14: Chapter 14 The First Battle of the College Entrance Examination

The next day, Sun Po rested up and came to the gymnasium.

"Next match, Sun Po versus Liu Jianren!! Both contestants, please enter the arena!!"

Opposite him, a short boy with highlighted red hair and a flashy hairstyle went up on stage.

Liu Jianren, nicknamed Scumbag by the class, belonged to the class's mood maker,

and had decent social connections, but Sun Po hadn't had much interaction with him before.

Liu Jianren came up first, making faces and whispering:

"Brother Po! We're in the same class, don't let your brother die too miserably!"

Sun Po couldn't help laughing.

The next second, both sides summoned their cards simultaneously.

"[Changyou]!! Appear!!"

"[Red Snake]!! Appear!!"

On the huge arena in the center of the venue, a five or six-meter-long crimson python instantly materialized.

Opposite it was a slender white ape standing two meters tall.

At a glance, Red Snake's body size was much larger than the white ape's.

But ever since Red Snake came out, it had been cowering backward.

For no other reason than that the powerful aura of the [Desolate Beast Species] had too significant a suppression effect on the [Demon Beast Species], which were also beasts.

"[Green 6-Star]? Class 6 still has this kind of seeded player? It's a pity they're going to fall into the loser's bracket right at the start,"

"Seeded players from the same class drew each other right at the start? Isn't that too coincidental?"

Sun Po wasn't sure if there was any trickery behind this drawing of lots.

But as far as he knew, this Liu Jianren should be the strongest person in the class besides him.

[Red Snake], with [Green 6-Star] quality,

was an absolute top-tier talent and at the very top even across the entire school.

Moreover, although Liu Jianren was not from a noble family, he possessed cards outside the "Imperial Three Families".

This kid obviously had some tricks of his own as well.

But he had an unfavorable start, running directly into Sun Po in his very first match.

Sun Po didn't bother giving commands either; [Changyou]'s combat intelligence had always been reassuring.

Although Liu Jianren's [Red Snake] was terribly scared, it still straightened its body and began to attack.

It raised its snake head and spat out flames about 3 meters away.

But in the huge playground, [Changyou] could frolic and hop around, dodging them easily.

[Changyou] seemed intent on playing a little longer, especially since ever since it loaded the [Changyou] MOD,

not a single opponent it faced had a quality lower than its own. Just thinking back to its second day after birth,

[Changyou] went to fight the [Purple 6-Star] [Yang Wulang], and it was even a [true name card].

In just a few days, it went to fight the [Purple 7-Star] [Double-Pupil Warrior], which was even loaded with the [Mangekyou Sharingan].

Where on earth were there any good guys here?

[Changyou], who had never enjoyed the thrill of bullying noobs, looked at this [Red Snake] as cute as a "spicy gluten strip".

It couldn't bear to kill it at all, just dodging continuously and playing with it.

Sun Po had no other choice; you have to spoil your own cub, right?

But in the process of this battle, Sun Po also discovered a problem.

[Red Snake]'s attacks were very efficient.

Or rather, [Red Snake]'s attacks made [Changyou]'s dodging less efficient.

Specifically, when [Red Snake] spat out a large mouthful of flames and [Changyou] intended to dodge,

either its foot would slip slightly, or its dodging route happened to be affected by the previous flames.

It was very coincidental, but also inconsequential, after all, the gap in strength was too large.

Sun Po cast his gaze towards Liu Jianren and thought to himself:

"To think that this little Second Middle School actually has hidden dragons and crouching tigers..."

In the end, after a fierce battle of fifteen minutes,

[Changyou] unenthusiastically clawed out the Red Snake's snake gallbladder, ending the battle.

Liu Jianren stepped forward, put his hands together gratefully, and whispered:

"Brother Po is righteous, I'll treat you to a meal later~"

Sun Po replied with a sentence:

"Okay."

Then he put away [Changyou] and returned to the stands to continue watching the match.

As soon as he sat down, he heard Yang Xinyue beside him say:

"It's a pity, Liu Jianren's strength had a chance to fight for the top three in the school. This time he'll have to fight a few more rounds,"

Hearing this, Sun Po calmly said:

"Don't worry, Sister Xinyue, I'm here. We still have our trump card in hand."

Yang Xinyue knocked on Sun Po's head and said:

"You are naturally secured for first place, able to earn me one hundred thousand yuan in bonuses, but if Liu Jianren also makes it into the top three, I could have gotten two hundred thousand yuan in bonuses!"

Hearing this, Sun Po felt a bit awkward and could only say that the draw for the lots wasn't good.

Yang Xinyue continued:

"And don't lower your guard either. Gaokao is like fighting a war. If you want to fight for a good ranking, you have to proceed step by step. Only then will you have the strength to contend when you encounter those monsters from top noble families."

Sun Po nodded and asked:

"Sister Xinyue, when you participated in the Gaokao, did you plan things out this meticulously too?"

Previously, Yang Xinyue had said she broke into the top hundred nationwide, and Sun Po had just taken it as bragging.

Ever since he learned that Yang Xinyue used to have an exclusive talent, Sun Po felt it was extremely possible.

After all, the name of the exclusive talent "Lord of All Weapons" sounded like it wouldn't be weak at all.

What's more, if it were a weak exclusive talent, Yang Xinyue's talent wouldn't have been coveted and stolen.

...

The subsequent battles could be said to be boring to the point of inducing sleep.

It was basically a grand solo of the "Imperial Three Families" cards.

After watching more than a dozen matches, Sun Po also discovered something.

In this kind of arena death match scenario, [Warrior]s had incomparable advantages.

Mainly featuring thick skin and fleshy toughness, and mainly featuring brute strength flying bricks.

Generally, if the one entering the stage was a [Warrior],

you could default them to being 1 star higher than the [Wrongfully Deceased Scholar],

and 3 stars higher than the [Spirit Monkey].

"This [Warrior] is simply too overpowered in this arena. It's fine if the [Spirit Monkey]'s claws are useless, but the [Wrongfully Deceased Scholar]'s corpse qi also has mediocre effects."

Yang Xinyue looked at the arena and sighed: "Otherwise, why do you think they are the Imperial Three Families,"

"and [Warrior] is even a standardized establishment card of our Yanhuang Ancient Country's military?"

"Simple, durable, and error-free, this is the charm of the [Warrior]."

Thinking of his own MOD system, Sun Po continued to ask Yang Xinyue:

"Can army main-use cards like the [Warrior] only break through to purple quality at most? How should these civilian [Card Maker]s who chose the Imperial Three Families advance?"

Yang Xinyue asked with doubt:

"Why does everyone have to advance? Or rather, why do you think every [Card Maker] feels that their cards can advance?"

Sun Po asked curiously: "Which [Card Maker] doesn't want to become stronger?"

Yang Xinyue sighed:

"Every [Card Maker] wants to become stronger, but becoming stronger requires resources, and resources are limited. The [Five Surnames and Seven Clans], as well as countless large and small families, which of them doesn't need them?"

"What about civilian [Card Maker]s?"

Yang Xinyue was silent for a moment, and said in a low voice:

"Swear allegiance to the country, participate in secret realm exploration missions, and exchange your life for a tiny bit of resources."

Some accumulated enough merits and could exchange them for the advancement method of the [Warrior].

Compared to the children born into noble, great families, they lagged behind by more than a notch.

Every noble family's cards had room for advancement.

It's just that the height of advancement differed; some could advance up to orange at most, while others could only advance up to blue at most.

Currently, the card with the highest known level in [Yanhuang Ancient Country] was the [Qin Family]'s [Zu Long], with a card quality as high as Black 9-Star.

"And [Zu Long]'s card-making sequence was also gradually upgraded from a white [Black Python]."

Sun Po continued to ask:

"What about the official card-making sequence with the highest current quality?"

"The orange [Heavenly General], with no true name, considered the lowest-end tier among [deity card]s. The principal has one in his hands."

Sun Po fell silent.

No wonder the noble families towered above all mortals; even the official authorities were far from being a match for them.

"However, there are a large number of official [Card Maker]s."

Yang Xinyue changed the subject and continued:

"The [Qin Family] only has one [Zu Long], and it cannot be easily moved,"

"while the official authorities have tens of thousands of [Heavenly General]s."

...