The exchange officially opened.

The central hall, whose exhibits had until now been half-obscured behind screens and coverings, shed everything all at once as music thundered through the space — drapes drawing back in one smooth motion to reveal the full display in all its variety.

At the center of the hall, the metal floor split apart with a deep tremor, and from below, a platform slowly rose. Standing upon it was a battle construct drenched head to foot in blood red. Ten meters tall, broadly humanoid, its coloring ran crimson across the main body with accents of deep black that gave the whole structure a visual force that hit the eye before the mind could catch up. What made it most memorable were its arms — completely asymmetrical. The left ended in a great claw; the right bore no hand at all, the mechanical limb connecting directly to what appeared to be a shield of extraordinary thickness, which produced a strange and striking silhouette unlike anything standard.

On its chest, recessed into the metal, was an emblem — a gold leaf, large and prominent. Yue Yang recognized it immediately as Gold Leaf City’s distinctive mark.

The emblem spoke for itself.

Standing beneath the blood-red construct was a young man whose smile didn’t quite match the arrogance quietly occupying his eyes — none other than Jinji, fourth son of the Gold Leaf City Lord, who had just delivered his address at the opening ceremony. In this way, wordlessly, he proclaimed himself the sole designer and builder of the towering construct looming behind him, and basked in the flood of admiring looks now pouring in from every direction.

“The Strong Magnetic Battle Construct — so this is the construct designed single-handedly by Junior City Lord Jinji! Extraordinary, truly extraordinary — in my view, even the Jet Beast crafted by Zhonghua, the Silver Maple City Lord’s tenth son, and Captain Cook’s Ocean Warrior cannot stand comparison with this astonishing achievement. What a magnificent and bloodthirsty construct — what is its name? The Crimson Heaven-King? What a perfectly fitting name for a gold-grade construct — only a gold-grade construct could be worthy of carrying a name so magnificent as the Crimson Heaven-King!”

The student who had said this hadn’t intended his voice to carry so far. It had. People winced in the vicinity.

“The conceptual design — the approach to the magnetic system — it has shaken me to the core. I can’t help it. The moment I laid eyes on it, I was undone.” The second voice was a long, reverent exhale. Those nearby recognized the speaker as the renowned construct master Buta.

With Buta’s name behind it, the room opened. Praise cascaded in from every angle.

The flattery was comprehensive.

Thumbs went up across the hall.

It seemed as though failing to admire the Strong Magnetic Battle Construct would mark a person as ignorant and completely without taste.

“Are you lot actually paid to be here? There are limits to this sort of thing.”

“The Strong Magnetic Battle Construct has real merit — but claiming it surpasses both the Jet Beast and the Ocean Warrior is going considerably too far.” A genuine counterpoint emerged. The Construct hadn’t seen actual combat yet, while Captain Cook’s Ocean Warrior was a specialized dual-use design capable of operating both on land and at sea. If not for the tight development timeline and the defeat it suffered at the hands of Ji Wuri’s Vengeful Prince during the last Assessment, the Ocean Warrior might well have beaten Zhonghua’s Jet Beast for the runner-up position.

“The Crimson Heaven-King — what a thing to name yourself. Ji Wuri is a divine talent and he only saw fit to call his construct a Prince. This fellow goes ahead and names his the Heaven-King. Some people have genuinely no sense of proportion.”

“That thing might hold up standing still. On a real battlefield the Jet Beast and the Ocean Warrior would dismantle it.”

“Seems a little strong. It is a gold-grade construct, whatever else you say.”

“Fair — the flattery is nauseating, but the work itself is legitimately good.”

“Let’s see it go up against Ji Wuri’s Vengeful Prince then. That one’s platinum.”

“Please, let’s absolutely not. The comparison would only embarrass ours.”

“Notice how carefully that opening speech was phrased — it mentioned the Jet Beast, it mentioned the Ocean Warrior. Not a single syllable about Ji Wuri’s Vengeful Prince, as though the winner of the last Assessment simply ceased to exist. That’s a compliment wrapped in flattery — and flattery, as it turns out, is rather more skilled an art than it appears.”

Laughter moved through the crowd.

“All that said — you have to admit the last Assessment was the most extraordinary one in a decade. Ji Wuri, Zhonghua, Captain Cook — three genuine talents, all returned from their travels at once, each with a completely different philosophy and approach. They gave everyone watching new directions to consider, new frameworks to explore. Then they competed against each other in the same arena, and what followed was something no description does justice to. Anyone who missed it in person carries a genuine life regret. The Strong Magnetic Battle Construct has its real strengths — dropped into that arena it would have looked somewhat outclassed by the top three, but it would have comfortably placed in the top five. Jinji has played this carefully — he watched Ji Wuri and the others emerge and chose not to enter and invite the direct comparison. Now, without those dominant forces in the picture, this construct is a credible championship contender at the upcoming Assessment.”

“That’s infuriating. Jinji actually walks away with the crown?”

“I should have stayed another year instead of graduating with fifth place. I could have taken him on.”

“With the Blade Edge construct? Strong Magnetic defeats it cleanly — the magnetic interference alone neutralizes that whole approach.”

“It’s bad enough he struts around now. If he wins champion he’ll be looking down at us from three times the height.”

“Someone needs to come out of nowhere and flatten him.”

“Where exactly are you going to find that kind of talent? You think a once-in-a-generation genius walks in every year? That’s precisely what makes them what they are — rare, irreplaceable, almost impossible. What happened at that last Assessment, all three of them in the same arena at the same time, is the kind of thing that marks a decade’s top moments. Given enough time, what those three produced might well be recorded in the millennium’s top ten.”

“I’d rather leave than stand here watching someone like Jinji enjoy himself.”

“Agreed. I don’t need his goodwill to eat. You — shall we find a drink?”

“By all means—”

The hall shed more than half its student representatives within the next few minutes. Most acknowledged that the Strong Magnetic Battle Construct was genuinely impressive work. What none of them could accept was Jinji’s manner. Outside of Ji Wuri — who had arrived like a force of nature and commanded genuine admiration even from the proudest people in the room — no one had managed to earn that kind of respect. Not even the equally remarkable Zhonghua or Captain Cook. Only Ji Wuri, who came close enough to something beyond ordinary human genius that the word “divine” didn’t feel like an overstatement, had truly made them bow their heads.

Jinji remained beneath the Crimson Heaven-King, accepting congratulations and overtures from those eager to make his acquaintance, and found the event thoroughly satisfying. A dissenting minority was always inevitable. The proud student representatives were a fundamentally difficult audience. Everyone else had been warmer.

He had never expected to be admired the way Ji Wuri was admired. Ji Wuri was the category of talent that produces despair in everyone who encounters him. Jinji held no illusions about the distance between them.

But it didn’t particularly matter. Ji Wuri was not — and never would be — an enemy to be concerned about. That kind of person didn’t belong to Human Valley permanently. He would leave, eventually. And when he did, the shadow would lift.

Yue Yang stood quietly in the crowd, absorbing everything while showing nothing.

He moved through the hall without urgency and eventually made his way up onto the central exhibition platform to examine the Strong Magnetic Battle Construct at close range. His willingness to go up for a careful personal inspection — while most others drifted away — pleased both Jinji and the Gold Leaf City officials considerably. If not for Jinji being thoroughly occupied by a cluster of admirers, he might even have descended personally to shake this attentive newcomer’s hand and offer some gracious encouragement to someone whose championship hopes had just become considerably more complicated.

Yangping — the Flame Sun City representative — spotted him going up.

He said nothing at the time. When Yue Yang came back down, Yangping made a point of positioning himself at just the right angle and getting a comment in:

“Well? Country boy — rattled to the bone, I hope? This is a construct you couldn’t complete in a lifetime. A gap you will never cross.”

“Could you manage to say something intelligible?” Yue Yang replied, smiling pleasantly — the smile of someone completely at ease with their surroundings.

The man’s lungs made a sound suggesting they were under considerable stress.

“I don’t engage with people whose face looks like a backside,” Yue Yang added, maintaining the smile without effort, and walked away.

It landed the way a thrown stone lands.

Yue Yang moved on through the hall, making a leisurely circuit of every exhibition case. He spent freely and without apparent concern. His purchases ran to minerals, medicinal herbs, regional specialties, and books — with ancient texts that no one else in the room could read as his highest priority, acquired without negotiating over cost. The constructs, construct weapons, defensive gear, and auxiliary items that most attendees found most interesting received not a second glance.

By the time he completed the circuit, the Principal’s thousand-crystal card had dwindled to the last few dozen.

As he made his way toward the exit, two figures were waiting at the door.

Yangping, still visibly carrying the weight of his most recent loss, and his dark-mannered companion.

Yangping gave Yue Yang no opening. He simply threw something — a scroll — which Yue Yang caught.

“Coward. If you’re still a man, name me as your challenge target at the Life Assessment Ceremony. I’ll show you exactly what real ability looks like, what it means to have your arrogance reflected back in your face, and why knowing your own limitations is something worth learning.”

The scroll was deep crimson, with a gold emblem at its center. Below the emblem: crossed sword and shield.

Yue Yang recognized it at once. A War Scroll — the formal instrument by which nobles issued challenges to one another in Human Valley. To obtain one required petitioning the War God statue’s residual divine consciousness directly; only with the War God’s authorization would the scroll become functional.

The one in his hand had cost Yangping no fewer than fifty Heaven Crystals.

If Yue Yang chose not to accept, he could simply keep it sealed and it would remain permanently inert. But if he chose to open it — the moment it was unsealed, both parties would be transported to a designated battle arena within three days.

Yangping’s intent was transparent. Having come off worse in the exchange of words, he wanted to choose the moment of maximum public consequence — the Life Assessment Ceremony — to publicly embarrass a newcomer at the worst possible time for them.

Yue Yang looked at the scroll. Then he looked at Yangping. His expression was that of a tiger who has been napping in the sun and become aware that something very small and very confident has issued a formal declaration of war.

“Bring all your companions when the time comes,” he said, and followed this with an involuntary yawn. “An uncontested walkover truly is tedious.”

“Agreed!” Yangping appeared to be doing something physically difficult with his digestive system. He managed it, barely, and withdrew.

On his way back to the Silver Maple City exhibition hall, Yue Yang found two more figures waiting outside the entrance.

The brocade-clad young man who called himself Chimu, Dusk Young Lord of Silver Moon City — and standing beside him, the uncommonly beautiful young man known as Young Lord Mingzhu.

(End of Chapter)