Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 365 - 011. Problem Solver from the Small Town Li Aozi

Chapter 365: 011. Problem Solver from the Small Town Li Aozi

"Hey! Leo, what are you doing?"

Jenny, seeing her love interest being bullied, hurried over to help him up and asked with concern,

"Are you all right, Luther? Are you hurt?"

Luther rubbed his buttocks, slowly stood up, and hurriedly checked his package. He wasn’t injured, but the neatly arranged herbs were roughly tied together, with broken branches and leaves leaking strange herbal juices, obviously damaging the appearance and quality.

"My herbs." Luther said sadly, "The dew on them was still fresh, what a pity..."

Seeing this, Jenny immediately became furious, put down her basket, pointed at Leo, and accused,

"What’s wrong with you? Do you absolutely need to occupy this spot?"

"It’s my first time setting up a stall, can’t you give me some space?"

Li Aozi shrugged his shoulders, seeing a little girl standing up to accuse him, in the spirit of restoring his persona, he crossed his arms and joked,

"Yo, why is a big man hiding behind a little girl? Can’t you speak, or don’t you have the guts to stand up?"

"Don’t go too far! Bullying Luther like this, what’s the meaning of this?" Jenny charged forward, grabbed Li Aozi’s arm, and dug her sharp nails into his skin.

"None of your business." Li Aozi easily tossed Jenny out, he came from Frost Plated, treating men and women equally, with no ambiguity.

"Aiyah!"

Jenny was thrown out by Li Aozi, scraping her shoulder and bleeding, the clear pain spread instantly, making her unable to hold back the tears that welled up in her eyes.

"Jenny!" Seeing this, Luther shouted angrily, "Leo, are you a man? You actually hit a woman."

"Why do you assume that women need protection? That’s male chauvinism, a return to patriarchal thinking. Why do you think women are a vulnerable group? That’s a stereotype and implies discrimination against women."

Li Aozi didn’t hesitate, throwing out a set of native Frost Plated boxing moves, Luther was taken aback. Although he was smart, he was momentarily stumped by this Frost Plated specialty.

He considered his words and quickly replied, "Then you shouldn’t have hit her either. If you think my spot is good and you want my stall, can’t we discuss this reasonably?"

"Is there a possibility that I was acting in self-defense, and I didn’t actually hit anyone, just pushed lightly? She lost her balance, and that’s why she fell and got hurt."

Li Aozi spread his hands, putting on an innocent expression,

"This is legitimate self-defense, don’t try to frame me now."

"You’re clearly twisting the facts!" Luther bit his teeth, overwhelmed with anger, and charged, throwing a punch at Li Aozi.

Smack.

Li Aozi raised his hand, casually deflected his punch, then grabbed and pulled his fingers apart, seizing his index finger and pressing gently on the palm, causing intense pain that made Luther scream.

"So what if I’m twisting the facts?"

Li Aozi said casually, glancing at the combat data—thinking that such a weak Luther had Gamma rank, he felt it was unworthy for those killers of Azure Star.

He pondered for a moment, following Leo’s original background and mentality, and mockingly said,

"You, with your carefree life, parents intact, and loved by someone, are just like cream bread, soft and lacking tenacity, relying only on sweetness and appearance to attract girls. You don’t truly think you’re working hard, do you?"

"Err—let go!"

Luther’s face turned purple. Hearing Li Aozi’s words, something deep inside him was subtly poked.

He had already taken the Magical Aptitude Test three times, studying full-time and although his scores improved each time, he still hadn’t passed. Each year he delayed, his family had to bear more financial pressure.

Li Aozi didn’t trouble him further, releasing his hand. Luther immediately bent over, covering his finger in pain. Li Aozi then delivered a kick to his stomach, kicking him away on the spot.

"Luther!" Jenny exclaimed.

"Go back and complain to your mom about the unfairness. This stall is mine now, and each time you come, I’ll beat you. Got it? Idiot."

Having said that, Li Aozi sat down cross-legged on the ground, meditating and waiting for someone to come buy a fox.

Luther, filled with resentment, glanced at Leo’s arrogant form, his expression extremely complex, and the areas where he had been hit still throbbing with pain.

"Luther, are you okay..."

Jenny hurried to comfort him,

"Let’s not come here again, let’s go, we should head to the reading society."

"...Why is he targeting me?"

"Luther?"

"I didn’t do anything!"

Muttering to himself, with fire in his eyes, Luther immediately rushed forward, his hands swiftly changing through various gestures, as if weaving some pattern in the air.

"Luther? No, you can’t use lethal magic in the village!"

"Move aside!"

Luther shouted and burst through the crowd, aiming at Leo, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, the pattern in his hand quickly taking shape.

Swoosh—!

A violent gust of wind instantly enveloped Leo, the rapidly moving air currents instantly overturning and scattering the stalls.

"Where did that wind come from?"

"Damn, that’s Elemental Magic, does he want to bury us all alive indoors?"

Leo remained seated in the same spot, not moving at all. Except for his hair fluttering slightly, there was no feeling of a strong wind.

"How—how could this be?"

Luther was stunned, frozen in place.

"The Strong Wind Assault is a lethal magic owned by official apprentices, how could it be completely useless—"

By the time he came to his senses, he saw ’Leo,’ who had been meditating with his eyes closed, slowly open his eyes.

"Didn’t I tell you?"

Leo said:

"If I see you again, I will hit you each time."

Luther’s pupils constricted, and the next moment, a fist had already smashed into his face. He rolled several times, then was helped up by Jenny, who apologized repeatedly, and then took him and ran out.

"Really disgraceful..." someone muttered. "Staying with that kind of person is a disgrace to our village."

"Typical of someone born to a mother but not taught by a father, Leo, this kid, can’t even pass the exam himself, so he bullies those from better families."

"I definitely won’t buy his stuff anymore. Not in this lifetime, not ever."

Leo’s senses were sharp, and he could not miss the whispers and disdainful looks everywhere.

"Very good, judging by the reactions around me, my disguise is quite accurate, no OOC (Out Of Character)."

Leo nodded to himself, pleased with the performance; it was good that people hated him, as no one would likely mention him once he left Blue Chrysanthemum Village, making it harder to find faults with him.

This body would eventually have to return to its original form. If it disappeared abruptly, it would definitely arouse suspicion. Someone purposefully tracing his life’s path could eventually notice inconsistencies in ’Leo’s’ behavior from a certain point in time.

The original body was meant to create a flawless persona, to negotiate with Narrative-Level Civilization. Fewer blemishes the better, with all the dirty and tiring tasks handed over to other implanted bodies, while the original body honestly played the role of an idol.

What surprised Leo was that the talisman actually sold at the end; he guessed that despite his poor reputation, the price of 250 Dina was irresistibly low.

Having some money, Leo immediately began preparations.

Players would need at least three months to enter the scene, but during this time he could monitor players’ opinions through the forums, as many players without beta access were excited at the moment.

Everyone discussed the shocking plot of him going into space, and many realized that the Four Nations of the Azure Star weren’t as simple as advertised, especially that seemingly harmless GTB organization capable of acquiring advanced weapons and equipment—who would have thought a bank could actually monopolize interstellar extraordinary knowledge and energy quotas.

Thanks to Leo, many players were disillusioned with the Four Nations and chose to join the Outer World, helping its people resist the Erosion and destruction from the Four Nations.

This was undoubtedly a good thing. In his previous life, during the evacuation before blowing up planets, at least thirty percent of the Outer World’s people, due to the region’s laxity, did not get the notification and were destroyed along with their mother star in the stardust.

If there were more players, perhaps such unnecessary tragedies could be minimized.

The money from 250 Dina wasn’t a lot, but enough for Leo to buy the complete set of magic textbooks. From what he knew, the Magic Aptitude Test was divided into two parts:

First was the aptitude test, which would check if you possess the basic qualifications of a Spellcaster, whether you could produce Magic Power, and not just producing it but ensuring it wasn’t violent and chaotic. The examiner would give you several magic models, and you had to channel your Magic Power through the models’ conduits within a set time to Pass.

In this regard, Leo was confident; the Tanas Race generally had the qualifications of Spellcasters. Setting up this part of the test was somewhat like a college physical exam, concerned that your Magic Power might be problematic, preventing you from entering special sectors like aviation, interstellar colonization, medical, alchemy, military, and others.

Provided one wasn’t categorized as ’Disabled,’ Leo estimated everyone would have schools to attend—interstellar civilization had this benefit, the thresholds were relatively lower.

But if physical testing was easy to pass, it indicated that the other segment, the written test, was very difficult.

Leo bought three required textbooks: "A Brief History of Magic," "Basic Principles of Magic Construction," and "Rune Formula Study," which accounted for 70% of the exam’s content.

There were also two elective textbooks: "Common Sense of Magic" and "Basic World View," making up the remaining 30% of the questions.

In these, failing any compulsory subject was not allowed; with a total of 500 points, one needed to score at least 380 to study at the Magic Academy, while barely passing with 300 points would only qualify you to be a full-time student at the Magic Workshop—still a much better status than an ordinary Magic Worker.

As for the difficulty of these textbooks—

When the express Familiar delivered the books to Leo’s hands, the system immediately displayed that among these five books, one was "Basic" Level, three were "Advanced," and that one book, "Rune Formula Study," was even "Professional" Level.

If these materials were directly placed in the Azure Star, the Four Nations could fight over them.