Nine Star Burden

Chapter 61: The Prelude of the Burden

The few leaders began to gossip amongst themselves while standing on the makeshift podium.

A middle-aged man who was dressed in a military uniform glanced at the principal and asked in a friendly manner, “Principal Yan, is this the only Medical Awakened?”

“Yes, we carefully selected some children with suitable Star Maps and allocated some resources to them. Unfortunately, they did not become Medical Awakened,” said the middle-aged man addressed as Principal Yan. He looked rather benevolent and spoke in an unhurried, graceful manner. Some traces of white could be seen amidst his black hair.

“What’s the Star Map of this kid?” the man in the military uniform asked.

“I heard it’s a ‘spoon-shaped’ Star Map. It can be considered a magic staff too. His Star Map wasn’t formed because of the Star Beads we gave them. He had only been admitted three days ago and he came to school with his own Medical Star Techniques. Like you, it’s my first time seeing him too.”

“What’s his surname?” The man in military uniform immediately asked.

“Xiaopi, Jiang Xiaopi. He takes his mother’s last name. His father’s name is Han Cheng and his mother is Jiang Hongye,” Principal Yan answered.

“Han Cheng and Jiang Hongye? Aren’t they Han Jiangxue’s parents?” the man in the military uniform asked, slightly stunned.

Principal Yan answered, “Yes, Jiang Xiaopi is Han Jiangxue’s younger brother.”

“The Wasteland Reclaimers, the Han Family,” said the man in the military uniform as his eyes glistened. He glanced at Jiang Xiaopi with an intense gaze, pleased with Jiang Xiaopi’s family background. He had been coveting Han Jiangxue for a long time. To be exact, he had been coveting the Han Family, Han Jiangxue, Xia Yan, and the Xia Family for a long time.

The man in military uniform wished they would skip college and serve in the army directly after graduating from high school, but Xia Yan’s parents were still around, and so were their social relations and status. Hence, it wouldn’t seem realistic for him to make such a demand.

However, that did not stop him from fancying and coveting the daughters of heroes.

Indeed, like father, like son. There’s another impressive son from the Han Family. He’s a Medical Awakened, who’s one in a hundred. He even obtained the Blessing Star Technique. How weak can his potential be?

In the end, Principal Yan’s words made the man in the military uniform almost choke.

Principal Yan chuckled and said, “This child’s qualifications are complete opposites of Han Jiangxue. Han Jiangxue is very talented and has 30 star slots, but Jiang Xiaopi only has nine, which is really rare.”

The man in the military uniform was dumbfounded.

What are you talking about?

Nine star slots?

A low... lowly qualified child?

Damn it, you only have nine star slots, why are you a Medical Awakened? Will you give your Medical potential to the Awakened with 20 star slots?

No, there must be something wrong!

The man in the military uniform controlled his expressions appropriately and said, “Principal Yan, you must be joking. I’ve really never seen an Awakened who has only nine star slots. Besides, this kid has already obtained the Blessing Star Technique. His qualifications can’t be bad, can they?”

“I wish I was joking,” said Principal Yan who sighed and glanced at Jiang Xiao sympathetically.

At this moment, the students watched and cheered as Jiang Xiao walked towards the phalanx of Class 2.

He had obtained one more Skill Point and now had three Skill Points on his Star Map.

During the battle just now, the Zhu Brothers were clearly the ones who did all the defeating, but Jiang Xiao was the one who received the most attention.

A Medical Awakened would indeed be the center of attention.

Well, at least, that was the case in High School.

For example, there were only four Medical Awakened, including Jiang Xiao, across the three cohorts from Year One to Year Three.

The ratio was indeed a little low.

Everyone only found out from some insider information that the student who joined Class 2 late could very likely be a Medical Awakened. However, when they finally saw him, their eyes were full of envy and jealousy.

There were too many violent Awakened who had to put in a tremendous effort to stand out from their many competitors.

But what about the Medical Awakened? They were scarce and so would get more resources and be taken care of even without putting in that much effort.

We’re all humans and we’re from the same nation and race. But why do you get to get 50 more marks in the college entrance examination?

Because you have special talents?

Because you can sing? Play chess? And you’re good at writing?

I want to have special talents too! Unfortunately, I don’t have that competency or talent.

Okay.

Just infuriated.

In the base of the Year Three students, Su Rou sighed gently and said, “It’s not going to be easy. There’s another Medical Awakened now. Don’t panic, let’s look at the battle for the third and fourth places first. The finals are going to begin soon. We’ll be able to see the guy with the buzz cut again.”

The pop-up messages were flooding the screen:

“Is the Melee fighter the last in the team? Haha, I’m amused. Isn’t that embarrassing?”

“Don’t be so mean and angst. What’s so embarrassing about it?”

“He’s here!”

“I usually stand at the back of the team too. Turns out I’m also a Medical Awakened.”

“Let me go, my urine is yellow. I’ll wake him up!”

“Ah~ I really want to bring a Medical Awakened boy home. My mother won’t have to worry about me catching a cold or fever again.”

“Yeah, I won’t have to suffer the pain of eating medicine tablets and being put on the drip anymore.”

“Makes sense. The Blessing Star Technique is really effective for period cramps. I refuse to accept any objections.”

“???”

Su Rou looked extremely excited as she stared at the messages on the screen, feeling as if she had opened the door to a new world.

Seeing that the messages were increasing and that the topic was deviating towards gender issues, Su Rou immediately took control of the situation. “The battles for the third and fourth places, did you realize that there are powerhouses in Class 2 Team A and Class 1 Team B?”

Su Rou continued to prompt. “The team in Class 2 has the pair of domineering brothers and a Laws Awakened Eurasian girl. There’s also our Medical Awakened with the buzz cut.

“The four people in Class 1’s team are all Melee fighters, especially that goody-two-shoes who can ‘Charge’ and that tall and slender guy...”

At the same time, in the base of the Class 2 students, Jiang Xiao’s five-member team was at the back and intensively discussing their tactics.

There were four Melee fighters in Class 1 who seemed to be stronger than the previous opponents of Class 2, in terms of both qualifications and combat power.

Zhu Wen said, “Gao Junchen’s Star Technique is really menacing. He has a great mastery of Green Glow and Charge too.”

Liu Ke held onto Yi Lianna’s arm and raised her adorable face before asking, “Hey, by the way, is that skinny kid the one you hit in the utility room previously?”

Jiang Xiao nodded and said, “Yeah, but I don’t know his exact abilities. I attacked him sneakily with one massive blow and left him with no chance to retaliate.”

“If he got attacked sneakily, how impressive can he be?” Liu Ke said in a dignified manner.

“You shouldn’t say that. Maybe he underestimated his opponent.” Zhu Wen shook his head with a sullen expression and continued, “We just watched their competition. That skinny dude is impressive. If he goes all out, Jiang Xiaopi can take him on.”

Stunned, Jiang Xiao asked in bewilderment, “Really?”

Zhu Wu also nodded and said, “Brother is right, you two are comparable in terms of combat abilities. I reckon he really underestimated Xiaopi back in the utility room.”

Jiang Xiao nodded. The Zhu Brothers were obviously better combat fighters than Jiang Xiao and had seen more fights than him. Since they said so, Jiang Xiao reckoned that it was really the case.

It seemed he did make the right choice by holding back previously. Had he gone all out, he would probably have been beaten up into a pulp.

“Our team may be beaten down. It’s difficult for us two to stop the four people opposite us. These four are not at the same level as the previous four.” Zhu Wen continued, “Yi Lianna is in a dangerous position and we don’t have any special Star Techniques that can protect the Laws Awakened or give them aid.”

Yi Lianna frantically asked, “Do we need to swap me out? Should we find a Melee Awakened from the class?”

Jiang Xiao said, “We’ve already submitted the name list. The only person who can replace you is Liu Ke.”

“I don’t want to be beaten.” Liu Ke hurriedly waved her hands and turned around to leave. “You guys go ahead, I’ll go get some mineral water for you.”

“Lianna is our strongest output fighter. As long as Bursting Flames is struck accurately, the enemies will be dead. They don’t have any Medical Awakened or any defensive and recovery Star Techniques,” said Zhu Wen.

Yi Lianna said bitterly, “You guys know that the speed of my condensed Bursting Flames is so slow that the opponents can easily avoid it. I dared not join the team at all. Once Bursting Flames explodes, you guys will be affected too because the attack range is too wide.”

Jiang Xiao asked, “Get their feet lifted off the ground and you should be able to shoot accurately, won’t you?”

Zhu Wen said, “That’s not easy.”

Jiang Xiao said, “In this case, Lianna shall start by condensing Bursting Flames. When the two teams get nearer, I’ll heal the ones who are nearest to us!”

Yi Lianna was dumbfounded.

So were the Zhu brothers.

Jiang Xiao chuckled and said, “My Blessing Star Technique is of Silver Quality. Try to recall how you guys felt when I gave you a Blessing for the first time.”

Yi Lianna suddenly blushed...