The moment Xie Yanwen announced the start of the match, Li Meng lunged forward like an arrow aimed straight at Gu Zhen.
She had different tactics for different opponents. Against someone like Zhou Xin, who was high offense, high defense, and tanky to an extreme, she wouldn't even consider close combat. But Gu Zhen was different—he was a Special-type user, with no particular advantage in physical combat. At best, they were evenly matched so there is nothing to be afraid of.
Seeing Li Meng charge straight at him, he showed no fear and rushed forward to meet her.
His resistance superpower, when fully activated, was supposed to boost his resistance by ten percent, reducing damage taken by ten percent.
But now, He discovered that when maxed out, it increased his resistance by twenty percent—a full ten percent more than expected. This was likely a change brought by his time-traveller identity.
Though a passively triggered superpower, resistance still consumed star power once activated.
Gu Zhen and Li Meng rapidly closed the distance.
Gauging the range, he activated Instant Step, instantly appearing in front of Li Meng. He clenched his fist and swung hard at her abdomen.
Though Charm Eyes was primarily a mental-type superpower, it was also a pupil skill, granting some enhancement to her dynamic vision.
Li Meng reacted instantly, sidestepping the punch. At the same time, she slammed a palm toward Gu Zhen chest.
Physical-type star skill: [Shadow Force Palm]
Unable to look directly at Li Meng eyes, he couldn't react in time. The palm struck him squarely, sending him sliding back several meters uncontrollably.
Li Meng followed up relentlessly, exploiting the fact that Gu Zhen dared not look directly at her. She kept targeting his blind spots, overwhelming him with swift attacks.
Gu Zhen had no choice but to retreat repeatedly, eventually getting forced to the edge of the battle platform.
Falling off would mean an automatic loss
Yet, he still didn't dare look up at Li Meng eyes. He could only cross his arms to shield his head, trying to minimize the damage.
Seeing Gu Zhen thoroughly suppressed, the students below believed the match was decided. Unable to look at Li Meng eyes, he was completely dominated—how could he possibly turn it around?
"Didn't expect Li Meng to be so strong in physical techniques on top of her superpowr. She's incredible."
"How much star stones did that cost? I've seen her use several star skills already, all different."
"Learning so many star skills in such a short time—she must've used a ton of star skill stones."
…..
Even with multiple star skill stones, once a star martial artist had fully learned a skill, absorbing more insights only increased their proficiency up to a limit—maximum mastery, but never perfection. If the insight wasn't internalized, it was always borrowed power—shallow and superficial.
Li Meng grew a bit impatient seeing Gu Zhen still resisting. She didn't know how much longer he could hold out.
The problem was, as she kept attacking, his resistance had shifted from mental to physical. Yet he refused to look at her, rendering her superpower useless.
If she burned too much star power, even potions couldn't restore it quickly.
With that in mind, Li Meng decided to use her strongest physical-type star skill to knock Gu Zhen off the platform in one blow.
She stepped back half a pace, channeling star power into her left leg as a pivot. Her body twisted right, and her right leg swept fiercely toward Gu Zhen.
But at that moment, Gu Zhen suddenly reached out, precisely grabbing her calf. Using her momentum, he flung her off the platform.
A thin water membrane appeared, catching Li Meng safely.
Match over. Winner: Gu Yi
Li Meng was still stunned, not understanding how she had lost when she had clearly held the advantage the whole time.
Hearing the announcement, Gu Zhen clapped the dust off his hands and walked off the stage.
All the beatings were worth it—he had finally found the opening.
While taking the hits, he'd been silently observing and memorizing her skill and patterns. People always had habits when they attacked. He had been waiting for just the right moment.
When he saw her step back, he immediately guessed she was about to use a kick. The moment her right leg lifted, he calculated the angle and used her own momentum against her.
Even if she hadn't changed her tactic, he was already close to figuring out how to deal with her moves. Then he could've just closed his eyes and countered with a clean combo.
This wasn't hard for him. He had plenty of combat experience in his past life—coming up with counters was second nature to him.
And even if he had failed, it wouldn't have meant instant loss. He still had Iron Fist up his sleeve.
All he needed was a little more time to swap his resistance back to mental, and with his mid-tier level one mental strength, he could tank a few seconds.
That would be his moment to strike.
The only downside was that his Iron Fist would be exposed early.
After securing the victory, he went straight to the healing-type star warrior nearby.
Their duties included not only saving the critically injured but also helping wounded participants recover combat ability quickly.
"Relax, your injuries aren't severe. You'll recover quickly, said Wang Qinghe after examining him. She placed a hand on his chest and activated a star technique.
"Water-Type Star skill: Aqua Heal"
Soon, Gu Zhen felt the burning sensation in his chest fade rapidly, and his other wounds healed quickly as well.
Before long, he felt fully restored
Thank you, he said softly. He might not always have tangible rewards for those who helped him, but he always gave verbal gratitude—cost nothing, after all.
Once his injuries were healed, he rested for a while. Since he hadn't used any star skill or superpower, his energy consumption was low. His star energy quickly replenished.
By that time, the second round of matches had ended, and the third round was about to begin.
Only thirteen participants remained—most with E-rank superpowers. Only Gu Zhen and one other lucky fellow still had F-rank superpower.
Platform 1: Gu Yi vs. Zhu Hang;
Platform 2: Zhou Xin vs. Han Le;
Platform 3…
Platform 4…
Seeing the familiar name, Gu Zhen instinctively glanced at a short, chubby kid—Zhu Hang, the extremely lucky guy.
Seeing he was matched against Gu Zhen, Zhu Hang mood didn't change much. He knew he should've been eliminated long ago; reaching this point was pure luck.
Against any of the remaining twelve, he'd lose all the same. He'd already decided to surrender to anyone he faced, lying flat with no pressure.