Minors

After finishing his meal, Su Yu picked up his textbooks and academy uniform, then returned to the Character Cultivation Garden. By now, people were gradually arriving in the neighboring rooms as well. Xia Huyou no longer seemed like the shrewd merchant who had just been discussing deals worth thousands or even tens of thousands of merit points. He immediately darted off to strike up conversations, bustling around to help the new arrivals clean their rooms. *** Inside his own room, Su Yu spread out his bedding, opened the window to let fresh air in, and sat down on the sofa with a faint sigh of relief. Everything was finally settled. Once Xia Huyou delivered the items tomorrow, he could unleash his full efforts and cultivate at top speed. With five drops of Wanshi Realm blood essence, would the Ironwing Bird page reactivate? Su Yu did not know. Whether it did or not, cultivating with Wanshi Realm blood essence was bound to be faster than using Qianjun Realm essence. Moreover, the ambient yuanqi in the Great Xia Prefecture was already far denser than in Nanyuan. Even without any external aids, Su Yu felt his cultivation progress would be swift. Without him even deliberately cultivating, he could feel streams of yuanqi being absorbed into his acupoints. In such an environment, Su Yu was certain that even without the Illustrated Guide to the Myriad Races, reaching the sixth or seventh stage of the Kaiyuan Realm over these past few years would have posed little challenge. That was why, in Su Yu's eyes, any student here in the Great Xia Prefecture who came from an ordinary family and had failed to reach the sixth or seventh stage of Kaiyuan suffered from exceedingly poor talent. As Su Yu was lost in thought, a knock sounded at the door. He opened it. Standing outside was a middle-aged man. Seeing Su Yu open the door, he skipped the pleasantries and spoke briskly. "I'm a member of the Building 3 guard team. Going forward, only you are permitted to enter and leave your dorm room—no bringing outside guests! In addition, our team will be responsible for course announcements and scheduling notices. "If you need cleaning services, you can contact our guard team. We'll arrange someone to clean your room for three thousand dollars a month. For laundry, there's a laundromat downstairs... All expenses can be settled with your merit card or academy card." The middle-aged man spoke rapidly and with practiced ease, clearly having recited this speech many times before. As Su Yu absorbed the information, his first thought was that Xia Huyou was doomed to go bankrupt! From this moment on, that fellow's cleaning business was practically finished. That blow had landed fast! "Also, you freshmen have nothing scheduled for this afternoon. You can gather downstairs at three o'clock, and someone from the guard team will take you on a tour of the academy." The man paused, then added, "Starting tomorrow, you will choose the colleges you wish to enroll in and quickly determine your choice of instructors." Building 3 was home to top talents; most residents in the Character Cultivation Garden were high-grade students. Naturally, there were also a few medium-grade students among them. All of them had reached the Character Cultivation stage, though some had not yet outlined a complete divine character, which kept them from securing a high enough score during the assessment to make the high grade. "Understood. Thank you," Su Yu said. The middle-aged man said no more, immediately moving on to knock on the next door. Before long, Su Yu heard someone shouting loudly in the corridor: "The cleaning service provided by the guard team is a total waste of time! You have to submit an application and wait for them to assign someone. If you're in the room, you'll have to wait an hour or two—is spending an hour or two with a stranger really enjoyable? "Hire me, and I'll resolve your issues within five minutes! What's more, I clean better than they do—spotless, with zero blind spots! "It's a little pricier, sure, but quality comes with a cost! There are discounts for monthly packages, and annual plans are even cheaper!" "..." Inside his room, Su Yu was torn between tears and laughter. That fellow clearly refused to throw in the towel and was still putting up a fight. Then again, maybe some wealthy students really would hire him. It was definitely expensive, but in the Advanced or Superior areas, those rich students would probably be more than willing to pay, simply because he worked so fast. Those tycoons would hardly care about the money. If they cared, would they have spent a hundred merit points just to stay in the Superior area? *** Paying no more attention to Xia Huyou, Su Yu stayed in his room and continued reading the Great Xia Academy General Handbook. When three o'clock approached, Su Yu went downstairs. *** Downstairs. Quite a few students had gathered. A middle-aged man in his forties stepped forward and introduced himself. "I'm Chen Feng, leader of the Building 3 guard team. This afternoon, I will be showing you around the academy." Su Yu's eyes narrowed. This Chen Feng gave him the sensation of a dazzling point of light. The yuanqi gathered around him was piercingly bright—a sign of someone at or above the Wanshi Realm. The Wanshi Realm? Or even stronger? The guard team was essentially just campus security guarding a single building, yet the academy assigned a Wanshi Realm cultivator to it? Su Yu sensed it, and naturally, the other students did as well. Almost all of them were in the Character Cultivation stage. While their combat strength might not be formidable, their perception was far keener than that of warriors. One of the students spoke up, "Captain Chen, what's your cultivation level? We're a bit curious—would you mind telling us?" Chen Feng swept a glance across the students and smiled faintly. "Wanshi seventh stage. There are five members in the Building 3 guard team in total. Aside from me, the other four are also in the Wanshi Realm. We belong to the Character Cultivation Garden Security Corps, which consists of three hundred-man units in total. The academy places great importance on you, so the security corps assigned to the Character Cultivation Garden is stronger than those in other areas." This place was packed with geniuses! Aside from a few vital secret realms, the Character Cultivation Garden was the most crucial place in the entire academy. If anyone were to wipe out the Character Cultivation Garden in one fell swoop, the Civilization Academy's legacy would be completely severed, because all of their high-grade talents would be gone! A Wanshi seventh-stage cultivator leading a team just to guard a single building—such treatment was unimaginable in Nanyuan. Chen Feng did not dwell on the matter. Checking the time, he said, "That seems to be everyone. The other students might already be familiar with the grounds. Follow me, and don't wander off." *** Not many students followed Chen Feng on the tour—fewer than fifty in total. Su Yu did not know how many people lived in Building 3, but at full capacity, it could house a hundred and twenty. Xia Huyou was nowhere to be seen in the crowd. That guy was already familiar with the place, so he probably had had no interest in joining. "The academy is divided into eight major zones. Those of you who've read the general handbook should already know this. Today, I'll primarily show you the Teaching Area, the Preaching Area, and the Secret Realm Area. "The Character Cultivation Garden belongs to the Residential Area. Once you exit it, you'll enter the residential quarters for standard students..." Chen Feng lacked the flair of a tour guide, keeping his explanations brief and straightforward. Once they left the Character Cultivation Garden, they entered the Teaching Area. The Teaching Area was immense, filled with numerous buildings. The Cangshu Pavilion and the library were both located here. Chen Feng merely had them glance up from the base of the buildings without entering, as access required a fee. Aside from Su Yu's group, several other groups were touring the academy as well. They were presumably this year's new freshmen. Before long, Chen Feng led everyone to an older building. People were bustling in and out around it. Chen Feng turned and said, "Some of you might already know what this place is. This is the Top 100 Building! "The academy specifically set aside an entire building to serve the students on the Top 100 Rankings! "They take missions, cultivate, accept challenges... all within this building!" Chen Feng smiled. "A student's greatest dream is to step inside this building and become one of them. Ranked students and ordinary students are two entirely different concepts in this academy. Among the students on the Top 100 Rankings from the previous session, a full sixteen broke through to the Tengkong Realm this past June!" Chen Feng sighed with emotion. "From that alone, you can see the prestige of the Top 100 Rankings! Among this session's ranked students, quite a few will likely graduate by next year as well." Su Yu felt a bit puzzled and asked, "Captain Chen, are the Top 100 Rankings compiled only once a year?" "No." Chen Feng shook his head and smiled. "The Top 100 Rankings are updated once a month. When I said sixteen graduated, they didn't necessarily graduate at the same time. We calculate based on the roster over a one-year period. For example, next year's figure will be tracked starting from the July roster and tally how many students on the list graduate by June of next year. "On the third of every month, the rankings are recalculated, updated, and published. Students not on the board can issue challenges between the third and the twenty-fifth. After the twenty-fifth, the ranked students no longer accept challenges." Beside Su Yu, a tall, thin student asked, "Captain Chen, I heard issuing a challenge requires ten merit points. Isn't that too expensive?" "It's to ensure you have some self-awareness!" Chen Feng replied coolly, "Without a sense of self-awareness, people would blindly challenge the ranked students day in and day out. Don't the top hundred students need to cultivate? Ten merit points per loss teaches you a lesson! If you're wealthy enough, you're welcome to challenge ten times a day—someone will certainly take you up on it!" This was a threshold: win, and you got your merit points back; lose, and they were gone. It prevented overzealous students lacking self-awareness from issuing daily challenges, which would leave the top hundred students with no time to cultivate. The tall, thin student pressed further, "Do we have to start challenging from rank one hundred?" "No. You can challenge anyone from ranks ninety-one to a hundred. Once you defeat one and enter the board, you can challenge the ten ranks above you, and so on. If you want to challenge the top ten, you must first reach the top twenty yourself!" With that, Chen Feng added, "The Top 100 Rankings are essentially a combat strength ranking. The academy maintains other ranking boards as well, which you can try out. You don't necessarily have to challenge the Top 100 Rankings; before graduating from a Civilization Academy, combat prowess isn't the sole metric." The Top 100 Rankings primarily evaluated combat power. Some students had virtually no combat capability prior to graduation, which made such rankings unfair to them. Those pursuing the paths of divine pills or weapon forging were notoriously weak in combat during their early stages. Just then, a young man with a crew cut strode out of the building with powerful, confident steps. Looking straight ahead, he did not spare a glance toward Chen Feng's group. Chen Feng, however, hastily stepped aside and murmured, "Out of the way!" The students scrambled to clear a path. The crew-cut youth did not look at them at all, walking past with eyes fixed forward, quickly leaving the area. "A top-ten student!" Only after the youth had departed did Chen Feng speak up. "Ranked sixth, Jiang Mu. Extremely formidable—Wanshi sixth stage, peak Character Cultivation." Chuckling self-deprecatingly, he continued, "Don't look down on his physical cultivation being merely at the Wanshi sixth stage. If I fought him, I wouldn't last thirty seconds." The students' hearts tightened. Chen Feng was at the Wanshi seventh stage, certainly a powerful expert in his own right. Yet a late-stage Wanshi cultivator couldn't even last thirty seconds against Jiang Mu. Chen Feng had admitted this himself, not repeated it as secondhand gossip, and by his expression, he was not merely flattering the youth. A student hurriedly asked, "Captain Chen, what about Zhan Hai, the one ranked first? How strong is he?" "Zhan Hai?" Chen Feng smiled. "You lot need to keep your feet on the ground. Don't worry about Zhan Hai for now. He once fought a Tengkong Realm expert and didn't lose." Didn't lose! Did that mean he had won? No one knew whether it had ended in a victory or a draw, but they were all thoroughly shaken. This was a genius capable of battling the Tengkong Realm. In the crowd, someone murmured enviously, "Then the Top 100 Building is our goal. I hope we can step inside soon." "..." Chen Feng smiled without dampening their spirits. How many students were there in the academy? Over ten thousand under the age of thirty alone! And only a hundred made the board! Students typically enrolled at age eighteen, meaning the Top 100 Rankings drew from twelve cohorts of students. Some elite geniuses had naturally stepped into the Tengkong Realm over the years. Yet ordinary geniuses from twelve years ago were now terrifyingly strong as well. Under normal circumstances, even high-grade geniuses needed three years after enrolling before having any hope of breaking into the Top 100 Rankings—and that was only the cream of the crop. "Don't underestimate the ranked students. Even the one in last place has combat power close to the peak of the Wanshi third stage!" Chen Feng cautioned, "Those in the top fifty possess strength around the fifth or sixth stage of Wanshi. Those in the top thirty are nearly all at the seventh stage or higher, while the top ten can all be considered peak Wanshi!" Hearing this, the students felt a wave of discouragement. Even the lowest rank approached the middle stage of Wanshi; making the Top 100 Rankings was indeed daunting. "Enough looking at the Top 100 Building. I'll take you to the perimeter of the Secret Realm Area. You aren't permitted inside just yet..." Chen Feng led everyone away from the Top 100 Building, though many kept looking back over their shoulders. As high-grade geniuses for the most part, they naturally possessed their share of ambition. No one was content with mediocrity! *** They couldn't glean much from the Secret Realm Area, as they were only allowed to tour the perimeter and could not enter. Su Yu's greatest takeaway was simply that there were so many experts! Along the way, they crossed paths with several researchers, each of whom appeared as a radiant beacon of light. The glare was so intense that he dared not probe them with willpower; before his willpower could even reach them, it showed signs of collapsing. At the Civilization Academy, even the weakest researchers were in the Tengkong Realm. As for the All-Races Training Academy, Su Yu's group did not visit it and saw no non-human students. Those students did not share a residential zone with Su Yu and the others; instead, they were situated near the faculty residential quarters. Clearly, the academy feared trouble and had stationed them there deliberately. That area was truly a gathering of powerhouses, brimming with experts above the Tengkong Realm. If anyone dared cause trouble there, hundreds of Tengkong cultivators would descend upon them in an instant. *** After wandering for over an hour, Su Yu and the others finally returned to their dormitory building. That evening, after grabbing a simple bite to eat, Su Yu began cultivating and reading. At the academy, everything ultimately hinged on strength. Earning merit points required strength, obtaining resources required strength, standing tall required strength... Without strength, one was nothing. Chen Feng, a Wanshi seventh-stage expert, had yielded the path to Jiang Mu, the sixth-ranked student, acting even more cautiously than he would toward an ordinary researcher. Researchers generally did not mind such trivialities, but hot-blooded youths might well flare up into conflict. Men like Chen Feng were seasoned veterans, so they were often more circumspect when dealing with these students than with researchers. That was another reason why ranked students commanded such envy—they carried immense prestige. At the moment, Su Yu had no yuanqi liquid left, and he was reluctant to squander his single remaining drop of blood essence. Tonight, he focused primarily on reading. He studied the Thunder Yuan Saber. Having mastered the second slash, Su Yu was currently examining the third. Unfortunately, as time passed, the subtle, profound essence in the third slash had faded significantly. As for the fourth slash... Su Yu had glanced at it and could barely make out a faint trace of mystery, but from the fifth slash onward, he could discern nothing at all; it seemed no different from a regular book. "Thunder Yuan Saber, Third Slash—Thunderburst!" "Requires opening sixteen acupoints to cultivate." By now, Su Yu had already opened twelve acupoints for the Thunder Yuan Saber, requiring four more. Su Yu merely read through it without intending to cultivate it right away. Opening four acupoints for the Thunder Yuan Saber to master the third slash was far less practical than opening the remaining three acupoints for the War God Art. If he chose not to pursue the genius edition, he could advance to the Qianjun Realm in short order. Unleashing the second slash in the Qianjun Realm was vastly more potent than executing the third slash in the Kaiyuan Realm. "I need to read it several more times. If I don't, this thing will be completely ruined soon." Su Yu felt a pang of heartache. Bai Feng's copy of the Kaiyuan Art was already depleted; if the Thunder Yuan Saber was ruined as well, the loss would be immense. Su Yu spent the entire night immersed in his reading. Deciphering the third slash was somewhat grueling, yet it was also a form of willpower contest—the finest method for tempering his willpower. Before reaching the Tengkong Realm, students were unable to practice the Civilization Academy's Ten Thousand Characters Classic. At present, Su Yu's willpower was close to thirty percent full, far stronger than when he had first met Bai Feng. All of this was tied to the shattered original Qianjun manual, as well as his continuous study of the Kaiyuan Art and the Thunder Yuan Saber. Once he reached the Character Cultivation stage, his strength would undergo a leap. At that point, the power of his divine character would surge dramatically. *** While Su Yu was engrossed in studying the Thunder Yuan Saber, the Instruction Building was brightly lit. A heated discussion was underway. "This year, our Divine Pill faction has to get at least a few top-tier monsters, right?" "We can't keep funneling people to the Willpower College and Divine Character College year after year!" "Exactly! The rest of our colleges are practically wasting away. You dump the medium- and low-grade students on us, while the high-grade and monster-class students end up in those two colleges. If this continues, our legacy will be severed sooner or later!" With the arrival of the new class, the various colleges had grown anxious. According to past custom, monster-class geniuses and top-high talents overwhelmingly chose the Divine Character College and the Willpower College. A shortage of successors and an inability to sustain their ranks—that was the glaring drawback facing the other colleges. Although fresh batches of students arrived every year, the best were always swept up by those two colleges. The others were deeply aggrieved, yet powerless to stop it. The meeting was presided over not by Wan Tiansheng, but by the Third Vice Head, Su Ziming. At this moment, the old man had quite a headache. Looking at the clamoring researchers around him, he slapped the table and barked, "Quiet down, all of you! "High-grade students enjoy the freedom of choice. It's not as though we can force them into whichever college we please! "The Divine Character and Willpower colleges recruit so many because of their own capability. If you refuse to step up, what do you expect me to do about it?" Su Ziming continued with clear displeasure, "Every single one of you only knows how to enter closed-door cultivation or hole up in your research labs! Every year, the Divine Character and Willpower colleges send people out to recruit high-grade students. What about you? If you don't put in the effort yourselves, do you expect the students to magically choose you? "Over the next two days, the students will finalize their college selections. Find your own ways to recruit them! If you keep slacking off... your colleges will be abolished sooner or later, and we might as well merge them into the major colleges!" At those words, someone immediately spoke up. "Elder Su, our hands are tied! Divine characters and willpower show tangible results when it comes to combat power. Take our Divine Pill faction—we've displayed plenty of pills, and powerful ones at that, but what do the students think?" The elderly speaker said gloomily, "Their only thought is: 'So expensive! Once I get stronger and earn more merit points, I'll buy pills like this too!' Barely anyone thinks about learning to concoct pills themselves!" The room erupted into laughter. A burly man nearby fumed, "The same goes for our Beast Taming College! No matter how formidable a beast we showcase, all those little bastards think is, 'Once I'm rich, I'll have the Beast Taming College supply me with powerful beasts.' Nobody thinks about raising them themselves!" "The Divine Talisman College is in the exact same boat. They think the same way—just buy them with money, why bother cultivating single-use divine characters yourself..." Everyone voiced their grievances! A moment later, the old man from the Divine Pill College spoke up. "This is all because of the Xia Trading Company! They've pushed their business right into the academy—covert deals, black-market sales, opening up resources. It gives the students the impression that as long as they have money, they can buy anything! "I propose a strict crackdown!" The old man said sternly, "Right now, while the freshmen have just arrived, let's launch a crackdown! Wipe out all these black-market transactions within the academy! Strictly enforce the merit tier system so they realize that money alone can't buy these resources! "Otherwise, if this goes on, every college besides the primary combat colleges will be finished!" "Hear, hear! We must crack down!" Someone immediately chimed in, "Target the Xia Trading Company above all! Crush their black-market trade, dismantle every black market in the academy, and hike the supply prices of divine pills, talismans, and mounts sold to the Xia Trading Company. Let's see if they still think money lets them run wild!" "Precisely! Increase the supply prices! Force the students to find ways to become self-sufficient!" Seeing them red-faced and yelling, Su Ziming sighed helplessly. "Hike supply prices? Given the Xia Trading Company's character, that cost will simply be passed onto the students in the end." "Exactly! Make the students feel the pinch! If black-market trades offer no margin and they're forced to exchange at the academy, they'll find themselves short on merit points and lacking the required merit tier. That's when our colleges can roll out internal student discounts—the students will naturally flock to us!" The old man from the Divine Pill faction grinned. "A twenty-percent discount on divine pills for students in our college—do you think they won't flood in?" "..." Everyone chimed in, echoing agreement with the old man's idea. Su Ziming rubbed his temples, speaking only after a long pause. "Cracking down on black-market transactions is fine, and internal discount pricing is fine too. But if you force students to join your colleges like that, their bodies may be present, but their hearts won't..." After pondering for a moment, Su Ziming said, "Recently, I've been discussing a proposal with the academy head: allowing students to take a minor in a second discipline!" Su Ziming continued solemnly, "Aside from primary combat disciplines, it's beneficial for students to possess an auxiliary craft. If the academy opens up the option to minor in a second field, the students will become more versatile and well-rounded..." At these words, many eyes flickered. Someone said, "Elder Su, minoring in a second discipline isn't a new topic! But from past experience, taking a minor drains a vast amount of energy, often leaving students lagging behind on both fronts. How do we resolve that?" Cultivation was an inherently time-consuming endeavor. While having an extra craft was beneficial, there was a high risk of dragging down both pursuits. Su Ziming smiled. "For now, we'll only open it to high-grade students. High-grade students possess exceptional talent, ample aptitude, and abundant resources. As such, they'll have the bandwidth to invest in both a major and a minor. "As for medium- and low-grade students, you aren't lacking in those anyway. Isn't it high-grade students you're after?" Su Ziming smiled. "In that case, how about we temporarily restrict it to high-grade students?" The crowd exchanged glances. Soon, someone asked, "Will students taking a minor also count as our students?" "Yes!" "Will their accomplishments count toward our college's achievements?" "Yes!" "Can researchers in the minor college take them on as disciples?" Many eyes lit up as they pressed, "They usually have an instructor for their major courses. For their minor courses, can they take another master?" Su Ziming raised an eyebrow. "As long as neither side objects, there's no issue! However, each student may choose at most one minor discipline." He added, "Students from your colleges may also choose minors in other fields. I know quite a few students in Divine Pill, Divine Talisman, and similar colleges wish to branch out into other systems." The crowd nodded, though someone voiced uncertainty. "Elder Su, will Academy Head Wan agree?" "He will!" Su Ziming replied, "The academy is currently experimenting with structural reforms. Some old rules may no longer suit the academy of today! Back when the minor system failed, it was primarily because we didn't have as many talented students as we do now, the academy's resources weren't as vast, and student numbers were smaller, leading to poor results. "Things are different now..." Su Ziming continued, "The collision of different systems might help students progress faster, drawing connections and broadening their horizons. You must realize that for so many years... the academy hasn't produced a single expert beyond the Shanhai Realm!" Su Ziming let out a soft sigh. "We've also been reflecting on whether this stagnation is due to excessive specialization. Back when we could produce figures beyond Shanhai, most of them were versed in a hundred arts. We have failed to produce someone beyond Shanhai for so long—could it be because the academy has divided its disciplines too narrowly...?" Silence fell over the room. Was that truly the reason? They did not know. Yet in recent years, the academy's distinct compartmentalization had indeed accelerated the students' early growth; their initial progress was rapid, but in the later stages, they invariably ran out of steam. The academy's mid- and low-tier strength had grown increasingly formidable! Yet its top-tier power showed no sign of expanding. Su Ziming sighed. "Let's give it another try. I also want to see how the students evolve under a minor curriculum. In fact, that includes ourselves—I suggest you all pick up an auxiliary craft as well. Otherwise, taking that next step... will be exceedingly difficult!" "Elder Su, will it really work?" "We'll only know by trying!" Su Ziming said softly, "Isn't reform all about feeling our way through experimentation? Everyone should understand Academy Head Wan's stance by now: we have enough mid- and low-tier strength. What we need are elites—the topmost elites, those with hope of rising above the Shanhai Realm! "To put it bluntly... even if a few graduating cohorts are ruined in the process of reform, if we can forge a path beyond the Shanhai Realm... it will be well worth it! "A single expert beyond the Shanhai Realm... is worth ten thousand students!" Su Ziming's concluding words carried a chill. Throughout the reform, everything was an experiment, and none of them knew what the outcome would be. Yet if it could produce a single cultivator beyond the Shanhai Realm, even sacrificing ten cohorts of students would be worth the cost.