Chapter 85: Because It’s Your Gift... So It’s Precious to Me

Song Yuan immediately let out a cold snort. "Then let’s see who could become his teacher."

"Deal."

Not long later, the second contestant from the opposing team stepped onto the arena.

"Both sides, prepare!"

Twenty minutes later, Chen Tianyu activated the summoning formation in front of him again and let Ling Xiao return back to its summoning space to rest before turning around and walking off the arena.

Behind him, the host was still enthusiastically explaining the excellent performance that Chen Tianyu just had, though he was not in the mood to hear those compliments anymore. He quickened his pace and walked toward the waiting room, where his teammates were already waiting for him by the door.

Seeing this, he couldn’t help but let out a bright smile. Noticing his return, Shen Qingci was the first one to walk up. He patted his shoulder, his voice filled with excitement as he spoke. "Tianyu, you did an excellent job this time! I did not expect you to sweep through seven opponents in a row!"

Hearing this, Chen Tianyu lifted his chin as the corners of his mouth curled up a little. "Of course... Just look at who I am. If there’s something that I want to do, there’s nothing that I can’t accomplish," he said in approval.

Lin Xingxue gave a soft snort. "Give you an inch, and you’ll take a mile."

Then she walked forward a little and reached her hand out. "Just take this..." she said in a low voice.

Chen Tianyu was stunned for a moment before he lowered his head and looked toward the magical artifact in her hand that was reaching out in front of him. "This is... for me?" he asked tentatively, his voice sounding a bit disbelieving.

"It’s just a D-Rank magical artifact shield. Although it’s nothing valuable, it still cost me more than half of my savings," Lin Xingxue explained.

Seeing that he was still standing in place like a block of wood, she clicked her tongue and asked impatiently, "Do you even want it? If you don’t, I’ll take it—"

Before her last words landed, Chen Tianyu quickly came back to his senses and immediately snatched the magical artifact shield from her. He did so very fast, as if he was afraid that she might actually take it back.

"I want it! Who said that I didn’t?" he yelled out as he lowered his eyes and looked at the shield in his hands, unable to suppress the smile on his face as he turned it over and over as he examined the details of it.

Seeing him like this, Lin Xingxue somehow felt her heart move. While she was still lost in her thoughts, Chen Tianyu suddenly leaned forward, and Lin Xingxue could even feel his breath brushing against her neck.

But Chen Tianyu didn’t seem to notice that. He let out a bright smile that he believed made him look handsome and asked, "Xingxue, are you worried about me?"

Lin Xingxue’s cheeks blushed red as she turned her head to the side and yelled out, "W-who’s worried about you?!"

She lowered her eyes and forced herself to calm down before saying, "I just saw how reckless you were fighting before. How dare you use yourself as a target to attract the opponent’s attention so that Ling Xiao could do a sneak attack? Don’t you remember that you’re only a summoner and don’t have much combat ability yourself?"

"Without your summoning beast, even a normal person could kill you. If you were injured in the next match, wouldn’t that be an embarrassment to our team?" he asked, her voice growing louder and louder as her anger rose.

Chen Tianyu fell silent for a moment before scratching the back of his head and asking, "So... were you at least a little worried about me?"

He seemed to act as if he didn’t know that she was angry and decided to change the topic.

"Of course not!" Lin Xingxue instantly replied.

"Oh... really? Then why did you—"

Lin Xingxue quickly rushed forward and planned to give him a side kick when Chen Tianyu hurriedly stepped back, holding the shield up to protect himself.

"Chen Tianyu! Are you asking for a beating?!" she shouted.

"I was just joking! Look, I really cherish the gift that you gave me," Chen Tianyu said as he patted the shield with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Lin Xingxue: "..."

She stared at the shield that was protected safely by him, then crossed her arms in front of her. She turned her head to the side and said, "No matter what, I have already given you my gift. However you want to use it depends totally on yourself."

However, Chen Tianyu didn’t seem to notice the sudden shift in the atmosphere. He turned his head and met Lin Xingxue’s eyes seriously. "Don’t worry, Xingxue. Believe that with this magical artifact shield, I will definitely be able to protect myself from now on."

Lin Xingxue was stunned for a second as she saw the reflection of herself through his eyes. Before she was able to understand her feelings, Chen Tianyu already lifted his chin and added, "Of course, it’s mainly because of my own strength. The shield is just the icing on the cake."

Lin Xingxue clenched her fist, wanting to forget everything and directly give him a punch on the face. She took a few deep breaths, kept repeating in her mind that he had just won a match for the team, and forced herself to calm down.

After finally suppressing the anger rising within her, she gritted her teeth and asked, "Since you’re so capable, then why did you still take my shield?"

"Because you’re the one who gave it to me," Chen Tianyu waved the shield in his hand and answered normally, as if the answer was so obvious that he didn’t even need to think through the question.

He looked up with a bright smile on his face. "Thank you, Xingxue," he said gently.

Lin Xingxue froze for a moment. She unconsciously rubbed her fingers against the back of her neck, feeling that her scent gland was a bit warm.

She instinctively looked away, her cheeks blushed red like an apple. "I..."

She wanted to say something at first, though at the end, she only said, "W-who told you to thank me so seriously... That’s not like you at all..."

Her voice was much quieter than before.

——

The competition had ended much sooner than expected, as most of the freshmen were newly awakened Hunters and weren’t even used to their power. Without exception, the Moon of the Nine Heavens team had won the competition.

The day following the end of the competition, Song Yuan had sent each of them an email for them to collect the prizes that they earned from becoming the champion of the Freshmen Showcase Tournament.

When they followed him and stopped in front of an old building, Jiang Zihan subconsciously lifted his head and stared at the name of the building. Compared to the brand-new, imposing academic buildings surrounding this one, the building in front of them looked as if it shouldn’t belong here. Even the plaque above the entrance had become so faded that the words seemed hard to understand.

"Brother Jiang, what are you looking at?" Shen Qingyi’s soft and gentle voice suddenly rose from behind, bringing him out of his thoughts.

He turned around and noticed Shen Qingyi standing behind him, her clear blue eyes looking toward the plaque with curiosity.

"Nothing," Jiang Zihan replied as he slowed his pace to walk alongside Shen Qingyi. The two began chatting about the match that they had just finished.

While speaking, Shen Qingyi subconsciously stared at the side of Jiang Zihan’s face; a light of curiosity flickered through her eyes.

"Brother Jiang, what do you think the reward will be this time? I heard from Sister Mengyao that the prizes for the competition are different each year, though she didn’t tell me in detail. Every time I ask her, she told me that it’s best to keep it a surprise, so she never told me before," Shen Qingyi asked, her voice filled with confusion. She lifted the light blue strands by her cheeks and tucked them behind her ear as the wind rose.

"I’m not sure either... but I believe that it wouldn’t let us down," Jiang Zihan replied.

"Of course!" Chen Tianyu, who was originally walking in the front, turned his head and continued in a whisper, "Since the vice president was the one who personally brought us here to get our rewards, then it must be something valuable."

"Maybe it could even be a few high-ranked magical artifacts?"

"In your dreams," Lin Xingxue responded. "It’s just a Freshman Showcase Tournament; why would you think that the academy would give you something so valuable?"

Chen Tianyu grinned as he shrugged his shoulders. "What if? There’s nothing wrong with dreaming anyway."