CSMCDB - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Do you only know how to dodge?!" After missing several times in a row, the boy seemed a little annoyed. How could this Wen Yuncheng even resort to rolling around on the dueling platform? She was as slippery as an eel.

"Thanks for the compliment." Wen Yuncheng felt that her recent two-thousand-meter training sessions were paying off; even after all this, she was only a little out of breath. She casually created and released a Pursuer, then stood up. When the boy swept his long staff again, she suddenly extended her right hand, striking the staff with her armguard. She quickly retracted the armguard, using the momentum to pull on the staff, instantly destabilizing the boy's stance. Wen Yuncheng closed in on him, using "Topspin Kick" just as the Pursuer exploded.

The long staff flew from his hand, but the boy grabbed Wen Yuncheng's wrist with his left hand. Although he was a bit dazed and didn't use his full strength, he still threw a fierce punch with his right hand straight at Wen Yuncheng's face. Wen Yuncheng instinctively raised her left hand to block, and then… got hit in the bridge of her nose by her own armguard.

Steel spikes shot out in an instant. Wen Yuncheng shifted her footing to trip the boy. Already unsteady, he staggered for a moment, and the steel spikes on Wen Yuncheng's left hand were pressed against his body.

"Stop. The match is over." Teacher Jin glanced at the teary-eyed Wen Yuncheng. "Wen Yuncheng wins. Take a five-minute break." After five minutes, there would be a challenge from a random person in Class D. After three consecutive matches, Wen Yuncheng could take a temporary rest. Wen Yuncheng could continue challenging tomorrow, but it would still be three consecutive matches.

Only then did Wen Yuncheng release her grip. Her wrist, which the boy had grabbed, was fine, protected by the mechanical armguard after all. But her nose…

The armguard disappeared. Wen Yuncheng covered her nose and touched it, finding her hand covered in blood as expected.

Teacher Jin handed her a towel. Wen Yuncheng hastily stopped the bleeding for a moment, but the bridge of her nose still throbbed with a dull pain.

System, is my face ruined?

[Don't worry, it's not.] 1947 offered some half-hearted comfort. [What's a small injury like this? Which Long Aotian doesn't have a few scars?]

Wen Yuncheng: What did you say? It's going to scar?!

[No. You're still the coolest kid on the block. Don't panic. Rest a bit and continue the match.]

Five minutes later, another person was chosen at random. Wen Yuncheng put the towel back into her storage ring, but when she glanced down at the bloodstains on it, she felt physiological tears welling up again.

[Kid, be strong!]

Student number 29 from Class D…

It was also a boy, one who looked particularly sunny and cheerful. After being chosen, he made a wry smile and vaulted onto the platform.

"You've already fought two matches in a row. If you can't go on, you can say stop at any time."

"Okay, I will! I hope you don't hit my face, or I'll be even less handsome than you!" Wen Yuncheng gave the boy a thumbs-up and then assumed a fighting stance.

"Okay." The boy was taken aback for a moment, seemingly not expecting Wen Yuncheng to say that. He glanced at Teacher Jin, who was about to announce the start of the match, and hurriedly added, "Thanks, you're very handsome too."

Teacher Jin looked speechless. "Alright, both of you get ready! Match-start!"

The boy's weapon was a longsword. He formed a sword finger gesture and took an opening stance. When Teacher Jin announced the start, he didn't close in on Wen Yuncheng immediately, but waited for her to attack first.

Seeing the boy being so courteous, Wen Yuncheng happily retreated a few steps and released a Pursuer. She completely changed her fighting style. When the boy lunged with his sword, she would side-roll to dodge. Regardless of how it looked, she was fast. The boy chased her all over the platform with his sword, getting staggered by the Pursuer's explosions from time to time. At first, the boy could gracefully dodge the explosions, but later he was blasted to the point of wearing a blank expression, questioning his life choices.

"Bro-brother… can you… can you please fight me properly?"

"My friend, you're mistaken! This is also a valid fighting style. It's a strategy focused on long-range attrition, slowly wearing down the enemy's combat strength." Wen Yuncheng steadied her breathing. Seeing that the boy was running so much he could barely hold his sword steady, she estimated the distance between them was safe, checked the Pursuer's cooldown, and spouted this nonsense. Then, she said to 1947 in her mind: I'll call it the 'You-Chase-Me-But-Can't-Catch-Me' Tactic.

[…] 1947 didn't want to speak.

After saying that, she casually created another Pursuer, sighed, and said, "Why don't you just concede? Consider it doing me a favor. We're both tired, and you have to challenge someone later, too."

The boy wore an expression that said, "I feel like what you're saying is wrong, but I can't pinpoint exactly why," as he questioned his existence. He glanced hesitantly at the sword in his hand, channeled his Star Power, and charged at Wen Yuncheng again.

Star Academy was truly wealthy, so the dueling platform was also truly massive.

Such a large platform allowed Wen Yuncheng to fully implement her strategy. After all, everyone was a newbie. The boy clearly didn't know any movement techniques, so he was led around in circles by Wen Yuncheng until he finally stepped down in defeat.

Of course, by winning three consecutive victories in this manner, Wen Yuncheng, unsurprisingly, didn't gain any popularity. Many students from Classes E, F, and D looked at her with indescribable expressions.

Although her reputation had taken a hit and she'd been labeled with tags like "pretty boy," "scared to fight," "only knows how to dodge," and "no real strength," Wen Yuncheng didn't care at all. She was very satisfied looking at her score of over 600 points. She stepped down from the platform and waited in the spectator stands for the Class G students she had practiced with yesterday to finish their matches, planning to pull them in for another training session later.

Currently, she had about four regular training partners. Combined with her mandatory two-thousand-meter run every night, she was earning 250 experience points a day.

That night, an exhausted Wen Yuncheng lay in bed. She pulled up her personal panel, looked at it, and after a long silence, said, "1947, I probably can't win tomorrow."

Host: Wen Yuncheng
Race: Human
Age: 15
Class: Mechanical Master
Level: 9
Experience: 915/1250
Points: 138

In the years she was considered a "waste," she didn't learn any combat techniques. She was in a daze and didn't really try hard. Her current physical fitness was completely untrained, and even cramming now would only improve it by a tiny bit. She might be able to barely beat someone from Class C, but what about Class B? What about Class A?

Even her former self, if she had worked hard until age fifteen, would probably only be at the level of Class A. Could her current self defeat someone from Class A who had the same talent she once did and had been nurtured by their family? Not likely.

Wen Yuncheng stared at the ceiling, a hint of regret suddenly surfacing. If only back then… even without her talent, she had persisted in her cultivation. Even if she was bullied and mocked, if only she had kept going to the combat training rooms. Although she hadn't acted cowardly back then and had seemed to have come to terms with it, she couldn't help but think now: if only she had been able to persevere.

[Kid, it's not too late now.]

"Maybe," Wen Yuncheng said sullenly, pulling the blanket over her head. "But I feel like I'm just an ordinary person." Except for a baffling engagement and being inexplicably bound to a system. Even if her talent was once very good, that talent… thinking about it now, it was probably just average compared to these chosen ones, right? After all, Holy Star City was just a small, remote city. The Imperial Capital was a gathering place for talent; what kind of genius couldn't be found there?

The world is vast. Only after going out and seeing it do you realize some things aren't as significant as you thought.

[You are not ordinary.] 1947 corrected her seriously. [Because you have me!]

[Nighttime does tend to make people prone to negative emotions, so… please rest early.]

[As for whether you're ordinary, mediocre, untalented, or can't compare to others… look back on it in ten years.] 1947 said. [For now, please rest.]

Wen Yuncheng, who had wanted comfort but didn't get the kind she expected: …Alright then.

Wen Yuncheng touched the bridge of her nose. Before sleeping, she prayed that she wouldn't face an opponent who would hit her in the face tomorrow, then cleared her mind and fell into a deep sleep.

Waking up at four, Wen Yuncheng washed up, simply spent 3 points in the store for a bowl of clear noodle soup, and drank it so fast that not a single drop of broth was left. After a short rest, she went straight for her two-thousand-meter run.

Then she ran to Zhou Xuan's dorm and knocked on the door. Seeing a sleepy-eyed Zhou Xuan, she quickly apologized and then asked him to have a match with her in the morning.

"I think I'm about to break through to the Star Practitioner rank, and I want to try before the matches. I hope you can spar with me just once! Please!" Wen Yuncheng bowed ninety degrees. "I'll treat you to breakfast!"

"…Fine. Let me wash up and change first. Wait a moment." Zhou Xuan forced his eyes open and mumbled in reply, "You can go get the others first…"

Wen Yuncheng watched Zhou Xuan's unsteady steps, feeling like he could fall asleep while brushing his teeth.

This was actually very disruptive to her classmates, and she felt bad about it, but Wen Yuncheng really couldn't think of any other way to get experience in advance to level up. She couldn't just grab a random person off the street and drag them into a sparring match, could she?

She had specifically spent three points on a bowl of noodles this morning to see if it was worth the price, if the taste was excellent, and if it was something she could proudly offer to others. Of course, after eating it—what were steamed buns in comparison!

"Holy crap, these noodles… Wen Yuncheng, you have this kind of skill!" The classmate, who had been full of irritation, now had a look of pure satisfaction. He laughed and slung an arm around Wen Yuncheng's shoulder. "As long as I get one of these every day, big bro here can spar with you anytime!"

"Give it a rest. Wen Yuncheng is heading to Class A in the future." Zhou Xuan, slurping his soup, rolled his eyes. "Let's hope sparring really can get you to the Star Practitioner rank. Your mutated ability actually levels up through comprehension in real combat. It's completely different from how we absorb Star Power."

Wen Yuncheng gave a helpless smile. "It is a mutated ability, after all."

After sparring with all four classmates, Wen Yuncheng apologized again. By then, it was getting late, and it was time to head to the dueling platforms.

But… she still hadn't leveled up.

Wen Yuncheng stared at the glaring "1115/1250" in her experience bar and felt a massive headache coming on.

[As long as you win one match, you'll become a Star Practitioner.]

"I know." Wen Yuncheng took a deep breath. She was starting from Class G again. The Class G students had all finished their challenges yesterday. It wasn't that no one had tried to emulate her consecutive matches, but no one had managed a winning streak. Therefore, she was the first one to go up today.

Wen Yuncheng walked onto the platform, glanced at the packed spectator stands, then looked away. "Consecutive challenge. A random person from Class C."

She heard a clamor from the stands, a jumble of noise, and some people were even shouting encouragement for her.

She was probably the first person who wasn't yet a Star Practitioner to challenge all the way from Class G to Class C, right? —Of course, it was also possible that she had become famous for her utterly shameless skills and fighting style.

Regardless, here she stood. This match, she had to win.

VerseVoyage