The Second Assessment

Time flowed like water, years sped by like a shuttle, and in the blink of an eye, more than eleven months had passed.

Chen Nan had won roughly five hundred thousand at the casino. He gave Feng Wu fifty thousand, supported Little Black Ox with spending money and the like during this time, and was left with a little over three hundred thousand in the end.

That was almost enough to cover the cost of his schooling. Naturally, if living expenses and other costs were included, it still would not be enough, but Chen Nan did not need to worry about that.

After all, if he ran out of money, he could gamble once and have money in hand again.

That casino would not do much to someone like Chen Nan. That was a matter of bearing. Without such bearing, it would not have lasted long.

Remember, great rogues were all gentlemen, with the capacity to sail boats in a prime minister's belly. They knew what the road to wealth was and would never stubbornly lock horns with someone over trifles.

Still, Chen Nan also understood restraint and would not interfere with the casino's normal operations. Both sides had a tacit understanding.

Yet as the Preparatory Academy admissions drew near, things were not as peaceful as they had been in previous years. This was something Chen Nan had never expected.

Within Wu City, and even throughout the Transcendent circles of the entire nation, everyone knew that a special child would be taking part in this year's Wu City Preparatory Academy assessment. That child was Chen Nan.

He did not feel that he was especially dazzling, nor did he want to be, yet he had become the focus of everyone's attention.

It was simply that he had yet to enter the Transcendent circle and had no channels through which to learn such things.

Because of Chen Nan's deed that had caused a sensation across the country, quite a few Transcendents had secretly investigated him.

Thus, they knew about his visits to the casino and how he had later killed those criminals cleanly and decisively.

Their interest in Chen Nan, who had no background yet possessed such outstanding abilities and did not resemble a child at all, continued to grow.

Among these Transcendents, one faction was especially interested in him.

It was the Nature Master faction. As mentioned before, it was a declining faction that had nearly become intangible cultural heritage, but the younger generation within this Transcendent branch was unwilling to accept such decline.

Young people were full of fire and vigor.

They did not want to be like the old guard, content with the status quo and muddling through life while waiting for death. They wanted to make waves.

And Chen Nan suited their tastes perfectly. Although Chen Nan would attract the attention of Transcendents, it was not certain they would value him all that highly.

Chen Nan was indeed extraordinary, but unfortunately, he was too alone. He had no great Lineage or major conglomerate behind him, so recruiting him would not bring any particular benefit.

If those Transcendent factions wanted to recruit Chen Nan, they would certainly observe him for a while longer—at the very least, until he had finished Preparatory Academy.

If Chen Nan truly displayed tremendous potential for development by then, it would not be too late to recruit him.

After all, as long as reasonable terms were offered, who would go against their own future?

The Nature Master faction, however, intended to go all in on recruiting Chen Nan. Overall, it was a gamble.

Even Yang Yugan, the leading figure of the older generation of Nature Masters and a renowned figure in the Transcendent world, strongly approved of recruiting Chen Nan.

Yang Yugan had already reached the mid Path Entry stage. Looking across all Transcendents, his combat strength ranked in the upper-middle tier. Though advanced in years, he was not bound by old conventions and was of one mind with the younger generation.

For this reason, the Nature Master faction had specially transferred a promising young talent from the Transcendent Academy in the capital, Luojing, to Wu City Preparatory Academy.

The purpose was to build a good relationship with Chen Nan and ensure that he would eventually enter the Nature Master Department of the Transcendent Academy.

The other factions did not care much about this small maneuver by the Nature Master faction. Some even looked down on it. They believed that if Chen Nan truly was a treasure, would he really be willing to sink into the mud?

What virtue or ability did the Nature Master faction possess that would allow it to keep genuine talent?

Their early move only proved that they lacked confidence. Once they figured out Chen Nan's true worth, would he not come running like a dog at their call?

Those factions had that sort of confidence when facing the Nature Masters.

But for Chen Nan, what concerned him most at the moment was naturally the Preparatory Academy assessment. As far as his future was concerned, he only had a general direction in mind. What he valued more was the road beneath his feet and how he should walk it.

First, registering had cost him ten thousand. Once he entered Preparatory Academy, he naturally would not be able to stay in regular contact with Jiang Lili and Feng Wu, so he had to make some arrangements for them.

There were also Little Black Ox and Chen Xiao, whom Chen Nan needed to consider as well.

It was not that Chen Nan liked worrying over nothing. It was simply that these people had all helped him in one way or another, and he could not repay kindness with ingratitude.

So before leaving for the assessment, he considered finding them a way to make a living. He thought of Spicy Hot Pot. It required little capital and brought high profits. The key lay in the soup-base recipe; the other ingredients were not especially demanding. With a storefront, they could get started.

Even more valuable was the fact that Chen Nan had not found a single such shop in Wu City. Once a Spicy Hot Pot shop opened, it would have no competition whatsoever.

Chen Nan began researching the soup-base recipe. With the AI System's help, it was quickly settled. After all, his AI System was a product of Earth technology and contained abundant knowledge and culture from Earth. Otherwise, Chen Nan would not have been able to obtain his martial arts.

After finalizing the soup-base recipe, he instructed Jiang Lili to register it as a permanent patent. Then he taught them how to make Spicy Hot Pot. As for finding a storefront, applying for a business license, opening for business, and managing the shop, there was no need to go into every detail.

Chen Nan had only one requirement: the Spicy Hot Pot business had to be tied to four people—Jiang Lili, Little Black Ox, Chen Xiao, and Feng Wu.

They would be the four original shareholders, holding 51%, 20%, 15%, and 14% respectively. Jiang Lili asked Chen Nan whether that meant no one else would have a chance to invest. Chen Nan told her they did not need outside investment. If the business became large in the future, they could expand through a franchise model.

He told them those details as well.

Little Black Ox was also taken out of the Orphanage and moved in with Jiang Lili and the others. Chen Xiao was naturally there as well.

After settling all of this, October 1 finally arrived—the day of the Preparatory Academy assessment.

Within Wu City, many children of eligible age had gathered at the academy's assessment grounds.

Those parents placed their children here as though buying lottery tickets. After placing their bets, they eagerly hoped they had bet correctly, then imagined how impressive they would become once their bet paid off.

But reality was much like buying lottery tickets. How could children from ordinary families possibly pass the Preparatory Academy assessment?

The Preparatory Academy had raised the registration fee to more than ten thousand precisely to crush the parents' unrealistic dreams.

When reality clashed with fantasy, many parents would awaken to the fact that their children were not as outstanding as they had hoped. Coming here would only mean losing ten thousand yuan for nothing.

This deterred many parents who had nothing better to do, effectively reducing the number of children taking the assessment.

Thus, the assessment grounds were not particularly crowded.

The assessment itself was not complicated. It was the same as the assessment Li Yu and Xun Xin had conducted at the Orphanage.

The children stood in orderly lines. Unrelated personnel were not allowed in, and the assessment began.

Li Yu and Xun Xin had specifically applied to participate in this assessment. They still wanted to make one final effort.

Chen Nan stood in the assessment area. Quite a few of the children around him recognized him. People nearby began discussing him nonstop. Chen Nan could hear it all and could only smile bitterly to himself.

Before the examiners reached this area, a child walked up to Chen Nan. His handsome face carried a natural arrogance, because he was a child of the Zhang family, Wu City's most famous Transcendent Lineage.

"Hello, my name is Zhang Hua. My father is Zhang Jiye." As he spoke, he pointed his nostrils at Chen Nan and held out his hand.

Though irritated inside, Chen Nan politely took his somewhat damp, cold hand and smiled. "My name is Chen Nan. Nice to meet you."

Zhang Hua's brow immediately furrowed. He had announced his father's great name, yet this fellow had shown neither envy nor surprise. It made him extremely unhappy. You were only on the news once. What are you acting so arrogant for?

He sneered. "I know a little about you, and I admire you somewhat. Once we enter Preparatory Academy, how about you follow me?"

Chen Nan frowned as well. It sounded nice, but was he not really asking Chen Nan to become his lackey?

Given Zhang Hua's background in Wu City, he should have had plenty of followers. But Chen Nan was not so lowly as to stoop to that. He smiled and said, "Thank you for your appreciation, but I'm used to acting alone. If you mean being friends, I can consider it."

Zhang Hua narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharp as blades. But before he could say anything, the examiner had arrived.

The one who came was Li Yu. The instant Chen Nan saw him, his heart skipped a beat. A sense of foreboding immediately rose within him.

Li Yu glanced at the two of them and laughed inwardly, though he said, "Stand in your places. The assessment is about to begin."

Zhang Hua could not lose his temper with a teacher. He snorted and returned to his position, while Li Yu smiled and began examining Chen Nan.

The first step was Qi Gazing. Li Yu pretended to focus intently as he sensed Chen Nan's power, then shook his head helplessly.

Then he picked up the Bone Observing Mirror and began scanning Chen Nan's body.

Chen Nan suddenly felt a surge of power flow from Li Yu's right hand, and the number on the Bone Observing Mirror changed.

The value on the Bone Observing Mirror had originally risen rapidly, but it soon slowed down and finally stopped at a fixed number.

Seeing that number, Li Yu shook his head once more.