Imitating me leads to survival, but copying me results in death.

"Liu Yuan, it's your turn to answer this question."

Anyone who's been frequently punished by standing near the podium—or, more accurately, played around it after class—knows that the area around the podium is slightly elevated.

From that vantage point, you can see every little move the students make below.

Some teachers just can't be bothered to call them out, though.

Hearing Old Li's voice, Liu Yuan quickly stuffed her phone into the desk drawer and stood up.

She glanced up at Old Li, who was watching her with an amused smirk, clearly having noticed her antics all along.

"This question… I think the most important thing is 'mindset.'"

"Mindset?" Old Li raised an eyebrow. "I don’t recall giving that as an option."

"Then why don’t you explain why mindset is the most important?"

Liu Yuan racked her brain, replaying the conversation she’d just had with her brother.

[Sleepyhead: I think they’re all important, but not that important.]

[Sleepyhead: If I had to pick, maybe mindset is the key.]

"Among the known twelfth-tier powerhouses in Great Xia, 70% had no special talents. And among that 70%, 30% were just like us—barely reaching the third or fourth tier before the Martial Exam."

"If they had given up back then, convinced they were inferior, they’d never have become twelfth-tier powerhouses."

"Or think about humanity’s darkest hour, when ordinary people had to face the thousand-meter dragons whose wings blotted out the sky."

"If everyone had believed that talent, effort, or lineage were useless against those dragons… there’d be no Pathseekers today. No us."

"Great Xia has never lacked those who threw themselves into the unknown, defied their own mediocrity, and lit the torch of courage for those who came after."

The classroom fell silent. Everyone was staring at Liu Yuan, visibly moved by her answer.

Even Xu Kun, who usually loved showing off, stayed uncharacteristically quiet, lost in thought.

Old Li himself was taken aback.

Frankly, this lesson was just another dose of bitter motivation.

Their previous teachers had probably already given them the same pep talk before the special training.

But what else could he do?

Even in the peaceful era of the old civilization, they couldn’t escape the pre-exam rally.

And this year’s sudden policy change for the Origin Realm trials? It felt like the higher-ups had made the decision on a drunken whim.

Which left people like him scrambling to pick up the pieces.

No matter how hard they tried, some problems couldn’t be fixed.

Educational resources were limited. So were the slots for the Origin Realm trials.

No matter how they divided them, nearly half the class would miss out on pre-exam training.

What then?

Watch helplessly as their classmates got a head start while they were left behind?

Resentment? Despair?

Or worse—hatred toward the school, their peers?

"Why him and not me?"

"Why does he get all the resources?"

"Stab you, stab you, stab you!"

This wasn’t exaggeration.

Human nature abhors inequality more than scarcity.

And so many antisocial personalities were born from perceived unfairness in their student days.

Sure, manipulating students like this was underhanded. But the world had never been fair.

In the end, it was all for Great Xia. For stability.

The only surprise was Liu Yuan’s answer.

That grand, inspiring rhetoric—the kind that set young hearts ablaze—

From his experience, it didn’t sound like something from a girl of her background.

It sounded more like the words of a seasoned powerhouse.

Add to that her inexplicable strength (completely at odds with her records) and her habit of giggling at her phone in class, her abilities growing more absurd by the day…

Ah.

So she’s net-dating some young master, huh?

Whoever was on the other end of those messages had probably molded her into his perfect little plaything.

At least she’d be one less student for him to worry about in the Origin Realm.

"Well said!"

"As we—"

……

Once seated again, Liu Yuan tuned out Old Li’s rambling.

[Sleepyhead: Show me your legs, little sis.]

[Iris: Brother… I’m in class.]

[Sleepyhead: Oh~ So after class, then?]

[Iris: I didn’t say that! ヽ(≧□≦)ノ]

[Iris: You’re amazing, Brother. The teacher kept praising your points, and my classmates—especially those who didn’t get Origin Realm slots—were all gloomy before. But after I repeated what you said, they’re fired up again.]

[Sleepyhead: Shame I didn’t go into pyramid schemes.]

[Sleepyhead: They can take it as inspiration, but don’t get carried away, little Iris. The Origin Realm is dangerous.]

[Iris: Why? I thought what you said made sense…]

[Sleepyhead: Let me put it this way. If one day I become a powerhouse, and Great Xia faces an unstoppable crisis, and I step up to save it—what would you call me?]

[Iris: You’d be Great Xia’s hero, of course.]

[Sleepyhead: But I wouldn’t see it that way. To them, I might be a hero in that moment. But I’d know the truth—I acted because I was sure I could handle it, because I like my life here and didn’t want to flee. I didn’t do it for anyone. Just myself.]

[Sleepyhead: And the moment I act, some scholar will start spinning tales about my ‘noble sacrifice.’]

[Sleepyhead: To everyone else, I’d be a dazzling hero. Just not to myself.]

[Sleepyhead: Not that real heroes don’t exist.]

[Sleepyhead: But whether it’s them or this hypothetical future me, our paths can’t be replicated.]

[Sleepyhead: Those who adapt survive. Those who imitate perish.]

[Sleepyhead: Listen, little Iris. In the Origin Realm, just remember two things.]

[Sleepyhead: First, we’re human.]

[Sleepyhead: Second, if others die, it’s not our fault. The enemy killed them, not us. If you can’t save them, run. No guilt. No suicidal heroics.]