Chapter 32: Exhausted Him

“Uh… um…”

Feili stammered, completely unable to answer.

She turned her head and looked at Xi Ya for help with her eyes.

Xi Ya was speechless.

‘You looked so relaxed, I thought you could answer without hesitation, but you can’t even say a word?’

‘You’ve been reborn so many times, and you don’t even know how mana flows? Such a waste of rebirth.’

Xi Ya sighed helplessly, reached out and flipped to the corresponding page.

He lifted half of the book and turned it toward Feili.

Feili squinted for a long time, then quietly blurted out, “I can’t see clearly…”

Xi Ya let out a breath.

‘Don’t you have a book? If you can’t see, don’t you know to look at the page number and flip it yourself?’

‘Does he need to hold it up for you?’

He pressed his thumb hard against the corner of the book twice, frantically signaling Feili to look at the page number.

But Feili had a bunch of question marks above her head, not knowing what Xi Ya was pressing the book for.

‘What the hell…’

He let go of the book, one hand holding his forehead, feeling his blood pressure rise.

A few seconds later, he raised his hand to cover his mouth and whispered to Feili:

“Two types: one circulates through the magic meridians, the other converges toward the magic core.”

“What?”

“I said, magic meridian circulation and core convergence.”

“What did you say? I can’t hear you…”

“Meridian circulation and core convergence!”

“Can’t hear you!”

Xi Ya felt he was about to shout.

He wished he could stand up and answer for Feili directly.

As everyone knows, a student standing up to answer a question can never hear their deskmate’s reminder.

And now they were separated by an aisle, making it even harder to hear.

“Forget it, you struggling student.”

Xi Ya turned back and muttered quietly.

“Xi Ya~ who are you calling a struggling student?”

A # symbol appeared among the question marks above Feili’s head.

He was red-hot with anger.

‘You couldn’t hear me when I spoke loudly earlier, but you heard this sentence clearly, right?’

‘I’m done, I’m seriously done!’

This move by Feili exhausted him completely.

Xi Ya didn’t want to help her anymore.

He decisively closed the book, turned his head, propped it on his hand, and continued to admire the blue sky and white clouds outside the window.

‘Let go of the helper complex, respect others’ fate.’

Sophia on the podium took in the actions of the two and sighed helplessly.

“Feili, it’s okay if you can’t answer. Next time remember to listen carefully. Sit down.”

Feili sat down as instructed.

Xi Ya glanced at her and noticed no embarrassment on her face, as if it wasn’t her who couldn’t answer the question.

‘This person has such thick skin. Does rebirth also thicken one’s skin?’

“Let me explain again. There are two ways mana flows in the human body. One flows through the magic meridians, circulating like blood in the body. The other gathers all the mana in the body to the magic core, which is near the heart.”

Sophia placed one hand on her chest to show the students the location of the magic core.

“Under normal circumstances, the human body is in the first state. Whether using magic or not, mana continuously flows to maintain the body’s mana balance. When a large amount of mana is needed, such as in combat, the second state is used to concentrate mana for easier release. That’s why you feel mana gathering in your chest during battle.”

“Many students have asked me, since concentrating mana in the core makes it easier to release, why can’t we maintain this state all the time? The answer is simple: the body can’t bear it. Converging mana to the core is like drawing all the blood in the body into the heart. In the short term, it allows you to burst out with stronger power, but over time, your magic core can’t withstand the high pressure and will start to have mana disorder. In severe cases, it can lead to magic core rupture.”

“Let me add another reminder: don’t think you can use magic suppressors to suppress the core’s high pressure.”

She added.

“Why?”

Hearing this, a student asked in confusion.

“Because suppressors cannot reduce the pressure on the magic core; they even increase the core’s burden.”

Sophia raised a finger.

“For example, when mana gathers, your core is like a stretched rubber band. Suppressors temporarily suppress your mana, making you feel the pressure is relieved, but because the mana is reduced, the core actually works harder to gather mana, pulling the rubber band even tighter, eventually causing your core to collapse faster.”

She placed both hands on the podium, her tone becoming very serious.

“Therefore, do not attempt this dangerous behavior. Once the magic core is damaged, repairing it is extremely difficult. Some people may never recover for life.”

Gasps came from the class.

Some were scared, feeling fear for their previous thoughts.

At this moment, Xi Ya was propping his chin, his eyelids already drooping.

After listening for so long, he came to a conclusion.

‘Getting sleepy in class has nothing to do with being a struggling student or an academic prodigy. It’s purely because listening is too boring. Now that he’s an academic prodigy, he still gets sleepy.’

***

As soon as class ended, Xi Ya woke up right on time.

Not bad, he only slept through most of the class, not too long.

Just as Xi Ya raised his hand to stretch, he saw Sophia still talking on the podium.

He quickly withdrew his arm, but Sophia saw him.

She gave him a look, and he immediately turned his head away pretending not to see.

‘How come even in a magic world there’s overtime teaching?’

Sophia didn’t look at Xi Ya anymore, raised her voice, and said to the class:

“Let’s stop here for today. I want to remind you of something. Next week’s class assessment will be a battle ranking tournament. Credits will be given based on ranking. Please prepare yourselves.”

After saying that, she left the classroom.

The classroom erupted.

Many people started excitedly discussing the ranking tournament.

But Xi Ya was not happy at all.

Another practical assessment, really tormenting him.

This ranking tournament was a 1v1 battle between students, with no restrictions on magic or swordsmanship.

The forty students in the class would be divided into eight groups.

Five people would first play a group stage, with the one with the most wins advancing, then a knockout stage.

In the morning, he barely won against a regular class student only because the opponent gave him a chance.

Now he had to fight stronger elite class students.

He couldn’t win at all.

Moreover, it was a group stage format, so he had to fight four matches, pure torture.

‘Suddenly want to go back to Blue Star to study. Can he be reincarnated back to Blue Star?’

“Next week is the ranking tournament, Xi Ya~ What are you planning to do?”

Feili’s teasing voice came from the right.

Xi Ya turned and saw her propping her cheek with one hand, smiling at him.

“Mind your own business? You, first study your books well. Don’t end up not even recognizing characters, like an illiterate. How embarrassing that would be.”

Xi Ya directly activated his taunt mode.

“Hehe~ I really thank you for your help earlier, Xi Ya. To show my gratitude, if we end up in the same group, I’ll go easy on you~”

Feili still had a smile on her face.

“Ha, don’t worry, there’s no way we’ll be in the same group.”

Xi Ya set a flag directly.

With a one-in-ten probability, he really didn’t believe he could be in the same group as Feili.