"The students ranked tenth through fourth in this placement test are Li Boyang, Wu Husheng, Wang Qingzhou... Shen Mengting, and Sima Yuan."
One moment, Li Boyang was celebrating making it into the top ten. The next, he heard his name called for tenth place. A huge sense of disappointment washed over him! Fueled by his jealousy, this disappointment quickly twisted into a hateful envy.
I'd like to see just who took first place and snatched my prize!
As this thought crossed his mind, Li Boyang stood up. While walking to the stage to collect his reward, he scanned the classroom for the students who had not yet been called up.
"Here are your Three-star Resource Cards, one for each of you. Take them."
Their homeroom teacher, Guo Aiqing, smiled as he handed the seven Divine Domain Cards to the seven students who had come before him.
"Keep up the good work. I hope you'll achieve even better results next time!" the homeroom teacher offered with a few words of encouragement before dismissing them.
Meanwhile, Li Boyang kept his eyes fixed on the students who still had not gone up to receive a reward. Only three remained: Hong Tianyi, Hu Xia the academic representative, and Zhang Yi!
A bad feeling crept into Li Boyang's heart as he stared at the three of them.
It can't be Zhang Yi, can it?!
Of the three, the one he held a grudge against, the one he looked down on the most, was Zhang Yi. In class, it was Li Boyang who secretly bad-mouthed Zhang Yi more than anyone. But Li Boyang was clever; he never said anything openly. Even when he cursed Zhang Yi behind his back, he was cautious, so Zhang Yi and Sima Yuan had never been able to catch him in the act. Still, if there were any nasty rumors or gossip about Zhang Yi circulating in the class, you could bet Li Boyang was the source.
The conflict between them was simple. According to the regulations of the Blue Star Federation, students could only awaken their Divine Realm in their second year of high school, after turning eighteen. Therefore, the entire first-year curriculum was dedicated to theoretical studies. Zhang Yi had moved here from out of town due to his parents' work, transferring to the school at the beginning of the second semester of his first year. When the results of the first monthly exam came out, his score was the highest in the entire grade. Consequently, the homeroom teacher, Guo Aiqing, chose him to be the class president. Hu Xia, who had the second-highest score in the class, became the academic representative. Li Boyang, with the third-highest score, naturally lost the chance to compete for either position.
It was this incident that sparked Li Boyang's hatred for Zhang Yi.
Before Zhang Yi had transferred, throughout the first semester, Hu Xia had the best grades in their class, with Li Boyang ranked second. But Hu Xia didn't want to be class president; she found the position too troublesome and chose to be the academic representative instead. As a result, the position of class president fell to Li Boyang.
Although Li Boyang had good grades, it didn't mean he loved to study. On the contrary, in his eyes, anyone who just buried their nose in a book was an idiot. Only a "genius" like him, someone who could learn things instantly, was truly meant for studying. So, after becoming class president, not only did Li Boyang fail to foster a positive learning atmosphere, but he instead formed his own little clique dedicated to flattering him. It was also during that time that Chen Huawei joined Li Boyang's circle. The resulting poor learning environment prompted Guo Aiqing to speak with Li Boyang several times, but he refused to listen. The source of his confidence was, of course, his grandfather—a Weak Divine Being.
For this reason, when the first semester ended, Guo Aiqing no longer wanted Li Boyang to serve as class president. Conveniently, in the second semester, the newly transferred Zhang Yi scored first in the entire grade. The teacher seized the opportunity and gave the position to Zhang Yi.
In Li Boyang's eyes, he should have been the class president. If it weren't for this sudden transfer student, how could he have failed to even become the academic representative? He didn't want any of the other positions, because they all had to follow the class president's orders. If he took one, wouldn't that mean he'd have to obey Zhang Yi's commands?
Because of this trivial matter, Li Boyang held a grudge against Zhang Yi and was constantly annoyed by him. Zhang Yi knew about this, but Li Boyang had never given him any concrete evidence to act on. So for the time being, he hadn't dealt with him.
Lost in his recollections, Li Boyang glared intently at Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi sensed the stare and looked over, only to find Li Boyang staring daggers at him.
Sima Yuan, sitting next to Zhang Yi, also noticed. "Don't worry about it," he said, comforting his friend. "His theory scores were never as good as yours, and now his Divine Realm practical scores aren't either. He was always boasting that the class president position was his and that his Divine Realm score would definitely be better than yours. Now the facts have proven it: he's worse than you at everything!"
Sima Yuan glanced at Li Boyang before adding, "If he comes looking for trouble again, and push comes to shove, we'll just beat him up one of these days! Besides, out of all the students, the homeroom teacher, Guo Aiqing, likes you the best. Even if you get into a fight, it won't lower you much in his eyes!"
At that moment, Guo Aiqing announced the second and third-place winners: Hong Tianyi and Hu Xia.
Hearing this news, Hong Tianyi's expression changed slightly. Clearly, this wasn't the result he had hoped for. As for the academic representative, Hu Xia, her face remained completely expressionless.
"And now, let's give a round of applause for the first-place winner in our class's placement test—Zhang Yi!"
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
Enthusiastic applause erupted in the classroom. Of everyone, the one clapping the loudest was, of course, Zhang Yi's good friend—Sima Yuan.
But where some were happy, others were not.
Hearing that Zhang Yi had taken first place, Li Boyang felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
How is this possible? I lost to Zhang Yi again? How is this possible?! My family has a True God! Does Zhang Yi's? With my background, how could I possibly lose to him?!
It must be because Zhang Yi got lucky and awakened Wood Elves as his Clan. Otherwise, how could he ever beat me? If I had awakened Wood Elves and had a rainforest terrain, I would've definitely developed it better than him!
Besides, a Divine Realm with a rainforest terrain facing a drought as its natural disaster? Who am I supposed to complain to about that? Logically speaking, shouldn't a rainforest terrain face floods as its disaster?
This is infuriating! If it were anyone else, I could have figured out a way to trade for that Four-star Enhancement Card. But with Zhang Yi, how could I possibly get it?
I even have a Four-star Divine Domain Card, the [Bloodline Evolution Pool]! If I had gotten first place and received the reward, I could have upgraded this Four-star Divine Domain Card to Five-Stars! Then, using the Five-Star [Bloodline Evolution Pool], I could have definitely awakened the Dragon Blood in my Green-skinned Lizardmen and evolved them into Dragon-blooded Lizardmen!
Damn it! What can I do?