Perception: A mere frail F-rank

Ming Xia was genuinely curious. She had once witnessed Ye Jiang strip a B-rank Bone Joint Flower bare with her own hands. The sight had left such a deep psychological scar that, in her mind, Ye Jiang was frighteningly powerful. Even now that she herself had awakened as an A-rank ability user, that impression was not something she could shake off anytime soon.

Just what rank was Teacher Turbot's ability?

Could it be A-rank?

Studying the Blood Moon mark on her finger, Ye Jiang heard this and began to understand what abilities were. Abilities let people spit fire, teleport, and manipulate wind and rain. They were closely connected to the moon that had appeared in the sky, and they even had ranks.

Ye Jiang looked at the Blood Moon mark on her hand. Did this mean she had awakened an ability too?

Her interest suddenly stirred a little, and she grew a little curious about abilities. What would her ability be? And what rank?

Ye Jiang lightly touched the Blood Moon on her finger. The next second, a screen of light projected out.

Ability: Sewing Box (can reweave any tattered clothing to make it as good as new).

Rank: F-rank.

Ranking: ??

Ye Jiang: "..."

Ming Xia, who had accidentally glimpsed the screen: "..."

Oh, I have an F-rank ability.

Ye Jiang's face was expressionless. Out of the six ranks, she seemed to have gotten the worst one.

Chapter 20: Perception: A mere frail F-rank.

Ming Xia froze for a moment. The result was so unexpected that she could not recover for a long time. How could this be? Teacher Turbot... how could she possibly be F-rank?

Ming Xia was utterly thrown. Just then, a voice burst like thunder among the students in the square, carrying sudden realization.

"I know! It's because of that C-rank Polluted!" Yan Pei, the teacher leading the group, said loudly. "It's because the students in Trial Room A used that C-rank Polluted for their trial! That's why they got such astonishing results!"

He surveyed the square, picking out the thirteen students from Trial Room A before finally fixing his gaze on Ming Xia. "You, you, and you! All of you should go kowtow to the Jin Family and thank them for their kindness! If not for the C-rank Polluted the Jin Family provided, how could you possibly have awakened as B-rank or even A-rank ability users!"

That had to be it. Why were the students from Trial Room A so special? This could be the only reason!

The students from Trial Room A exchanged looks. In truth, the same thought had crossed their minds, but kowtowing in gratitude was going too far. His words made them uncomfortable.

Seeing their reaction, Yan Pei gave a cold snort. He suddenly abandoned the students, turned, and left.

He was going to see that C-rank Polluted. That was something good. He had to go keep an eye on it himself!

As soon as he turned, he bumped into a student. In a hurry to reach the trial room, he scolded the student for blocking his path. The student took the barrage of abuse head-on, his face paling slightly, but did not move aside. The moonlight illuminated the dazed look on his face and the confusion in his eyes.

"Teacher Yan, do you think I can awaken an ability?" the student asked Yan Pei.

The Blood Moon was dissipating, its light fading. Students with potential awakened one after another, and with every one he saw, his heart sank a little further. He was utterly despondent.

The Blood Moon would not last forever. Miracles existed only for a brief moment, and this blessing was about to slip beyond his grasp.

The student was deeply melancholy. He was not asking for a B-rank ability, nor an A-rank one. He did not even ask for a C-rank ability. He simply wanted to awaken.

"Teacher Yan, can I still awaken an ability?"

He sought reassurance from the most authoritative teacher present.

But what sort of person was Yan Pei?

He was the sort who grew jealous even when a student had greater potential than him. How could he possibly have the leisure to comfort a student who had failed to awaken? Not kicking him while he was down was already the highest standard of professional ethics he could muster.

Besides, he was in a hurry right now.

"Move!" Yan Pei snapped. "Don't you know your own potential?"

The student's face grew even paler.

Yan Pei sneered. He had intended to add a few more barbs and vent his pent-up frustration on this student when he suddenly recognized him as that little lackey of Jin Hong's. His name seemed to be...

Gao Peng?

With such terrible aptitude, this student had actually held on until now.

Yan Pei looked Gao Peng over, his face bearing its usual contempt. Holding on until now was useless. Trash was trash. Hard work could not change that. Still dreaming of awakening? Did he think abilities were that easy to awaken?

Yan Pei could not be bothered wasting words on a good-for-nothing who could not awaken. He pushed him aside and made to leave.

But-

Gao Peng grabbed his arm.

Summoning the greatest courage of his life, he seized a B-rank ability user's arm.

Yan Pei's expression turned icy, and he slowly looked back.

Gao Peng's face was bloodless, but he did not let go. He murmured, "Teacher, do you look down on me too?"

Though phrased as a question, it sounded more like he was talking to himself.

"Everyone looks down on me..."

"Did I get to choose my poor aptitude? Why do you look down on me?"

"Does having poor aptitude mean I can't dream of awakening?"

As though a switch had been flipped, Gao Peng's innermost thoughts spilled out one after another. His eyes seemed covered by a hazy film, already on the verge of losing focus.

He should have left the trial grounds long ago, but he had forced himself to stay. He had pushed himself too far and was already showing symptoms of contamination entering his body.

Yan Pei saw this clearly, disgust on his face.

Suddenly, he was no longer in a hurry to leave. Malice welled up, and he wanted to deal this good-for-nothing a fatal blow.

"Gao Peng."

Gao Peng raised his head.

The corners of Yan Pei's mouth lifted, spilling into a cruel smile. "Yes. You've been indulging in foolish delusions all along."

Gao Peng's pupils contracted sharply.

Foolish delusions?

Foolish delusions...

All this time, he had been... indulging in foolish delusions?

He began to tremble.

Yan Pei savored the process of a person breaking apart, feeling somewhat better.

Somewhere no one noticed, a strand of mycelium emerged and silently wound around one of Gao Peng's feet. Gao Peng's body shook even more violently, his eyeballs rolling unnaturally as though they would pop out of their sockets the next second.

Having enjoyed the sight enough, Yan Pei remembered he still had important business and made to leave. He tugged his arm in disgust, but could not pull free. The hand gripping him had suddenly become astonishingly strong, its finger bones almost digging into his flesh. Pain shot through Yan Pei, and a curse burst from his mouth, veins throbbing at his temples.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, the student's head inflated like a balloon, abruptly swelling to several times its size. Fine cracks split the distended skin, and teeth grew inside them.

"Foolish delusions."

"Foolish delusions."

The densely packed mouths opened in unison.

"Ah!"

The nearby students screamed.

The three assistant teachers rushed over at the sound and immediately identified it. "A Polluted!"

They were about to act as they spoke.

Boom!

A huge rock fell from the sky, smashing the newborn Polluted to a pulp. Yan Pei had acted first, disposing of the newly transformed low-rank Polluted in a single move, yet his expression was utterly grim.

Again. Another student had turned into a Polluted right in front of him. No matter how he looked at it, this was not normal!

Where exactly had things gone wrong?

The three assistant teachers wore grave expressions, pondering the same question.

The square dimmed a little. In the sky, the Blood Moon dispersed.

Ye Jiang paid no attention to the Blood Moon's disappearance. A word surfaced in her mind—Polluted.

She had heard that word several times.

Was that thing just now a Polluted?

Ye Jiang poked Ming Xia, who stood beside her looking solemn, in the lower back. When Ming Xia turned to look at her, she asked, "What's a Polluted?"

Ming Xia: "..."

Was this another example of Teacher Turbot's unique sense of humor?

Ye Jiang's expression was earnest. She really seemed not to know.

But was there anyone in this world who did not know what a Polluted was? Even three-year-olds knew.

Ming Xia was puzzled.

Ye Jiang said, "Actually, I lost my memory. I've forgotten a lot of things."

Ming Xia: "...Oh."

So that was why?

But something still felt a little off.

Despite that thought, Ming Xia explained the origins of the Polluted, the catastrophe three hundred years ago, their ranks, and their malice toward humanity. After listening, Ye Jiang fell silent for a few seconds, then said, "So Polluted and ability users can both manipulate supernatural phenomena?"

Ming Xia nodded. "Yes. Both have supernatural powers."

Ye Jiang asked curiously, "Then how do you tell Polluted and ability users apart?"

Ming Xia: "."

How did you distinguish humans from nonhumans?

Was that difficult?

The corner of Ming Xia's mouth twitched slightly. "Polluted look so strange!"

Ye Jiang was baffled. "Don't humans look strange too?"

Ming Xia: "?"

Ye Jiang: "?"

Ming Xia: "..."

Her thoughts raced, and she suddenly understood why Teacher Turbot so often kept Mushroom Man in her room. This teacher probably did not recognize Polluted at all and had mistaken a Polluted for a human.

There seemed to be something... abnormal about her perception.

She even thought humans and Polluted looked equally strange. Then what sort of appearance was normal to her?

Ming Xia opened her mouth, at a loss for words.

In the other girl's silence, Ye Jiang sorted through her newfound knowledge.

So this was a sick world, rife with contamination and ravaged by Polluted, where humans struggled to survive. Polluted had ranks just like ability users, and powerful ones could easily destroy a city.

Having finished sorting it all out, Ye Jiang looked at the Blood Moon mark on her hand.

She was an ability user, newly awakened, F-rank.

She seemed to have encountered quite a few Polluted before. She had actually confronted Polluted head-on with a mere human's frail, sickly body. Fortunately, fortunately, they had all been low-rank specimens. Truly, the ignorant knew no fear.

A wave of... er, she ought to have felt lingering fear. An ordinary human like her had actually faced vicious Polluted. What a terrifying thing that was. Yet there was a strange feeling: she seemed to find it difficult to feel afraid. So the one in her chest merely gave two perfunctory, faster beats. Just two. With the routine complete, it returned to normal.