“AHH! FUCK THAT KID’S GRANDMOTHER!” Shuxue roared, pounding the ground with his fists as he cried in despair. “My Parabola jade slip! I was already thinking about all the secluded meditation I could do with it.”

He wiped his tears from his eyes, staring forlornly at all his completed problem sets. It had been four days since the fight, and he had immersed himself in the Mathematical Laws to take his mind off the resulting depression. Now that he had finished all his problem sets, his frustrations came roaring back.

“How dare that Zhujiao be so strong!” Shuxue fumed. “He should’ve just rolled over and let me have the Parabola jade slip. It wouldn’t have done him any lasting harm.”

“Hey, wait a moment.” Shuxue looked at the teeming pile of waste in the corner. “I told Xiaobai to get one of the Outer Circle disciples to clean this up. Why’s it still here? Oh, right, I was heavily immersed in my meditation when the disciple came.”

Sighing, Shuxue rolled the rock covering his cave out. He needed a breath of fresh air to calm his mind.

“Elder disciple Shuxue! Elder disciple Shuxue!” A high-pitched voice irritated Shuxue’s ear. It was Nupu, that stinking little brat again.

“What is it this time!” Shuxue shouted. Turning, he walked around a bend in the mountain to see Nupu outside his Immortal’s cave. Nupu shrieked and fell on the ground, frothing at the mouth. Shuxue was, once again, not wearing any clothes.

Half an hour later, Nupu got up. For some reason, when she saw the inside of Shuxue’s cave, she insisted on staying outside.

“An Arith-arithmetic dun-jun ma-ma-ma-teh-”

“Give me that, you stupid girl.” Shuxue snatched the paper out of Nupu’s hands, reading it for himself.

“An Arithmetic dungeon materialized a hundred li from the Sector. Elder disciple Shuxue is tasked with guard duty for the venture.

Sincerely,

Sector Master Dong Feiliao (meaning: Manure)”

Shuxue read it again several times before crumpling it up and throwing it on the ground.

“AHHHH! Is this my punishment for costing that old pedophile a thousand Arithmetic pearls? Fuck his grandmother! This is all Zhujiao’s fault for being so strong! I hate that guy!” Shuxue shouted, jumping up and down on the paper.

Shuxue had to accompany a horde of sniveling little shits to a lowly Arithmetic dungeon! This was a clear waste of time for an exalted expert like him of the early Algebra stage. What use could an Arithmetic dungeon possibly have for him? Clearly, this was just the Sector leader’s punishment for him losing the match against Zhujiao.

Sadly for the progress of mankind, Shuxue had to take time off his secluded meditation to serve as escort for the expedition to the lowly Arithmetic dungeon. He simply had no choice in the matter.

The next day, Shuxue and a group of thirty Outer Circle disciples piled onto a carpet. Sitting off to a corner was Zhujiao and Meinu. His eyes were closed as he calmly meditated, while Meinu was doing a problem set next to him. Her eyebrows were scrunched up, creating an expression that caused all the other children to marvel at her.

“Meinu is such a pretty girl. Why is she friends with someone like Zhujiao?”

“I love her pert butt, even though I’m twice her age.”

“I can’t get enough of her six-year old breasts. I could stare at them all day.”

Snorting to himself, Shuxue tuned out the babble and took out a problem set to review. This was all Zhujiao’s fault. If he wasn’t so strong, Shuxue wouldn’t have to sit here listening to meaningless nonsense.

“Hey, elder disciple Shuxue.” A small finger tapped his shoulder. It was a ten-year old boy whose name he couldn’t be bothered to remember. “Do you like math?”

Shuxue’s eyes bugged, and he tossed the problem set on the floor. “Are you retarded, stupid child? Of course I like math! I love math! There’s nothing better than studying its intricacies and symmetries!”

The boy nodded excitedly. “I love math too! To me, math is like a beautiful, fathomless woman. She plays hard-to-get, but the feeling you get when you finally conquer her is indescribably great! Am I right, elder disciple Shuxue?”

Shuxue’s hand reached out, delivering a loud slap to the boy. “Dumbass kid! You are actually comparing math to a lowly human female? Are you stupid out of your mind? Math is a divine creation, the embodiment of the world itself, and you’re comparing it to a brainless, mundane g-g-girl! How can the two even compare? This is why you’re still stuck at the Arithmetic stage! Let me tell you, you little shit. To liken math to a girl is like putting the cart before the horse. It would be much better, much more appropriate to liken a girl to math, if you like that girl so much. Not the other way around.”

The boy rubbed his cheek, sniffling. “Okay.”

The rest of the trip, which took a whole day, was spent with Shuxue sitting in a huffy silence. He couldn’t believe the stupidity of these brats he was stuck with. It was just too much for him.

“Pile off, dimwits.” Shuxue grumbled, pushing the children off the carpet as it floated down to the ground. “We’re here.”

They were outside the Arithmetic dungeon, a tall, gleaming white tower reaching for the sky. In front of them was the entrance to the Arithmetic dungeon, a rectangular opening ten meters tall and three meters wide. Atop the opening was a large “+-x/” sign, declaring the dungeon’s status as an Arithmetic dungeon. Next to the symbols was a giant number 5, signifying that the dungeon had 5 matrices to conquer for anyone who entered.

The Mathematical Laws were benevolent deities. They wished for their creations to gain knowledge into the Laws, and thus constantly spawned dungeons that would contain profound insights into the Laws. This Arithmetic dungeon was one of those!

Numerous other Sectors as well as independent Mathivators would generally visit an Arithmetic dungeon, as well. They all sought to pillage the Arithmetic dungeon for whatever it had. Even if it brought them no new knowledge, these Sectors didn’t want their competitors to get ahead, and also wanted to obtain the Arithmetic pearls that would be held inside. This time, however, there were only a few people from the Yellowcloud Sector, which was near the Brownwater Sector.

An old man twirling his waxed mustache stepped forward, smirking at Shuxue.

“If it isn’t the Brownwater Sector, late as usual! Talented disciple Shuxue, you had better watch yourself in there. Even Arithmetic dungeons can be fatal for these Outer Circle disciples of yours, heheh.”

Shuxue pushed the old man aside, sneering. “Out of my way, Yellowcloud fucker. Kids, let’s go! The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to my secluded meditation.”

The Brownwater disciples shuffled forward, following Shuxue into the dungeon. Zhujiao, who was bringing up the rear, gave the old man a death glare as he passed.