Deskmate Ethan Brooks arrived even earlier than Brian Carter.

When Brian Carter arrived, Ethan Brooks was already halfway through his test paper. It was unclear whether he had started working on it that morning or had done some of it in advance.

Since Ethan Brooks wasn’t applying for the martial arts program, he naturally focused on the liberal arts.

If he couldn’t get into the martial arts program, getting into a good liberal arts university would still make him much more sought after than ordinary liberal arts graduates.

Seeing Brian Carter arrive, Ethan Brooks also put down his pen, looked up, and said, “Brian Carter, did you finish the set of math papers the teacher handed out the day before yesterday? Let’s compare answers.”

“Huh?”

Brian Carter gave an awkward laugh. Who knew if he’d done it or not? The papers were handed out two days ago, and he hadn’t even touched his backpack since then. Who knew if he’d done it before?

Seeing this, Ethan Brooks more or less guessed the situation and couldn’t help but frown. “Brian Carter, there’s not much time left before the college entrance exam. Even though we don’t have many classes now and it’s mostly review, doing a few more problems might just help—you never know, they could show up on the exam.”

“Right, right, Little Fan-fan is absolutely right. I’ve just been a bit out of it these past few days. I’ll do it later.”

“You…”

Ethan Brooks was a bit helpless, though not because of Brian Carter’s nickname for him—this guy had been calling him that since day one.

He just felt that Brian Carter was letting himself go a bit.

In this society, although martial artists have a higher status than ordinary people, there are still classes among ordinary people.

The wealthy, the poor, those with a bit of power, those working for others, those working in big companies, those working in factories…

All of these come with completely different treatment.

No. 1 High School is the best high school in Yangcheng. Brian Carter’s grades in Class 4 of Senior Year 3 weren’t outstanding, but they weren’t bad either.

With a bit of effort, he still had hope of getting into a top university.

If he got lucky, after the best students applied for the martial arts program, he might even have a shot at a prestigious university.

But if he gave up now, let alone a prestigious university, even a key university would be out of reach.

Ethan Brooks had been deskmates with Brian Carter for two years and knew about Brian Carter’s family situation—it was about the same as his own, maybe even a bit worse, since Brian Carter’s family had two kids, which meant more expenses.

He wanted to say a few more words, but when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back. After all, Brian Carter had only been a bit lazy these past couple of days.

As the two were talking, the future bearded man in the front row, David Clark, turned around again, beaming, and said, “Brian Carter, Ethan Brooks, did you see the news?”

Brian Carter rolled his eyes. You’re a big, burly guy—where did you get such a gossipy heart?

Ethan Brooks couldn’t be bothered to respond either. If you have time, do a few more problems—who has time to watch the news?

David Clark didn’t care about their reactions and continued cheerfully, “There’s news online again. The martial arts duel between Grandmaster Ma and Taim is set for the end of this month.

And the location of the duel has been leaked—it’s right here in our Hua Country!

A ton of reporters have already rushed over. Maybe there’ll even be videos circulating when the time comes…”

David Clark was talking excitedly, spittle flying. A duel between eighth-rank grandmasters was extremely rare, even worldwide.

Maybe it had happened before, but either they were too young to remember, or the duels were held in secret, so outsiders only knew the result, not the process.

This time was different—maybe it was because of the development of the internet. News spread so fast that everyone got the information in advance. With the help of the internet, they might even be able to watch the duel via video.

After gossiping about Brother Ma’s duel, David Clark quickly changed the subject to himself: “Registration for the martial arts program starts today. My dad said, no matter how much it costs, I have to sign up. Our Yang family is counting on me to get into the martial arts program and become a martial artist. Sigh, the pressure is huge. If I don’t make it, what do you guys think I should do?”

Brian Carter said with a laugh, “Tell me, are you showing off, or are you showing off?”

David Clark grinned sheepishly and quickly shook his head. “I’m not showing off. The pressure is really huge. You guys know my situation. There are five major hurdles in the martial arts program. Passing three is already pretty good—the rest are just too tough.”

“The five major hurdles in the martial arts program?”

Originally, Brian Carter wasn’t too interested in David Clark’s topic.

But at this moment, Brian Carter’s eyes lit up.

Chapter 8: My Heart Hurts

Although Brian Carter had gone to the internet café to look up some information the day before yesterday, time was limited—and, of course, the main reason was that his internet funds were limited.

There were some things he hadn’t been able to look up clearly, like the details of the martial arts entrance exam. In fact, the information online was pretty vague.

Without a smartphone and no computer at home, for the current Brian Carter, if he didn’t go to an internet café, it was extremely difficult to find out anything.

Some questions were also hard to ask directly, since for most people, these were common knowledge.

“Looks like I need to buy a computer,” Brian Carter thought to himself, subconsciously ignoring the fact that a computer also cost money.

Even though he didn’t know much, someone like David Clark, who was determined to get into the martial arts program, would definitely know.

As soon as David Clark finished speaking, Brian Carter casually said, “I remember last year’s martial arts exam wasn’t too hard, right? With your abilities, you can’t even pass four of the hurdles? Or did the policy change again this year?”

He said this vaguely—after all, it was normal for the college entrance exam policy to change a bit every year, so Brian Carter wasn’t worried about David Clark overthinking it.

He also took the opportunity to flatter the guy a bit—maybe he could get more information out of him.

Sure enough, David Clark didn’t pay any attention to Brian Carter’s ignorance, and his smile grew even wider.