Controlling the nanomachine sphere with one hand, Shu glanced back at the spectator stands and waved his other hand, signaling Joachim to shut it down.
Joachim pressed a key. The metallic sphere struggling in Shu's grip instantly went dormant and silent.
Shu probed it for a moment, then released the constraints of [Wish].
The nanomachines slowly melted back into the floor, re-integrating with the arena.
Having finished, Shu turned back around, only to find everyone staring intently at him. Surprised, he glanced over his shoulder.
There was nothing behind him. He turned back. They were still staring at him.
"Did I do something wrong?" Confirming that they were indeed staring at him, Shu couldn't help but point at himself and ask.
"It's nothing," Bronya said, her expression deadpan as she stared at the hand Shu had just used to casually crush the boss.
"Bronya simply feels that Bronya was speaking a little too loudly just now." Her ghostly tone was laced with absolute repentance for her earlier arrogance.
"As expected of Shu. You handled an enemy like that so effortlessly," Mei said, having already sheathed her golden tachi. She offered him a warm smile.
In truth, no one was actually surprised that Shu could effortlessly neutralize the construct. But seeing him do it with such casual ease still evoked a profound sense of inadequacy.
The gap is just too massive... It's so big that the thought of catching up doesn't even cross your mind.
"Tch..." Sin Mal crossed her arms and let out a disgruntled scoff.
Perhaps the heavy hitters who had actually played a crucial role in the battle—Kiana, Bianka, Li Sushang, and Bronya—could easily accept this feeling.
But for someone like her, who had practically been useless the entire fight and was relegated to the role of a walking security camera for the neural link...
Hah, it really leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
That frustrating sense of powerlessness wasn't exclusive to Sin Mal. The three members of the Arc City Bunny Squad, as well as the twins, Rozaliya and Liliya, all felt the exact same way.
Their participation rate was basically zero, their contribution was negligible, and they were already feeling pretty down about it. Then, to top it all off, they watched the enemy that could have effortlessly wiped them out get casually squashed by Shu like a bug on the side of the road.
The sheer contrast hit them like a truck.
But could they blame Shu for that? Obviously not.
So, they had no choice but to swallow their frustration. Even Sin Mal only clicked her tongue irritably and looked away, choosing the "out of sight, out of mind" approach.
"Alright, that's enough," Shu said. He naturally knew how everyone was feeling; his Empathy wasn't just for show. He had a pretty good read on the general mood of the room.
With so many people feeling depressed right next to him, even his own mood was starting to waver.
"You guys all did great. After all, you just enrolled," Shu clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention, offering a comforting smile.
"Let's just treat this as an entrance exam. Hmm... Joachim will grade your performances later and design tailored training regimens for each of you based on the results."
Joachim: "...?"
He was fairly certain today's curriculum was just supposed to be a tutorial on how to use the facility... Wait, when did that change?
It was only at this moment that Joachim realized the class had unconsciously derailed from its original objective, snowballing into this completely unforeseen scenario.
Ever since Bronya brought Shu and Kiana here to "visit," things had steadily spiraled out of control.
Kiana had initially sat in the stands, half-asleep while Joachim explained the system to Bronya. But the moment he started demonstrating the simulated combatants, Kiana instantly perked up.
She yelled something about "I didn't expect it to be this realistic!" and demanded to test the constructs' combat strength.
Looking back, Joachim realized his brain must have short-circuited. He had actually agreed, treating Kiana as a demonstrative teaching assistant. He spawned a couple of low-level constructs just to showcase the facility's capabilities.
And then, the lowest-difficulty zombie construct was promptly run over by Kiana as if it were a speed bump.
That would have been fine, but the real issue was what Kiana said next.
"This isn't anything special?" Kiana had stared blankly at Joachim, looking down at the zombie construct that had basically crumpled under her fist like an insurance scammer.
How could he tolerate that?!
He had just finished building this training facility!
So, Joachim immediately cranked the difficulty up two notches, skipping straight from basic zombies to Dual-Blade Ninjas.
But against Kiana—who didn't even have her physical specs boosted by the Genesis Key—the Ninjas were basically batting practice. In fact, they were utterly pathetic. After a brief exchange, the Dual-Blade Ninja lost both of its blades and was currently being chased around the arena by Kiana, who was dual-wielding its own weapons.
Seeing the sheer stat inflation brought on by the new version update, Joachim saw red.
Initiate all difficulties! Spawn them all! And take THIS!
Honkai Beasts!
Chariot-class, Catapult-class, and even the Templar-class that Shu loves so much—
Wait, the Templar-class was instantly obliterated by Shu the moment it spawned!
That abrupt reality check had cooled Joachim's head. Seeing that he had already spawned a massive variety of enemies, he figured he might as well let everyone jump in and test them out.
He hadn't even noticed Theresa joining the fray at first. When he did, he didn't think much of it. After all, he was only one person, and managing the entire simulation had its blind spots. Having Theresa in the arena to look after everyone and buy him more reaction time was actually a good thing.
And then Shu left to pick up Mei, everyone teamed up to fight the five Emperor-class beasts, and finally, the simulated Shu boss fight happened.
Honestly, it was incredibly frustrating.
Joachim admitted that the training facility was somewhat rushed, but that didn't change the fact that it was genuinely impressive technology.
Impressive?
It was casually toyed with by Bianka and Shu.
Damned stat-monsters. Do you think you're actually highly skilled or something?
And now you're just unilaterally dumping more work on me with a single sentence?
Fine. I'll endure it!
Joachim deadpanned, completing his childish internal monologue of weighing the pros and cons, before nodding cooperatively at the group.
Theresa pointed a finger at herself, her expression blank. "Do I have to train too?"
Shu gave her a serious look, then offered a solemn nod.
"Yes."
"Hahaha! Aunt Teri, aren't you a teacher?! How did you become a student?!" Kiana gloated, pointing and laughing at Theresa. But when she turned around, she found both Mei and Shu staring at her.
"Huh?" Her sharp Kaslana instincts screamed that something was wrong. She whipped her head toward Mei, only to see her friend smiling gently as she slowly parted her lips.
"Shu, how did Kiana and I do this time?"
No! Mei! Don't say that!!
Mei's question was the equivalent of a student reminding the teacher: "You forgot to assign homework!"
Kiana felt her soul leave her body. She desperately wanted to lunge forward and clamp a hand over Mei's mouth, but no matter how violently her emotions surged, she found herself completely unable to move.
What?! It's guilt... Since when did I feel guilty?!