He secretly groaned in his heart: “Achilles, Achilles…” Of all times, this guy who calls himself the most handsome man in the universe has vanished without a trace—he’s nowhere to be found.

“You!” The upperclassman grabbed Henry Bennett. “How dare you insult me like this? I challenge you!”

In the interstellar era, it’s an age for the strong. The school forbids students from fighting privately, but encourages them to spar with each other. The upperclassman issued a challenge; Henry Bennett could choose not to accept, but that would ruin his reputation, and he’d never be able to hold his head up in the academy again.

David Clark knew this all too well—even if he got beaten to a pulp, he couldn’t back down. There are only defeated men, never cowards who shrink from a fight.

“Henry Bennett, accept the challenge!” urged David Clark.

Henry Bennett was well aware of the rule that those who shrink from a fight are cowards. At this age, boys are full of hot blood—how could he bear being called a coward? Even knowing he was no match, he stepped forward without hesitation. “Fine, I accept your challenge!”

The upperclassman sneered and shot him a look. Then he turned to the senior teacher and said, “Mr. Thompson, please be our judge.” Mr. Thompson nodded. “Go to the simulation battle room.”

The simulation battle room was built with high-toughness polymer materials, able to absorb a great deal of impact, so it wouldn’t be damaged in ordinary fights.

Mr. Thompson stood in front of a bio-electric screen and reported into the microphone: “Requesting data recording, number 3597. Combatants: third-year student Gregory, first-year student Henry Bennett.”

After backing up the recording to prevent future disputes, Mr. Thompson walked over to the two of them and said to the pair standing on the circular battle platform, “Begin!”

“Gregory’s guardian spirit!” Gregory spread his arms wide. A beam of light surged from his heart, split in two, and the two streams of light spiraled around his shoulders like springs coiling around his arms. The light solidified, and a semi-transparent, dark green crystalline battle armor wrapped around his upper body, leaving only his legs exposed.

With a crisp sound, the helmet of the battle armor split into five segments and retracted into his neck, forming a tall protective collar. Gregory looked utterly disdainful. “Hey, kid, show me your evolved battle armor!”

Although Henry Bennett knew he had absolutely no chance of winning, he refused to show weakness in front of so many classmates. He raised his eyebrows. “What’s your rush!” Henry Bennett stretched out his arm, fingers spread and held forward, and shouted, “Peerless War God Achilles!” A milky white light surged from his palm, quickly condensing into a crystalline armored glove. The crystalline armor was clearly different from when he first saw it yesterday—layer upon layer of scale-like crystalline plates stacked together, semi-transparent and milky white, somewhat resembling the crystal he had just absorbed yesterday. However, while yesterday the evolved battle armor had covered his entire forearm, today it only covered his palm, leaving even his wrist exposed.

Mr. Thompson stood below the platform, took out a pair of “sunglasses” from his pocket, and put them on. The data inside the glasses flickered wildly. Finally, Gregory’s data settled at “1587,” while Henry Bennett’s was only “0”!

Chapter 004: Battle Armor Energy Cycle

Mr. Thompson took off the glasses and asked Kate, puzzled, “Ms. McLean, your student’s battle armor energy radiation index is zero.” Ms. McLean shook his head. “This student is the only one in the class who couldn’t summon his own evolved battle armor during class. Do you still have any hope for him? The fact that he managed to summon his battle armor after school already surprised me, even though his armor is so small it can barely cover his palm.” Because students’ grades are directly tied to teachers’ evaluations, which affect their annual review and their contribution score to the Federation, Ms. McLean was quite troubled to have a student like Henry Bennett in his class. “How did such a useless student end up in my class? Just my luck, sigh…”

“But as long as the battle armor can be summoned, the energy radiation index shouldn’t be zero…” Mr. Thompson was very confused.

After fusing with their battle armor, evolved warriors always develop a surge of battle armor energy within their bodies. Evolved warriors rely on cultivating this energy to upgrade their battle armor.

Energy emits radiation. Based on this principle, people designed a special kind of glasses with sensitive components that can detect the radiation fluctuations of battle armor energy. By measuring the strength of these fluctuations, one can determine the strength of the energy, and thus the strength of the evolved warrior.

This became a standard for classifying evolved warriors: every 500 points of battle armor energy radiation index is a level. Gregory has a radiation index of 1587, which means he has just advanced to a level 3 evolved warrior.

Generally, level 5 evolved warrior is a threshold—at that point, the evolved battle armor matures and the user can begin to evolve their abilities. Evolved warriors above level 5 are considered advanced.

No matter how poor a student’s aptitude, as long as they can summon their battle armor, it means they have battle armor energy within them. A case like Henry Bennett’s, with a radiation index of zero, was something Mr. Thompson had never seen in over a decade.

Ms. McLean spread his hands. “Let me tell you, there’s no such thing as the most outstanding genius—only more outstanding geniuses. Likewise, there’s no such thing as the worst loser—only even worse losers…”