Chapter 34

Chapter 34

At Qinglang Academy, in the afternoon student council activity hall.

Several members of the Qinglang Student Council's Action Department, with feather insignias on their uniforms, were chatting casually.

"When will Xiao Wu's Wild Body injury heal up?"

"At least another fifteen days," one replied, taking a sip and griping to the team leader:

"If it weren't for accommodating those damn out-of-towners, Xiao Wu wouldn't have gotten hurt. And they're still here for another month—so annoying..."

"Ahem, watch your mouth," the team leader suddenly coughed, cutting off his teammate's remark.

The team member glanced up grudgingly, looked at the group approaching them, fell silent, and looked away in a huff.

The Three Great Academies' uniforms looked pretty similar, with differences mainly in their signature colors and patterns. Unlike the green-black uniforms of Qinglang Academy, the bunch walking over wore black-red uniforms—they were exchange students from Zherang Academy.

Leading them was a handsome guy with a mild-mannered vibe—Song Zhi, the student council president of Zherang Academy. The students following him were all top juniors from the Action Department.

With their sharp hearing as Awakeners, they could catch every sneer from the Qinglang students from this distance.

Except for Song Zhi, who still wore an amiable expression, the others behind him all had different expressions, struggling to suppress embarrassment and anger, yet had to swallow their pride and freeze up.

"When you're under someone else's roof, you bow your head."

As students from the lowest-ranked academy, exchange slots at Qinglang each year were super precious, only the top juniors could snag them.

On the surface, all three academies sounded equally impressive, with identical academic systems, trial towers, and other mechanisms.

However, in reality, under the whole talent-based sorting system, the top academy just naturally had way better resources than the others.

Xuanhuang Academy, located on the capital planet, boasted most of the federation's B- and A-rank Awakener alumni, most of whom were honorary profs who'd drop by to teach electives.

Qinglang Academy had a good balance of student numbers and potential, representing the elite backbone of Awakeners, with the odd B- or A-rank prof giving a guest lecture now and then.

At Zherang Academy, there were no courses taught by actual 'professors.' The teaching staff were all 'mentors,' the best they had was C-rank, mostly D-rank Awakeners—a whole different ballgame compared to the other two academies stacked with profs.

You want higher-rank Awakeners to come teach? They were living it up on Xuanhuang Star, unwilling to come—who could force them?

Even if they did come, could Zherang students even understand or use what they'd teach?

The advanced Combat Skills and Secret Techniques imparted by high-rank Awakeners required all the energy within E-rank or F-rank Awakeners just to execute, so the Federation naturally wouldn't waste resources on that kind of pointless stuff.

Moreover, aside from the educational resource gap, the exchange students also got another perk: joining the Qinglang Action Department's team explorations.

The locator stone team setup only worked downward. Being strong didn't mean you'd find treasure; Qinglang students who stumbled on resource spots worth a second look could only team up with weaker Awakeners.

They couldn't always get a perfect five-person team together, so teaming up with the Zherang elites was a win-win for maximum gains.

Conversely, Qinglang Academy also sent exchange students to Xuanhuang Academy each year.

Ultimately, the stronger side always had the final say. When Qinglang exchange students went to Xuanhuang, they were also a bunch of 'damn outsiders' crashing under someone else's roof.

"President Song, we've invited you several times. Glad you could finally grace us with your presence."

The team leader greeted them with a smile.

Among the Zherang exchange students, the only one they actually bothered to treat with respect was the student council president, that title alone showed the power and resources he had.

The other exchange students from Zherang's Action Department, the Qinglang crew completely ignored them.

Song Zhi, as if he hadn't heard the earlier remarks, mildly pulled out a box and said, "I heard that Student Wu, who was leading our team, got injured. I felt bad, so I brought a little gift to pay my respects. Please pass it on to him on my behalf, Team Leader He."

"You're too kind—this is a fine gift..." the team leader said, taking the Peace Herb that was worth over 100 credits, but his expression remained flat, looking a bit dismissive.

The Peace Herb is nice for regular folks, but for Qinglang Action Department students, it was merely average.

The team member who had been looking down on them earlier remarked in surprise, "What a coincidence. This Peace Herb looks just like the one I brought back from my last exploration. I figured it was junk and sold it."

The dig made the people behind Song Zhi ball up their fists involuntarily. Song Zhi himself, however, seemed not to notice, replying, "Is that so? What a coincidence."

That shut the troublemaker up.

Just as the team leader was thinking to himself that this Zherang student council president was quite a figure, his terminal dinged with a new message.

"Zherang Academy sends congrats to freshman winter term student Wen Jing for smashing the academy's record on the 8584th Trial Tower first-floor challenge with an S-rank! Record time: 6 seconds."

"What? Wen Jing?"

"A winter class student... from Zherang? How is that even possible?!"

After reading the terminal message, many students in the activity center showed expressions of disbelief.

At the same time, Song Zhi and his exchange crew also got the same message—being at Qinglang Academy, they were connected to Qinglang Star's network, so this was second-hand news.

This second-hand message was also broadcast campus-wide at Qinglang.

An S-rank evaluation was undoubtedly an honor for both the academy and the individual. When one appeared, not to mention last-place Zherang, even the top-ranked Xuanhuang Academy would send congrats to brag.

The monthly trial tower challenges across the Three Great Academies were identical, and S-rank evaluations were a domain exclusive to geniuses. In Zherang Academy's history, only five people had achieved it, and their records had long been surpassed by later challengers.

The last S-rank evaluation occurred over forty years ago, achieved by a genius from Xuanhuang Academy.

"President Song, who is Wen Jing?"

Shocked and curious faces crowded around the Zherang exchange students, encircling the equally stunned group.

Then, realizing what had happened, even Song Zhi, usually unreadable, felt his face flush.

Over the past month at Qinglang Academy, the exchange students had always maintained stiff expressions and straight postures, afraid of being looked down upon.

But at this moment, they were at a loss, unsure what expression to wear, yet for the first time, they truly felt they could stand tall.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

Just as the Qinglang students were discussing this in shock, more second-hand messages from Zherang Academy arrived one after another.

Everyone's first reaction was that Zherang Academy was making a big deal out of an S-rank evaluation, sending multiple broadcasts in excitement. Didn't their own academy care to filter them?

However, upon reading the content clearly, the entire Qinglang Academy erupted.

Not just Qinglang—Xuanhuang Academy was also stirred.

The first-floor record-breaking news was just a novelty for the elite students of Xuanhuang, discussed only among freshmen who knew her.

But the subsequent three consecutive messages made everyone recognize that name on this day.

"What? She passed four levels of the trial tower with an S rating?"

"The Xuanhuang winter-term freshmen who had been on the same spaceship as Wen Jing heard the news with expressions of shock and mixed emotions, unable to calm down for a long time."

"After entering different academies, the gap in potential and prospects made them all feel they would never cross paths with her again. No one expected to hear her name again so soon, under such circumstances."

"How could this be?"

"Upon receiving the news, ■■■, who had been playing holographic games with friends in the activity area, was struck as if by lightning, shrieked, and threw aside the game before running toward the trial tower."

"He'd tried to stay focused at the start of school, but the dazzling sights of the Capital Star, the vibrant college life, and the valuable connections worth investing time in had changed him. At Xuanhuang Academy, relentless study was often seen as the most foolish approach. Even many students from the learning district had restored the sleep they once evolved away from, let alone ■■■, who came from a financial conglomerate family and had secured his status within the family by enrolling at Xuanhuang."

"Wen Jing's record-breaking news instantly brought back the tension of finals week for the freshmen at the other two academies, who'd just started to unwind."

"Although the trial tower mainly reflected combat skill talent, in actual combat Wen Jing (an F-grade) would be weaker in ability stats compared to them. But they had the best resources—being outshone by an F-grade? Not a good look."

"Both academies witnessed the same phenomenon—the trial tower was packed!"

"As Wen Jing stepped out of the trial pod and walked through the main hall, she was greeted by a thunderous cheer."

*

"What's all the commotion?"

"Just as Zherang Academy had been unaware of the real-time reactions from Qinglang and Xuanhuang, when she came out and faced a huge crowd that had flipped from doubters to die-hard fans, she couldn't help but be taken aback."

"Was an S rating really that prestigious?"

"The atmosphere was enthusiastic and exciting, but when Wen Jing approached, more people instinctively made way. Only Yu Yang and others dared to step forward."

"Wen Jing, you're amazing! This news has now spread to Xuanhuang and Qinglang! It's been almost a thousand years since someone from our academy got an S rating, and you've broken through four levels in a row..."

"The people around eagerly explained the situation to Wen Jing, and soon she understood the reason."

"Just then, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, 'Dean!'"

"The dean is here?!"

"With that exclamation, the crowd quickly parted, revealing a familiar figure."

"The woman had white hair and golden eyes—it was Dean Bai."

"Seeing Dean Bai, who had looked after her before, Wen Jing hurried over to greet her: 'Dean, you came too?'"

"Hahaha! Dean Bai had no airs about her at all. She laughed heartily three times, jumped up, and slung an arm around Wen Jing's neck: 'You've made our academy proud! Come with me!'"

"With the dean personally present, the students, no matter how excited, dared not make a scene or try to detain them. They could only watch the two walk away chatting and laughing."

"Only after they had left the trial tower hall did Wen Jing find a chance to speak: 'Dean, where are you taking me?'"

"Dean Bai tilted her head and, with a smile, gave an answer that made her heart race:"

"The academy's treasury."