Chapter 70

“Ji Qing, Ability: Gravity Manipulation.”

It was the same brief introduction as always, the same cool tone as always, and the same person as always.

Ji Qing stood on the platform with one hand in his pocket and wrote his name on the blackboard with his back to the class.

He did not say anything more. Everything was just as it had been on the first day he arrived at the school. Only this time, Li Xuehua, standing beside the platform, clearly blinked and pointed out helplessly, “Student Ji Qing, surely this time you can say something about your hobbies?”

“The truth is, I really don’t have any.” Ji Qing tilted his head and feigned innocence. “Teacher, isn’t that enough?”

“All right…” Li Xuehua let out a disappointed sigh.

She had originally hoped Ji Qing would set a good example, but the Valedictorian had once again chosen to be difficult. When the students who had experienced the previous round of Class S introductions saw this, they could not help smiling knowingly. This replay of the exact same scene was simply too entertaining.

“Next, Shao Huayu.”

With those words, Ji Qing and the rising Shao Huayu passed by each other again.

Perhaps because he already understood what kind of person Ji Qing was, Shao Huayu did not bother reminding him this time. But Ji Qing caught the hint of a smile at the corner of his lips. Compared with the unfamiliarity at the beginning of the school year, Shao Huayu could now understand the malicious little streak hidden beneath Ji Qing’s actions quite well.

But in another sense, it also made one nostalgic for the beginning.

A whole semester had passed.

At the time, none of them had imagined that they would become close within less than half a year. Thinking about it now, it really was something worth sighing over.

The self-introductions of the next few students likewise repeated the pattern of the previous ones, but there were differences. Song Xiaoran smiled more now. Zhou Que’s self-introduction has been shortened away. You Xingluo’s nonsense about Prophecy has disappeared. Ling You’er’s voice was no longer quite so frightened.

After a semester of spending time together, everyone had grown.

Li Xuehua watched all of it with quiet relief. Although the atmosphere in the room was not as harmonious as she had originally imagined, it was unexpectedly relaxed.

“Next, Feng Youyou.”

With those words, the story of Class S officially stepped into a new chapter.

Feng Youyou immediately rose to her feet.

She quickly walked to the platform, wrote her name on the blackboard in a few swift strokes, then flashed a wink-like gesture at the people below and said brightly, “Hello, everyone. I’m Feng Youyou. My Ability is an A-rank wind-type Ability, and my dream is to become an incredibly impressive Federation journalist~”

“For the next two years and more, please take care of me~”

After saying that, Feng Youyou bowed deeply toward the platform, then added, “If any of you ever run into injustice in the future, or any kind of difficulty where you need help, please don’t hesitate. I will absolutely do everything I can to help!”

That line was downright brilliant, Ji Qing thought.

He already had a feeling that Feng Youyou would absolutely become a regular presence in the manga in the future. No one could reject a companion who helped others without asking for anything in return, especially when Feng Youyou’s combat strength itself was already guaranteed.

Once she was done speaking, Feng Youyou stepped down. Li Xuehua promptly announced, “Next, Gu Lingxue.”

Gu Lingxue immediately took a deep breath.

She nervously clenched the edge of her clothes and rose to walk toward the platform.

Compared with the other two girls, Gu Lingxue knew very well that her strength could not compare with anyone else present. Her homeroom teacher had even specially spoken with her before. He had said, “If possible, I would still advise you to remain in Class A. Your Ability has strong potential, but exploring Danger Zones requires more than just potential.”

To be honest, Gu Lingxue had already heard similar advice many times.

And yet, she had still chosen to come here. At the beginning, she certainly would not be able to keep up with everyone else’s pace… Gu Lingxue thought uneasily to herself. But the opportunity was right in front of her. She was already better than many people. She could not keep measuring herself only against those who were even better.

Putting on a calm front, Gu Lingxue picked up the chalk and wrote her full name on the blackboard.

With graceful poise, she bowed and introduced herself. “My name is Gu Lingxue. My Ability is A-rank Ice Control. I come from Spring City, and my hobbies are appreciating musicals and operas. Please take care of me for the next two years.”

The introduction was brief, but there was nothing to criticize in it.

Gu Lingxue turned to look at Li Xuehua beside her. Once she received Li Xuehua’s nod of approval, she quickly returned to her seat like a cheerful little bird. Although she still felt a little nervous, the feeling was actually quite good.

“Next, Liu Mu.”

Liu Mu immediately stood up and walked steadily to the platform.

Perhaps because he had people in Class S, and those people happened to be especially formidable, Liu Mu moved with absolutely no sense of urgency. Although he was unfamiliar with the two girls who had come up from Class A, and the boy from Class F had previously gotten into a conflict with someone he knew, Liu Mu’s mood remained remarkably calm—so calm it was like still water.

After all, his job was only ever to gather intelligence, support the front line, clean up afterward, clean up afterward, clean up afterward, and so on in endless repetition.

It was very hard for that not to flatten one’s emotions.

“Liu Mu. My Ability is A-rank Memory Reading, and I come from Central City.” Liu Mu introduced himself. “What I’m good at is intelligence analysis and data processing. Please take care of me in the future.”

After saying that, Liu Mu quickly stepped down. He had never liked attracting attention to himself in the first place, and he had always positioned himself as a follower of geniuses. This sort of spotlight was better left to others.

“Next, Xie Chang’an.”

Xie Chang’an put down the Tang Saber in his hand. After listening to so many rounds of self-introductions, he was no longer as nervous as before. Instead, he was beginning to look forward to getting along with everyone in the future. Leaving aside the past conflict between Class S and himself, the atmosphere here was clearly much better than in Class F.

“Xie Chang’an. My Ability is… I guess F-rank physical enhancement.” Xie Chang’an shifted his gaze a little guiltily. “I’m from Spring City, and my hobby is training.”

“Wow, that’s impressive, brother.” Jiang Cuo clapped in surprise.

As a transfer student, he did not know about the disputes that had happened earlier at the Third Ability Academy. He was only sincerely expressing his admiration for someone strong. The fact that someone could rise into Class S with the identity of an F-rank Ability user really was incredible.

“Uh… I’m not as good as the rest of you…” Xie Chang’an scratched his head awkwardly.

He hurried off the platform, leaving the rest of the time for the transfer student. Xie Chang’an had not heard anything about a transfer student before, but with an extra student suddenly appearing in Class S and arriving together with the homeroom teacher, it was obvious enough that he had come from another school.

Xie Chang’an was just as curious about the transfer student.

“Next, Jiang Cuo,” Li Xuehua announced at the right moment.

“All right.” Jiang Cuo stood up briskly, and the keychain at his waist rang out with a crisp sound.

“My name is Jiang Cuo, and my Ability is the S-rank special-type ‘Fantasy World.’” Leaning sideways against the teacher’s desk, Jiang Cuo raised one finger and wagged it with mock seriousness. “Please note one thing—I am a genuine special type, not a support type pretending to be one, and not a control type too lazy to go through the proper process.”

Ji Qing could not help laughing inwardly. “…”

That line really could offend people. After all, during the earlier Ability testing, both You Xingluo and Ling You’er had chosen the special-type testing process precisely because they found the others too troublesome. Still, so there really was a purely special-type Ability in real life… That did make one rather curious about his strength.

Jiang Cuo continued, “I previously studied at the Second Ability Academy, and I transferred because of personal reasons. There isn’t much else to say. Please take care of me in the future.”

After saying that, Jiang Cuo copied Feng Youyou and made a rough, sloppy version of her wink gesture.

To be honest, it was rather horrifying.

Especially because Jiang Cuo’s imitation was completely off. He had not captured the essence of Feng Youyou’s expression at all. Feng Youyou blinked in shock. The impact of the scene was practically like a bootleg factory openly showing off its work right in front of the original manufacturer.

Feng Youyou: …Well, then.

Just as the students all sat there blankly, Jiang Cuo was about to step down without the slightest burden. Li Xuehua stopped him with a bitter smile. “Wait a moment, Student Jiang Cuo.”

“Hm?”

“Would you mind saying a little more specifically why you transferred, and what your Ability is like?” Li Xuehua asked tactfully. “The classmates don’t know you very well, and they also do not know much about special types. An S-rank special-type Ability is still simply too rare.”

“Oh, that’s true. But, Teacher…” Jiang Cuo looked conflicted for a moment, then spoke rapidly. “I’m worried that if I say too much, I’ll break character, and my cool, mysterious image will vanish without a trace. Even though I think it’ll definitely come out later anyway, I still want to enjoy the feeling of being a big shot for a while.”

Everyone present: “…”

All right, there was no longer any need to wonder. Shao Huayu, who had been ready to suppress Zhou Que at any time, found himself suppressing laughter instead and withdrew his hand helplessly. So this transfer student was another lively sort, apparently. Class S had just gained yet another unstable element.

Zhou Que instantly went straight for the jugular. “The moment you said that, your big-shot image was already gone.”

???

Shao Huayu turned his head in disbelief.

The edge of his vision happened to catch the expressions of the others he already knew. You Xingluo and Ji Qing both wore the same helpless expression of something inevitable finally happening. Liu Mu, on the other hand, twitched the corner of his mouth and blankly shut his laptop.

Liu Mu’s inner thoughts: Just let him die. Right now. Immediately.

Jiang Cuo, however, did not seem the least bit shaken.

Perhaps because many people had already mocked him for it before, Jiang Cuo said with a cheerful smile, “Actually… if you all want to hear it, I can tell you. Or rather, I genuinely do want to complain a bit about my previous high school. But before that—”

Jiang Cuo suddenly straightened his expression. “Teacher, are our dorms really single rooms with private bathrooms?”

“Uh… yes,” Li Xuehua answered, caught completely off guard.

“Damn, that’s wonderful.” Jiang Cuo immediately broke into a deeply satisfied smile, then blurted out, “I didn’t transfer because the other students were bad. I transferred because they were far too enthusiastic. I just can’t stand northern bathhouse culture!”

“Do any of you understand the suffering of scrubbing yourself bare-assed in weather below minus thirty degrees? It was truly miserable, wu wu wu…” As Jiang Cuo spoke, he could not help sniffing tragically. “Back then, I swore I would leave that environment, but I didn’t expect the rent near the school to be so expensive it could practically cost me my life, wu…”

Everyone present: “…”

What an utterly plain and honest reason.

The transfer student’s cool and mysterious image had not merely failed to survive. He had personally crushed it into dust on the spot.

Li Xuehua stared blankly. “I remember the Second Ability Academy does provide single dorm rooms. That’s what a former colleague told me. You’re an S-rank Ability user. Surely you weren’t in that miserable situation…”

“They do,” Jiang Cuo said, covering his face in grief. “But the moment I thought about spending three years with classmates who revered bathhouse culture, I felt like I was suffocating. That was when I understood—I had to leave that school!!!”

“Of course, the other key reason for transferring was this—” Jiang Cuo abruptly changed tone and said seriously, “I’m not very suited to their collective model over there. I have things I want to investigate, and things I want to pursue, so I don’t want to spend long periods moving around in group actions.”

“And because of that, my teacher recommended that I transfer.”

Everyone present: “…”

Well then, that was obviously the real reason for the transfer, was it not?

“All right, all right, I understand.” Li Xuehua still looked dazed after hearing this. She hurriedly stopped Jiang Cuo from continuing to spin nonsense about his reason for transferring, then changed the subject. “Then can you briefly explain your Ability? After all, we’ll be forming teams very soon, and we don’t know much about Student Jiang Cuo’s Ability.”

With that one sentence, Li Xuehua finally managed to recover her composure.

“Of course.” Jiang Cuo turned toward the students below and said casually, “To put it simply, I can make the false become real, and the real become false. It’s a little like a magician’s tricks for deceiving people. I can do combat, support, control, and healing, but I’m not especially proficient in any one of them.”

“Hm?” Ji Qing was startled when he heard that.

This really was the first time he had seen such a case. All the members of Class S whom he knew developed in a single dominant direction, but Jiang Cuo’s Ability clearly developed in every direction. So that’s why he was categorized as a special type, Ji Qing realized.

“Then what do you think sets you apart from those healing-type and support-type Abilities?” Zhou Que frowned.

He had not really understood what Jiang Cuo meant.

If what Jiang Cuo said was true—that he was not especially proficient in any of it—then Zhou Que felt that he did not deserve the identity of an S-rank Ability user. The testing process for special types had already been simpler than those for the other categories. Whether Jiang Cuo’s status as an S-rank Ability user was real or not was still uncertain.

For a moment, Zhou Que’s gaze toward Jiang Cuo became full of menace.

But Jiang Cuo looked as though he had not noticed at all. In his usual carefree posture, he spread his hands and said, “It’s precisely because I can do all of it that I can flexibly adjust my position within a team. After all, sometimes I can handle the whole task by myself. I don’t need anyone else to help at all.”

“Don’t you think someone like me is perfectly suited to acting alone, and perfectly suited to this school’s requirements for S-ranks?” Jiang Cuo smiled confidently. “Other than commissions that require multiple S-ranks to work together, or absolutely require teamwork, I can complete all the rest on my own.”

“I am a whole team by myself~”

Jiang Cuo said that with an almost dazzling confidence and flamboyance.

Hearing that, Ji Qing could not help laughing softly a few times. Now he understood why Jiang Cuo had dared to transfer in right at the end of the semester. He might speak a little too freely, and his behavior might be a little strange, but the pride of geniuses had always been carved into the bones of S-rank Ability users like them.

The amusement should end here.

Ji Qing calmly turned to look at Li Xuehua. Li Xuehua, who had still been dazed just moments earlier, hurried forward to stop the conversation between the two of them. “All right, all right. The two of you, please leave your teacher a little time to finish the rest of the process.”

Once the students had all returned to their seats, Li Xuehua, standing on the platform, let out a long breath. In a serious voice, she said, “This Winter Break Practicum will begin as soon as this class ends, and it will conclude the moment you hand over the black boxes. After that, you may return home on your own, but remember to submit your mission reports.”

“As for the team arrangements…”

Li Xuehua deliberately drew out the ending of her words, then proposed with a smile, “How about we draw lots?”