Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Zhou Fan and Lin Qianqian spar to improve their combat skills. Lin opens with paper-based attacks, but Zhou counters her ordinary paper with Fire Release.
• Zhou uses flames as cover, then closes in with a quick sword strike and a wooden spike. Lin is unable to react, though the spike stops just short of her neck.
• Lin asks to continue without restraint, explaining that her [Paper Transformation] can protect her from physical attacks. She activates it, turning her body into a flexible, re-formable mass of paper-like spiritual energy.
• The fighters trade attacks for half an hour. Lin’s explosive tags can withstand Zhou’s fire, but her paper techniques remain vulnerable. Zhou uses his Sharingan and precise darts to intercept her attacks, while Lin adapts and presses him with increasingly powerful techniques.
• Zhou’s immense fire technique destroys Lin’s paper wheel and surprises her. Neither wins decisively; they stop when both have spent much of their spiritual energy. Lin says she learned a lot and asks Zhou to identify her weaknesses.

Character developments

• Lin Qianqian is determined to improve and eager to defeat Zhou herself. She accepts a humbling loss of initiative, then reveals her transformation and fights more seriously.
• Zhou Fan demonstrates tactical versatility and restraint. He studies Lin’s unusual power while keeping his attacks controlled, and he gains a better understanding of how her transformation works.

Significant themes

• Training through challenge: Both characters gain experience from a difficult, evenly matched fight.
• Adaptation and strategy: Lin’s paper abilities have different strengths and vulnerabilities; Zhou exploits those weaknesses while Lin adjusts her tactics.
• Respectful competition: Their rivalry is intense, but both prioritize learning over claiming victory.

Character interactions

Zhou praises Lin’s wide-area attacks and checks whether the spar has helped her. Lin openly asks for his honest assessment, showing trust in his judgment as well as her desire to improve.

Key plot points and events

• After sparring, Lin Qianqian asks Zhou Fan for advice, partly to maintain an act she is required to continue for three days.
• Zhou Fan seriously lists her weaknesses: poor conditioning and reflexes, limited attack variety, and especially weak Taijutsu. He warns that a close-range Taijutsu Esper could put her in danger.
• Lin bristles at the criticism but thanks him and asks to keep coming for training advice. Zhou suspects she lost a truth-or-dare game; she denies it, though the guess is close to the truth.
• Lin gives Zhou a box of treats she made herself. Suspicious of the gesture, he opens it to find them badly burnt.
• Hoping not to offend her, Zhou tastes one, immediately spits it out, and apologizes for supposedly upsetting her in the past. Lin insists she is not angry and asks whether the treats really taste that bad.

Character developments

• Zhou Fan is earnest and direct when giving advice, then comically suspicious of Lin’s unexpected kindness. His concern about offending her makes him apologize despite having done nothing wrong in the moment.
• Lin Qianqian struggles to maintain her aloof image while fulfilling an obligation to seek Zhou’s guidance. Her annoyance at his blunt critique gives way to embarrassment and genuine nervousness as he tries her first homemade treats.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus sincerity: Lin’s request and gift are partly driven by an obligation, but her anticipation of Zhou’s reaction to the treats is genuine.
• Honest advice and defensiveness: Zhou offers practical criticism, while Lin finds it hard to accept.
• Awkward kindness and comic misunderstanding: Zhou interprets the burnt treats as a possible trap or sign of resentment, while Lin simply wants him to appreciate her effort.

Character interactions

• Zhou gives Lin candid training feedback; she challenges his assessment of her vulnerability to Taijutsu but continues asking for his help.
• Zhou’s suspicion prompts him to question why she is acting unusually, and Lin conceals the real reason.
• Lin offers her treats with reluctant embarrassment and hopeful anticipation; Zhou’s bad reaction turns the gesture into an awkward exchange of suspicion, apology, and reassurance.

Plot and key events

• Lin Qianqian brings Zhou Fan pastries she made herself, but he spits them out and bluntly calls them awful. She tastes one and confirms they are badly burnt.
• Embarrassed but still defensive, Lin Qianqian leaves, promising to visit again. Zhou Fan suspects she may be seeking cultivation advice, but welcomes the prospect of sparring with her: fighting another Esper teaches him skills that battles against mutant beasts do not.
• At home, Lin Qianqian is angered by Zhou Fan’s criticism and vows to make pastries good enough to prove him wrong.
• The next morning, repeated attempts fail for different reasons. Frustrated, she calls her friend Li Mengyao, who knows how to bake, and asks her to teach her.
• Li Mengyao arrives and is astonished to find Qianqian in an apron. Knowing Qianqian’s history of disastrous cooking attempts, she suspects the sudden change has a personal cause and asks whether Qianqian is dating someone.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Qianqian shifts from embarrassment and defiance to determined effort, revealing how strongly she wants to redeem herself after Zhou Fan’s judgment. Her usual competence as an S-rank Esper contrasts comically with her helplessness in the kitchen.
• Zhou Fan is honest, if tactless, about the pastries. He also reflects that combat with Espers requires reading opponents and exploiting weaknesses, and sees further sparring with Qianqian as useful training.
• Li Mengyao is surprised and teasingly suspicious when Qianqian asks for baking lessons, suggesting there may be a romantic reason behind her sudden enthusiasm.

Significant themes

• Humility and learning: Qianqian discovers that talent in one area does not guarantee skill in another.
• Different kinds of conflict: Zhou Fan recognizes that fighting human opponents requires different tactics from fighting beasts.
• Pride and determination: Qianqian’s wounded pride turns failure into motivation.
• Comedy through contrast: The formidable Esper’s repeated kitchen mishaps provide humor and hint at a possible romantic subplot.

Plot points and events

• Lin Qianqian asks her best friend, Li Mengyao, to teach her how to bake cookies. Mengyao suspects she is trying to impress a man, which Qianqian denies.
• Qianqian attempts several batches, but each turns out badly: some are rock-hard, others burnt, misshapen, or too soft.
• Mengyao carefully supervises and then makes cookies herself with the same ingredients and recipe. Her batch succeeds, convincing her that Qianqian—not the recipe—is the problem.
• Mengyao suggests Qianqian give up, but Qianqian refuses. She needs to make good treats to pass a system-assigned task, and she is also determined to prove herself after Zhou Fan criticized her first attempt.

Character development and interactions

• Lin Qianqian is revealed as stubborn and highly motivated. Though she is a powerful S-rank ability user, baking defeats her; her pride and the system’s evaluation keep her practicing.
• Li Mengyao shifts from confident instructor to baffled, then recommits herself to teaching Qianqian. Her curiosity about Qianqian’s real motive grows.
• Their friendship is warm and teasing: Mengyao eagerly accepts the rare chance to help her best friend, while Qianqian pushes past Mengyao’s playful suspicions and repeated setbacks.
• Zhou Fan, though absent, motivates Qianqian: his harsh judgment of her previous treats has made her determined to earn his approval—or at least prove him wrong.

Significant themes

• Persistence despite failure: Qianqian refuses to quit even after repeated disasters.
• Pride and motivation: Her desire to succeed comes from both practical pressure and wounded pride.
• Friendship and support: Mengyao keeps helping even as the task becomes baffling.
• Comic contrast: Qianqian’s S-rank power contrasts humorously with her inability to bake a decent cookie.

Key plot points

• After a morning and afternoon of coaching from Li Mengyao, Lin Qianqian learns to bake cookies with about a 50% success rate.
• Li Mengyao deduces that Qianqian is baking for a boy and teases her about secretly pursuing him, offering to be her romantic adviser. Qianqian denies everything and gives up trying to correct her.
• That evening, Qianqian waits discreetly outside Zhou Fan’s home to avoid attracting gossip. She says she has returned for more training and asks to practice Taijutsu.
• Zhou Fan and Qianqian spar for half an hour without using special skills. Zhou Fan is much stronger but restrains himself so she can train. He recognizes that she is taking the practice seriously and praises her improvement.
• Qianqian then presents Zhou Fan with the cookies she baked. Remembering the disastrous batch from the previous day, he privately fears they may be inedible.

Character developments and interactions

• Qianqian shows persistence by improving her baking and returning for training. She remains guarded about her feelings and hides both her reason for baking and her visits to Zhou Fan, though her actions suggest she cares about him.
• Li Mengyao acts as Qianqian’s playful, perceptive confidante. She reads Qianqian’s evasions as signs of a secret crush and enthusiastically offers advice.
• Zhou Fan shifts from suspecting Qianqian has an ulterior motive to believing she genuinely wants to improve. He supports her by holding back during their sparring.
• Qianqian’s careful secrecy contrasts with Mengyao’s confident teasing, while Zhou Fan’s encouraging guidance deepens their connection.

Significant themes

• Unspoken affection and denial: Qianqian’s efforts imply romantic interest, but she insists there is “nothing between” them.
• Persistence and self-improvement: She works to develop both her baking and Taijutsu skills.
• Friendship and teasing: Mengyao’s humorous interrogation reveals her closeness to Qianqian.
• Reputation and gossip: Qianqian hides her visits because she worries others might misinterpret them.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Qianqian brings Zhou Fan a second box of homemade cookies as a thank-you. Unlike the charred treats from the previous day, these are edible, if ordinary.
• Zhou Fan initially suspects she bought them, then praises her improvement after learning she made them herself in a single day. His blunt question about whether yesterday’s treats were bad on purpose briefly angers her, but his acknowledgement of her progress softens her mood.
• The following day, Lin Qianqian prepares her third and final box of cookies, glad that her three-day task is nearly over.
• Students returning from outside the city spot her entering Zhou Fan’s home and mistakenly conclude that the two are on a date. One records the encounter and treats it as major gossip.
• Unaware of the rumors, Zhou Fan asks whether Lin Qianqian has come to practice Taijutsu again. She says she wants to fight him at full strength instead, making this their final match.

Character developments

• Lin Qianqian shows persistence and humility: despite being an S-rank ability user and a popular campus belle, she seeks Zhou Fan’s advice and works to improve. Her baking also progresses noticeably.
• Zhou Fan begins to admire her sincerity and lack of arrogance. His awkwardly direct comments sometimes frustrate her, but he genuinely recognizes her effort and is willing to teach her.
• Lin Qianqian also wants to test how much she has improved and find out which of them is stronger.

Significant themes

• Effort and growth: Lin Qianqian’s improved cookies reflect the rewards of practice.
• Humility and learning: She is willing to seek help from someone she does not consider beneath her.
• Misunderstanding and gossip: Bystanders misread an ordinary visit as a romantic date.
• Competition and closure: Their final encounter is framed as a serious test of strength and the end of Lin’s three-day routine.

Character interactions

• Lin and Zhou share a teasing, awkward exchange over her cookies: she hopes for recognition, while he offers honest but tactless feedback.
• Zhou’s candid praise ultimately reassures Lin that he sees her effort.
• Outside, students turn their visit into a rumor; inside, Lin challenges Zhou to a full-strength fight, unaware that their meeting is already being misrepresented.

Plot points

• Still stung by her earlier defeat, Lin Qianqian asks Zhou Fan for a serious spar after two days of training. Though she has been visiting him under the pretense of seeking guidance, her real preparation has been training her psychic power at home to resist his Genjutsu.
• Lin begins defensively with the Paper Transformation Technique, then trades increasingly powerful paper attacks against Zhou’s Fire and Water techniques. Her barrage of more than a hundred Explosive Tags forces Zhou to defend with both a Water Formation Wall and a previously unseen Wood Release technique.
• Zhou counters with his speed and Sharingan, cutting through Lin’s paper tornado. He then traps her with Genjutsu. Despite her preparation, she cannot break free, so Zhou ends the spar by dispelling it.
• Lin accepts the loss. They end their training session by sharing her homemade cookies; Zhou says they taste good. Lin says she probably will not visit the next day.

Character developments

• Lin Qianqian remains fiercely competitive and determined to learn exactly how strong Zhou is. She has become an S-rank fighter and prepared specifically for his Genjutsu, but discovers her resistance is still inadequate. Despite her frustration, she accepts the result without excuses.
• Zhou Fan recognizes Lin as a serious opponent and has to use more than casual effort to defend himself. He remains restrained, stopping the fight once she is caught rather than exploiting her vulnerability.

Themes

• Persistence after defeat: Lin treats losing as motivation to improve, not a reason to give up.
• Preparation and self-knowledge: She studies Zhou’s abilities and trains to counter them, though preparation cannot guarantee victory.
• Respectful competition and restraint: The spar is intense, but Zhou keeps it from becoming cruel or dangerous.
• Honest judgment: Lin insists that a loss is a loss, even when Zhou says he nearly lost.

Character interactions

• Lin directly challenges Zhou to test her progress; he cautions her about sparring so soon but agrees.
• Their exchange reveals the widening range of Zhou’s powers, surprising Lin with his Wood Release and Sharingan.
• After the fight, Zhou offers encouragement, while Lin rejects the comfort of “almost” winning and asks for feedback on her cookies.

Plot points

• Lin Qianqian finishes her three-day punishment task and asks the system to verify it. She receives a C grade and two Mid-Grade Spirit Stones instead of the High-Grade Spirit Stone she expected, leading her to accuse the system of shortchanging her. The system insists the reward reflects her performance.
• The system announces a second comparison with Zhou Fan in 15 days. The prizes include Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones, an S-Rank Superpower Book, and rare materials.
• Determined to avenge her first loss, Lin Qianqian decides to train specifically against Zhou Fan’s Genjutsu. She also sets a separate goal of becoming the Southern District’s top college entrance exam scorer, with the exam ten days away.
• Later, her friend Li Mengyao messages her after seeing photos and video of Lin Qianqian entering Zhou Fan’s home. Misleading angles make the two look romantically involved. Lin Qianqian denies they were on a date and tries to explain.

Character developments

• Lin Qianqian is angry about her reduced reward and still sore about losing to Zhou Fan. She believes carelessness—not a genuine gap in ability—caused her defeat, and remains confident she can win if she counters his Genjutsu.
• Li Mengyao feels hurt and betrayed, assuming Lin Qianqian has secretly been dating Zhou Fan and hiding it from her.

Significant themes

• Competition and overconfidence: Lin Qianqian is motivated to improve, but her confidence rests on the belief that she narrowly lost only because of one weakness.
• Appearances versus reality: The photos create a false impression of a date, setting up a misunderstanding between friends.
• Fairness and rewards: Lin Qianqian clashes with the system over how much her task performance deserves.

Character interactions

• Lin Qianqian argues with the system over her grade and reward; the system remains firm and claims neutrality.
• Lin Qianqian plans her next confrontation with Zhou Fan, focusing on his Genjutsu.
• Li Mengyao confronts Lin Qianqian with the evidence and threatens to end their friendship unless she explains. Lin Qianqian insists the situation is not what it seems, leaving the misunderstanding unresolved.

Plot points and events

• Lin Qianqian tries to convince her best friend, Li Mengyao, that she and Zhou Fan only sparred. She can’t explain the real reason for their training because she must keep her system secret.
• Li Mengyao rejects her explanation, interpreting Qianqian’s homemade cookies and the photos of her visiting Zhou Fan as signs of romance.
• Qianqian discovers that photos and a video have gone viral on the school forum under a sensational headline suggesting she and Zhou Fan are dating. Students speculate wildly and react as though the campus beauty has a boyfriend.
• Qianqian refuses to post a rebuttal, believing there is nothing between them and that time will disprove the rumors.
• Meanwhile, Zhou Fan receives an unusually large flood of emotion-point notifications but doesn’t know why. His friend Zhao Qiu sends him the photos and assumes he has won Qianqian’s affection.
• Zhou Fan insists their meetings are for sparring. He dismisses Zhao Qiu’s claim that Qianqian likes him, joking that he would sooner believe a chicken could perform.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Qianqian is frustrated by the rumors but stays composed enough to avoid publicly defending herself. She is constrained by the need to conceal her system.
• Li Mengyao eagerly plays matchmaker, treating circumstantial evidence as proof and imagining that Qianqian and Zhou Fan are already progressing toward a relationship.
• Zhou Fan is oblivious to the romantic interpretation of their encounters. He thinks Qianqian’s intense behavior during training may even indicate hostility.
• Zhao Qiu teases and encourages Zhou Fan, confidently reading the photos as evidence of Qianqian’s interest. Zhou Fan rejects his interpretation.

Significant themes

• Rumor and public perception: A few images and a video prompt the school community to construct a romance narrative without knowing the truth.
• Miscommunication and dramatic irony: Both leads deny having romantic feelings, while friends and classmates insist otherwise.
• Privacy and concealment: Qianqian cannot give a complete explanation because she must keep her system secret.
• Comic obliviousness: The chapter’s humor comes from everyone interpreting the pair’s interactions differently—and from Zhou Fan’s emphatic disbelief that Qianqian could like him.

Plot and key events

• Lin Qianqian ignores the school-forum gossip about her and Zhou Fan, choosing to focus on cultivation instead.
• She absorbs two Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, rising from second tier, 1 star to second tier, 3 stars. Her breakthrough grants her Paper-Style Clone, which can create up to three independently conscious clones that remain active even if she is caught in Genjutsu or similar effects.
• Qianqian sees the technique as a partial answer to Zhou Fan’s Genjutsu, but wants complete immunity. Determined not to underestimate him again, she resolves to catch up with and surpass him.
• Zhou Fan wakes to a flood of Envy and Resentment emotion points and discovers he has accumulated 52,023. He spends 50,000 to obtain Madara Uchiha’s Mangekyō Sharingan.
• The system reveals that the left eye boosts ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu by 300%, while the right boosts spiritual-energy capacity and quality by 300%. The Mangekyō also unlocks Susanoo and Izanagi; Izanagi can turn unfavorable events into illusions but permanently blinds the eye used.
• Zhou Fan’s cultivation also rises to second tier, 3 stars. His new eyes dramatically sharpen his vision, but the system warns that repeated Mangekyō use causes progressive blindness. The chapter identifies the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and Hashirama’s cells as possible ways to counter the drawback.

Character development and interactions

• Lin Qianqian remains proud and competitive. She treats Zhou Fan as a rival she must overcome, and her new clones give her a tactical option against his Genjutsu.
• Zhou Fan gains a major power boost and adopts a straightforward, strength-first attitude. He recognizes that the Mangekyō’s power carries a serious cost, though he believes the system may provide ways around it.
• Their rivalry is the chapter’s central interaction: Qianqian prepares for a rematch while Zhou Fan becomes substantially stronger, setting up a more difficult contest.

Significant themes

• Rivalry and self-improvement: Both characters use their previous competition as motivation to grow.
• Power and its price: Zhou Fan’s Mangekyō grants immense advantages but threatens permanent blindness.
• Preparation versus confidence: Qianqian resolves to stop underestimating her opponent, while Zhou Fan favors overwhelming strength.
• Public opinion versus personal priorities: Qianqian dismisses the forum rumors and focuses on cultivation.

Key plot points and events

• After awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, Zhou Fan feels newly confident. He lists his enhanced abilities—including Susanoo, Izanagi, several elemental techniques, and Shukaku—and believes he has a chance of placing in the Southern District’s top hundred, enough to qualify for Xinghai University.
• Eager to test his strength, he leaves the city to fight mutant beasts in the forest.
• The chapter explains the exam’s importance: it is one of three major turning points in life, and for these students, their final opportunity to enter a stronger, more prosperous world.
• The day before the exam, Xia Qingran messages Zhou Fan and encourages him to aim for Xinghai University. He jokingly asks whether he could get in with zero points; she insists he has the strength to make the top hundred.
• On exam day, Tianhai No. 1 High School’s candidates assemble. Their reduced numbers reflect different paths—some students went to work or inherited businesses, while others died fighting mutant beasts.
• Zhou Fan reunites with Zhao Qiu, who teases him about rumors that he won over campus beauty Lin Qianqian. Zhou Fan denies the rumors and urges him to focus on the exam.
• The principal leads the candidates onto buses bound for the examination site.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan shifts from exam preparation to confidence after gaining the Mangekyō Sharingan, though he acknowledges the need to stay cautious. His ambition remains focused on earning a place at Xinghai University.
• Xia Qingran shows genuine interest in Zhou Fan’s future and strongly hopes he will attend her university. She privately imagines training him once he arrives.
• Zhao Qiu remains playful and continues teasing Zhou Fan about his supposed relationship with Lin Qianqian, despite Zhou Fan’s denials.
• The chapter highlights how Zhou Fan’s rumored romance has made him a target of envy among his classmates.

Significant themes

• Opportunity and life-changing choices: Birth, superpower awakening, and the college entrance exam are presented as major turning points that shape a person’s future.
• Strength through danger: Becoming stronger requires confronting mutant beasts, but doing so carries real risks and can cost lives.
• Ambition balanced by humility: Zhou Fan is excited by his new power but recognizes that overconfidence could lead to failure.
• Unequal paths and harsh realities: Students’ futures diverge according to talent, wealth, ambition, and survival.

Plot points and events

• The Southern District’s Esper College Entrance Examination is held in Nanyang City, a purpose-built venue that fills with examinees, staff, spectators, and cameras for the annual event.
• More than ten thousand students gather. The four leading schools—Changyue, Chengfeng No. 1, Tianhai No. 1, and Liuye—arrive with reputations shaped by their students’ Esper ranks.
• Changyue’s principal, Qu Yang, boasts to Tianhai principal Wang Daochuan that his school has produced S-rank Espers every year for a decade—and has two this year. Wang resents the taunt but hopes Tianhai can reclaim its former standing.
• Tianhai has a renewed chance through Lin Qianqian, its sole S-rank student. Chengfeng has one S-rank and fifteen A-rank students; Liuye has no S-rank students this year.
• Chief examiner Liu Ye announces three events: a superpower test, an individual points competition, and an individual arena competition. Scores from all three determine the overall top examinee.
• The superpower test begins with Changyue. Its S-rank prodigies Liu Feng and Yang Wei score 91 and 90 out of 100, impressing the crowd.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Daochuan masks his irritation at Qu Yang’s provocation, while privately longing for Tianhai to defeat Changyue and restore its prestige.
• Qu Yang is openly smug, using Changyue’s decade of dominance to belittle Tianhai.
• Lin Qianqian is determined to take first place in the Southern District. She believes she can beat the other S-rank contestants and sees Zhou Fan as her main threat, though she feels stronger than before.
• Zhou Fan observes the gathering and the start of the competition; his presence is already part of Lin Qianqian’s calculations.

Significant themes

• Rivalry and institutional pride: The examination is also a contest between schools, especially Changyue’s dominant record and Tianhai’s hope of a comeback.
• Merit under public scrutiny: The exam’s measured events, computer-scored test, and nationwide broadcast turn student performance into a highly visible competition.
• Uncertainty and ambition: School reputations set expectations, but the final rankings depend on the examinees’ results across all three events.

Plot points

• Tianhai No. 1 High School is widely dismissed after a decade of poor results, despite having an S-rank student this year.
• Lin Qianqian takes the individual test and scores 100, a feat not seen in the country for years. Her result shocks the crowd and gives Tianhai a major point of pride.
• Zhou Fan is tested in a group because his registered power is only C-rank. His testing light is nevertheless brighter than the others’, and his score races to 100.
• The audience is stunned that a C-rank candidate has earned full marks. The testing computer then flashes overload warnings and explodes, leaving the true extent of Zhou Fan’s result unclear.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Qianqian treats her perfect score as expected and is more curious about Zhou Fan’s performance.
• Zhou Fan draws attention by displaying strength far beyond what his registered C-rank power suggests.
• Wang Daochuan, Tianhai’s principal, goes from being mocked to loudly celebrating his school’s results.
• Qu Yang, principal of the rival Changyue Middle School, initially boasts about his school’s strength and later tries to downplay Lin’s score; Zhou Fan’s result leaves him visibly rattled.
• Examiners and spectators move from skepticism about Zhou Fan’s rank to disbelief at his score.

Significant themes

• Appearances can be misleading: Zhou Fan’s C-rank classification fails to reflect his actual ability.
• Competition and school pride: The principals’ rivalry turns the tests into a contest for status as well as student achievement.
• Exceptional talent: The chapter emphasizes the rarity of perfect scores—and suggests that Zhou Fan may be even more extraordinary than his ranking indicates.

Plot and key events

• Zhou Fan’s superpower score overwhelms the testing computer, which explodes. The central system flags his result as beyond the device’s limit and calls for a reassessment.
• Chief examiner Liu Ye checks that Zhou Fan did not tamper with the machine, then provides a replacement with a higher scoring limit.
• The second computer also explodes when Zhou Fan’s score passes 150. Liu Ye orders a third machine, unlocked to measure up to 200.
• Zhou Fan’s third test registers 155 points, far above the standard perfect score of 100 and the highest result in the exam.
• The crowd and livestream viewers are astonished. Zhou Fan gains a huge number of emotion points from their shock, while the exam continues.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan remains outwardly innocent and jokes that the first explosion nearly hit him, asking whether he can seek compensation. Privately, he worries the Esper Bureau might charge him for the damaged machines. Once he sees his emotion points rise, he eagerly welcomes the crowd’s astonishment.
• Liu Ye initially suspects something is wrong, but verifies Zhou Fan’s result through repeated tests. His disbelief gives way to amazement and pride in the district’s exceptional candidate.
• Lin Qianqian, previously the standout after scoring a perfect 100, is shaken by Zhou Fan’s 155. His result makes her achievement seem far less impressive by comparison.
• The candidates, spectators, and online viewers react with escalating disbelief, while Liu Ye and Zhou Fan trade a comic exchange over responsibility for the broken computers.

Significant themes

• Exceptional talent and disrupted expectations: Zhou Fan surpasses what the exam system—and everyone present—believed possible.
• Comparison and status: His record score eclipses Lin Qianqian’s perfect result, illustrating how a new benchmark can diminish an earlier triumph.
• Recognition as reward: The crowd’s shock directly benefits Zhou Fan through emotion points, making public reaction valuable to him.
• Institutional limits: The inadequate testing equipment cannot keep up with the candidate it is meant to measure.

Key plot points and events

• The first round ends with several standout results, including Zhou Fan’s unprecedented score of 155, heightening expectations for the remaining tests.
• Examiner Liu Ye introduces the second round: a two-hour individual hunt in a vast trial realm filled with mutant beasts. Candidates earn points based on each beast’s tier and star rating; activating their spatial bracelet to escape locks their score and ends their participation.
• The candidates enter the realm and are separated across its enormous forest.
• Zhou Fan quickly kills two First Tier, 4-Star beasts, earning eight points. His combat instincts, Body Flicker Technique, and enhanced Taijutsu make the fight effortless. He continues hunting, determined to use the full two hours.
• Elsewhere, Lin Qianqian uses her Paper Explosion Technique to destroy waves of beasts with little effort. She resolves to beat Zhou Fan and claim first place.

Character developments

• Zhou Fan remains focused and disciplined. Despite his record-breaking first-round score, he knows the exam is not over and approaches the endurance-based trial seriously.
• Lin Qianqian reveals a strong competitive drive. Zhou Fan’s result has unsettled her, but she believes her real combat ability can match his and sees improving her resistance to Genjutsu as a way to overcome him.

Significant themes

• Endurance alongside power: The second round tests sustained combat, not just explosive ability, reflecting the prolonged battles Espers face against numerous mutant beasts.
• Theory versus practice: Lin Qianqian questions whether Zhou Fan’s first-round performance proves his actual fighting superiority.
• Competition and ambition: Both candidates are motivated to outperform the other, turning the trial into a personal contest as well as an exam.

Character interactions

• Liu Ye explains the rules and warns candidates that leaving the trial permanently ends their run.
• Zhou Fan and Lin Qianqian do not meet in the realm, but each treats the other as the key rival: Zhou focuses on maximizing his score, while Lin explicitly vows to defeat him.

Plot and key events

• During the second exam round, contestants earn points by killing Mutant Beasts. Zhou Fan quickly dispatches the few beasts he finds, but complains that the sparse encounters are keeping his score—and his enjoyment—low.
• He eventually discovers a pack of more than a dozen gray wolves. Before he can attack, Liu Feng, an S-rank prodigy from Changyue Middle School, and his group block his way and claim the wolves.
• Liu Feng challenges Zhou Fan out of resentment over the attention Zhou received after scoring 155 points in the first round. Zhou responds by knocking Liu Feng into a tree with one kick, then uses a heat-based attack to push the others back.
• Rather than pursue the human fight, Zhou turns to the wolves. He dodges Liu Feng’s lightning and counters the group’s attacks while repeatedly targeting the pack. Liu Feng finally tells his team to focus on the wolves, but they are too late: Zhou kills them all himself, including two that earn him eight points.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan is confident and overwhelmingly capable. He treats the confrontation as a minor distraction, splitting his attention between fighting the group and hunting the wolves.
• Liu Feng is skilled and competitive, but his resentment toward Zhou clouds his judgment. After being struck down, he leads his group’s attacks, then changes strategy to prioritize the points.
• Liu Feng’s teammates follow his lead, but Zhou’s effortless handling of them makes them feel ignored and humiliated.

Significant themes

• Competition and scarce resources: Contestants are willing to fight over limited prey because every kill can improve their ranking.
• Talent, attention, and jealousy: Zhou’s exceptional first-round score eclipses other prodigies, provoking Liu Feng’s hostility.
• Overwhelming confidence and humiliation: Zhou’s refusal to give the group his full attention turns his advantage into an insult, intensifying their frustration.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Fan tells Liu Feng’s group that he has already killed the Mutant Beasts they came to hunt. Liu Feng, frustrated at losing the points, decides to attack Zhou Fan instead.
• Zhou Fan reveals his Mangekyō Sharingan and quickly knocks aside the group’s B-rank Espers. Liu Feng, an S-rank lightning Esper, fights back with powerful lightning techniques, apparently reducing Zhou Fan to a charred body.
• The apparent victory is an illusion. Liu Feng has been caught in Zhou Fan’s Mangekyō Genjutsu since making eye contact. In the illusion, Zhou Fan withstands Liu Feng’s attacks before the scene turns bloodred and Liu Feng finds himself bound to a cross.
• Liu Feng wakes from the genjutsu terrified and physically drained. Zhou Fan explains that looking into his Sharingan was enough to ensnare him, then leaves. Liu Feng collapses after Zhou Fan taunts him.
• Zhou Fan resumes hunting Mutant Beasts until the exam ends. Candidates are teleported back to the athletic field, where Liu Ye announces that the second-round rankings will be revealed.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan displays overwhelming speed and confidence, and reveals that his Mangekyō’s genjutsu can take hold without the signs or warning Liu Feng expects. He refuses to waste time finishing off the group and returns to his exam objective.
• Liu Feng shifts from arrogant confidence to fear and helplessness after discovering he was trapped in an illusion. His companions cannot initially rouse him and later rush to his side when he collapses.
• Liu Feng’s companions attempt to fight Zhou Fan but are swiftly defeated. They witness Liu Feng freeze without understanding what has happened to him.

Significant themes

• Perception versus reality: Liu Feng believes he has defeated Zhou Fan, but the fight is an illusion created by the Mangekyō.
• Mental strength as power: Genjutsu harms Liu Feng psychologically rather than physically, and the exam’s organizers treat emotional resilience as an important measure of an Esper.
• Confidence and misjudgment: Liu Feng underestimates Zhou Fan and mistakes an imagined victory for proof of his superiority.
• Competition and pressure: The exam announces rankings immediately after each round, deliberately testing candidates’ ability to remain mentally steady.

Plot points and events

• The second-round results are announced. Changyue Middle School takes four of the top ten places; Lin Qianqian scores an impressive 135 points to place second.
• Zhou Fan takes first with 270 points—double Lin’s score and far beyond the other candidates—stunning spectators.
• Liu Feng, an S-rank candidate expected to do well, fails to make the top fifty after clashing with Zhou Fan in the exam realm and losing the chance to earn points.
• The exam pauses at 11 a.m. Candidates have two hours to rest before the final, knockout round begins at 1 p.m.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Qianqian is frustrated and demoralized by repeatedly placing behind Zhou Fan. Though she performed exceptionally, public comparisons make her feel inadequate and strengthen her desire to come first.
• Zhou Fan is surprised not by his own high score but by how low everyone else’s scores are. His confidence borders on arrogance as he muses that being so far ahead is lonely.
• Liu Feng blames Zhou Fan for his poor result, but Yang Wei bluntly points out that Liu simply lost. Their argument is cut short by Principal Qu Yang, who scolds Liu for making excuses and embarrassing the school.
• Qu Yang tells Liu Feng and Yang Wei that the knockout round offers another chance to face Zhou Fan. Both agree to follow the principal’s instructions, hinting at a planned confrontation.

Significant themes

• Comparison and self-worth: Lin’s strong achievement is overshadowed by Zhou Fan’s extraordinary score, showing how comparison can diminish even genuine success.
• Talent, effort, and disparity: Zhou Fan’s vast lead leaves other candidates’ hard work looking insignificant, intensifying the exam’s competitive atmosphere.
• Accountability versus excuses: Yang Wei insists that a loss should be accepted rather than explained away, while Liu tries to shift blame.

Plot points and events

• During lunch, Principal Wang Daochuan fusses over Zhou Fan, offering him an extravagant meal and chilled cola. He explains to the vice principal that Zhou is the school’s greatest hope and deserves special treatment.
• Wang also brings Lin Qianqian the same lavish meal, recognizing her as the exam’s second-best performer so far. Lin accepts, but resents that Zhou’s standing—and her own meal—depends on him. Zhou notices the resulting resentment messages and wonders who is upset with him.
• After the break, Chief Examiner Liu Ye announces the third and decisive exam round: an arena-based elimination competition with three stages.
  • Quick Battle: Ten examinees per arena, five minutes; participants earn points for eliminations and for remaining when time expires.
  • Advancement Round: The field is reduced by half; matches grow to fifteen people and ten minutes, with higher point rewards.
  • Finals: The top sixteen compete in one-on-one matches for the overall title.
• The Quick Battles begin. Many examinees are eliminated quickly amid the chaos. Zhou Fan is assigned to match 191, while Lin Qianqian enters the arena in match 91 and draws considerable attention because of her S-rank Divine Paper Technique. Her performance has not yet been shown.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan is comfortable accepting special treatment and orders an extravagant meal without hesitation. He remains oblivious to why Lin Qianqian resents him.
• Wang Daochuan openly prioritizes Zhou, treating him as the school’s most valuable asset. His blunt explanation impresses the vice principal, who accepts Wang’s logic.
• Lin Qianqian is acknowledged as an exceptional candidate, but Zhou’s much higher status leaves her feeling overshadowed and indebted to his influence.
• Liu Ye lays out the rules and stakes for the final exam round, while spectators and examinees focus on the unfolding arena battles.

Significant themes

• Status and favoritism: Zhou’s performance earns him extraordinary privileges, while others are treated as secondary.
• Competition and survival: The third round turns individual strength into a high-pressure test of elimination, endurance, and scoring.
• Recognition and resentment: Lin’s achievements are substantial, but comparison with Zhou complicates her sense of accomplishment.

Key plot points and events

• Each arena holds ten randomly assigned candidates in a five-minute free-for-all. Eliminating opponents earns points.
• Lin Qianqian, the sole student from Tianhai No. 1 High School in her arena, attacks all nine rivals without holding back.
• Her body can turn into paper scraps, making ordinary attacks ineffective. She eliminates six opponents by binding them and throwing them out, then defeats the remaining three with explosive paper tags.
• She clears the arena in about four minutes, becoming the first candidate to eliminate all nine opponents alone. Spectators cheer her spectacular performance.
• The speed battle reaches its final round: Zhou Fan enters an arena with two other Tianhai students, five A-rank candidates from Changyue Middle School, and two low-level C-rank candidates from ordinary schools.
• The Changyue group has prepared a strategy to challenge Zhou Fan, determined to bring down the supposedly C-rank “dark horse.” The two weaker candidates fear being caught in the crossfire.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Qianqian displays overwhelming confidence and control. She treats the arena as a chance to maximize points, and regards her decisive victory as expected rather than exceptional. Despite her success, she wonders whether Zhou Fan will surpass her.
• The spectators respond enthusiastically to Lin’s combination of beauty and strength, while also recognizing her as a top-tier talent.
• Zhou Fan is impatient after waiting a long time and remains a figure of complicated popularity: his results are impressive, but his C-rank ability makes them seem almost impossible.
• The Changyue candidates coordinate against Zhou Fan, while the two weaker competitors privately dread the uneven matchup.

Significant themes

• Power and reputation: Lin’s S-rank ability makes her strength seem natural, while Zhou’s unexpected achievements attract attention for their contradiction.
• Competition and strategy: Candidates seek points through eliminations, team up when useful, and prepare tactics before entering the arena.
• Confidence versus uncertainty: Lin takes her victory for granted, but Zhou’s upcoming performance leaves the spectators—and Lin—wondering what may happen next.