Dawn of a New Era

More than half of the blisteringly hot summer had passed. Very soon, the start of a new semester would commence.

Chen Shouyi chained up his bicycle and joined his gang of scoundrel-like friends. They chatted idly while they headed towards the school.

"During the holidays, I registered and attended a martial tuition class. I feel that my improvement is extremely great. This semester, I should be able to pass the Martial Apprentice Test." Chen Shouyi, who had a thin and weak figure, patted his skinny chest as he spoke loudly.

Zhao Yifeng, the short and slightly plump guy, sneered in contempt. He coldly mocked, "Stop boasting. Who doesn't know the truth? Didn't you call me through the telephone to complain about the numerous tuition classes your mom registered you for? You said your head was spinning from the number of tuition classes you had to attend."

Sun Xin, who was on the other side, also seized this opportunity and spoke, "For people like us, we should stop dreaming about passing the Martial Apprentice Test. We might as well just honestly try to get into a slightly better junior college."

Chen Shouyi's face scrunched up slightly. He felt a little angry from embarrassment as he spoke, "Now who would sign up for just a single tuition class? During the holidays, my schedule is fully packed with tuition every day. My martial path proficiency naturally wouldn't drop."

Strengthening the tone of his words, he continued, "In any case, I definitely have to become a martial apprentice."

….

Ever since the Other World fused together with Earth, it had been almost twenty years. During this time, large-scale wars had occurred multiple times as both worlds tried to conquer the other. However, no matter which side sent the punitive expeditions, all of them ended in miserable defeat.

The reason was because the laws on Earth and the Other World were completely different. Regardless of electronic equipment or explosive materials, they would be rendered ineffective the moment they entered the Other World. In addition, the gravity, which was three times greater there, also caused the troops to be intimated when they discovered it.

Also, for the supernatural entities there, once they entered Earth, their divine strength and witchcraft would dissipate rapidly as well.

As of now, there were already several powerful supernatural entities that died on Earth.

Only by having pure strength on the martial path would one be able to win through everything.

From then on, the martial path on Earth began to develop rapidly, with rapid progress daily. Becoming a martial practitioner and exploring the Other World had already become the norm of society. Chen Shouyi was naturally influenced by the norm too.

Sadly, his innate conditions since birth weren't that good. Since he was young, he was weak and was riddled with illnesses. Even if he gave it his all, he would still be unable to be compared with others.

Chen Shouyi was silently resentful and angry at this bunch of scoundrel-like friends. However, he didn't wish to fall out with them. He couldn't make it in terms of his studies or his martial arts. His appearance and background were nothing impressive too. In class, he had no sense of existence at all, and these two were his only friends.

Maybe because fellow sufferers empathized with each other, the others who had no sense of self-existence would always have a hard-to-come-by tacit understanding of others.

After paying the school fees, Chen Shouyi silently sat in the third row from the last. His eyes sneakily began to seek out beauties to look at.

The holidays had just passed, and the climate was still extremely hot. The girls in the school were all clad in clothes that were designed to be cool and refreshing.

They were assembled together in small groups of threes to fives. Their bodies rubbed against each other as they walked side by side, while chatting idly. Occasionally, their emotions would stir up as they bounced about.

"Have you done your holiday homework?" Sun Xin put down his bag as he asked.

"Naturally!" Chen Shouyi covertly retracted his gaze as he replied.

"Take it out and let me copy it!"

"Three meals."

"Just one. Or I will look for another person to let me copy their homework," Sun Xin snorted.

"Alright, one meal then. I want beef brisket plus potatoes!" Chen Shouyi knew when to quit while he was ahead. He then took out the holiday homework from his bag.

Staring at Sun Xin copying his work, he felt a slight sense of superiority appearing in his heart.

After that, his expression dimmed again. For him, he could only find that sense of superiority in his heart when he compared himself to the last-ranked student in the class.

His grades were below average and he was in an ordinary third-rate high school.

To him, the future was generally dark.

In countless dreams, he would always imagine that he was sitting in luxurious cars with bodyguards around him and a bevy of beauties that would do anything to please him, yet he had a face filled with disdain for everything, treating them as worthless.

Maybe, only in this way would he be able to become a powerful martial practitioner. 

Every time he showed his face, the reporters would flood the area he was in and point countless microphones toward his mouth. Yet, his expression was calm and his eyes glowed while he spoke frankly with assurance.

But dreams were ultimately still dreams, and the cruel reality was still here after he awakened. During this holiday, he kept putting in effort, yet there were only minimal results.

Sometimes, the disparity between geniuses and ordinary people was even further than the disparity between apes and humans.

...

Cao Lili, the teacher in charge of their class, became much naggier after she had given birth and her figure changed. 

"This is your final year this semester, so I won't talk too much. Those who understand its importance would have understood a long time ago, and those who didn't understand would also know about it now. The college entrance examination is an extremely important crossroad in life. It would affect your future to an extremely large extent. 

"If life is a marathon, the college entrance examination will be the starting line where you all come in contact with society. If you have an advantage in terms of the starting line, at the very least, you will gain an advantage for a while after the race started.

...

"Of course, if you have the talent for martial arts, it would be a different story. However, this path isn't easy to walk.

"Last year, in our school, including a few batches of students who had given up studying for a year or two, only twenty-one of them had passed the Martial Apprentice Test and smoothly entered the Martial Academies. If you can't even do well enough to join a famous martial school, instead of putting in all your effort and energy into the martial path, you might as well work harder in your studies to join better colleges. At least, there's still some hope in that."

The martial atmosphere in the five middle schools of Dongning wasn't rich at all. For those with talent, they had been selected by important schools since elementary grade. Under heavy screening and selection, those who were still in third-rate senior high schools had basically been eliminated.

And not like Dongning number one high school, this school didn't open up a martial class. Even the martial arts lessons that were supposed to be taught once every two days were often occupied by other lessons instead.

As he was listening to the teacher-in-charge's explanation about the college entrance examination, a sense of bewilderment appeared in Chen Shouyi's heart.

In truth, with regards to joining a college or a martial academy, his willpower and determination weren't strong at all. To him, regardless of passing the Martial Apprentice Test or joining a college, the hope for both was vague.

For the entire morning, he felt muddleheaded. He had no idea what the lessons had been about.

When the school bell rang, Chen Shouyi instantly tossed aside all these thoughts and frenziedly ran with Sun Xin and Zhao Yifeng to a small restaurant.

Compared to the public cafetaria, this restaurant was evidently of higher quality. This was the first day after the holidays ended, and quite a few people had money in their pockets. Although the three of them ran frenziedly, when they arrived at the restaurant, they found themselves at the end of a long queue.

It was only their turn after waiting for ten whole minutes.

"One beef brisket plus potatoes."

"Me too!"

"I want tomato omelette."

...

Chen Shouyi mumbled petty criticism with his stuffed mouth, "The chef must have changed this year. This beef brisket is cooked for too long, and the meat didn't absorb the sauce. My father could have cooked a better one!"

"I feel the same way!" Sun Xin agreed. "Let's find a day to go to your house to eat."

"You speak like I've never invited you guys before. Tell me how many times have I invited you guys? At least five times, right? You guys only looked for me to play, but none of you stayed behind for a meal. Hehehe, serves you right." 

"Anyway, why didn't I see your younger sister when we were there that time?" Zhao Yifeng's lips twitched as he asked.

The moment his younger sister was mentioned, Chen Shouyi instantly became vigilant. "She went to participate in a martial competition at Ning Province. Don't you dare to have any ideas about my sister, ok?"

If Chen Shouyi was said to be an ordinary person, his younger sister Chen Xingyue was definitely a genius. Right now, she was the top student in her high school, the only one with martial arts class in the city. The Martial Apprentice Test wasn't like a heavenly gulf to her at all. She could easily pass that with a single leap.

He had never given up on the martial path mainly because of his younger sister's achievements.

At this moment, a commotion suddenly rang out in the restaurant.

"Ding Liang is here!"

"It is Ding Liang!"

"I heard that he has already passed the Martial Apprentice Test last semester. The school even has a banner made specially for him!"

"What robust muscles, I really want to go over and pinch them."

Ding Liang walked into the restaurant with huge strides. His body was packed with strong muscles that caused the singlet he had on him to look like it was about to explode. This caused the eyes of many girls to glow as they discussed in low voices.

Chen Shouyi was silently filled with envy.

"Truly, what a bunch of superficial women."

"One day…"

"I…"

"Stop looking. It's useless even if you keep on looking. That is called the disparity in talent, so envying him is pointless." Zhao Yifeng patted his rotund belly and spoke in a low voice.

However, his words were like a bowl of cold water splashing on Chen Shouyi's head, bringing him back to reality.