Popularity is everything; I play a super genius

Poor Huomu...

Of course, if Tsukimi, who was finally being serious, knew that Saki saw him this way, he would definitely feel that he had been judged by the standards of a petty person.

Indeed, although Tsukimi was not in a good mood because he did not see Dorothy, he really did come to see Hoki today to do something important.

It was also because after he returned and learned about the White Harbor incident, he was somewhat frightened.

Thankfully, Saki was there this time.

Even that kid got beaten up and ended up in the hospital...

I have a feeling that Deep Blue City and the Pure World Society are going too far.

In the depths of her being, Tsukimi had a premonition that the City of Fire would soon be plunged into chaos.

Because of her senior brother, Tsukimi couldn't just leave the firewood unattended.

Therefore, today's sparring partner was naturally motivated by this concern.

As for wanting to vent your frustrations on someone when you're in a bad mood...

Just by chance, by the way.

Tsukimi suppressed her strength to be even lower than that of Hōki, without using any of her inner energy, and even gave him a handicap.

Even so, Huomu was still unable to defend himself and had no chance to fight back.

While looking down at her novel, Tsukimi casually dodged Hōki's fist, and continued to provoke him with her lazy voice:

"That's it? You dare to say you've practiced with this?"

"Huomu, do you think you can learn [Mirror Break] just by lying down?"

"Show me some attitude!"

"Faster, is your fist greeting me?"

"Breaking the mirror isn't about brute force, it's about resonance! Have you even forgotten what resonance is?"

Punch after punch, word after word, new wounds kept appearing on Huomu's face and body.

However, the latter gritted his teeth and refused to give up.

After what seemed like an eternity, finally!

When Huomu threw another punch, his stance suddenly changed.

The moment he threw the punch, the air seemed to be gently plucked by something.

The trajectory of that punch suddenly took on a strange, sluggish quality, like a frame dropping.

How familiar this scene is!

Qi Ji was the first to realize that in order to learn [Mirror Break], he had watched the live broadcast replay of the day of the moon viewing no less than ten thousand times!

Therefore, there can be no mistake!

Huo Mu... he actually did it?!

Tsukimi's pupils contracted slightly, something even Saki could see through the screen, so he had already noticed it long ago.

As for Huomu himself, he was even more excited!

She even spoke up immediately, anxiously reminding Ms. Tsukimi to get out of the way quickly.

Because his punch will be very strong!

So strong that he couldn't control himself!

However, what happened next was not quite what I expected...

When Huo Mu's powerful punch landed on Yue Jian, it felt light and airy, showing no power whatsoever.

"???"

Huo Mu was dumbfounded.

The same applies to Qiji.

Of the three, only Tsukimi clearly knew what had happened at that moment.

It was Huomu who unleashed half of [Mirror Break]...

That's right, only half of it was swung.

Tsukimi turned to the next page of her romance novel, and at the same time, patiently explained to the reader:

"I taught you something, you shouldn't have forgotten it so quickly, right?"

The essence of "Mirror Break" is the forced resonance that occurs between the attacker's own "existential echo," the target's "existential echo," and the surrounding environment's "background echo."

Your punch just now synchronized your own "existential echo" with the "background echo" of the surrounding environment, completing the first step of resonance—

However, you failed to lock onto my [Echo of Presence], and therefore were unable to truly unleash the power of [Mirror Break].

"You're heading in the right direction, keep it up!"

Tsukimi patted Hiki on the shoulder, offering a rare word of encouragement.

"Not bad, the speed at which I mastered it was a little faster than I expected."

Despite Yuejian's nonchalant words, her heart was in turmoil.

Although Tsukimi had already silently raised her opinion of him after the last time Huomu effortlessly used [Shunka].

But at this moment, he couldn't help but be amazed by Huo Mu's combat talent.

This kid's true talent might not be any less than that brat Qi Ji's...

Thinking about the upcoming Tide Grand Competition, Tsukimi felt that Huomu and Sushi might now be the only two hopes for the City of Fire.

What, you mean Saki?

That guy will probably still be lying in the hospital after the competition is over...

When Tsukimi returned to Shinnojo last night, upon hearing that Saki was injured, she immediately went to the hospital to visit the brat.

At that time, Saki was busy purchasing goods in the Sea of ​​Consciousness and was unaware of this.

Tsukimi used Echo to sense Saki's state.

I couldn't help but gasp—

That kid's health condition couldn't be worse.

Tsukimi could only shake her head in resignation at this.

This brat always pushes himself too hard; he brought this serious injury on himself...

Tsukimi could even assert that if this kid continued like this, he would lose his life sooner or later.

Being a hero isn't easy.

However, when Tsukimi learned from Huang Lu this morning that Saki had actually faced a fourth-tier Echoer from the Kamishiro family in the White Harbor incident, Tsukimi still felt a bit incredulous.

"So, you mean he defeated a fourth-tier Echoer? Or only at the cost of serious injury?"

Seeing Yuejian's shocked expression, Huanglu actually seemed to enjoy it somewhat, and immediately began to mysteriously keep her in suspense:

"Want to see how that kid beats Chiho Kamishiro? I'll bring you the recording in a few days, it'll definitely give you a shock!"

Huang Lu's tantalizing words piqued Yuejian's curiosity, and she did indeed become somewhat intrigued.

Anyway, now that you're called Tsukimi-chan, Tsukimi really can't figure out how Saki-chan managed to do it.

A fourth-tier Echoer possesses the perfect armor of the second stage.

Against lower-level Echoers, they are almost invincible.

Unless Qi Ji can master something like [One Night Moonfall], which is extremely difficult and abnormally powerful enough to erase the difference in rank, it's impossible.

My thoughts seem to have drifted a bit far away...

When Tsukimi came to her senses, she looked at Hiki, whose face was covered in bruises but who was still clenching his fists and full of energy. She felt that she needed to give the latter a good lesson in the two weeks before the competition.

Back then, his senior brother, who was also Huomu's father, defeated all the exchange students from Kalentia in the Tide Grand Competition and won first place.

As the son of his senior brother, Huomu can't be too bad, right?

"Firewood, what stage has your Echo been honed to?"

Although the Echoers are divided into two levels, the first and second tiers are actually just beginner levels.

There is no qualitative difference between the first and second tier upgrades; it's simply a matter of refining the Echo Core, increasing the strength of the spiritual body, and expanding the capacity of the heart essence.

Only by reaching the third tier and activating the armor can one achieve a true qualitative change.

Yuejian thought to himself that if Huomu had already reached the second tier, then with his personal training over the next half month, helping Huomu reach the third tier and master the armor should not be too difficult.

After all, this age is the golden age for Echoes to make the fastest progress.

When the teacher asked about the echo, Huo Mu looked a little embarrassed and scratched his head, saying:

"I...I haven't awakened the echo yet."

Tsukimi paused for a moment, then rubbed her ears, thinking she had misheard.

"Huh? What did you say?"

“I said, I haven’t awakened to the echo yet.”

Although he felt embarrassed, Huomu honestly repeated it.

"Huh? How long has it been since we enrolled? Are there still people in our class who haven't awakened their response yet?"

Even a pig, if made to root around in the training field every day, would eventually wake up!

When Saki heard Tsukimi say such things about Hiki, he felt very indignant on Hiki's behalf!

Who are you calling a pig?

Who are you calling a pig?!

What do you mean by saying even a pig should awaken and respond?!

Overwhelmed with emotion, Qi Ji couldn't hold back and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Brother, are you alright?" The younger sister beside him quickly handed him a handkerchief.

"N-nothing..." Saki waved his hand.

He's been vomiting blood for the past few days, and as he vomits, he's ended up vomiting up all his meals into things like pork liver and spinach soup, duck blood and vermicelli soup, and donkey-hide gelatin and brown sugar cake...

Although his vomiting blood was due to the mandatory cost of [Silver Prayer], eating these things wouldn't help.

But he can't refuse to eat.

Every day at mealtime, his younger sister would push his wheelchair to him and stare at him intently...

His sister wouldn't let him go until she saw him finish every last bite, and then she would praise him with something like "Good boy."

To this, Saki was speechless...

Does this mean they're treating him like a younger brother?

Reversing the Heavenly Gang!

……

Huomu's live stream room.

In the shot, a hint of suspicion appeared on Yue's face.

He gave Huo Mu extra help twice and has a fairly clear understanding of the kid's talent.

Logically speaking, Huomu should have awakened and echoed long ago.

He narrowed his eyes, and a certain possibility suddenly flashed through his mind.

The next second, Tsukimi unfolded her armor, tore a page from the Moonlight Scroll, and stuck it on Hōki's lower abdomen.

Loop construction.

However, the next instant, the pages of the book that Tsukimi had placed on Hiki's lower abdomen spontaneously combusted for no apparent reason.

A flash of fire, and the pages of the book turned into a wisp of smoke.

"?!"