The lucky one

Tianyang stopped.

He remembered Xun's words.

"You really are forgetful." Tianyang did not turn around, keeping his back to Zhou Wang. "If I remember correctly, I told you she was mine."

Zhou Wang laughed. "I haven't forgotten. How about this? Once I've had my fun, I'll let you have her. You can do whatever you want with her. Sounds good, doesn't it?"

"Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear enough. Allow me to repeat myself: Xun is mine. If you want to touch her, you'll have to ask my blade first." A faint gleam began to shine in Tianyang's eyes.

The dignity that girl fought so hard to preserve should not be trampled on by someone like this!

Zhou Wang smiled silently. A symbol faintly lit up within the elemental heart emblem on his forehead.

"Do you really need to go this far? She's just a lower citizen. Is she worth defending like this?"

"Besides, do you have what it takes? You're an Ascender too, but you don't have a surname yet, do you? An Ascender without a family's protection might not live very long."

Tianyang gazed into the darkness ahead in the tunnel. "No family stays powerful forever. Besides, even with a family's protection, you might not live all that long. And among Skyhold's prominent families, I don't recall ever hearing of the Zhou Family."

"How dare you!"

Zhou Wang wheeled around. Almost at the same instant, Tianyang turned to face him.

And the Particle Warblade was already in his hand!

Gray-white elemental energy surged in Zhou Wang's hand. His face darkened. "What you just said gives me more than enough reason to kill you!"

"Oh?" Tianyang's face remained expressionless. "Then why don't you try?"

"Zhou Wang, there you are."

The sudden voice broke the tension on the platform.

The Gray Dove recruit with the slightly round face and soft features drew closer, noticing Tianyang's blade sliding back into its sheath and the elemental energy slowly dissipating in Zhou Wang's palm.

"Did you run into a monster?" the girl asked nervously.

Clearly, she had no idea she had just stopped a fight.

Tianyang left without a word. A short while later, the new girl and Zhou Wang also returned to the site.

The Star Marrow Pillar remained where it was. Ahead of it, a dozen or so people were still lining up to touch the Star Pillar, Xun among them.

Not far away, Chen Liu sneered. "What a waste of time. If we hadn't bothered with this, we might already be on our way back."

Beside him, Han Shu smoked, blowing a smoke ring without saying anything.

Then it was Xun's turn. The girl in her protective suit stepped forward and, like everyone else, gently placed her hand on the Star Pillar.

The instant Xun touched it, the strange, tree-like substance suddenly lit up, its entire body blazing with dazzling silver light!

Han Shu's cigarette dropped to the ground.

Chen Liu gaped, utterly stunned.

Zhou Wang's eyes filled with disbelief, followed by a flash of anger, as though his carefully laid plans had fallen apart.

As for Tianyang, his initial surprise gave way to happiness for Xun. The Star Pillar had reacted. Clearly, it was stimulating the cells and genes within her body, causing them to evolve toward a higher form of life!

Sure enough, light began to shine inside the girl's protective suit, as though an entire river of stars had been tucked into it.

The Star Pillar's crown swayed silently, scattering specks of starlight from its crystal-like leaves.

The silver radiance illuminated the space, growing brighter and brighter until it became impossible to look at directly.

After three to five seconds, the silver light gradually faded, leaving several streams of starlight winding around Xun.

Through her helmet's transparent visor, the girl still seemed unable to believe that the Fortune God had smiled upon her.

Only when Luo Shan, the Medical Team's captain, a woman with blond hair and blue eyes, stepped forward and tapped her helmet did Xun come back to her senses.

"Take off your helmet," Luo Shan said with a smile.

Xun hesitated, then slowly removed her helmet. When she came into contact with the Inverse Realm's air, threads of silver light flowed through the blood vessels in her face before they returned to normal.

She took a deep breath and felt nothing unusual.

Luo Shan swept her into a hug. "Well done, Xun. Now tell me, what class did you awaken?"

Xun closed her eyes. A moment later, she said in disbelief, "The Radiance Class."

"What!"

"The Radiance Class, of all things!"

Han Shu cheered. "What a damned stroke of luck! The girl actually awakened the Radiance Class! Haha, we've hit the jackpot!"

He looked at Chen Liu with a grin. "Well, sir? Our little tradition isn't so bad, is it?"

Chen Liu snorted, trying hard to maintain his dignity, but the slight trembling of his fingers made it clear that Xun's awakening of the Radiance Class had excited him considerably.

Of all the known classes, two were the rarest.

One was abyss, the other radiance.

The former was the most dangerous and uncontrollable of all known classes. Ascenders who awakened the Abyss Class were invariably people consumed by despair, and they often committed extremely dangerous acts. Their abilities were also terrifying, countering most other classes.

Radiance, on the other hand, was practically the opposite of abyss. Ascenders of the Radiance Class could use healing and purification abilities. Especially in the Inverse Realm, having a Radiance Class member in a team made a world of difference.

Unfortunately, whether abyss or radiance, Ascenders of these two classes were exceedingly rare.

Of course, that had been before Tianyang awakened the Avenger Class.

Now, they were no longer the rarest.

Even so, this was still cause for celebration, especially since Tianyang's new class remained a secret.

The happiest of them all was Luo Shan, who immediately announced that Xun was now her student.

Once they returned, she would give Xun private lessons. As one of the Fortress's finest battlefield doctors, Luo Shan was someone countless medical students hoped to win the favor of.

Yet she had never intended to take on a student. Now, she had clearly chosen Xun to inherit her mantle.

At those words, Zhou Wang's expression grew even uglier.

There were few experienced battlefield doctors in the Fortress. Not only was Luo Shan a highly respected battlefield doctor, but she was also an Ascender.

Her standing in the Fortress was at least as high as that of his Zhou Family. Now that Xun, an Ascender of the Radiance Class, had become her student, the girl was beyond Zhou Wang's reach.

In fact, from the moment Luo Shan announced she was taking Xun as her student, the people in the Fortress who would dare set their sights on the girl could be counted on two hands.

And those few would never stoop to such vile conduct!

This only made Zhou Wang resent Tianyang even more. If Tianyang had not stopped him back at the Outpost Base, Zhou Wang might already have had Xun.

Then the Zhou Family would now have an Ascender of the Radiance Class, and Zhou Wang could have used that to rise to wealth and power.

But that white-haired brat ahead of him had ruined everything!

The more Zhou Wang thought about it, the angrier he became. He wished he could launch an Elemental Javelin at Tianyang right then.

Yet it never occurred to him that even if he had succeeded at the base, that did not mean the girl would marry him.

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