9: Link Crystal

The next day,

Su Yan arrived at school early.

He thought he was early, but he didn't expect these school brats to arrive even earlier than him.

The classroom was buzzing with noise; perhaps because it was their first time entering Divine Punishment, the students all seemed extremely excited.

They were either showing off how many levels they had gained yesterday or discussing the sudden emergence of Demon Slayer.

On his way there,

Su Yan had been playing on his phone and learned that Demon Slayer had already become a viral sensation online.

Whether it was headlines, trending searches, D-Station, or friend circles, everything was covered with reports about Demon Slayer.

“So Su Yan, what class did you pick? What Rank are you now?”

When Su Yan reached the back row, his deskmate Tang Xia woke up from her nap.

Her ponytail strands draped over her shoulder as she stretched lazily without any reservation, revealing a small section of her snowy-white navel.

Su Yan tossed his backpack onto the desk. “You tell me first.”

Tang Xia said gloomily,

“I chose Archer, of course. Too bad that even with my B-Rank Fire Talent, I only reached Rank 5.”

“Give me a break. You reached Rank 5 in just over two hours and you're still not satisfied?” Su Yan complained.

Tang Xia crossed her arms haughtily,

“Hmph, if I had a good team, your daddy here could definitely have reached Rank 7, believe it or not?”

“I believe you, I believe you.”

Su Yan replied perfunctorily as he pulled his books out of his backpack.

“What about you?”

Su Yan said casually, “I picked Warrior. As for my Rank, I'm still Rank 1.”

“Pfft!”

Tang Xia immediately collapsed onto the desk laughing, covering her mouth as she snickered,

“Haha, Su Yan, even you have a day like this! You're actually only Rank 1!”

“What's wrong with Rank 1? I can still crush you without any pressure.”

After the two bickered for a while,

Su Yan flipped through his textbook, looking for information regarding the Auction House.

At that moment, a commotion suddenly broke out at the classroom door.

A haughty male student strode into the classroom, surrounded by a group of people.

The boy wasn't tall, only about 1.65 meters, and his looks were quite ordinary.

But his Aura was strong, and his face was full of pride; it was unclear where his confidence came from.

“Look, isn't that Jiang Hao from class five? What is he doing here in our class three?”

“I heard Jiang Hao awakened an A-Rank Fire Talent. He was even on the Jiangnan News last night!”

“I saw it too! He was reported right after that big shot Demon Slayer. It was super prestigious!”

“A friend said the Awakening at High School No. 1 was a flop this time; the highest they got was an A-Rank Earth Talent.

It looks like the Jiangnan City National College Entrance Examination top scorer this year will likely be Jiang Hao.”

The students discussed fervently, their gazes toward Jiang Hao filled with envy and jealousy.

At such gazes, the corner of Jiang Hao's mouth curled slightly.

He seemed to enjoy it very much, walking straight toward the back row of the classroom with his hands in his pockets.

“Excuse me, classmate, please move aside.”

Jiang Hao arrived in front of Su Yan's desk with an arrogant expression.

Su Yan was busy researching the Auction House and didn't have time to deal with him. He said without looking up,

“I can't move. I'm busy. If you have something to say, say it here.”

“You...”

Jiang Hao frowned, adhering to the principle of not lowering himself to the level of trash.

He ignored Su Yan directly, looked at Tang Xia in the inner seat, and said with a smile,

“Tang Xia, do you have time to chat?”

Tang Xia was currently lying on the desk continuing her nap, her long ponytail crossing the boundary and resting on Su Yan's arm.

Woken up by Jiang Hao, she gave him a flat glance and spoke lazily, “No time.”

“...”

Jiang Hao was truly fed up with these two.

One 'can't move,' and the other has 'no time.'

But glancing at Tang Xia's youthful and hot figure, a trace of unwillingness surfaced in his eyes, and he got straight to the point,

“Then I'll just say it. I've formed a Fire-type burst team and want to invite you to be the vice-captain.”

“If you are willing to come, Tang Xia...”

At this point, Jiang Hao hesitated slightly, then steeled his heart and said,

“I can give you a link crystal!”

As soon as these words were spoken, the classroom immediately broke into an uproar.

“Damn! Did I hear that right? Jiang Hao is actually going to give Tang Xia a link crystal!”

“He's so freaking rich and willful. Can link crystals be given away so casually these days?”

“What do you think? Jiang Hao's father is the richest man in Jiangnan City. Don't tell me you didn't know that?”

“Holy crap, I was too shallow!”

Su Yan was also startled.

He didn't expect Jiang Hao to be so generous just to recruit Tang Xia into his team.

One had to know that as the only connector to enter the Land of Divine Punishment,

The price of a link crystal was extremely high.

A single one generally cost around 100 million chinese currency, and currently, they were in high demand but low supply.

Without powerful connections and resources, you simply couldn't buy one.

And with a link crystal, the benefits were unquestionable.

You could continue to battle in the Land of Divine Punishment after school; it was similar to attending cram school.

It emphasized competition; outshining your classmates was the key to victory.

Jiang Hao smiled confidently,

“How about it, Tang Xia? Don't you want to get a good score on the National College Entrance Examination?”

“With a link crystal and your Talent, it's not impossible to get into a top-tier university if you work hard.”

Just when everyone thought Tang Xia would agree without hesitation, she said impatiently,

“I already said I have no time. Can't you understand human speech?”

Jiang Hao was stunned, his face turning ashen.

He said in disbelief and anger, “Tang Xia, do you even know what you're refusing?”

“We are both Fire-type. Teaming up with me will let you level up faster. That is your future! I'm doing this for your own good!”

“I hope you'll reconsider. If you change your mind, you can come find me anytime.”

After saying that, Jiang Hao glanced at Su Yan and turned to leave... After Jiang Hao left,

Tang Xia yawned and, as if nothing had happened, continued to lie on the desk to sleep.

Her pretty breasts were pressed flat against the desk, nearly squeezing out from under her school uniform.

Su Yan couldn't bear to look anymore and said admiringly,

“I couldn't tell, Xia. I didn't expect you to have such integrity.”

She was clearly shouting about not having a good team just now,

But now that a good team was delivered to her door, she actively gave it up?

Tang Xia buried her face in the crook of her arm and said indistinctly,

“Tch, who cares about that junk? This daddy can still get into a top-tier university without a link crystal!”

Su Yan didn't argue and just smiled gently.

In this world's National College Entrance Examination,

Besides the academic subjects, the most important part was testing one's Divine Punishment strength.

To get into a university, one's Divine Punishment Rank had to be at least Rank 40, and they had to pass the easy-difficulty exam assessment.

Although it was called 'easy difficulty,' 99% of candidates with Talents below C-Rank could not pass it.

And to apply for a top-tier university, one needed to reach Rank 50 and pass the difficult-difficulty exam assessment.

According to past admission data, in the last two hundred years, only five people with B-rank Talents had ever gotten into a top-tier university.

All of them were children from wealthy families.

In Su Yan's memory, Tang Xia's family situation wasn't good.

He wasn't sure exactly how bad it was, but through three years of high school together, he could definitely feel it.

So, just like him,

Awakening a Talent and then getting good results in the National College Entrance Examination was the only chance for both of them to change their fates.

Thinking of this, Su Yan turned to look at Tang Xia.

The girl's breathing was steady, her smooth face touched by slightly messy strands of hair.

This face couldn't be called exceptionally beautiful; among the girls he knew, it could only be considered above average.

It couldn't compare at all to his sister Xiao Panxue's dazzling, celebrity-like beauty.

Well, same for the chest and the butt... But in Su Yan's eyes, Tang Xia had a very unique charm.

For example, right now.

Class was almost starting, yet this little girl could actually still sleep!

And she wasn't afraid of exposing herself at all.

From Su Yan's angle, as long as he was willing, he could catch a glimpse of plenty of fan service at any time.

“Can't be helped. I'll buy a bottle of milk after school to nourish her body.”

Su Yan sighed in his heart.

Ten minutes later, the school bell rang.

The link crystal on the top left corner of the desk emitted a faint light, announcing the start of the day's Divine Punishment journey.

Su Yan couldn't wait and touched his hand to it, preparing to log into the Land of Divine Punishment.

But he saw the homeroom teacher, Teacher Wang, suddenly enter the classroom and clap his hands, saying,

“Wait a moment, everyone. I have something to announce.”