Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon
Tian Xiangdong was training his fist techniques on the field, but from time to time, he would sneak a glance at Zhou Wen who was under a tree. He had been training for nearly an hour while Zhou Wen had spent the same amount of time gaming on the phone.
“It’s really exasperating to compare. We spend so much effort training, but that fellow just games.” Tian Xiangdong felt more depressed the more he looked.
After the past few days of training, Tian Xiangdong had learned something. The reason Zhou Wen was considered the best genius in Guide High School wasn’t solely because of his cultivation talent.
Tian Xiangdong had originally thought that cultivation akin to sailing against a current was suitable for all humans since humans weren’t machines. It was very easy to regress if one didn’t train daily.
It was especially so when putting theory into practice in actual combat. Some level of deviation would affect the timing of opportunities and distance placement.
But Zhou Wen was different. As long as he learned something, regardless of whether he trained or not, he appeared very skilled and natural when actually putting it to practice.
Over the past few days, Zhou Wen would join them when the quartet trained together. But when it was time for individual training, Zhou Wen would run to the side to game.
If it wasn’t because Zhou Wen’s performance was impeccable when cooperating with the rest and, in fact, was the most outstanding one among the four, Tian Xiangdong might have taken on a teacher’s responsibility to teach the former a good lesson, inculcating in him the importance of daily practice and improvement.
But now, all Tian Xiangdong could do was sneak glances at Zhou Wen sitting there gaming while he had to engage in strenuous training.
“Where are you looking at? Focus. Your actions aren’t right,” Li Zhi said as he walked over.
Tian Xiangdong glanced at Zhou Wen who was just gaming and said in envy, “How nice it would be if I had talent like Zhou Wen. Cultivation is so miserable. Who doesn’t want to just game daily?”
Li Zhi said with a laugh, “Do you think Zhou Wen is really just gaming all day?”
“Isn’t that so? He has so much fun gaming daily. It’s obvious for us all to see,” Tian Xiangdong said.
Li Zhi shook his head and said, “We can only see him when he’s in school. We have no idea what he does after school.”
“Are you telling me that he’s cultivating hard at home after school?” Tian Xiangdong understood what Li Zhi was getting at.
“There’s no free lunch in the world. A person like Zhou Wen might appear harmless as though he cares about nothing, but deep down in his bones, he’s extremely prideful. He suffered such a terrible defeat under An Jing’s hands, and although there might be extenuating circumstances for his defeat, with his character, he probably couldn’t accept it. He must have worked very hard at cultivation. This can be seen from how adept he is in actual combat. He’s definitely just putting on a farce that he’s decadent and engrossed in gaming,” Li Zhi said with a severe countenance.
“Then why does he act so decadent in school? There’s no need for him to do so. Isn’t it better to spend time gaming than on cultivation?” Tian Xiangdong was doubtful.
Li Zhi shot a glance at Zhou Wen and said, “I believe that he suffered quite a psychological setback when he was first defeated by An Jing, causing people to mistake him for wallowing in self-misery.”
“But that doesn’t explain why he games in school?” Tian Xiangdong was still puzzled.
“Think about it. If everyone believes you to be trash, and you end up scoring shockingly well on the college-entrance exams, taking first place in the city, wouldn’t it feel awesome to look back at the naysayers with a beaming look of success?” Li Zhi said.
“Holy sh*t, Zhou Wen has such nefarious thoughts? That scumbag…” Tian Xiangdong instantly came to a realization as he nearly exclaimed. Thankfully, Li Zhi cupped his mouth in time.
Zhou Wen obviously wasn’t as Tian Xiangdong imagined. Gaming similarly allowed him to grow stronger. Furthermore, the in-game character was equivalent to another him. When the in-game character was in combat, he would acquire the experience and skill familiarity from combat; therefore, he had no need to train.
“Mutated Vigor Ant!” Zhou Wen was grinding happily when he saw a blood-red Vigor Ant appear.
Over the past few days, he had killed more than ten Mutated Vigor Ants, but the outcome wasn’t anything desirable.
Apart from the first Mutated Vigor Ant dropping two dimensional crystals, the subsequent ones dropped dimensional crystals at a much lower rate. Their qualities were also worse.
Ignoring the Primordial Energy Skill Crystal, even dimensional crystals with a value of 9 were rare. They didn’t appear even after about ten Mutated Vigor Ants were killed.
Now, Zhou Wen wasn’t as excited as before when he saw Mutated Vigor Ants. He very calmly controlled the blood-colored avatar to proceed forward and deliver two Vigor Divine Fist strikes to kill it.
Ding!
He heard a familiar chime. Something had dropped this time.
Zhou Wen wasn’t too excited. Even if a dimensional crystal dropped, it was useless even if it was valued at 7 or 8, unless they were Speed Crystals. They could only replenish his energy expenditure.
However, when Zhou Wen identified the item that dropped, he was slightly taken aback. It was because the word “Crystal” wasn’t in the name of the item.
“Killed Mutated Vigor Ant. Discovered Companion Egg.”
A game notice popped up at the bottom left of the screen. It left Zhou Wen surprised and delighted.
Having a Companion Egg drop meant that he had a chance of possessing a Companion Beast. But based on what he knew, it was very rare for Companion Beasts to appear at the Mortal stage. One could usually only have one after reaching the Legendary stage.
It could be said that Companion Beasts were a manifestation of one’s strength and status. Humans that would take their Companion Beasts on the streets were basically experts at the Legendary stage or higher. They were respected and envied by others.
The reason people at the Mortal stage lacked Companion Beasts was that Mortal stage dimensional creatures almost never dropped Companion Beasts. Even Legendary stage dimensional creatures had a relatively low probability of dropping one. Furthermore, Legendary stage Companion Eggs required one to provide Legendary stage Primordial Energy to incubate it. Therefore, even if Mortal stage humans obtained a Companion Egg, they had no means to incubate it.
Companion Beasts that hatched after incubation would live and die with their masters. It was very difficult for them to be transferred. If a forceful transfer was made, an extremely huge price needed to be paid. The typical person had no way of achieving that.
In a tiny city like Guide City, Zhou Wen had never seen a human at the Mortal stage have a Companion Beast.
The Companion Egg was about the size of the fist of the blood-colored avatar. It was completely milky-white and translucent. It was oval in shape and inside some red lights were flickering. It looked mysterious and beautiful.
Zhou Wen eagerly made the blood-colored avatar pick up the Companion Egg. The moment it made contact, Zhou Wen felt a jolt through his body. As though extracted by a needle, his Primordial Energy instantly flowed towards the phone.
And in-game, the blood-colored avatar’s Primordial Energy instantly went from 9 to 0.