As soon as Su Mo returned to the real world and saw all the people around, he paused for a moment before saying:
"Is everyone here for the dungeon run?"
But no one responded to Su Mo's words; every single person kept staring at him without blinking.
At that moment, Su Mo sensed that something was off in the air and immediately tried to think of an excuse to take off.
But just as he was about to speak, two Trial Secret Realm Guardians standing beside him scowled and cut him off:
"What's your name? Which class are you from? Who's your homeroom teacher?"
"Oh, you guys got news of me beating the King of Goblins that fast? But come on, do you still need to ask which teacher I have if I already took down the King of Goblins?"
The moment Su Mo said that, the two Guardians who had wanted to interrogate him looked even more pissed.
They didn't believe a word about him beating the King of Goblins.
And they weren't the only ones—even the students nearby shot Su Mo looks full of contempt.
This is the freaking King of Goblins we're talking about. As long as this school has been around, how many people have even claimed to beat him?
The last guy on record to kill the King of Goblins was thirty years ago.
Back then, there were two high-level DPS professions and two high-level Ability Awakened DPS on the team.
And even then, three of them ended up seriously injured—just barely taking down the King of Goblins after all that.
But even so, all seven of them got etched in the school's history books.
Written right into the textbooks, idolized by generations of students.
Now, after thirty years, whoever from those seven is still alive is basically a living legend.
And now this guy—what the hell did he just say?
He says he single-handedly took out the King of Goblins? What, is this open mic night?
The two Guardians hadn't even spoken yet, and a student next to them was already ready to roast him.
"You? You seriously think you beat the King of Goblins? You're just a defense profession!"
"Don't make stuff up. He didn't even awaken any job or whatever. He's just some Ability Awakened kid—and he's defense series anyway."
"Yeah, what, you gonna solo the King of Goblins with your little defense ability? With that machete in your hand?"
"Look how lightly you're holding that knife. Is it made of foam? You brought it just to show off?"
"Come on, maybe you shouldn't be so hard on him. Maybe he really killed the King of Goblins—with his thick skin, maybe the boss just died laughing."
"Y'know what, you've got a point. Defense Ability Awakened really are built different—imagine killing the King of Goblins just by making him laugh himself to death. Amazing."
"I'm not reading the school 'Hall of Fame' if you're not in it, man."
...
Listening to all the voices around him, Su Mo thought to himself—half these people he didn't even know by name, let alone ever piss off.
He couldn't figure out why everyone was so hostile towards him.
But the people mocking Su Mo had their reasons.
Some of them were Zhang Qi's teammates.
Some wanted to join Zhang Qi's squad, or maybe just suck up to him, but never got the chance.
Su Mo, on the other hand—when Zhang Qi invited him before, he just turned it down flat.
The opportunity they'd kill for, Su Mo just blew off without a second thought.
And that, right there, was the difference between them all on full display.
Whether it's talent or grades, they just weren't in the same league as Su Mo.
The quickest way to even the playing field? Tear others down. Only then did they feel the slightest bit better about themselves.
That's when Zhang Qi strolled out from the crowd, a little smirk of mockery hanging on his lips.
"Su Mo, what was that you just said? You said you actually beat the King of Goblins? That's seriously amazing."
"I heard the King of Goblins is a Bronze-level boss, and I heard if you beat him he drops a treasure chest. So, what good stuff did you get?"
"Why not show all of us?"
Same as everyone else, Zhang Qi just scoffed at Su Mo's claim. But the way he said it—he was just twisting the knife.
The Trial Secret Realm Guardians in the room frowned at the heckling and were about to shout for everyone to shut up—
Before Su Mo twisted up a little smirk and said, "Sure, honestly I don't know what these two items are good for. You all can take a look, too."
"Hahaha, this is killing me…"
The rest were just about to drop another round of snark when suddenly Su Mo pulled out a beating red heart and a bronze Wolf Fang Club.
Su Mo unlocked both items' info, displaying them right there for everyone.
[King of Goblins' Heart: Maybe it can be used as some kind of alchemy material]
[King of Goblins' Wolf Fang Club: Equip to gain +3 Strength, +2 Rage]
For a moment, the entire Trial Secret Realm was dead silent—no one could say a word.
Even the two Trial Secret Realm Guardians who had been by his side couldn't help but gape, staring at him in disbelief.
One of them mouthed wordlessly for a moment, voice trembling as he finally managed:
"This—how is this possible? You really killed the King of Goblins by yourself?"
Su Mo didn't even bother looking up. He just replied coolly, "What, isn't it obvious?"
Zhang Qi, whose shit-eating grin had barely faded, now looked totally unhinged, mumbling:
"This can't be… This can't be, no way, you're just a defense Ability Awakened, there's no way you could possibly kill the King of Goblins."
"I don't buy it. I really don't. Teacher, I want to report him for cheating."
[Boom!]
The Guardian stomped with a crash, and a blinding silvery aura burst from him—making the whole World Secret Realm hall tremble.
"Shut up!"
One furious roar, and the previously noisy Trial Secret Realm hall fell dead silent in an instant.
All the students went pale, never imagining this Guardian was actually a Level 40+ Silver-rank badass. Freaking scary.
Once the room was finally clear, the Guardian's eyes snapped back to Su Mo.
His gaze was sharp—scrutinizing: "I'll ask you again, and you answer honestly. Did you really kill the King of Goblins on your own?"
Su Mo didn't flinch under his inspection one bit.
Maybe he couldn't beat the guy, but the Guardian couldn't do crap to him, either. Having invincible defense is just that badass.
With power like that, why should he care how others look at him?
If this guy acted nice, like Wang, maybe he'd give him some face.
But this guy? Su Mo wasn't having any of it.
Su Mo stared straight back into the Guardian's eyes, calmly replying:
"Yeah. Isn't it obvious? Or did you think I picked these up off the street?"
[Boom!]
The silvery, overwhelming pressure crashed down toward Su Mo once again: "I need you to answer, seriously!"