So-Called Event is a Competition

Next Day, Evening

Surprisingly, when the three of them met up at Area G Park it was an expanse of grassland. Running on grass would be a lot harder than on concrete. The grass would slow them down and their legs would feel heavy, as if dragging heavy boulders around.

Almost the entire school's population was here. The only people missing were those that had gold or silver badges. That was either because the amount of points in the events wouldn't contribute much to them so they didn't come or the amount of people with such high ranking badges was so little that it was hard to find them in this crowd.

Xi Lian observed the people around her. A lot of them were carrying tiny bags and particularly, she saw a knife sticking out of a unzipped bag on a purple-ranked junior.

Bao Bao pointed to the knife and whispered terrified, "Quick, look! These people are really bringing weapons...I didn't bring any!" The purple-ranked junior saw her pointing at his knife and laughed at the inexperience of the freshmen.

Cheng Tu's expression was even worse and he was already starting to sweat even though there were cool breezes today, "I didn't bring any either..."

Xi Lian said, "Not only that, but everyone here seems to be in a sort of group or faction. That includes us, the three of us could be considered a group of allies. Somehow, you can sense that there's a boundary between each group, and some groups are giving each other hostile glares." The three of them kept looking around.

It was true, every now and then it seemed as if groups of students would be wary towards each other or glaring at them. Especially those that weren't freshmen would have known each other beforehand and had past enmities. The bullying they've seen didn't come close to this hostility. The happiness and carefree attitudes they saw the past two days seemed to have disappeared during this event. No, it was safer to say that it wasn't an event but a competition and a way for students to understand where they placed and how much power other students wielded.

No one seemed to pay them any attention in the beginning. After all, their group only had three people while other groups consisted of at least five to twenty. But after a while, a few glances kept being sent their way. More specifically, Xi Lian's way. It seemed that the forum was taking effect, and not in a positive way.

Threads filled with titles such as "Freshman that became blue-rank in two days," had attracted the curiosity and wariness of others. There were posts that included her pictures and recordings of her duels. Xi Lian suddenly felt regret in allowing her fellow students to post them.

'I have unknowingly attracted so many potential enemies!'

One of the blue-ranked students bared her teeth at them and didn't bother concealing her voice, "Senior, that blue-ranked freshman that's always on forum actually came. She's too arrogant if she thinks she could actually score some extra points with those two lousy teammates." When Cheng Tu and Bao Bao heard this, they looked down dismayed. Xi Lian narrowed her eyes.

In fact, almost the entire body of freshmen in this school had come to the event. However, it seemed that the blue-ranked student felt some sort of animosity towards Xi Lian and said this. The purple-ranked student she called her senior merely gave a brief glance before looking away and snorting, "Just an ant that thinks she could topple over an elephant. No need to pay attention to her."

The blue-ranked student's eyes lit up, "Yes, senior!"

Bao Bao harrumphed, "They're just jealous of Boss Lian. My elementary school was filled with childish people like them, who knew that geniuses would act like that? Really staining the school's reputation."

She smiled wryly, "The students here all acknowledge and worship the strong. This is why we must become a higher rank."

Cheng Tu kept looking around anxiously, "That goes for the entire world, but this level of worship..."

"It's obsession." Xi Lian finished his sentence.

Bao Bao stiffened, "We're surrounded by maniacs obsessed with obtaining power and worshiping the powerful."

Xi Lian smiled, murmuring, "We'll become a little like them. But don't get me wrong, we won't worship the stronger ones because we'll make them worship us. We won't be obsessed either, but we'll work hard to obtain power."

Cheng Tu didn't see any problem either, "Having power, protects you and gives you the advantages. I also wanted power desperately but I was too afraid to even try. I don't want to be the boy that got beat up by the second day of high school. After meeting you guys, I've become more confident."

"Un! But if anyone dares bully us, then we'll bully them back!"

The three of them laughed, the tension from the so-called event was slowly easing away.

When the time almost hit two o'clock, men in black brought speakers out onto the grasslands. A voice rang out simultaneously from the speakers, causing many students to cover their ears, including the three of them. The sophomores, juniors, and seniors took out their ear plugs and put them in their ears without any changes in expression.

'The same thing must happen in other events. Indeed, experience is important. It's also important to gather information, I have to do something about that later,' Xi Lian thought.

The voice coming out from the speakers was magnified a few folds since there were multiple speakers. "Hello, students. I believe it's been two days since I've talked to any of you. I've been trying out botany and it was a major disaster! Unfortunately, I burned down a part of the Side C Garden so it's under construction right now, haha. Also, did I mention---"

A shuffle of voices were heard, and the assistant principal's voice came on again, "Well apparently I was wasting your time, my dear students, and I have to talk about the boring event. What a drag. Anyways, the rules are simple. Out of the few thousand of you guys there, you will run two miles in the marathon before reaching the first mark. When you reach that mark, you'll find tags with a number. That number represents the amount of points you have just won, numbers can be different on each tag but the tags will be face down so you can't choose the highest amount by choice. Of course, you could only take one tag and there's only a few hundred tags. Hoho, those that don't reach the two miles' first mark in half an hour will be disqualified. However, those that reach the mark in the time given but don't get a tag will still stay in the event and won't be disqualified, because...well, let's just say there's more to come once you reach those two miles."

"Additionally, you're free to obstruct your fellow students from running using any means necessary. If things get too out of hand, you'll be warned. The only thing you're prohibited from is using a vehicle in this marathon. You must travel by foot, that is all."