2: Chapter 2: The Record of Ten Thousand Armored Beasts!
It was late at night.
Lin Fan lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Two Armor Acupoints.
Left eye and left hand.
In history, no one had ever become a powerhouse with only two Armor Acupoints.
The number of Armor Acupoints represented the upper limit of a person's Aptitude.
He only had two Armor Acupoints, which meant he could at most reach the level of an Armor Master.
Because in history, the maximum number of opened Armor Acupoints was nine.
Therefore, the current rank divisions only had nine Realms.
They were Armor Warrior (Levels 1-19), Armor Master (Levels 20-29), Armor Spirit (Levels 30-39), Armor King (Levels 40-49), Armor Emperor (Levels 50-59), Armor Sovereign (Levels 60-69), Armor Saint (Levels 70-79), Armor Emperor (Levels 80-89), and Armor God (Levels 90-99).
Ordinary people usually had more than three Armor Acupoints.
Trash?
It seemed he really was trash.
He rolled over, and the beast-skin tattoo on his wrist poked him.
This tattoo had been there since he was a child, with dark brown lines like some kind of ancient script.
Lin Fan had never taken it seriously, treating it as a birthmark.
But at this moment, a sudden heat came from the tattoo.
He sat up abruptly.
On his wrist, the beast-skin tattoo was glowing.
Golden light seeped through the gaps in the lines, growing brighter and hotter.
"What the hell?"
Before he could finish, the light exploded.
When his vision returned, an ancient-looking book hovered before him.
The cover was dark gold, made of an unknown material, with four characters on it.
ten thousand armor beast record.
"What... is this thing?"
The pages flipped automatically without wind.
Golden handwriting emerged, forming a sentence before his eyes.
[Host's Aptitude detected. ten thousand armor beast record recognition successful.]
[Current function unlocked: Eye of Insight—allows viewing of Armor Beast Aptitude, attributes, and evolution paths.]
[Host's left eye Armor Acupoint detected. Fuse Eye of Insight function?]
Lin Fan stared at the line, his mind spinning quickly.
He didn't know where the book came from, but "Eye of Insight" sounded like something good.
"Fusion."
As soon as he spoke, a sharp pain came from his left eye, like thousands of needles piercing it.
Lin Fan clenched his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, but he didn't make a sound.
The pain came quickly and left quickly.
When the pain vanished, Lin Fan opened his eyes and was stunned.
Everything in the room had changed.
A line of small text floated over the cockroach in the corner.
[Ordinary Cockroach, no contract value. Low Aptitude, suggested to step on it directly.]
Lin Fan: "..."
The bird on the tree outside the window.
[Ordinary Sparrow, no contract value. Low Aptitude, just like your little bird, only for display.]
...
"Screw you! Mine is useful!"
Lin Fan cursed as he looked at his hand.
A line of text that only he could see appeared on the back of his hand.
[Host: Lin Fan]
[Armor Acupoints: 2 (Left Eye - Uncontracted; Left Hand - Uncontracted)]
[Contracted Armor Beast: None]
Just a few lines, and then nothing.
Lin Fan looked it over several times and suddenly realized a problem.
That's it?
Didn't it say it could open Armor Acupoints?
Just as he thought that, the text on his hand changed.
[Acupoint Opening System pending activation.]
[Activation condition: Contract the first Armor Spirit.]
[Description: After contracting an Armor Spirit, the host will gain the ability to open new Armor Acupoints.]
Lin Fan stared at the line, silent for a full three seconds.
Then he laughed.
"So."
He said to the book.
"You mean, not only can I open acupoints later, but as long as I contract an Armor Spirit, I can start opening them?"
The golden light flickered, as if in response.
"If those idiots who laughed at me for only having two Armor Acupoints found out, would they be pissed off?"
Lin Fan rubbed his chin, getting happier the more he thought about it.
"Fine, I'll admit you have good taste."
He looked at the text on his hand again, suddenly thinking of something.
"Armor Spirit? Those things seem pretty expensive, right? How about you just give me one for free."
The book didn't respond.
Lin Fan waited for a while, and seeing it didn't plan to speak, he curled his lip.
"Fine, stingy thing, you won't even afford a four-course meal in your life. I'll have to figure it out myself."
He walked to the window and pushed it open. The night wind blew in, carrying the coolness of early autumn.
Outside was the night view of Dongyun City, with lights in every home and neon flashing.
In the distant sky, a huge shadow swept past.
That should be a contracted Armor Spirit patrolling the night sky.
Lin Fan watched the shadow, his mouth slowly curling up.
Two Armor Acupoints?
Just wait.
I'm going to blind your titanium-alloy dog eyes!
The morning sunlight filtered through the old curtains, casting mottled light and shadows on Lin Fan's face.
He opened his eyes, and the first thing he did was look at his left hand.
On the back of his hand, the line of text only he could see was still there.
Not a dream.
Lin Fan sat up; the ten thousand armor beast record was no longer in front of him.
But he could feel it—it was somewhere inside him, bound to him.
"Armor Spirit..."
He muttered those words and rolled out of bed.
Old Mo had already gone out, leaving two buns and a bowl of porridge on the table.
Lin Fan finished eating in a few bites, grabbed his backpack, and headed out.
Today was the first day after Awakening Day. The school had notified them to return, supposedly to announce class assignments.
Dongyun City No. 1 Middle School, third floor of the teaching building, Grade 10, Class 7.
When Lin Fan walked into the classroom, the originally noisy chatter silenced for a moment, then whispers broke out.
"Lin Fan??"
"Yeah, I heard he talked back to Qin Hao yesterday."
"Is he crazy? A piece of trash offending Qin Hao?"
Lin Fan ignored them, walked to the last row by the window, sat down, leaned back, and rested his eyes.
After waiting about ten minutes, the class teacher, Old Zhou, walked in.
Old Zhou's full name was Zhou Zhengguo, in his forties, balding, had been teaching for twenty years, and was a Level 38 Armor Spirit.
Holding a stack of forms, he stood on the podium and cleared his throat.
"Quiet."
The classroom fell silent.
Old Zhou scanned the class.
"The Awakening results are out. Today we'll talk about class assignments."
He opened the forms. "You know our school's rules—classes are divided into Ordinary Classes and Armor Beast Classes."
"The Armor Beast Class, as the name implies, follows the Armor Beast Master path."
"There are two conditions to enter this class: First, successful Awakening of Armor Acupoints. Second, contracting an Armor Spirit."
As soon as he finished, someone raised their hand.
"Teacher, is having Armor Acupoints enough? I have four; I can definitely get in, right?"
Old Zhou glanced at the student. "Four is certainly enough, but you need to have an Armor Spirit first."
The student lowered his hand awkwardly.
"Those who want to enter the Armor Beast Class must contract at least one Armor Beast before next Monday's assignment."
After a pause, he added another sentence.
"Let me remind you, Armor Spirits aren't like cabbages; they aren't that easy to find. If your family doesn't have the means, don't force it. Ordinary classes also have a future."
After saying that, he looked down at the forms and began calling names.
"Wang Hao, Li Weiwei, Zhang Lei, Zhao Yan..."
One by one, names were called, and those mentioned looked more or less proud.
"The rest, whose names weren't called, will default to the Ordinary Class. If you have questions, you can come to see me privately."
Lin Fan leaned against the window, never once lifting his eyelids.
His name wasn't called.
As expected.
Out of the forty people in the class, he had roughly glanced at the results on Awakening Day.
There were only six people with fewer than three Armor Acupoints, exactly the six the teacher didn't mention.