Zhen

Zhen is a confident Earthborn beast-weapon student placed in charge of a group sent to demonstrate the gap between their class and Quinn's pupils. His effort to force Shiro into submission creates a rivalry that damages his public reputation and culminates in Sil nearly tearing him apart. (Chapters 989–1005)

Biography

Intimidating Quinn's class

Teacher Aden leaves Zhen in charge of five Earthborn students and expects them to demonstrate superior training. Zhen instead proposes that Quinn's class deliberately lose the coming competition, presenting coercion as a favour. When Shiro refuses, Zhen challenges him, activates his own weapon, restrains him with vines, and continues beating him until Erlen intervenes. (Chapters 989–990)

Zhen's actions go unreported to Aden because Quinn and Shiro intend to answer them personally. The secrecy preserves Zhen's confidence, and he enters the inter-house event believing the earlier result proves his superiority. His intimidation also strains his relationship with Erlen, whom Zhen accuses of selfishness when the other student refuses to follow the team's plan. (Chapters 992–995)

The disputed rematch

In the rematch, Zhen first forces the Graylash competitor to forfeit so he can face Shiro alone. He uses fast-growing roots to block pursuit, an intermediate beast sword for physical enhancement, and concealed armour to absorb blows. Shiro cuts through the plants and forces Zhen to exhaust his MC reserve, leaving him unable to use the ability. (Chapter 996)

Zhen stays upright behind his armour and lands a technical win only when Shiro pauses after being splashed with his blood. Spectators nevertheless regard Shiro as the true victor because Zhen has to be carried away while Shiro walks out. The resulting ridicule becomes more important to Zhen than the official result. (Chapters 996 and 999)

Retaliation and Sil's attack

Paranoid that other students are calling him a false winner, Zhen hurls a heavy training ball at Shiro in the canteen. It misses and breaks Sil's disguise, causing Sil to retaliate with telekinesis. Zhen suffers broken chest bones and both shoulders are dislocated while Sil pulls at his limbs; Peter forces Sil to release him before he is killed. (Chapters 1003–1004)

Zhen remains alive when the academy reviews the incident, and Sach chooses not to pursue the dispute further. The corpus does not show Zhen's recovery, disciplinary outcome, later training, or response to the near-fatal consequences of his aggression. (Chapter 1005)

Appearance and personality

Zhen is a tall, muscular student with strong shoulders, bushy straight eyebrows, and neat hair that sticks slightly outward. He routinely carries a beast sword at his left side and wears armour during the competition. No eye colour, exact age, uniform details, or later appearance is supplied. (Chapters 989 and 995–996)

He is confident, domineering, competitive, and acutely sensitive to humiliation. Zhen can frame threats as concern, values team victory when others obey him, and persists through pain, but he becomes reckless when public opinion challenges his self-image. (Chapters 989–990 and 995–1004)

Powers and abilities

Plant ability

Zhen can produce vines, roots, trunks, and rapidly growing branches. He restrains Shiro's limbs, catches a Graylash opponent by the ankle, and erects repeated plant barriers to create distance. The ability is effective for control and battlefield obstruction, but cut branches can be cleared and sustained rapid growth drains his MC cells. (Chapters 990 and 996)

During the rematch, panic makes Zhen spend MC faster than he realises. Once the reserve is exhausted, he can no longer produce plants and must rely on his weapon and armour. The corpus gives no ability level, origin book, maximum range, elemental interaction, or later improvement. (Chapter 996)

Beast weapons and armour

Zhen owns an intermediate-tier sword between short- and long-sword length. Activating it increases his physical statistics and lets him dash and strike faster while leaving one hand free for his plant ability. He also wears family-backed beast armour capable of absorbing repeated weapon strikes, although Shiro's Hammer Strike transmits enough force through it to make him cough blood. (Chapters 990 and 996)

He has competent aim, sword parries, and enough physical strength to lift Erlen by the collar. These skills do not protect him from Sil's much stronger telekinesis, which breaks bones and dislocates his arms before intervention. No named weapon skill or latest combat state is shown after the canteen attack. (Chapters 995–996 and 1003–1004)

Relationships

• Shiro: Zhen bullies Shiro, fights him twice, and becomes obsessed with disproving the public view that Shiro won their rematch. (Chapters 989–1003)
• Sil: Zhen accidentally breaks Sil's disguise while targeting Shiro, prompting Sil's near-fatal retaliation. (Chapters 1003–1004)
• Aden: Aden trusts Zhen to lead the demonstration group and supports him in the competition, but does not know about the first beating. (Chapters 989 and 992–996)
• Erlen: Erlen restrains Zhen's worst attack on Shiro and refuses to follow his competitive plan, producing mutual hostility. (Chapters 989–990 and 994–995)

Items

No manifest-configured inventory item is assigned to Zhen. His intermediate beast sword, competition armour, and training ball are unnamed equipment rather than catalogue items.