Era of Mist

The second floor of the cafeteria, the dining area for the elite class students.

The style here was elegant, the decor exquisite. The lighting was bright yet soft, the air fresh and dry. Soft music, like you’d hear in a café, played in the background. It was the fighter jet of high school cafeterias. In a place where elites gathered, the students were always quiet and orderly, creating the atmosphere of a miniature high society.

But today, a constant buzz of discussion filled the air. Everyone was embroiled in a heated debate about the unprecedented four-operations arithmetic test—and especially, the unprecedented perfect score from the garbage class.

At a table next to a floor-to-ceiling window, a boy sat like the moon surrounded by stars. His skin was fair and fine, but his high brows and wide-set eyes kept him from looking effeminate. His back was ramrod straight, giving him the dignified air of a deep, still pool or a towering mountain. He held the class ranking sheet, eating quickly and elegantly while gazing at the list in his hand with a look that was both focused and nonchalant.

This was Wang Jinquan of Class 1, Year 2, the current student council president.

"Wang Jinquan, you really messed up this time!" A boy carrying a tray walked over, greeting Wang Jinquan with a grin. "Everyone’s talking about it. They’re saying you’re not as good as Zhou Zhengyang, not as good as Gu Xuechao, not as good as Fang Qingjue, and not even as good as some piece of trash from the garbage class! Isn’t that embarrassing? HAHAHAHA!"

Hearing this, Wang Jinquan smiled amiably, looking quite refined. "Heh, no need to worry about it. It’s true I was careless and lost by a narrow margin, but that doesn’t mean anything. I respect Senior Brother Zhou and Senior Brother Gu, and I’m well aware of Fang’s reputation.

"As for Shi... heh, he’s no delinquent from the garbage class. From what I understand, he’s also exceptionally talented. He was a First Guard Champion Scholar in the middle school entrance exams, earning him the nickname ’Champion Scholar Stone.’ He’s just temporarily experiencing life in the garbage class for certain reasons. I don’t see anything embarrassing about losing to people like them."

The boy burst out laughing. "Give me a break, Wang Jinquan! Who cares how he ended up there? A garbage class delinquent is a garbage class delinquent. Do you think anyone’s going to investigate why he’s in the garbage class? As the top dog of the second years, you couldn’t even beat a delinquent from the garbage class. Old Wang, you’ve really lost a lot of face this time, HAHAHAHA!"

Wang Jinquan didn’t respond, merely watching the boy leave with that same amiable smile.

Once the boy was far enough away, CRUNCH. Wang Jinquan’s fingers tightened, instantly wrinkling the ranking sheet in his hand. His brows shot up and his eyes widened. The gentle, refined air he’d worn just moments ago was suddenly replaced by something savage and fierce. He stared in the direction the boy had gone, then looked back at the ranking sheet in his hand. He let out a sudden breath, his thoughts unreadable.

The boys and girls sitting around Wang Jinquan had remained silent as cicadas in winter from start to finish, not making a sound.

A moment later, Wang Jinquan slapped the ranking sheet down on the table with a SMACK. He turned his gaze toward another prime spot in the room, where a solitary figure stood apart from the world.

It was a girl.

She was quite tall; from a distance, she looked to be no shorter than Wang Jinquan. Her features were beautiful and stern, her expression solemn as she ate at a measured pace. Not a fraction too fast, which would have seemed hasty, nor a fraction too slow, which would have appeared indolent.

This unhurried yet deliberate rhythm conveyed a confidence and composure that came from having everything under control—a unique bearing that could only be cultivated by a true upper-class family, captivating all who saw it.

This was the renowned prodigy of Year 1, Fang Qingjue.

Zhou Zhengyang and Gu Xuechao were third-year elites. They, along with all the other third-year elite class students, had already departed for secret special training at another campus, so they were nowhere to be seen in this cafeteria. Wang Jinquan could only watch Fang Qingjue from afar, observing her every move with a cold gaze.

She wasn’t looking at the ranking sheet, nor was she discussing the exam results with anyone. She seemed completely unconcerned.

’Is this just false aloofness, a deliberate act? Or is she truly peerless, with an invincible heart?’

Wang Jinquan couldn’t see through her.

Of all the students in the entire school, aside from the third-year elite seniors he had never met, this inscrutable Fang Qingjue was the one who put the most pressure on him.

’Right, now there’s Shi Tiexin too.’

’I wonder what that Shi Tiexin is up to.’

’Hmph. He’s probably running around the garbage class right now, bragging and showing off. That’s just what commoners and peasants are like. The moment they get lucky and obtain something, they have to flaunt it smugly. Beating the student council president, Wang Jinquan, by a hair’s breadth... an achievement like that must be worth writing a whole book about for a guy like him.’

’Damn it. This is bad for my reputation...’

While Wang Jinquan was seething, he had no idea that the very person from the garbage class he was gnashing his teeth about, Shi Tiexin, had no intention of showing off in class. In fact, he didn’t even know he’d gotten a perfect score.

When classes ended in the afternoon, Shi Tiexin had indeed seen the ranking board. But the crowd was packed so tightly that he couldn’t get anywhere near the front. He glanced at it from a distance, completely baffled. ’What’s all this about? Why is this huge crowd of people all squished together? Is it some kind of large-scale matchmaking event?’

’I don’t get it, I just don’t get it. The Heart Technique Sacred Land is too mysterious.’

Looking left and right, he saw that none of the people he knew were trying to get a look. The ones pushing their way through seemed to be from the elite classes, as far as he could remember. ’It must be some kind of exclusive activity for the elite classes,’ he thought. ’It has nothing to do with me.’

’Better not get involved. I should hurry up and eat. After dinner, I’ll study my Natural History. I can probably advance it to Profound level tonight!’

And so, Shi Tiexin excitedly made his way to the cafeteria. After partaking in his "imperial meal," he ran off to the athletic field.

He circulated his energy for three cycles, feeling refreshed all over. He now had over ninety wisps of primal essence in his lower abdomen, drifting and flowing within him. With his navel as the dividing line, the primal essence seemed poised to fill his entire lower abdomen.

Once he gathered one hundred wisps, he could condense the primal essence, refining it into proper essence. He would then break through the Essence-Storing realm and formally enter the Essence-Nurturing stage. ’Hmm... if I had to make an analogy, the Essence-Storing stage is like going from ’unqualified’ to ’qualified.’ Only after condensation can one truly begin cultivating from ’qualified’ toward a higher, more profound level.’

This was certainly good news.

His spirits lifted, Shi Tiexin walked over to the horizontal bar area on one side of the field. Standing beneath the bar, he didn’t even need to jump. He simply reached up and grabbed it, his arms not even fully extended.

He tightened his muscles and did several pull-ups. His body remained perfectly still and vertical, not swaying in the slightest, as he used only his arm strength to dead-hang pull his ninety-kilogram body upward. He did ten in one go before his arms began to feel slightly warm, and he let go of the bar.

He could have done more, but his primal essence was already becoming unstable. He could have managed another twenty, but he was afraid his primal essence would spontaneously revert back to stamina and dissipate, which wouldn’t be worth the trade-off.

Uncondensed primal essence was indeed easy to dissipate for all sorts of reasons. A single fight would wipe it all out. If not for this, it wouldn’t have taken Shi Tiexin a full year to succeed in storing essence for the first time.

Shaking out the muscles in his arms, Shi Tiexin picked up the history book he’d set aside and began studying Natural History. He was currently reading about this world’s modern history—it wouldn’t increase his Natural History progress, but he was very interested in this timeline’s developments after 1919.