The news of Gaurav's "One-Punch Miracle" spread through the Azure Sky Academy like wildfire. But while the common students were gossiping, the elite circles were skeptical.
In the center of the academy stood the Frozen Lotus Pavilion, where the academy's number one genius, Princess Elara, was practicing. She was known as the "Ice Beauty"—not just for her freezing cultivation, but for her cold, untouchable heart.
"Princess, I've heard that the 'Trash Teacher' Gaurav has suddenly gained mysterious powers," her maid reported, trembling.
Elara didn't even open her eyes. "A drop of luck doesn't make an ocean. He is a fluke."
Just then, the doors of the pavilion were kicked open. BANG!
Gaurav walked in, picking his teeth with a small wooden splinter. He looked around the pristine, expensive pavilion and made a face as if he had just smelled something rotten.
"Who allowed you into my private sanctuary?" Elara's eyes snapped open, a chilling frost creeping across the floor toward Gaurav's boots.
Gaurav didn't even flinch. He jumped over the frost and sat on her jade table, crossing his legs comfortably. "First of all, this 'sanctuary' smells like a wet freezer. Second, I'm here because the Principal told me to fix the 'broken' students, and apparently, you're at the top of the list."
"Broken?!" Elara stood up, her aura exploding. "I am at the peak of the Foundation Realm! My 'Arctic Flow' technique is flawless!"
Gaurav burst out laughing, almost falling off the table. "Flawless? Sweetheart, your technique is so full of holes that a sieve looks solid compared to it. Every time you circulate your energy, your left elbow goes numb, doesn't it? And at midnight, you feel a burning sensation in your chest instead of cold?"
Elara froze. The anger on her face turned into pure shock. "How... how do you know that?"
[Archive of Eternal Truth - Scanning...]
Target: Elara (High-Tier Talent)
Diagnosis: Cold-Heart Syndrome (Energy backflow due to prideful breathing).
Flaws: 89.
Gaurav's Solution: Make her run 10 laps around the pavilion while holding a bucket of hot water without spilling a drop.
"I know because I have eyes, and you... well, you only have ego," Gaurav said, jumping down. He walked up to her, invading her personal space until she could smell the apple he had eaten earlier. "If you want to reach the next realm, stop acting like a princess and start acting like a student."
"And if I refuse?" Elara hissed, though her voice lacked its usual bite.
"Then stay a 'Genius' who will be paralyzed by the age of twenty," Gaurav shrugged, turning to leave. "I don't waste my time on people who love their flaws more than their lives. Bye-bye, Ice Cube!"
"Wait!" Elara called out, her pride warring with her survival instinct. "If... if I do what you say, can you really fix me?"
Gaurav stopped at the door, glancing back over his shoulder with a smirk that was both infuriating and magnetic.
"Fix you? Girl, I'm going to make you a Goddess. But only if you're ready to be my errand girl for a month. Now, go grab two buckets of hot water. The sun is wasting my time!"
For the first time in her life, the proud Princess Elara found herself moving not to attack, but to obey.