Chapter 58 – Club Struggle

It wasn’t until the class bell rang that Lin Ze finally managed to shake off the crowd pestering him.

“These people are way too enthusiastic.”

Sitting down in his seat, Lin Ze couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.

Guan Ning beside him covered her mouth with a chuckle.

“Brother, plenty of people would kill for this kind of treatment.”

Lin Ze shook his head with a wry smile, quickly putting the little episode behind him and turning his thoughts to today’s plans.

“I’ll head to the Virtual Combat room and push my ranking as high as possible.”

Ningjiang Academy distributed ranking rewards for Virtual Combat at the start of each month.

On the first of every month, rewards were given out based on students’ combat rankings.

So he had to raise his ranking as much as he could before the first of next month.

After class.

Lin Ze immediately grabbed Guan Ning and made a swift exit.

He had no intention of getting tangled up with those enthusiastic classmates again.

But as he walked out of the teaching building, Lin Ze was surprised to find a huge crowd gathered outside for some reason.

They stood scattered in small groups, each cluster clearly separated from the others.

The moment they spotted Lin Ze coming out, the crowd perked up and swarmed over with a buzz.

“Hello, Classmate Lin Ze. Mind if we have a chat?”

“Junior Lin Ze, have you joined a club yet?”

“Classmate Lin Ze, any interest in joining the Winter Chill Club?”

Clubs?

Lin Ze blinked in confusion.

Taking a closer look at the uniforms around him, he noticed the badges on their chests were all Second Year style.

So these were senior club members!

Ningjiang Academy had a club system.

Students would band together in groups to form mutual-benefit organizations, helping each other and growing together.

Generally speaking, clubs carried Attribute Type labels.

Students who possessed Pet Beasts of a certain attribute would typically join the club corresponding to that attribute.

For example, students whose battle pets were Ice Attribute would usually join the Winter Chill Club, which gathered many students with Ice Attribute Pet Beasts.

There were also the Earth Attribute Colossus Club, the Light Attribute Radiance Club, and so on.

Joining a club meant more than just networking.

It also gave you access to guidance from upperclassmen.

On top of that.

Depending on the size of the club, the academy would distribute a certain amount of funding subsidies each month.

In other words, Resource Points.

That was another source of extra income for club members.

The benefits went without saying.

So at Ningjiang Academy, over eighty percent of students applied to join various clubs.

Of course, not everyone got what they wanted.

Clubs were selective too.

Unless you were a Freshman with outstanding aptitude and exceptional strength.

You couldn’t even dream of joining a club.

Even if you applied, your application would be rejected.

Conversely, the moment an exceptionally brilliant Freshman appeared, every club would race to snap them up.

The top ten Freshmen every year basically received this kind of treatment.

And this year, it was even more intense.

Because of an anomaly like Lin Ze.

Top Freshman.

First to clear the stone tablet challenge.

On the very first day of Enrollment, he’d already broken into the top thousand in the Apprentice Zone Virtual Combat rankings.

All these accolades piled onto Lin Ze had made him a dazzling new star known to everyone at Ningjiang Academy.

With such a stunning genius on the scene, no club was about to let him slip away.

The moment word got out that Lin Ze was in class today, every club immediately sent people to corner him.

Which was exactly how the current scene came to be.

The waves of noise surging from all directions gave Lin Ze a throbbing headache.

Left with no choice, he spoke up to cut through the crowd.

“Seniors, I’m sorry. I’m not planning to join any club for now.”

Yet the enthusiasm of the crowd around him showed no sign of fading.

The moment Lin Ze finished speaking, voices immediately rang out.

“Classmate Lin Ze, it’s too early to say that now. Why not learn more about our club before making a decision?”

“That’s right, classmate Lin Ze. You have an Earth Attribute pet beast—joining our Colossus Club would be perfect for you. It’ll greatly help you nurture your Earth Attribute pet beast!”

“Why not join our Frostwinter Club instead? Doesn’t classmate Lin Ze also have an Ice Attribute pet beast? This senior sister can personally teach you how to better nurture Ice Attribute pet beasts~”

“Shameless! Using the honey trap!”

“Classmate Lin Ze, why not join our Nether Club instead?”

“Pfft, your Nether Club is all about the Undead Attribute. What business do you have butting in?”

“Don’t say that. Knowledge can be transferred, after all. Learning more about Undead Attribute pet beasts might actually help classmate Lin Ze.”

“Nonsense! Classmate Lin Ze, join our club instead!”

The shouts rose one after another, a scene of utter chaos.

It was one thing for Frostwinter Club and Colossus Club—clubs related to Lin Ze’s pet beast attributes—to be here.

But even Nether Club, Anyao Club, Chilian Club, and other clubs completely unrelated to him had come along as well.

After all, none of these club members were foolish.

They knew full well that a prodigy like Lin Ze was akin to a peerless tonic.

Whichever club he joined, within two years he would surely lead it to become the academy’s number one club.

After all, when the academy assessed club performance, the most influential factor was the club’s combat strength.

And Lin Ze’s potential was plain for all to see.

He was destined to become the academy’s absolute top combat force—no question about it.

The scene grew increasingly rowdy.

Lin Ze had barely said a word, yet the club members had already started arguing among themselves.

It left him caught between laughter and tears.

Just then, Tan Yong, Guo Xinyi, and the others walked out of the classroom, looking at the scene before them with puzzled expressions.

“Those people… are Second Year students, right?”

“Yeah, they’re indeed wearing Second Year badges.”

“Seems like they’re all from various clubs.”

“Oh, so they’re here for Lin Ze.”

Everyone suddenly understood.

In truth, as Class One was the most elite class among the First Years, its students were all prime targets for recruitment by the major clubs.

It was just that with Lin Ze around, they could only lament being ignored by the club members.

Just as the crowd was making a ruckus, a sudden commotion broke out at the edge of the crowd.

“The Gaoshan Club people are here!”

Gasps of surprise rang out.

Immediately after, the crowd parted, revealing an open path.

A group of people strode in with their heads held high.

Leading them was a tall, spirited young man.

Seeing the newcomers, quite a few Second Year students furrowed their brows.

“Tsk, it’s actually the Gaoshan Club folks.”

“What are these guys here for?”

“They’re not here for Lin Ze too, are they?”

“No way. Since when did Gaoshan Club look favorably upon students of common birth?”

Hearing the whispers around him, a hint of confusion appeared on Lin Ze’s face.

Noticing Lin Ze’s expression, Guan Ning leaned in and quietly explained a few things.

After hearing the girl’s words, Lin Ze finally understood.

Gaoshan Club was one of the foremost major clubs at Ningjiang Academy.

However, this club was rather unique.

When recruiting new members, aside from considering one’s talent and strength, they also had strict requirements regarding background and family origins.

In short, they only recruited students from Beast Tamer family lineages.

Those of common birth or insufficient background were categorically rejected.

With recruitment requirements like these, it was easy to imagine how Gaoshan Club treated ordinary students.

As a result, among the commoner students, Gaoshan Club had never enjoyed a particularly good reputation.

Even some students from Beast Tamer families found Gaoshan Club’s arrogant and overbearing behavior hard to stomach.

As the two were talking, the young man at the head had already arrived in front of Lin Ze.

He looked Lin Ze up and down a few times, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“So you’re Lin Ze?”