Wang Tong knew that the world would still go on its own way with or without him.
After his persistent requests, the school finally agreed to assign him a tutor; in addition, Samantha had also allowed an exception for Wang Tong such that he would pass the test with a score of 50%, instead of 60%. It was merely a perfunctory gesture as she knew that even 50% posed a challenge for Wang Tong.
After this turn of events, Wang Tong had given up on the "Tactics of Muddle Around" as he started to understand the reason behind the competitiveness of his classmates.
To the rest of the students, despite the stringent monthly tests, the situation at Ayrlarng wasn't entirely stark, as more equipment was being purchased as well as better teachers were being recruited. However, none of those improvements had piqued as much interest of the students as a development that had quickly become viral news: Ma Xiaoru had accepted Ayrlarng Academy's offer.
Pearl of the FFC Corporation, one of the top ten wealthiest people and also a member of the five major families, Ma Xiaoru was the embodiment of wealth and power.
On top of that, the tactics that she had been practicing, the Tactics of Enchantress, was not only one of the most deadly and well-guarded tactics, but it also proved to be inhuman in power on the battlefield, since the tactics required an enormous amount of soul energy beyond what an ordinary human would possess.
Thanks to her advantages, she was favored and fawned over by countless military academies even including those on the Moon and Mars, but she eventually had chosen to come to Ayrlarng. It went without saying that her arrival had boosted Ayrlarng student's confidence.
It seemed natural that Ma Xiaoru was accepted into an A level class, but to everyone's surprise, she had volunteered to attend the F level class as she wanted to prove herself through the monthly tests. This had made the indignant and wavering students who were upset about the new system become suddenly quiet over the matter.
Principal Samantha's plan seemed to be unfolding in the way that she had intended it to, and it seemed to everyone that restoring the former glory of Ayrlarng might not be that far-fetched after all.
All of the students of the F class had been instilled with anticipation; some found it hard to believe that a privileged "princess" would come to attend class with them in this dilapidated classroom with dated equipment.
On the contrary, the A class's classroom was spacious and came with all of the bells and whistles, including an attractive looking classroom stewardess.
Every day, as the F class students hurried off to clean their classroom under the stringent supervision of a grumpy middle-aged woman, the students in the A class were sipping fresh coffees brewed and served by their cute stewardess while they basked in the bright sunshine that poured through the immaculately clean windows tended by professional janitors.
It went without saying that the contrast of the lives in the two classrooms was drastic and resentment rose against the unjust system among those who felt it was repressive and inhumane to students with a lower grade.
Samantha had ignored their protests and rejected their appeals which might seem unfair on the surface; however, upon closer inspection, it was a well-balanced system that ensured that every student had the same amount of opportunity to access the school's resources, a crucial element in restoring order to Ayrlarng.
That being said, students of the F class had more or less received some morale shock after such extreme measures, if being pushed too far, they might quit school en masse like routing soldiers in a losing battle, and this was where Ma Xiaoru came into the picture.
The students boiled over the moment Ma Xiaoru walked into the F class classroom. "It was real! She is here!"
To be fair, the students of the F class still had above average grades when compared to the students of the Confederation overall, with Wang Tong being the only exception, like all of the other good students, they have the skills of getting a good grade, and all they needed was an encouragement.
There was no need to worry about the envy of other female students at the arrival of Ma Xiaoru because there were no other girls in the class. Most girls at Ayrlarng scored higher in tests than boys, resulting in the bleak and cruel scene of a sausage fest in the F class.
However, Ma Xiaoru had erased the bleakness and ignited the power of testosterone inside of her classmates, leaving the boys agitated and eager to prove themselves.
Ma Xiaoru cracked a smile and bowed: "Hi, my name is Ma Xiaoru, I will be your classmate. I thank you guys in advance for your support in the future."
Her words drifted across the classroom like a warm wind in the spring that melted the ice and beckoned the flowers to bloom. The boys of the class were touched by the soft words and felt like they were being surrounded by warmth and hope.
Wang Tong had noticed his classmates' agitation and stood in awe of his principal's ability to manipulate their state of mind. Meanwhile, he cautioned himself to not get in the way of Samantha, fearing any other ploys she had up her sleeves.
Despite being deployed by Samantha as a ruse, Ma Xiaoru's beauty was undeniable. Wang Tong’s attention was drawn to her, by then with the knowledge of her heritage, he became mesmerized by her approachable personality in addition to her beauty. However, Wang Tong knew that her being approachable did not change the fact that he had no chance of dating a diva like her; the gap in-between them was unbridgeable.
"Wang Tong, nice to see you again," Ma Xiaoru said to Wang Tong with a smile.
Wang Tong nodded: "Nice to see you too; I didn't expect to see you here, though."
"Well, I’m here. We will work hard together from now on. Cheers!" Ma Xiaoru extended her hand for a handshake.
Wang Tong shivered at an uncontrollable sensation when his fingers slid into her smooth and soft little palm. He struggled to regain control of his mind and replied with great difficulties in pronouncing the two simple words, "Will. Do."
Ma Xiaoru sat side by side with Wang Tong, a clear message to everyone that the school would treat everyone as equal.
The boys in the classroom teemed with earnest enthusiasm in their study after Ma Xiaoru's arrival and all of them wanted to prove themselves in front of her. Inspired by his classmates, Wang Tong decided to study harder as well; after all, his grade was the lowest even in the F class.
For the next few days, Wang Tong had engrossed himself in piles of textbooks, even though the beginning chapters of most textbooks were simply scraping the surface, there was still a great deal of terminology which Wang Tong had to give up on due to his severely inadequate prerequisites.
Despite only being seen during classes, Ma Xiaoru had cleared her classmates' sense of inferiority which even made the students of other classes envious. Everyone devoted all of their testosterone laced energies into preparing for the monthly test, should they continue their hard work, then the coming monthly test would pose no threat to anyone in F class, except for Wang Tong.
"Don't you think I'm too dumb for this?" Wang Tong said as he was still unsure about the test.
Mr. Wannabe was watching a movie, hearing this he waved his arm impatiently to cut him short. "It has nothing to do with your IQ. You are simply too far behind. You won't catch up no matter how hard you try."
"But my soul power was able to increase so drastically when I tried, why can't my textbook knowledge be the same?!" Wang Tong said indignantly.
He had been trying his best and had devoted most of his time to studying the textbooks. He even skipped all of the METAL fighter classes and the class on Zergs, neither of which he thought were important at the time since the METAL class had been all about basic theories that he didn't care about and the latter seemed even more redundant to him since he had practically lived with Zergs on Norton.
"Pff, your puny power can only kill bugs and bully noobs. A real master can kill you with a flick of the finger."
Wang Tong never expected to hear any encouragement from Mr. Wannabe, he simply scowled at Mr. Wannabe who had already immersed himself in the clamors of the TV, and Wang Tong immediately buried his face once again in the pile of textbooks.