The silence of time could be unsettling.
Nearly half a month had passed in the blink of an eye.
Su Qi lay on the bed, his eyes slightly open as his blurred gaze drifted across the ceiling.
He slowly sat up, the blanket slipping off his body.
Reaching under the pillow, he fished out his phone. The screen lit up, displaying several unread messages.
[Iris: Gege, gege, I’m going to the Origin Realm tomorrow… I’m a little nervous…]
[Iris: Ugh… Gege is sleeping in again! No wonder you chose that name!]
[Iris: Angry.jpg]
[Iris: I’ve decided to ignore gege until gege replies to me.]
...
Leaning against the windowsill, Liu Yuan listened to the teacher’s endless lecture when she suddenly felt her phone vibrate.
[IWantToSleep: Do you know which Origin Realm you’re going to?]
She stole a glance at the teacher, making sure he wasn’t paying attention, then quickly typed back.
[Iris: I heard it’s an E-rank Origin Realm north of Jiangxia… about 70 kilometers from the school. We have to gather at six tomorrow morning.]
[IWantToSleep: Doesn’t ring a bell… Are all the sixth-year students going?]
[Iris: I think so. They say the Origin Realm is pretty vast.]
[Iris: Sob… I’ll be separated from gege for almost two months. I don’t want this…]
[IWantToSleep: Don’t be so pessimistic. I’ll give you a gift tomorrow.]
A gift?
Liu Yuan chewed on the word in her mind.
So… what could it be?
A bracelet? A card? Or maybe some little trinket?
If she could look at the gift in the Origin Realm and imagine gege being there with her in spirit…
Maybe it wouldn’t feel so bad.
Truly, gege might seem unreliable at first glance, but he was thoughtful when it mattered—knowing when to be rough and when to be gentle.
Just as Liu Yuan was lost in her thoughts, Old Li suddenly called her name from the podium.
"Xu Kun, answer this question. Liu Yuan, get ready."
Old Li pointed at the PowerPoint slide projected on the screen.
‘Talent’
‘Family’
‘Effort’
‘Martial Exam’
Which do you think is most important?
Xu Kun, who had been called on, still wasn’t wearing the sixth-year uniform—instead, he sported overalls and a middle-parted hairstyle. He stood up with the confidence of someone who had been holding cards for two and a half years.
"I believe family is greater than talent, talent is greater than the Martial Exam, and the Martial Exam is greater than effort."
"As the heavens move with vigor, gentlemen strive unceasingly; as the earth’s condition is receptive, gentlemen support with virtue!"
"First, I must thank my parents for naming me ‘Kun.’"
"But times have changed."
"Some say the Martial Exam is the first truly fair opportunity we’ve had in eighteen years."
"Is that really the case?"
"From what I know… in the past two months alone, over thirty students have transferred into our sixth-year institute… too cowardly to compete with the geniuses in the capital or Demon City, so they come to a second-tier city like ours to show off…"
"That’s the privilege their families afford them. Their parents paved a golden path for them."
"Meanwhile, the one chance we have to rise is just a tool for them to ‘gild’ their reputations."
"If we fail the Martial Exam, it’s like declaring all our efforts over the past eighteen years meaningless."
"But for them…"
"Failure is almost impossible…"
The atmosphere in the classroom grew heavy.
After all, as students of the sixth-year institute…
They were the majority who had been deemed failures in the Martial Exam.
This had been the case for years.
Everyone hated Xu Kun’s words, yet no one could refute him.
Reality was just that cruel.
Card-bearers were indeed the most affected by their family backgrounds.
Many of their parents were just ordinary workers, toiling day and night to secure a future for their children. Even when a single card cost tens of thousands, they gritted their teeth, tightened their belts for months, and bought it without hesitation.
Even Liu Yuan was no exception. Not long ago, she had been agonizing over finding the right card.
Honestly, she knew that without the White Silk Card gege had given her…
She might have been just as lost, struggling alongside her peers in the Martial Exam…
And that was just one card gege had casually handed her.
She couldn’t even imagine what kind of presence gege must have had during his own Martial Exam.
Did he crush his competition effortlessly?
Or was he like Yun Huang—acknowledged as the undisputed top contender before the exam even began, with no one daring to challenge him?
He must have been the top scorer in his city back then…
[Iris: Gege, which do you think is most important—‘talent,’ ‘family,’ ‘effort,’ or the ‘Martial Exam’?]
...
Su Qi raised an eyebrow.
What kind of question was this?
He had gotten to where he was today purely through his own talent and effort.
But… he couldn’t say that outright. It’d be too demoralizing.
After all, little Iris was about to take the Martial Exam. It was normal for her to feel uncertain.
Maybe he should offer her some tough love instead?
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
