S-Class Taotie, Zhu Fugui Rose to His Feet

"Cheng Yong, awakening successful, C-class Mystery-type."

"Li Yi, failure!"

"Liu Er, failure!"

"Huang Shiren, awakening successful, F-class Weapon-type."

More than half of Class One's students had already undergone the awakening. Murong Hongchen sighed to himself. Aside from Yu Sisi's A-class awakening at the very beginning, which had pleasantly surprised him, all the subsequent awakenings had been low-grade talents, and more than half had failed altogether.

I wonder if another high-grade talent will appear. Sigh... each year is worse than the last, the old principal thought gloomily.

Based on past experience, Banyan City No. 1 High School's elite class had the highest awakening success rate, at around fifty percent. After all, the elite class was made up of outstanding students selected for special training. If two or three high-grade talents emerged among them, Murong Hongchen would be satisfied.

"Next group: Zhu Fugui, Xu Zhimo, Liu Jinling, Guo Hua."

"Brother Yu! I'm going up. Come on, give me a high five and pass me some luck. Hehe!"

"Good luck!" Lin Yu high-fived Zhu Fugui.

"Definitely. This lord here is full of confidence right now. Besides, even if I fail to awaken, don't I still have you, Brother Yu? No need to panic!"

The fat boy truly did not care much. He had already made up his mind: with an SSS-class brother like Lin Yu around, if he failed to awaken, he would simply go home and inherit the family fortune. Lin Yu could focus on cultivating while he supported him from behind with every kind of financial and material resource.

As for whether Lin Yu would turn his back on him after becoming powerful, Zhu Fugui had never even considered it. From childhood to adulthood, he had always trusted Lin Yu unconditionally. After more than a decade together, they were closer than blood brothers.

Zhu Fugui ambled toward the Awakening Stone with several classmates. He curiously looked at the stone monument, then muttered to himself, "Oh, stone monument, stone monument. Although this lord hasn't placed much hope on awakening successfully, if you really can make me awaken, I'll set up a longevity tablet for you afterward and offer you fish and meat every day!"

The instructor standing beside the Awakening Stone's mouth twitched violently. What did this kid take the Awakening Stone monument for? A longevity tablet? This was the first time he had ever heard of someone wanting to set up a longevity tablet for a stone monument. Zhu Fugui's words nearly threw his back out.

"Begin!!"

At the instructor's command, the four of them extended their hands into the barrier as instructed. Before long, the stone monument radiated a brilliance even more dazzling than the one from Yu Sisi's group.

"This is..."

The old principal's eyes lit up when he saw the light emitted by the monument.

"Oh ho! Old man, congratulations! You can still rack up one last achievement before retirement! Now you can go in peace!"

Watching the scene onstage, Ji Xuejun spoke with great interest. Judging by that light, an S-class talent was practically guaranteed.

"~(＞_＜)~..."

Murong Hongchen nearly choked to death at Ji Xuejun's words. What did she mean, go in peace? He was only retiring, yet she still had to curse him.

Murong Hongchen was already over seventy. This was his final year as principal. He had devoted half his life to Banyan City No. 1 High School, and at his age, there was nothing much left to be reluctant about. Now, he only hoped to see Banyan City No. 1 High School advance another step before he retired.

The old principal ignored Ji Xuejun and stared intently at the four students onstage, afraid of missing even the slightest detail.

Second by second, the Awakening Stone's glow gradually faded. Phenomena appeared around all four people onstage, but three of them were low-grade. Murong Hongchen passed over them directly and fixed his gaze on the two-hundred-jin fat boy onstage.

Above Zhu Fugui's head appeared a strange creature glowing blue. Its head was ferocious, its eyes bright and spirited, and its nose bridge protruded. A pair of curved beast horns grew from its head, hooked inward like ram's horns. Its enormous mouth gaped wide, its teeth sharp as saws. Its body arched, its head pressed against the ground, and a pair of tiger-like claws extended from either side. A pair of fleshy wings shaped like ears grew along its sides.

"S-class! An S-class talent user has finally been born at Banyan City No. 1 High School again!"

The old principal's excitement was impossible to conceal. Though Banyan City No. 1 High School stood unrivaled among Banyan City's Primary Academies, it barely ranked at all within the entire Dragon Glory Special District. It did carry the title of one of the top hundred academies, but it had always lingered at the bottom of that list. During his tenure, the old principal had always hoped to push Banyan City No. 1 High School's ranking higher, but his wish had never been fulfilled.

Over the past two years, Banyan City No. 1 High School's student awakening success rate had surpassed thirty percent, reaching the standard of the top fifty academies in the Dragon Glory Special District. However, its annual rate of high-grade talents was slightly lower than that of other prestigious schools, which kept its ranking from rising.

Murong Hongchen had never expected that, so close to retirement, another S-class talent user would awaken. At the year-end evaluations, Banyan City No. 1 High School might truly have a chance to contend for a place among the top fifty academies. How could he not be thrilled?

By then, all the students below the stage had erupted into an uproar. It was not unusual for Banyan City No. 1 High School to awaken one or two A-class ability users in past years, but S-class was far too rare.

"I never thought that fat guy would awaken an S-class talent! Oh my god! I always thought he got in through connections!"

"I'm screwed, I'm screwed!! I think I even cursed him before!! Won't he settle the score with me later?"

"Actually, if you look carefully, Brother Fat's face is pretty handsome too!! I even have Brother Fat's contact information. I'll ask him out tonight!!"

Among everyone present, Lin Yu was the happiest about Zhu Fugui's S-class awakening. Strictly speaking, Lin Yu had only known him for a few days, but the memories he had inherited from the original owner were real. The original Lin Yu had always sincerely treated Zhu Fugui like a younger brother, so Lin Yu, having fused those memories, naturally felt happy for him.

"This sheep-like creature looks kind of familiar?"

Lin Yu stared at the strange creature above Zhu Fugui's head and fell into thought.

"Dad! This is Taotie, one of the legendary Four Ferocious Beasts! But this one seems somewhat flawed. Otherwise, it should be more than just S-class!!"

9527's voice suddenly rang out. Lin Yu immediately understood after hearing it. So it was Taotie. In his previous life, Lin Yu had read the Classic of Mountains and Seas. No wonder it looked familiar.

"Not bad! The fat boy is really taking off now. Uncle Zhu and the others will definitely be thrilled when they find out!"

Lin Yu knew just how desperately Zhu Wansan had hoped for Zhu Fugui to awaken. Zhu Wansan's business might have been huge, but others had always looked down on him from the bottom of their hearts, all because he was an ordinary person. That had become a pain in Zhu Wansan's heart.

When Zhu Fugui was young, Zhu Wansan had always been strict with him. But the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. The reason he had wanted to give the only Awakening Spirit Pill to Lin Yu before was that he had lost hope in Zhu Fugui. On top of that, he regarded Lin Yu as his own child, so he wanted to give it to Lin Yu, while also hoping that Lin Yu would look after Zhu Fugui once he became powerful.

Now that Zhu Fugui had awakened—and awakened an S-class talent at that—Lin Yu could already imagine Zhu Wansan's expression.

Where there were happy people, there were naturally unhappy ones. Luo Yongjun, Class Two's homeroom teacher, looked as if he had eaten dog shit, his expression incredibly ugly. It was not that he had any issue with Zhu Fugui. He simply resented Lin Yizhong.

"Why are you always so lucky?? Your daughter is S-class, and now even the student you taught is S-class!! Sigh!!"

Yet no matter how indignant Luo Yongjun felt, all he could do was rage helplessly. He knew he could no longer shake Lin Yizhong's position. Having taught two S-class students, Lin Yizhong's position as the elite class's homeroom teacher was more secure than ever—unless the principal had truly gone senile.