General Ma Trung Kien and his troops carefully stepped over the pools of blood in the Binh Vi valley.
The stench made him nauseous, but as a general, he remained steadfast.
In his entire life, had he ever seen so many dead bodies? In the past, the two sides would fight back and forth, applying the art of war. Whichever side was defeated would retreat, and the other side, even in pursuit, would not go to the very end.
There were deaths, yes, but to say that tens of thousands had died—this was the first time he had seen it.
The army advanced with a mixture of trepidation and terror.
When they reached the entrance of the Binh Vi valley, they only saw a single figure standing there, holding the Hon Viet Sword, his eyes looking around in a daze of fear.
His legs were trembling.
Ma Trung Kien approached and knelt on one knee before the young man holding the Hon Viet Sword.
"Thank you, celestial elder, for helping my army survive this ambush. I do not know how to repay this debt of gratitude."
The young man was flustered by Ma Trung Kien's action.
He was a flag-bearing soldier, originally on the march. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he opened his eyes to find himself standing amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
It scared him to death.
"No... it's nothing. Defeating the imperial army is what I should do." The young man suddenly straightened his back, sheathed the Hon Viet Sword, and spoke with an air of righteous dignity.
…
Lam Minh's consciousness was pulled back into the dark void of the system. In front of him now was a flashing notification panel.
[Ding! Host Lam Minh, mission complete. Number of enemies killed: 24,937. Additional rewards: 249,370. Total rewards: 1,249,370 points.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for reaching the one million milestone for the first time, successfully unlocking the 'Myriad Spirit Mirror' function.]
Lam Minh looked at the notification. At this moment, he was in no mood to care about the reward points.
His eyes were fixed on a single box: 24,937.
This was the total number of lives he had taken in just one battle.
His mood plummeted.
Immediately after, Lam Minh was pulled back to reality.
He looked up at the wall clock.
A battle, a slaughter of more than half a day, and upon returning to reality, the time was still the same.
This meant that when he entered the simulation system, time would freeze until he returned.
Lam Minh held up his two hands in front of him, examining them closely.
He didn't know if the battlefield simulation was real or fake.
But the fact that he had gone on a great slaughter was real.
He recalled the memory of him rampaging on the battlefield, killing one person after another without mercy, without even blinking.
At this moment, Lam Minh himself was afraid of the person he had become.
He felt that his killing intent was now very heavy. Would it affect him in the future? He didn't know.
How terrifying.
Only now did Lam Minh have the leisure to notice the system's new function.
So one million points was an important milestone that had unlocked a new function. So what if he reached 10,000,000 points next? He would have to wait until he had accumulated enough to find out.
[Myriad Spirit Mirror: The name says it all. The host's eyes, based on this function, can see the name and true cultivation of any living being, even a dog will be seen through.]
Lam Minh packed his clothes. He felt he had rested enough; it was time to be discharged from the hospital.
He held his phone in his hand. A series of message notifications from To Quyen.
All sorts of questions and missed calls.
Lam Minh scratched his head.
A month, a whole month in the hospital, and he had ignored this girl. How was he going to explain when he returned?
Lam Minh thought as he strolled out of the hospital gate.
What excuse should he use?
…
12:30 PM.
A whole month since the reconnaissance mission.
Lam Minh finally returned to school.
He was now standing in front of the school gate.
A month had passed, but it felt like a very long time.
Lam Minh walked in, attracting the attention of both male and female students.
His disappearance for a month had also caused a lot of attention.
Everyone was asking, where had the number one of class 11A01 gone?
Lam Minh's fan club was in an uproar.
There were even some overzealous female students who went to the principal's office to demand an explanation for where Lam Minh was.
Faced with this storm of questioning, Principal Ma could only hold his ground day after day.
Last month, a group of men in imposing black suits had suddenly appeared in his office.
They had left with a leave of absence form placed on his desk, along with the words, "Keep this a secret, or your position as principal will be gone."
Looking at the symbol on the form, which also had Lam Minh's name on it, he knew this group was not simple, not someone at his level could afford to provoke.
This made him exclaim, "If you want to take leave, just ask properly. It's not like I wouldn't allow it. Why the need for such a grand formation?"
Looking at the backs of the men in black, Mr. Ma was full of questions.
So when he was surrounded by the female students, he could only hold his ground to get through it.
Back to reality, the scrutinizing gazes, the students huddling together to gossip and look at him. Some even pointed and whispered something to the person next to them.
This made Lam Minh uncomfortable.
What had happened during his month of absence?
Something seemed to be wrong.
Lam Minh strode back to his familiar class, 11A01. He had to quickly take the supplementary final exams, or he would be held back.
After that, he had to go and carry out the punishment from Mr. Quoc.
"So troublesome," Lam Minh said as he walked.
Suddenly, he saw a familiar figure walking in the opposite direction.
"Hey, Le!" Lam Minh called out.
That person was none other than Le Dao Khuc, his best friend.
"Oh, you dog! You were absent for a month. Where the hell did you go?" After speaking, Le Dao Khuc made a hushing gesture, pulled Lam Minh's arm, and headed straight for the canteen. "Come down here, I'll tell you. While you were gone, our school has had plenty of interesting things happen."
Lam Minh was full of question marks, but he reluctantly followed Le.
School Canteen.
Le was sipping an iced milk coffee, his eyes on Lam Minh.
He didn't know why, but Lam Minh looked different now.
A cold feeling emanated from this guy, making him shiver.
If it weren't for the fact that they were best friends who had played together since childhood, he would have stayed far away.
"Alright, spit it out. What happened?" Lam Minh looked at Le with suspicion. This guy was being so mysterious.
Le took a sip of his drink. "First, you tell me where you've been for the past month. I'm your friend, but I couldn't even contact you. I'm so tired of being questioned by the girls in our school about you."
Lam Minh looked at Le and said, "I just had some business with Mr. Quoc, nothing important. I'll keep in touch next time."
"Right! You should keep in touch, or you really don't consider me a friend." After speaking, Le continued:
"In the month you were absent, there were some earth-shattering events. First, that An The Anh guy voluntarily stood up to defend the platform, and was undefeated for several weeks. He also declared that Lam Minh was nothing, and that he was the number one at Tran Hung Dao High School."
"Second, after his provocation caused a lot of discussion in the school about who was more deserving of the number one spot, you or him, that guy appeared in front of class 11A03 a few days ago with a bouquet of flowers to confess his love to the belle To Quyen. That Gia Huy guy from her class appeared to chase An The Anh away, and ended up getting a beating."
Lam Minh was stunned upon hearing this. This An The Anh guy, ever since he appeared, had always been confrontational with him.
He didn't know what his purpose was, but this was extremely unsettling. He had to investigate further.
"And then what?" Lam Minh also took a sip of his drink, signaling for him to continue.
Le crossed his legs on the chair, his saliva flying as he spoke. "And then what? Here's the surprise! To Quyen rejected his confession and didn't even glance at the 'hero saving the damsel' Gia Huy, who was lying there, bruised and battered."
"She only said one sentence that made the entire male student body explode, and it's been the topic of discussion for the past few days," Le paused at this point.
He looked at Lam Minh with a teasing glint in his eyes.
Lam Minh's heart was now itching.
This guy is asking for a beating, telling a story in halves.
"Do you believe I'll pull out your tongue and feed it to the dogs?" Lam Minh asked.
"Alright, alright, here's the rest," Le laughed and replied, "She said, 'I already have a boyfriend. He's Lam Minh from class 11A01.' After speaking, she immediately turned and went back to her class, leaving that An The Anh guy standing there, his fists clenched. I saw it with my own eyes."
Hearing this, Lam Minh dropped the cup he was holding, his eyes wide with astonishment as he looked at Le. "Is this news reliable?"
"Reliable! You can even spread it," Le replied.
Lam Minh didn't expect To Quyen to reply like that.
Between him and her, they were only in the getting-to-know-each-other stage. He had never officially confessed his feelings, yet To Quyen was the one who directly made it public. This truly surprised him.
Lam Minh now completely understood why, ever since he returned to school, he had felt that everything was a little strange.
The more he thought, the more he pitied To Quyen.
"She must have missed me a lot," he thought to himself with a smile.
As for that An The Anh guy, he had to be taught a lesson. How dare he confess his love to my girlfriend?
Lam Minh said goodbye to Le Dao Khuc. He was preparing to go back to the classroom to take the supplementary final exams.
No matter what, he had to finish the exams before dealing with other matters.
Back in the exam room.
Lam Minh was sitting in the room, in front of him was the Literature exam paper. He scratched his head.
He had been absent for a month. How could he have any knowledge in his head to take the exam?
His eyes darted around. He wasn't the only one taking the supplementary exam.
There were a few others who had to retake it for some reason.
If it were the old version of the system, Lam Minh would naturally not be worried. He could rely on picking up knowledge bubbles.
But now, he had been waiting for a long time. Besides the accumulated attribute bubbles, no knowledge bubbles were dropping.
This made Lam Minh a little flustered.
He suddenly remembered a saying from a famous nine-fingered sage in Vietnam: "If you don't work but expect to eat, the only thing you'll eat is..."
Lam Minh looked at the person sitting next to him. He slowly scooted closer and whispered, "Brother, what's your name?"
Sitting next to him was a chubby, fair-skinned male student. He recognized Lam Minh at a glance.
"I am Nguyen Phuc. What's up?"
Lam Minh laughed awkwardly. "Well, I'm taking the exam today, but I don't have a single bit of knowledge in my head. Can you let me copy your answers?"
He had thought this request was a bit unreasonable and would surely be rejected.
But unexpectedly, the chubby guy in front of him moved a hand that was covering his exam paper and made a "Please" gesture.
Lam Minh was as happy as if he had found gold. He eagerly copied, saying, "Good brother! Good deeds will be rewarded. Thank you, brother!"
The chubby guy just smiled benevolently and gestured, 'Be my guest.'
Then he continued to focus on his exam, letting Lam Minh copy.
But in the chubby guy Nguyen Phuc's mind, he was smirking: 'You're screwed! There are four versions of the exam. Yours and mine are different. If you copy mine, don't blame me when you get a zero!'
After thinking this, Nguyen Phuc laughed silently to himself.