Preparing to Compete

An hour later.

The crowd kept growing. Students from the Artifact Refinement Department stood outside the clear glass, dumbfounded as they watched Ye Buyu test those battered odds and ends.

One girl sucked in a breath. "Did Qiu Zhi find himself a humanoid Calamity?"

"Oh, please." Her friend rolled her eyes. "She's obviously a student, and I haven't seen her before. Maybe she's a junior?"

"Does this junior owe Qiu Zhi money? Why else would she help him with such a thankless experiment?"

"She looks like she's having a blast, though. And look at Qiu Zhi beside her. He's completely stunned. This clearly wasn't what he expected."

"It's been almost an hour. Doesn't she need to clear out the Calamity aura she's accumulated?"

That's what I want to know! Qiu Zhi screamed inwardly.

"Um... why don't you take a break? There's no rush." Qiu Zhi tried to persuade her. He had already tried half an hour ago, but she hadn't listened at all.

Ye Buyu looked back in confusion and pointed at the clutter on the floor. "There's still so much left. Aren't we supposed to test it all today?"

Qiu Zhi's jaw dropped. "What are you talking about? That's half a month's work."

Knowing nothing about artifact refinement, Ye Buyu froze. She looked at the weapon in her hand, then at Qiu Zhi, before turning her gaze toward the crowd outside.

"Half a month?"

Qiu Zhi hurried over and looked her up and down. "Please don't push yourself. You need to tell me right away if the Calamity aura is affecting you. Are you dizzy, nauseous, or feeling like you might throw up? Anxious, irritable, or restless? Does your power feel like it's about to run wild?"

Overwhelmed by his barrage of questions, Ye Buyu stepped back and shook her head. "No."

Not only did she have none of those symptoms, she hadn't felt a thing. So what exactly did Calamity corruption do?

Was it like eating poisonous mushrooms and seeing tiny people? Or did it cause a mental breakdown from excessive stress? Or perhaps physical mutations?

Little Whale sneered. "I told you, unless it's corruption from a Level Ten Calamity, other Calamity auras are like air to you. They might as well not exist. Even higher-level ones won't pose much of a problem.

"So all your weapon needs to do is hit hard. Nothing else matters."

She might be immune, but other people didn't know that.

Ye Buyu blinked. Seeing that Qiu Zhi's eyes had actually become bloodshot, she gestured as she explained,

"Maybe it's because my Healing Type ability is a little unusual. Calamity aura doesn't affect me much, so I'm fine."

She picked up another weapon and continued testing. "Time waits for no one. The sooner we test them, the sooner we're done. You'd better keep at it too!"

Keep working on upgrading my gun!

Qiu Zhi felt a surge of motivation. "No problem. I know what to do now. Don't worry. Leave your weapon to me."

He turned away and fell silent for a moment, then looked back with an embarrassed expression. "I forgot to ask. What kind of attacks do you like?

"Explosive flames, wind pressure, ice, water, or lightning?"

Ye Buyu was stunned. "I can even choose an attack element?"

"Yes. Weapons for Awakened are generally beyond anything conventional, after all. Besides, you said there's no need to remove the Calamity aura, which gives us a lot more materials to work with."

Qiu Zhi smiled. "Pick whichever you like."

Ye Buyu was delighted. "Lightning!"

Qiu Zhi nodded. "Sure, no problem!"

Time flew, and a week passed in the blink of an eye. Ye Buyu finally received the modified Flower Edict she had wanted.

Its overall design hadn't changed much, but Qiu Zhi had made fine adjustments tailored to her fingers and how she applied force. The gun was now more compact and easier to carry.

When Ye Buyu fired her first Lightning Bullet and punched through a target at the shooting range, Little Whale cheered.

"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful! Who'll know whether you're about to heal them or kill them now? Bring some metal bullets too, and you'll have both physical and elemental attacks covered."

Just imagining the torment Ye Buyu's future opponents would endure made Little Whale want to laugh.

"You're an absolute menace. I don't remember raising you like this. Have you gone off track?"

Ye Buyu rolled her eyes as she organized her gear.

"How have I gone off track? Isn't this perfectly normal? I'm just covering my weaknesses. We were lucky last time to run into someone like Yan You, who loved talking and showing off. We won't be that lucky every time."

"Really?" Little Whale mocked. "Who was it who said she had terrible luck?"

Ye Buyu paused while putting on her shoes, remembering a video she had watched while looking up information two days earlier. "Watching Kou Ying's videos really put things into perspective. Suddenly, I feel like my luck isn't so bad?"

After all, she wasn't so unlucky that even drinking plain water could come back to bite her, that every manhole cover she stepped on gave way, or that every bike ride ended in a collision.

Little Whale asked idly, "You're heading to the Points Competition venue soon. Nervous? You made quite a splash last time. By now, the other candidates probably all know that your ability forces them to pay a price. What are you going to do?"

"Deal with it."

Ever since learning what her ability did, she had known she might eventually struggle to find teammates. It wasn't much of a surprise.

She had always been on her own before, stubbornly surviving as an ordinary person. That was why she had taken the initiative to find a job and mustered the courage to face an unknown future.

The result was... the long-distance bus of her life had suddenly taken a turn and sped toward somewhere even more uncertain.

But what she needed to do hadn't changed. She had to summon the courage to adapt to everything around her. As for teammates, she would find some wonderful ones.

Ye Buyu stood up, lifted her feet a little, put on her ring, and touched the red stud in her ear.

"Okay, let's go!"

She opened the door and found Mu Bingge standing outside. After a moment of surprise, she tilted her head and asked, "Mu Bingge, were you waiting for me?"

Mu Bingge nodded. "Let's go. I'll still be teaming up with you for the Points Competition."

Ye Buyu pressed her. "Why?"

The Points Competition was much safer than the Assessment. All the competition grounds were open to view, and at most, there would be a few Calamities released inside. If any danger arose, the teachers stationed throughout the grounds as referees would have time to handle it.

Logically, Mu Bingge no longer needed to stay with her. Surely taking first place was what mattered now.

Mu Bingge couldn't help reaching out to pat her head. Her raised hand paused, and in the end, she only patted Ye Buyu's shoulder.

The corners of her lips lifted slightly. Her gentle smile came into view, like green willow branches stirred by a spring breeze.

"I feel comfortable working with you."

Comfortable?

Watching Mu Bingge walk ahead, Ye Buyu frowned in confusion. Was teaming up with other people uncomfortable?

With her strength, plenty of people would volunteer if she wanted teammates. Healing Types were a dime a dozen, and much more normal than Ye Buyu.

"Wait... could it be..."

Ye Buyu stopped, looking as though she had uncovered the truth. "I've got it, Mu Bingge. You must be trying to make things harder for yourself."

"..."

Mu Bingge opened her mouth. "Not at all."