With so many people around, Duan Ming said nothing.
Years of nightmares had long since made him calm and composed.
He would find out what was going on, but not now.
Nearly every classmate around him had a glowing spot somewhere on their body.
Fang Cheng, the first to awaken a Divine Mark, no longer had any trace of it on his face.
Only when it was used would a Divine Mark light up again.
Suddenly, a roar rose from the entire student body, powerful enough to topple mountains and overturn seas.
Duan Ming looked toward the platform.
Blue?
Someone had actually awakened three Divine Marks!
"Holy shit, three! This guy must have stepped in dog shit!"
"He actually awakened three Divine Marks at once. The odds of that must be lower than winning fifty million in the lottery!"
"I heard some people can even awaken dual Divine Marks."
"Bullshit. That rumor was debunked decades ago. There's no way anyone in the world could have dual Divine Marks."
Hearing the classmates around him dismiss the possibility of dual Divine Marks, Duan Ming frowned.
In fact, he hadn't first learned about Divine Marks after entering school.
Basically, everyone in the world who didn't live in a primitive tribe had a general understanding of Divine Marks.
Duan Ming was no exception.
He had also spent a long time studying Divine Marks before.
He also knew that there was no way anyone in the world could have dual Divine Marks.
Yet now, he most definitely had two identical Divine Marks on his body!
Standing nearby, Du Qinggang saw the broad smile on Principal Li's face. "Who would've thought? We've only gone through two classes, fewer than forty students, and already two have awakened two Divine Marks and one has awakened three."
Li Zhengming nodded in satisfaction. "Talents are emerging in droves. This year's students are much stronger than we were back then."
Du Qinggang said, "Don't say that, Principal. As I see it, your class was the strongest. Didn't half of you end up awakening four or more Divine Marks? There were even quite a few with five."
At that, Principal Li's eyes stung. "And what of it? In the end, almost all of them died at that guy's hands. Of those still alive, only this old man is left."
Du Qinggang knew that the guy the principal was talking about was the legendary Demon King!
They also called him the Lord of the Dark Night.
Every time this guy died, he was sure to come back to life within a hundred years.
It was said that he had to be killed ten times before he could be wiped out completely.
So far, he had been killed eight times.
That meant humanity would face two more apocalyptic disasters in the next two hundred years!
"Hey, Principal, don't cry."
"I'm not crying. It's just allergies."
"Huh? Allergies? Allergic to what?"
"The past."
Uh...
The Divine Mark awakening ended.
In the end, among the 130 new students,
one awakened three Divine Marks.
Six awakened two Divine Marks.
And one, dual Divine Marks!
Eight of them had fainted during the awakening because they couldn't endure the pain and had been carried down.
"This is bad, this is bad. The principal's going up to give a speech, and we were supposed to have a group meal. There's no way he'll finish in under two hours."
"This guy's still out cold. What do we do?"
"What else can we do? Drag him to the bathroom and piss on him to wake him up."
"Does anyone have a humane suggestion?"
"Leave him alone and let him sleep. He'll probably be awake by the time the principal finishes."
The speech lasted fifty minutes.
Compared to before, that was already quick.
"The principal sure didn't say much today. He only spoke for less than an hour."
"Listen to yourself. Do you sound human?"
The students from the various classes gradually left.
Lin Qiao stood in front of Class 1 and said, "You've just awakened your Divine Marks today, and many of you are tired, so we'll skip the group meal. Go back and rest first. Remember, until you've been taught how to use your Divine Marks, no one is allowed to use their power at will. Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, all students are to assemble on the sports field."
"Okay, Teacher Lin."
Late at night, Duan Ming swung his blade countless times in his dream.
In front of him were countless bizarre monsters, packed densely together, rushing at him like waves.
The next morning, the bloody dream faded.
Duan Ming opened his eyes, got up, and went to school.
Because he lived close to the school, only about a ten-minute walk away, he didn't board there.
On the sports field, twenty students stood in two rows, one behind the other.
The tall ones stood in front, and the taller ones stood behind.
Du Qinggang was dressed as casually as ever, in a white T-shirt and the baggy shorts he had worn yesterday.
But now, his expression was grave as he looked at a boy standing before him, his face black and blue.
The boy kept his head down, not daring to meet his eyes.
Du Qinggang asked, "I remember no one in your class looked like this yesterday. What happened? Did you get into a fight last night?"
The boy kept his head down.
Du Qinggang said sternly, "A real man owns up to what he's done. What are you afraid of?"
The boy nodded and murmured, "Yeah."
"Who did you fight?"
"Someone from Class 3."
"Why did you fight?"
"He called me a dumbass..."
"Hahaha..."
Quite a few people laughed aloud.
"Good! You did the right thing! If someone calls you a dumbass and you don't fight back, how are you any different from a coward?"
Standing behind Du Qinggang, Lin Qiao had black lines all over her face.
Even the boy who had fought looked at him in disbelief.
"Looks like you lost?"
The boy lowered his head and murmured, "Yeah," before saying, "His fist was half the size of my head, and his arms were long too. He held my head down, and I couldn't reach him."
Several people were already red in the face from holding back their laughter.
"It's fine. So you lost, you lost. At worst, you can fight him again later! But not outside-in the arena. Show him that being big is no use. What's wrong with being small? Short and compact packs more punch than he does!"
Du Qinggang sent spittle flying as he spoke.
That was rather different from most teachers.
The boy's fear that he might be punished vanished like smoke.
Not only that, but a powerful fighting spirit even rose within him.
When Du Qinggang finished speaking, Lin Qiao stepped forward from the side to face everyone.
"This is Du Qinggang, captain of the Divine Mark Association's Third Squad. You met him yesterday, so I don't think he needs much introduction."
"Captain Du has decided to stay at our school for the time being and serve as your combat training instructor."
"Every week, he'll take turns teaching each first-year class for one day. Today, you're all to listen to Captain Du."
"Captain Du, the time is yours now."
Du Qinggang nodded and said, "Go rest off to the side. I'll teach them from here."
With that, Du Qinggang looked at the students before him. "Although you've been enrolled for a week and have gained a little control over Qi, you've never actually learned how to use it. Now I'll teach you!"