Chapter 48 – Am I About to Be Exposed Here?

A reflection session left the three junior girls with many gains.

Their personalities were excellent as well. Despite their beauty and considerable potential, they didn’t disregard the advice from Su Ming and the other two. Instead, they humbly accepted it, earning the admiration of Su Ming’s group for these overly adorable juniors.

Especially Su Ming, who was genuinely impressed that Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu—who had previously been quite critical of him—didn’t act argumentative at this moment, making him see these two girls in a new light.

But in fact, it wasn’t just Su Ming who viewed Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu differently; they too had started to see Su Ming in a new light.

The reason was simple.

“I never expected Senior Su Ming to so easily execute a Spirit Art like the 21st sequence,” Jiang Wanyu said, looking at Su Ming with admiration as if she were recognizing his strengths for the first time.

“So Senior Su Ming is this capable?” Yao Beibei also looked at Su Ming as if reassessing him.

“Of course, Brother Su Ming is the best!” An Zijin naturally wore a proud expression.

This wasn’t without reason.

“I heard from the senior sisters at the Academy that in the Sorcerer Department, aside from the top and elite students, ordinary students only know Low-Level Spirit Arts.”

“For Senior to casually execute a later sequence like the 21st among the Low-Level Spirit Arts of sequences 1-30 is truly remarkable.”

Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei took turns praising Su Ming, which inexplicably raised his alertness.

(Did I overperform again?)

Su Ming, whose goal was to be an extra, once again had this thought.

Immediately, Su Ming quickly laughed it off.

“It’s just a Low-Level Spirit Art. There are plenty of people at the Academy who can use it; it’s nothing special,” Su Ming said, putting on an act.

But An Zijin wouldn’t have it.

“That’s not true!” An Zijin urgently replied. “When I entered the Sorcerer Department, many senior sisters told me that aside from the top and elite students, among the ordinary students ranked below 100th, not many can successfully execute Spell Formulas above sequence 20, especially in the first and second years!”

In a situation where only top and elite students use Intermediate Spirit Arts, and ordinary students only know Low-Level Spirit Arts, those who can execute the later sequences above 20 are indeed concentrated in the higher grades.

As for lower-grade students in the first and second years, very few can use Spirit Arts of this sequence.

In other words, from the perspective of An Zijin and the others, excluding the top and elite students, Su Ming’s ability should rank among the top in the Sorcerer Department.

And how many top and elite students are there in the Sorcerer Department?

At most, a hundred.

Even including the Hunter Department, the total number of top and elite students is only two hundred.

For Su Ming to rank among the top of the ordinary students is already quite impressive.

Ye Bai deeply felt this as well.

“I always thought it was unreal that your grades hovered in the mid-range like ours,” Ye Bai patted Su Ming’s shoulder and said. “I still haven’t learned Spirit Arts above sequence 20, but you’ve mastered more than one. Logically, with your ability, even if you’re not in the top hundred, you should easily make it into the top two hundred. How come you’re in the mid-range?”

It’s worth noting that the entire Hunter Academy has thousands of students, with the ratio of students in the Hunter Department to the Sorcerer Department being about 7:3. Even if the Sorcerer Department doesn’t have a thousand students, it has seven to eight hundred. Being in the mid-range would mean around 300th place.

But Su Ming’s ability isn’t limited to that; he should be able to rank within the top two hundred—that was the thought of Ye Bai and the others.

“I remember during the year-end exams, you didn’t really use many Spell Formulas above sequence 20, right?” Lei Hao looked at Su Ming suspiciously. “And your attitude during every year-end exam has been perfunctory—not proactive at all. You never cram with us and always seem uninterested. Thinking about it now, it feels a bit strange.”

“Yeah,” Ye Bai immediately stared at Su Ming. “You, could it be that you’re doing it on purpose?”

Hearing this, fine sweat began to bead on Su Ming’s forehead.

He was a bit panicked.

Was he going to be exposed here?

I’ve been holding back so much!

“I-It’s just a Spirit Art above sequence 20, right? It’s still a Low-Level Spirit Art,” Su Ming forced a smile. “You’re all exaggerating too much!”

Su Ming attempted to muddle through cutely.

Unfortunately, almost everyone present was quite sharp, with plenty of cleverness in their hearts. They all expressed doubt about Su Ming’s explanation.

“Maybe in professional circles, this isn’t a big deal,” Jiang Wanyu said bluntly. “But at the Academy, it should be considered quite good, right?”

“I… I think so too,” Yao Beibei murmured in agreement. “At the very least, Senior’s performance is more impressive than I imagined.”

“Brother Su Ming is still so amazing!” An Zijin added, practically wanting to praise Su Ming to the skies. “Just like when we were kids!”

The three junior girls expressed this one after another.

“That’s what they said, huh?”

“Feeling pretty good inside, aren’t you?”

Lei Hao and Ye Bai couldn’t help but get a bit sarcastic.

“I told you, you’re exaggerating!” Su Ming could only say. “Are you trying to set me up? Please don’t say things like that in front of others! If I act proud just because I can use a later-sequence Low-Level Spirit Art, those top and elite students will laugh me to death!”

After saying this, Su Ming changed the subject.

“Instead of wasting time picking on me here, we should hurry and collect the proof of task completion. We’re still far from our goal of 10,000 contribution points each!”

Leaving these words, Su Ming didn’t wait for the others to respond and immediately ran toward the Blade Demon’s corpse.

“Hey! Why are you running so fast?”

“It’s not like we’re going to eat you; what’s the rush?”

Lei Hao and Ye Bai quickly followed.

“Brother Su Ming!”

An Zijin also ran toward Su Ming.

Only Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu remained, looking at each other.

“As expected, this Senior isn’t that simple,” Jiang Wanyu said.

Their earlier words were deliberately said to test Su Ming’s reaction.

As a result, Su Ming’s reaction was clearly off.

“It seems he doesn’t want others to think he’s too capable,” Yao Beibei said, relying on her intuition. “I can feel that Senior really wants to avoid such topics.”

If it were ordinary people, Su Ming might have brushed it off.

But in front of Yao Beibei, who was intentionally investigating and had sharp intuition, Su Ming couldn’t quite hide it.

“What is he thinking?” Jiang Wanyu wondered. “Shouldn’t it be something to be happy about if others know your abilities?”

“Maybe Senior has some unspeakable reason,” Yao Beibei whispered. “Wanyu, do you think Senior might be hiding something else?”

“Like…?” Jiang Wanyu turned to Yao Beibei. “Did you discover something?”

“No,” Yao Beibei thought for a moment and shook her head. “But I always feel that Senior isn’t a simple person.”

“Is that so,” Jiang Wanyu’s eyes shifted. “Then what do you think we should do?”

“I think we should get closer to Senior,” Yao Beibei suggested. “Maybe I can discover something more.”

Now, Yao Beibei felt like a kitten scratching at her heart.

Her sharp intuition told her that Su Ming was hiding something very important.

But what exactly it was, Yao Beibei couldn’t quite figure out.

She felt she was both close to and far from the answer.

This feeling truly made Yao Beibei itch with curiosity.

“Then let’s create more opportunities later to see what exactly this Senior is hiding.”

Jiang Wanyu seemed to have her curiosity piqued as well.

“Mm!” Yao Beibei nodded repeatedly.

“Beibei! Wanyu! What are you doing over there?”

On the other side, Su Ming and the others had already gathered the spoils, and An Zijin was waving at the two girls.

“Hurry over! We’re heading back!”

An Zijin’s spirited shout perked up Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu.

“Coming||ヽ(￣▽￣)ノミ|Ю”

The two immediately scampered over.

……

Completing the Blade Demon subjugation task allowed Su Ming’s team of six to smoothly obtain 3,000 contribution points.

When tasks are completed as a team, the contribution points are directly divided equally among everyone, with the possibility of those who contributed more receiving a slightly larger share.

Due to the insistence of An Zijin, Yao Beibei, and Jiang Wanyu, the contribution points from this task weren’t split equally; instead, the three seniors received a bit more.

In their view, they had indeed received guidance and gained valuable experience, plus their performance wasn’t great, so it was only natural for them to take fewer contribution points.

After some discussion, the six decided that Su Ming and the other two would split 2,000 contribution points, while the remaining 1,000 would be divided among An Zijin and the other two.

An Zijin and the others even suggested that for future contribution points, Su Ming’s group should take the larger share.

Su Ming’s group neither agreed nor disagreed, only saying they would decide based on future progress.

Of course, Su Ming’s gains weren’t limited to contribution points; he also had the Blade Demon’s corpse.

Lei Hao expressed interest in the Blade Demon’s blades, apparently planning to use them to make weapons. Jiang Wanyu also took some materials, while the others showed little interest in the Blade Demon.

Thus, Su Ming openly took the remaining parts of the Blade Demon, threw them into the mall, and directly exchanged them for crystal chips.

Afterward, the group of six took on two more subjugation tasks, defeating two Phantom Demons that were relatively troublesome and thus had no one accepting their subjugation tasks, earning another 5,000 contribution points.

Due to the insistence of An Zijin and the others, Su Ming’s group ultimately took the larger share, splitting 3,000 points, while An Zijin’s group divided the remaining 2,000.

Thus, the day’s task time came to an end.

Su Ming’s team of six all had good harvests, each gaining a fair number of contribution points, bringing them much closer to the goal of 10,000 contribution points each.

(End of Chapter)