Nine Star Burden - Chapter 121
Chapter 121: Glow
The boring yet fulfilling life continued every day, and during this period, Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue would go to the parking lot with Xia Yan every night after school so that she could drive them home.
Jiang Xiao would also give Li Qingmei a Blessing at the same time, while Li Weiyi gave him plenty of snacks and Li Qingmei smiled sweetly at him out of gratitude.
In the beginning, Han Jiangxue even taught Jiang Xiao a lesson when she saw that sight for the first time.
However, how could Jiang Xiao possibly care?
After managing to bribe Xia Yan with the snacks that Li Weiyi had been giving to him, she also joined the snacks team.
Finally, one morning, Han Jiangxue had no choice but to give in to Xia Yan’s and Jiang Xiao’s requests and drink a can of yogurt in the end.
After finishing a can, Han Jiangxue realized that it was rather delicious, so she had another…
After returning home every night, Xia Yan and Jiang Xiao would train and practice swordsmanship together. She was serious and stern to a terrifying extent.
She would train in whatever she taught Jiang Xiao.
For the past few days, she wielded the heavy steel swords and practiced the basic footwork and steps in the basement that included basic stabbing and provocation.
Although the moves were extremely simple, she and Jiang Xiao persisted on and practiced this basic technique from 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM.
Her attentiveness made Jiang Xiao forget her nickname, Husky.
Xia Yan always said to Jiang Xiao that behind every fancy technique were solid basic skills and techniques.
Jiang Xiao’s attitude towards training was unquestionable. As he repeated the basic techniques over and over again, he slowly began to develop muscle memory.
In the past month, Jiang Xiao got familiar with all kinds of basic techniques, and his Basic Technique, “Xia Family Swordsmanship” had been upgraded to Brass Quality Level 6 in his internal Star Map.
Regardless of what kind of techniques the “Xia Family Swordsmanship” consisted of, it was of Brass Quality when Jiang Xiao started.
However, during the past month, Xia Yan did not teach Jiang Xiao anything other than the basic movements like splits, prick, stab, raise, riposte, etc.
Jiang Xiao didn’t even learn a single move, let alone the Xia Family Swordsmanship.
He had the intention to tell Xia Yan about what he was thinking, but whenever he saw her serious expression, he would feel like she was laying the foundation for him. Jiang Xiao dared not be overly ambitious either.
Jiang Xiao was getting ready to train for a while since he still had ample time now.
If it didn’t work, Jiang Xiao would use his Skill Points to upgrade it. Anyway, the Basic Techniques of Brass Quality were all upgraded by one small level for every Skill Point and could be upgraded to Silver Quality with just a few Skill Points.
According to the effects of the upgraded Freehand Combat Basic Technique, Jiang Xiao reckoned that he would be able to instantly obtain greater swordsmanship techniques and muscle memory once Xia Family Swordsmanship was upgraded to Silver Quality.
He would no longer need Xia Yan to be his teacher and he could just use his internal Star Map as his teacher.
As long as you lead me through to becoming a disciple, you don’t have to teach me anything.
As long as I have this technique in my internal Star Map, I’ll be able to make it on my own.
I’ll teach myself and end up mastering the skill better than my mentor…
Are you scared?
The simple and boring night was not only full of training for swordsmanship. As long as Xia Yan did not slip up, she would still spend some time fighting Jiang Xiao unarmed.
Obviously, Xia Yan’s Freehand Combat and Jiang Xiao’s Freehand Combat were different.
To be precise, Xia Yan and coach Lei Jin were all proper warriors of China and, after Jiang Xiao lit up his Skill Points, his internal Star Map gave him Muay Thai-related combat skills.
There were no better boxing techniques, only stronger people.
Jiang Xiao could not decide which kind of boxing was better. After all, there were too many differences between Chinese kickboxing and Muay Thai.
The only thing Jiang Xiao could confirm was that he was greatly abused by Xia Yan.
However, what made Jiang Xiao happy was the fact that his Freehand Combat had been upgraded to Silver Quality Level 1 after following the guidance of the internal Star Map during the continuous battle with Xia Yan.
One small level of Silver Quality was equivalent to a big level of Brass Quality.
At the same time, Jiang Xiao’s Star Power Abundance had also risen by a small level and became Brass Quality Level 5 during regular training.
Without using any Star Beads, the speed of recovery of his Star Power had sped up a little. Although it was still pathetic, it was better than nothing.
Jiang Xiao’s life was rather fulfilling and meaningful every day.
Unfortunately, Jiang Xiao only obtained a score of 36 points in a written examination about Star Study.
Yes, he did not pass.
The total score of that paper was 100 points, and Jiang Xiao was dumbfounded.
The land of China was too vast and there were too many things to remember.
Han Jiangxue did not give Jiang Xiao a good time, but it was not just because of this subject.
The scores that Jiang Xiao obtained for the three major subjects were 91, 66, and 78, respectively.
The total score for each of the three major subjects was 150 points.
Han Jiangxue was very pleased with his score of 91 for Mandarin. After all, he was technically a freshman.
Jiang Xiao’s mind was filled with knowledge from junior High School. He never studied anything in Year One and simply advanced to Year Three after a day of military training. Hence, scoring 91 in Mandarin was not too bad of a result.
Jiang Xiao didn’t have much of an opinion about that. In reality, those scores were not his real scores, anyway.
For English in particular, which he scored 78 points for, Jiang Xiao deliberately gave the wrong answers for several questions. He was truly afraid that he would expose his abilities if he were to achieve splendid grades. He planned to do better in his subsequent exams and progressively achieve better greats, so as to give everyone an impression of improvement.
The exams that the Awakened students had to take were indeed much less difficult than that for the normal students. For English papers of that difficulty, achieving a score of 130 or 140 was as easy as a pie.
However, even if it were simple, it would still be impossible to achieve a good score if one had forgotten the basics. In the world that he came from, Jiang Xiao had never stopped practicing English. Although the simple English questions were a piece of cake for him, the Math questions made him turn red…
When he was in the world that he came from, he had never touched Math ever since he went to college, followed by his postgraduate studies. Even until he started working and transmigrated to this world, he had never touched mathematics…
Jiang Xiao felt like he had bumped into an old friend when he was staring at the Math papers!
The numbers and symbols seemed to be waving at him enthusiastically and murmuring affectionately, “It’s me! Friend! You’ve finally come back to see me!”
It was like Jiang Xiao scratched his head and asked, “Who are you? Why do you look so familiar?”
Math asked, “It’s rare that I ever get such easy exam questions. Aren’t you going to beg me?”
Jiang Xiao exclaimed, “I’ve been begging you, but you refuse to come out!”
Math: “Awesome… 666.”
However, the total score was only 150, so Jiang Xiao got 66.
Everyone was convinced because there was sufficient evidence.
However, Jiang Xiao didn’t panic.
He could definitely pick up mathematics easily by memorizing more formulas and doing a few more sets of practice papers. He would then remember everything.
Although Jiang Xiao was an Arts student, the results of his History and Geography exams were not ideal. Ever since the emergence of different dimensions in the 20th century, the Awakened, Star Pets, Star Beads, and Star Techniques also appeared, thus changing history.
It was even worse for Geography. The concepts and theories about ocean currents and moon phases were easy, but Jiang Xiao had already forgotten everything.
His results in Political Studies were not too bad. Um… this subject was similar to English and Mandarin to Jiang Xiao. He would be in touch with that subject for work and had been studying it since college.
Jiang Xiao had a very good grasp of economics, politics, culture, or philosophy. Although it was his “first” test in several years, Jiang Xiao knew that he would definitely score well in real combat.
However, he did a lot worse for Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Jiang Xiao did okay in Chemistry and Biology, but he lacked talent in Physics. Hence, he chose to become an Arts student at that time. Jiang Xiao decided that he would go for another round if he did well in Chemistry and Biology.
As for Physics…
Okay, forget it. Biology and Chemistry can be my spare tires. But you… you’re a good subject, but we’re really not suitable for each other.
…
Han Jiangxue gave Li Weiyi the mercenary Galaxy Stage Star Bead a month ago.
Li Weiyi did not absorb it and seemed to be waiting for a suitable opportunity. According to him, he felt that his foundation was not stable yet and that he would be wasting the great opportunity if he were to absorb it rashly.
Hai Tianqing finally returned.
It had been a month since they left the snowfield and Hai Tianqing finally returned to campus. Once again, he became the teacher for practical lessons.
Not only did Hai Tianqing come back unharmed and in one piece, but he also seemed to have returned with a task. During the practical combat lesson that took place every afternoon, Jiang Xiao could feel that Hai Tianqing was paying special attention to him.
After thinking about how Hai Tianqing used to be nicknamed No.4 and the catty Second Last, Jiang Xiao felt a cold chill down his spine.
My internal department has been attacked. What do I do now?
Was Hai Tianqing sent by Second Last to keep an eye on me?
Hey…
Jiang Xiao sighed and thought, I just want to be an obedient student and focus on studying and training hard to help Han Jiangxue. Yet, I ended up attracting so much attention.
Indeed, a true diamond will always shine.
