The Winner

You have fallen into my trap!

Chen Guan did not dodge or evade. A grey light flashed in his eyes as his mental energy erupted with unprecedented intensity.

The moment the fist was about to strike, Long Ao suddenly felt a sharp pain, as if he were being pierced by countless tiny needles.

This agony directly assaulted his mental perception, forcing a muffled groan from his lips. Even the momentum of his punch involuntarily scattered for a split second.

Although Long Ao's sheer willpower allowed him to forcibly dispel the illusion in less than a second, for Chen Guan, that was more than enough.

The Gale Boots beneath his feet suddenly flared with light, pushing his speed to the absolute limit. He stepped sideways, narrowly dodging the brunt of the punch. At the same time, he gripped the long handle of his scythe with both hands, using his body as an axis to channel all his strength and remaining grey energy into the weapon.

The scythe carved a sharp, grey arc through the air. Like a venomous snake striking, it thrust at a tricky angle straight toward the exposed gap under Long Ao's armpit, left open by his punch.

This strike concentrated all of Chen Guan's current spirit, energy, and focus.

Long Ao's pupils shrank. Having just dispelled the illusion, he did not have time to catch his breath. He could only barely contract his arm muscles while the crimson aura covering his body instinctively gathered under his armpit to defend.

Thud!

The blunt tip of the scythe pierced through the aura and jabbed heavily into Long Ao's armpit. Though buffered by his muscles and aura, preventing any substantial damage, a sharp sting was unavoidable, causing half of Long Ao's body to go slightly numb.

Step, step, step!

Long Ao stumbled back three steps before stabilizing his stance.

He looked down at his armpit; a small hole had been punctured in his combat suit, leaving a clear red dot on his skin.

Silence fell around the arena.

Everyone stared at the scene, dumbfounded.

Chen Guan actually repelled Long Ao? And almost injured him?

No, it would be more accurate to say that if he had been using a real weapon, Chen Guan, the dead-last student, would have already wounded Long Ao, the chosen genius!

Chen Guan leaned on his scythe, panting heavily, his face pale. That last move had nearly exhausted his remaining mental energy, leaving his body somewhat weakened as well.

Long Ao touched the red dot under his armpit, raised his head, and looked at Chen Guan. The fighting spirit in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest; instead, it burned even more fiercely, now mixed with an unprecedented level of acknowledgment.

You win, Long Ao suddenly spoke. His voice was not loud, but it clearly echoed throughout the entire venue. In this spar, I lost to you.

He frankly admitted his defeat without making any excuses.

Chen Guan shook his head. No, I just used a trick, and you didn't go all out.

He knew very well that if Long Ao had burst out with full strength from the start or used stronger techniques, he would not have survived long enough to create an opportunity. He had already witnessed Long Ao's high-attack characteristics.

A win is a win. Long Ao walked up to Chen Guan and extended his hand. You are stronger than I thought. Next time, I will treat our spar with a much more serious attitude.

He owed Chen Guan a favor from before, which was why Long Ao had not gone all out from the beginning. He could not possibly strike a deadly blow right off the bat against his savior.

Chen Guan looked at the hand, then at Long Ao's earnest gaze. He reached out and gave it a firm shake.

I am ready whenever you are, classmate Long Ao.

Around the arena, after a brief silence, heated discussions erupted.

This time, Chen Guan's name truly began to be remembered by more people, his real name, rather than that weird nickname, the Coffin Bearer.

An Changqing looked at the two on the stage, a faint, imperceptible smile appearing on his lips. Su Yuehe breathed a sigh of relief, immediately feeling a sense of shared pride and happiness for Chen Guan.

Li Yan walked over and clapped his hands. Very good, you have made progress. Chen Guan, your application of mental energy is quite unique; keep exploring it. Long Ao, you need to pay more attention to dealing with unconventional methods. Both of you, go down and rest.

For Li Yan, this was practically a long-winded speech. He rarely gave such lengthy commentary on students' spars, causing another minor uproar.

At the same time, a new batch of people began guessing what Chen Guan's ability was. However, the person in question was entirely unaware of all this.

Chen Guan himself quietly left the training grounds after class.

He knew that although today's battle could barely be considered a win, it had also exposed quite a few things, such as his most important Illusionist ability.

However, he did not regret it. In the academy, appropriately showing potential could sometimes earn more resources than blindly hiding it; the key was maintaining the right balance.

Back in his dorm room, he opened the system panel once again.

[Popularity Points: 4127]

A single spar had brought in over three thousand popularity points, making it his biggest recent income. It seemed that interacting with well-known figures really was a highly efficient way to harvest popularity points.

Chen Guan did not hesitate. He exchanged 1800 of those points for 1.8 free attribute points and added them to his Agility. Combined with the 0.2 he had gained from his own training, it rounded out perfectly.

[Agility: 10]

His body felt increasingly light and nimble. He decided to save the remaining points for now.

His terminal beeped. Chen Guan took a look; it was a group message from Situ Ming.

[Situ Ming: Next Monday, the Four-Academy Tournament will commence. All students in the Tianshu Class will participate. Everyone, please prepare in advance.]

The Four-Academy Tournament? Chen Guan had some impression of it.

In this world, four institutions were known as the top ability academies.

They were Huaqing Academy, Beishi Academy, Kamiya Academy, and Academy Zero.

The first two were located in Huaxia, Kamiya Academy was in Nihon, and Academy Zero was in America.

[We have to elbow Kamiya Academy hard.]

[We can't let Academy Zero off the hook either.]

[The identity card for Beishi Academy's top student has already been posted on the forum. It's a girl.]

Chen Guan's hand unconsciously opened the forum and navigated to the fan-creation section.

He had glanced at this section once before and immediately closed it, because the first thing he saw was fanfiction about Long Ao and Li Yan, which scared him so much he never dared to look again.

Therefore, this was his first time looking at character profiles.

[Name: Guan Jinyue]

[Identity: Top Student of Beishi Academy]

There was also a photo attached. It showed a slightly serene-looking girl with silver hair and black eyes. She was leaning against a wall, sunlight spilling across half of her face. Even through the photo, one could feel its aesthetic beauty.

Memorizing that face, he knew anyone who appeared on the forum was definitely no extra. After closing the forum, Chen Guan began to consider his next steps. There were still three days until next Monday, and he needed to improve his strength as much as possible.

His initial mastery of the Illusionist ability gave him a glimmer of hope when facing strong offensive opponents like Long Ao, but the consumption was massive. Moreover, its effectiveness would be greatly reduced against opponents with firm willpower and strong mental energy. He needed more practice, especially in the precise control of illusions.

Actual combat...

Take on some missions?

Chen Guan looked out the window again. Internal academy missions were usually of moderate difficulty, with rewards mainly consisting of points and standard resources.

If he wanted to quickly acquire special resources and combat experience, accepting academy missions was a solid choice.

He tapped on his terminal and logged into the academy's internal mission system.