It was the first day of school at No. 60 High School.
Oh, no, to be more precise, it was the first day of Foundation Establishment high school nationwide.
Huaxiu nation's education policy had always adhered to the "no rules, no order" motto. Based on a cultural heritage thousands of centuries old, this adage definitely wasn't just for show. Getting to school on time, attending morning classes, eating lunch, leaving school, wearing the compulsory school uniform… all of these had already long existed in well-preserved historical books on school rules and regulations dating back hundreds of years.
Last night, while Wang Ling had been eating his crispy noodle snack, the uniform had been sent to his home via space delivery.
The school uniform was blue and white in color, and looked like sportswear. There was even a specially printed word on the back of the uniform, a large "ELITE" for the elite class…
Although he had already prepared himself mentally, Wang Ling still couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath at the uniform style.
He understood the reasoning behind it.
It was normal for an established culture that was thousands of centuries old, or for promoting ethnic culture, or whatever… but couldn't their damn sense of style have also improved a little bit?! What the hell was up with the "ELITE" on the back of the uniform? A privilege for the elite class?
Looking at it from all sides, Wang Ling felt that the inspiration for the uniform was definitely copied off the ancient prison uniform for deathrow inmates thirty thousand years ago, which typically had the word "DEAD" printed on the front and back.
However, you couldn't say that there weren't any improvements. Almost all the pockets on the uniform were space storage, their capacities so large they would almost never be completely filled. This was a true achievement in line with Huaxiu nation's education policy, which for thousands of years had aimed to reduce the burden on students.
Clearly though, this wasn't the main point.
For Wang Ling, the heaviest burden of all was how he was going to face the worst f**king day tomorrow.
From the Wang family's small villa in its mixed urban and rural area, it was ten thousand li to No. 60 High School. Almost as fast as the wind, Wang Ling ran full steam along country lanes until he arrived at the school gate in under two minutes.
After all, he had once run thirty thousand li to buy crispy noodle snacks when he had been younger. For him, this distance of ten thousand li was just too relaxing; his face wasn't red, nor was he out of breath.
As today was the first day of school, members of the guidance office along with several school leaders were greeting new students in person at the gate.
Just as Wang Ling was about to turn a corner, he could hear a few people chatting from afar.
"I heard that a new student received a SSS grade yesterday?"
"That's right, Headmaster Chen. The student is called Wang Ling, and has already joined the elite class."
"I see… seems like this student is sure to accomplish much in the future. Is Student Wang Ling a male or female student?" asked Headmaster Chen.
"A male student."
Headmaster Chen's expression was full of regret. "Ah, male students nowadays are already very perceptive. If this Student Wang Ling had been a girl, I wouldn't have mind calling her to my office to personally instruct her in her learning."
Behind him, each and every one of the school leaders and officers sighed with regret all over their faces.
Wang Ling: "…"
After tidying up his uniform, Wang Ling calmly walked through the school gate, bowing and saluting without being recognized by anyone. This was because, when he had been running helter-skelter for No. 60 High School, he had already used one of the Three Thousand Great Dao — the Great Transfiguration Spell.
Compared with an ordinary disguise technique, the biggest difference was that this powerful ability could completely alter appearances, fingerprints and DNA, and couldn't be detected by even the most advanced technology.
On the other hand, the disguise technique was based on an ancient method of makeup application which would immediately be detected by any electronic eye on the street, swiftly triggering a police alert.
In this way, Wang Ling successfully slipped into school after escaping the notice of the various leaders at the school gate… although it was obviously a tiresome effort, he felt that it was worth it.
For Wang Ling, all cheers and applause were superfluous.
From a young age, what he had always hoped for the most was a peaceful environment where he could study quietly. Unfortunately, none of his f**king wishes had ever come true.
Some people said that when god closed one door, he inevitably opened a window.
In Wang Ling's case, it was obviously a more wretched situation. God not only opened both the door and window for him, he even summoned a ferocious sandstorm outside the window…
Grade One, Class Three was located on the first floor of the No. 60 High School teaching building.
Location-wise, outside the front door of the classroom was the female toilets, while outside the back door was the male toilets. At the same time, it was the class closest to the school canteen. Every time school let out for lunch at noon, a horde of elites could be seen bolting ahead to the battlefield with their tableware raised. It was a magnificent scene beyond compare.
Unlike schools in the old days, there were now less courses but longer class periods, which were rigorously aligned with the trend of the modern cultivation age. Fitness and strength training were a given, and basic courses like drawing talismans, producing spirit water, refining pills and so on would take up all of Wang Ling's time in Senior Grade One.
Senior Grade One was when students learned the important basics. Although Wang Ling had already learned all this himself when he was still in the womb, he still had to pretend to know nothing, obediently attend every class, then do his best to get average grades.
It was a real pain in the ass for him, having to constantly consider these petty things.
Making friends had always been Wang Ling's weak point. No. 60 High School had two elite classes, and there were fifteen students in his class.
After an emotionally tiring morning of selecting a class committee, Wang Ling could probably only remember a handful of names.
The brunt of it was the person who had been unanimously elected class monitor, Lotus Sun. Huaguo Water Curtain Group's Young Miss, who was at the late Foundation Establishment stage, presented herself as the standard for the beautiful, modern-day maiden. She did her utmost to display the image of a beautiful, elegant and graceful girl. But while she appeared perfectly flawless, there was enough drama in her heart to write an epic soap opera about bitter family feuds that had never been seen before in the history of Huaxiu nation.
The second was Super Chen, who was in charge of sports activities. He was at the peak late Foundation Establishment stage, and was one of the strongest young men with the greatest potential to break through to the Golden Core stage. Born into an old martial arts family, Super Chen was a muscular man obsessed with keeping fit and bodybuilding. He was probably the most energetic and exuberant person in the whole school, his blood always boiling at some random thing or other, leaving people feeling strangely stirred up and moved.
The third was Hero Guo, the political science representative at the late Foundation Establishment stage. His family operated a pet shop, which had evolved into a soul beast business in his great-grandfather's generation. He frequently carried around a parrot called Dopey, and together they would put on a two-man show, sometimes critiquing current affairs, sometimes lamenting the state of the nation and its people. He was also known as gossip central for all the classes. People had given him the nickname Master of Dopey.
The fourth person was also the one that Wang Ling was most wary of, Li Xuanjing. While it sounded like a girl's name, he was a rough-looking fellow who was one hundred and ninety centimeters tall. Like his
This type of situation was rare, and there were only two instances where Wang Ling would be prevented from reading minds. The first was if someone was carrying a powerful magic treasure that blocked out the signal from Wang Ling's spirit energy. The second was if someone was simple or pure enough, and didn't have a single scheming bone in their body.
Whatever the case, in Wang Ling's eyes, Li Xuanjing was a ticking time bomb that could explode any time, which was completely detrimental to his plan to hide his identity.
All in all, these were the four people around whom Wang Ling was going to have to be especially vigilant.
After the period was over, the class was filled with loud bursts of laughter. Looking around his noisy environment, Wang Ling couldn't help but sigh silently. Trying to hide his identity in this wretched hot zone was going to be f**king difficult.
Glancing at the clock, Wang Ling took a book out of his space pocket, On Talismans, and placed it on the table.
Just then, the bell for the next class rang.
Less than a second after that, a middle-aged woman wearing gold-rimmed glasses and her hair up in a ponytail stormed through the door and up onto the dais, slapping down the blue roll book in her hands. "I could already hear all of you in the corridor when I was still in the office! You are the school's elites; making so much noise, whatever will you do next?"
This middle-aged woman was Pan Shengcong, the teacher-in-charge of Grade One, Elite Class Three. At the same time, she was also the fifth person around whom Wang Ling needed to be more vigilant…