Chapter 20

Xu Bohan's anger surged. He glared fiercely at Xu Jintang and said through gritted teeth, "Cut the crap. Get in the ring."

At that moment, Yao Wenna and Gao Boshan quietly appeared in the spectator area.

Xu Bohan taking the initiative to provoke her today was part of their team's strategy.

Over the past two days, they had specifically developed a set of tactics to counter Xu Jintang's team. But first, they needed to establish her true strength before deciding whether to proceed with those tactics.

Yao Wenna looked toward the ring, a dark glint passing through her eyes.

The arena area was open to students twenty-four hours a day. Like the simulated battlefield, private use outside classes and competitions required a separate fee.

"It costs a hundred star coins to use the ring once. The loser pays," Xu Jintang volunteered before stepping into the ring.

Xu Bohan tossed out his star card with a cold expression. "I'll pay."

He disdained quibbling with Xu Jintang over such a small sum.

Xu Jintang looked over in surprise. "You haven't even entered the ring, and you've already decided you're going to lose?"

Xu Bohan's mouth twitched. "I just can't be bothered to argue with you over this little bit of money!"

Xu Jintang pursed her lips.

Not one of them treated a hundred star coins as real money. If they were so rich, how come none of them shared any with her?

Once the payment was made, the ring's protective barrier slowly activated.

Xu Jintang and Xu Bohan entered the ring from opposite sides.

Without a referee present, the ring's monitoring system would automatically assess the strength of attacks. If an attack inflicted damage beyond what a student could withstand, the ring would automatically end the match and announce the result.

The match began.

The smile vanished from Xu Jintang's face, and she swiftly charged toward Xu Bohan.

When she was only two meters away, she raised her right arm and activated her ruby sleeve crossbow.

Several bolts shot toward Xu Bohan.

A trace of disdain crossed his icy face. Rather than dodge, he raised his hand directly into the incoming bolts.

Golden light shone from Xu Bohan's arm, which was rapidly encased in hard metal.

The bolts forged from refined iron bounced straight off.

-Metal Hardening.

His ability happened to counter sleeve crossbows.

Xu Jintang remained unhurried. She quickly turned to circle behind Xu Bohan while activating Domain Slow.

Xu Bohan stood motionless, simply increasing his mental power to shatter the domain's power. He sneered coldly, "Is that all you've got?"

Two moves in a row had been easily neutralized.

He was no longer as reckless and impatient as when he had first awakened his ability. He would not give Xu Jintang another opening.

Xu Jintang's lips curved slightly. "There's one more."

As the words fell, she flashed in front of Xu Bohan and kicked him in the abdomen.

She held nothing back in that kick.

Xu Bohan flew backward like a cannonball. As he neared the edge of the ring, he gritted his teeth and forcibly stopped himself, narrowly avoiding being sent off the platform.

He raised his head, a grave look crossing his brow.

Where had Xu Jintang, a support, gotten such powerful physical strength?

Abilities and ability users' physical strength complemented each other. The stronger the awakened ability, the stronger their bodies would become through cultivation.

But support abilities did very little to improve an ability user's physical strength. They could not possibly produce the strength she had just displayed.

While he was still puzzling over what was going on,

Xu Jintang extended her fingers across from him, cracking them one by one as she flashed him a wicked grin.

"Giving up?"

Xu Bohan's face instantly darkened.

"Don't get so full of yourself." Gritting his teeth, he channeled his mental power. Brilliant golden light erupted from him, and hard metal encased his entire body.

The enraged Xu Bohan charged at her at full power.

Xu Jintang simply stood where she was, waiting for him.

"Xu Jintang, you've lost." Already right in front of her, Xu Bohan curled his lips, his eyes utterly cold.

With his ability fully activated, his close-combat capabilities were raised to their highest level.

Both his attack power and his defenses would surpass those of other ability users.

Xu Jintang could not possibly withstand him.

But Xu Jintang merely smiled, then clenched her fist and slammed it into the bridge of his nose.

Intense pain shot through Xu Bohan's face. His body stiffened, and then he felt a warm stream gush from his nose.

He froze for a moment and reached up to touch beneath his nose. Blood.

"You're the one who's lost." Xu Jintang's lips lifted.

Xu Bohan came back to his senses, his face darkening further. He clenched his own fist, preparing to strike Xu Jintang.

Encased in hardened metal, his fist was even harder.

Xu Jintang swiftly bent backward into an arch, keeping herself upright with the strength of her waist. After dodging the attack, she immediately straightened and punched Xu Bohan in the bridge of his nose again.

Under Brother Long's guidance, she always struck only at her opponents' weak points when fighting demonic beasts.

Likewise, when fighting Xu Bohan, she targeted only his weak points.

His whole body was covered in hardened metal, leaving only his head unprotected, so she focused her attacks on his head.

Against Xu Jintang's unsporting tactics, it took only a few exchanges before Xu Bohan's nosebleed was spraying everywhere, staining nearly half his face red and making him look horrifying.

"Xu Jintang! I'll kill you!" Xu Bohan roared in fury.

Unfortunately for him, Xu Jintang was far too nimble. She never lingered in an exchange, retreating immediately after every punch and giving Xu Bohan no chance to hit her.

On top of that, she would abruptly unleash Domain Slow now and then. Whenever Xu Bohan failed to react in time, he fell straight into it, and she would dodge his attack again.

Watching from below the ring, Song Duoduo laughed at the sight.

"He wanted to probe the class monitor's trump cards? Who does he think he is?"

The battle lasted a full half hour, finally ending when Xu Bohan exhausted his mental power.

With more than half her mental power remaining, Xu Jintang stood opposite him, full of energy, her hands on her hips. "That's it?"

Barely able to hold himself up, Xu Bohan's face darkened. He wanted to retort, but with no strength left, he could only grit his teeth and force himself to remain standing.

Detecting that the outcome had been decided, the ring's monitoring system automatically ended the match and announced, "The winner of this match is user Xu Jintang."

Immediately afterward, Xu Jintang and Xu Bohan were both ejected from the ring, landing below.

Song Duoduo quickly ran over to meet Xu Jintang and gave her a thumbs-up. "Nicely done."

Song Tianqi followed close behind, deliberately glancing toward Xu Bohan. "See that? That's our team's true strength."

Xu Jintang turned and clapped her hands. "Come on. Let's go back and eat."

Chapter 20

Yao Wenna hurried forward to support Xu Bohan, her brow furrowing deeply. "Xu Jintang's mental power reserves are actually that terrifying."

In the end, Xu Bohan had lost entirely because his mental power had been exhausted.

And from the look of things, Xu Jintang seemed to have strength to spare.

Xu Bohan's expression grew grave. He looked up in the direction Xu Jintang and her two teammates had left, his hands clenching slightly.

"Although I didn't go all out this time, I could tell Xu Jintang wasn't using her full strength either."

He had intended to probe Xu Jintang's trump cards, only to learn nothing and lose to her instead.

He was the one who had lost out.

"Then we'll have to change our tactics for tomorrow's match," Yao Wenna said coldly.

Gao Boshan stood silently to the side, but a trace of worry had entered his expression too. He kept feeling that tomorrow's match was looking uncertain.

"Class monitor, did you figure out Xu Bohan's true strength?" Only after they had walked some distance did Song Duoduo turn serious.

Xu Bohan had been probing her, but Xu Jintang had been doing the same.

She rubbed her chin. "He definitely wasn't going all out just now. But even if he did, I'm confident I could beat him."

Song Duoduo lowered her voice and continued sharing what she knew. "I heard from some other classmates that Xu Bohan's team has been putting in extra practice on the simulated battlefield these past few days. They're definitely working on some tactics to target us."

"What's there to be afraid of?" Song Tianqi patted his chest. "With me here, even all three of them together are nothing to fear."

Xu Jintang glanced at him. "It's still better to be cautious. Their team will probably be the strongest opponent we face in the assessment. We definitely won't win as easily as we did in the previous rounds."

Early the next morning, quite a few students had already gathered around the academy's arena area to watch the match.

Even the first- and second-year teachers had brought the younger students, who had yet to awaken their abilities, to the spectator area.

Fully prepared, the two teams stood by the steps on opposite sides of the ring, waiting for the assessment to begin.

"Dean, these two teams have the highest average strength among our third-year students. Song Tianqi, who has already received early special admission to Leikedasi, is among them," said year director Liu Hongfang, bending down to speak quietly beside the dean's ear.

Dean Wang nodded in acknowledgment. "Mm. Have you looked into the girl Teacher Zhuang called aside for a private conversation last time?"

Liu Hongfang replied, "Her name is Xu Jintang. Her family is rather poor, and she seems to have been living on low-income household subsidies before this. Her awakened ability is Domain Slow. Its potential is neither particularly good nor particularly bad. But her homeroom teacher reported something to me a while ago: Xu Jintang's ability may be undergoing evolution."

Dean Wang immediately raised his head. "Evolution?"

"Yes." Liu Hongfang continued explaining, "The source of Xu Jintang's enormous mental power in the last elimination round may well be connected to her ability evolving. Moreover, her ability may be evolving toward an ice attribute."

"An ice attribute combined with a domain... that ability would be quite something after evolving." Dean Wang's expression shifted with interest.

"But..." Liu Hongfang changed tack. "It's still uncertain whether her ability can actually evolve. It might evolve once she reaches the second tier, but there might also be no response at all."

Dean Wang gently stroked the jade ring on his index finger. "True. There have been so few cases of ability evolution across the entire interstellar realm."

"No matter. Let's watch the match first." With that, he looked up at the ring.