Cultivation Manuals, Register and Claim Them! (Part One)

A peaceful night's sleep.

At six the next morning, Shi Tiexin woke up. First, he had gone to bed early yesterday and was fully rested. Second, he had not drunk a drop of water or eaten a grain of rice since last night, so hunger had woken him as well.

When he opened his eyes, he felt something strange on his face. A book was covering it. It must have been that the dorm lights had dazzled his eyes last night, and in his grogginess, he had pulled a book from the bundle by his hand and used it to shield his face.

Listening closely, he found that all seven people in the dorm were asleep. Snoring, farting, teeth-grinding—the whole set was there. Several pairs of huge stinking feet made Shi Tiexin let out a mournful cry in his heart.

This was even worse than the conditions at Tumubao Orphanage. At least the orphanage guaranteed environmental hygiene. But the hygiene here... that basin of clothes sitting in the corner, soaked but never washed, was practically about to grow mushrooms, wasn't it?!

Couldn't even one good thing happen in this damn life?

Shi Tiexin was irritated to the extreme. He reached up and took the book off his face. Opening his eyes, he stared blankly and absently at the cover. It read, "First-Year High School Mathematics, Volume Two." Just as Shi Tiexin was about to flip through it casually, several words suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

Secret Manual: Basic Mathematics Third Layer (Fragment, 1/4)

With a thump, Shi Tiexin abruptly sat upright. The bed boards creaked, and his eyes bulged as wide as a bull's.

Holy—holy shit, holy fucking shit!

What was going on?!

Shi Tiexin put down the book, and the words in his field of vision vanished.

He picked the book back up. After focusing his gaze on it for a moment, the words appeared again.

My eyes aren't playing tricks on me, are they...

Shi Tiexin tossed aside the mathematics textbook and hurriedly pulled another book from the bundle beside him. Its cover read, "First-Year High School Chemistry, Volume Two." When he fixed his gaze on it, the words appeared in his field of vision as promised.

Secret Manual: Basic Chemistry Third Layer (Fragment, 1/2)

Shi Tiexin slowly lowered the book, his eyes turning vacant.

It was real...

It really was real...

Something good had really happened!!

At that moment, Shi Tiexin was so excited that he wanted to throw back his head and roar at the sky again.

The Third Layer secret manuals of the Six Fundamental Mind Arts were extremely valuable. Not to mention that if he failed the Minor Provincial Examination, then given his social standing and financial situation, he would not even have the chance to come into contact with them.

At Tumubao Star Engineering Cadet School, aside from Basic Mathematics and Basic Rhetoric, the other four Mind Arts could only be studied up to the First Layer. And their prices had always made Shi Tiexin's heroic spirit fall short; he had exhausted every possible means just to scrape together the textbook fees.

Now, he looked at the chemistry secret manual in his hand, turned it over, and saw the price clearly printed on the back.

Seventeen yuan and ninety cents.

What did seventeen yuan and ninety cents mean? What kind of purchasing power did it have? How much effort would it take to earn it? Shi Tiexin did not yet know. His understanding of this world would have to deepen gradually through his own exploration and the thawing of the other consciousness.

But there was one thing he knew very clearly—he looked at the small bundle he had casually thrown onto the bed last night. It was packed full of books like these. Opening it and flipping through them, he found that aside from mathematics and chemistry, there were fragments of Basic Physics Second Layer (1/2), Basic Biology Third Layer (1/2), and more—everything one could want.

This small bundle alone might not have been worth a city back in Tumubao, but it was still enough that many staff members would have to struggle for a long time before they could afford it.

However... Shi Tiexin frowned.

Fragments? One-half?

He had never seen this kind of secret manual before. The Basic Mathematics First Layer he had seen at Star Engineering Cadet School had been nothing more than a thin booklet. There had been no such thing as fragments or fractions.

Could it be that these fragments could not be cultivated?

Shi Tiexin hurriedly picked up the fragment of "Basic Mathematics Third Layer," carefully wiped his hands on his clothes, rubbed them until his palms turned red, and only then opened this "First-Year High School Mathematics, Volume Two" with utmost anticipation.

The result brought both joy and worry.

The joy was that this secret manual was of excellent quality. Not only was the printing clear, but it also proceeded step by step with distinct organization. Even though Shi Tiexin could not understand the specific content, he knew it was far superior to the First Layer manual he had received at Star Engineering Cadet School. Though it was a fragment, seeing it put his mind at ease. With content this detailed, there was no reason it could not be cultivated. If cultivation manuals had grades, this one was far more meticulous and advanced than the one he had received.

But the worry was that as he read, he discovered that he truly could not understand a single thing in the book. Every character was printed clearly, yet to him it was scarcely different from a heavenly book without words.

After reading for a moment, words appeared in his field of vision again.

Prerequisites insufficient. The Basic Mathematics Third Layer fragment secret manual cannot be cultivated successfully.

Prerequisites: First, Basic Mathematics Second Layer cultivated to at least qualified. Second, possession of the prerequisite fragment secret manual.

Reminder: The higher the cultivation level of Basic Mathematics Second Layer, the faster this secret manual can be cultivated. If cultivation is forced, the lower the degree to which the prerequisites are met, the slower the cultivation progress. Deviations may even occur, resulting in Qi Deviation.

So that was how it was?

Shi Tiexin was not particularly worried about the completeness of the secret manuals. Even though the other consciousness had only thawed at its outermost edges, he knew very well that his secret manuals were called textbooks in this world, and they were complete. The words indicated that the Basic Mathematics Third Layer secret manual consisted of four volumes. With a little thought, Shi Tiexin understood that the other three should be First-Year High School Mathematics, Volume One, and Fourth-Year Middle School Mathematics, Volumes One and Two.

The secret manual was complete.

That made Shi Tiexin happier than he could possibly describe.

But the greatest problem was that these secret manuals required Basic Mathematics Second Layer to be qualified or above before they could be cultivated. Moreover, according to the note, qualified in the Second Layer was likely only the bare minimum. To cultivate the Third Layer quickly, the Second Layer would need to reach good, or perhaps even excellent.

Then what level was my Basic Mathematics at?

The moment he focused his mind on the question, words appeared before his eyes again.

Basic Mathematics First Layer, qualified.

So after all that, my Basic Mathematics was only at the qualified level of the First Layer?!

The cultivation of any martial arts secret manual had several stages. As far as Shi Tiexin knew, they included qualified, good, and excellent. Anything before qualified was unqualified. Unqualified martial arts could not stand on the stage at all and were not even worth mentioning. So although Shi Tiexin clearly remembered cultivating Basic Mathematics Second Layer, it did not appear on the interface at all. Presumably, it was unqualified.

As for whether there were other levels beyond those three, Shi Tiexin did not know with his limited experience. But he vaguely felt that there should be another level above excellent, because his Basic Boxing had probably not yet reached its limit.

What levels were my physical arts at?

As soon as he focused his mind, he sensed the answer, and words appeared again.

Essence Cultivation Technique, excellent

Basic Fist Arts, excellent

Some terms were automatically altered during upload. For example, the North Su Province "provincial governor" was automatically changed to "high official." In the future, "provincial governor" would be revised to "Provincial Governor." Just so everyone knew.