Chapter 12: 12

Chapter 12 The Withered Wolf

After cooking Xiang Xiaoyu’s favorite meal—stir-fried eggs with tomatoes—and watching television together for an hour Xiang Xiaoyu unwillingly grabbed a bag of snacks and retired upstairs under Xiang Ning’s prodding. 

Xiang Ning picked up a book and started studying. This was a fixed habit and must not be ignored. Although he now had the system’s help, he still felt like he needed a backup path for himself instead of relying on the system. What if it stopped functioning one day? 

After studying, he sat on his bed and started practicing the Advanced Breathing Techniques. Although the system didn’t show his experience increasing, he could still feel the faint sensation of spiritual qi nourishing his body. 

The next day, the sun had just started to rise at six in the morning. Xiang Ning opened his eyes, rubbed his cheeks, then washed up and woke Xiang Xiaoyu up with breakfast. 

They arrived at school at 7:20, which was neither early nor late. 

Xiang Ning saw Xiaoyu off, then walked alone to the upper secondary zone and to his classroom. Coincidentally, he met Zhang Cheng but just entered the class after a moment’s look. 

Fury Points +45 

Xiang Ning froze. Why did his Fury Points increase? Who could it be? Zhang Cheng? He didn’t think much of it and headed to his seat to prepare for his morning reading. Once he sat down, he felt many eyes secretly watching him. He quizzically looked around and heard a conversation about yesterday. 

“Hey, did you hear? Xiang Ning from our class got into a fight. I heard it was one against three, too.” 

“That’s insane! Isn’t he only in Physical Tempering stage four?” 

“What do you know? They were holding back, it was just a minor disagreement. Who knew Xiang Ning would hit for real? In my opinion, it’s his personality.” 

“Heh, I see.” 

Xiang Ning was irritated by the gossip, but what could he do? Explain himself? Who would believe him? 

“That’s enough! He’s our classmate, is that necessary?” Fatty Wang shot up and slammed the table, scaring a few people. 

Fury Points +11

Fury Points +8

Fury Points +9 

Xiang Ning couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry; perhaps this counted as helping him? 

Zhang Cheng got up and locked eyes with Wang Zhe. “Fatty Wang, you’re being too nice. The entire school knows about the fight, and that one of them was from our class. Don’t you know it’s now become a joke?” 

“You can drag your own name but not our class!” 

Fury Points +32

“Tsk, you’re right. And now he’s stopping us from talking about it.”

“That guy’s pretty strong, I think we should probably keep it to ourselves.” 

“Heh, yeah, or we’ll be beaten up too.” 

Wang Zhe wanted to speak up in the face of the insults, but Xiang Ning stepped up and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you. I’ll repay the money, too.” 

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“Hey, you don’t need to. Don’t worry about it.” 

The bell rang, silencing the noisy classroom. After a series of click-clacks, the class teacher, Su Muhan, pushed the door open and stood on the rostrum. 

“Students, today will officially be your first class of the semester. Please pull up the summary on fearsome beasts and we’ll learn about the beasts around Marsh City as well as their characteristics.” 

“We’ve learned these in the lower secondary classes, Miss,” Li Zimo said with his hand up. Due to his background, he naturally knew a lot about beasts, too. 

Su Muhan smiled. “You learned about their morphology and general characteristics, but today we’ll learn how to kill them, familiarizing yourselves with their weaknesses and special features to increase your chances of survival in the future.

“First up is the Boulder Boar, ranked as a Beast Soldier, though even these lowest-ranked beasts are the equivalent of a tier one, six-star martial artist. Does anyone know its weakness?” she asked, her eyes scanning the classroom. 

When she mentioned the Boulder Boar, Xiang Ning recalled its characteristics. Although he wouldn’t claim to know every beast in the world, he was familiar with the ones around Marsh City. 

As the students discussed, only Xiang Ning’s eyes were meaningfully fixed on Su Muhan. Perhaps because she felt his gaze, or because no one raised their hands, she called on him. “Xiang Ning, do you know the answer?” 

He stood up. Many people turned to look, delighted to see him suffer. They thought there was no way a part-timer like Xiang Ning could possibly know. But they must have forgotten that he had ranked first in their examination on cultural subjects. He calmly answered, “There’s a weak spot behind the Boulder Boar’s ear. One may puncture this spot with a weapon, or cut through to sever its nerve. The Boulder Boar’s defenses are mainly focused on its back, as it’s covered with stones. The most valuable part is the ear, so one must be attentive in their technique during the severing of the nerve.” 

The class was in shock, including Wang Zhe. There was a sudden clapping; it came from Su Muhan, who was surprised by his answer. She smiled. “Very good, that was a very detailed explanation, though I’ll add on to his answer. Boulder Boars often appear in groups, so when you encounter one in the wild, avoid confrontation if possible.” 

… 

The morning’s lecture piqued the students’ interests, as it was a new topic, so time quickly passed. 

As usual, Xiang Ning jogged to the other side of Mingzhe Lake and went to the cafeteria with Xiang Xiaoyu for lunch. Of course, there was Fatty Wang, too, because he now called himself a sworn brother of Xiang Ning’s. He insisted on ordering two plates of beast meat to be shared with the siblings as well. Although Xiang Ning didn’t say a word, he remembered Fatty Wang’s kindness. 

The afternoon period, which was also the only class in the afternoon, was a class conducted by a teacher with actual combat experience named Mu Xiao. Mu Xiao was a tier five martial artist, which was two tiers above Su Muhan. Apparently, he’d retired from the military and had killed countless beasts, earning himself the nickname ‘The Withered Wolf’. 

“Good afternoon, class. If everything goes smoothly, I’ll be your practical combat teacher for the next few years. You may call me Mr. Mu. I’ll guide you during your combat training sessions.” Mu Xiao proudly stood before the inexperienced students, his muscular body radiating a killer’s aura. Not a sound was made. 

“My classes will be divided into two types of sessions, practical and virtual combat. In the virtual network, you can train your reflexes. You may exchange and purchase combat skills in the network, and we’ll run both types of sessions throughout the semester.” Mu Xiao’s voice boomed like a grand bell, shaking the students to their core. 

Xiang Ning had heard of this. After the great spiritual qi explosion, humans had built a virtual reality network that perfectly simulated reality. In reality, combat skills were difficult to attain and injuries were too common in the quest of perfecting a skill. On the virtual network, however, one could disregard the negative effects of cultivating and training too vigorously; they could just start over if they were hurt on the network. 

However, that caused the prices of high-level combat skills to soar, while lower skills became dirt cheap. If you fought someone on the street, you could likely be using the same skill. People with influential backgrounds, like some students in class, on the other hand, owned combat skills unique to their own clan. 

Obviously, Xiang Ning did not. 

It was impossible to master a combat skill if it was only used in virtual reality. Many people, especially in this declining era, could only dream of the perfect conditions to battle in the virtual network, unable to sustain any true injury.

“Other than strengthening your own body, you’ll need some help.” Mu Xiao gestured with his fingers. 

Li Zimo raised his hand. “Weapons?” 

“That’s right, weapons. Anyone who’s played games knows the importance of weapons. It’s true that when you’re fighting a beast in real life, weapons are crucial. We’ll head to the school’s virtual arena next and you may choose your weapons. This afternoon, you’ll have time to cultivate one basic martial skill. In the last thirty minutes, you’ll be paired up for one-on-one sparring sessions, in which I’ll oversee the results,” said Mu Xiao. 

Xiang Ning was pleasantly surprised to hear that. A virtual arena was worth more than his house. He couldn’t believe this school had one! 

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