Tang Wulin came charging over with his fists clenched tight, eyes shining with admiration. "Arthur! You're insane! You actually took on all seven of Shrek by yourself and won!"
Arthur deftly pushed Na'er's head aside and looked at everyone with a modest shrug. "It was alright, I suppose."
"What do you mean one against seven? Eastsea Academy held their own pretty well too. They burned through a lot of Shrek's soul power. I just came in at the end to clean up."
"Oh, give me a break." Xie Xie curled his lip, his voice dripping with envy. "That means they were just a bunch of dead weight riding your coattails! I could've done that too!"
Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi fell over each other to agree. "Exactly, exactly!"
Others might not know it, but they had spent enough time around Arthur to understand the truth. Even without Eastsea Academy softening Shrek up first, Arthur could have steamrolled them on his own. The only thing Eastsea Academy had actually contributed was making the match possible in the first place.
Xie Xie and the others seethed with envy. They had just witnessed someone beat Shrek Academy. If only Arthur's teammates had been them instead.
Gu Yue's eyes darted around, and then something clicked. She sidled over quietly, planted an elbow into Na'er to move her out of the way, and pulled Arthur aside for a hushed conversation.
"Arthur~"
Gu Yue's voice came out almost shy, her fingertips twisting lightly at the hem of her skirt, the tips of her ears flushing the faintest pink.
She kept her eyes carefully averted from Na'er's murderous glare and dropped her voice to barely a whisper. "How would you say I treat you, on a normal day?"
"Whoa."
That was unexpected.
Arthur leaned back instinctively.
"What are you getting at?"
"How about we make a deal." Gu Yue leaned in closer, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was practically pressed against him.
"What kind of deal?"
Gu Yue's breath carried a faint, clean scent of grass and leaves, close enough to brush his ear. Her voice was honeyed. "We're both in the individual competition, right? So how about you lose to me on purpose?"
Na'er couldn't have cared less what they were talking about, but this level of closeness was absolutely not happening.
"Are you serious?!" Na'er rolled up her sleeves and prepared to launch herself at Gu Yue with lethal intent.
Xu Xiaoyan, Xie Xie, and the others grabbed Na'er with everything they had, talking fast. "Na'er, be smart about it, be smart! You can't take her in a fight."
Na'er never came out ahead against Gu Yue in their regular training sessions.
"Don't do anything rash!"
Arthur blinked, genuinely thrown off. "Lose to you on purpose? Why?"
Gu Yue leaned in with an air of great secrecy. "Think about it. You just shattered Shrek's unbeaten record. They must absolutely hate your guts right now."
"But then I turn around and beat you."
"After that, wouldn't your path into Shrek be completely clear?"
"Pretty clever of me, right?"
Clever?
Arthur stared at her in stunned silence.
Gu Yue, that is genuinely breathtaking logic.
Hold on. Let me work through this. I just defeated Shrek, so your grand idea is for me to deliberately lose to you, so you can step on me as a stepping stone to get into Shrek's good graces.
And where exactly does that leave my dignity?
Arthur looked into Gu Yue's eyes. There was no trace of scheming against a friend in them, just a pure, crystalline vacancy.
Her face practically had the words "tell me I'm smart" written all over it. Arthur stood there for a long moment, unable to produce a single syllable, feeling as though his brain had been physically struck.
He could tell she didn't mean anything by it. She simply lacked social awareness entirely. No, that wasn't quite right. She just didn't have any to begin with.
Seeing Arthur frozen in place, Gu Yue assumed he was saying no and hurried to sweeten the offer. "It's a deal, a proper deal! I'm not asking you to lose for nothing. I'll pay you back for it."
Oh? An unexpected windfall?
When it came down to it, it was just putting on a little performance. As a friend, Arthur didn't actually mind throwing a match for Gu Yue. He would've done the same for Xie Xie and the others if they'd asked.
He just hadn't expected her to offer compensation.
Might as well take it.
This was the Silver Dragon King, after all. Whatever she happened to hand over wouldn't be worth nothing.
"Deal!"
"Don't let this make you look down on Shrek's members."
A cold voice cut through the celebration, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
Wu Zhangkong had appeared beside them at some point, silent as ever.
"What you faced just now were only students from Shrek Academy's outer court." His tone was flat and measured as he began making the case for Shrek.
"True enough," Arthur said, helpfully twisting the knife. "They were weak. Their combat awareness, their technique, their experience, all of it lacking."
"Forget about me. Even without a soul power advantage, you lot could've beaten them into the ground."
Wu Zhangkong's brow furrowed sharply. Anyone else who talked back to him would get an earful on the spot.
But this was Arthur.
He pressed on.
"The inner court is where Shrek's true elite are. If any of you hope to enter Shrek in the future, or even stand against them, complacency is the most dangerous thing you can allow.
Even the standouts of the outer court still face further evaluation before they can enter the inner court.
Shrek's inner court has a minimum age requirement of sixteen, and since they haven't reached it yet, none of them qualify as inner court disciples."
"In fact, the two you should have paid the most attention to in that team just now were the younger ones.
At their age, being selected to compete on Shrek's behalf means their talent is extraordinary, and they are almost certainly already earmarked for the inner court. If you ever find yourselves at Shrek Academy, they will be among your strongest rivals."
Xie Xie pressed his lips together but didn't dare argue back. Wu Zhangkong's words stung, but every one of them was accurate. Still, he couldn't stop himself from muttering under his breath, "Inner court or not, can they really match Arthur?"
Arthur glanced over at him with something resembling pity.
He appreciated the flattery. Genuinely. But if Xie Xie was going to mouth off at Wu Zhangkong, there was nothing Arthur could do for him there.
Arthur could get away with talking back because he had the ability to back it up. What exactly was Xie Xie thinking? The boy was getting ahead of himself.
Sure enough, Wu Zhangkong zeroed in on him immediately, clearly overdue to vent some frustration. Shrek's loss hadn't sat entirely well with him either.
"Arthur's strength far exceeds what is typical for his level. That is a fact. But it does not give any of you license to ease up." Wu Zhangkong's gaze swept across Tang Wulin and the others. "The individual and team competitions are coming up. Starting tomorrow, I will be watching every one of your matches closely."
"Xie Xie. Since you're feeling so confident, I'll be paying particular attention to yours."
"And if there's anything I'm not satisfied with."
"Extra training when we get back."
The smirk on Xie Xie's face froze solid, like cold water had been dumped on him from above. His mouth twitched but no words came out.
Extra training?
Please, anything but that. He'd have nightmares for weeks.
Xie Xie shuddered. During the heaviest stretches of past training, he had genuinely dreamed every night of being beaten by Wu Zhangkong. Beaten during the day, beaten again in his sleep.
An absolute nightmare.
Tang Wulin bit back a grin and patted Xie Xie on the shoulder, mouthing two words in consolation: "My condolences."
Xu Xiaoyan didn't manage to hold back at all, letting out a short laugh before clapping a hand over her mouth and pretending to fix her hair.
"Alright." Wu Zhangkong addressed the group one last time. "I've already handled the draw for you before we arrived. Competitions begin tomorrow."
"Head back and rest up today."
"Arthur and Tang Wulin, take note. Your blacksmithing competition goes first, then the individual event, and finally the seven-person team competition, which everyone will take part in together."
Class Zero had eight students, which made them a natural fit for the seven-person team format. The extra member would serve as a substitute.
"Understood."
The following day.
Arthur and Tang Wulin rose early and made their way together to the Blacksmith Association.
When they arrived, Cen Yue and Mu Xi were already there waiting.
---
Author's Note: Diary of a Deadbeat Writer: Why does this story keep having the female leads make the first move? Why doesn't the protagonist go after them? Well, there's a saying that a writer can only write what falls within their own experience. And that's exactly right! Your author here has always been the one getting chased, hehe.