Chapter 124: This Time, Our Regular Class Is Definitely Going to Win!

"This..."

Xu Wenchang's face was full of shock.

"This... isn't this reward a bit too heavy?"

"Our Long Xu Ban's freshman trial has never had a reward to begin with. After all, the Long Xu Ban's treatment is already maxed out. So why suddenly..."

Xu Wenchang paused, then looked at Principal Guhe and asked tentatively:

"And... Principal, if I remember correctly."

"Your lightning-type substitute is just a few shards away from condensing, isn't it?"

"You've been stuck here for so many years, and you finally got one shard—aren't you going to use it yourself? You're putting it out as a reward?"

Xu Wenchang was getting a little anxious.

As one of the Dragon Nation's top lightning mages, Principal Guhe's strength had long since reached a bottleneck.

Once he condensed a lightning element substitute, his strength would absolutely take a qualitative leap, and might even directly affect the high-level combat power structure of the Dragon Nation.

Such an important thing—put out as a reward?

Principal Guhe looked at Xu Wenchang, his gaze softening.

He let out a soft sigh:

"It's fine."

"Even if I really did condense a substitute, so what?"

"For the overall situation of the entire Dragon Nation, for the upcoming Myriad Nations Battlefield, for that unknown catastrophe..."

"One more old man like me won't change anything."

"Besides, I'm not short just this one shard."

Principal Guhe raised his head, his gaze drifting toward the direction of the villa complex outside the window.

"But Lin Mo is different. He's still young."

"He's only level 25, and he's already awakened a fire element body. If he can awaken a lightning element body before level 30..."

"Dual-system special skills on one person—just imagine, what kind of monster would that be?"

"This..."

Xu Wenchang was stunned.

Principal Guhe chuckled lightly, weighing the shard in his hand. "This stone is worth more in his hands than in mine."

Xu Wenchang looked at the white-haired, white-bearded old man before him, and a surge of respect welled up in his heart.

In this world, who wouldn't want to become stronger themselves?

Strength was the foundation for survival.

But now, this principal of Jingda, for a vague hope, for a stranger he'd never met, was willing to give up his own chance at a breakthrough in strength.

"So..."

Xu Wenchang said, somewhat helplessly:

"You put on this whole big show, just so you'd have a reason to stuff this stone into his hands, didn't you?"

Principal Guhe straightened his expression:

"What do you mean, find a reason!"

"Private backroom dealings—that's a major taboo."

"The Long Xu Ban does have privileges, but privileges must be built on the foundation of strength."

"If I just gave it to him directly, what would others think? They'd say I was unfair, they'd say Lin Mo got where he is through connections."

"If he wants this stone, he has to put in the effort and earn it with his own ability! Only then will others have no objections."

After hearing this, Xu Wenchang fell silent for a moment, then said with a bitter smile:

"Aren't you afraid of it backfiring? What if Shen Jun and the others win? After all, Shen Jun's side has two thousand people."

Hearing this, Principal Guhe burst out laughing and waved his hand dismissively:

"Then let him have it. If Shen Jun and the others can really win, then that proves they're qualified to get this stone."

"I, Guhe, may play favorites a bit, but I haven't gone so far as to not know right from wrong. Whoever wins gets it—it's only right."

Saying this, Principal Guhe waved his hand grandly:

"Alright, Old Xu, you've been running around all day, you must be tired. Hurry back and rest."

"I need to make a call to the second-year director over at the regular grade."

"This time, the rules have to change a little."

Xu Wenchang shook his head helplessly.

He stood up, straightened his collar, and as he reached the door, suddenly turned back and grinned at Principal Guhe:

"Principal, that move of yours is really ruthless."

"I'd guess tonight, the entire second-year grade won't be able to sleep."

"I'm off."

……

Meanwhile.

In a spacious student club activity room.

At this moment, the lights were bright and smoke curled through the air.

Several dozen second-year students were sitting around together.

They were all captains of the various squads in the regular classes—the elite backbone of the grade.

Shen Jun sat at the head seat, his face dark.

Beside him, Zhou Kai was talking at full spittle about what had happened in the cafeteria today:

"…You guys didn't see how arrogant that Lin Mo was!"

"Shen Ge went over with good intentions to say hello, wanting to get to know them."

"And the result?"

"That kid was absolutely looking down his nose at us! Seeing we're just ordinary students, he was completely toying with us!"

The more Zhou Kai spoke, the more agitated he got, and he slammed the table hard:

"Shen Ge asked him what skills he had, and he actually said he knew a 'Fire-Earth Combo Skill,' and even said he knew a 'Thunder-Fire Combo Skill'!"

"Isn't that just treating us like idiots?"

"A freshman, hasn't even started school yet and already knows two combo skills? You think we're fools? Isn't that obviously looking down on our intelligence?"

At these words.

The activity room instantly exploded.

"Shit! Isn't that way too much?"

"So what if they're Long Xu Ban? They can just humiliate people whenever they want?"

"Damn it, those privileged dogs!"

Everyone was filled with righteous indignation, their eyes blazing with fury.

This anger wasn't only because of Lin Mo's attitude—it was mostly the long-pent-up resentment.

At Capital University, Long Xu Ban was like a mountain pressing down on their heads.

"On what basis?"

Someone complained: "We ordinary students, after a whole week of hard work, can only get one 'Spatial Keystone,' and run one Team Fuben."

"Their Long Xu Ban gets three a day!"

"And they eat free in the cafeteria! All high-rank magical-beast ingredients!"

"It's only because the semester just started that we can still rely on having trained an extra year, so our levels are a bit higher than theirs."

"Give it another month, or even half a month, and they'll probably overtake us, and by then we won't even be able to see their taillights!"

Despair and a sense of injustice were completely ignited at this moment.

Shen Jun watched the fired-up crowd and slowly stood up.

He swept his gaze around the room, his voice low and forceful:

"Everyone's right."

"We are not as talented as them, we don't get the same treatment as them."

"But!"

"That doesn't mean we can let them humiliate us!"

"This freshman trial is our chance!"

Shen Jun clenched his fist and slammed it hard on the table:

"We have 200 people! All elites! Our levels crush theirs!"

"This time, we're going to let those Long Xu Ban freshmen know that we ordinary students aren't trash they can toy with!"

"We're going to teach them what respect means!"

"Yeah! Let's go all out against them!"

"Kill Long Xu Ban!"

"We haven't lost before either, and this time will be the same! This time we have to make that Lin Mo eat his words properly!"

The crowd's emotions were completely roused.

One by one they were rubbing their fists and palms, itching to rush over and start a fight right now.

Just at that moment.

The several dozen people present almost simultaneously received a message.

"Hm?"

"Who's sending a message this late?"

Everyone pulled out their phones in confusion.

It was an all-hands notice from the Office of Academic Affairs.

When they clearly saw the contents above, everyone froze.

【Urgent Notice: Regarding changes to the rules of the "Long Xu Ban Freshman Trial"…】

【…This trial will no longer hold selections.】

【All enrolled sophomores of the entire grade (1,982 people in total), full participation!】

【The winning side will receive an additional reward: one Thunder Element Shard (to be obtained by whoever makes the greatest final contribution) …】

"Holy shit? I'm not seeing things, right?"

"The whole grade going in? Two thousand versus twenty?!"

"Hahahaha! Why is Old Gu so generous this year? Did he lose his mind?"

"Isn't this just handing us free points?"

"There's even a reward—a Thunder Element Shard!"

Shen Jun's hand holding the phone was trembling, his eyes filled with wild joy.

The freshman trial, in previous years, was just the upperclassmen accompanying the Long Xu Ban freshmen on a training run—there had never been any reward.

This year they suddenly gave a reward?

And such a precious Thunder Element Shard at that?

Moreover, this Long Xu Ban freshman class has never won before.

Isn't this just making up excuses to give the regular class students a handout?

"Looks like… Old Man Gu is starting to pay attention to us regular students."

"Two thousand versus twenty."

"How could we lose?"

"It's literally impossible to lose!"

Shen Jun lifted his head and looked around at everyone:

"Brothers! This time it's not just about dignity!"

"That fragment—we're taking it!"