As Jiang Lin easily defeated one opponent after another, the atmosphere in the training grounds gradually shifted from shock to numbness.
This was completely abnormal!
By the time Jiang Lin ended yet another battle in almost the exact same manner, no one in the spectator stands was letting out gasps of surprise anymore.
In its place was an eerie silence.
Just what... was the deal with this guy?
During the end-of-term test last semester, he was clearly only at the peak of rank-0...
Could he have been hiding his strength all this time?
All sorts of thoughts surfaced in everyone's minds.
If it weren't for the fact that Jiang Lin's facial features were indeed recognizable from his previous appearance, and that the homeroom teacher Phineas had confirmed his identity, they would have genuinely wondered if he was a different person entirely.
"Jiang Lin wins."
Phineas's voice rang out once more.
Jiang Lin calmly walked off the field and returned to the spectator stands.
The surrounding students instinctively made room for him, sizing him up with complex gazes.
Neil leaned in and asked in a low voice, "Old Jiang, when did you become so strong?"
Jiang Lin thought for a moment before replying, "It's because you guys are too weak."
"..."
Hearing this, the crowd fell silent.
Neil and the nearby eavesdropping students all felt a bit wounded.
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
Neil's teeth itched with frustration.
Damn it, Jiang Lin was acting so pretentious, and yet he didn't even have the right to refute him!
Curse his own big mouth, why did he even ask!
As more and more people were eliminated, the subsequent battles concluded very quickly.
They had now reached the top four within the class.
After drawing lots again, Jiang Lin was matched against a student who had ranked third in last semester's final test.
This was an elf student named Elvira, who specialized in archery and nature magic.
She was tall, with pointed ears and long pale green hair, holding a longbow carved with vine patterns.
Standing at the other end of the field, her expression was solemn.
"Student Jiang Lin, please give me some guidance."
Elvira's voice was crisp.
"Please guide me as well."
Jiang Lin remained empty-handed.
"Let the match begin!"
Phineas announced.
Elvira instantly leaped backward, simultaneously drawing an arrow.
Three emerald-green arrows condensed on the bowstring, their shafts wrapped in the radiance of nature magic.
"Triple · Nature's Binding!"
She released the string, and the three arrows shot toward Jiang Lin in a triangular formation, tracing three arcs in the air to seal off his space to dodge left or right.
The three arrows whistled through the air, their terrifying energy trailing brilliant magical plumes.
At the same time, before the arrows even arrived, countless vines suddenly sprouted from the ground, lashing out like living creatures to coil around Jiang Lin's ankles.
This was a control skill of nature magic, which, combined with the arrow attack, was practically perfect.
In the spectator stands, many students held their breath.
Elvira was already in the top three of the class last semester, and after a summer of refinement, her strength was inevitably greater.
This combo was something even the top two students in the class wouldn't dare take lightly.
However, Jiang Lin only looked down at the vines wrapping around his ankles.
With a magic essence oscillation, he lifted his legs.
Crack—
The vines, which were strong enough to bind a wild beast, snapped into pieces like fragile hemp rope.
At that exact moment, the three arrows reached Jiang Lin's face.
Jiang Lin raised his right hand and threw a serious punch at the three arrows.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three loud booms echoed as the three arrows hit an invisible wall half a meter away from his body, instantly exploding into a sky full of green light particles.
Elvira's pupils shrank.
While watching from the stands, the gap hadn't felt that obvious, but now that she was actually facing him, she felt a sense of powerlessness born from such an overwhelming disparity...
Before she could draw her bow again, Jiang Lin's figure was already charging toward her.
In the next instant, Jiang Lin appeared at her side and lightly tapped her wrist with his finger.
Despite her preparations, Jiang Lin was too fast; she felt a numbness in her wrist, and the longbow slipped from her hand and hit the ground.
"You lose."
Jiang Lin's voice was calm.
Elvira stared blankly at the longbow on the ground, then at Jiang Lin, and finally shook her head with a bitter smile.
"I lost... I'm completely no match for you."
The entire arena fell into silence once again.
This was no longer just being 'a bit stronger'; these were two completely different levels of existence!
"Jiang Lin wins."
Phineas announced the result.
In the final round, Jiang Lin's opponent was the top-ranked student from last semester—Rex, a warrior who wielded a massive war hammer.
After the break, he had also reached his physical limit, rising from rank-1 to rank-2.
Rex's muscles were knotted and tough, as if cast from iron.
However, there was still a gap between his physical limit and Jiang Lin's.
He walked onto the field, war hammer propped on his shoulder, his large eyes glaring at Jiang Lin.
"Jiang Lin, I admit you're strong, but I won't admit defeat easily!"
Jiang Lin nodded. "Please."
"Let the match begin!"
Rex roared, his entire body erupting with an earthy yellow light.
He slammed his feet against the ground, lunging toward Jiang Lin like a cannonball as his war hammer swung down with a whistling wind.
Magical light flared on the giant hammer, and even the students standing nearby felt a sinister wind hitting their faces, a sense of unease rising in their hearts.
It felt as if they were the ones facing such a strike, they would be fated to turn into minced meat.
However, Jiang Lin still didn't dodge.
He didn't even use a weapon.
He clenched his right fist again and threw a serious punch at the opponent.
The spectators' eyes widened.
The power of Rex's hammer was something even rank-2 defensive magic wouldn't dare take head-on, yet Jiang Lin was meeting it bare-handed?
The next moment, a scene that left everyone dumbfounded occurred.
Clang—!
A loud metallic ring echoed through the training grounds.
Simultaneously, a shockwave rippled outward from the two of them.
Only the hem of Jiang Lin's clothes fluttered from the air pressure, but he remained completely unharmed.
Even if the opponent's physical attributes reached rank-2 and were remarkably strong, they only had a little over two hundred thousand physicality points.
Jiang Lin, on the other hand, possessed at least four hundred and forty thousand physicality points.
The further one progressed, the more significant each point of physicality became.
Therefore, in terms of pure strength attributes, Jiang Lin wasn't just twice as strong as his opponent.
Rex felt as if his war hammer had struck a mountain, the recoil numbing his arms.
"This... how is this possible?!"
He stared with wide eyes, looking at Jiang Lin in disbelief.
However, Jiang Lin simply applied force again, flipping the opponent's giant hammer upward and away.
The war hammer flew out of his hand and hit the edge of the field with a boom, making the ground tremble slightly.
Rex stumbled back two steps, his arms still numbed and trembling.
He looked down at his empty hands, then up at Jiang Lin—the other boy was still standing in the same spot, his breathing not even disturbed.
As the top student of the Saint Brilliance Magic Academy elite class, Rex had never been so thoroughly dominated in a battle against a peer.
"Jiang Lin wins. Student Jiang Lin has obtained the internal recommendation spot."
Phineas announced the final result.
Although there were subsequent challengers from other classes to compete for the recommendation spot, they likely couldn't even compare to the tail-end of the elite class, let over Jiang Lin who had just thrashed the entire class.
Phineas suspected that if given the chance, Jiang Lin could even go up a grade and directly crush the sixth-grade students.
"This internal selection concludes here."
Inside the training grounds, as teacher Phineas announced the results, the start-of-term assessment and selection for the internal recommendation spot officially came to an end.
Teacher Phineas Stern walked to the center of the field, his gaze sweeping across the crowd and lingering on Jiang Lin for a moment.
"Congratulations to student Jiang Lin for obtaining the only internal recommendation spot for our grade for the National Youth Adventurer Competition, which allows him to skip directly to the round before the elimination matches. As for the rest of you, a school-wide open selection will be held in two months to determine the official participants.
You should prepare yourselves."
Pausing for a moment, he continued, "This selection has also allowed everyone to see their own shortcomings and... the gap between you and a truly top-tier genius."
His gaze turned meaningfully toward Jiang Lin once more.
"I hope the winner remains humble and the losers do not lose heart.
The competition officially starts next semester, so prepare well.
There's still some time before the next class. Everyone return to your classrooms or head to the training grounds to properly digest today's battles."
The students stood up one after another, leaving the training grounds in small groups.
Jiang Lin returned to the classroom, and just as he sat down, Neil leaned over again.
"Old Jiang, how on earth did you do it? You broke through from rank-0 to rank-2 in just two months?!"
Jiang Lin pondered for a moment. "Well... I just practiced my breathing techniques."
Hearing this, Neil fell silent.
It was like asking top students who got into prestigious universities about their study methods.
And they would answer, "I just read the books."
Even though they were all human and studied the same things, the resulting gap was worlds apart.
To be honest, Jiang Lin was a bit disappointed with this match.
He had originally thought he could test the power of his Eight Extremities Holy Sword.
As it turned out, against these kids, he didn't even need to use those skills.
Jiang Lin closed his eyes again and continued to circulate his breathing technique.
To him, this match was just a minor interlude.
Now that he had this internal recommendation spot, it saved him the time he would have wasted participating in those open selections to beat up children.
If he hadn't gotten this recommendation, he probably wouldn't have bothered to participate.
Later, he could go to the highest floor of the Tower of Trials to fight some level 30 overlord-tier creatures to see how much the Eight Extremities Holy Sword improved his combat strength.
The last time he faced one, he had been scared off by the creature's terrifying presence the moment they met.
As the time for the next class arrived, the noise in the classroom gradually faded, and Jiang Lin had already re-entered his cultivation state.
Three limit-broken breathing techniques circulated silently within his body, converting the energy from his medicinal food and the magic essence of heaven and earth into pure physical and mental strength.
The sunlight from the window slanted in, dancing on his golden hair.
Time flowed slowly in this tranquil atmosphere.
"Jiang Lin."
The voice of his homeroom teacher Phineas rang in his ear.
Jiang Lin opened his eyes and found that the other students had already left, with only Phineas standing by his desk.
"Teacher."
"Your progress... is beyond imagination," Phineas said slowly.
Jiang Lin replied calmly, "Once I broke through to rank-1, I was able to use higher-level breathing techniques, so my cultivation speed naturally increased significantly.
Plus, I am naturally gifted and I work extremely hard, so it's normal that I'm far ahead of other ordinary students.
This is just my daily routine."
Phineas was silent for a moment.
He had thought Jiang Lin would be humble or perhaps mention a bloodline awakening or something.
He hadn't expected the boy to brag so shamelessly without even blushing.
He could understand being far ahead of other students, but the geniuses in their class were hardly ordinary students!
However, he only nodded at the display of confidence and didn't pry further.
"Your obtaining the internal recommendation spot is well-deserved.
However, the stage of the national competition is far broader than a class selection. Geniuses from all over the kingdom and even other races will participate, including those as talented as you. Do not underestimate your enemies."
"I understand, thank you for the reminder, teacher."
Phineas had mainly come to have a heart-to-heart talk with Jiang Lin, asking about his goals for the new term, his thoughts on moving up to high school later, and if he had any difficulties with his studies.
Teachers at schools like Saint Brilliance Magic Academy had quotas for heart-to-heart talks with students every semester.
They had to write reports every month on how many students they had spoken with, the students' mindsets, and how they felt about the academic pressure.
If a student had a problem with a teacher's teaching style, the homeroom teacher had to act as a mediator.
Furthermore, if a student developed psychological issues that led to a crisis, the homeroom teacher would bear part of the responsibility.
After all, the expensive tuition at Saint Brilliance Magic Academy wasn't paid for nothing.
In addition to cultivation resources that far exceeded other academies, their teaching quality was also top-notch.
The two spoke for a while before the homeroom teacher eventually said, "Well, then keep up your cultivation. I won't disturb you any further."
Jiang Lin nodded.
Then, under the teacher's surprised gaze, he pulled out some prepared dry rations from his spatial ring and began to munch on them.
It was currently lunchtime, and the other students had gone to eat.
Jiang Lin, however, felt that going to the cafeteria was too much of a time-waster.
He was too lazy to run over there.
He preferred to spend more time on his cultivation.
"Why are you eating this for lunch?
If you think it's too late and the student cafeteria doesn't have good food left, I can take you to the faculty cafeteria."
The homeroom teacher thought that because he had chosen to talk during the lunch break, Jiang Lin was forced to settle for dry rations.
Hearing this, Jiang Lin shook his head.
"Going to the cafeteria requires me to run there, line up, and wait for food; it's too much of a waste of time.
When I come back, I’d still need a while to adjust my state before I could bring my cultivation speed back to its peak.
It's better to stay in the classroom and resolve it simply. I can finish lunch in less than five minutes.
Besides, I'm already used to this routine."
Phineas was somewhat shocked by Jiang Lin's explanation.
Was this student really this hardworking and diligent?
He had already reached a level where he could crush everyone in the class, yet he hadn't relaxed in the slightest!
In all his years of teaching, he had certainly seen many students who were both gifted and hardworking.
But someone like Jiang Lin...
This was the first time he had seen a student with such exaggerated talent work so hard.
At this moment, Phineas did not yet know.
His concept of "hard work" was about to be ground into dust by the "hard work" of Jiang Lin and his small group of friends from Boulder City...
Rate on N.U.
