The Puji Critter spoke: âAfter the three days of preliminaries, the 600 competitors with the highest ranking in points will then be able to enter the finals!â
âThe rest of the competitors will be evacuated and brought back onto the Distant Expanse.â
âThe biggest difference between the finals and the preliminaries isâŠâŠ the release of super powerful Fiend Beasts locked in caves underground on Devil Dragon Island. The strength of these Fiend Beasts is not something that the typical high school student can deal with!â
âIf youâre able to kill these Fiend Beasts, you will receive far more points than from killing normal Fiend Beasts!â
âIn addition, the six hundred students will be separated into two teams, red and blue. The two teams can attack each other however much they want. When an opponent is eliminated, that is when the opponentâs Puji Critter is forced to spout out their protective gel, all the points of the opponent will be given to you!â
âIn other words, not only do you need to kill Fiend Beasts, but you will also have to fight with competitors!â
Li Yaoâs heart stirred as he suddenly felt an excitement indescribable.
Just being able to reach the finals means that these competitors will have accumulated a great number of points. Rather than go laboriously slay Fiend Beasts, wouldnât it be better to launch attacks on enemy competitors? As long as a competitor was eliminated, it would be the same as killing several dozen, or even over a hundred, Fiend Beasts.
With these type of rules in place, the raging desire for battle will undoubtedly be satisfied in these youths. These competitors will be able to show off their complete potential!
Small Ji continued, âSo thatâs pretty much all the rules. After two days of finals, the last remaining surviving students will have their points fixed and be ranked. The higher your ranking, the higher the likelihood of being chosen by a scout of the Nine Elites. The excellent ones wonât need to take the university entrance exams when theyâre directly admitted. So Student Li Yao, work hard!â
âDirect admittance!â
Li Yaoâs throat went somewhat dry. He licked his lips, asking, âSmall Ji. How many students were chosen for direct admittance in the past few competitions?â
The white Puji Critter tilted its head to think as a buzzing sound came from deep within its body.
Li Yao could tell from hearing that this was the sound of a crystal processor running at high speeds. Small Jiâs probably gathering the data right now.
After a moment later, Small Ji answered:
âIn the past three annual Challenge Competition, in Arena 571, each year on average had 51 students be directly admitted to the Nine Elites. There was also the possibility of getting on the Preferential Score Admittance List should one not be directly admitted.â
âPreferential Score Admittance List? Whatâs that?â Li Yao delved deeper, asking.
âIâll give you an example. Say you possess some aspect of a gift for cultivation, that youâre extremely suited for a certain university. But, your overall actual strength isnât strong enough such that your final points end up ranking you in the hundreds or two-hundreds. Or even if you encountered an extremely strong Fiend Beast at the start of the competition and you were forced to retire!â
âAll these things donât matter. As long as youâre selected by a scout of the Nine Elites, he or she will sign a contract with you for a preferential score that reduces your score requirement on the exam by 5 points, 10 points, or even 20 points!
âThatâs awesome!â
Li Yao became truly excited at this moment.
The entrance exams. The entrance exams! The competition is like an army of thousands trying to cross a single log bridge. âScoring a point higher means to crush a thousand people!â This is no exaggeration!
If all of a sudden he was favored by a dozen or twenty points, then the odds of being admitted to Deep Sea University will increase greatly!
âExcellent! Even if I canât beat 3000 people, enter into the top 50, and receive the qualifications for direct admittance⊠As long as I demonstrate my brilliance and manage to win 5 points or even 10 points of score-reducing preferential treatment, coming here wonât be a waste at all!â
Li Yaoâs mouth was dry from talking so much. His excitement could not be described. He only felt a boundless energy coming from his body. He was heated up and could not wait until tomorrow morning, to begin fighting at once.
âThis wonât do. I need to calm down and go to sleep asap. I need to conserve my energy and stamina. Tomorrow morning is the time that will decide my fate!â
Li Yao was lying down on his bed, his pair of hands formed a pillow behind his head. He tried forcing himself to go to sleep, but no matter what he did he couldnât fall asleep.
The scene of Fiend Blade Peng Hai piloting the Mystic Bird Battle Shuttle through the skies filled his eyes.
That sort of freedom, that field crushing domineering aura was deeply branded in his mind. It would take a long time for him to forget that scene.
âI. Do I have the chance to become the second Peng Hai?â
Li Yao opened his eyes and saw the splatter of rust on the ceiling. He tossed and turned, causing his single bed to creak with pressure.
âŠâŠ
Right at the same time when Li Yao was tossing and turning on his bed, in another single room two floors above his, Si Jiaxue was in the middle of receiving a very special guest.
âProfessor Xie. Iâm truly indebted to you. I never thought you would come here personally.â
Si Jiaxue spoke extremely respectfully. She was welcoming the Artificing Expert of Deep Sea University, Professor Xie Tingxian.
âCalling me Grandpa Xie is fine, little girl. You donât need to be so polite with me. Afterall, your grandfather and I are old friends of nearly a hundred years. I remember back in the year when you were born. I held you with my own hands. Hahahaha.â
Xie Tingxian chuckled as he spoke, then soon changed the subject. âLittle girl. Youâve called Grandpa Xie here. Is something the matter? To clarify things, if itâs in regards to the competition, Grandpa Xie canât just cut you some slack!â
Si Jiaxue giggled: âGrandpa Xie. My specialty lies in data calculations and analysis. Iâm afraid that I will walk the path of being an admin-type cultivator in the future. The Deep Sea University is most known for their Artificing Department. I fear that itâs not suited for meâŠâŠ So donât worry, I wonât cause you any difficulties.â
Xie Tingxianâs old face reddened. âLittle girl. Donât blame Grandpa Xia for being petty. Being a scout causes all sorts of relationships to become complicated. Sometimes I have to mention the dirty talk first.â
Si Jiaxue nodded her head and withdrew a crystal processor from her backpack, handing it over:
âI understand Grandpa Xie. I called you over this time is mainly to ask for your help to inspect this crystal processorâŠâŠ This is a heirloom left behind by my grandma. Itâs an antique of over a hundred years ago and it broke a few days earlier. I found someone to fix it and itâs working now; thereâs no major problems when I use it. But, I donât know if there are some latent defects. So, I wish to ask you to inspect it. I donât know if this is convenient for you?â
âOh so it was like this all along. Itâs a piece of cake for me.â
Xie Tingxian let out a breath of relief and his expression became lively. His vision swept across the crystal processor and he went âhuh.â His eyes radiated with light full of interest.
âItâs the Heavenly Zither Sectâs Vast Tomb 7 tube-type crystal processor. A product from 144 years ago. Itâs an extremely rare antique. Youâve maintained it quite well. Not bad. Not bad. You said youâve asked someone to fix it? Nowadays, people who are able to fix these sorts of antiques are far too few. I need to take a good look at this. If the internal components are damaged, it would be such a pity!â
Si Jiaxue did not see Xie Tingxian cast any spell, but with a wave of his right hand, the crystal processor flew into the palm of his hand, spinning and whirling around. It looked as if it was being controlled by an invisible hand as one component after another separated away from the artifact to float gracefully in the air, exposing the profound and complicated internal architecture of the tube-type processor.
âThisâŠâŠâ
He saw that the heat sink, with clear traces of the cooling system used in modern CPUs, was integrated seamlessly with the classical style of the tube-style crystal processor. Xie Tingxian stared, distracted.
âHow is it Grandpa Xie? Is there any problems with it?â Si Jiaxue became nervous.
âLittle girl. Youâre wrong on this count~~~~.â Xie Tingxian dragged out his tone.
âMe? whatâs going on?â
Si Jiaxue was stupefied and was completely lost. A trace of suspicion emerged on her delicate cute face.
Xie Tingxian glanced at her and saw that she really was clueless. He frowned saying:
âLittle girl. This processor of yours. Youâve clearly had it repaired by an expert.â
âThis expert completely redesigned the heat sink structure. His reasoning is exceptionally exquisite, and his installation technique is perfectly skillful. He not only guaranteed the stability of its structure and heat dissipation efficiency, but also left behind space for future upgrades such that another heat sink can be added using the same method, to form a heat sink system with higher efficiency. This way the performance of your crystal processor can increase by over 10%!â
âTo have such a deep understanding of antique processors, and to have such brilliant techniques, it must have been an artificer right?â
âYou should know that each Artificer has their own code of honor. They have the utmost confidence in their works. You chose someone to fix this, but then you brought it to me for inspection. Your lack of confidence in him is the greatest insult to him!â
âOnce he knows of this matter, not only will he have malice towards you, but he will even take some anger out on me! He might even come challenge me to a duel! To see if, in the end, Iâm qualified to inspect and fix his work!â
âItâs this serious?â Si Jiaxue said in fright.
âYouâre not an Artificer, so itâs natural that you donât know codes of the circle. Each piece of work from an Artificer is his heartâs blood. Itâs like their child. They absolutely wonât allow other people to mess with them! In a situation like this, you needed to at least notify the other person and receive his permission. Then I can go ahead and exam it. Have you discussed it with the other person yet?â
Si Jiaxue was completely bewildered as she shook her head.
âUhoh. I was also careless. I had assumed you just found a random person to repair this. I never thought it was actually an expert. This time thereâs going to be some trouble.â Xie Tingxian spoke somewhat frustrated.
âBut. But I really did randomly find someone to fix it. I found a classmate,â stammered Si Jiaxue.
âWhat. Your classmateâŠâŠ. A highschool student?â