Chapter 48: 900 Points? Final Ranking

January 6, 2043.

Li Yuan did not train in the virtual network with the "Starry Spear Technique" or the "Dragon Walk Manual" today. So, he left home early at around three in the morning as usual.

"It's been days since I've seen Jiang City's night at three in the morning," Li Yuan looked up at the dark sky, "Daily training shouldn't be neglected."

Upon arriving at the school's personal martial arts training room, he first trained in the basic cultivation method for two hours as usual before starting his spear practice.

"Swish! Swish!" The spear shadows changed as the spear in Li Yuan's hand moved unpredictably. With his footwork, the spear was sometimes like a swift storm, sometimes like an illusion, and sometimes ferociously violent. Occasionally, when he suddenly thrust forward, the speed of the spearhead would surge, causing the air to roar.

Li Yuan had long mastered the eighteen spear routines of the "Black Stone Spear Technique" to the extreme.

"I've already comprehended the five ultimate moves of the Black Stone Spear Technique."

"According to Instructor Xu Bo's guidance, what I need to do now is to practice repeatedly, imprinting the force operation of the five ultimate moves into my bones," Li Yuan thought to himself, "Eventually, I won't have to deliberately use a specific ultimate move; every move will be perfectly executed."

"Mind and body in harmony."

"Then, it will be a fourth-stage spear technique," Li Yuan pondered, "Improving my skills relies solely on myself."

"And according to the intelligent teacher, the breakthrough from the third-stage perfection to the fourth stage is a mysterious leap, a breakthrough in the awareness of the mind and body."

"Some martial artists might just sleep on it, and suddenly they break through."

"Some might gain insight during life-and-death battles and achieve the breakthrough."

"But more martial artists are stuck at the third-stage perfection for their entire lives."

"From the third stage to the fourth stage, there's no guaranteed path to success," Li Yuan thought, "What I need to do now is practice again and again."

"A thousand times is not enough."

"Then ten thousand times!"

"First, train my spear technique to 99% of the third stage," Li Yuan was filled with desire, "Then go to virtual battles and real combat."

Years of spear training had taught Li Yuan.

If there's no breakthrough, it means the accumulation isn't enough. Then go and train!

"Read a book a thousand times, and its meaning naturally becomes clear," Li Yuan wielded the long spear in his hand, "The same applies to the spear."

"I've only heard of masters trained through practice."

An hour later.

[Your spear technique has improved from 90% of the third stage to 91% of the third stage.]

…

At around seven o'clock, Li Yuan arrived in the classroom.

Most of the students were already there. However, compared to the usual scene where most students were diligently studying, the classroom today was much more subdued, with most people distracted.

"Old Zhou, why are you so down?" Li Yuan asked as he sat down and took out some test papers.

"Yuan Ge, the results of the January exam are about to be released," Zhou Qi said gloomily, "Aren't you nervous?"

"Not at all," Li Yuan shook his head, "It's just a difference of a few points."

"That's because you're a martial arts student, and cultural subjects only account for 100 points," Zhou Qi sighed, "But I'm a cultural student. If I don't do well, I'll be skinned alive when I get home."

"Then you'll be called Zhou Skinner," Li Yuan replied casually.

Zhou Qi glanced at Li Yuan, too lazy to retort.

"Did you tell your family about awakening your martial arts spirit?" Li Yuan asked.

"I did," Zhou Qi replied, "But what's the use? My dad just asked if I could get into a martial arts university with only a few months left."

"People should have self-awareness. I never expected to get into a martial arts university anyway," Zhou Qi said, "So I've decided not to go to the elite class."

"Just learning the advanced cultivation method is enough."

Li Yuan was taken aback.

Indeed, Zhou Qi's body quality was only at 4.3 levels now, and his martial arts performance was quite poor. Not going to the elite class couldn't be considered wrong.

"It's fine," Li Yuan smiled, "With your martial arts spirit awakened, you can cultivate the advanced method, and your martial arts performance will improve much faster."

"Even if you take the cultural route, martial arts still account for 30%."

"Yeah, yeah," Zhou Qi nodded.

At this moment.

The cultural class teacher, Ms. Chen, dressed in a tweed jacket and pencil pants, appeared at the front door of the classroom.

Teacher Chen's face was stern, holding a stack of papers and two ranking lists.

Instantly!

The classroom fell silent. Everyone knew that the rankings were about to be revealed.

Especially those who chose the cultural route, each of them was nervous, with many people unable to help but lower their heads.

They all silently prayed, "Don't call my name."

Of course, a few top students were fantasizing, "Maybe I'll improve by a few places this time."

For martial arts students like Li Yuan, they were relatively calmer since they had a rough idea of their martial arts scores.

"Bang!" The test papers were thrown on the podium.

The atmosphere grew more oppressive.

"This time's January exam really revealed your true levels. One by one, you all act carelessly, neither studying well in cultural subjects nor training properly in martial arts…" Ms. Chen's voice was cold, "You think just staying at Guanshan will get you into a top university? Dream on!"

"According to the city rankings this time, a few of you will struggle to get into even a second-tier university. I won't name names; you know who you are!!" Ms. Chen's scolding was like a machine gun.

Many students bowed their heads even lower.

The January exam, as the first major unified exam in senior year, had a higher difficulty level, meant to strike down the students' confidence and make them settle down to study harder.

At this stage, as the cultural class teacher, Ms. Chen would never let her students become complacent.

After scolding for more than ten minutes without repeating herself, even Li Yuan, with his strong mental resilience, began to doubt if he was one of those "extremely few individuals" and "bad apples" Ms. Chen was talking about.

Finally.

"But there are also a few students who have made great progress and deserve encouragement," Ms. Chen said lightly, "Alright, I'll now announce the cultural test scores. Listen carefully."

In high school, there was no concern for protecting students' grade privacy.

"Li Shutong, 889 points," Ms. Chen paused, "Second place in the grade for cultural subjects."

This immediately caused a burst of exclamations. Scoring above 850 points in cultural subjects was definitely the mark of a top student.

"Li Wanxing, 868 points."

...

"Zhou Qi, 849 points."

Zhou Qi, who had his head down, slightly raised it, his face full of pride. His cultural performance was quite good.

As Ms. Chen announced the scores of one student after another, some smiled with satisfaction, while others looked disappointed.

Since there were rankings, some people improved, and some fell behind.

Half the students would be dissatisfied.

"Li Yuan, 742 points," Ms. Chen said when she called out Li Yuan's name, adding, "Not bad, great improvement."

Immediately, many students looked at Li Yuan, making him feel a bit embarrassed.

Top scorers with over 800 points didn't get praised.

But she praised him for scoring just over 700?

"Yuan Ge, you scored over a hundred points more than last time, right?" Zhou Qi said, wide-eyed, "Improved by almost a hundred points?"

"Yeah, I've been spending more time reviewing," Li Yuan smiled.

"Bullshit," Zhou Qi retorted immediately, "When have you ever come to the cultural class during evening study?"

"I reviewed in the martial arts training room," Li Yuan said calmly.

One by one, the students' scores were announced.

Li Tianyou's score was 586 points, making him one of the lowest in the class, and his cultural ranking in the grade was probably even worse than last time.

In fact, among the dozen martial arts students, Li Yuan's cultural score was a clear leader.

...

After reading out the cultural scores, Ms. Chen didn't pause and went straight to the martial arts scores, "Now I'll announce the martial arts scores, listen carefully."

Everyone perked up their ears.

With cultural scores known, knowing the martial arts scores would allow them to calculate their total scores.

Ms. Chen looked at the second score sheet, glancing at Li Yuan with some hesitation.

"Li Yuan," Ms. Chen paused for a moment before slowly saying, "827 points."

Boom!

The classroom instantly exploded with exclamations, many looking at Li Yuan in disbelief.

To know, this martial arts score didn't include the cultural score, meaning the total score was only 900 points.

Li Yuan scored over 800 points?

And not just a bit over!

Even though Li Yuan had made a big impression during the martial arts assessment yesterday, he hadn't been as dominant as Lin Lanyue. This score was simply astonishing.

"827 points? Yuan Ge, your cultural score conversion is 74 points. Adding that," Zhou Qi quickly calculated for Li Yuan, "Damn! Yuan Ge, your martial arts total score is over 900!!"

"Raw score, 901 points." Zhou Qi couldn't help but shout.

"901 points?"

"Raw score over 900? Li Yuan." All the students were shocked.

This was incredibly impressive.

Cultural scores might improve significantly in a short time, but martial arts scores generally improve very slowly.

"Quiet!" Ms. Chen coughed twice, bringing the class back to order.

"Li Yuan did perform well this time."

"Body quality score, 438 points, third in the grade," Ms. Chen said, "Martial arts skill... 389 points, first in the grade."

"His martial arts skill score is also the highest in the whole Guan District and the second highest in Jiang City."

Boom!

The students in the class were once again excited and shocked.

Whether it was the 389 martial arts skill score or the second place in Jiang City, it was beyond their understanding.

Normally, this kind of martial arts score shouldn't appear in a regular class.

It was almost surreal.

"389 points?" Li Yuan was calm, thinking to himself, "Not bad. It seems that to exceed 390 or get close to a perfect score in martial arts skills, I need to reach the fourth stage of spear technique."

A total martial arts score of 901 points was much better than Li Yuan expected.

"Teacher, with a total martial arts score of 901, what rank is Li Yuan in the grade? Did he make it to the top ten?" a student couldn't help but ask.

Others looked at Ms. Chen with curious and expectant eyes.

A total score over 900.

Even without the spiritual score, the grade ranking must be impressive.

Li Yuan also looked at Ms. Chen, slightly clenching his fists.

Could he make the top five?

"In raw scores, Li Yuan is second," Ms. Chen said directly, "The first raw score in martial arts is Lin Lanyue from the elite class, 929 points."

"As for the final total score, Li Yuan is sixth in the grade and 212th in the city," Ms. Chen rarely smiled, "Based on previous rankings, this score has a chance to get into the top five prestigious universities."

Clearly, Ms. Chen was extremely satisfied with Li Yuan's performance.

"Top five prestigious universities?"

"Ranked over 200 in the city?"

"Sixth in the grade?" Other students were even more shocked, all looking at Li Yuan.

"Yuan Ge, you're amazing!!" Zhou Qi was more excited than Li Yuan.

"Sixth in the grade?" Li Yuan only showed a slight smile, thinking, "Still one place short?"