The Dean's Summons

Ever since Chen Nan's performance yesterday, he was certain that no senior students would bother him again. After all, this was just a Preparatory Academy in a medium-sized town.

What was even more crucial was that those students were still just children.

Therefore, as long as you displayed your dominance, very few people would dare to bully you.

This was also why, when facing school bullying, it was essential to strike hard and subdue them.

Chen Nan intended to do this to free up more time for his cultivation.

Otherwise, getting used to being bullied by children would be endless.

As expected, on the second day, when Chen Nan reappeared, the students in the school mostly avoided him. No one dared to come looking for trouble.

The only two who were displeased with Chen Nan were Wang Bodan and Zhang Hua.

The latter's arrogance was ingrained, leading to his displeasure. In his opinion, he should be the one revered by everyone in the academy. Who did Chen Nan think he was?

Setting aside these childish thoughts, Chen Nan attended classes and cultivated as usual. His formal, structured life at the Preparatory Academy had truly begun.

Chen Nan was exceptionally diligent, studying almost all knowledge related to Transcendent beings.

Moreover, with the AI System's assistance, much of his learning became incredibly convenient.

At the very least, memorization posed no problem for him.

The human brain's memory capacity was already astonishing, let alone Chen Nan's, which had integrated the AI System.

He categorized all the knowledge he encountered here into entries, storing them all in his mind. When needed, he could retrieve them at light speed.

This also earned him the admiration of his roommates.

Chen Nan was like a seabed left to bake in the desert for a thousand years, now encountering the rain of knowledge, greedily absorbing every drop.

The term "thirstily" barely described Chen Nan's state. Apart from the necessities of eating, drinking, and sleeping, all his time was spent either cultivating or in the library.

A month later, the results of the student strength assessment were released.

Chen Nan, at Rank 0 Level 3, surpassed all the new students. Even Zhang Hua, who was extremely unconvinced by Chen Nan and had various methods to aid his cultivation, had only just reached the middle stage of Rank 0 Level 1.

Keep in mind, this was only after one month!

To be admitted to a Transcendent Academy, students needed at least a mid-Rank 1 strength. Even so, over seventy to eighty percent of the students in the Preparatory Academy had to wait until their sixth year before they were eligible to take the exam for the Transcendent Academy.

In other words, their general progress was about 0.25 ranks per month. Typically, it took them three to four months to advance one rank.

This was the level of strength for Transcendent beings selected from ordinary citizens. Naturally, it was also heavily related to their platforms and resources. For instance, Zhang Hua had advanced to Rank 1.5 in just one month.

This wasn't because his talent was exceptionally high, but because he had resources.

Of course, Chen Nan's progress wasn't entirely due to talent; the greater reason was his use of the AI System, essentially making him a cheater. But others didn't know that, so they could only call him a genius!

This development made the dean of the Wu City Preparatory Academy restless.

On a day in early November, he summoned Chen Nan to his office.

This was Chen Nan's first time meeting Dean Li Nanchao, and he had a rough idea why he was being summoned. For Chen Nan, this was an opportunity because he wanted to speed up his cultivation and get into the Transcendent Academy sooner.

As soon as they met, both men smiled.

In Chen Nan's eyes, Li Nanchao was not a detestable person. Although he was forty or fifty years old, his face was ruddy and he looked quite young. He wasn't particularly tall but carried the imposing demeanor of an official.

After inviting Chen Nan to sit, Li Nanchao sat in his own chair and said kindly, "Let me be frank with you. A child with your talent must not be wasted even slightly. It would not only be a loss for you but also a loss for the country and its people."

See, when leaders speak, the perspective immediately elevates, reaching the level of the nation and its people.

Facing such a weighty statement, Chen Nan inwardly dismissed it but nodded in agreement on the surface.

Seeing that Chen Nan lacked the arrogance of a genius, Li Nanchao became even happier and continued, "Therefore, the academy intends to cultivate you vigorously.

Top-tier teachers, top-tier learning materials, and top-tier cultivation resources will be at your disposal.

However, there are some conditions."

Chen Nan asked, "What are the conditions? If they are beyond my capabilities, I will have to disappoint your good intentions, Dean."

Li Nanchao smiled and said, "I believe you can achieve them.

Firstly, I require you to take the Transcendent Academy assessment next year and must enter the Luojing Transcendent Academy with a top three national ranking.

Secondly, I require you to always acknowledge that you are a student of the Wu City Preparatory Academy.

Finally, if you are interviewed by any news outlets, you must speak favorably of the academy.

If you can fulfill these conditions, not only will all the resources I provide be free, but you will also receive a scholarship of one hundred thousand yuan upon entering the Luojing Transcendent Academy."

After hearing this, Chen Nan felt that Li Nanchao's requirements were not excessive at all. Moreover, neither of them was superior to the other; one sought profit, the other sought fame.

Naturally, profit can lead to fame, and fame can generate profit, forming a cycle. Furthermore, it was possible that Li Nanchao would use the cultivation of a genius like him to advance his own career.

But these things didn't matter much to Chen Nan.

On the contrary, he lacked financial resources and social skills, making it harder than reaching the heavens to obtain such excellent resources.

Li Nanchao's proposed plan was much more convenient. They were both getting what they needed, and neither owed the other a favor.

Thus, Chen Nan cautiously agreed.

From that day on, Chen Nan's daily life underwent a significant change.

He ate his meals daily, starting with the fifth floor of the cafeteria.

The food there was specially prepared, offering minor auxiliary benefits for cultivation. Since it was part of his three daily meals, even minor benefits accumulated over time to become quite substantial.

In terms of cultivation, Chen Nan had also begun using a special training room. Inside was a helmet-like device that could dissipate the heat generated in the brain during cultivation.

This had always been a bottleneck for Chen Nan's training; otherwise, his progress would have been even more terrifying.

During cultivation, the heat generated by brain cells increased exponentially, almost in a straight line as one progressed further.

Therefore, physical methods like wearing an ice cap couldn't dissipate the heat quickly enough.

However, this helmet could rapidly dissipate the heat generated by brain cells, greatly expanding the limits of his cultivation.

Additionally, this training room also provided an advanced version of the Meditation Qi Yin Art. Its meditation acceleration effect was about thirty percent higher than what Chen Nan had used before.

Chen Nan had currently reached Level 3 of Zero Tier, and he could now practice a spell.

Spells were categorized from low to high into five levels: F, S, T, Fr, and Ft. For the Wu City Preparatory Academy, the highest level of spellbook they possessed was only T level.

Li Nanchao had generously given him a T-level spellbook called "Thunderclap Art" to study.

"Thunderclap Art" was a quite powerful offensive spell, but Chen Nan wasn't solely focused on its offensive capabilities.

Just as he did in his cultivation, he sought to find patterns.

Cultivation had its patterns, and spells undoubtedly had theirs as well. Chen Nan had already gained significant insight into this.

In fact, over the past month, Chen Nan had not stopped researching cultivation methods. He had basically concluded that both "meditation" and "body strengthening" were processes that activated human cells using electromagnetic waves or nuclear radiation.

Cultivating this way inevitably led to one outcome: the brain, after "meditation," would emit special electromagnetic waves through the nervous system.

As for how these electromagnetic waves interacted with the ambient electromagnetic waves and what effects they produced, Chen Nan had no practical examples to verify.

He only understood some of the introductions in books, such as how to cast certain spells using specific incantations and mental fluctuations.

A thick spellbook typically contained only one or two spells. The vast majority of its content consisted of various formulas, explanatory terms, and calculations.

Furthermore, Chen Nan discovered that the so-called incantations were not like what he had seen described in novels, as languages for communicating with elements.

Their function, much like the Meditation Qi Yin Art, was to influence the mental fluctuations of the brain.

Some books also mentioned that it was possible to cast spells through powerful mental fluctuations without using incantations. However, this would be extremely difficult and far less effective than using incantations that had been scientifically calculated.

After a month of effort, Chen Nan had a general understanding of this world's power system.

Although there were transcendent powers and magic, which were quite mysterious, they were inextricably linked to science and technology.

Yet, some things remained inexplicable by science. This seemed to correspond to Chen Nan's previous thoughts on metaphysics and science.