Early the next morning.
Year one, class one.
Because Duan Ming and Fang Cheng had fought a bloody battle against the Church of the Dark Night to defend the school, the school leadership unanimously agreed to have Lin Qiao commend them in front of the class.
They each received a medal of honor.
At the Divine Power School, this was considered the highest honor one could receive.
Of course, it wasn't just Duan Ming and Fang Cheng. Everyone who had fought the Church of the Dark Night the night before last received a medal of honor.
"Holy shit, is this made of gold? We struck it rich!"
"If I hadn't gone home the night before last, wouldn't I have gotten a medal like this too?"
"Give it a rest. If you hadn't gone home, you might already have kicked the bucket."
Sitting at his desk, Fang Cheng gripped the golden medal in his hand and frowned.
He hadn't done anything but fire two shots, and both had missed. Yet he'd somehow managed to come away with a medal?
"Huh? It isn't made of gold? Why's the paint coming off?"
A boy beside him leaned over and glanced at the medal in Fang Cheng's hand. "Teacher Lin, the paint's coming off Fang Cheng's medal."
"Uh..." Lin Qiao said, somewhat awkwardly, "The medals aren't solid gold. They're only gold-plated, and this batch was made several years ago, so it's normal for the color to come off. If you're not satisfied, you can request a replacement."
Fang Cheng, who pursued perfection when it came to material things, would definitely have asked for a replacement before.
But this time, he didn't have the nerve, because he'd gotten the medal without pulling his weight.
"If there are no other questions, everyone can start self-study. All the teachers are going to a meeting in the conference room this morning, so outdoor combat training is canceled. As long as you don't leave the classroom during class, what you do is up to you."
After Lin Qiao left, the whole classroom descended into an uproar.
"I heard through the grapevine that a monster attacked someone in the old city district yesterday, and Duan Ming was there when it was killed."
"Really? Didn't Duan Ming just fight the Church of the Dark Night the night before last? How did he end up in the old city district yesterday?"
"Why don't we just ask him?"
"Duan Ming, a monster attacked someone in the old city district yesterday. Were you there?"
"No." Duan Ming shook his head.
He knew that if he said yes, he'd be surrounded by people asking for details again.
Although he could show off by telling them what happened, the thought of the flood of questions he might face gave him a headache.
But to his surprise, even then, the group didn't let up. They pressed him about his Power of God and Dual Divine Marks.
Only after he had talked for a long while did everyone finally settle down.
That morning, the classroom was exceptionally quiet.
Unlike self-study periods at ordinary high schools or universities, there was rarely any whispering at the Divine Power School.
Everyone had their heads down over their books. Some were reading detailed introductions to the Power of God, while others were learning about monsters.
Every extra piece of knowledge they gained now would increase their chances of survival in the future.
Several people around Duan Ming were reading up on known monsters.
He, meanwhile, was looking through information on the Church of the Dark Night.
Duan Ming had always thought this organization was a cult.
Now, after reading the information, he learned that it was, in fact, a cult.
The organization worshipped the Lord of the Dark Night, the legendary demon king.
They revered the Lord of the Dark Night as a god.
They firmly believed that on the day the Lord of the Dark Night returned to the mortal world, they would gain eternal life, power, and wealth.
The organization's members were spread across the world. Most were Divine Power Masters, though some were ordinary people.
But these ordinary people were often anything but ordinary. Most were powerful figures in the business world who were simply very good at hiding.
After reading about the Church of the Dark Night, Duan Ming searched his phone for information on the assassin organization "Year of Calamity."
But he found very little.
Peng Sisi had already told him everything he could find.
Peng Sisi had said that even the Divine Mark Association's headquarters had no information on the organization's members. It seemed finding them would certainly be no easy task.
Still, looking into the organization now really was a little premature.
After lunch, everyone in class one trained on the field, boys and girls alike.
So far, although they had only been enrolled for a little over a month,
Under Du Qinggang's earlier devilish training, everyone's strength had undergone a qualitative improvement without exception.
They were already able to deal with some weaker monsters.
But if they encountered a powerful monster, such as that Four-Eyed Ghost, everyone except Duan Ming would probably be wiped out.
After classes ended in the afternoon, the cafeteria was packed with a sea of people.
The food in Fang Cheng's mouth didn't seem quite to his taste. Although the Divine Power School's meals were already quite good, they were a little spartan for someone who had grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth.
But he understood that he would be joining the Demon Suppression Army in the future.
Although the food there was also good, it was still far inferior to the Divine Power School's.
If he couldn't even get used to the food at school now, what would he do when he joined the Demon Suppression Army?
He couldn't use his status as a rich second-generation heir to get special meals all the time, could he?
"Hey, why did you hit him?"
The voice that suddenly rang out drew everyone's attention.
Duan Ming looked toward the voice. He had seen the person who had been hit before; he seemed to be from class six.
As for the boy who had hit him, Duan Ming had never seen him before.
He looked about the same age as them, so he was probably a first-year.
But Du Qinggang had put the entire first year through devilish training before, so basically everyone in the year had met.
"A fight?" Dong Kai said, looking over there. "That guy seems to have just transferred into class two. His family's pretty rich. His name is... Zhao Qinghai. Yeah, that's it. I heard he isn't a Jiang City local; he came from somewhere else."
"How do you know everything?" Xu Dazhuang asked.
He wasn't the only one who wanted to ask that. Duan Ming and Fang Cheng wanted to know too.
"I heard it through the grapevine. I have a friend in class two. I ran into him in the restroom in the teaching building this morning, and he told me. He also said this guy isn't a beginner; he started cultivating Qi several years ago."
More and more people gathered around the two boys, the one who had been hit and the one who had hit him.
The class monitor of class six came up to the boy who had been hit and asked, "What happened?"
The short-haired boy who had been hit pointed at Zhao Qinghai and said, "He punched me."
"Why would he hit you for no reason?"
"He said the food here was pig swill and only pigs would eat it. I couldn't stand listening to him, so I argued with him a little. Then he shoved me. I shoved him back, and he punched me."
As soon as he said that, the surroundings fell even quieter.
Hundreds of eyes turned toward Zhao Qinghai, who had thrown the punch.
Even the chef at the serving window looked grimly at Zhao Qinghai.
If he said the food here was pig swill, wasn't he saying everything the chef made was pig swill?
"What does this guy mean? Is he calling us pigs?"