Driven Back, and a Classmate

"Bastard!!"

The cat-kin swordsman was already upon him.

He moved with a strange, rhythmic breathing pattern — air currents spiraling and shimmering along his blade as he closed the distance and slashed down at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan was already moving to meet him, channeling the Military Body Killing Sword's combat technique into his counter.

*Clang!*

Sparks scattered from the collision. Both of them were pushed back a single step.

Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly. He hadn't managed to overpower the cat-kin. This guy was genuinely strong.

He knew part of the reason was his own gene-tempering degree falling short. He'd awakened with elite genes — but if his tempering had reached fifty percent or higher, this wouldn't even be a contest. Unfortunately, tempering degree was something that only built up over time. There was no way around it.

Before he could act on the thought, a fireball streaked out from behind the swordsman.

He didn't think. His foot hit the ground and he threw himself left.

The fireball blasted past his side. The heat was fierce enough to singe the tips of his hair, and the acrid smell of scorching filled his nostrils. The searing temperature made his pupils snap tight.

No time to recover. The swordsman pivoted with clean, practiced footwork and was on him again, blade cutting down in a heavy arc.

Lu Yuan's footing was still off. He raised his sword in a rushed guard and barely caught the strike —

*Clang!*

This impact carried more force than the last. It drove him back several steps.

The coordination between the cat-kin swordsman and the elementalist was seamless — their attacks interlocked with almost no gap between them, and for a stretched moment Lu Yuan found himself fully suppressed.

A fireball surged from behind the swordsman and tore toward him again.

He dodged again, jaw tight.

A fireball from behind the swordsman. Dodge. The swordsman pressing forward, blade angling in. A hasty parry, another exchange, another staggering step backward. One against three — this was brutal.

Right then, the human Guardian type warrior dragged himself back from the edge of collapse.

He caught his breath. With a flip of his hand, a crystal vial appeared in his palm, filled with deep red liquid.

He bit off the stopper and drank it down.

Lu Yuan recognized it immediately: a healing potion. A gene drug that accelerated wound recovery.

He'd looked into buying one before. Even the entry-level version for novice warriors ran eight thousand a bottle. He simply couldn't afford it. He was flat broke.

Shortly, the color seeped back into the Guardian's face. His ragged breathing began to ease.

He raised his great shield and charged straight at the cat-kin elementalist.

The elementalist's expression tightened. A fireball launched at the oncoming Guardian.

*Boom!*

The explosion crashed into the shield. The Guardian grunted and was shoved back a step — but he didn't stop. He planted his feet and kept pushing forward.

Lu Yuan's gaze sharpened. He roared: "What are you all waiting for?! Get on the elementalist — now!"

The other three human warriors snapped out of the daze they'd been frozen in and charged forward.

The elementalist's frown deepened into fury. He poured everything he had into fireball after fireball, reckless with his spiritual power, trying to hold them all back at once.

Seizing the opening, the cat-kin swordsman — Xiye — broke off from Lu Yuan and fell back to where Moli lay crumpled on the ground. He scooped her up in both arms without breaking stride and pulled away.

"Xiye!"

The elementalist's voice rang out. Together they retreated — fast and wordless, each trusting the other. All three cat-kin vanished into the depths of the tunnel.

Lu Yuan watched them go with a scowl. His speed was no match for the swordsman, and with the elementalist's fireballs still flying he couldn't just charge forward recklessly. He could only watch them disappear, jaw set.

He should have struck a killing blow on Moli when he'd had the chance. At the time it simply hadn't crossed his mind — and then Xiye had moved faster than he'd anticipated.

If he was being honest with himself: if he'd run into those three cat-kin alone, without this group here to hold them in check, he'd have paid a heavy price just to escape. Every one of those three was probably not weaker than him individually.

The tunnel went quiet.

The four human Gene Warriors stood in the sudden stillness, and the tension left their bodies all at once — like something had been cut loose. Several looked close to collapsing where they stood. The Guardian was worst off: he had his great shield planted like a cane, chest still heaving.

Lu Yuan looked at the arrow still lodged in his shoulder. He gripped it and pulled it free in one sharp motion.

Pain lanced through him. He furrowed his brow.

He glanced at the slow trickle of blood and came to a quiet conclusion: he was going to need potions. Not just healing potions — speed-burst and strength-burst potions too, kept as backup for different situations. All of it cost money.

He hadn't even been back to Sandy Rock City. He had no Spirit Crystals on hand to spend.

The Guardian, having taken a moment to recover, turned to Lu Yuan with a faint smile, though he was covered in blood and still pale as chalk. "Friend, you really saved us today. Without you, all four of us probably wouldn't have made it out."

"Even without you here," Lu Yuan said, shaking his head, "Hunters wouldn't have let me pass anyway."

The Guardian paused a beat — then nodded.

Then a quiet, uncertain voice came from somewhere in the group.

"You're... Lu Yuan?"

Both Lu Yuan and the Guardian turned toward it.

The speaker was one of the survivors: a young Assault type warrior carrying a longsword, features still young and somewhat delicate. He was staring at Lu Yuan with an expression caught between recognition and doubt.

The face felt faintly familiar to Lu Yuan — but nothing clicked.

"Who are you?"

The young man's eyes went wide. His words came out in a rush, half-disbelieving:

"You're really Lu Yuan?! I'm Zhuo Ming! Zhuo Ming! We were in the same class! The Zhuo Ming who awakened in second year!"

The Guardian blinked. "Xiao Zhuo — you two know each other?"

Zhuo Ming nodded quickly. "Yes, Captain. He's our classmate."

A ripple of exclamations broke through the group.

Lu Yuan looked at the young man again. *Right. Zhuo Ming.*

Zhuo Ming had been the Gene Warrior who awakened in their class during second year of high school. The Awakening Ceremony was held once a year — three years of high school meant three chances. Gene Warriors needed time to cultivate and make regular runs into the Land of Origin, which left almost no room for attending class. Zhuo Ming's last appearance at school had been four months ago.

And the truth was, the person Lu Yuan had been before had existed on the absolute margins. He and Zhuo Ming had moved in entirely different social circles; he'd never looked at Zhuo Ming closely enough to commit his face to memory. No wonder he hadn't recognized him.

"Zhuo Ming. So it is you."

The Guardian stared at them both in open bewilderment, then seemed to decide he'd process it later.

Every one of them was staring at Lu Yuan.

A lean young man with twin short swords could barely contain his envy: "Lu Yuan, you're on another level entirely — can you teach me your training method?"

A young woman with a longbow and sharp, clean features was grinning at Lu Yuan with undisguised curiosity. "Friend, are you seriously a fresh awakening?!"

Zhuo Ming was somewhere between stunned and amused. "I saw in our class group chat that you'd awakened this time — but it's literally only been a few days. How are you already this strong?"

Lu Yuan considered how to answer for a moment. He wasn't planning to get into the details.

"Just got lucky," he said, with a small smile. "Opened a chest, got a decent haul. So my strength is decent, I guess."

A quiet settled over the group.

Chests were pure luck. Entirely random. You couldn't manufacture it.

All you could say was: Lu Yuan's luck was enough to make the people around him green with envy.

The lean young man with the twin swords let out a long, suffering exhale. "I've been awakened for three years and still haven't broken through to the first rank. You're just built differently."

The Guardian wore a briefly regretful expression, but didn't press.

Lu Yuan glanced at the group's overall condition. "You're all in rough shape. Heading back?"

The Guardian pulled himself together and nodded, a wry smile on his face. "This whole trip was a disaster. No real gains, we burned through most of our potions, and we lost three teammates. We need to regroup."

"And you, Lu Yuan?"

"I just arrived. Planning to keep going."

The Guardian thought for a moment, then said: "Then watch yourself. Those two cat-kin Hunters escaped — if they catch you alone later, they'll come at you. And... that cat-kin archer didn't look fully dead. They probably have potions. She might recover."

"I know," Lu Yuan said.

"Since you know, I won't say more. Take care."

Lu Yuan nodded.

*Even if these people hadn't been here today* — he thought — *it wouldn't have mattered. Hunters don't let prey go.* As for today's incident, he could only chalk it up to bad luck.

Zhuo Ming's expression brightened. "Do you have a communication crystal? Want to swap contact info?"

"Haven't bought one yet," Lu Yuan said.

He hadn't been back to Sandy Rock City, and he had no Spirit Crystals on hand anyway.

Zhuo Ming looked briefly disappointed, then grinned again. "Alright — Lu Yuan, I'm heading out first. Watch yourself out here. Once we're back outside, I'll add you on Guangxin!"

Lu Yuan thought for a moment, then nodded. "Sure."

The others added their own farewells. One by one, the group moved to leave.

"That settles it, then. We'll be going."

"Lu Yuan, seriously — too strong. Teach me sometime!"

"Take care of yourself!"

Their voices faded as the tunnel swallowed them up. Then the footsteps were gone, and the passage was quiet.

Lu Yuan stood there alone for a moment.

*Why exactly did I come to the Sandy Rock Palace?* he thought. *To keep a low profile while the Wimi Consortium is after me.*

And yet, barely through the entrance, he'd already ended up in the middle of a fight.

*I just wanted to quietly grind. That's all I wanted.*

His head ached a little.

He turned and walked deeper into the tunnel.

He still had a long way to go. His gene-tempering degree wasn't high enough — if it reached fifty percent, even higher, the kind of fight he'd just had would have been trivial. The coordinated pressure from the swordsman and elementalist, the force that had shoved him back step after step — all of it would have been nothing.

His tempering speed was already exceptional by any normal standard. But tempering degree only answered to time and accumulation. There was no shortcut. He had no choice but to keep going.

And he needed potions. Healing, speed-burst, strength-burst — reserves for unexpected situations.

All of it cost money.

He was, as ever, flat broke.