“Luckily, you have a warm-hearted and kind classmate like me.” Grace Bennett sent a cute little monster emoji. “After that, it talked about the schedule for the martial arts class: every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The content taught in all three sessions is the same, so you only need to attend once. It all depends on your own schedule. If you’re pretty free, it’s best to attend all of them—practice makes perfect ^_^”

The martial arts club is open to all students in the university, from freshmen to seniors, from the medical school to the mechanical engineering school, so everyone’s class schedules are definitely different. That’s why the class is repeated three times a week, with one session even on the weekend, to accommodate as many members as possible.

Seeing Grace Bennett’s reply, Eric Dawson couldn’t help but curl his lips into a smile, all his nervousness turning into joy and excitement.

He quickly tapped on his phone’s keyboard, instinctively wanting to ask Grace Bennett which session she would attend. But after thinking about it, he felt their relationship wasn’t close enough for such a direct question—it could easily get awkward.

Because he cared, every word and every emoji was carefully considered and weighed in his mind.

After a moment’s thought, Eric Dawson took a roundabout approach and said, as if talking to himself:

“I have Calculus and Linear Algebra on Thursday morning, so I can only attend on Tuesday or Saturday.”

Grace Bennett replied with a grinning emoji: “I can attend all three.”

“Really? You don’t have any classes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings?” Eric Dawson clenched his left fist, praising his own “cleverness”—using his own situation to prompt the other person to share more on the same topic, thus getting the information he wanted!

Grace Bennett sent an embarrassed, blushing, head-scratching emoji: “A senior from the martial arts club told me in advance, so when I was choosing courses, I specifically left Tuesday and Thursday mornings free.”

Songcheng University uses a free course selection system. Each course has different teachers and time slots, and students can choose their favorite teacher or the most suitable time slot based on their own schedule and the teachers’ overall ratings. Of course, each course has a limit on the number of students, so the most popular teachers and best time slots are always in high demand—you have to be quick to get in.

Additionally, you can choose electives outside your own major or year, but whether you can pass depends entirely on yourself.

The local rich kid in Eric Dawson’s dorm, Paul Quinn, scheduled all his classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, claiming he only had to attend classes for three days and could rest for four!

Just as Eric Dawson was about to reply, Grace Bennett sent another message: “By the way, we’ll have a new instructor this semester. Apparently, the principal was very dissatisfied with the results from the past few years and wants to use Ethan Dawson’s enrollment as a boost to restore the prestige of our Song University Martial Arts Club. We even made it to the national finals before!”

“That impressive? I’ve never heard of it.” Eric Dawson said in surprise, feeling a bit puzzled.

“That was many years ago. If you knew about it, I’d actually be shocked!” Grace Bennett quickly followed up with a “stunned dog” emoji.

Eric Dawson immediately asked back, “Then how do you know?”

“Secret!” Grace Bennett sent a hands-on-hips, proud emoji. Eric Dawson could almost picture her cute, playful expression, and the smile on his face grew even wider.

“Aiya, I can’t stand secrets. It makes me itch to know. Are you trying to keep me up all night?” Eric Dawson sent a pitiful emoji, marveling at how shameless he’d become so quickly, just going with the flow.

Maybe this is just a man’s instinct?

“If you can’t sleep, read more books!” Grace Bennett sent a mischievous laughing emoji.

“I’ve long been addicted to studying, getting thinner by the day, so thin…” Eric Dawson thought for a moment, didn’t press the topic, and instead asked, “What’s the new coach like?”

“He hasn’t arrived yet,” Grace Bennett replied. “But I heard he’s a very experienced martial artist. The principal used personal connections to invite him, so he definitely won’t be ordinary. Training under him will surely be rewarding. Even someone like you with no foundation might be able to get an Amateur Third Grade certificate before graduation.”

Amateur Third Grade… Eric Dawson suddenly thought of the golden core inside his body, but then shifted his attention back to Grace Bennett: “What about you? What are your expectations for yourself?”

“Me, uh, I don’t dare hope for professional level. I just want to learn more special moves so I can defend myself from creeps in the future!” Grace Bennett sent a text, but Eric Dawson could faintly sense her hidden loneliness.

Is this one of life’s three great illusions?

“Why? Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Eric Dawson asked in confusion.

“Not telling you~” Grace Bennett replied briefly.

There really was a reason, but she clearly didn’t want to talk about it. Eric Dawson’s mind raced, analyzing every detail—he’d never listened so intently, not even in his senior year of high school.

He made a mental note of it and changed the subject: “Alright, alright. By the way, I heard the No. 1 High School’s martial arts gym is almost finished? They started building it when we enrolled, and now we’re graduating and it’s finally done—perfect timing to miss out!”

“Really? I didn’t pay attention to that. Haha, actually, even if it had been finished while we were still in school, we probably wouldn’t have used it much. Martial arts competitions are so easy to get injured in—without high-level referees and supervision, the nearby Second Hospital would be full, and how would anyone study? I can already imagine the look on Director Director Thompson’s face at the discipline office.” Grace Bennett replied.