It wasn’t just Xu Kun.
The others weren’t faring much better.
The skeletal soldier, barely at the third tier, swung its bone club toward a classmate.
That classmate, despite being at the peak of third-tier strength, stood frozen in terror, face pale and mind blank, helplessly watching as the club descended upon them.
This was no exaggeration.
Even before the emergence of the ‘supernatural,’ soldiers underwent ‘desensitization training’ before heading to the battlefield.
Not the kind of ‘desensitization’ that fine-tunes sensitivity—
but the kind meant to steel them against the horrors of war, to prevent situations like this.
Or perhaps, due to this year’s martial exam reforms, the purpose of this Origin Realm expedition was desensitization training.
Too bad someone had recklessly led the group into danger…
Old Li never dreamed that one person could cause such disaster.
Xu Kun had taken the entire student team away from the carefully selected safe zone.
And Old Li certainly never expected this student’s luck to be this uncanny.
He wasn’t wrong—the collective ‘aura’ of the students huddled together should have scared off most creatures in the Origin Realm.
But there was one exception…
The undead.
Mindless, driven only by their thirst for blood, their eerie green eyes brimming with greed for the living.
The more people there were…
The more frenzied they became.
They didn’t care that their ragtag group of third-tiers led by a single fourth-tier stood no chance against two peak fourth-tiers backed by a squad of fourth- and third-tier elites.
Through a series of coincidences, the near-impossible had happened.
This student team was about to be wiped out in seconds.
…
Clatter.
Human bones scattered across the ground.
At the last possible moment, Liu Yuan’s fist slammed into the skeletal soldier’s body.
It sensed danger too late—twisting away but still taking the full brunt of the blow.
Instant annihilation.
Such was the gap in strength.
These monsters were weak.
With the same lineup, a seasoned team could’ve wiped out this undead horde in under three minutes.
But the world didn’t run on ‘what-ifs.’
“AAAAHHH—!”
A scream, raw and piercing, tore through the air.
A butcher’s cleaver, slick with crimson, slid out from Xu Kun’s chest—
The boy hung skewered like a pig on the blade of that grotesque ‘mountain of rotting flesh.’
The creature seemed in no hurry to attack the others.
It just stood there, as if proudly displaying its trophy.
Eyelids stitched shut with coarse thread, its festering mouth curled into a grotesque grin.
It was savoring its prey’s terror before death.
Seven seconds.
That’s all it took.
Xu Kun—who boasted of being at the peak of fourth-tier, one of the team’s strongest—was defeated.
Utterly crushed.
“Ah—!”
Another scream.
A skeletal soldier shattered a classmate’s arm.
Not that there wasn’t resistance.
Aside from Xu Kun, one student lost a left arm, another a right leg.
Seven skeletal soldiers lay destroyed.
Compared to the primal dread inspired by the ‘Rotting Flesh Mountain,’ these bone warriors lacked impact.
But…
The undead knew no fear, no concept of morale.
For every fallen comrade, their assault grew fiercer—until death, or until they tore their prey apart.
Meanwhile, the students…
Xu Kun impaled, limbs broken among the others…
Their courage shattered, their formation crumbling.
So…
One who hadn’t yet been cornered chose the coward’s way out—
Fleeing, with just enough conscience left to justify it:
“I’ll get the teacher… hold on!”
The Origin Realm was dangerous.
Old Li had hammered that into them.
Only now did they understand the weight of those words.
Lessons taught by others never stick.
Lessons carved by experience? Learned in one try.
As Liu Yuan watched her classmate flee, her brother’s words echoed:
‘They’ll die, but it’s not on us. The enemy kills them, not you or me. If you can’t save them, run. No guilt. No throwing your life away.’
Right…
They’ll die…
By the skeletons’ hands, by the Rotting Flesh Mountain…
If she ran—
With agility rivaling a fifth-tier’s, she’d survive.
But…
Even if Xu Kun was insufferable…
Even if these classmates weren’t close…
Her brother had also said:
‘Remember—we’re human.’
To flee when stronger, to let comrades die because fear paralyzed you…
Could you still call yourself human?
Run—live, take the martial exam, find your brother.
Fight—you CAN save them. Conquer your fear. These monsters are nothing.
The voices warred in her skull—
Until a third cut through:
“When faced with overwhelming terror, a person’s true nature is laid bare. The masks souls wear fall away, revealing their rawest hues.”
“They’ll reflect—what they sought in life, what they wished to achieve… what they regret…”
“…Death itself lets you glimpse the other side of existence.”
“In the face of annihilation, courage burns hotter than fear.”
Liu Yuan didn’t know who spoke.
Or maybe her mind had gone blank.
Fear… courage…
Or neither.
She ran—
No.
She charged.
Streaking toward the Rotting Flesh Mountain, she snatched Xu Kun’s fallen spear from the ground.
Though it granted no stats, the weapon’s material alone was a force multiplier.
With brute force, she shattered the monster’s cleaver-wielding arm.
Xu Kun, still half-attached to the limb, collapsed.
The abomination roared, all five eyes blazing with madness.
Its remaining hook-arm flailed wildly, lashing out at Liu Yuan.
Fear spreads.
So does courage.
As the Rotting Flesh Mountain faltered under Liu Yuan’s assault, the students’ will to live ignited.
…
The battlefield reeked of blood.
In the end, the undead were annihilated.
The students, barely standing, were all wounded.
Spear in hand, Liu Yuan finally snapped out of her daze—
And spotted Su Qi perched on a branch, casually munching watermelon.
Those words had been hers.
Xu Kun’s screams had drawn her here.
Liu Yuan’s hands shook violently.
The spear slipped from her grip as she crumpled to her knees, voice breaking:
“Su Qi… I was so scared…”
[Brilliance +1]
Su Qi took another bite of watermelon, silent.
[Delight +666]
tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...
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...
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
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?"
