While I was entertaining myself with a conversation with Shen He, Xu Zhao Ting got tired of playing with Bai Feng and stopped just dodging his attacks. Zhao Ting, using the wind step, sharply closed the distance and created a lightning wrath. Bai Wei was, to put it mildly, shocked by such a sudden change in the fight. He tried to dodge, creating a wind step, and barely managed to do so. However, immediately after that, another lightning wrath was directed at him, which hit him perfectly. As a result, his armor disintegrated, and he himself flew off with minor burns from the lightning strike all over his body.
Everyone froze in shock again, even a couple of teachers, including Professor Bai. It was quite amusing. And again, only three people remained absolutely calm, as if nothing unusual had happened.
"How... how is this even possible?" Shen He stammered, diligently wiping his eyes.
"Quickly call the mages with the healing element!" Professor Bai said excitedly. "And how dare you injure a member of the Bai family like that!"
"It was a duel, which he himself challenged me to. I weakened my final blow, so he only received minor burns," Xu Zhao Ting said calmly, shrugging his shoulders. "Besides, I previously agreed that the Bai family would have no claims regardless of the battle's outcome. In a real fight, with such skills, he would be dead."
"What do you know about real fights!" Shen He interjected. "Have you ever encountered monsters without the help of other people?"
"I want to ask him the same question; monsters won't wait for you to hit them; you need to hit the opponent with as many spells as possible. And for that, you need to develop control over magic. Young Master Bai clearly spent little time on this," Xu Zhao Ting said just as calmly and confidently.
"How can you possibly know that?" Shen He continued to push his agenda. "He and I participated in a raid on a monster lair near Shanghai. Of course, our mentors were with us then, but we ourselves fought against high-level and supreme servant monsters."
"And I am a high-rank hunter; in the last year alone, I have killed at least a hundred high-level and supreme servant monsters by myself," Xu Zhao Ting said indifferently, as if saying nothing important. After these words, everyone fell into a stupor, all without exception, except me, of course; I just smiled slightly and shook my head; it was a bit rash to attract so much attention, it could be fraught with consequences in the future. I think I should talk to him about it later.
"Are you really a high-rank hunter? Just one step away from being a master hunter?" asked one of the girls who had recently admired Bai Feng. Shen He, on the other hand, couldn't utter a word; this information had knocked the ground out from under him. Despite the fact that only master hunters, even with at least one star, are particularly valued, high-rank hunters have no less impact. If a mage becomes a hunter of this rank, it indicates that he is no longer a novice and has been in many dangerous, life-threatening situations and has risked his life more than once for his own benefit.
"We cannot believe such a statement on word!" Professor Bai said, waking up from her shock. "It's hard to believe this information at face value. It's no joke, a mage who is not even nineteen, just graduated from school, one might say, and already a supreme-level mage!"
"Here's my card," Xu Zhao Ting replied calmly, without a hint of confusion, taking the card from his spatial bracelet.
"He has a spatial bracelet!" someone whispered nearby.
"It's cheap; noble families would never buy such a thing," another artifact expert chimed in.
"He probably bought it at the market," a third said. "So, is he really a high-rank hunter?"
"Hmm..." Professor Li mused, approaching Xu Zhao Ting and carefully examining the card. "This is genuine; the league cards cannot be forged; they have a special magical seal that cannot be replicated."
"Allow me, but how is this possible?" Professor Bai stammered, slumping a little from shock and disappointment.
"Facts cannot be argued with," Professor Li said dryly, and the other three teachers nodded in agreement. "Now, after all that has been seen, I have no doubt that this young man truly possesses what was shown on the test. And after such a magnificent battle that we have just witnessed, we can confidently say that he possesses extraordinary combat skills. So, as the dean of the lightning faculty, I simply cannot lose such a talent, so I am admitting him without an interview. Teacher Qin Kun, escort the student and give him all the necessary documents."
"All right, Professor Li," said one of the three teachers who had only agreed with everyone and had not spoken up. "Come with me," he said, leading Xu Zhao Ting away from the arena.
Soon, a healing mage arrived and slightly healed Bai Feng, after which he left himself, having heard that he didn't need to come for an interview and was admitted immediately. After that, the exam continued. Next was Shen He, who only managed to get an A- in both tests, although it was a very high result, fourth in the group, but no one paid attention to it. And then everyone's grades were not impressive, nothing special, just Bs and Cs, which was within expectations.
Soon it was Zhang Lulu's turn. As I could notice, she was very nervous, I don't know if it was because of the upcoming test, or if she was still worried about Xu Zhao Ting. However, she received her B and was very happy about it. After her, the tests became quite sluggish; Cs appeared more and more often, and a couple even got Ds. Based on the test results, only about a hundred people who received a grade equal to or higher than C+ were invited for an interview the day after.
Returning home, as I had planned, I decided to inquire about the influential families of Shanghai. There was more than enough information in the local library. All families here were divided into three different groups, which separated families by strength, status, and wealth. These were noble, ordinary, and minor families. Only four families belonged to the noble families: Mu, Bai, Dong Fang, and Zhao. All offspring of these families study at Mingzhu, so it will be easy to establish contact with them.
From the original, I know that most members of the Dong Fang family enroll in the fire faculty. At the same time, the Bai family was represented by the previously seen talentless Bai Cang Feng, a typical rich boy. And also Bai Ting Ting, a healing element mage; it will be easy to get acquainted with her after the resource competition when monsters-parasites attack the university; I just need to slightly alter the canon and save her myself.
As for the Mu and Zhao families, a representative of the latter should end up in the same room in the dormitory as Mo Fan. His name is Zhao Man Yan, a light mage, as well as water, and later he awakened earth and an unknown element. He can rightfully call himself a defensive-type mage; almost no one could break through his defense unless they were a couple of levels higher, or he ran out of magical energy. He became and will likely become a good friend of Mo Fan and will often get into all sorts of deadly adventures at his will, mostly grumbling and lamenting. However, it must be said that he was not a coward, despite all his words and declarations. There's no need to worry too much about him; the canon's own drive will ensure everything happens as I need it to. I will only need to slightly adjust and use his connections for my own benefit.
From the Mu family, Mu Nu Jiao is entering this year, the goddess of the entire first year. She possesses incredible beauty and strength, unlike Bai Feng. However, in the original, she didn't help Mo Fan much, but she was often mentioned, and at first, one might think she would become Mo Fan's third lover. However, she remained an old maid, like her friend Ai Tutu, although I'm not sure about the latter. Mu Nu Jiao is strong and persistent enough to reach the supreme level by thirty, and she also has a talent for teaching, so she became a teacher. I'm not sure if I should change her fate, but connections won't hurt. Moreover, Mo Fan will live with them, and later they will live in his house. It turns out to be quite a funny situation.
Next are the ordinary families; there are many more of them, including families like Lu, Shen, Zhou, and Li, and so on. I didn't find the Chen family among them, but I'm not sure if Chen Qi doesn't belong to any magical family. The Lu family is also very significant; as far as I can judge from the canon, the crimson demon has settled in it right now, or rather, one of the servants of the main demon. However, I don't plan to get rid of him now, and I'm not even sure if I can handle it. Even if I could, it would clearly only cause problems. Later, I can use his prison, where negative energy will accumulate, for my research.
The Shen family is subordinate to the Bai family; now it's clear why Shen He is so subservient to Bai Feng. They have nothing special except for a decent financial situation. Mages, to be honest, are quite mediocre. The strongest among them, the current head, has barely reached the supreme level. As a result, they might be useful if money is needed.
The last are the minor families; they are the weakest and are often suppressed by stronger families. There are many minor families, and the Wu family, which includes Wu Niu, is also part of them. Her family is one of the few that maintains independence, surviving on the outskirts of the city and constantly fighting monsters that try to invade the city. Although there are no supreme-level mages among them, their head is a very strong high-level mage with full cultivation. The other mages of the family are also quite strong, but unfortunately, they cannot cross the threshold of the supreme level.
One of their problems is their meager, even very meager, financial state. Despite their strength, they cannot earn well; there is nothing particularly valuable in their lands. The main income of the Wu family is the sale of parts of killed monsters, as well as their souls. If for one person like me, this income is more than enough, then for a family that wants to produce a supreme-level mage, it is not enough. It can be said that the Wu and Shen families are two opposites: talents and rich people. One has strength, and the other has money. It's even a little sad for the Wu family, but how to help them is a good question to think about.
After all the research, I returned to training. In the evening, Mo Fan called and started complaining about how Xu Zhao Ting had already been admitted, as there should still be an interview. I didn't want to listen to him at all, so I quickly and politely hung up. I wonder why he only found out now? Perhaps Xu Zhao Ting decided to go shopping again in good company. He celebrated his admission, so to speak.
The next day passed quickly, without any interesting events. I spent it, as always, training. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit, gradually becoming stronger, seeing the results of my work on the corpses of my enemies. It literally stirred my blood! Perhaps I'm becoming more like Asura, but I don't care much about that. I did talk to Xu Zhaotin, he admitted that he revealed too much of himself, but argued that thanks to this, he easily got into Minzhu. After these words, I warned him to be careful, as noble families remember those who humiliated them and might seek revenge, and then I left, returning to my studies.
A day after the practical exam, I went for an interview, the final stage of admission. Of course, usually by this point, it's already decided who got in and who didn't. The interview mostly clarifies some points and that's it, it's very difficult to change a decision at this stage, however, I was confident in my success. So I wasn't particularly worried about it. But still, I prepared answers in advance to some uncomfortable questions related to Xu Zhaotin, after all, everyone saw us together, and he revealed too much about himself, in my opinion.