The Federation was originally founded by ten industry oligarchs whose monopolies covered every aspect of human life, then governed through the revolutionary super AI "Mastermind." Not just awakened people-everyone in society could be said to work directly or indirectly for these corporate groups.
Advances in reproductive technology meant that children of the financial dynasties were born in batches, and fierce competition existed within their ranks as well.
The commoner awakened they recruited were their bargaining chips in that competition.
So whatever these scions privately thought, scenes of "you paupers aren't worthy of associating with me" would not happen here. On the contrary, things were quite harmonious.
The highest circle naturally centered around Luosi, the only person with A-rank potential. Around him were other new students admitted to Xuanhuang Academy, four of whom were high-potential awakened from this year's School District Planet cohort.
Their group was small but attracted considerable attention. Wherever they went, they never had to queue; people automatically gave up the best spots.
Until they reached the dining area...
By unspoken agreement, the two well-placed tables nearest the buffet carts had long been left empty for them. Yet someone was now sitting there quite openly, feasting away.
Luosi stopped. At the sight of that distinctive ponytail, irritation rose in his chest. If I'd known, I would've come a little later!
But he had always been good at keeping his composure, and his expression remained icy.
When Luosi stopped, the people beside him halted as well.
The group had already been the center of attention, and in an instant, even more eyes turned their way.
The scions who had heard about the "huge joke" stared incredulously at Wen Jing, who was focused on eating-
Had the blow driven her mad? She actually dared to offend Luosi?
Yet the next moment, everyone saw Luosi frown and say flatly, "I don't feel like eating anymore."
With that, he turned and left, paying no attention to anyone.
A boy and a girl in the group were Wen Jing's classmates. Having awakened B-rank potential, they had only just signed contracts with the Sanctuary Consortium, to which Luosi belonged. At this, subtle looks of relief appeared on both their faces, and they immediately followed him.
The others froze, then hurried after them.
"Right, she's an F-rank. Luosi wouldn't even deign to deal with her..."
Someone in the watching crowd said this in sudden understanding, drawing agreement from their companions.
So that was the end of it?
Of course not.
A C-rank or even a D-rank might have been left alone, but an F-rank with little recruitment value brazenly occupying the best spot? Plenty of scions could not stand the sight.
"The most important thing is self-awareness. People ought to know their place..."
"If I were only an F-rank, I'd have learned to keep my head down..."
At first, the speaker maintained a sense of status, making condescending, snide remarks. But he soon discovered that the other party did not seem to be listening at all.
"Trash! Don't play dead!"
Unable to bear it any longer, he flew into a rage and swung a hand at the back of Wen Jing's head, intending to shove her entire head into her plate.
Thump.
That hand was met by another hand raised backward,
effortlessly
knocking it away.
Wen Jing lifted her head from the heap of food and looked at the tall, burly boy who had been knocked two steps back, then at the companions behind him. Understanding dawned on her face.
"You-chew, chew, chew-were actually-chew, chew, chew-trying to provoke me-chew, chew, chew?"
It was not her fault she had been slow to react. Ever since elementary school... probably third or fourth grade, she had no longer had any of these people around her, jabbering stock lines just so she could slap their faces-
bit
players.
On School District Planet, where scores equaled status, anyone scoring below 950 considered themselves unworthy of approaching Wen "the cold, haughty emperor of School District Planet" Jing to say hello.
This area once again became the focus of everyone's attention.
Wen Jing finished the remaining food on her plate in a few quick bites, wasting none of it. After all, although both were "molecular cuisine," the printing precision differed, and the ship's prepared meals tasted much better than the food in School District Planet's cafeterias.
After wiping her mouth with a napkin, she stood and looked at the provocateur, whose expression shifted between suspicion and alarm.
"Perfect time for some exercise after a meal. Let's skip the unnecessary preliminaries."
A figure flashed, and before anyone could react, she was already right in front of him!
Chapter 5
Wen Jing was not actually someone who believed in solving problems with muscle. She had a clever brain, too, but her clever brain told her that muscle was the most efficient solution to the vast majority of problems.
Grab the throat, lift, slide forward, throw over the back.
Her sequence of movements was meticulously executed. She never once touched the nearby dining tables or food carts, avoiding any need to pay damages.
Crash!
With a tremendous reverberating impact, the tall, burly boy was slammed bodily onto the ship's metal floor, utterly unable to resist.
The warship's hull was made from high-grade alloy, its hardness and toughness beyond question, and naturally suffered no damage. If a newly awakened person who had never even entered the Ancient Wilderness could smash it, someone ought to investigate the military's logistics department for corruption.
The shock and anger had not even faded from his companions' faces before it was all over.
Not only had Wen Jing moved too fast for anyone to react and intervene, but even if someone had reacted, they would not have had the strength to stop her.
The recreation area fell briefly silent, then erupted into an uproar.
The provocateur's head buzzed, his face blank.
The recovery ability that came with awakening kept him from being seriously injured, but compared with the physical impact, the psychological impact was far greater.
"You, you-"
Wen Jing withdrew her hand and tilted her head at him. "Hmm?"
How could she be this strong?!
Even if their upbringing had not been as fiercely competitive as School District Planet, they had trained since childhood and had no shortage of private instructors to spar with. They could still recognize that Wen Jing was overwhelmingly stronger than they were.
And it was not just the tall, burly boy. The scions present who had never left the ship were equally stunned.
Yes, they knew Wen Jing had placed first in this year's unified examinations, but they also knew her awakened Wilderness Body had only F-rank potential. They had naturally assumed this year's School District Planet cohort was mediocre overall, and that its top student was merely the tallest among dwarfs...
Now, looking at the other new students from School District Planet and the subtle expressions on their faces that seemed to say, "Just as expected," many felt as though lightning had struck them, and scenes began replaying in their heads-
School District Planet was hardly a place brimming with positivity. Wen Jing had fallen from the very top of its hierarchy of discrimination to the very bottom, so how could there not even be anyone making snide remarks to her?
Why had all three of those people backed off at the sight of Wen Jing during the scramble for rooms?
So it was because they knew they could not beat her right now!
The differences in awakened people's strength lay in their different ceilings for growth. F-rank potential capped out at F-rank. To improve their combat power, they had to work on combat techniques, secret techniques, and the like, or find some special opportunity in the Ancient Wilderness.
High-potential awakened were different. As long as they strove to survive their explorations of the Ancient Wilderness and did not suffer Genetic Collapse, their future combat power could reach whatever rank their potential was.
But regardless of potential, with compatibility between Wilderness Body and human body currently at only 1%, at a stage when they had not even mastered their Wilderness Bodies' abilities, their combat power was only a little greater than before awakening in terms of stamina and ability to withstand blows. There was no qualitative leap.
So that was why the new students from School District Planet were so meek toward an F-rank...
Wait, then Luosi's departure just now... no, impossible. Luosi was an A-rank!
He must have found it troublesome and could not be bothered to act, not been afraid of Wen Jing. After all, if someone with A-rank potential could not easily deal with someone with F-rank potential, that would be embarrassing, too.
"How dare you, how dare you!!"
The tall, burly boy on the floor caught his breath, his face alternating between green and white. His companions also came to their senses and hurried forward to support him.
"Just saying hello." Wen Jing straightened nonchalantly and declared with complete confidence, "This is how we say hello on School District Planet."
Could she possibly put on any more of an act?
The scions nearby were speechless. They instinctively looked toward the new students from School District Planet beside them, only to find... identical expressions of agreement.
As though they were saying, "Isn't it only natural for the strong to humiliate the weak?"
"..."
They had known School District Planet was absurd, but never expected it to be this absurd.
"Wen Jing, was it? This isn't over..." A vicious look surfaced on the beaten boy's face as he stared at Wen Jing with hatred.
As a scion of a financial dynasty, however "approachable" he acted to recruit people, his attitude toward the poor was different from his attitude toward those of his own class.
Someone with neither talent nor backing actually dared to humiliate him like this. He would make her pay!
Wen Jing had been about to leave. At his words, she stopped and narrowed her eyes.
"No way, no way. Someone isn't going to run crying to their parents because they lost a fight, are they?"
The tall, burly boy's expression froze. At that moment, although he was not looking at anyone, he felt the eyes of every peer around him fixed upon him, as though the moment he admitted it, boos would erupt all around.
Nonsense. He wasn't that kind of person!
His face suddenly flushed crimson, and he instinctively retorted, "I wouldn't!"
"Good." Wen Jing nodded approvingly. "That would be really embarrassing."
It would be pretty embarrassing... no, wait, he had been threatening her!
The tall, burly boy abruptly realized: he was the descendant of a financial dynasty! If he did not tell his parents, wasn't he banning his own advantage?
But he had already said it, and in full view of everyone at that. If he turned around and used his family's power against Wen Jing, he really would suffer a massive loss of face...
Thinking this through, he immediately reached a second layer-
Now that he had said that, if Wen Jing suffered any suppression or accident in the future, people would connect it to him even if he had not done it.
Damn it, he shouldn't have answered just now. He had already fallen into her trap... as expected of the top student from a place like School District Planet. How underhanded!