Five minutes later, Lam Minh was on the road leading to his school.
His house was quite close to the school, so walking was a given. Or perhaps, it was more accurate to say that due to his family's poverty, transportation was a luxury.
Usually, following the typical protagonist trope, one would encounter fortunate opportunities wherever they went—for example, bumping into an ordinary-looking old man who was actually a hidden martial arts master.
As a reborn person, how could Lam Minh overlook this crucial detail?
He walked while constantly glancing around.
If any old man or woman needed help, or was practicing Tai Chi for health in the park, he would immediately approach to offer assistance or strike up a conversation.
But reality was far from imagination; he walked straight to school without encountering any such "fortunate opportunity."
In front of Lam Minh was the gate of Tran Hung Dao High School, a public school that wasn't overly grand but lacked for nothing.
Since his family was poor, studying here had many benefits. Especially for a poor household like his, tuition and health insurance were completely waived.
A privilege not everyone had.
Looking at the tall, wide school gate, flanked by the Red Flag team from the youth union standing guard to catch students violating the dress code or hairstyle rules, memories buried deep within Lam Minh for years came flooding back.
In Vietnam, students had to be neatly dressed according to the uniform standards, and the duty of this Red Flag team was to deal with those who deliberately broke the rules.
How nostalgic.
Smack!
"You dog, why didn't you stop by my house to pick me up? You left me waiting all morning for nothing," Lam Minh, lost in his thoughts and burgeoning emotions, was jolted by a heavy slap on the back of his head, accompanied by a familiar grumble.
Lam Minh looked at the young man in front of him.
He was about 1.65 meters tall, quite handsome, only slightly less so than Lam Minh. He had a well-proportioned body, a healthy complexion, and wore the same uniform, but he exuded an indescribable air of nobility.
On his wrist was a Banana Watch smart device, with the logo of a banana with a bite taken out of it.
In this era, the number of students who could afford this expensive smartwatch could be counted on one hand.
At this moment, Lam Minh remembered the identity of his friend.
Le Dao Khuc, his deskmate throughout high school.
Mentioning this name brought back a tumultuous past.
He never understood why a guy from a ridiculously wealthy family, the son of one of the richest families in Ho Chi Minh City, would be close friends with him.
One rich, one poor.
The two had been in the same class since elementary school.
Lam Minh had always been a good, obedient student, while this guy had been different from the start, always dragging Lam Minh into all sorts of mischief.
Skipping school to play games was a daily affair.
Climbing into people's gardens to steal fruit and then being chased was an indispensable game.
They had roamed everywhere together, causing chaos in the neighborhood, and the mastermind was always this guy with the surname Le.
They were brothers through thick and thin, but whenever they were caught, the one who got a beating from his parents was always Lam Minh.
This guy was born with legs as fast as a rabbit's.
Once, when they were both ten, on their way to school, they noticed a mango tree laden with fruit in the yard of a house near the school.
That day, the guy with the surname Le couldn't resist anymore and dragged Lam Minh to skip school and climb the fence into the person's yard.
He took off his jacket and stood under the tree, while Lam Minh climbed up to pick mangoes and throw them down for him to catch.
They coordinated seamlessly, but as soon as he saw the homeowner charge out of the house with a stick, he didn't say a word, hugged the delicious mangoes, and ran off.
With a single leap, he vaulted over the fence, leaving Lam Minh sitting bewildered on a high branch.
Afterward, Mr. Dao was summoned to have a talk with the homeowner.
Lam Minh took the beating alone; Le ate the mangoes alone.
Snapping out of his memories, Lam Minh looked at his best friend.
He hugged Le Dao Khuc tightly right in front of the school gate, under the astonished gazes of many students. "I missed you so much, Le."
"You dog, are you gay? This is so gay," Le pushed Lam Minh away, his eyes wide with shock. He didn't come to school yesterday. Did he mess with a power outlet at home and fry his brain?
Lam Minh's eyes were red. He patted his friend's shoulder. "Let's go to class, or we'll be punished for being late."
With that, the two of them went to class together.
In his previous life, the two were very close in high school.
But after the event of failing the Combat University entrance exam, Lam Minh had closed himself off, living in isolation from everyone, almost losing contact.
The only person who would jump into a fight whenever someone bad-mouthed Lam Minh was Le Dao Khuc.
But in the end, it was he who had cut off contact with Le.
Later, when he was in debt because of Lieu Nhu Yen, he didn't ask Le for help either, even though he knew that if he just asked, Le would help him with any amount of money.
Just like that, the two gradually lost touch. That's why Lam Minh was so moved to see him again.
Class 11A10.
The two sat down at their desks.
"Hey, Minh, why were you absent yesterday? What happened?" Le asked.
"I had a stomachache. We have combat and cultivator knowledge classes today, right?"
Le quickly flipped open the schedule to check. "That's right. First period is Math, then the next four are two periods of cultivator knowledge and two of combat. I think our class is sparring with 11A01 today, the top-tier class."
In the age of cultivation, high schools not only taught students cultural subjects but also a comprehensive knowledge of cultivation, painstakingly researched and paid for with many lives by humanity.
As for the combat class, there were two periods every week to screen and select outstanding students with a high potential of getting into the Combat University early on, who would then be placed in special classes for focused training.
A school with many students accepted into the Combat University would also bring honor to the teachers and improve the school's quality.
Therefore, the teachers and principal were also very dedicated.
Classes from A01 to A02 were for students who excelled in combat.
From A03 to A04 were for students who excelled in knowledge and research.
The remaining classes, from A05 to A16, were for students with ordinary aptitudes.
If students from regular classes performed well in combat sessions, they would be moved up to class A01 or A02.
Conversely, if they were too weak, students from the select classes would be weeded out and moved down to the regular classes.
Lam Minh's sister, with her love for learning, was in class 09A03, a class specializing in knowledge.
The emergence of cultivation had created a fiercely competitive environment right from the school benches.
Everyone dreamed of becoming a powerhouse, so the friction within the school was extremely intense.
Lam Minh also had his own fame in school.
He was famous for his handsome face, but it was accompanied by gossip about how he was blessed with good looks but was average in everything else, especially being poor.
"Heaven truly doesn't give anyone everything" was the most common saying about Lam Minh.
At this moment, Lam Minh surveyed the classroom.
The class had a total of 40 students, all of whom were diligently reviewing their lessons before the first period of Math.
The first five minutes of the period would be for reviewing old material; the teacher would randomly call three students to the board to test their knowledge of what was taught previously.
Therefore, it was understandable that everyone was studying hard.
Attribute bubbles were dropping from them in large numbers.
Lam Minh didn't rush to pick them up immediately; he wanted to test whether the bubbles would disappear and how long it would take.
A blue bubble dropped from a female student.
She was La Thanh Thanh, very beautiful, a top student, and also the class monitor—someone with great potential to be transferred to the school's specialized knowledge classes, A03 or A04.
Lam Minh watched silently. Five minutes later, the bubble slowly faded and then disappeared.
So its existence limit was five minutes.
Lam Minh approached and touched a bubble that had just dropped.
[Ding! The host has picked up +20 Mathematics attribute points.]
Instantly, a stream of mathematical knowledge that La Thanh Thanh had just been reviewing flowed directly into Lam Minh's mind.
In reality, even though he was reborn, he didn't remember any knowledge from his past life.
Picking up this knowledge bubble helped him reinforce his foundation.
It was automatically memorized in his head. How magical.
Lam Minh continued to touch another, fainter-looking bubble.
[Ding! The host has picked up +15 Mathematics attribute points.]
Mmm! So that meant the sooner you picked up a bubble, the more attribute points you received.
After that, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked around the classroom under the perplexed gazes of the other students.
"What is this guy doing?" a confused gaze followed Lam Minh from a corner of the class.
A group of seven students was gathered there. They were the troublemakers of the class.
For this group, attending school was just a game. They went to school to bully others and show off their manliness.
Studying wasn't important; extorting classmates was their top priority.
Lam Minh continuously collected knowledge bubbles from others. Some dropped Mathematics knowledge, others dropped cultivator knowledge from the textbooks.
The system's notification sounds rang out continuously.
Before long, Lam Minh was grinning wickedly as a heap of knowledge flooded his mind.
What a relief. Others had to stay up late studying hard, while he just had to pick things up.
666! The system is so OP!
After a while, feeling he had collected enough, he decided to head back to his seat but was blocked by the group of seven troublemakers.
"Ah, what's poor monkey Minh doing? How about joining us at the canteen for a drink during break?" one of the shifty-looking ones among them said.
This guy wasn't the leader; he was A Cau, a bootlicker who followed the so-called gangsters of the school.
Lam Minh knew exactly what they meant.
This wasn't an invitation to eat and drink, but a subtle form of extortion.
Go to the canteen?
In reality, it meant paying for whatever they ate and drank.
They always targeted easily bullied students for extortion. If you didn't comply, a beating was certain.
"Hmm, sorry, I'll be busy studying later. You guys go have fun," Lam Minh replied politely.
A Cau immediately grabbed Lam Minh's collar. "Oh, so little dog Lam Minh has guts today, huh? You dare to refuse us?"
In his past life, Lam Minh always had to scrape together all his money to give to this group.
Fortunately, he had his friend Le who always stood up to protect him when he was bullied, but in reality, it just meant they took the beating together.
How could two fight against seven?
But now, it was different.
In this life, he would start over. He would no longer be meek and let them bully him.
Le Dao Khuc also stood up at this moment. He was quite surprised to see Lam Minh dare to talk back to these seven thugs, something he had never seen Lam Minh do before.
Instantly, Lam Minh swatted A Cau's hand away from his collar, took a step back, and assumed a stance. One hand raised in front of him, the other clasped behind his back.
"Wing Chun, Lam Minh, requests a lesson!"
His posture at that moment looked incredibly cool. His back was straight, his feet slightly apart.
A single glance would immediately bring to mind the martial arts masters from TV dramas.
The girls in the class all looked at him with sparkling eyes. A few of them even let out an "ooh."
So handsome