Chapter 283

Perhaps because it wasn’t part of the plot, the final exams ended quickly. Everyone in S-Class completed them perfectly, almost all receiving the highest score in their respective tiers.

This was to be expected. Those who chose the highest level had absolute confidence in themselves, and their strength was evident. As for those who chose the intermediate exam, it was just an intermediate exam. If they couldn’t even pass that, wouldn’t it tarnish the reputation of S-Class?

On the last day of their first year, Meng Huai announced a piece of news in class that was neither good nor bad—the punishment for Wesi Sanctuary had been decided.

Needless to say, for the Radical and Conservative Factions, the Conservatives received death sentences or life imprisonment. Collaborating with Nightmare Beasts allowed for no mercy. Sparing some of their lives was already a concession due to the sheer number of people involved.

The Radical Faction fared much better. Although they also had to serve time in prison, few received life sentences, and the luckiest could be released in just a year, after which they could return to Wesi Sanctuary. While their goal wasn’t good, their actions didn’t cause significant impact or losses, so their punishment was naturally lighter.

The Neutral Faction received the lightest punishment; they only had to pay a fine. However, the amount was far from light, nearly the entire savings of Wesi Sanctuary over the years. These fines would be collected by the United Nations and subsequently used for the benefit of Ability users.

“What about Wesi Sanctuary itself?” Si Zhaohua asked curiously. This matter had nothing to do with his family, yet its implications were vast, so even the Si family hadn’t received much inside information. If it weren’t for the fact that students from Endless Ability Academy were involved, and were even the main combat force, the academy wouldn’t have been the first to receive the news from the United Nations.

Although he didn’t know the inside story, he was well aware of what was most precious in all of Wesi Sanctuary. While its treasures were as numerous as the hairs on an ox and its talented Ability users were countless, the most valuable asset was undoubtedly Wesi Sanctuary itself.

Thanks to Su Bei’s timely intervention, the entire island of Wesi had not sunk into the sea, so there were naturally no major losses. It remained the same as before, and the various wonders on it had not been destroyed. Therefore, it was still an undisputed treasure land, an inexhaustible treasure trove.

“It still belongs to the Neutral Faction,” Meng Huai replied. “As long as they pay the fine, they can go back.”

At these words, everyone except Si Zhaohua looked surprised. This was a huge prize. How could that group of people, who wouldn’t spare a single item from Wesi Sanctuary’s treasury, possibly let go of this greatest benefit?

Seeing that Si Zhaohua looked as if he had already anticipated this, Ai Baozhu asked curiously, “You already guessed it?”

“Yes.” Si Zhaohua nodded. In fact, he had mentioned this possibility at the time, but no one remembered.

Ai Baozhu pressed on, “Then why? I don’t believe they’re that kind-hearted.”

Just taking the ‘fish’ but leaving the means of ‘fishing’ was not something politicians would do. What they excelled at was taking both the ‘fish’ and the ‘fishing’, and then capturing the fisherman to work for them.

“It’s probably because they couldn’t reach an agreement among themselves,” Si Zhaohua answered with a smile. “Wesi Island is not a place that can be easily divided.”

The value of the resources on the island was not uniform, so there would certainly be disagreements over distribution. Dividing it equally based on profit was also impossible, as there had to be a primary and secondary party. Moreover, deciding who would ultimately own the island would be difficult to negotiate.

When an agreement on distribution couldn’t be reached, the best outcome was for no one to get it.

After a moment of thought, he added, “Besides, Wesi Sanctuary hasn’t lost all of its influence.”

Wesi Sanctuary had operated for many years, building relationships with powerful and noble figures. Even though they had made a huge mistake this time, those past connections were not entirely useless. Besides, their initial division into three factions was precisely to prevent a scenario like this.

Once the conspiracy was exposed, one faction could always stand in a position of innocence and be bailed out by pre-arranged contacts. They had just envisioned it being either the Radical or Conservative Faction, but the end result was the worst-case scenario: the Neutral Faction.

Since they had already anticipated this outcome, they had naturally made preparations long ago and wouldn’t allow themselves to be completely kicked out of the game.

“I see.” Ai Baozhu nodded thoughtfully, and the others also showed contemplative expressions.

Meng Huai brought the topic back on track. Of course, on the last day of the semester, there would be summer homework. The teachers for the cultural subjects had already assigned theirs, leaving only him, the homeroom teacher.

Thinking back to the winter vacation homework, Su Bei on one hand hoped the teacher would be a bit more creative and give them some simpler assignments. On the other hand, he worried he would assign something even harder, in which case it would be better to stick with the original. At least for them now, entering an interdimensional space was no longer a difficult task.

“I won’t assign much for this summer’s homework. Each of you just needs to eliminate three Advanced Nightmare Beasts. I don’t care how you do it—work together, fight alone, whatever. But when school starts, you must submit 42 video recordings as proof.”

Upon hearing the summer homework requirements, the students’ faces fell. Although Meng Huai’s request seemed simple, and he didn’t even mind them hunting in groups, eliminating an Advanced Nightmare Beast in the outside world was not that easy. The most difficult part was finding one.

The Ability Government wasn’t incompetent; Advanced Nightmare Beasts were rarely found roaming outside. When related missions occasionally appeared, they were immediately snatched up by large guilds. Unless they were constantly monitoring for them, it would be very difficult to get such a mission.

Excluding that option, the easiest way to find Advanced Nightmare Beasts was to go to a high-level interdimensional space.

But an Advanced Nightmare Beast that could wreak havoc in a high-level interdimensional space was no pushover. They were among the stronger ones even within their tier. Coupled with the geographical advantages of the interdimensional space, dealing with them was extremely difficult.

If they wanted to fight weaker Advanced Nightmare Beasts, their only option was the Nightmare Beast World. But the Ability Government hadn’t disclosed the location of any entrance to the Nightmare Beast World, making it troublesome to get in.

However, before anyone could complain, Meng Huai said with a grin, “If anyone fails to complete this assignment, please leave S-Class on your own after school starts. Anyway, I was already considering who to let go. If you’re willing to solve this problem for me, I’d be very grateful.”

At these words, even Su Bei, who had been a bit drowsy, was wide awake. After so long, he had almost forgotten that S-Class was supposed to have only ten students. The Dean of Students had said when they first entered S-Class that five people would eventually be eliminated.

He had thought they might get away with it, but now it seemed that might not be the case. They still faced the threat of elimination.

However, there was no way Su Bei would end up being eliminated, so after that brief moment of alertness, he started to feel drowsy again. He had been reading books every day since the final exams, trying to find information related to elemental Nightmare Beasts.

Although he now had a new idea about this—asking the guardian deity in Afei Nation—it was still uncertain whether the deity would answer his questions or even know the answers. He certainly couldn’t put all his eggs in one basket.

Su Bei wasn’t worried, but there were plenty of others in the class who were. Although their strength far surpassed that of students in other classes, many felt a bit insecure when comparing themselves to their classmates.

Now, hearing that they might be eliminated, a sense of crisis immediately set in.

Having ramped up the pressure on the students and seeing the grim expressions on many of their faces, Meng Huai nodded in satisfaction and changed the subject. “Regarding the World Competition, those of you who chose to eliminate an Advanced Nightmare Beast in the final exam—that is, Su Bei, Jiang Tianming, Lan Subing, Wu Mingbai, Si Zhaohua, and Qi Huang—can all participate as alternates. Alternates from our academy generally don’t get to compete, but being able to observe on-site is a good opportunity.”

Finally, some good news. The six of them broke into smiles. Jiang Tianming raised his hand and asked, “Teacher, what’s the format of the World Competition? Are all the participants this time from our academy?”

Being an outsider to the Ability World meant being ignorant about many things. Although he could look it up online, a teacher’s explanation would certainly be clearer. Since the topic came up, he asked casually.

“A country can send a maximum of two teams, a main team and a secondary team. Our country has always sent the top two from the Tri-School Competition, with the first-place winner as the main team and the second-place as the secondary. The main team can start directly from the second round of the official tournament, while the secondary team has to go through a preliminary round that eliminates half of the competitors.” Meng Huai was clearly very familiar with the procedure, speaking fluently. “After that, it’s a series of one-on-one matches. The specific rules are the same as the Tri-School Competition, announced on the day of the match and different every year.”

“So what are the rewards for winning?” Zhao Xiaoyu also asked curiously. For a national competition, the rewards for the victors must be pretty good, right?

Meng Huai nodded, but he didn’t remember all the details, so he just said with a half-smile, “The United Nations gives a prize, the Ability Government gives a prize, and the academy gives a prize. In short, the winners will definitely be well compensated. Even if you only get a bronze medal, the rewards won’t be small. As for what they are, we’ll talk about that after you qualify to compete. That’s not something you need to worry about right now.”

Without a concrete answer, Zhao Xiaoyu was slightly disappointed. But she quickly recovered. There were probably some versions of the details circulating online; even if they weren’t accurate, they could satisfy her curiosity.

After stating the date of the World Competition, Meng Huai gave his final instructions, “This time, the competition is being held in another country. Everyone must arrive at school two days in advance. No exceptions for latecomers. Alright, that’s all I have to say. Finally, class dismissed!”

“Goodbye, teacher!” the students chorused, watching Meng Huai leave.

As soon as he left the room, the classroom immediately burst into a lively buzz.

“How should we cooperate on the summer homework?” Zhao Xiaoyu was the first to ask.

Although her ability, [Happiness], was practically the bane of Nightmare Beasts, it was unlikely she could handle an Advanced Nightmare Beast on her own. She faced the same problem as Su Bei: insufficient self-preservation skills. The difference was that Su Bei could predict and change his own destiny, while she couldn’t.

“Let’s team up in groups, just like we did during the winter break,” Jiang Tianming suggested. “There are six of us who can reliably deal with Advanced Nightmare Beasts. We have fourteen people, so we can split into three groups, with two of them in each group.”

Fourteen people divided into three groups meant about five people per group, with each group having to include two people who took the advanced exam. It had to be said that Jiang Tianming was being quite selfless. This arrangement was clearly a disadvantage for him, Lan Subing, and Wu Mingbai, as they would be forced to separate.

In the end, the groups were formed as follows: Su Bei, Jiang Tianming, Zhao Xiaoyu, Li Shu, and Wu Jin in one group. Wu Mingbai, Lan Subing, Feng Lan, Ling You, and Mu Tieren in another. The last group consisted of Si Zhaohua, Ai Baozhu, Zhou Renjie, and Qi Huang.

This arrangement was very deliberate. Each group had at least one person who could easily get access to Advanced Nightmare Beasts. Meng Huai hadn’t forbidden them from seeking help from others, so what was the difference between asking a classmate for help and asking their parents or family?

“I’ll call you guys once I’ve discussed it with my dad,” Wu Jin said in a muffled voice. Although his [Succubus] ability had been exposed and everyone had seen his face, old habits made him subconsciously keep a low profile, his purple hair covering half his face.

Honestly, Su Bei felt that the only reason he could maintain a low profile was due to his ability to blend in. With his edgy emo hairstyle, he would be given a ‘second look’ wherever he went, making a low profile impossible.

The World Competition was a week after the break started, so they still had five days to spend at home. No one chose to stay at the academy; everyone went home. Su Bei was no exception. Although there was no one at his house, being at home was still better than being at school.

The next few days were very peaceful, a calm before the storm. Although they were only attending the World Competition as observing alternates, Su Bei knew that Jiang Tianming and the others would definitely get a chance to compete.

This time, six people from S-Class were alternates. Based on the format of the mid-term Tri-School Competition, a maximum of five people might be needed on stage at once. Su Bei thought he could manipulate the situation a bit; if he could avoid competing, he would.

Having finally made it to summer vacation, Su Bei gave himself a small break. He didn’t want to do anything before the World Competition except play games and kick a ball around at home.

He used to have a hobby of reading manga, but ever since he learned that the world he lived in was a manga world, that hobby had naturally vanished. While it’s a happy thing for a manga reader to find out their favorite manga world, characters, and plot are real, for him it was different.

Once he realized he was also in a manga world, and a cannon fodder character at that, he found himself empathizing more with the cannon fodder and passersby rather than the protagonist. Reading manga just didn’t feel right anymore.

Happy times fly by, and in a blink of an eye, it was two days before the World Competition. As the nation’s main team, Endless Ability Academy didn’t need to participate in the first round, so they could arrive a bit later.

When Su Bei arrived at the academy that day, he saw only familiar faces. Apart from the few from his class, the rest were members of the student council. The captain was undoubtedly Mu Yunfan. Seeing Su Bei and the others, he greeted them enthusiastically, “Long time no see, my dear juniors! Did you miss me?”

“President…”

An exasperated Si Zhaohua was about to say something but was cut off by him. “Hey, I’ve already stepped down, you know. Just call me Senior Mu or Yunfan. The current student council president is Manman.”

Although they were still representing the school in the competition, this year’s third-years had genuinely graduated. Si Zhaohua nodded. “Senior Mu, where is Senior Feng?”

Unlike the carefree Su Bei, Si Zhaohua had already familiarized himself with the participants from Endless Ability Academy for this event. The World Competition was held every two years, and only second and third-year students could be on the main roster. First-years, no matter how strong, could only be alternates.

A team could have five main members and ten alternates. Senior Feng Manman was on the alternate list and was also the vice-captain of the main team this time.

Although her combat ability wasn’t that strong—she was just a student in the second-year B-Class—a spot on the alternate roster was guaranteed for her, whether it was due to her merits, healing ability, or sense of responsibility.

Since Feng Manman was the vice-captain, the captain was naturally this golden-haired senior who had already graduated.

However, compared to the captain, everyone present knew that under normal circumstances, the vice-captain was far more reassuring. So, seeing Mu Yunfan start his antics, Si Zhaohua’s first instinct was to look for the vice-captain.

“The teacher just called her away,” Mu Yunfan pouted. Before he could say more, his pink eyes suddenly lit up. “She’s back!”

Footsteps sounded from outside the door, and a girl with short blue hair, looking neat and sharp, walked in with the Dean of Students.

Su Bei and the others were very familiar with the supervising teacher; it was Teacher Li. She was originally the Dean of Students for the first-years, but because the third-year dean was seriously injured and in a coma, she had taken on the role of third-year dean at the beginning of this semester.

Although as S-Class students they didn’t have much contact with the Dean of Students, compared to the other third-year teachers, Teacher Li was the one they were most familiar with.

“Let me introduce myself. My name is Li Minhua, and I will be your supervising teacher for this World Competition. You can just call me Teacher Li when we’re outside.” The Dean pushed up her glasses, a habit that people who wear glasses seem to have. “I only have two requirements for you: don’t cause trouble, and get a good result.”

“Teacher, teacher, what if trouble comes looking for us?” Mu Yunfan actively raised his hand, looking like a kindergartener.

Teacher Li was already very familiar with him. She gave him a warning look before answering, “If others provoke you first, the academy will naturally back you up.”

With that, she took out fifteen school emblem pins from her storage space and handed them to Mu Yunfan. “See this pin? I require all of you to wear it when you’re outside.”

“So that when people see we’re from Endless Ability Academy, they won’t provoke us?” Qi Huang asked naively.

The older seniors who knew the inside story couldn’t help but chuckle. Clearly, things were not as Qi Huang imagined.

Sure enough, Teacher Li shook her head, took out another pin, and demonstrated. She twisted the emblem 180 degrees. “See? When the top of this emblem aligns with the pinhead, it means the pin’s video and audio recording functions are activated. The recordings will be transmitted in real-time to the academy’s computers.”

“Wow,” Su Bei’s eyes widened in amazement, and he quickly took the item. “This is great stuff.”

He really hadn’t expected the school to prepare such a great item for them. Was this still a manga world? Forget a manga world, even in the real world, few academies would be so well-prepared.

Besides him, the other S-Class students were also dumbfounded. They really hadn’t expected this. Had the Ability World become so technologically advanced? The school had actually prepared personal listening devices for them?

However, the students weren’t ungrateful; they knew this was for their own good. Seeing that the seniors had already put the pins on, they quickly pinned them on as well. A pin made from the school emblem could effectively dispel suspicion. It was normal to wear a school emblem to bring glory to the school at the World Competition. Who would have thought it was actually a surveillance device?

After they had all put on the pins, Teacher Li continued, “Our academy has these means, and other academies might be prepared as well. So I’m warning you all again, do not cause trouble for me. Anyone who gets reported to me by another academy’s teacher for starting trouble will repeat a year. Understood?”

It had to be said, the Dean’s threat was indeed potent. Repeating a year was something that sent shivers down one’s spine just hearing about it. It was far more terrifying than the punishments other teachers gave, like running laps or writing self-criticisms.

Apart from the S-Class students, the rest of the group all knew each other. Many of them were classmates, and even those who weren’t had trained together after being selected, so they were all very familiar with one another.

The only ones who weren’t so familiar were Su Bei and his classmates.

However, they didn’t need to introduce themselves. Mu Yunfan said with a smile, “We watched all of your matches in the mid-term Tri-School Competition. You didn’t disgrace our school; you had the same flair we did back in the day.”

Next to him, a bald senior put his palms together, his face glowing with a Buddhist aura, and said to Mu Yunfan, “Amitabha, benefactor, I believe you are suited to join our Buddhist path.”

“Why?” Mu Yunfan played along. They had had similar conversations many times before, but they never tired of it.

The bald senior said earnestly, “We need a talent like you for collecting alms. In the future, I will preach the sutras, and you will collect alms. Together, we will surely spread the teachings of Buddhism far and wide.”

“What a beautiful future~” Mu Yunfan’s face was filled with excitement, which then turned into an expression of heartbreak. “But I can’t. My worldly ties are not yet severed.”

As he spoke, he looked affectionately at Feng Manman, batting his pink, charming eyes and sending powerful electric currents toward the object of his affection.

Feng Manman really couldn’t bear to watch the comedy routine performed by these two idiotic seniors. She closed her eyes, placed her hand on Mu Yunfan’s approaching face, and pushed him away without mercy. Then, she looked seriously at Teacher Li. “Teacher, we should go.”

Teacher Li pushed up her glasses to hide the amusement in her eyes and nodded. “Alright, stop messing around. Everyone, gather on the Teleportation Array. We’re about to teleport to the airport.”

In just a few seconds, the group arrived at the airport and boarded the plane. Endless Ability Academy was quite generous in this regard. Although they hadn’t chartered a private jet, they had booked out the entire first-class cabin, which was pretty good.

“May I ask what this senior’s ability is?” Once on the plane, Su Bei asked curiously, referring to the bald senior.

A human’s ability, unlike a Nightmare Beast’s, was often related to the person’s personality and experiences. This was especially true for them, as they were manga characters. Su Bei was very curious what kind of ability a person who constantly said “Amitabha” would have.

The others also looked over curiously. In fact, they were not just curious about the bald senior’s ability, but also about the others’. However, as alternates and juniors to the main members, they didn’t feel they had the right to ask.

“His name is He Shang, and his ability is [Buddha Transformation], a transformation-type ability.” A black-haired boy with whom they had met a few times, Zhang Sheng, answered with a smile, then blew a playful whistle. “Feels predictable, doesn’t it?”