"No, as long as the reforms succeed, we have hope!"

"But... even if we manage to produce a few hundred high-tiers, what good would that do? On the battlefield, could a few hundred high-tiers possibly defeat over a hundred of the Strongest?"

"Of course, a few hundred high-tiers can’t defeat over a hundred of the Strongest, but we can still give it a shot!"

"Teacher, I don’t understand..." Feng Qingqing was genuinely confused. Teacher Gui was saying that a few hundred high-tiers couldn’t defeat a hundred of the Strongest, yet he also said they could give it a shot.

Isn’t that a contradiction?

Feng Qingqing wasn’t the only one. Gao Neng was just as puzzled. ’If we can’t win, how can we even try?’

"A few hundred high-tiers, fighting one-on-one against the Strongest, would naturally lose. But it’s possible if we use different tactics. For example, one of the Strongest leading four well-coordinated high-tier squads can take on two of the Strongest at the same time. In fact, the Military Department started researching and training for this two years ago," Gui Zian explained.

"Teacher, you mean..."

"Four well-coordinated high-tier squads facing one of the Strongest alone would be a death sentence. But if you add one of the Strongest to tie them down, they can fight to a draw, or even win. Of course, this is all on the condition that these high-tiers are true geniuses—beings capable of fighting above their tier. Like Gao Neng, for example." Gui Zian glanced at Gao Neng.

The gazes of Feng Qingqing, Kong Kun, and the others instantly focused on Gao Neng.

Although Teacher Gui’s words were simple, they seemed to understand. Not all high-tiers were the same. If there were a few hundred *genius* high-tiers, that force would be truly terrifying.

One of the Strongest, leading more than ten, maybe even twenty, genius high-tiers against two of the Strongest...

In theory, it really was a fight they could take!

Of course, this was just theoretical. After all, even the Strongest varied in power.

"But Teacher, that’s still not enough, is it? You just said the humans have fewer than twenty of the Strongest. So even with genius high-tiers providing support, if every one of ours takes on two of theirs, we can at most hold off around forty of their Strongest. How could we possibly fight over a hundred of them?" Kong Kun fell silent for a moment, his confusion returning.

"No, you’re mistaken!" Teacher Gui shook his head. "From the very beginning, our Human Alliance has never had the ability to single-handedly fight a hundred of the Strongest. During the great war eighteen years ago, humanity had a little over forty of the Strongest, yet we still managed to slay dozens of the other races’ Strongest after paying the price of half our own!"

"Why is that?" Kong Kun asked again.

"You should know that ’other races’ is just a collective term. To be blunt, they’re an alliance too, but they aren’t very united. Or rather... they’re not even the same race, so what unity is there to speak of?"

"I know that, Teacher, but I still don’t see why."

"The twenty-year cycle is the other races’ advantage, but it’s also their weakness. Their Strongest can indeed be resurrected, but not unconditionally. For instance, the Elf Race relies on the Tree of Life, the Celestial Race on the White Tower, and the Barbarian Race on the Blood Pool..."

"So you’re saying, Teacher, that if we can destroy the source of their resurrection, their Strongest won’t be able to come back?"

"Yes, that’s more or less it. Because of that, they’re forced to leave a guardian behind and can’t send all of their Strongest into battle," Teacher Gui replied.

"Couldn’t they just make... an agreement?"

"An agreement? Heh, they actually tried that once. The result was tragic. Do you know why the Dark Elf Race always follows the orders of the Celestial Race?"

"Is it because the Dark Elf Race’s Tree of Life was destroyed?"

"No, it was seized by the Celestial Race. During the first great war, the Dark Elf Race formed a pact with several other races, including the Celestials, agreeing to march into battle together. You can probably guess what happened. While the Dark Elf Race’s Strongest were away, the Celestial Race launched a surprise attack on their Tree of Life. Ever since, the Dark Elf Race has had no choice but to obey the Celestial Race’s commands," Teacher Gui explained.

"That’s breaking the pact!" Kong Kun exclaimed in shock.

"It was, but the Dark Elf Race didn’t want to be wiped out, so they had to obey. To be honest, this kind of thing happens a lot between the other races. That’s just the reality of it."

"I understand, Teacher... You’re saying that even though the other races have a hundred of the Strongest, at most only fifty of them can actually be deployed, right?"

"No, it’s more than fifty," Teacher Gui said, shaking his head.

"But why? Teacher... didn’t you just say they have to leave a guardian behind?"

"A guardian must be left behind, but that only applies to controlling races like the Celestials. It doesn’t include subjugated races like the Dark Elves. Since their Tree of Life is already under another’s control, their Strongest won’t be held back to guard it, even after being resurrected."

"I see. So how many of the Strongest will we be facing?"

"Nobody knows the answer to that, but the most conservative estimate is close to sixty. But don’t you dare think that sixty is their limit. Once one of their Strongest is heavily injured, they can retreat and be replaced by a fresh one. As for us humans... we can only fight to the death." Teacher Gui let out another sigh as he finished.

"Sixty of the Strongest, and they can swap them out... Then what about us..."

"There’s no other way. We just have to fight. Surviving one cycle buys us another cycle. As long as we can hold our ground, humanity gets another twenty years to breathe."

"Teacher, have we never considered... running away?"

"Run? Run where? Would you be willing to abandon your family? How do five hundred million humans run? If the Alliance truly had a plan like that, it wouldn’t be for now. It would be the final resort. Right now, to protect this land, we can only fight! We *must* fight!" Gui Zian’s gaze turned sharp and fierce.

"Yes, Teacher! We will fight to the death!"

...

The meal went on for a long time.

In the end, the scene was a complete mess.

Kong Kun was passed out drunk under the table. Fang Tangtang was standing on it, shouting, "Eat, drink, and be merry!" Meanwhile, a beet-red Feng Qingqing was yelling that all men are pigs.

Teacher Gui had also had a lot to drink, but as a high-tier powerhouse who had already stepped into the seventh tier, he obviously wasn’t going to pass out like Kong Kun.

As for Gao Neng...

He was only slightly tipsy.

He hadn’t actually drunk that much.

Kong Kun and Feng Qingqing were drinking because of their pent-up anxiety, while Teacher Gui was doing it to unwind.

But Gao Neng didn’t need to.

He had grown up in the Forgotten Land. If he was ever going to fall into despair, it would have happened long ago.

If Teacher Gui’s words today had any effect on his state of mind, it was only to make him yearn even more to become stronger.

Teacher Gui paid the bill, then hoisted Kong Kun and Feng Qingqing up and left.

Which naturally left Fang Tangtang to Gao Neng.

Along the way, Fang Tangtang stumbled around, shadowboxing drunkenly and yelling, "I can fight above my tier too! One blast from my Electromagnetic Cannon, and one of the Strongest is..."

Hearing her mention the Electromagnetic Cannon, Gao Neng’s lips curved into a cold smirk.

Once he’d tossed Fang Tangtang into her dorm room, he gave her a good, hard spanking, sending her wailing on the bed.

Finally, he left, completely satisfied.

’That’ll teach you to fire an Electromagnetic Cannon at me, Fang Tangtang.’

...

...

「Half a month later.」

Teacher Gui’s hellish training officially came to an end.

The Battle Ranking challenges were also drawing to a close.

Over the past half-month, Gao Neng and the others had trained while continuously challenging the Battle Rankings. Their strength and combat experience had both improved by leaps and bounds.

Second place on the D-Rankings: the Invincible Team.

This was the result of their half-month of effort.

Beyond that, there were a few surprises...

For example, Gao Neng had broken through to Tier Two and, in just half a month, had reached the Tier Two Mid Stage at a pace that defied all convention.

This placed immense pressure on Kong Kun, who had also broken through to the Tier Two Late Stage. After all, just one month ago, Gao Neng had barely been at the Tier One Early Stage.

In the blink of an eye, there was only one minor stage separating them.

As for Feng Qingqing...

...it was more than just pressure. It was shame.

That’s right, Feng Qingqing had broken through from the Tier Two Early Stage to the Tier Two Mid Stage. But she wasn’t happy about it at all, because Gao Neng had broken through on the exact same day.

Fang Tangtang, however, was quite happy.

The reason being, she had broken through a day before Gao Neng. Moreover, she had now officially reached the Tier Two Late Stage, keeping her seat as vice-captain nice and warm.

"I hear the D-Rankings’ number one team, the Moon Wheel Team, went through a huge change two days ago?" Kong Kun asked, looking over at Feng Qingqing.

Feng Qingqing was now the team’s Intelligence Officer, responsible for gathering intel on their various opponents.

"Not a change, a temporary substitution!" Feng Qingqing replied casually. "Rumor has it the upperclassmen thought it would be too humiliating if we actually swept the D-Rankings. So, two days ago, all three members of the Moon Wheel Team were replaced, and their combat power instantly shot through the roof."

"How ’through the roof’?" Fang Tangtang asked disdainfully.

"The captain is the same: Zhang Yuelun, the only one on the D-Rankings at the Tier Three Late Stage. You guys remember Hua Youque from the old Flying Swan Team, right? He’s Tier Three Mid Stage. The other two are also Tier Three Mid Stage. So, the current number one team on the D-Rankings is made up of four Tier Threes!"

"Four Tier Threes?! Isn’t that taking things too far? Have they no shame?" Kong Kun was furious. ’Swapping out team members at the last minute... How shameless can you get?’

"If we actually beat them, it won’t just be those few who are embarrassed. The reputation of the entire upperclassmen body would be on the line," Feng Qingqing said with a bitter smile.

"Then we’ll just wait. They have to go back to their original teams eventually, right? We’ll challenge them after they do. We’ll see who can outlast who!" Kong Kun said indignantly.

"No. We fight today," Gao Neng finally said.

"Fight today? That doesn’t seem very smart..." Feng Qingqing hesitated. Four Tier Threes, one of whom was at the Tier Three Late Stage. That was far beyond the normal level for the D-Rankings.

A team like that could easily rank in the top ten of the C-Rankings.

"Have you forgotten what Bald Shark said half a month ago?" Gao Neng asked, looking at Feng Qingqing.

"What did he say? You don’t mean..." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"That’s right. Fighting above our tier. If we want to be part of the reform plan Bald Shark mentioned, then Tier Twos challenging Tier Threes should be normal for us, shouldn’t it?"

"Gao Neng has a point! I, Death God Fang Tangtang, support this with both hands up!" Fang Tangtang immediately leaped to her feet, thrusting both hands high in the air.

"But that’s four Tier Threes... Analyzing the data, our chance of winning is ten percent, at best," Feng Qingqing calculated rapidly.

"Data is just numbers. In reality, this is an opportunity. A perfect chance to see if the stuff Bald Shark taught us over the last half-month is actually effective."

"Well, we could give it a try..." Hearing this, Feng Qingqing finally nodded.

"Wait!" Kong Kun interrupted. "You’re going to use that stuff? But Teacher Gui said we can’t publicly use anything he taught us these past two weeks until the reform plan is officially announced!"

"Hahaha... My dear Kong Kun, are you really that clueless, or just pretending?" Fang Tangtang burst out laughing.

Feng Qingqing was also left speechless.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" Kong Kun was slow to catch on.

"Everything you said was correct. Your brain’s just not very flexible. Since Bald Shark only trained us for half a month, that means the reform plan is going to be announced today or tomorrow. By challenging them today... we’re basically giving the reform plan a warm-up. Who knows, maybe the plan will be announced right after our match."

Gao Neng smiled. ’My dear Kong Kun is great in every way, he just hasn’t finished evolving yet.’