011. Small Town Top Scholar Li Aozi
"Hey! Leo, what are you doing?"
Jenny saw her crush being bullied and quickly went over to help him up, saying with concern:
"Are you okay? Luther? Are you hurt?"
Luther rubbed his butt, slowly straightening up, and hurriedly checked his package. He wasn't injured, but the herbs he had carefully arranged were now messily bundled together, their branches and leaves broken, leaking strange herbal juices. Their appearance and quality were clearly damaged.
"My herbs." Luther said sadly, "The dew on them was still fresh. What a pity..."
Seeing this, Jenny immediately became angry. She put down her basket, pointed at Leo, and started accusing him:
"What's wrong with you? Do you have to take this spot?"
"It's my first time setting up a stall. Can't you give me a break?"
Li Aozi shrugged, seeing a little girl standing up to accuse him. Following his character's spirit, he crossed his arms and teased:
"Oh, why is the big guy hiding behind a little girl? Can't you speak for yourself, or are you too scared to stand up?"
"You're going too far! What do you think you're doing bullying Luther like this?" Jenny rushed forward, grabbing Li Aozi's arm, digging her sharp nails into his skin.
"None of your business." Li Aozi casually flung Jenny away. He was, after all, from the Frost-Plated Republic, where men and women were treated equally, without hesitation.
"Ouch!"
Jenny was thrown outside by Li Aozi, scraping her shoulder, bleeding, and the sharp pain instantly spread, causing tears to well up in her eyes.
"Jenny!" Luther shouted angrily, "Leo, are you even a man? You actually hit a woman."
"What makes you think women need protection? That's male chauvinism, patriarchal thinking. Why do you assume women are a weak group? That's a stereotype and contains implicit discrimination against women."
Li Aozi fired off a local Frost-Plated Republic lecture without hesitation, leaving Luther stunned. Although Luther was smart, his mind briefly froze when faced with this distinct rhetoric.
After thinking about his words for a moment, Luther quickly responded: "But you still can't hit people. If you thought my spot was good and wanted my stall, couldn't you just talk and negotiate?"
"Is it possible that I was just defending myself and didn't actually hit anyone, just gave a gentle push, and she lost her balance, which is why she fell and got hurt?"
Li Aozi spread his hands, putting on an innocent expression:
"This was legitimate self-defense. Don't try to set me up."
"You're clearly just making excuses!" Luther gritted his teeth, his anger flaring, and he charged at Li Aozi, throwing a punch.
Smack.
Li Aozi raised his hand, casually swatted Luther's punch aside, then grabbed Luther's fingers, twisted them hard, and pressed down on his index finger, making Luther scream in pain.
"So what if I'm just making excuses?"
Li Aozi said offhandedly, while glancing at the combat data. Even someone as weak as Luther had a Gamma rank; it made him feel sorry for the butchers on Azure Star.
Thinking it over, following Leo's original background and mindset, he sarcastically said:
"A spoiled little brat like you, with both parents around, loved and cherished, soft as a cream bun, relying on sweetness and good looks to attract girls. Do you really think you're working hard?"
"Ugh—let go of me!"
Luther's face turned purple. Hearing Li Aozi's words, something inside him was triggered.
He had already taken the magic aptitude test three times. As a full-time student focusing solely on preparing for it, although his scores improved each time, he still hadn't passed. Every extra year of delay meant more financial pressure on his family.
Li Aozi didn't make it hard for him, releasing his hand. Luther quickly bent over, clutching his finger in pain, but Li Aozi immediately kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying.
"Luther!" Jenny exclaimed in shock.
"Go home and cry to your mommy. This stall is mine now. If you come again, I'll beat you again. Got it? You loser."
After saying that, Li Aozi sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes to meditate, and waited for someone to come buy the fox.
Luther gave Leo a resentful look, his expression complicated, and the places where he was hit still throbbed with pain.
"Luther, are you okay..."
Jenny quickly comforted him:
"Let's not come here anymore. Come on, we need to go to the study group."
"…Why is he targeting me?"
"Luther?"
"I didn't even do anything!"
Luther muttered under his breath, his eyes filled with anger, and he suddenly rushed forward, his hands quickly forming various gestures, as if weaving some kind of pattern in the air.
"—Luther?! No, you can't use destructive magic in the village!"
"Move!"
Luther shouted, pushing through the crowd, aiming at the cross-legged Li Aozi, as the pattern in his hands suddenly took shape.
Whoosh—!
A violent gust of wind instantly swept over, enveloping Li Aozi, and the high-speed airflow blew away and scattered the stall.
"Where did that wind come from?"
"Damn, that's elemental magic. Does he want to bury us all inside?"
Li Aozi sat in place, unmoving. Other than his hair slightly fluttering, he didn't seem affected by the wind at all.
"What—the heck?"
Luther froze, stunned.
"[Wind Assault] is a destructive magic spell used by official apprentices. How could it have no effect at all—"
When he snapped back to his senses, he saw 'Leo,' who had been sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, slowly opening them.
"Didn't I already say?"
Li Aozi said:
"If I see you again, I'll beat you again."
Luther's pupils shrank, and the next moment, Li Aozi's fist slammed into his face. He rolled several times before Jenny helped him up, repeatedly apologizing, and then hurriedly ran off with him.
"That's ridiculous…" someone muttered. "Staying around a guy like that is a disgrace to our village."
"Of course. He's the kind of kid raised without a father. Leo can't pass the exams, so he bullies those with better family backgrounds."
"I definitely won't buy anything from him. Not now, not ever. Don't even think about it."
Li Aozi's senses were sharp. He didn't miss the whispers and disdainful glances directed at him from all around.
[Good. Judging by everyone's reaction, I'm staying in character, no OOC (Out Of Character).]
Li Aozi nodded to himself. This performance was good. Everyone hated him, so when he eventually left Blue Chrysanthemum Village, no one would want to mention him, and it would be harder to track him down.
This body would return to the main body sooner or later, and if he suddenly disappeared, it would definitely raise suspicion. Someone with an agenda could trace his behavior back and notice the inconsistencies that began after a certain point.
The main body was meant to craft a perfect persona for negotiating with narrative-level civilizations. Any blemishes should be minimized, and all the dirty and tough work should be left to the other cloned bodies. The main body could just be an idol.
To Li Aozi's surprise, the fox actually ended up being sold. It seemed that even a bad reputation couldn't stop the low price of 250 Dina from being appealing.
With money in hand, Li Aozi immediately began his preparations.
The players needed at least three months to enter the game. During this time, he could monitor their opinions on the forum. Many players who didn't get closed beta access were excited during this period.
Everyone was talking about the shocking space storyline he was involved in. Many also realized that the Four Nations on Azure Star weren't as simple as they appeared, especially the seemingly harmless GTB organization that sold advanced weapons and equipment—who would've thought that a bank actually monopolized extraordinary knowledge and energy quotas from the universe?
Thanks to Li Aozi, many players became disappointed in the Four Nations and chose to join the Outside Worlds, helping the people there resist the encroachment and destruction from the Four Nations.
This was undoubtedly a good thing. In his previous life, when they carried out the evacuation before destroying a planet, at least 30% of the Outside World population didn't receive the notification, and they perished along with their homeworld in the stardust.
If the players' numbers were larger, maybe these unnecessary tragedies could be reduced to the minimum.
The 250 Dina wasn't much, but it was enough for Li Aozi to buy all the magic textbooks. Based on his understanding, the magic aptitude test had two parts:
First is the aptitude test, which checks whether you have the basic qualifications to be a spellcaster, whether your body can generate magic. Simply generating magic isn't enough—it must not be chaotic or unstable. The examiner will give you several magic models, and you must channel magic through the model's pathways within the time limit to pass.
In this aspect, Li Aozi meets the requirements. The Tanas human race generally possesses spellcaster qualifications. This part of the test is a bit like a high school physical exam, checking if your magic has any issues that would prevent you from entering certain specialized industries, such as aviation, extraterrestrial colonization, medicine, alchemy, or the military.
As long as you aren't categorized as 'disabled,' Li Aozi figured that everyone would be able to attend school—this is the good thing about an interstellar civilization, the thresholds are relatively lower.
However, passing the physical test means that the next part, the written exam, is very difficult.
Li Aozi bought three mandatory textbooks: "A Brief History of Magic", "Basic Principles of Magic Construction", and "Rune Formulas", which make up 70% of the exam content.
There were also two elective textbooks: "Magic Common Knowledge" and "Fundamental Worldview", which make up the remaining 30% of the exam.
For the mandatory subjects, you can't fail any of them. The total score is 500, and you need to score 380 to be admitted to the magic academy. If you barely pass with just 300 points, you can only study full-time at a magic workshop—even that would be a higher status than an ordinary magic worker.
As for how difficult these textbooks are…
When the courier familiar delivered the books to Li Aozi, the system immediately showed that out of the five books, one was labeled as [Basic] level, three as [Advanced], and "Rune Formulas" was even labeled as [Professional].
If you threw these books directly onto Azure Star, the Four Nations would probably go to war over them.