Teacher Phineas Stern nodded, then said after a moment of thought, "Well, just be careful not to overexert yourself."
He felt somewhat moved.
This was what a good student looked like.
He actually had to worry about whether the student was pushing himself too hard.
It wasn't like some of the other students who required him to constantly supervise their cultivation to avoid dragging down his own assessment metrics.
Afterward, the form teacher turned and left the classroom.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lin finished his lunch and dove back into his cultivation.
The afternoon sunlight spilled over him through the windows, making his long golden hair shimmer with a luster like flowing molten gold.
The classroom was so quiet that only the sound of his steady, long breaths remained.
Time gradually passed, and soon, footsteps echoed from the corridor.
The other students of the elite class had finished their lunch and were returning to the classroom.
They were somewhat surprised to see Jiang Lin already sitting there.
However, they didn't think much of it, simply assuming that Jiang Lin had eaten quickly and returned ahead of them.
Neil looked back at Jiang Lin, his brow furrowed.
He was trying to recall if this guy Jiang Lin had even gone to the cafeteria at all.
Because last semester, he had often gone to eat with Jiang Lin.
So he always sat near the spots Jiang Lin habitually chose.
But he hadn't seen Jiang Lin at all just now.
Could it be that he had been practicing the whole time, even forgetting to eat lunch?
Why was he suddenly working so hard??
Could something have happened at home?
Seeing Jiang Lin working so diligently, Neil inexplicably thought of the beastkin girl, Nora, whose tribesmen had been slaughtered.
She was focused entirely on revenge; aside from learning the human script, eating, and sleeping, she spent all her time improving her combat power.
During her semester and a half at Saint Brilliance Magic Academy, her combat power had been increasing at an exaggerated speed.
Although she had stopped at the top eight in the earlier class sparring session, those were the top eight of the elite class at Saint Brilliance Magic Academy.
No matter how one looked at it, she was a standout among her peers in all of Clearwater City.
And since Jiang Lin was already so powerful yet still working this hard, Neil could only assume something had happened to his family, requiring him to grow strong quickly to provide support.
But looking at Jiang Lin's current diligent appearance, racing against every second to practice, Neil felt a sense of urgency rising in his heart for some unknown reason.
Even if the guy skipped lunch, he'd still have to eat dinner, right?
Once the afternoon classes were over, he decided he would also stay in the classroom to practice for a while and then go to eat with him......
Neil thought to himself secretly.
Soon, the afternoon classes began.
This lesson was Monster Ecology and Weakness Analysis, taught by an old teacher with thick glasses and graying hair.
His voice was slow as he explained the habits, common attack patterns, and specific response strategies for various monster tribes.
"......Therefore, when facing monsters with hard shells, pure fire or lightning magic has limited effects. You should prioritize earth or metal-attribute attacks with strong penetration, or look for weak points at the shell's joints......"
The old teacher pushed up his glasses and drew a structural diagram of a crypt beetle on the blackboard.
Nora listened to the lecture and glanced toward Jiang Lin.
She found that this fellow was still sitting with his eyes closed, his breathing steady and rhythmic, as the magic essence in the air slowly surged into his body.
For a moment, Nora felt an inexplicable sense of urgency.
The guy was already first in the class and could crush everyone, yet he was still this diligent.
This made Nora, who previously felt she was quite hardworking, feel a sense of being outdone.
It seemed she still wasn't working hard enough; there were still many areas where she could improve!
She had to learn from Jiang Lin!!
She had to work even harder!!
Nora withdrew her gaze and forced her attention back to the blackboard.
But deep inside, the sense of urgency silently sparked by Jiang Lin grew like winding vines.
She remembered her original purpose for coming to Saint Brilliance Magic Academy—to become strong and seek revenge.
Those dark figures who slaughtered her tribesmen and the faces of her relatives falling in the flames still stung her dreams late at night.
She couldn't stop, and she certainly couldn't slack off just because she had entered Saint Brilliance Magic Academy.
Jiang Lin's strength and diligence acted like a mirror, reflecting the fact that she was 'still not enough.'
On the podium, the old teacher continued his lecture:
"......As for flying monsters, especially those with high-speed mobility like storm eagles and gale falcons, restricting their range of movement is more effective than direct attacks. You can pre-set wind-attribute binding arrays or utilize the terrain......"
While listening, Nora took rapid notes in her notebook.
Her human script was already quite neat, but her writing speed was still not as fluid as her human classmates.
This forced her to spend more time after class organizing her notes, which compressed the time she originally used for training.
'Perhaps... I can compress my sleep a bit more,' Nora thought to herself.
The physique of the beastkin race was stronger than that of humans; she could maintain peak energy with only four hours of sleep a day.
Previously, to ensure learning efficiency, she had maintained five hours of sleep.
But now it seemed she could reduce it by another hour and use the extra time for practical combat training or breathing technique practice.
......
Time flew by in their focus.
By the time the afternoon classes ended, the setting sun had already dyed the sky orange-red.
Students began to leave the classroom one after another.
Neil, however, was in no hurry to leave.
He had been observing Jiang Lin occasionally throughout the afternoon.
He noticed the guy had barely moved from his seat.
The way the blonde youth sat with closed eyes made him look isolated from the noisy classroom, creating a quiet world of his own.
Could it be that this was his normal state of practice?
He remembered that while Jiang Lin was serious last semester, he would at least chat with others during breaks, eat slowly in the cafeteria, and occasionally joke around while sparring in the training ground.
Was it because he didn't have a more advanced breathing technique to use back when he was rank-0, and he was busy making up for his theory classes, which made it feel like his practice state was similar to his own......?
And had he spent the entire summer break in this state?
Neil thought back to his own summer break.
He had gone home, hung out with friends, and even found time to visit the Royal Capital for fun.
Although he had persisted in practicing every day, compared to Jiang Lin's state of 'nothing but practice,' it felt like a vacation.
"No, I can't fall too far behind," Neil clenched his fist.
Although he came from the Kohlst family and had no blood feuds, he still possessed the ambition to stand out.
The National Youth Adventurer Competition was an excellent opportunity.
If he could achieve a good ranking, his status within the family would improve!
And to go further in the competition, he had to possess the strength to crush his peers—just like the current Jiang Lin.
'Starting today, I'll add two hours of extra training at night,' Neil silently resolved.
It wasn't just Neil and Nora; other students in the classroom were more or less influenced by Jiang Lin as well.
Sitting in the front row, Elvira, the elf girl, was currently frowning slightly.
She had been easily defeated by Jiang Lin in the morning sparring session, unable to even force him to use a weapon.
This sense of defeat didn't feel good for a proud genius like her.
But she quickly adjusted her mindset, shifting her focus to 'how to become stronger.'
"The efficiency of his breathing technique... is startlingly high."
Elvira was extremely sensitive to the flow of natural energy and magic essence.
She could vaguely feel that the speed at which magic essence gathered around Jiang Lin far exceeded that of an ordinary person, and it was even a notch faster than her, an elf known for magic affinity.
"Is it a special breathing technique? Or is his physique unique?"
Elvira decided to go to the library later to look up records on 'high-efficiency breathing techniques' or 'physique-specific cultivation acceleration.'
At the same time, she planned to adjust her own training schedule.
......
Rex, the big guy whose war hammer had been blown back by Jiang Lin's punch, was staring at Jiang Lin, who was still in his seat, lost in thought.
He had been first in the class last semester, and he had even broken through to the 2nd-rank over the summer. He thought he could firmly hold the top spot in the grade, but on the first day of school, he had been crushed by Jiang Lin.
"Strength... speed... reflexes... completely suppressed in every aspect."
Rex recalled that brief exchange in the morning.
Jiang Lin hadn't even used any skills, defeating him purely with physical attributes and basic movements.
"His physical attributes are definitely beyond the early 2nd-rank... at least the peak of the 2nd-rank, maybe even higher."
Rex took a deep breath, fighting spirit igniting in his eyes.
He wasn't someone who admitted defeat easily; on the contrary, a powerful opponent only stimulated his will to fight.
'There are still two months until the preliminaries... that's enough.'
'I will catch up!'
He decided to increase his physical training from four hours a day to six, while adding higher intensity weight training and impact resistance drills.
He was going to use the most clumsy yet direct method—tempering his body to close the gap in basic attributes between him and Jiang Lin.
Although one could use breathing techniques to directly strengthen the body at higher ranks, the most effective way to utilize that strength after physical attributes increased was through physical exercise.
It was equivalent to increasing the proficiency of that power.
The atmosphere in the classroom was undergoing a subtle change in silence.
By the window, Jiang Lin was completely unaware of all this.
He was fully immersed in the operation of his breathing techniques, feeling his physical strength and mental energy grow bit by bit.
The system's daily quests were already complete, the energy from the medicinal food was being efficiently converted, and the three sets of limit-broken breathing techniques were humming silently inside him like three precision engines.
Little did he know what kind of impact his current behavior was having on his classmates around him.
Feeling that enough time had passed, he opened his eyes and took out some dry rations to munch on.
He planned to follow his routine from last semester and return to the dormitory for an all-nighter of practice.
However, upon opening his eyes, he saw a scene that was strange yet somewhat familiar.
He noticed that his neighbor and the person sitting in front of him had both stayed behind.
Additionally, there were several other classmates he wasn't as familiar with who had also chosen to stay in the classroom a bit longer to study or practice.
Jiang Lin swallowed the last of his dry rations and scanned the classroom.
This familiar scene made him feel a bit dazed.
It was as if he were seeing the scenes from last semester back in Boulder City.
This Saint Brilliance Magic Academy...
Its future was truly bright...
He seemed to see a future where Saint Brilliance Magic Academy, under his leadership, would gradually become the most outstanding middle magic academy in the kingdom.
A gratified smile appeared on his face as he decided to set a good example for this group of students from Clearwater City who likely hadn't seen much of the world.
After finishing his dry rations and replenishing the depleted medicinal food energy in his body, he closed his eyes once more, and his breathing techniques began to operate again.
The classroom was silent, save for the rustle of pen tips across paper, the occasional soft sound of flipping pages, and several magic fluctuations from others also operating breathing techniques.
Neil took a deep breath, took out Analysis of 2nd-rank Magic Array Fundamentals from his spatial ring, and forced himself to focus.
He had already read through this book once during the summer, but many details were still unclear.
Reading it again now, those complex rune lines seemed to come alive, weaving slowly in his mind.
"Understand the structure of the stability rune first... the magic input node is at the third and seventh intersection......"
Neil muttered under his breath, tracing the lines on the page with his finger.
He had originally planned to go back and review tonight, but seeing Jiang Lin so focused, he decided to tackle this difficult task right now.
Nora spread out Advanced Human Common Tongue Grammar, comparing her notes as she practiced writing the monster ecology terminology she had learned in class today on scratch paper.
"Crypt beetle... shell joints... weak points......"
She wrote seriously, pausing occasionally to think and marking the pronunciation in the beastkin tongue.
Elvira had returned from the library, having found a book about improving the efficiency of breathing techniques, and began to test if the secret methods recorded within were effective.
Rex, meanwhile, wasn't reading. He had cast gravity magic on himself, pushing the pressure on his body to its limit.
In the open space at the back of the classroom, he began doing squats.
"One, two, three......"
Each squat was steady and powerful, his muscles tightening beneath his clothes.
Other students who had stayed behind were either reviewing notes, meditating, or practicing micro-control of magic—shaping a small ball of water elements at their fingertips.
Time flowed in the silence.
Outside the window, the sky darkened, and the magic crystal lamps automatically lit up, filling the classroom with a soft glow.
This was much better than Radiant Magic Academy back in Boulder City.
At Radiant Magic Academy, they had only installed magic crystal lamps after so many people like Jiang Lin had started pulling all-nighters that almost the entire grade refused to go home.
At Saint Brilliance Magic Academy, however, the lights turned on automatically based on the external weather, light levels, and whether there were still people in the classroom.
Of course, they could also be turned on or off manually.
This was prepared for students who wanted to do self-study at school.
However, students in the elite class usually went back to their private dormitories to study in secret.
Although the dormitories lacked the atmosphere of the classroom, they were quiet and free from distractions.
For these elite class students who wouldn't just crawl into bed and sleep while studying, it was indeed more comfortable to learn there.
But now, under the lead of Jiang Lin, the newly promoted number one of the class, other students had begun trying to stay in the classroom to practice.
As time passed, the night grew deeper and deeper.
Neil looked back at Jiang Lin and found that the guy was still motionless.
If he hadn't gotten up in the middle of it to munch on some dry rations and medicinal food, Neil would have suspected that Jiang Lin had already passed away in meditation......
Rate on N.U.
