The words may be crude, but the truth isn't.
The fantasies of many young boys and girls—of single-handedly dominating the Origin Realm—were mercilessly shattered by reality.
They had been humbled.
Forget about reaching the peak of the fifth tier.
In their entire class, not even half a person had stepped into the fifth tier, the Shadowflame Realm.
The fourth tier, the peak of Spark Realm, was already their limit.
"Alright, enough with the long faces. I’m just saying you probably won’t get to be lone heroes—the Great Xia doesn’t encourage individualism anyway. In recent years, plenty of teams have made their mark. I’ve never believed your potential ends here."
"Otherwise, why would a sixth-tier Shadowflame expert like me bother teaching a bunch of brats like you?"
"A single spark can start a prairie fire."
"All of you are the embers of humanity."
Seeing that he might have crushed their spirits too hard, Teacher Li quickly tossed in a few words of praise.
Admittedly, his teaching skills weren’t half bad.
At the very least, the initial resistance to the concept of "teamwork" had noticeably faded.
"Come up and collect your scoring bracelets."
"Give it your all!"
...
"Xu Kun!"
Teacher Li called out the students’ names one by one.
When Xu Kun, standing at the end of the line, heard his name, he stepped forward immediately.
Teacher Li glanced at the record that read "fourth-tier Spark Realm, peak level," gave a slight nod, and handed him a metallic bracelet.
Xu Kun stood at an impressive 180 cm tall, with strikingly handsome features—though his androgynous face, framed by a center-parted hairstyle, was his only flaw.
The moment he stepped forward, the boys’ gazes burned with envy, while the girls’ eyes glazed over, utterly captivated. If not for the inappropriate setting, some might have already flocked to him.
Aside from his less-than-illustrious family background, in the eyes of many goddesses, he was practically flawless—no weaknesses to be found.
Facing the complex mix of stares around him, Xu Kun remained unshaken.
With practiced ease, he slipped the metallic bracelet onto his wrist.
Once the last student had received their bracelet, Teacher Li spoke again.
"Now, within a thirty-meter radius around me—this is the arena. Free-for-all brawl."
"The last two standing will be the team captains."
"Don’t hold back. I’ll be watching."
...
The moment Teacher Li gave the order, everyone immediately distanced themselves from their nearest classmates.
The atmosphere tensed instantly.
Yet, the students only exchanged wary glances—no one dared to strike first.
After all, a free-for-all sounded simple, but these were their usual classmates. Going all out against them still felt unnatural.
"What, all scared now?" Teacher Li raised an eyebrow, his tone teasing. "Weren’t some of you just dreaming of dominating the Origin Realm? Now you don’t even have the guts to throw a punch?"
His words were like a lit fuse.
Unnatural? Screw that—plenty of them had grudges to settle.
"Go!" Someone shouted, and in the next instant, nearly a dozen students lunged into action simultaneously.
Liu Yuan stood at the edge of the crowd, her eyes swiftly scanning the chaos.
She didn’t recklessly charge into the center of the melee.
"Conserve strength. Wait until they’ve worn each other down…"
But things didn’t go as smoothly as she’d hoped.
Liu Yuan whipped her head around just in time to see a male classmate charging at her, fist already raised high.
She sidestepped narrowly, barely avoiding the blow.
Teacher Li observed the battlefield calmly.
This exercise was meant to test their adaptability in chaos—and whether they had the ruthlessness to survive.
Everything was proceeding as he’d expected.
Most of these students were only at the third or fourth tier, still in the "brawling" phase. At this stage, they lacked the energy for long-range attacks, making supervision relatively easy…
Suddenly, Teacher Li’s expression stiffened.
He snapped his fingers sharply.
The student who’d tried to ambush Liu Yuan blinked in confusion—something had appeared in front of him.
Then, a chilling sensation spread across his chest and back as his uniform exploded into tatters, revealing a metal plate strapped to his torso.
His mouth fell open in shock. Blood roared in his ears, his vision swam with stars, and the last thing his dazed mind registered was Liu Yuan’s blurred figure.
Clang.
The steel plate hit the ground with a dull thud.
A closer look revealed a fist-shaped dent sunken deep into its surface.
If Teacher Li hadn’t reacted in time, that punch would have shattered the student’s ribcage.
For a moment, even the brawl came to a halt.
Every eye was locked on the fallen steel plate.
Swallows of nervous saliva were audible.
Eighty percent of them were now wondering: Could I have survived that hit?
And since when did Liu Yuan—usually mid-tier at best—hide this much strength?
With a performance like that, even if she wasn’t at the peak of the fourth tier, she couldn’t be far off.
Even Teacher Li frowned, flipping rapidly through the student records.
Soon, he found Liu Yuan’s file.
Third-tier Spark Realm, peak level…
That couldn’t be right.
Card Masters specialized in mental energy. Unlike martial artists or cultivators, whose physical abilities surged with each breakthrough, Card Masters’ advancements only allowed them to wield higher-tier cards or activate more simultaneously.
This meant their physical attributes relied entirely on equipment cards—and those had limits.
Excluding low-cost specialty cards, a Spark Realm Card Master could sustain roughly two equipment cards at once. Any more risked mental collapse.
An average adult male’s strength stat hovered around 5.
Liu Yuan’s punch had just clocked in at at least 35.
Assuming a four-star rare equipment card granted +10 attributes…
So she was currently wielding two four-star epic-tier equipment cards?
"Liu Yuan, step forward."
"Huh? Oh…"
Liu Yuan wore an expression of pure innocence.
Had she messed up?
This really wasn’t her fault!
Even she hadn’t expected that punch to be so devastating.
Her current strength stat should’ve been 4 + 7 + 8 + 16.
Two three-star rare equipment cards (7 and 8 points) plus… white stockings.
Yep.
Only when she threw that punch did she realize—the "Lewd Courage" card…
Had a hidden trait.
Its first special ability, when active, seemed to be self-sustaining?
Meaning if she lacked the soul energy to maintain it, the card could power itself.
It lost its auto-cultivation feature—or, more accurately, converted cultivation gains into activation costs.
Effectively stacking an extra card atop her limit.
Damn…
Could her "brother" have been born into some ancient family… and stolen this god-tier card meant for his future wife to give to her instead?
Honestly, it wasn’t paranoia—she’d never even heard of a card like this!
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
