BUTTERFLIES (Arc 2&3; The Undefeatable Class 192)

Chapter 91:Class Battle

  Due to the shock of falling suddenly, my spiritual concentration had spread out from me. Thus, when I noticed other people falling close by, from the sky, I immediately recognised who they were. My spiritual concentration had picked their auras. They were all my classmates, yet I was surprised why we weren't separated as the first time we'd been here.

  I looked around and was welcomed by the fresh scents of nature. My Arerat symbol began to lit forth, and a strange but familiar aura began to leak from the pores of my skin. With my cultivation level, I could already feel several hundred beasts in the surrounding backing off from us, as if there was something chasing them away.

  As I observed, I was suddenly startled when someone appeared before me in the manner of the moving wind. White gown and a face devoid of emotion. Teacher Haggz!

  "The animals... is it your doing?"

  I looked at him slowly, then robbing my right arm with the left, I replied, "I guess so."

  He nodded and said nothing more to me.

  "Gather around!" he called.

  We all quickly got ourselves into a big circle.

  "Your individual abilities would be tested today. The best of teams are those who are used to sparring amongst themselves. This will help in your future coordinations. Your opponent is whoever's name is written in the folded slips of papers in your hands."

  As he said this, I realised that I was still holding tightly to mine. I began to wonder how it followed me here, since this place was supposed to be a virtual world.

  "Jaded!" Teacher Haggz called.

  "Yes, Teacher!"

  "Open your lot."

  Everyone's expressions had already returned to the usual coldness, and even Jaded wasn't left out. I wonder the kinds of tortures they had all had to endure at Twenty Doors.

  Jaded started to open the slip of paper in his hands, confidently.

  "Who is your opponent?"

  Jaded smirked as he made to read the name. All of a sudden, we watched as his eyes unnaturally expanded and his mouth involuntary fall ajar, with a slight, "Ah", coming from it.

  "Who is your  opponent?!" Teacher Haggz repeated, impatiently.

  Jaded's face blushed red, then he quickly returned his disposition to its original state.

  With what sounded like an unsteady and clumsy voice, he called out, "My opponent is Xueyi."

  "What?!" Xueyi shouted almost immediately after hearing her name.

  As if he hadn't noticed their reaction, Teacher Haggz flicked his hand and the bowl in which they'd taken their lots from was materialised.

  "Xueyi! Come and return your slip of paper."

  Although her eyes showed resistance, she didn't dare to waste any more time and immediately returned her own unopened paper.

  Blackie was already laughing uncontrollably.

  Teacher Haggz found a clearing that could be suitable for sparring. It was an open field. It was approximately a hundred metres long. In fact, it seemed just perfect that we all began to wonder if it was actually made for sparring purpose.

  Deep down, as I watched Teacher Haggz closely, I felt like their paper slips had been manipulated. I know everyone took the slips themselves, but with the slight changes in his face when I, myself, picked my slip, I felt like he'd done something. I also noticed this stealthy expression when Teacher Haggz had asked Jaded to open his slip. And when the latter read out the name, my Eye of Insight still didn't miss the slight raise of his right cheek. He'd expected the outcome for sure.

  Jessica jabbed me.

  "Hey, Steph, what're you thinking about?" she whispered to me.

  I smiled and told her I was wondering who my opponent would be.

  "Haha," she rejoined, "I bet it's me! Just watch how I'll bond you with my Enchanted Vines. I sensed the denseness in your true essence, quite vividly, last night. It seems you've had some fortuitous encounters. Don't forget, my ability is related to nature, I'm able to sense the spiritual energy more vividly than most Gifted Cultivators."

  I was surprised for a moment. My surprise fell on two things. First was the confidence in Jessica that I'd be her opponent. Could she have also noticed the anomaly? It was true that Teacher Haggz was always stone cold, still, it was more reason for one to notice subtle changes due to his ever cold aura.

  The second reason for my surprise was the fact that Jessica wasn't scared of my strength. Had she forgotten how weak her vines were? They were strong, yeah, but what made her confident enough to think she would actually defeat me? It seems everyone had their secrets too. This class battle was going to be most definitely awesome.

  "Okay, girl. Let's wait till it's our turn."

  Jessica smiled and nodded. Then she pointed at the field and said, "Hey, look! It's about to start!"