Their team had only one person left to take the exam—Kaka.
His exam was scheduled for this afternoon, and his opponent was Weike.
Clearly, the difficulty of this match was no less than any of Su Xing’s three matches, and it might even be harder.
Kaka was nothing like Su Xing’s Huanling, who had inherent attack capabilities.
Nor was he like Ivancel, who was a highly aggressive player by nature.
His Huanling couldn’t deal direct damage to people at all; it could only cause damage by destroying the surrounding structures.
During lunch break, the four of them were specially exempted from cleaning the Blazing Flame Dragon.
They sat together in the Principal’s garden, discussing the upcoming exam in the afternoon.
Quinn held the materials Su Xing had given and instructed seriously, “You absolutely must rely on the stone pillars on the arena to deal with Weike. Weike’s Dragon, the Dragon Scale Tiger, only attacks using its scales. Don’t get hit. Although the damage isn’t comparable to Wind Blades, the sheer number of attacks means one combo will be tough for you to handle.”
Kaka smiled dumbly, “Got it! Don’t worry!”
Ivancel’s face darkened, “Have you thought of a strategy?”
Unexpectedly, Kaka nodded earnestly.
“Yes! I plan to use the Little Blue to smash the stone pillars and trap Weike in the middle. Even if I can’t hurt him, that should count as a win.”
“That’ll do, Kaka!”
Su Xing jumped over and ruffled Kaka’s baby-faced cheeks, praising him, “You actually used your brain. Mama is deeply comforted!”
Kaka, thrilled by the compliment, let Su Xing do whatever she wanted to his face.
In the end, Ivancel couldn’t stand it anymore.
He gave Kaka a sharp tap on the back of the head.
“Stop grinning foolishly and think about what kind of image you have in that guy’s eyes!”
Then he shot Su Xing a glare, signaling her to hold back.
Su Xing pouted unhappily and pointed at him, “Don’t be a male mama!”
Ivancel retorted, “Don’t! Don’t be impulsive! Impulse is the devil!”
Quinn hurriedly jumped in, panicked, to stop Ivancel, whose neck had turned red to his ears and who was radiating murderous intent, seemingly ready to kill to silence someone.
Then Quinn anxiously looked at Su Xing, “Calm down, don’t cause a murder before Kaka’s exam!”
So the exam would be over soon, right?
Su Xing vaguely felt she was starting to understand the truth.
She pointed at Quinn, “Male Mama number two.”
Quinn suddenly released Ivancel’s arm and calmly adjusted his glasses.
“Ivancel, go ahead!”
Su Xing sprinted away but, unsurprisingly, was quickly punished.
***
Inside the principal’s office, a white-bearded young boy watched the scene with a cheerful smile, hands behind his back. His words carried a strangely mature tone: “Youth is wonderful, isn’t it, Old Jack?”
He looked up at the red-haired man beside him, who had a close-cropped haircut and wore a serious expression.
The old man was probably in his fifties or sixties but showed no signs of fatigue, instead standing tall and vigorous like a pine or bamboo.
Vice Principal Jack snorted, “Too relaxed. If I’m not mistaken, they still have an exam this afternoon, right? To be this laid back now means they still lack experience.”
The white-bearded boy chuckled, “You really care about them, don’t you, Jack? You even know about their afternoon exam.”
Jack’s face flushed, and he stubbornly said, “I only heard it from what they said just now.”
If not for what he said earlier, Tang Ren would have believed him.
But he didn’t press the matter further; it was better not to provoke people.
Nonetheless, all of them shared a certain level of concern for these promising students.
Quinn, whose parents were globally renowned missing scientists and who himself hid secrets;
Kaka, son of the Federation’s richest man, with unprecedented Huanling abilities;
Ivancel, a former professional assassin with extraordinary skills and a peculiar Huanling;
And Su Xing, a once-in-a-century Huanling prodigy, though prone to falling into darkness.
This combination left no room for them to not pay attention!
“What do you think of the afternoon match?”
Tang Ren asked.
“That one…”
Jack pondered for a moment, “I hope they gain something from it.”
The match between Kaka and Weike was certainly one to watch.
The students didn’t know Kaka’s Huanling secret, but as principals, they were fully aware.
Kaka’s Huanling was a type they had never encountered before.
Otherwise, when Kaka first awakened, even though his parents hired many masters, they all believed Kaka’s Huanling had no abilities.
No one had thought that a Huanling that didn’t target humans or Huanlings but only objects could exist.
But now that they knew, a Huanling that could easily destroy objects—if it grew stronger—how powerful could it become?
That was why they deliberately paired Kaka with Weike—two childhood friends at odds due to differing stances.
Being soundly defeated should give this excessively optimistic kid a bit of a reality check.
This unique Huanling would soon be known outside, and if Kaka didn’t grow quickly, even Spirit Realm Academy would struggle to guarantee his safety.
As for Weike, his potential was unquestionable.
The Dragon Scale Tiger was already a powerful Huanling, and Weike had a strong background supporting him.
Weike was the kind of student who was perfect in everything except his personality.
But his flaw was obvious—too arrogant and condescending.
It was understandable, given the family he grew up in.
If Weike was defeated by Kaka, whom he once considered useless, or made to look embarrassed, it would be a huge blow to him.
If such a blow could awaken Weike, even just a little enlightenment, then this exam would have been meaningful.
Tang Ren stroked his beard and said confidently, “It definitely will.”
Lunch break passed quickly.
Kaka was the last to take the exam, so there was still some time.
Su Xing had just finished her exam not long ago and was mentally exhausted, so she didn’t join the others in fooling around and instead went back to rest.
By chance, as she stepped onto the second floor of the dormitory, she saw Avril in the corridor.
Avril’s face was still a little pale.
Though her injuries had healed, the mental blow was not something easily recovered from.
In the end, Su Xing spoke first, “Are you okay?”
Avril’s expression shifted repeatedly as she raised her voice, “Do you think so?”
Su Xing shrugged, “Looks fine to me. Want to have a rematch next time?”
Avril, as if provoked, bristled furiously, “Next time, I will definitely beat you! Once I master my skills, you absolutely won’t stand a chance!”
“Ah…”
Su Xing didn’t argue, “Then next time you come looking to fight me, it might cost you.”
For some unknown reason, Avril glared angrily at her, then after a long moment, lowered her gaze.
“Where’s Kaka? I need to see him.”
Su Xing thought for a moment, “He should be at the Spirit Arena watching the match.”
Avril nodded, then quickly walked away, even forgetting to say goodbye.
Su Xing was a bit puzzled but soon connected it to Avril’s earlier behavior and quickly understood her intention.
Su Xing shook her head and chuckled lightly.
If she was hoping for that, this young lady would probably return defeated and furious.
In fact, Su Xing was right.
Less than half an hour later, she heard loud knocking on her dorm room door.
“Knock knock knock knock!”
Su Xing raised an eyebrow, exchanged a glance with the Gentle Breeze Spirit, and put down her book to open the door.
“I’m telling you!”
At the door was Avril, who burst in angrily the moment Su Xing opened it.
Su Xing had no choice but to step aside and make way for the young lady.
“I kindly warned that guy, and he was completely ungrateful!”
Avril’s exaggerated expression was as if someone had refused five million freely given by her.
Hmm… considering the young lady’s status, add another five million.
Su Xing asked in confusion, “Avril, didn’t you forget? The guy you’re complaining about is my teammate and someone I’m pretty close to.”
Avril sneered at her, “One thousand spirit coins, just listen.”
“All right!”
Su Xing quickly corrected herself, “That bastard Kaka went too far!”
She sounded righteously indignant, as if Kaka owed her five million.
Hmm…
Adjusting for Su Xing’s status, that’s a reduction of four million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand.
Su Xing’s sudden change in attitude made Avril raise her eyebrows in surprise.
“Hey! Didn’t you say you’re close?”
“What close?”
Su Xing argued with conviction, “Anyone hostile to my employer is my enemy!”
Avril twitched the corner of her mouth, her anger from earlier gone, but she was still very worried, “Weike definitely won’t go easy on Kaka this time. Even for the reputation of our First Squad, he won’t allow us to lose four times in a row, especially to the bottom-ranked team like yours.”
Su Xing leaned back and corrected her, “We won’t be the bottom-ranked team after the midterms.”
With how they performed in the midterm exams, who would still dare say they were the lowest?
“But you climbed over us to get there!”
Avril snapped angrily, “Weike’s about to die of anger, okay?”
That was unreasonable, Su Xing scoffed, “Maybe you remember it’s because of your demands that we all ended up clashing. If we climbed over you, isn’t it your own fault?”
Though Su Xing and the others guessed the teachers might have arranged things deliberately, she certainly wouldn’t say that out loud.
Avril, unaware of the truth, was speechless.
Indeed, as Su Xing said, they had basically shot themselves in the foot.
But if the young lady admitted her mistakes, she wouldn’t be the young lady.
Avril crossed her arms, “Do you remember who your employer is?”
“Of course!”
Su Xing immediately played along, “Kaka’s the ungrateful one.”
Avril didn’t feel any satisfaction from using money to humiliate someone.
To be honest, she felt like she was the one being humiliated.
After listening to Avril ramble for a while, Su Xing gained quite a bit of information about Kaka’s childhood, such as how he had always been a naive sweetheart and how he used to get along well with Weike and the others.
Seeing that time was almost up, Su Xing lazily stretched and stood up.
“Shall we go? Kaka’s match should be about to start.”