade ones cost nearly ten million.

He had a few Servant-level Soul Essences and Soul Remnants on hand. One more Soul Essence, and he could secure the purchase.

Once he had enough money, he'd go buy a Mortal-grade Stardust Magic Tool to use for now.

He'd just make do with it for the time being.

Time flew by like a white horse passing through a crack in the wall.

The youths of the magic high school worked hard to step into a higher realm of magic.

Some lost young souls would encounter many temptations along the way.

But none of this had any effect on Jiang Yuan.

Within a month of obtaining the Stardust Magic Tool, he finally managed to fuse another Soul Essence from Soul Remnants.

His luck was pretty good.

After selling all the Soul Essences at the Hunter's League, he happened to find someone selling a secondhand Mortal-grade Stardust Magic Tool.

In the end, he spent his entire fortune to buy it.

Now, at seventeen, Jiang Yuan had nothing left except for a few hundred thousand yuan in his card and a school-district apartment near the campus.

To this, Mo Fan remarked that he could only rent a place to live and told Jiang Yuan to stop showing off.

The first semester of sophomore year passed, and the field training came.

This training was extremely important for high school students, as prestigious academies placed great emphasis on training results during admissions.

The training point was the Snow Mountain Posthouse.

The future Ancient King, now Chief Instructor Zhan Kong, was laying out the rules for this training with the Seed Class.

The mission was to go into a cave to hunt One-eyed Magic Wolves and find a blue bracelet to succeed.

Upon completion, everyone would receive a high score, and the one who ultimately finished would get a precious defensive magic tool.

"Jiang Yuan, is this bounty mission the same difficulty as the ones we usually do?" Mo Fan asked quietly.

Jiang Yuan nodded. "One-eyed Magic Wolves and Giant-eyed Stinky Rats are both Servant-level demons, so you can consider them the same difficulty."

Mo Fan slapped his hand down happily. "Then we can easily snag the highest score, right?!"

"Oh, easily snag the highest score? You think it's like you picking up scraps from demons?"

A mocking voice came from behind.

Jiang Yuan didn't even need to look to know that an NPC had spawned—one that showed up whenever Mo Fan spoke.

Zhao Kun San's big face leaned in.