100,000 Tuition Fee! Rapid Mastery Panel!

"Student Diversion Policy!"

"Resource shortage! Effective immediately, the free martial arts training policy is canceled! All martial arts school students must pay the tuition fee of 100,000 yuan for this year within eight days!"

"Those unable to afford the tuition will be uniformly diverted to regular universities to study cultural knowledge and professional skills, contributing to the construction of Jin Kingdom!"

"That's right, this is indeed a new regulation from the Jin Kingdom government, effective immediately!"

Instructor Li's words struck Lu Jue like thunder.

Lu Jue felt his world spin, the entire scene before his eyes blurring.

"Excuse me, Instructor Li, can the school make an exception? The Martial Arts Examination is just a month away. After the exam, I promise I'll find a way to pay the tuition! I just need a chance to participate in the exam! Please!"

Instructor Li looked at his flushed face, reddened by his urgency. There was no trace of sympathy in his eyes, only a condescending disdain.

"Martial Arts Examination? You think just gathering the tuition will let you pass the exam and soar to the heavens? How naive!"

"Lu Jue, you have neither top-tier talent nor a family background to support your martial arts training. The school allowing you to train for free for so many years is already the greatest gift!"

"Face reality! Some destinies cannot be changed by effort alone. Living a quiet life as an ordinary person is the path you should take!"

Lu Jue stood frozen, his mouth opening as if to say more, but he found his throat constricted by an invisible hand, rendering him speechless.

This was a High Martial World, where martial arts reigned supreme.

A hundred years ago, spatial rifts suddenly appeared on Earth, and Calamity Beasts ravaged the land, pushing humanity to the brink of extinction.

Fortunately, the Spiritual Energy Revival breathed new life into martial arts.

Currently, although humanity had reclaimed some lost territories and re-established safe zones, the Calamity Beasts roaming the wastelands, and the spatial rifts continuously spewing them out, remained a constant threat.

Having transmigrated eighteen years ago and grown up in the slums of Tianhai City in Jin Kingdom, Lu Jue was acutely aware of this world's harsh laws.

Deathly wastelands outside the city, and martial prowess paramount within.

Whether one could become a Martial Artist almost determined the fate of an individual and even an entire family.

His family had already poured all their resources into the various necessities for martial arts training.

He himself had given his all, rising earlier than the roosters and sleeping later than the dogs.

All his efforts, all his sacrifices, pointed towards a single goal: the Martial Arts Examination a month later, which would decide his fate.

He had to succeed!

He had to make a name for himself!

He had to move his family out of the sewage-filled slums!

And now, just as he was about to see a glimmer of hope, this sudden diversion policy had severed the last narrow bridge!

100,000 yuan!

His family couldn't earn that much in a year even if they didn't eat or drink. How could their now destitute household scrape together this sum?

"I'll go back first and discuss it with Father."

"My talent isn't bad. Using the cheapest resources, I'm still in the upper-middle tier among over three thousand students at the same level. With this performance, it shouldn't be a problem to become a disciple of a third-rate martial arts school after the Martial Arts Examination."

Despite his mind in turmoil, Lu Jue forced himself to calm down, clinging to the last shred of hope as he hurried back to their rented room.

His father, Lu Qiang, was sitting in a chair, smoking. As if he had expected Lu Jue's return, the worry on his face was instantly and carefully concealed, replaced by his usual gentle expression.

"You're back!"

"Yeah, the Tianhai City government announced today..."

Just as Lu Jue was about to mention the tuition fees, his father interrupted him:

"I've seen it all. Don't worry about the tuition fees!"

"I've decided to ask your grandfather first if we can borrow some money. If that doesn't work, the second Exploration Team is heading out of the city in three days, and I plan to sign up as a Scavenger."

"Dad, you..."

Hearing his father's words, Lu Jue was struck by lightning, unable to calm down for a long time.

As far as he knew, when his mother fell gravely ill and passed away two years ago, his grandfather, who had a strained relationship with their family, refused to lend even a cent.

If he wouldn't help when a life was on the line, the outcome of asking for tuition fees now was predictable.

As for the Exploration Team, they were the ones who ventured deep into the wastelands to search for valuable resources.

Although the Scavengers in the team were well-compensated, their missions were often a matter of life and death.

For his martial arts training, his father was gambling with his life...

On one side was the fear of eternal separation from a loved one and a broken family, and on the other was the martial arts path he had long yearned for, carrying the hopes of his entire family.

There was no choice to be made!

So, he said with feigned ease, "Dad, what are you thinking? Didn't you see the fine print under the news report?"

"You mean the tuition exemption quota offered by Tianhai City?"

His father turned his head abruptly, a flicker of faint hope igniting in his eyes, but it quickly dimmed. "Doesn't that require a competition in eight days? With over three thousand students in the entire grade competing for twenty spots, it's so fierce, can you actually get one?"

"That's just the exemption quota from Tianhai City. The martial arts school itself is more accommodating. I just asked an instructor with some friends. The school also has some work-study quotas for financially struggling students. The instructor said I have a good chance."

"Are you serious? You can continue practicing martial arts!?"

Lu Jue chatted with his father for a while longer. Only after his father left for his night shift did he return to his room.

Bang!

The moment the door closed, it was as if all his bones had been drained. He collapsed heavily onto the bed, his carefully maintained pretense completely shattering.

Countless days and nights of arduous training, the meager resources saved through penny-pinching, all on the verge of the Martial Arts Examination, only to be easily shattered by a single decree! It was as if the efforts of strugglers like them were nothing but a joke!

His father's forced smile, his deliberately straightened back, the thought of risking his life to secure a future for him – each scene seared into his heart like a red-hot iron, leaving behind marks of humiliation and powerlessness.

But what overwhelmed him more was a cold despair, like a tide, drowning his last shred of hope.

There were no work-study quotas. From beginning to end, there were only those meager twenty exemption spots each year!

Even with some civilian prodigies already receiving sponsorship, the hundred thousand tuition fee remained a heavy burden, and many coveted it!

Only the children of wealthy families looked down upon it.

To get a spot, one had to at least rank in the top fifty of the grade!

Eight days!

Only eight days!

To climb from the middle to upper-middle of the grade to the top fifty? That was simply a fantasy! He knew the gap better than anyone; it wasn't a chasm that could be bridged by desperately staying up all night.

Without resources, without a renowned master, what could he possibly use to compete?

Where was the real way out?

Did the poor truly not deserve a chance to change their fate?!

He was unwilling!!!

Eighteen years of struggle, eighteen years of forbearance, would it all end in vain?

A surge of intense, unwilling resentment churned wildly in his chest, threatening to explode.

"I need time! I need strength!!"

"I want to become a Martial Artist and lift my family out of the slums!!!"

Lu Jue roared in his heart, like a wild beast trapped in a desperate situation, making its final struggle.

Boom—!!!

At the absolute peak of his emotions, his mind felt as if it had been struck by an invisible giant hammer, suddenly going blank!

Immediately after, a cold voice, as if branded directly into the depths of his soul, resounded:

[Cultivation Technique Rapid Mastery Panel activated!

[Activating rapid mastery mode will allow a cultivation technique to reach completion in an extremely short period, and based on the characteristics of the energy absorbed, you will gain a talent. However, as a price, you must continuously provide all the energy required for the technique's completion during the rapid mastery period. If the energy is insufficient, rapid mastery will be interrupted!]

[Activate rapid mastery?]