No One Would Ever Have the Guts to Do That!

[Ding, check-in successful!]

[Obtained one-star trait "Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo"-a ten-year-old solitary bamboo stalk. Its defining characteristic is toughness. It can be used as a fighting stick or as a pole to vault away from danger.]

In a dimly lit room, Chu Ge sat cross-legged on his bed as system notifications popped up in his mind.

On his fourth day with the system, he had checked in and gotten this thing.

He sighed.

"Am I locked in a feud with some Combat Continent or something? Why do I keep checking in and getting this stuff every day?"

Chu Ge thought back. He had never trashed Third Young Master in his previous life, so why did he keep haunting him?

He asked the system, "Can I get a trait I've gotten before from checking in?"

[Yes.]

[If the host has an affinity with a certain trait, he might even check in and obtain it thousands of times in a row.]

Chu Ge: "..."

Thousands of times? That was terrifying.

If it was the White Tiger Dagger again...

That would be even more terrifying.

"Forget it." Chu Ge shook his head in the end. Having something was better than nothing. At least he could save it for synthesis.

Even if he got a zero-point-two-nine-star [Gangzi] tomorrow, he would accept it.

He looked over at the computer desk nearby, where a small black glass bottle sat.

That was the reward for taking first place in the class placement exam: Black Iron Body Tempering Liquid.

Chu Ge had only recently broken through to the hundredth level of qi and blood, so he needed some time to consolidate before advancing again.

He figured he could start trying to break through to the Black Iron Realm after the East Sea Martial Arts School Competition ended.

Early the next morning.

The class placement exam had ended yesterday, and the class lists had come out immediately. The top forty had all been assigned to Class One.

Chu Ge and Xiao Yan had just entered the classroom and sat down when the bell rang.

A slender middle-aged man walked in, and the classroom fell silent at once.

His name was Wu Xuzhou. He had been an invigilator for yesterday's placement exam and was also Class One's homeroom teacher. He was at the middle stage of the Silver Realm, about the same as Yang Kun, the deputy head of the East Sea Chu Martial Arts School.

Wu Xuzhou stood at the podium and got straight to the lesson without wasting words.

His gaze swept over every face in the class before settling on the girl in the front row.

"Lin Luyin, as class president, tell us how Primordial Force is produced."

After the classes had been assigned yesterday, the school had gone straight into lessons, and everyone had come to the front to introduce themselves.

When it came time to choose a class president, Lin Luyin had been the keenest to show off. The moment the teacher mentioned it, she had raised her hand and volunteered to take the job.

Under the gaze of the entire class, Lin Luyin stood up and answered in a precise, measured manner.

"Primordial Force is produced by the interaction of the light of the world's three aspects: the sun, the moon, and the stars."

This was common knowledge on Blue Star. Even a three-year-old could have answered, but Wu Xuzhou nodded anyway, looking satisfied. "Correct. You may sit down."

"Thank you, teacher." Lin Luyin sat down, looking a little proud.

Wu Xuzhou continued.

"Everyone, open your theory textbooks to page seven. We'll be covering how to advance to the Black Iron Realm."

The rustling of turning pages filled the room, joining the rhythm of the ginkgo leaves swaying outside the window.

The back row, by the window-the king's homeland.

Chu Ge had specifically asked the teacher for this seat so he could slack off in class.

Both his hands were tucked into his desk, squeezing two 11,000-pound hand grippers to train his grip strength.

One, two, three...

He passed a hundred reps in no time, without the slightest effort.

Wu Xuzhou glanced over. He had already noticed Chu Ge's arms moving slightly, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

If his senses hadn't been sharp enough to hear the springs of the hand grippers, he might have thought the kid was secretly taking off under the desk.

That would have been terrifying.

No one would ever have the guts to do that.

But he said nothing about Chu Ge secretly exercising in class.

The top student in the grade had to have some privileges.

He turned his gaze to Chu Ge's deskmate and spoke calmly.

"Xiao Yan, tell us what one needs to watch out for when advancing to the Black Iron Realm."

Xiao Yan stood up and spoke confidently without even picking up her textbook.

"For a martial artist to advance to the Black Iron Realm, all they need is a strong enough foundation. Most people can manage this step."

"If you fail, just try again. If twice doesn't work, try three times. One of those attempts will succeed eventually."

"Very good." Wu Xuzhou nodded and gestured for her to sit down.

He looked at the students before him, cleared his throat, and continued, speaking each word distinctly.

"Besides what Xiao Yan just mentioned, when you advance to the Black Iron Realm, you can also try to communicate with the Three Aspects."

"As long as one of the Three Aspects acknowledges you, you won't just advance to Black Iron. You'll also gain the power of that aspect."

The students had already been listening attentively, but at those words, they focused even harder.

Not everyone came from one of the four great families. Most came from ordinary households, and their understanding of the martial path was only superficial. For many, this was the first time they had heard that they could communicate with the Three Aspects and gain power.

Wu Xuzhou continued.

"The Three Aspects generate and overcome one another."

"The sun generates the moon, the moon generates the stars, and the stars generate the sun. The sun overcomes the moon, the moon overcomes the stars, and the stars overcome the sun."

"For example, if you gain the Sun Aspect's acknowledgment, you'll obtain the Power of the Sun and become a Radiant Sun Black Iron, a level above an ordinary Black Iron Realm martial artist."

"Radiant Sun Black Iron has the Sun's Protection, which greatly boosts combat strength. When fighting or cultivating under sunlight, both Primordial Force recovery and cultivation speed increase."

"The same goes for the other two aspects. Whether Star Black Iron or Moon Shadow Black Iron, each has its corresponding power of protection."

"If you're even luckier, you might even comprehend special abilities within these celestial aspects."

Seeing that the students were all engrossed, he added a few more words.

"But as I just said, the Three Aspects generate and overcome one another."

"Radiant Sun Black Iron naturally suppresses Moon Shadow Black Iron, Moon Shadow Black Iron naturally suppresses Star Black Iron, and Star Black Iron naturally suppresses Radiant Sun Black Iron."

"Moreover, comprehending the Power of the Three Aspects is extremely difficult. The odds are far lower than awakening a trait."

"Out of ten thousand newly advanced Black Iron martial artists, you'd be lucky to find one who comprehended it."

"Teacher." A student raised a hand.

"Go ahead."

The student stood up and asked a little anxiously.

"If I don't comprehend the Power of the Three Aspects when I advance to Black Iron, will I have another chance later?"

As soon as the question was asked, quite a few students looked nervously at Wu Xuzhou, waiting for an answer.

One in ten thousand Black Iron martial artists-those odds were already absurdly low. They didn't think they could be that chosen one.

Fortunately, Wu Xuzhou's answer put them at ease.

"You will."

"Every time you leap to a major realm, you'll have another chance to communicate with the Power of the Three Aspects."

He tapped his fingertips lightly on the podium.

"In fact, even if you've already gained one aspect's acknowledgment, you can still try to communicate with the other two."

"In other words, you can be Radiant Sun Silver and Star Silver at the same time."

"At that point, with two powers of protection upon you, there'd be practically no one in the same realm who could beat you."

The classroom erupted at those words.

The students were all excited, forgetting they were still in class.

"Whoa, that sounds so cool!"

"Yeah, just thinking about it gets my blood boiling!"

"That's it, I'm going back to train extra hard. I've got to get myself a Power of the Three Aspects!"

Watching the excited students, Wu Xuzhou smiled and shook his head.

He didn't bang on the desk and shout for quiet, put on airs as a teacher, or say anything to dampen their spirits like, "It's fine to think about it, but stop daydreaming."

After all, when he was in school, he too had met a teacher who loved pouring cold water on people.

He knew how much words like that could crush a person's drive.

He paused until the classroom quieted down a little, then continued with the rest of the lesson.

In the back row, Chu Ge had finished with his hand grippers and was spinning a pen as he listened.

The Power of the Three Aspects was indeed rather interesting.

Even in a behemoth like the Chu Family, there were only a few people who possessed the Power of the Three Aspects.

The odds really were too low.

As someone determined to fight his way through the high-martial world, he certainly wouldn't be satisfied with ordinary Black Iron. If he was going for it, he had to aim for the best.

As for which aspect to choose...

He glanced at the dazzling, blazing sun outside the window and had a rough idea.

I am the sun!

...All right.

No matter how beautifully he imagined it, the most important thing was whether it was willing to acknowledge him.

Xiao Yan, meanwhile, wasn't paying much attention. Resting her chin on her hand, she was scribbling and drawing in her notebook. Who knew what strange doujin plot she was coming up with this time?

Sunlight streamed through the window, falling on the desks, the open textbooks, and the sparkling eyes of the youths.

When no one spoke, the only sounds in the classroom were the tapping of chalk against the blackboard and the soft rustling of leaves in the wind outside.

Their journey on the martial path had only just begun.

And Chu Ge also knew that compared with the knowledge in those textbooks, the check-in system in his pocket was his real trump card.

Once he had saved up enough traits, never mind the Power of the Three Aspects-even obtaining all three aspects wouldn't be impossible.

Thinking even more boldly, he might even be able to get them directly from a check-in.