"Su Jingyao, do you want to eat a candy? I'll treat you."
Zhang Ping lay flat on the classroom desk, holding a green six-sided crystal in his hand, looking at his deskmate Su Jingyao with narrowed eyes, and asked.
Su Jingyao glanced at the six-sided crystal, and spat out a single word with a deadpan expression: "Get lost."
"If you don't want it, then don't, is there any need to be so angry." Zhang Ping withdrew his hand, and muttered in a low voice.
Veins slightly bulged on Su Jingyao's forehead, and she said irritably: "Zhang Ping, although you awakened a trash ability, I very much understand how you feel, but if you still go around asking people like this after leaving school, believe it or not, you'll be beaten to death by someone."
"A trash ability is actually quite good, I was just asking you anyway, how could I possibly ask anyone else." Zhang Ping mumbled quietly.
Su Jingyao speechlessly gave Zhang Ping an eye-roll, then continued filling out her graduation application form.
"Are you really planning to graduate?" Zhang Ping glanced over, and asked.
Su Jingyao calmly said: "I've already mastered all the knowledge in school, and the ability I awakened is very suited for combat. Only by experiencing true actual combat can one become stronger and stronger, and joining the Patrol Team is a decision I made long ago."
"But you're only seventeen years old." Zhang Ping sighed.
Su Jingyao gave Zhang Ping a look of contempt, and said: "Zhang Chen next door already applied for graduation a week ago, and he's probably already left the city with the Investigation Team to go do actual combat against Mutated Beasts. He's only 16 years old."
"Mhm mhm, what a genius indeed." Zhang Ping sighed.
Seeing that Zhang Ping didn't reveal any expression of envy or jealousy, Su Jingyao inwardly sighed slightly.
Back then, Zhang Ping was also one of the hardest-working students in the class, crazily experimenting with his own ability the very day he awakened it, but very quickly his ability was appraised by the appraiser as a Useless Tier ability. Zhang Ping suffered a massive blow as a whole, and even skipped class for several days.
By the time Zhang Ping came back to attend classes again, he had already turned into this current lying-flat appearance.
"Although your ability was appraised as a Useless Tier, there are so many mutated creatures in the world, perhaps one day I'll find a creature willing to accept you, and at that time your ability will have room to shine..." Unbearable to see Zhang Ping give up on himself, Su Jingyao looked at Zhang Ping and said earnestly.
Zhang Ping lay on the desk, and indifferently said: "Forget it, do you think there's any creature that would completely hand over its own life to be controlled by someone else? If I give it to you, do you dare to eat it?"
"..."
Thinking of the six-sided crystal in Zhang Ping's hand just now, Su Jingyao was instantly left speechless.
Just seeing the six-sided crystal, she was already feeling repulsion in her heart; that feeling was just like seeing shit, making her unable to help wanting to stay far away.
"Alright, I've already accepted the fact that I'm a piece of trash. Actually, trash isn't bad either. Turning back to honestly farm, perhaps I'll live even longer than you guys who go around fighting and killing, who knows." Zhang Ping smiled.
He really thought that way.
After all, whether it was the Patrol Team, the Investigation Team, or free adventurers, the casualty rate was not low.
And staying in the city to be a farmer, although the treatment was very poor, could barely still keep one alive, and the casualty rate was much lower than combat professions.
If one wanted to die of old age in bed, staying in the city was already the safest option.
In his past life, Zhang Ping was a member of a private rescue team.
He received a rescue mission on a rainy night, and encountered a landslide while heading towards a mountainous area to rescue a missing hiker, dying on the spot.
By the time he came to his senses, he had already transmigrated into the body of Zhang Ping, who had been angered to death by himself.
After he absorbed Zhang Ping's memories, he had only a single thought: isn't it just awakening a Useless Tier ability, was there any need to anger oneself to death?
Although he was quite grateful to the original owner, otherwise he might not have been able to transmigrate and would have truly died.
But truth be told, the original Zhang Ping had far too fragile of a psychology.
As for abilities and whatnot, he didn't have any special skills in his past life, yet he still managed to live on shamelessly all the same. Since it was a Useless Tier ability, he would just treat it as not having one.
However, the ability Zhang Ping awakened was actually quite interesting.
He could consume physical stamina plus Mental Strength to manufacture a kind of six-sided crystal. Any creature that willingly ate this six-sided crystal would be completely controlled by him, with both flesh and soul becoming his private property.
Mm.
It sounded somewhat strong.
But there was a prerequisite, which was that the target had to truly be completely willing, otherwise even if they ate it, they would completely shit it out.
The predecessor had tried many creatures, such as kittens, puppies, snakes, mice, and so on, but without exception all ended in failure.
Because of this, the predecessor even viciously tortured several kinds of animals, forcing them to accept the six-sided crystal, but the result did not change at all; it seemed that the soul-level repulsion was absolute.
In the end, the predecessor grew more and more angry the more he thought about it, and in despair spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, getting himself angered to death by his own ability.
Now Zhang Ping naturally wouldn't be that extreme, nor that paranoid.
Although the ability had no use, he wasn't truly without any ideas either.
The six-sided crystal he manufactured was actually quite pretty, so could he polish it and sell it as a gemstone?
After all, rich people all had rather unique tastes; what if it could be sold for a good price?
After class, Zhang Ping packed up his things and returned to the dormitory area together with Su Jingyao.
He and Su Jingyao both originated as orphans, and ever since enrolling had always lived in the school dormitories.
"Don't wait for me tomorrow, I'm moving out of the dormitory tonight." Su Jingyao said as she walked.
Zhang Ping nodded, and smiled: "Mm, take care on the way."
"You too."
Su Jingyao glanced at Zhang Ping, a trace of reluctance hidden deep within her eyes.
The two parted ways at the dormitory entrance, Su Jingyao entering the female dormitory and Zhang Ping entering the male dormitory.
Zhang Ping's dormitory was on the fifth floor. Originally there had been three roommates, but all three had failed their awakenings and left school a week before the former Zhang Ping had worked himself into a rage, so now he was the only one in the room.
Compared to failing the awakening, these guys actually had it a lot better.
Zhang Ping opened the dormitory door, recalled the lost and painful expressions of his roommates when they left school, and muttered inwardly.
He put down his backpack, took a shower, and sat cross-legged on the bed.
He raised one hand, and gradually green particles appeared in his palm. As his physical strength and Mental Strength rapidly consumed, the particles quickly grew larger, finally turning into a six-sided crystal.
According to the examiner's analysis, his ability belonged to a composite type. Following superpower naming conventions, it should be called the Greed Gem.
Because this ability was too greedy.
It wanted everything, and wanted to control everything.
Yet precisely because it was too greedy, living organisms would instinctively repel the Greed Gem, making it a useless ability instead.
Test the hardness first!
Holding the six-sided crystal, Zhang Ping muttered to himself.
If this kind of crystal was hard enough, perhaps it could be used to make something, like chainmail fully embedded with six-sided crystals; the defense shouldn't be bad.
He took out the small knife he carried with him and tried to cut the crystal.
Unfortunately, the hardness of the crystal was not as high as it looked on the outside. The small knife quickly cut the crystal in half, and judging from the feedback felt during the cutting, the hardness should be about the same as bone.
Zhang Ping was a bit disappointed, but upon seeing the cut crystal, he actually felt a bit tempted.
He really couldn't be blamed for craving it.
After the crystal was cut, the surface was smooth, crystalline, and brilliantly colored, a bit like soft candy or white crystal jelly with added chlorophyll.
Just based on its appearance, this thing seemed quite appetizing.
Wait!
Zhang Ping was suddenly startled, then his gaze fell on the cut crystal, and he couldn't help pondering in his heart: What would happen if I ate the Greed Gem myself?
Could he perfectly control himself?
Wouldn't that be the legendary one hundred percent control over the flesh?
Clearly, this was a path his predecessor had never imagined!
Should he give it a try?
Anyway, the worst-case scenario was just controlling himself.
The more Zhang Ping thought about it, the more tempted he became. He simply picked up the cut six-sided crystal, opened his mouth, and swallowed it in one gulp.
Other creatures would instinctively repel the six-sided crystal, but he wouldn't.
After swallowing the crystal, he keenly perceived a slight change in his body.
This change was hard to describe in words, somewhat resembling Sword Unity.
It could only be experienced and not described in words.
After a long time, Zhang Ping opened his eyes and a thought stirred: Go pour a glass of water!
Next, it was completely not him operating his body; instead, his body automatically went to pour water.
This feeling was very wondrous, just like his body moving on its own without needing him to control it.
Although he still had sensation and the energy consumed was still his own physical strength, the process of pouring water was irreversible. Even if he wanted to go to the toilet or do something else halfway through, as long as the command was not changed, his body would persist in pouring the water.
Do 500 push-ups!
Zhang Ping raised his cup to drink water, ending the previous command.
Then a thought stirred, and he issued a command once more, whereupon his body began to automatically do push-ups.
After 500 push-ups, Zhang Ping collapsed flat on the ground like a dead dog, unable to get up, yet a happy smile appeared on his face.
Because his predecessor was an exercise fanatic, this body could originally do 250 push-ups, but now through the command, he could do 500 push-ups.
This already surpassed the limit that willpower could endure.
Without the command, Zhang Ping estimated that he would reach his willpower limit at most after doing 300 push-ups.
Although this ability was still pretty useless, superpowers were truly too interesting.
Zhang Ping lay for half an hour, got up, and patted the dust off his body.
Even though he could manipulate his body to move into action through his thoughts, his body was still an ordinary body; facing those blade-proof Mutated Beasts in the wild, it was still completely useless.
Yet he was not disappointed; after all, he was already mentally prepared to stay in the city and farm.
If this ability could be used for farming, once he had spare physical strength in the future, it might not be impossible to find other uses.
After taking another shower, he went downstairs to eat at the cafeteria, then returned to the dormitory to rest.
The next day, early morning.
Zhang Ping was still asleep, yet his eyes were already wide open. He got dressed, left the dormitory building, and began running the moment he reached the track.
This was a routine Zhang Ping had set the previous night: wake up at 4:00 AM to run.
Although his consciousness was still sleeping, his body had moved on its own.
The state was somewhat similar to sleepwalking.
By six o'clock, he snapped awake to find himself already sitting in the cafeteria, a bowl of white porridge and three steamed buns placed before him.
He looked at the buns and porridge, his eyes involuntarily lighting up slightly as the corners of his mouth curved into a faint smile.
"It actually works!"
In truth, Zhang Ping had only been giving it a try; he never expected his body to truly execute every single operation according to his commands.
Yet there was also something that puzzled him: since his consciousness was asleep, how was his body able to move?
Could it be his subconscious?
Never mind; since this method worked, exercising would be much easier from now on.
"Good morning, classmate Luo Shiyu!"
"Classmate Luo Shiyu, I've already bought breakfast for you."
"Classmate Luo Shiyu is simply too perfect. Sob, just thinking about how I won't be able to see classmate Luo Shiyu after graduation makes me want to burst into tears."
"I wonder which of the Three Great Squads classmate Luo Shiyu plans to join after graduation?"
At that moment, a commotion arose from many students not far away. Zhang Ping was unsurprised, knowing that the campus belle from the next class had arrived.
Luo Shiyu was the class belle of Class 2 next door, as well as the campus belle of Pearl Ability Academy. Most terrifyingly, she charmed both men and women alike; her admirers included not only male students, but quite a few devoted followers among the female students as well.
For instance, Zhang Ping's former roommates had been suitors of Luo Shiyu, though after failing their awakenings, they had left the school disheartened.
Thinking about Luo Shiyu while eating his bun, Zhang Ping raised his head, and the next second his pupils sharply contracted.
He quickly lowered his head to drink his porridge, using the action to conceal his inner shock.
In his memory, Luo Shiyu was a slender, exquisitely beautiful young girl.
Yet just then, he had seen a two-meter-tall, bipedal giant fox with a young girl's human skin pasted to its forehead, walking swaggeringly right in the middle of everyone—yet everyone remained completely oblivious, gazing at it with adoring eyes.
What on earth was going on?
Zhang Ping felt a flutter in his chest as Luo Shiyu slowly approached amidst the flattery of many students.
"Good morning, classmate Zhang Ping!" the giant fox greeted in a hoarse voice as it passed by him.
Zhang Ping commanded himself in the bottom of his heart to stay calm, nodding with an expressionless face as he said, "Good morning, classmate Luo Shiyu."
Fortunately, "Luo Shiyu" did not linger, instead continuing forward and greeting other students along the way.
Zhang Ping finished his breakfast at a normal pace, only then standing up and leaving the cafeteria just like any other day.