Genius Is a Genius

The Hainlein's Left Arm, judging from the picture, is a Mechanical Gloves that extends all the way up to the elbow.

Judging from its features, it has a defensive shield and Energy Cannonball, making it a very comprehensive weapon. According to the description, it can also be combined with other lost parts to form a complete armor... It looks pretty good in terms of both functionality and potential.

Looking at the price tag, he could exchange one Tier A Merit Points for two Tier B Merit Points.

This is the one!

Luo Jun chose to exchange, and his merit points were quickly used up. The system indicated that the treasure would be delivered to his branch in three business days.

"This is a good item." Seeing the treasure he exchanged for, Tie Jingang nodded in approval. "It can defend and attack, and the consumption isn't too high. It's very suitable for you right now."

Luo Jun nodded, then his eyes darted around. "By the way, Teacher Tie, can I hand over any unused treasures? Will I get a lot of merit points in return?"

Tie Jingang nodded. "But I suggest you don't rush to sell it. After all, your current strength is indeed insufficient. Keeping one more treasure will provide more security."

"I'd like to keep more... but the grid won't allow it." Luo Jun shrugged. "Once Heinrhine's right hand arrives, I won't be able to fit any more."

"I see..." Tie Jingang nodded. "Then there's a special department here for the appraisal and recycling of magical artifacts. I'll take you there."

The main purpose of the Experiment Building is to provide students with a place to test their magical artifacts and abilities. Therefore, the building is very sturdy, and many parts of it were made with inert materials to allow students to experiment freely.

Therefore, although the event building looks very tall, it actually only has three floors above ground and one floor below ground.

The ground floor and basement have shooting ranges, testing rooms, etc. The space is very large and the ceiling is very high, somewhat like a gymnasium. Many students often train and test here.

The second floor is the Chaos Mission Zone. Students who receive mission notifications usually come here first. It not only provides a variety of high-energy foods, but also allows them to rent magical artifacts to help them complete their missions.

The Exchange Center is located on the top third floor.

This arrangement is designed to allow students to test their newly acquired Noble Phantasms immediately upon returning from Chaos Mission. If they find them unsuitable, they can sell them for merit points. Meanwhile, the exchange area upstairs will have a considerable stock of Noble Phantasms, and students with enough merit points can even purchase ready-made Noble Phantasms directly from the third floor.

Of course, Luo Jun rarely came to the Experiment Building because he had never openly participated in the Chaos Mission, and he was not very familiar with the procedures there.

The Exchange Center is divided into an exchange area and a submission area. The exchange area is not technically demanding; it's simply a matter of clearly marked prices and scanning merit points to receive the treasure. Of course, most students use online Exchange Platform. Here, they only need to show their exchange voucher to receive the treasure. Therefore, the staff on duty here are mostly ordinary employees.

However, in the submission area, because the submitted magical artifacts need to be evaluated and priced, the submission area is generally staffed with experts who are familiar with magical artifacts, especially Refining Masters.

The students jokingly call this place a pawnshop.

There are five private rooms in the surrender area, each of which is sealed off. The door will automatically lock after you enter. Apart from the appraisal experts, no one else knows what you surrendered or how many merits you received in exchange. Overall, the privacy is quite good.

Coincidentally, when Luo Jun and Tie Jingang arrived, all five cubicles were locked, and there were several people queuing outside.

"Is the Shangjiao District usually this popular?" Luo Jun blinked.

"No..." Tie Jingang laughed, "Yesterday morning, not long after we got back, Tier C Mission launched a Conscription Mission. It was quite large, recruiting several hundred people in total. Many students from our school participated, and they all came back with considerable gains. So today, quite a few people have come to hand over their treasures..."

"Tier C Mission ..." Luo Jun nodded. He seemed to have seen this information while browsing the forums; it was news, but Luo Jun didn't pay much attention to such trivial matters. He was currently a Class A player and wouldn't receive this kind of call-up.

Seeing Luo Jun deep in thought, Tie Jingang patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him, "You don't need to be so ambitious. Having just reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, everyone has to start with Tier D Mission. You'll be officially doing missions this month, right? I believe that with your abilities, you'll be able to advance to Rank C in just a few months!"

"That's not what I meant, Teacher Tie..." Luo Jun thought to himself. Just then, one of the cubicle doors opened, and a red-haired young man walked out—it was Chen Ran!

"Hey! Luo Jun!" Chen Ran greeted him with a smile, "Long time no see! You're on vacation now, but you didn't even offer to treat me to a meal or anything..."

Luo Jun thought to himself that he hadn't had a moment's rest since he got back, how could he have had time to treat her to a meal? But on the surface, he could only make excuses, saying, "Do you know how tiring an internship is? Do you know what I've been through? You're not even going to treat me, and you expect me to treat you?"

"Stop talking about Versailles!" Chen Ran laughed. "But even if you invited me, I wouldn't have time. Let me tell you, I participated in that Large Recruitment Mission yesterday... You haven't seen anything like it, wow, it was absolutely amazing... I completed several Hidden Mission and got an excellent rating. The rewards were quite substantial!"

"Really?" Seeing his smug expression, Luo Jun became interested. "What kind of mission is it?"

"It was an ancient battlefield!" Chen Ran laughed. "We were assisting in the defense of a lone city. As long as we could hold it for twelve hours, we would have completed our mission."

"Sounds alright..." Luo Jun blinked.

"Not bad?" Chen Ran his lip. "You didn't see the scene. We only had a few hundred people in the city, but the attacking soldiers numbered over 100,000! And some of the soldiers weren't just humans; we also saw ogres, Minotaur, and all sorts of Half-Orc —they were incredibly ferocious! We relied on various City Defense Equipment, and in the end, we still lost about two-thirds of our troops to hold out until the very last moment... But thankfully, as long as the mission is completed, everyone can be resurrected in the end, otherwise, hundreds of people would have died on this mission!"

"You guys are really impressive..." Tie Jingang said, "The Tier C Mission are basically all against Cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Even if they are many times stronger than ordinary people, it is not an easy mission to fight against hundreds of thousands of people with only a few hundred. What's more, the opponents are also powerful races. In a city defense battle, you can't rely on mobility to maneuver. You can only fight head-on... It is indeed not easy to win..."

"We thought we were doomed to lose too," Chen Ran sighed. "In the last hour or so, another wave of reinforcements arrived, all from powerful races. We were all in despair. But at the critical moment, a young girl stepped forward and charged straight into the heart of the enemy lines. She killed the enemy commander amidst the vast army, which shattered their morale and threw them into chaos. In the end, we managed to defend the city!"

"There's a commander?" Luo Jun was slightly taken aback. "Then why did you fight for so long? Wouldn't it have been better to just take out the commander sooner?"

"We didn't know at first either!" Chen Ran shrugged. "That commander looked just like any other soldier, a normal human being, hidden among hundreds of thousands of troops. He fought for over ten hours without anyone noticing him. We don't know how that girl discovered him..."

"However, when the girl approached the commander, the surrounding soldiers and powerful races seemed to react instinctively, and began to protect him with all their might. Only then did we realize the commander's presence. But no matter how many guards there were, they couldn't stop the girl. She charged into the enemy ranks, cutting through enemy lines like butter, and went straight to the commander, beheading him. Her movements were so smooth and fluid, it was more exciting than a movie!"

"The commander didn't resist?" Tie Jingang asked curiously. "Was Qiang just an ordinary soldier?"

"It must have been a rebellion..." Chen Ran said, "I later recalled that when the girl fought the commander, a burst of flames erupted. The commander must have been quite strong, but he was killed in less than a single round against that girl."

"So capable... she can't be some nobody." Tie Jingang stroked his chin. "Does nobody know her background?"

"I've never actually seen her before." Chen Ran shrugged. "Although she's very pretty, she didn't attract much attention at first because she didn't have any special skills... But that girl has always been with Shi Lao Si, so she should have some connection with the Shun City Shi Family."

"Could it be that the Shun City Shi Family is secretly training a master within their clan?" Tie Jingang asked.

"I can't say for sure..." Chen Ran shook his head and said, "That girl's fighting style is sharp, Movement Method movements are agile yet strangely unpredictable, completely different from the style of the Shun City Shi Family... But judging from her interaction with Shi Lao Si, they seem quite close... not like the intimacy between boyfriend and girlfriend, but more like the intimacy between siblings, childhood sweethearts who know each other inside and out... So I really can't figure out what their relationship is..."

"Shi Lao Si? That name sounds like it belongs to an old man..." Luo Jun raised an eyebrow. "Who is he?"

"He's a descendant of the Shun City Shi Family. His full name is Shi Si, and he's the fourth child in his family, hence the nickname," Tie Jingang explained. "The Shun City Shi Family is Lineage with dual talents in Martial Combat Faction and Elemental School. They are particularly skilled in Earth Element Elemental School, which, combined with their Martial Combat Faction talent, makes their qi exceptionally hard. However, this also limits their agility, making them a well-known Lineage specializing in defense."

"It's the turtle Lineage, you know..." Luo Jun said with a smile.

"People really do say that behind my back..." Chen Ran laughed, "I even saw Shi Lao Si on the day of our entrance exam, but I didn't see him during the fourth round of interviews. He must have been eliminated in the third round. He was probably at the Foundation Establishment Realm then, but this time he's already at the Heart Refining Realm."

"I heard he was later admitted to Tianjing University through a special admission process," Tie Jingang said. "That kid is very talented, but he lacked a bit of fortuitous opportunity, so he hadn't been able to break through to the Heart Refining Realm. Who would have thought that after failing the exam in Ningdong, he would break through as soon as he returned, and then Tianjing University would come knocking on his door to recruit him."

"Although he hasn't broken through to the next level for long, his foundation is very solid, and the Shi family's dual talents should not be underestimated. He will likely become a member of the Tianjing delegation at the Exchange Tournament two months from now."

"The Exchange Tournament?" Chen Ran's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he patted Luo Jun on the shoulder. "I heard that the Exchange Tournament was moved up this year. What, you even got a guaranteed spot in the Exchange Tournament?"

"Don't spread rumors!" Luo Jun waved his hand. "This time, I'm going to earn my spot through my own merit!"

"You? Based on your strength?" Chen Ran curled his lip. "Forget it, you might not even be able to beat me!"

"Hey, you're still not Qi Ingestion?" Luo Jun sneered, "Let's see who comes first!"

"Go ahead and touch me, who's afraid of who!" Chen Ran's lips curled up slightly, revealing a sly smile.

Luo Jun keenly noticed this detail. He suddenly remembered that when Chen Ran first started school, he was only at the Capital Realm, but now he could participate in Chaos Mission, clearly having reached the Foundation Establishment Realm... And given the talent this Young Master of the Chen Family had previously displayed, these two or three months should have been enough for him to barely advance to the Foundation Establishment Realm Third Layer...

"Wait... you haven't already Mind Condensation, have you?" Luo Jun asked, his face full of surprise.

Hearing this, Tie Jingang also looked at Chen Ran in shock.

The young master of the Vermillion Bird Town Chen Family, whose father is still Peak Expert, although his current cultivation level is not high, his talent is obvious to all. The academy is also paying close attention to this student.

"It's not that bad." Chen Ran smiled slightly, raised his hand, and condensed a ball of qi, which danced like flames under the Vital Energy Vision, and at the same time, the two people who were close by could feel a distinct temperature.

"However, there's already a strong inclination. I'm confident we can reach Mind Condensation before the Exchange Tournament. Don't say I'm bullying you then!"

"This inclination is already very obvious!" Tie Jingang looked surprised. "Judging from the level of this flame simulation, you really have a very good chance of achieving a breakthrough in the short term!"

Hearing Tie Jingang's words and seeing the qi dancing on Chen Ran's fingertips, Luo Jun frowned, gave Chen Ran a complicated look, then shook his head and sighed deeply.

Seeing his reaction, Chen Ran was slightly taken aback, withdrew his protective aura, and comforted him, "I was just saying that. After all, the Lineage tradition is here, and you've progressed quite quickly. Don't be discouraged; given time, you'll definitely reach the Mind Condensation too..."

"I'm not discouraged, just regretful..." Luo Jun shook his head, raised his hand and patted Chen Ran's shoulder. "With such talent as you, where were you all this time? If you had worked hard a few years earlier, you would be the 'other people's child' in Third Young Master Lei's eyes now!"

"Hey! You 'Yin Yang me, aren't you!" Chen Ran was instantly furious and raised his foot to kick Luo Jun, Luo Jun nimbly dodged. Just then, a cubicle door opened, and it was his turn. He slipped into the cubicle, and before closing the door, he made a face at Chen Ran: "Keep cultivating, Young Master Chen, we're waiting for you at the Exchange Meeting!"