Shout-out to Nathan for supporting me! Thanks a lot!

***

Gojira's tensions soon passed away. She had merely abstained from a potential mate's presence, not grown virgin to it, and after having an intelligent and productive conversation about Ryu'er, she hastily left. Shaming herself further in front of such an appropriate partner might even ruin her daughter's prospects! She would approach Nik in a manner befitting the terrorizing behemoth of the lower plane— Godzilla!

She will remain the Empress of the Monster in every single one of her forms. It was time to start cultivating and stop lazing around!

Soon, the class started to fill up with overly dressed parents and equally embarrassed kids. The moment the parents saw the name of the top three students, the life as the kids knew it ended, and finally, the deeply rooted competitiveness within the minds of the parents arose. This spirit was what Nik wished to initiate. But knowing that the overt pressure from the parents would only serve to hinder their growth, Nik started to lace his voice with hypnotic suggestions to keep the parent's pressure in check. He would hate himself if any of the kids got their talents wasted because of their parents being unable to keep their leash in control.

There were a few kids who had no guardians and used to live in the dorms provided by the Holy Orchid Institute and decided to come alone. Nik still did not go easy on any one of them. Orphans, they were, but pitiable not! Attention, they sought from their antics but still contained massive potential. Heck, they had more confidence and resourcefulness within them that could easily surpass the young'ns from the aristocracies!

None of the aristocracies graced the classroom with their presence. Intentional or not, this gave Nik an appropriate amount of time for Nik to go through the commoners and offer them tailored suggestions for their kids. Suggestions, they were happy to note and follow. Unlike the Nobility within the city amassed in wealth, to commoners, their kids were their only source of sustenance in the future, and to increase the fortune of their future generation, they took each of Nik's suggestion seriously.

Finally, another one of the hardworking students, Du Ze, in the company of a sickly looking, thin, and pale woman walked up. With a bow of his waist, Du Ze greeted Nik and introduced the woman, "Teachers, Du Ze greets with his mother, Du Que."

Nik nodded while scanning Du Ze's mother. She was sick, that was an obvious conclusion just from looking at her condition. But what afflicted her eluded Nik. With an appropriate tone and a professional expression, Nik nodded and greeted Du Ze's mother, "It is an honor to meet you, Mrs. Du."

With a weak smile, the woman shook her head, "The pleasure is all mine. Little Ze'er always talks about you."

As Nik started to discuss Du Ze with Xiu giving her honest but more than rude opinions, Du Que surprisingly took all of it with an understanding smile. So much so that Nik did not even feel the need for lacing his voice with hypnotic suggestions.

As the trio entered into a somewhat energetic discussion, Du Ze felt gratified. It has been a long time since Du Ze saw his mother even smiling in such a lively manner. Meanwhile, the presence of nobles finally graced the gates of the institutes as Noble scions, and family heads walked down their carriages and made way towards the classroom of their kids.

Within the classroom, on the other hand, the discussions finally ended, and Du Ze supported his mother out. Throughout the conversation, Nik did not even try to inquire about the diligent kid's mother's condition. If he decided to heal and cure every sticking that crosses his path, Nik might also lay down, raise his butt and let the world have a taste of his anus!

Alas, not privy to Nik's thoughts, Xiu explained, "That is most probably a counter-effect of her martial spirit. A few martial spirits, if left untrained, would end up corrupting their hosts. It is not an uncommon condition within the commoner's lives. From the looks of it, she is already living on a borrowed time."

Expecting a compassionate gaze full of pity, Xiu was more than shocked when she saw calm indifference in Nik's gaze as she shrugged, "That's a shame. She is probably the only reason Du Ze turned out such a good seed."

Once again, Nik went through the same process of dealing with the members of Nobility save for the fact that Xiu went full-throttle on the parent's asses and ruined them before Nik gave them a gentle hand to grasp on and recover some of their lost dignity.

Xiao Clan's family head, in particular, sweated bullets, when he appeared in front of Nik as Xiao Xue sported a playful smirk. Evidently, the news of Nik's intentions were all too clear. But even if the Xiao Family's head, who stood at the middle ranks of the lower-level aristocracy, trembled, the other family members, in fact, relayed their family head's decision to graciously accept Nik's challenge.

"Pretentious fools," Xiu sneered as Nik gave her an amused grin, "You seem to have an awful lot of confidence in me?"

"But of course," Xiu crossed her arms beneath her ample bosom, giving Nik's gaze a luxurious treatment, "You fell Huyan Xiong, the strongest amongst the Middle-Level Aristocracies. Defeating the other family heads is simply a matter of a compatible strategy."

Her words held undeniable merits. Each martial spirit had its own uniqueness. Some more effective in strangest of circumstances. While his father-in-law boasted massive physical boosts under his belt, others may hold powers that may even elude Nik! Information on each of the family head was public, and while their trump cards d9id not constituent the information known to the public, extrapolating it may become slightly more manageable.

With more and more families filling in the seats, it became harder for most of the families to even listen to Xiu'sreprimands as they feared the words that awaited them. Each of them would have their gazes swept past the glorious top three of the classroom and then grow more and more determined to straighten their kids. No more luxuries for the dumb fools who were more than willing to reduce their futures to dust.

"But father, I am grown up! You can't do that!"

A boy whined as his father gave the ultimatum of removing his pocket money while the youth's mother was already in tears by giving birth to an incompetent fool! Indeed, incompetent begets incompetence, her eyes secretly stole glances of Nik and couldn't help but feel the marvelous offspring Nik would grant his beloved. 

"Shut up!" The father barked, breaking the daydreaming woman out of her lustful stupor while the boy felt his ears ringing, "You ain't a grown-up! You are a kid, and now it is time to act like one!"

The man's mustache flared as he finally pulled his buffoon of a kid away from the table!

The other students, particularly the kids that befriended the youth, gulped. They were in major trouble! 

This shit is actually serious!!

All of them lost their easygoing attitudes while praying the gods that never even reached their lips. Go easy on us, please, Teachers!

***

Xiao Xue

https://tales-of-demons-and-gods.fandom.com/wiki/Xiao_Xue