Back at the arena sidelines, Ye Yu stood tall and confident. Seeing his calm and radiant smile, both Xu Xin and Liu Ting looked at him with joy in their eyes.
Like doting wives, they pulled out the towels they'd prepared long ago and gently wiped the nonexistent sweat from his face.
Their closeness with Ye Yu was no secret. In this school, couples were common...many even got married right after graduation.
> "Of course, that little warm-up can hardly be called a real fight. You two should know better than anyone that I wouldn't get injured from something like that."
Ye Yu smiled at the girls.
> "Tch!"
The two girls rolled their eyes, blushing. They couldn't deny it Ye Yu really was strong… in every way. They knew his true capabilities better than anyone else.
Ye Yu gave a sheepish smile as he looked at their bright eyes and youthful charm.
---
Meanwhile, in the crowd, Zhang Haobai stood with a gloomy expression.
Jealousy burned in his eyes as he stared at Ye Yu, who was basking in the spotlight with two campus goddesses by his side.
> "What's the big deal? Like no one else is a genius too…" he muttered bitterly, his voice louder than necessary hoping the girls would notice him.
But they didn't.
Instead, his words only drew laughter from nearby students.
> "Zhang Haobai, quit the sour talk. If you think you're so great, why don't you go up and challenge Ye Yu? Win, and we'll admit you're the real deal."
"Yeah right! He probably couldn't even beat Luo Feng, let alone Ye Yu…"
"Haha! Honestly, I'd be impressed if he could even beat Xu Xin or Liu Ting!"
Mockery rippled through the crowd. Disdainful eyes turned toward Zhang Haobai.
His face darkened. Mockery didn't hurt..but truth did. It stabbed him like a knife.
Zhang Haobai had always been proud. In all of Third High School, fewer than fifty students had reached the warrior level. Fewer than ten had become mid-level warriors.
He was one of them. Eighteen years old, already a mid-tier warrior...that should've made him a standout.
But compared to Ye Yu and Luo Feng, he was nothing.
Six months ago, when Luo Feng had just reached mid-level warrior, he crushed three equally ranked opponents in a single fight....Zhang Haobai included. That match catapulted Luo Feng to fame and made Zhang Haobai nothing more than a stepping stone.
Frustrated, he had challenged Ye Yu next, thinking:
If I can't beat Luo Feng, I can at least beat Ye Yu.
But that fantasy was shattered quickly.
Ye Yu, who always kept a low profile, defeated him with a single move. He was bedridden for two weeks after that humiliating defeat.
Since then, both Ye Yu and Luo Feng had reached advanced warrior status, even taking first and second place in the Jiangnan high school martial arts league.
Their fame spread across all 40+ high schools in Yangzhou.
Meanwhile, Zhang Haobai didn't even make the top 100 ..not even beating Xu Xin and Liu Ting.
Yes. You heard that right.
Even the two girls had ranked higher than him.
In that same tournament, the girls had dazzled with their sword and blade techniques. They both ranked in the top five, only behind Ye Yu and Luo Feng.
Because they were beautiful and powerful, they'd become even more popular than the guys idolized across the city.
Zhang Haobai?
Left in the dust.
No longer in their league.
If he wanted to reclaim his pride now—it was nothing but a pipe dream.
> "Tch…"
The crowd sneered, watching him stand frozen, fists clenched tight.
Zhang Haobai had always looked down on others. But now, he was the one being looked down on.
And yet… he wasn't willing to let go especially not of Xu Xin.
He knew from his uncle that the Xu family was a core lineage of the HR Alliance.
If he could win Xu Xin over, even if she wasn't from the main branch, she could open doors for him....doors that would let him skip twenty years of struggle.
---
While all that was happening, Ye Yu had already left the crowd behind, lost in thought.
Suddenly, a glowing line of text appeared in front of him:
> "System loading… Please wait. Progress: 99.999732%…"
Ye Yu didn't panic.
This was the system that had crossed over with him sixteen years ago. It had only made one appearance when he first arrived...giving him a formula for something called a "Neutralizing Agent."
Since then?
It had been loading… for sixteen years.
> "Finally," Ye Yu whispered, eyes glinting.
He estimated that the system would finish loading tonight or by tomorrow morning at the latest. Just thinking about it made him breathe a long sigh of relief.
If it had kept stalling, even he would've lost hope.
Honestly, this system had been nothing but a scam so far.
In the original storyline, Luo Feng would only be a high-level martial arts student around this time, still stressing over the warrior exam and how to change his family's fate.
But now?
Luo Feng had already become a full-fledged warrior, awakened his spiritual powers, and reached the level of a mid-tier War General.
Originally, there were only three high-level martial students at Third High School: Luo Feng, Zhang Haobai, and Liu Ting.
Now?
There were hundreds. Over fifty had already become full warriors.
Even Xu Xin, who in the original timeline had no combat ability and was destined to be a tool for family marriage alliances, had become a warrior....a top-tier fighter, equal to Liu Ting.
Thanks to Ye Yu's influence, her path had changed.
She was no longer just someone's pawn....she had become a rising star.
This wasn't just about Third High School anymore.
Not even just about Jiangnan Base City.
The entire world was changing.
The number of warriors was exploding. Their quality was improving.
Now, even War God-level fighters weren't considered true elites anymore.
Only those who reached Advanced War God or even Planetary-level could be called real powerhouses.
And Ye Yu?
He was about to unlock the system that would let him surpass them all.
---