CSMCDB - Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Fortunately, her opponent was a Star Practitioner 1st Layer.
It would have been difficult if she had drawn a Star Practitioner 2nd Layer. Thankfully, there weren't many freaks in C-Class, and Wen Yuncheng's luck was pretty good.
Her opponent was a male Star Practitioner 1st Layer. Though he should have also been fifteen, he was over 1.8 meters tall. Just looking at him made Wen Yuncheng feel immense pressure. His weapon was also a staff, but its color was different from her previous opponent's, and it looked a bit more expensive. He wasn't wearing any plate or heavy armor, perhaps to allow for better mobility. Wen Yuncheng looked at the muscles straining the fabric on the big guy and couldn't help but glance down at her own flat chest, feeling a wave of emotion.
The match began.
In the audience, Lin Jinyu sat quietly. Beside her were several unfamiliar faces Wen Yuncheng had never seen before. The S-Class students who were still at the academy were all sitting together, so Lin Jinyu was surrounded by her seniors.
"This year is really something else. A freshman entering S-Class is one thing, but a G-Class student managing to win consecutive challenges and continue on the second day is another," the senior girl to Lin Jinyu's right couldn't help but remark. She glanced at Lin Jinyu. "I didn't think Student Lin would be interested in this kind of match. I heard you're a cultivation maniac."
"I was watching with my mentor yesterday. Today, I want to see how far he can go."
"A Star Apostle 3rd Layer… at that cultivation level, C-Class is already his limit." The senior shrugged, looking at Wen Yuncheng, who was dodging pathetically and barely resisting on the stage. She added, "Even C-Class might be a stretch."
"…" Lin Jinyu didn't reply. She watched Wen Yuncheng, who looked even more battered than in her first three matches, yet seemed all the more desperate to win. She felt that this person was truly difficult to see through. From asking for money, to trying to enter the academy through the gate guard, to getting into G-Class, and now these consecutive challenges… She had heard that Wen Yuncheng was always looking for people to spar with, and many had seen 'him' running laps around the academy at night like a fool.
At night! Instead of meditating and absorbing Star Power to cultivate, 'he' was actually running.
But, she thought, it wasn't necessarily impossible for 'him' to succeed.
With a thud, Wen Yuncheng felt a crack form on her right armguard. Before she could pull her arm back, the staff swung around and swept toward her. She hastily retracted her steel spike; otherwise, it might have been snapped in two.
How is this guy so strong? Why don't I know Tai Chi?
1947! Help me!
[…] 1947 remained silent, playing dead. It didn't have any other cheat systems. The items in its store couldn't help in a fight; at most, they could ensure the host ate, drank, and played well. As for the materials, parts, and equipment a Mechanical Master could use… Wen Yuncheng hadn't unlocked them at her current level!
1947 felt a pang of sympathy for Wen Yuncheng. After all, when it heard "1947, help me," it sounded no different from "Dad, save me."
Wen Yuncheng was unaware of 1947's inner drama. She had only cried out in her mind, and she didn't have the energy to converse with 1947 while dodging the barrage of attacks from the staff. She finally found an opening and landed a topspin kick while the big guy was distracted, but he just rubbed his pectoral muscles, took two steps back, and was completely unharmed.
Wen Yuncheng: This is too hard for me.
She rolled and dodged pathetically, using her armguards to block the attacks she couldn't evade. It wasn't that Wen Yuncheng hadn't tried to take the assassin route with her steel spike, but when the staff struck her wrist, she felt her entire hand go numb. If a blow like that landed on her back, she might have passed out on the spot.
This battle was exceptionally long.
To be precise, Wen Yuncheng relied on her rapidly regenerating mana pool to wear her opponent down with the RX-78 Pursuer.
The boy was strong, infusing every strike with Star Power. He had wanted a quick victory from the start, but Wen Yuncheng refused to clash with him head-on, instead rolling around the stage to escape. In a match with so many spectators, she truly had no regard for her own face. To be able to go to such lengths just to get into C-Class, the brawny young man had no choice but to concede.
He felt his Star Power completely depleted and thought it was pointless to continue. He might as well rest and use the challenge opportunity he'd get from losing to Wen Yuncheng to challenge someone from B-Class. And so, he surrendered.
The moment he declared his surrender, a burst of energy suddenly erupted from Wen Yuncheng, who had been shamelessly running around the edge of the stage. Teacher Jin, who had just announced the end of the match, was stunned—
She broke through, just like that?
Host: Wen Yuncheng
Race: Human
Age: 15
Class: Mechanical Master
Level: 10
Experience: 15/2000
Points: 132
Finally, she was a Star Practitioner.
Wen Yuncheng took a deep breath. There was a five-minute rest period after the match, and her recent breakthrough was no exception. She quickly opened the skills menu to see what she could learn. As for blueprints? There was no point in learning them right now.
The skills for a Star Practitioner cost 30 points each. Compared to the 1-point cost before, it was practically robbery! But robbery or not, Wen Yuncheng couldn't go without them.
EZ-8 Self-Destructor: Set a stationary self-destruct robot, the EZ-8 Self-Destructor. After 30s, it will explode in place, dealing fire-elemental magic damage to surrounding enemies. Cooldown: one minute.
Flame Exploder: Throw a compressed mechanism. After a 1s delay, it will erupt in a fiery explosion and ignite the target location for 5s. Cooldown: three minutes.
Piercing Kick: Launch an extremely swift piercing kick forward, knocking back the enemy with a chance to inflict a stunned state. Cooldown: five minutes.
Passive - Mental Detonation: Affects the RX-78 Pursuer and EZ-8 Self-Destructor, allowing you to decide their detonation time.
There were four skills in total, requiring 120 points to learn them all. Wen Yuncheng suspected 1947 had calculated this. But on second thought, if it had really been calculated, 1947 would probably have set the price of each skill to 50 points, forcing her to learn half now and then struggle to save up for the other half. With these random thoughts, Wen Yuncheng learned all three active skills and the one passive. After watching the skill demonstration videos, she had a general idea of how they worked.
Her points dropped to 12. Wen Yuncheng rubbed her uncomfortable arm. After the matches, she would have to save up points to learn blueprints. Her mechanical armguard also needed to be remade. If she had enough Star Stones, she could use better materials.
By the way, 1947, aren't there any healing medicines among those food items? Something to make my arm hurt less.
[You can't bear to buy it,] 1947 said. [5 points for a small tube. It accelerates wound healing, but it can't bring the dead back to life.]
The store interface opened, and Wen Yuncheng saw the potion 1947 mentioned. It was called "Novice HP Potion," and below it was some bullshit about how its effects were average, it only accelerated wound healing, and they weren't responsible for any mishaps.
Next to it was a Novice MP Potion, which accelerated mental recovery. It also cost five points.
In that instant, Wen Yuncheng suddenly regretted treating Zhou Xuan and the others to clear noodle soup. Why clear noodle soup! Wouldn't chewing on steamed buns have been just as satisfying?!
"Continue challenge. A random person from B-Class." Wen Yuncheng clenched her fist, psyching herself up. As for the potion? Forget it. She wasn't on the verge of death. Why waste points? It was both pretentious and wasteful.
The audience grew even more boisterous. Wen Yuncheng heard someone let out a long whistle in her direction. If she weren't dressed as a boy, she would have thought someone was deliberately harassing her.
Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but look toward the audience section. In the G-Class area, she found Zhou Xuan and the three companions she had sparred with that morning sitting in the front row, looking incredibly excited. Wen Yuncheng smiled and pumped her fist in their direction, signaling that she had done it—she was a Star Practitioner!
After that, she scanned across the class sections and, as expected, spotted Lin Jinyu sitting in the S-Class area. Wen Yuncheng only gave her a fleeting glance before randomly drawing a number and waiting for her B-Class opponent.
"Even if you just broke through to Star Practitioner, C-Class is your limit," the girl from B-Class who came up said with a great deal of arrogance. "You are no match for me."
"Thanks, but I don't consider you my opponent either." Wen Yuncheng was never bothered by such taunts, as was evident from her complete disregard for her image in battle, focusing only on victory. In her own words, "How many points is face worth? How much EXP is image worth?"
Of course, if she could show off with ease, Wen Yuncheng wouldn't refuse. (This excluded the cringeworthy attempts to act cool that existed only in 1947's mind.)
Wen Yuncheng was also telling the truth. According to the mission 1947 had issued, her only opponent was Lin Jinyu. Everyone else was just a minion on the path to completing the A-Class mission. "Please."
"Ha, since you insist on embarrassing yourself on the stage, let's begin!" With a swish, the girl unfurled a whip. Wen Yuncheng jumped in surprise, but upon closer inspection, she realized it wasn't a whip but a long sword made of interlocking segments. This type of sword could be called a "whip sword" or a "snake-belly sword."
Of course, the impact of being struck by it was completely different from that of a regular whip. A single lash from this whip sword would likely do more than just break the skin; it would send flesh and blood flying.
Wen Yuncheng swallowed. After the tournament, she was definitely going to buy a suit of armor! And boots. Whether it was her topspin kick or the new Piercing Kick, kicking with iron boots would certainly be far more damaging than kicking with leather ones.
"Begin match."
As the words fell, the girl raised her hand, and the whip sword instantly lengthened, lashing toward Wen Yuncheng's face like a whip.
Wen Yuncheng dodged to the side, but a segment of the whip sword caught the fabric on her shoulder. With a ripping sound, a large hole was torn in her clothing. Wen Yuncheng was dumbfounded; a piece of cloth was even left hanging from that segment of the whip sword.
She wasn't injured, but her arm felt chilly, giving Wen Yuncheng a strange sense of being taken advantage of. However, despite her inner monologue, her actions were without a moment's hesitation. She immediately crouched and created an RX-78 Pursuer, followed by an EZ-8 Self-Destructor.
The Self-Destructor was different from the Pursuer; it couldn't move. Its body wasn't silver like the Pursuer's but was painted green, with a string of numbers on it rapidly counting down from 30 seconds.
This sudden new technique left the students in the audience stunned, and even the observing mentors were no exception. This Star Power Mutation… it had mutated quite thoroughly.
"That Wen Yuncheng fellow…" Yan Ling looked at the cheap disciple she had picked up on the stage and suddenly had the feeling that she had truly gotten a bargain. She turned her head to look at Qiu Fei beside her and remarked with sudden emotion, "I thought you were deliberately making me take in a good-for-nothing who could never graduate just to embarrass me. I didn't expect… I misjudged you."
Qiu Fei: …
Author's Notes
Qiu Fei: [Image of an old man on the subway looking at his phone with a complicated expression].jpg
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