At Hongcheng First High School, there were over eight hundred seniors. More than seven hundred and eighty of them passed the mental screening, which was practically everyone.

However, not many people were actually willing to go for the physical exam to try their luck.

After all, it had been over four months since the semester began and nearly half a year since the Spiritual Energy Revival started. Who wouldn’t know by now whether they had any talent or could attract Spiritual Qi? 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Students who hadn’t reached the Spirit Awakening stage had to pay a testing fee for the physical exam. While the fee wasn’t exorbitant, for many families, it amounted to more than half a month’s wages.

The rich were one thing; they could throw money away just to be part of the excitement. But the average person couldn’t afford to be so frivolous.

According to the predictions of a professor from Yuzhang Academy, out of the eight hundred students, about thirty would be able to develop Spiritual Power and reach the Spirit Awakening Tier before the end of the semester. This was considered a good outcome and already worthy of praise.

In fact, this rate of talent was actually better than that of ancient Cultivators who took the same amount of time to achieve Spirit Awakening.

After all, this was an era of a gradual Spiritual Energy Revival. Everyone was essentially starting from scratch, accumulating Spiritual Power. This was unlike the ancient past, before the world’s connection to spiritual energy waned, when everyone was immersed in a high-Spiritual Qi environment from childhood, making Spirit Awakening much easier for those with talent.

So, if you were to go purely by the standard of ’able to practice Cultivation,’ then among those eight hundred people, roughly a hundred had the future potential to become Cultivators. That was about one in every seven or eight people, which was already a high number.

Among this hundred, some were genuinely talented but, for various reasons, just hadn’t figured out the knack yet. The physical exam might just be what they needed to find a more suitable Cultivation Technique.

The number of people who stood to gain from the physical exam was just over one hundred, but only about seventy were actually willing to participate.

After all, not everyone could be certain their talent was sufficient for Cultivation. The overall situation was still unclear, and there hadn’t been any word about government subsidies... Things were simply too ambiguous, and the test had come too suddenly. Some people just weren’t prepared, while others hadn’t even thought to try.

Instead of heading to their classroom, Su Zhou and Shao Qiming presented their student IDs and physical exam passes, after which a teacher led them to the main auditorium.

More than forty students were already seated inside, though it seemed not everyone had arrived. Off to the side, two professors were chatting. Judging by their emblems, both were from Yuzhang Academy. It looked like professors from the Academy and teachers from the First High would be leading the group.

Along the way, Su Zhou was chatting with Shao Qiming about the new education system for the Spiritual Energy Revival.

"I hear that starting next year, elementary schools will begin teaching basic knowledge about Spiritual Qi. In middle school, they’ll start learning to interact with and absorb Spiritual Power, and by high school, they’ll be taught some Cultivation Techniques."

This was inside information Shao Qiming had picked up from who-knows-where. Even though he said, "I hear," it was probably ninety-five percent accurate.

At this, he adopted a scholarly air, clasping his hands behind his back and shaking his head. "Cultivating Spiritual Power requires a person to have a solid worldview. As for children, unless they’re a prodigy with innate mental maturity, it doesn’t matter how good their Spiritual Energy Affinity is. If they can’t focus their minds to control their Spiritual Power, they’ll just be cultivating blindly and end up harming themselves."

"That’s true. Kids practicing Cultivation is a terrifying thought." Su Zhou nodded slightly. But he wasn’t thinking about whether children could grasp the principles of Cultivation. Instead, an image of a group of super-powered brats wreaking havoc on the world flashed through his mind.

’Bratty kids with Superpowers... what kind of horror story is that?’

"After all, we’re just feeling our way forward. No one knows the best way to handle this yet." Shao Qiming, clearly not realizing Su Zhou’s thoughts had taken a sharp turn, sighed wistfully to himself.

Inside the auditorium, most of the students were either chatting or scrolling on their phones. The teachers didn’t stop them; after all, talking with others was a good way to ease their nerves.

The topics of conversation were limited. Most people were busy speculating on their Spiritual Power talent—who might rank high, who might rank low. The hall buzzed with lively chatter.

But as Su Zhou and Shao Qiming—or more specifically, Su Zhou—walked through the auditorium doors, the entire hall gradually fell silent.

For a moment, everyone was completely silent.

"Look, the spiritual-qi-devouring monster is here!" someone finally broke the silence. A student who knew Su Zhou and Shao Qiming well waved them over with a grin. While still waving, he turned to another boy with whom he’d been arguing about who had the higher talent and started trash-talking, "Look at you, loser. What’s the point of comparing yourself to me? If you’ve got the guts, go compare yourself to Su Zhou!"

"Compare with him, my ass!" the other boy instantly flew into a rage. "What’s the point of that comparison?!"

Su Zhou and Shao Qiming went over and sat down. The boy who had waved them over was named Xu Ming. He had a baby face and, while not initially close with Su Zhou, was good friends with Shao Qiming. The two of them were among the top students in their grade and had even been teammates for a while at a Math Olympiad.

Later, however, when Xu Ming found out that Su Zhou also played *Granblue Fantasy*, they hit it off. For guys, making friends usually involves either a fight or video games.

After sitting down, Su Zhou looked around at the slightly awkward silence in the auditorium and feigned dissatisfaction. "What’s all this? Isn’t this the part where you’re all supposed to look down on me and think I’m a loser? Then I’m supposed to come out of nowhere and blow you all away!"