Since childhood, Xero had always kept a low profile, and had always avoided being in the spotlight.
Of course, there were exceptions, such as the placement test. For this official evaluation, he had specially researched how to control his own magnetic field so that it wouldn't crush the machine in the test.
Yet no matter how hard he tried to find a way to keep a low profile, in the end he had been placed into class advanced.
How the hell was he supposed to bring this up?
At dinner, Xero absent-mindedly chewed a mouthful of rice, and couldn't help looking upward as he hoisted a heavy sigh.
Why was it so hard to be a bad student nowadays?
And he definitely could not count on his parents to understand his pain.
The couple goggled at the letter of admittance into advanced class, personally presented to Xero by the school's director of education. With eyes as large as cymbals, they scanned the letter from top to bottom afraid to miss a single detail.
After a while, the middle-aged man who looked fairly good for his age with a small moustache and curtain styled hair, took off his black rimmed glasses and cupped his chin as he looked at Xero. "Xero. I think we should have a word."
Although he was very unwilling to acknowledge this man, who until now had yet to reach Foundation Establishment Stage, as his own father, Xero still willingly and obediently put his chopsticks down.
No prizes for guessing, Xero already knew what his father was going to say. His first sentence would be, "You've really let me down!"
As expected, he had guessed right.
"You've really let me down!"
Father Xero let out a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose lightly as he said, "Couldn't you do a little worse in your test? You get such good grades every time, it's practically awkward for your mother and I!"
Xero wordlessly rolled his eyes. It wasn't like he was deliberately set out to do so well! Like what happened today, was totally an act of God!
"You should know that until now, your mother and I have not yet reached the Foundation Establishment Stage. But you? Now there's nonsense talk on the street…" At this point, Father Xero covered his face and even sobbed. "Not only are people saying we picked you off the street, they're even saying I'm a cuck of a dad!"
Xero: "…"
"Next time, don't try so hard on your test. Or just directly hand out a blank paper, don't listen to your mother about practicing moderation or whatever. All of that is sheer shit."
"…"
Xero was speechless! Come on, he had never tried in any of his tests, bro.
Father Xero sighed. "If you get such good grades again, don't be surprised I spank you!"
Hearing this, Xero's face turned black, and he straightaway broke his chopsticks.
"…"
Seeing this, Father Xero trembled. "Goddammit, I just bought these black iron Ninth Heaven chopsticks two days ago, and already another pair is broken!"
"Forget it, forget it, Xiao Xiao still can't control himself. Why would you bring this up when we're eating?" Compared with Father Xero, Mother Xero's attitude towards this had always been to let nature take its course; between the two of them, they always embarrassed Xero.
"More than that, we need to hurry up and teach Xiao Xiao how to control his strength, and it's also more important that he eats well. Another pair of chopsticks broken… manufacturers nowadays, the quality is just getting worse and worse." Mother Xero sighed woefully; their household disbursement was going to increase again.
From a young age, Xero had always had immense strength in his hands. After he broke that large sword at half the age of one, Father and Mother Xero had extensively changed their furniture, worried that Xero would break all of them if he wasn't careful — if it wasn't made of black jade, then it was made of black iron, and even black diamond.
Looking at the broken pair of black iron chopsticks, the Xero couple couldn't help the mix of emotions that welled in them. When they had been teaching Xero how to use chopsticks, thousands upon thousands were sacrificed for the cause.
This could all be summed up in one singular phrase: "pain in the urethra"
But this phrase had been a constant for almost all of Xero's life; things were such a pain so often that he had gotten used to it, at this point.
After reaching a super high cultivation realm that's beyond all realms, that everyone dreamed about, what then?
Make one hundred million by performing tricks on the streets?
Yeah, Xero could smash towering mountains with just a breath, but there wasn't that many mountains around him to smash! And nowadays, natural resources everywhere were protected by the nation — smashing a mountain would get you four years in prison at the very least, or a death penalty at most!
Power to dominate everything? Capability to rule the whole world and universe?
Sure, Xero had the power and strength to do all that, but he would prefer to stay home in his room and read manga.
Infinite Magical Power, and able to manipulate time and space to his liking, and destroy it if really wants to?
Sure, Xero could open a spatial dimensional portal with his energy. But if he was caught by the Space Shuttle Department, considering how small their family real-estate was, any punishment was bound to destroy them to poverty in an instant.
All in all, reaching a super high cultivation realm was not as relaxing or uncomplicated as one may think.
Even if he was the emperor of cultivation, so what? He still had to deal with nonsense big and small every day, and make mediocre plans for a low-key life in order not to bring disaster upon his parents.
Xero looked at the table full of dishes. As he ate a mouthful of rice, he had silently hoisted a deep sigh: my heart is exhausted..!
At his current realm, he could theoretically stop drinking water or eat and it wouldn't affect him, since he only needed to absorb a little spiritual energy from nature every day.
For him, eating was purely a formality.
…
After returning to his bedroom, what Xero liked to do most was lie on his bed in the middle of the night and quietly look at starry sky through his ceiling skylight.
It was only during this time that the noise in Xero's ears would subside a little. Even though he couldn't completely block out the effects of his Mind-Reading Ability, they were just a low murmur this time.
Compared to what it was like during the day, this moment was peaceful, at least.
Many times, he had wondered if he was from a different world. But unyielding evidence from DNA tests had dispelled his doubts when he was really young. The couple that was into public displays of affection were his real biological parents.
The most frightening thing in the world wasn't making progress and growing every day — it was if that rate of growth never seemed to end.
…
When he was younger, Xero had attempted to figure out his limits of his realm. It wasn't until when he was older that he realised, that such limits did not exist for him…
With a consistent increase in his realm at a rate of one stage every two months, he couldn't tell what the end for him was, and for a time, he had found this very terrifying.
But now, what terrified him most was his future high school life.
Who the hell knew what was gonna happen to him?
He had originally planned to enter school quietly, but because of a freak combination of factors, he had been selected into class advanced.
And then there was Peony Aoi… already, he knew she was going to be such a troublesome person.
At first, he hadn't planned for their paths to cross often, but this trouble has already arrived at his doorstep.
Sitting upright on the bed, Xero rubbed the skin between his eyebrows as his head hurt. Shortly after that, he stretched out one arm to take out a bag of snacks from his drawer.
Regardless of what happens tomorrow…
At the moment, Xero had decided… let's eat some crispy noodle snacks to chase the uneasiness away!