Chapter 16 : Grade 3-E Class 

Class E, the end?

What do you mean? I thought I had rainbow aptitude…

Su Xinran couldn’t process what she had just heard.

Seeing the confused expression on Su Xinran’s face, Elisha suddenly realized something she’d forgotten to explain earlier.

“Rainbow aptitude doesn’t mean you can master all elements, you know…”

Elisha knocked her own head with a troubled look.

“In fact, rainbow aptitude might mean the opposite of what you’re thinking… umm… how do I explain this to you…”

“Have you heard of jade gambling?”

“Yeah…”

Hearing Elisha’s metaphor, Su Xinran nodded.

“In jade gambling, the purer the color, the more valuable the stone. But if the colors are too mixed and messy, the value plummets.”

“Colors represent attributes. The purer and more focused the color, the stronger the control over that attribute. But messy colors mean confusion and lack of order. Being good at everything means being good at nothing.”

“So… my rainbow glow is actually the worst possible result?”

Su Xinran said in despair.

“Exactly…”

Seeing Su Xinran’s crumpled expression, Elisha tried to comfort her, a hint of guilt in her voice.

“Well… from my experience, your kind of rainbow glow is very rare. This is the first time I’ve seen it in person. So in a way… it’s a different kind of genius!”

“…Are you seriously trying to comfort me with that?”

Elisha covered her mouth, half-laughing.

“It’s okay, Miss Xinran! As the saying goes, ‘Step step forward, step step forward, always keep stepping step forward!’ As long as you don’t give up and keep moving, hope will eventually come!”

Ranzhu struck a motivational pose.

“…Do you even know what that means? Ugh, forget it.”

Class E it is…

There’s nothing left to be afraid of anymore.

“Pfft…”

A poorly timed giggle broke the silence.

Huang Qinyin was covering her mouth, staring at Su Xinran with a wicked smile.

Su Xinran clenched her fists. 

That girl… there’s just something about her that’s infuriating!

Fists… clenched!

After filling out all the enrollment paperwork, everything was finally settled.

Class 3-E!

Every grade’s Class E is the bottom of the barrel—the gathering place for the worst-performing students.

Class E doesn’t even share a building with the other classes. 

They’re stuck in a dilapidated section of the old school building, completely separated from everyone else.

They’re the last to be dismissed at the end of the day. 

Library seating must be yielded to students from other classes. 

Even mealtimes at the cafeteria happen after everyone else.

The school uses Class E students as “catfish” to stir the pond—to push the other students to work harder through fear and pressure. 

If you slack off, you’ll drop to the bottom: the end, Class E!

What a twisted take on the catfish effect…

Su Xinran thought grimly.

She hadn’t expected market competition tactics to be used on young, supposedly innocent students.

However, being placed in Class E didn’t mean all hope was lost.

The school held monthly exams. 

If a student ranked in the top 50 of the grade twice in a row, they could be promoted to Class D. 

This continued up the ladder, and finally—if someone in Class B ranked in the top 10 of the entire grade twice, they would be promoted to Class A.

Class A was the polar opposite of Class E—pampered and prestigious.

All the best resources in the school were prioritized for Class A. 

They enjoyed every privilege imaginable.

This system was what enabled St. Freya Academy to cultivate such outrageously accomplished students, many of whom had made legendary achievements across various magical and demonic disciplines.

But as for the students stuck at the bottom in Class E…

They were nothing more than sacrifices of the system.

The brilliance of the top students was so dazzling, it completely overshadowed those at the bottom.

After filling out her forms, Su Xinran handed them to the teacher responsible for student records.

“Do your best, Xinran. Give it your all for 60 days—if you work hard, you can get out of Class E!”

The teacher accepted the paperwork and gave her a perfunctory cheer.

She had done this countless times—giving these pep talks to every student who landed in Class E.

But in truth, falling into Class E was almost synonymous with no return. 

Only a tiny handful of exceptionally hardworking students ever managed to claw their way back up to Class D. 

The teacher knew this well, but she still offered every new student her practiced professional smile.

Especially in Su Xinran’s case—with her epic-tier rainbow aptitude, even having connections to the principal wasn’t enough to stop her from being tossed into Class E.

“Alright, all done. From today on, you’re officially a student of St. Freya Academy. So? Want to take a tour of your new school—or would you prefer to head home first?”

Elisha asked.

To her credit, Elisha—despite being the principal—had personally accompanied Su Xinran through the entire enrollment process. 

That, if anything, showed just how deep Wang Ya’s family background went.

“Principal, I’d like to explore the campus on my own, if that’s alright with you.”

“Mmm… I was hoping to spend more time with Wang Ya’s little sister… are you really turning me down~?”

Elisha struck a dramatic, pained pose.

“I’m not rejecting you, jeez. But seriously, how old are you to keep calling Wang Ya ‘that child’? She’s like a head taller than you.”

Su Xinran was speechless.

“How old am I again… hmm… let me think…”

Elisha raised her fingers and started calculating with a perfectly serious expression.

“Four hundred… plus five hundred… plus four years… umm… I guess I’m at least 904 years old this year?”

As she said her age, Elisha’s tone suddenly became calm and composed.

“Wha—”

“You’re 904?!”

“Principal…”

Behind her, Ranzhu giggled behind her hand at Su Xinran’s stunned reaction.

“There’s no need to be so shocked. I mean, both I and Qinyin are demi-beasts well past fifty. Don’t go judging someone’s age just based on their human appearance.”

Ranzhu removed her beret, revealing a pair of black cat ears that twitched slightly.

“But wait… this apocalypse only started four years ago—how are you guys that old already?!”

“Well, we’re not native demon beasts like your corpse tribe. We didn’t originally live in this world, okay?”

“Emmm…”

Hearing Qinyin’s explanation, Su Xinran suddenly felt a strange sense of kinship—like fellow transmigrators.

“Well, since you want to explore on your own, I won’t force you.”

“Byebye~ Wishing you a delightful campus life~”

With that, Elisha spun dramatically. 

A swirl of feathers swept over her body—and in the blink of an eye, she had vanished without a trace.

“Well, let’s go. The two of us used to come here back when the young lady was still studying. We could show you around as tour guides~”

Ranzhu offered enthusiastically, referring to Wang Ya.

“No need…”

Su Xinran replied.

“Eh?”

“I said, I want to explore alone.”

“…Why?!”