3: Unexpected Encounter

Tian Lang was pulled off the stage by the teachers and officials present. The crowd was going wild, and they needed to calm them down.

He arrived at the principal's office, where they let him in to relax while everything was sorted out. Still in a dazed state, Tian Lang sat down and stared at his hands, bewildered.

Many thoughts were racing through his mind, but the most important one was "Why?"

He hadn't even been in this world for an hour, and his new life already seemed much more troublesome than the previous one.

Without thinking, he slapped himself. The noise echoed through the office, and his brain started functioning again. He swallowed and licked his dry lips.

"Special grade." he thought about how this would affect his future.

Flying under the radar had become an unlikely option at this point. Special grade was not as simple as having low or high-grade spiritual roots.

The special grade was different, very different. It wasn't just about higher quality stellar Qi and superior cultivation speed, as well as faster energy recovery. Special grade roots were different because those who possessed them would undoubtedly awaken a unique innate ability.

"I can only hope this is due to my integration with this body and not because 'that' has awakened."

'That' referred to Tian Lang's secret, his true potential. Just as there were differences among normal spiritual roots, there were also differences for the special ones.

Earth spirit, celestial spirit, and stellar spirit.

The way these ranks were defined was still unknown to Tian Lang, but he knew they were very important since they were also related to the potential of innate abilities.

The protagonist, for example, her true talent was a special-grade spiritual root of celestial spirit.

The reason this talent wasn't revealed immediately was that her body couldn't awaken her true spiritual roots through conventional methods.

The original Tian Lang was in a similar situation, or at least it seemed similar since the author hadn't fully explained it. In the novel, it was mentioned that Tian Lang had something hidden within his body that helped him voluntarily improve his talent.

It was one of the great mysteries surrounding the character. Why and how was something that could "enhance talent" inside him? Wasn't he just an orphan?

This was also why he died. The fourth-rate villain killed him in the hope of stealing "that thing," but the original Tian Lang wouldn't let something like that happen easily. Before dying, he used his power to send "that thing" into the protagonist's body.

This was another reason why he cursed the author in his previous life. It seemed the author only used Tian Lang's character as an excuse to give more power to the protagonist, without caring how absurd it was.

"If that thing has awakened, I'll be in big trouble." The reason for this was that the boosts in talent were "temporary" It could make a person's talent increase to an incredible degree, but only for moments. After that, there was a "cooldown" period.

One might think, what's the use of having a better grade only for a limited time?

Well, it was very useful. At least the original Tian Lang knew how to use it very well. Even if his original talent was of medium grade, he could keep up with those of special grade with celestial spirit and even managed to fight equally with a genius of another race with stellar spirit.

Of course, it was this fight that made the fourth-rate villain realize "that thing" inside Tian Lang, since Tian Lang had forced his talent increase to the point where he matched that genius.

Maybe people of the same or lower cultivation rank wouldn't notice, but those with a much higher cultivation realm could see it and know something was up.

That's why the current Tian Lang was nervous. If that thing had awakened and temporarily boosted his talent, then high-ranking cultivators would notice once his talent returned to normal and his production of stellar Qi decreased in quality and quantity.

It wasn't something someone who hadn't even started cultivating could hide.

Now Tian Lang had only two hopes. The first was that this change in talent was due to his integration with this body, that somehow his arrival had altered the original talent of the host. If that were the case, then it would be fine; he could work with that.

His other hope was that if this was due to "that thing," then the effect would remain active long enough to not arouse suspicion, at least until he learned to control his Qi and hide it somehow.

He didn't believe he would be so lucky, so he could only hope for the first

While lost in deep thoughts, a voice suddenly interrupted him.

"Hmmm."

Tian Lang turned alarmed, only to find his eyes meeting a pair of golden irises that seemed to almost glow with their own light.

Both pairs of eyes stared at each other for several seconds without blinking. Tian Lang felt his head spinning once again due to the unexpected surprise, wondering how many more times this would happen.

"Uh, hello?" he said, hiding the nervousness as best as he could.

Tian Lang didn't immediately recognize the person in front of him because the novel only had descriptions of the characters, not images or illustrations. It took him a few seconds to begin recalling one of those descriptions and to start associating it with the girl in front of him.

Pupils so golden they almost seemed to shine, clear skin accompanied by intense blond hair with some soft red tones, prominent eyebrows accompanied by a pair of sharp eyes with long lashes.

To say she was beautiful would be an understatement. Her body didn't fall behind either. Though her attire was somewhat "strange" considering Earth's standards, it still accentuated her figure quite well. She was dressed in what seemed to be a martial arts uniform combined with a futuristic leather jacket, military-looking boots with heels, and long sleeves that only covered her arms, which seemed to be some kind of lightweight armor, and red fingerless gloves glowing with yellow energy lines.

Her tousled hair was barely contained in a long ponytail down her back.

Tian Lang was never very good with fashion, so he couldn't say if this was something that matched or a walking disaster, but he would definitely say that what was in front of him was a "fierce beauty" even with an appearance almost resembling a "delinquent"

When this description passed through his mind, something clicked in his head.

He took hold of the self-control he had gained in his previous life to not react visibly, allowing only a slight furrow in his brow to show on his face.

The girl smiled and stretched out a finger, pointing directly at him.

"Incredible! I didn't expect to find something so interesting today. Tell me! Tell me! How does it feel?"

As she posed this question, Tian Lang tried to remember as best as he could everything he knew about the person in front of him. He didn't know how or why she was here, but that didn't matter now.

Nangong Ruoxue, the second daughter of the newly appointed head of the Nangong clan. In the original work, she had several nicknames, but the most prominent ones were "Stellar Fire Fist Ruoxue" "Battle Beast of Nangong Clan " and "Queen of Martial Arts"

With a special grade talent of celestial spirit, she was the greatest talent born in the last three thousand years within the Nangong clan.

Everything about her was "strong" "ruthless" and "brutal" It was often mentioned that she had a short temper and easily became irritated.

She was prone to solving all her problems with her fists...

The fierce smile she was giving him contradicted none of this. How could someone have real fangs without aesthetic surgery? Advantages of a fantasy world, he supposed.

Setting aside idle thoughts, he began to brainstorm how to get out of this without a fist capable of smashing mountains hitting his face.

The personalities of the female cast in the novel were clear and well-explained. While Nangong Ruoxue was fierce on the outside, she could also be quite soft on the inside, but only with those she deemed "important" which weren't many.

It was easy to irritate her, and not so easy to endear oneself to her. Still, there were some things she appreciated, which had managed to make the protagonist likable to her.

Firstly, it was about attitude. Since she was young, she was treated with respect and flattery by others due to her status as the daughter of one of the three possible heirs of the Nangong clan. This special treatment increased even more when she awakened her spiritual roots and demonstrated her monstrous talent.

The special treatment towards her was such that she developed a hatred for those who "bent" Even her father treated her with respect, which secretly made her despise him. The only person she got along with was her older brother, who despite having less talent than her, still treated her as an equal and never gave in to her whims, at least not often.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

At this point in the story, he should be the only person she "respected" apart from the great elders of her clan.

Despite her outward fierceness, a part of her wanted to have "friends." That's why, despite her clan's complaints, she decided to attend university and meet other geniuses, thinking that she would find "equals" among them.

In a way, it worked, but now wasn't the time to think about that. Instead, it was time to gain an ally. Tian Lang knew that his current situation was "dangerous" To everyone else, he was a "monstrous genius" without backing.

The major forces and clans would try to sway him to their side, and enemies of humanity would try to kill him. Since he had no backing, his death would offend humanity, but not as much as if he belonged to an important clan or group. Therefore, enemies wouldn't hesitate as much as they would with other backed geniuses.

So, even if it was just a superficial relationship, he needed some "backing" just to be safer, at least until he reached university. Once he joined the university he wanted, it would become his biggest support.

"What do you mean? More importantly, who are you?" he asked, irritation creeping into his voice. The girl blinked, tilting her head slightly at his annoyance. It had been a while since someone spoke to her in that manner.

Her smile faltered slightly, and Tian Lang wondered if he had made a mistake.

"You can call me Nangong Ruoxue," she said, as if expecting some reaction, but Tian Lang simply looked at her without surprise, wondering if he should have become an actor in his past life.

"They call me Tian Lang," he said, he was trying to make a friend so he shouldn't be too antagonistic.

"Huh, for an orphan, you certainly have an optimistic name, but I suppose it's fitting."

Another thing to mention about her was her lack of tact in some things. Since she hadn't had many people to socialize with on an equal footing, she could be quite ruthlessly direct when speaking.

If Tian Lang were a real orphan, he would have been offended. Wait, wasn't he a real orphan now?

He furrowed his brow even deeper, not knowing why this irritated him and unable to help he responding with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Well, at least my name is fitting, huh? Are you sure your parents didn't want to name you Ruohuo?"

Nangong Ruoxue's right eyebrow twitched, and her eye trembled slightly. No one knew, but privately, it irritated her how much her name contrasted with her appearance.

Tian Lang regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. He was trying to get along with her, so why would he say something like that?

"Seems like dogs really know how to bark, who would've thought? But I guess I'll let it slide. It wouldn't look good for a senior to intimidate their junior," despite her obvious anger, she didn't lash out at him as Tian Lang had expected.

"junior?" he asked, doubtful.

She nodded, and a smile returned to her face.

"You haven't even started cultivating, obviously, you're my junior. Don't worry, I won't treat you badly. Instead, you can call me big sister. Maybe I'll even give you a piece of advice or two," she said as if it were a great honor, which in a sense it was. Millions, even tens of millions, would kill for an opportunity like this. Unfortunately, Tian Lang wasn't one of them.

He huffed and crossed his arms.

"Really? You don't seem much older than me. How old are you?" The smile on Nangong Ruoxue's face froze slightly with a faint blush on her cheeks. The truth was, she still had a few weeks left until she turned 18, whereas Tian Lang, who had already gone through awakening, was just a few days away from his birthday.

The norm was to go through the awakening ceremony a few days before turning 18; even doing it on the same day was acceptable. Doing it much later than that date could bring some consequences. Tian Lang didn't exactly know why or what those consequences were, so he would have to investigate later.

The point was that even if he had started cultivating earlier, in terms of age, she was still a little younger than Tian Lang.

"That doesn't matter! But let's not change the subject. You didn't answer my question," she pointed out.

"What does it feel like?"

Tian Lang might have said she changed the subject, but he decided it was enough; he didn't need to antagonize her further. He had already pushed his luck enough.

"What do you mean?" he asked, not understanding what she was referring to. She pouted and sighed.

But before she could explain, the office door began to open, and several people entered. However, when they saw Nangong Ruoxue, they stopped abruptly, clearly nervous.

"M-Miss Ruoxue, it's a pleasure to see you again" the director stepped forward, clearly nervous, and bowed to her.

Nangong Ruoxue's expression lost all emotion, turning cold. She didn't even look at the director or those accompanying him; she simply turned around and said something else before leaving.

"You can answer me later." she waved her hand, and in a burst of fiery flames, her figure disappeared as if she had teleported.

Tian Lang sighed inwardly. Well, he still had his head on his shoulders, so even if he hadn't achieved his initial intention, he could still consider this a victory. He stood up and greeted the director alongside the people accompanying him, who were representatives from various universities.

The director wiped the sweat from his forehead and accepted Tian Lang's greeting with a big smile, actively forgetting that Nangong Ruoxue had been there before.

Whatever her intentions were, they were not something he could meddle in.

"Young Tian, I would like to introduce you to the honorable guests from the prestigious universities." the man pointed to the representatives, who smiled back at Tian Lang. He returned the greetings without appearing arrogant or conceited; he didn't need to make this difficult.

"As you may know, your awakening has attracted a lot of attention, and the news has already spread throughout the territory of the human realm. Therefore, an order for your protection and transfer has been issued. The Earth Alliance Council has provided you with private property on the central planet of the alliance known as Earth, as well as a free fund of five hundred thousand high-grade spiritual stones, which have already been deposited into your new bank account. You can choose to go to Earth immediately and be escorted by the alliance army, or you can choose a university now and be escorted there."

The Earth Alliance was the name given to the new "government" founded after humanity began its expansion into the universe. The old nations had disappeared in a way, but their cultures had not. Those who came from them had preserved their customs in the clans and high-level organizations and had expanded them to the various worlds under their governance. This could have caused fragmentation among humans, but despite this, humanity remained united due to the abundant dangers plaguing the universe.

As a unified government that looked after the best interests of the entire species, the Earth Alliance took care of and placed great importance on "geniuses," whether they were from a clan or organization or a simple orphan like Tian Lang. The alliance would actively support their growth and cultivation.

Thus, the alliance had not been slow to act and had deployed several measures immediately.

If the Alliance were a central force, then Tian Lang would have wanted to join it immediately. But the reality was that the Alliance was divided and under the control of the nine great celestial clans of humanity, as well as the three great cultivation universities and the four major stellar trading companies. They acted together, but at the same time, they were not a "single centralized power" as it might seem on the surface. However, they all had in common the desire to preserve humanity and safeguard its interests in one way or another.

Tian Lang looked at the representatives of the universities. There were only three, and the reason was clear to him: all the other universities below the top three dared not compete to include a genius of his caliber, at least not against the top three.

If he chose not to go with any of them for now, he would be taken to Earth, where he could spend the remaining time until the start of "classes" casually. But he didn't want that; he needed to start cultivating immediately, and the best way would be to go straight to the university grounds to begin his training without delays.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, young Tian. I—"

"I'll go with you." Tian Lang pointed to one of the three, the one who was introducing himself first, in fact. The other two and the director were stunned.

"Young Tian Lang, you!" the director wanted to say something, but he remembered that this was no longer the young orphan who had been his student before; he couldn't say anything now.

"Are you sure about this? Maybe you should think it over," despite being chosen, the man didn't rush and instead advised. The three universities had a good relationship and were not antagonistic towards each other, so competing for a student was not something they did often, at least not in the same way as lower-level universities.

"I've already thought about it. The Eternal Star Academy is where I've wanted to attend since I was young. I'm not changing my mind," he said firmly.

Of course, the real reason was that it was the only "sect" he was familiar with and where the protagonist would be.

The man nodded and smiled. "In that case, it's a pleasure to have you with us, young Tian Lang. I assure you that your decision has been the right one." the other two sighed with clear disappointment.

Tian Lang shook the man's hand. He didn't know how turbulent things would be now, but he wouldn't back down so easily.

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Nangong Junhao looked down at the planet beneath his feet thoughtfully. He watched in the distance as a fleet of starships took off at superluminal speeds towards the center of human territory. He raised his hand, and hundreds of his own personal ships began to follow them. It was an additional insurance; even if the genius born on this lesser planet was not part of the clan, he was still a genius of humanity. Treaties made long ago by his ancestors dictated that all the great clans and forces within the alliance had the duty to ensure the prosperity of humanity.

Taking care of geniuses was one more of their duties as the future patriarch of the Nangong clan.

"Elder Hao, what do you think of him?" he asked into the void.

"He has character; certainly, he's not arrogant, and it doesn't seem like his new status has gone to his head... for now."

From the darkness of space, an elder dressed in simple red robes appeared and responded to his question.

"That's good. The alliance already has enough arrogant geniuses to deal with."

Thinking of all those guys and girls, Nangong Junhao wanted to sigh; it really was a pain in the ass to deal with some of them.

"This is no ordinary genius, boy; he is a future pillar of humanity. Don't compare him so casually," the old man responded.

Nangong Junhao furrowed his brows slightly but said nothing.

"Come on, that girl is back; let's see what she has to say."

The old man said and disappeared in the next instant.

Another headache. Nangong Junhao couldn't dictate his sister's actions, so when she slipped away to meet the "dark horse" he could only let her do as she pleased.

He didn't go with her since his presence would only hinder things. When two geniuses of such caliber meet, they either become friends or adversaries. His sister had a tendency to alienate people, so Nangong Junhao saw no need to follow her just to meddle in what could potentially become a dispute.

If, by some miraculous chance, they got along well, then that was enough. If not? Well, the Nangong clan wasn't lacking in monstrous geniuses, so it didn't matter whether they had a good relationship with Tian lang or not.

As long as they didn't antagonize each other to the death, it was fine.

With a step, his figure faded and reappeared on the planet, more precisely in the private cabin where he had been before.

There, he saw his sister and came to a sudden halt when he was about to speak. Why was she smiling so strangely?

"Something happened?" he asked, doubtful.

She looked at him, her eyes shining with barely disguised interest.

"Hey, hey! Do you know which university that guy chose?"

"It was the Eternal Star Academy," he answered unintentionally.

She nodded, the smile on her face becoming more mysterious.

"I see. Then let's go; I want to go there," she said. It wasn't a suggestion, and Nangong Junhao knew it from her tone.

"Wait, what? Why?" he asked, alarmed. She was supposed to go to the Stellar River Academy.

She put her hand on her chin thoughtfully before speaking with a toothy grin on her face.

"Because I feel like hitting him."

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Note:

Too much information dump? When I wrote this, I thought it was fine, but now, editing and translating it, I think there might be too much information. However, I believe it's necessary to understand the events happening in this chapter and the future plotlines of upcoming chapters.

You know, thoughts, suggestions, and advice are welcome.

Ruoxue (若雪): 若 (ruò): This character has several meanings, including "like" or "similar to".

雪 (xuě): Means "snow". Together, "若雪" (Ruoxue) can be interpreted as "like snow" or "similar to snow".

Ruohuo (若火): This name is composed of "若 (ruò)" meaning "like" or "similar to"

and "火" (huǒ), meaning "fire". Together, "若火" can be interpreted as "similar to fire" or "like fire".

Tian (天): This character means "Heaven" or "cosmic". Lang (狼): This character means "wolf".

Together, "Tian Lang" (天狼) translates literally as "Heavenly Wolf"

"Tian Lang" also refers to the star Sirius, known as Star of the Big Dog in Chinese astronomy, which is the brightest star in the night sky.