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"Want to know? Come and play a match with us, and I'll tell you."

Hearing this, Wu Haoxuan and Ke Junda mentally gave their boss a wild thumbs-up.

While discussing it on the Star Rail earlier, the group had unanimously agreed that Gudong, the agility-track top student, was the ideal candidate to wear the badge for the confrontation match.

Gudong belonged to the agility type, meaning he was fast. Moreover, his profession was an assassin, highly skilled in concealment and disguise.

If he wore the badge, the elite squad could simply leave him to roam free without worrying about the badge bearer's safety, allowing them to redeploy more freshman manpower to annihilate the opposing freshmen. No matter how one looked at it, this was the optimal combination.

If two laymen who had never taken military courses could think of this, how could Xuan Yuanzheng, who had received systematic education in this field, possibly fail to think of it?

He stood in place, struggling internally for a long time, but ultimately uttered no objection to stop them.

Compared to his personal misgivings about the profession of an assassin, the military training credits of all the Silver Star freshmen were obviously far more important. Xuan Yuanzheng was not someone who lost sight of the bigger picture.

Furthermore, since Gudong dared to operate within the Empire's borders, he must have passed the review of the Empire's relevant departments. Even if he took on contracts, he could only eliminate heinous fugitives; if he killed someone he shouldn't, the imperial laws would punish him.

With this thought, Xuan Yuanzheng unburdened his mind.

While the rest of the squad had no objections, the person in question had plenty.

"A match, what do you mean?" With Gudong's impressive height of 1.9 meters, he only needed to lower his head slightly to see the text on the light screen in front of Yuan Hanshuang.

He raised an eyebrow. "You don't seriously expect me to join your 6v6 squad, do you?"

"Why not?" Yuan Hanshuang retorted. "The content of this year's military training assessment is a dual-academy confrontation match. Both sides can invite an upperclassman to act as the badge bearer to support the match. In order to defeat the Imperial Academy, we plan to invite you."

"Oh," Gudong said calmly. "Whether or not you can get your credits is your own business as freshmen. You surely don't expect me to have some ridiculous sense of collective honor, do you?"

"You—" Provoked by the indifference in his tone, as if it had nothing to do with him, Xuan Yuanzheng instantly flared up.

"The contracts in the black market that are qualified to be entrusted to me start at a minimum of seven figures. I don't think the value of a seven-figure price tag equals the intelligence value of how you accurately recognized me from a crowd."

When he originally chose to become the agility-track top student, it wasn't because he planned to lead Silver Star to a better ranking in next year's Academy Ranking Tournament, but rather because Silver Star offered top students extremely generous treatment. Not only did they enjoy private luxury dormitories, but they also had access to single-person cultivation rooms with strong isolation.

Weighing the pros and cons, Gudong did not choose the president's position, which required handling various official documents every day and bearing responsibility for the entire school; instead, he chose the track top student position—a spot where he could both enjoy privileges and slack off.

"You're so noble, you're so extraordinary, it's us who are trying to climb too high."

Xuan Yuanzheng let out a cold snort, clearly unwilling to converse further with someone devoid of collective honor.

Yuan Hanshuang, however, did not give up. "Really? If I recall correctly, you wanted to buy my boxing technique last time."

"You're willing to sell?" Sure enough, these words made Gudong halt his departing steps.

"I'm not selling, but as long as you participate in the confrontation match, I can teach you."

While the boxing technique could not be sold, imparting it posed no problem whatsoever.

Gudong tilted his head, a trace of wariness flashing in his iris-purple eyes.

An assassin's acute intuition told him that such a ready agreement must harbor a trap.

Yet a powerful close-combat ancient martial arts boxing technique was simply too tempting. Others might not know, but Gudong, who underwent assassination training year-round and was deeply immersed in combat, was well aware of the value of that boxing technique. The five million star coins he had offered that day was already a severe lowball, as he figured there was room for negotiation, only to find Yuan Hanshuang refusing to bite at all.

The massive benefit triumphed over that sliver of ominous intuition.

In the end, Gudong opened his light brain. "Fine, but we must establish voice-recorded evidence first."

"Alright," Yuan Hanshuang said with a beaming smile.

A set of boxing techniques consisted of a dozen or twenty forms; she would teach them form by form. Was she afraid of failing to catch this big fish?

Of course, before passing it on to Gudong, Yuan Hanshuang would definitely make him swear to the heavens, put it in writing, and sign a contract guaranteeing that the boxing technique would never be used to harm the innocent. There were clauses and restrictions aplenty—let's see who outlasts whom.

"Voiceprint verification complete. The contract takes effect immediately."

Hearing the prompt from his light brain, satisfaction surfaced on Gudong's traditionally expressionless face.

"Allow me to remind you: the Gu family possesses one of the top three luxury legal teams in the entire interstellar society. If you breach the contract, you won't want to know the consequences."

"Isn't it just a few million in compensation? Who can't afford that kind of money?"

Finding this fellow's attitude utterly grating, Xuan Yuanzheng deliberately chimed in from the side, and Xia Mengrou nodded in deep agreement.

Having heard harsher words than this since childhood, Gudong's ears had long since grown calloused.

Having obtained what he wanted, he was in quite a pleasant mood. "Let's go. I'll accompany you to train."

"Considering my price per strike, you've struck a bargain."

Having successfully coaxed the final muscle-for-hire, Yuan Hanshuang entered Gudong's information into the matching roster.

To her surprise, this guy turned out to be a diamond-tier contracted combatant as well. It seemed this young master frequently visited the black-market combat arenas to earn money from his peers.

Little did she know that while Yuan Hanshuang was surprised, Gudong was also casting subtle glances her way.

The combat arena's classification of combatant tiers was quite strict, divided into Bronze, Silver, Gold, Iron, Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster. Because the higher the rank, the more points were deducted for a loss and the harder they were to accumulate, the number of people between ranks decreased exponentially.

High ranks required not only sufficient points but also a sufficient number of matches. For instance, Gudong held a Diamond rank because he needed to maintain his dueling touch when he had no assassination contracts. Therefore, after coming to the Empire from the Federation for school, he frequented the combat arena with extraordinary diligence.

Yet this freshman before him, who was only at the fourth-tier initial stage, belonged to the same Diamond tier as himself, who was at the fourth-tier peak.

A fourth-tier initial-stage Diamond combatant at this age was as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns across the entire interstellar society.

After his attempt to purchase the boxing technique failed last time, he had specifically instructed his family's intelligence department to investigate her background, only to receive a completely clean record.

At a single glance, Gudong could tell that such a record bore the handiwork of the black market's intelligence department.

As the heir to an assassin family, Gudong knew that some families in the dark world indeed threw their heirs into the black market or dark stars for seasoning.

With this thought, he became all the more convinced of the black-haired girl's identity as the successor of a secluded ancient martial arts family.

Yuan Hanshuang's voice interrupted Gudong's train of thought. "Alright, before matching, let's briefly introduce our respective skills and mechas to each other, so teammates at least have a baseline understanding for better coordination on the field."

"Before that, however, we need to determine a main commander."

Xuan Yuanzheng patted his chest. "I've studied tactical command. Let me do it!"

Once the commander was settled, Ke Junda spoke up first. "My mecha is the Hyacinth Macaw, a defense type. My skills are the Vajra Shield and Tai Chi. The Vajra Shield can provide a defensive barrier for all teammates, while Tai Chi is an offensive skill, though its development direction isn't the traditional defeat of enemies, but rather repulsion."

Indeed, under Yuan Hanshuang's guidance, the number-one underling had also developed Tai Chi into his own skill.

His defensive capabilities were relatively standard, and after listening, no one offered any comments.

Wu Haoxuan: "My mecha is the March Mouse, a support type, and my skill is Single Draw. It can randomly pull four types of cards: N, R, SR, and SSR. However, I've only developed the capabilities of two card types so far: the SSR provides a teammate with a five-minute omnidirectional doubled buff, while the N card weakens the opponent's stat values for up to a full minute. Then, I also have a passive skill: as long as I don't speak and stay completely still, I can infinitely weaken my own presence. The drawback is that the moment I speak or move, this skill automatically deactivates."

"That passive skill can be called a divine ability! The support skills are quite interesting too; used well, they can snatch victory by surprise." Hearing about weakening presence and doubled buffs, Xuan Yuanzheng's eyes lit up. "Does your card have a distance restriction?"

"Yes, it has to be within five meters of me for me to use card buffs."

"Then you'll need to coordinate with Gudong. If you pull an N card, you'll have to rely on him to pull you out from the backline to apply debuffs to the enemy," Xuan Yuanzheng said, full of confidence. "If you pull an SSR, remember to listen to my command before casting it. Your passive skill is also very good. A support that doesn't require protection from a defense type is equivalent to freeing up an entire combat force. No wonder Yuan said she had to bring you along—I couldn't tell, kid, you're full of hidden depths!"

Wu Haoxuan, having won appreciation: "Hehehe!"

He felt certain today that he would surely transform his luck for the better!

Looking at Xuan Yuanzheng's excited expression, Yuan Hanshuang stopped herself from speaking further.

Never mind; let her second-idiot cousin be happy for now. Once they actually stepped onto the field, he would learn the true meaning of the gap between ideals and reality.

Xia Mengrou: "The Phantasm Butterfly, a control type. My skills are Hypnotic Powder and Wind Blade. Once scattered, the Hypnotic Powder can cause the enemy's movements to slow down. If the Hypnotic Powder stacks up to five layers, it can directly put people into deep slumber right on the arena. As for the Wind Blade, it's a standard ranged attack skill, with a repulsive effect at close range."

"Not bad, balancing control and ranged combat. Right on time, our team has dual melee combatants, perfectly making up for our shortcomings."

Xuan Yuanzheng hadn't expected Xia Mengrou's mecha to hold a pleasant surprise either. "My mecha is the Golden Mad Lion, melee type. My skills are Golden Rending and Pounce, both of which are offensive skills."

Yuan Hanshuang: "Koi, melee type. My skill is Eight Extremities Fist, which are also entirely close-combat offensive skills."

One person had yet to introduce themselves, and everyone turned their gazes toward him in unison.

Meeting everyone's stares, Gudong said unhurriedly, "Silver-Winged White Falcon, agility type. Skills are confidential."

Xuan Yuanzheng directly blew his top. "Hey, you've already joined the squad, and you still won't tell us your skills? What kind of attitude is that?"

"Due to professional reasons, our skills cannot be casually disclosed to others to prevent vendettas from enemies," Gudong said flatly. "Besides, I only agreed to train with you and join the academy confrontation match. If you want to know my specific skills, that's a separate price."

"Also, once we're on the field, don't mind me. A qualified assassin knows how to conceal themselves and seize the precise moment to strike."

Nicely said—isn't that just being a marginal character in duels plus an opportunist?!

Teammates bear the damage, while he steals the kills—how hateful!

"Big Brother Xuan, forget it, forget it," Wu Haoxuan hurriedly pulled back the即将暴走的 Xuan Yuanzheng. "We're teammates; we should naturally respect a teammate's abilities. Besides, Senior Gudong is an assassin type, which is extremely well-suited for edge-of-field observation and wave-clearing sweeps. Since the senior said not to pay attention to him, let's just let him play freely."

Yuan Hanshuang: I'd call it being left to roam free, more like it.

And so, after brief self-introductions, she submitted the application for matching.

Looking at the prompt for the team ID on her light brain, Yuan Hanshuang casually typed in: Silver Star Grim Reaper Harvesting Corps.

Opponents were matched in no time.

Wu Haoxuan and Ke Junda wore the eager anticipation of participating in their first team battle, Xia Mengrou was excited and nervous, Xuan Yuanzheng was burning with fighting spirit, Yuan Hanshuang had her hands shoved into her pockets, and Gudong maintained his indifferent apathy, as if none of it mattered.

"All right! Charge, charge, charge!"

With that, the group stepped into the combat arena together.

Little did they know at this moment that in the not-so-distant future, within the legends praised by everyone across the interstellar society, this story would be penned.

An unremarkable black-market combat arena, a casually entered ID, and a hastily pieced-together squad drew back the curtain on an epic.