Chapter 35

Chapter 35

From the afternoon when the news was received, the Qinglang and Xuanhuang trial towers were bustling with activity.

Even some fourth‑year students still on campus made a point of challenging the trial tower.

However, each student only had three attempts per month, and in the end, they exhausted all their attempts without breaking the record.

If breaking the record were so easy, it wouldn’t have caused such a stir.

After all, an S-rank represents the historical record since the establishment of the trial tower system. Under this framework, it’s inevitable that after the golden era of frequent S‑ranks, they became rarer. Later generations might match the record, but breaking it would take considerable time.

Song Zhi and other exchange students at Qinglang found themselves treated like hot commodities. Wherever they went, people gathered around, probing for information about Wen Jing.

Song Zhi, who had been busy at Qinglang Academy, wouldn't have any particular knowledge about a new student’s situation. Throughout the journey, he could only hedge with noncommittal laughs:

“She’s a freshman—I wasn’t around when this year’s winter term students enrolled. But with such a genius, our personnel department couldn't have missed her!”

Song Zhi spoke with some certainty. Every department in the student union had workflow procedures to screen and recruit new students who achieved good results in the trial tower. Unless the personnel department was full of fools, they couldn’t have failed to recruit Wen Jing.

At that thought, Song Zhi felt a smug satisfaction—having such a genius appear during his tenure would surely add a major feather in his future cap.

Just then, the crowd parted as the president of Qinglang’s student union arrived after hearing the news.

“President Song, for next year’s exchange program, can Wen Jing come to our academy?”

Seeing the Qinglang president, who had been indifferent to him in the past, now wearing an eager expression, Song Zhi felt a surge of satisfaction while maintaining a humble demeanor: “I wouldn’t dare promise anything on behalf of our genius. I’ll do my best to persuade her not to miss such a great opportunity for growth and exchange.”

“Understood, understood.” The Qinglang president nodded cheerfully.

After another round of polite small talk between the two presidents, Song Zhi and his group finally extricated themselves.

Then, opening his communicator, he checked the messages about Wen Jing sent by Zherang’s student union.

Since taking over the student union, Song Zhi had achieved considerable success, such as recruiting talent for the Action Department and balancing factional struggles, making him a genuine powerholder within the organization.

Even from another planet, no one dared withhold the information he asked for.

Thus, after reading the messages, Song Zhi’s expression shifted continuously—from initial excitement, to shock, then to anger... A dangerous ripple of energy flickered around him.

Just as he was planning to win Wen Jing over properly, he was told that the personnel department had already offended her to the point of no return, and she was currently under “blacklisting”!

If the messages from his smart terminal weren’t projected onto his retina, he might have smashed the screen.

Finally, Song Zhi coldly massaged his brow and replied to the messages:

“What’s the situation now? With an incident like this, weren’t several people from the Action Department there at the time? Did no one approach Wen Jing?”

He thought he was clever – were his subordinates all idiots?

“No, Wen Jing has already been taken away by the dean.” Ji Shuang’s group sent word.

The dean... She had caught Dean Bai’s attention too?

Upon seeing this news, Song Zhi, who had been regretting Wen Jing’s potential being only F-rank, felt his pupils dilated, and he placed even greater importance on Wen Jing.

As student president, he was one of the few in the academy who knew Dean Bai’s true background.

The thriving transformation of Zherang Academy over the last fifty years was all thanks to Dean Bai. Many of the academy’s current educational resources were secured through her intervention. Some advanced elective courses and the current exchange student quotas were prime examples.

Weighing his options, unable to wait for the exchange to end, Song Zhi issued a direct order from afar.

“What?! How can you just remove us from our positions?”

Back at Zherang Academy, Tan Junhao and his group turned pale upon receiving the news. He had felt a sense of impending doom ever since Wen Jing achieved an S-rank, but the worst he had imagined was losing his surefire promotion.

He never expected to receive an order from the president removing his entire group of twelve from their positions!

At a word from the president, two members of the Action Department who directly reported to him soon arrived at the personnel office, watching as robots packed up the group’s belongings and sent them away.

The atmosphere was dark and gloomy. Many members from the group, deeply affected by the blow, occasionally shot hateful glances at the useless group leader who had caused this.

It wasn’t until the robot began packing the “antique” printer that the silent Tan Junhao, as if finally accepting reality, rushed, trembling, to block the robot:

“No! I’ve made contributions to the union! The former president is my relative—you can’t do this to me! I want to see the president!”

“Senior, please don't make this difficult.”

The two Action Department members cut him off, easily flanked and subdued him. Although Tan Junhao was a third-year summer-term student, his strength was no match for second‑year Action Department members.

In every academy, the Action Department was the pinnacle of combat prowess.

The handling of Tan Junhao and his group caused quite a stir within the student union, and Song Zhi received many messages from various people.

Though he was the union president, dismissing members without discussion would have repercussions. After all, Plutocrat scions formed the union's base, especially when the reason was to recruit a commoner genius.

Nevertheless, facing these obstacles, Song Zhi stood firm and issued new orders:

“Stop sending anyone from personnel to discuss contracts with Wen Jing. I'll personally go sign her up when I get back!”

As Wen Jing followed Dean Bai away, she naturally bummed a ride on the free campus maglev.

*

On the way, she checked her current stats:

“Credits: 78”

“Class Rank: 1”

“Grade Rank: 2785 (11741)”

Last time she was ranked over six thousand in her grade; now she had jumped four thousand places, even surpassing spring and summer term students. If she worked hard on next month’s courses, she could move into a top‑ten villa!

With monthly class rewards of 15, 8, and 5 points for the top three, Wen Jing was guaranteed at least 15 points per month—another gain.

Once that guaranteed 15 points were issued, she could purchase the “Energy Weapon” Combat Skill course...

While Wen Jing was planning in her mind, the magnetic levitation vehicle stopped.

Snapping back to reality, she saw the destination ahead and her excited expression froze: “Dean, aren’t we going to the academy’s treasure vault?”

Isn’t this Xie Ming’s research institute, where she had been before?

“That’s right, this is the academy’s treasure vault!” Dean Bai wore a look of obviousness, grinning slyly at her. “The most valuable primeval materials on campus are all here, guarded by our academy’s second-strongest fighter.”

Second-strongest? Xie Ming, who seemed entirely like an administrative staff member, was actually that strong?

Wen Jing was surprised, then asked with feigned shock: “Then who is the strongest...”

Dean Bai had the look of someone who’d been waiting forever, and gave herself a thumbs-up: "Of course it's me, the dean!"

Laughing and chatting, the two walked into the research institute.

Then in the lobby, they saw Xie Ming, 'Zherang’s second-strongest,' who seemed to have been waiting there for a while.

As a tutor on campus, Xie Ming had naturally received the notification long ago. Seeing the two now, he looked Wen Jing up and down, as if getting to know her anew.

Then he looked at Dean Bai: "80 credits?"

Dean Bai remained silent.

"100 credits?"

Dean Bai fiddled with her fingers.

Xie Ming conceded defeat, turned around with a gloomy expression, and said, "Let's go."

Seeing this, Wen Jing couldn't help but cast a puzzled look at Dean Bai.

Dean Bai said lightly: "Just a miser’s deathbed fantasies…"

Wen Jing: "..."

However, remembering how she’d haggled with Xie Ming before and how he’d tried to drag her into his funding scams, she wasn’t very surprised.

Then a greedy glint flashed in Wen Jing’s eyes.

Wait, so that means the miser... er, Tutor Xie Ming’s reaction indicates that the reward she’d get this time is worth more than 100 credits? That means over 10 million credit points. Isn’t that worth more than her life? (Dark joke, but still.)

The academy treasury wasn’t actually the material warehouse in the research institute. This time the route was different from last time—the three headed to the basement of the building.

After entering the elevator, Wen Jing acutely sensed that the surrounding air seemed to hold some unnamable energy medium. To describe it, it was like an expanded energy shield, but far more complex than any energy shield she knew.

"You feel it?" Dean Bai beside her said. "The treasury has an energy defense. Only authorized Awakeners can break in. Even if someone returns from the Ancient Wasteland, they can't get in here."

Wen Jing nodded, not surprised. Of course—this was a major academy facility, so there were more safeguards than just a separate registration point; there must be other protections.

They arrived at a heavy vault. After passing the dual energy verification of Dean Bai and Xie Ming, the massive door slowly opened before Wen Jing.

"Wow..."

For a moment, a shimmer of auspicious light and swirls of favorable mist.

All kinds of ancient treasures appeared before the three. Even through the sealed display cases, you could tell how extraordinary they were.

Wen Jing was dazzled, her eyes scanning but unable to take it all in, she found few things she recognized. She just intuitively felt that even the lowest tier here was probably at the level of the purple fruit.

"As agreed beforehand, she can only take from the outermost ring. The inner ones are useless for her at this stage, and even dangerous." Xie Ming said to Dean Bai in his miserly tone.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Dean Bai scratched her ear and waved grandly at Wen Jing: "Go pick!"

The treasury stretched endlessly, the rear seemingly shrouded in mist. Even the outermost ring Xie Ming mentioned had nearly a hundred items.

Wen Jing didn't move. Instead, she stood still and wisely asked Dean Bai for advice: "Dean, what do you think I should take?"

Dean Bai smacked her thigh with a sigh and said to Xie Ming: "Hehe, you saw that! The student asked me. I can't help it!"

Before Xie Ming’s eyes could bug out, she pulled Wen Jing to a row of display cases and pointed to a row of crystal hexagonal prisms:

"In this area, the most valuable items are these Empowerment Stones."