Pay-to-Win Gear Crush

Individual combat did not mean scoring zero if you lost. If losing truly meant a zero, then under the exam rules—where individual combat was a drawn one-on-one match—probably only half the school's students would pass, while the other half would receive zeroes. That would be utterly absurd. Anyone with half a brain knew such a situation was impossible. In reality, individual combat was scored based on a student's performance throughout the fight. Even if someone lost, their score might only be one or two points lower than their victorious opponent's. If one overcame a stronger opponent from a position of weakness or achieved victory through wits, they often received even higher scores. The reason Nora consistently scored twenty points was simply that she surrendered very quickly. Sometimes, when facing an obviously insurmountable foe, surrendering was also a strategy. Surrendering and yielding quickly still offered a chance to survive in the wild, which was why Nora's twenty points had always remained steady. "Zhou Qingmei, He Xing, you two come over here and have a match with Nora and Yu Xian," Wang Xingnuo called out, looking around the area before her eyes lit up and she waved over two students. A spirited girl with her hair tied in a bun and a precious sword slung across her back, accompanied by a boy with narrowed, smiling eyes, heard Wang Xingnuo's call and walked over. Yu Xian glanced at the two of them and immediately cast Appraisal. Once he reviewed their attributes, he felt completely assured. —————— Name: Zhou Qingmei Codename: Heroine Race: Human Gender: Female Age: 17 Lifespan: 148 Rank: Low Bee Faction: Huaxia Dragon Dynasty – Divine Sword Sect Abilities: [Nine Revolutions Sword Scripture: With each revolution cultivated, one can comprehend a sword technique unique to oneself. The higher the aptitude, the more formidable the sword technique comprehended.] [Sword Control Technique: Uses one's own spiritual power to command a soul-bound flying sword to strike targets. The stronger the flying sword and spiritual power, the greater the power, with no upper limit.] [Summary: To strike the person, strike the sword; striking the sword is striking the person.] —————— Zhou Qingmei was clearly one of Superpower Academy's top students. Unfortunately, Yu Xian had seen far grander sights. Truth be told, Zhou Qingmei might be considered an elite powerhouse in the eyes of average students, but to him, she was nothing more than a novice. —————— Name: He Xing Codename: Brother Peach Race: Kuafu Scion Gender: Male Age: 17 Lifespan: 580 Rank: High Bee Faction: Huaxia Dragon Dynasty Abilities: [Peachwood Body: The body can transform into peachwood, flourishing and regenerating upon contact with water.] [Sun-Chasing Feet: Runs at an unimaginable speed, capable of chasing stars, seizing the moon, and pursuing the sun and light.] [Yellow Left, Green Right: The left hand can transform into a yellow snake possessing the ability to detoxify, heal, and purge abnormal statuses. The right hand can transform into a green snake capable of devouring various poisons to generate five distinct types of lethal toxins.] [Summary: A very fast-running little peach tree.] —————— Yu Xian felt this He Xing had great potential. If he ever promoted to team captain in the future, he might consider inviting the boy into his squad. Under Teacher Wang's arrangements, Nora was paired against Zhou Qingmei, while Yu Xian was matched against He Xing. The group relocated to the array platform, with the first bout between Nora and Zhou Qingmei. The most expensive facility in a superpower academy was the array platform used for student sparring. The platform's full name was the "Torch Dragon Inverting Sun and Moon Time-Reversal Grand Formation Arena." Once the instructor activated the array, students could fight inside it, and no matter how severely injured they were, their wounds would instantly heal the moment they left the platform. Furthermore, the array possessed precognitive capabilities, allowing it to teleport a student off the ring right before they could suffer a fatal blow. This grand array was designed by Zhang Daoqin, who mandated its construction in every superpower school nationwide, with all required materials available from the government at half price. Even so, most superpower academy array platforms were only completed after pooling the resources of entire cities alongside countless Transcendents pitching in their own funds. One could easily imagine just how astronomical the cost was. Nora and Zhou Qingmei stepped onto the array platform, and Wang Xingnuo immediately activated the grand array. The patterns carved around the platform instantly radiated a faint glow, and the sculpted heads of the Torch Dragon at the four corners slowly opened their eyes. "Match begin!" Wang Xingnuo called out, watching the two in the ring. The very next second, Nora raised her hand and unleashed a blast of Blood Flame, but Zhou Qingmei cleaved through it effortlessly with a single sword strike. Yet as soon as the flames parted, she saw Nora holding a firearm and firing in rapid succession. *Not good!* Zhou Qingmei immediately dodged to the side while simultaneously maneuvering her flying sword to intercept the incoming bullets. Bullet after bullet was parried by the flying sword, but they promptly detonated with tremendous blasts, sending shrapnel spraying erratically in every direction. A piece of flying metal grazed Zhou Qingmei's cheek, leaving a cut from which blood trickled down. She wiped the blood away, her left hand covertly forming an incantation gesture into a sword finger. Her weapon was actually a paired set of mother-and-child swords; concealed within the primary flying sword was an even smaller secondary blade. Now, feeling the overwhelming monetary pressure of a pay-to-win tycoon, she had no choice but to deploy the hidden secondary sword for an attack. In truth, Nora had considered surrendering. But whenever she thought about attending university together with Yu Xian, she instinctively wanted to save money—and aside from not spending carelessly, saving money meant earning higher test scores. The higher her score, the fewer points she would need to buy, which would save a massive fortune. And if Yu Xian ever came up short on points, she could even use her savings to buy points for him. That was why she chose to fight. Ever since the aberrant worm incident at school, she had constantly reflected on how she should fight. Although she worked hard to practice the Sunflower Sunward Divine Art, the duration had been too short; she likely would not develop practical combat capability for several years. Ultimately, she had opted to pay to win. Since firearms posed a lethal threat to aberrant worms, they naturally posed a threat to other Transcendents as well. Furthermore, the equipment she could purchase went far beyond conventional guns. Previously, she had simply lacked experience and had always lived in a sheltered environment, which was why a band of ordinary thugs had managed to ambush her. She was different now. If she ever encountered that kind of situation again, it would be the enemies who wound up dead. Just then, the miniature flying sword burst out from the billowing smoke of the explosion, hurtling toward Nora with lightning speed. At Nora's physical speed, there was no way she could react in time. Yet she did not need to react at all. *Clang!* The flying sword slammed into an energy shield. The bracelet on Nora's wrist shone with blue light, projecting an oval barrier that protected her from head to toe. Seeing this, Zhou Qingmei furrowed her brow. She called out, "Student Nora, if you rely entirely on equipment, your exam score will still be very low. What is the point of doing this?" "Overcoming a stronger opponent from a position of weakness yields higher points, and the victor gets a baseline of twenty points anyway. That's quite a lot," Nora replied earnestly. Compared to those points, what did the cost of this gear matter? Realizing she could not shake Nora's resolve, Zhou Qingmei had no choice but to press the attack. She recalled the child sword beneath her feet, using the Sword Control Technique to dodge incoming bullets in midair while continually directing the mother sword to strike Nora's protective barrier. Nora, meanwhile, concentrated solely on shooting at Zhou Qingmei as the girl darted across the sky, paying no mind to the mother sword steadily draining her shield's energy. It was now a contest of who would exhaust the other first. In the end, with her spiritual power nearly drained dry, Zhou Qingmei was forced to land helplessly on the platform. "I concede!" Continuing was pointless; she was certain to lose. Nora's ammunition was simply too devastating. The explosive shrapnel had already lacerated her cheeks, arms, and calves; fighting on would only bring more injuries. Once her spiritual power ran out, a single shot from Nora would finish her off. For the first time, she had tasted the bitter despair of being crushed under the superior gear of a pay-to-win player. Wang Xingnuo deactivated the grand array. The Torch Dragon heads at the four corners slowly shut their eyes, and all the wounds across Zhou Qingmei's body vanished in an instant. Wang Xingnuo then announced, "First match: Nora wins, Zhou Qingmei loses. Nora receives 68 points; Zhou Qingmei receives 55 points." "..." Nora beamed with delight, while Zhou Qingmei stood there speechless. Nora had lingered at twenty points year after year, so reaching sixty-eight was an astonishing leap forward. But Zhou Qingmei was a perennial ninety-point ace, and suddenly receiving fifty-five felt thoroughly miserable. At that moment, Zhou Qingmei swore to herself that she, too, was going to make money and buy top-tier equipment. "Nora, you rely far too heavily on equipment. It will be very difficult to get high marks this way," Wang Xingnuo said earnestly after the two stepped down from the platform. "It would be best if you found a way to integrate your own abilities with your equipment. That way, the judging instructors will award you much higher scores." Zhou Qingmei used equipment as well—her flying swords were gear—yet she could still earn top marks primarily because her Sword Control Technique complemented her weapons. If Nora combined her inherent abilities with her firearms, she could achieve similarly high scores. Nora nodded, showing she understood. Next came the match between Yu Xian and He Xing. At Teacher Wang's gesture, the two stepped onto the array platform together.