New Journey

(A Transitional Chapter)

World Power was the foundation Realm Lords used to control their Small Worlds.

Ten points of Mental Power could be converted into one point of World Power. Realm Lords could convert the Mental Power they normally could not use into World Power and store it in their World Beads.

The upper limit of World Power that a Micro World's World Bead could store was one thousand points.

For a Small World, it was ten thousand points.

Under normal circumstances, a Realm Lord who had just opened a Micro Small World needed at least five years to store a full thousand points of World Power.

More often than not, the Realm Lord would have already advanced to a Small Small World before the World Bead was full.

Realm Lords had far too many uses for Mental Power and World Power.

As for Zhang Zhi, he had even more uses for Mental Power and World Power! The successive advancements of his Small World did indeed cause his Mental Power Value to skyrocket, but that rapid growth took time.

After opening a Small World, everyone experienced their greatest increase in Mental Power. Their Mental Power Value increased at more than ten times its original rate.

However, with each subsequent advancement of the Small World, the growth rate was only around three times.

Zhang Zhi's initial Mental Power Value was relatively high, but he also had many places where he needed to expend Mental Power.

He estimated that perhaps by the time his Small World advanced to a Medium World, his Mental Power would be just enough to bear the consumption of this gray Trial Tower.

It frustrated him to no end to have obtained such a huge reward yet be unable to use it.

After the Heaven and Earth Trial, benefiting from the Heaven and Earth Gift, the Small World underwent a wave of explosive growth.

Zhang Zhi had raised "Basic Alchemy" to green, but he had not yet integrated it into the Small World.

He currently had no pill formulas, and there were hardly any alchemy materials in the Small World either, so he could only set it aside for now.

After handling the various messy matters in the Small World following the Heaven and Earth Trial, only five days remained before Seven Dragons Academy opened. At this point, his cultivation had also broken through to the Elite Realm two days earlier.

Advancing the Small World twice had indeed improved his aptitude considerably. However, advancing to the Mortal Transformation Realm would require some time to accumulate power.

He went to the Black Market to deliver the latest chapters of "Golden Scales Are Not Things In A Pond" to the bookseller and collected his share of the proceeds for this period—more than five hundred Gold Yuan Vouchers.

He returned to the Orphanage, chatted with the Old Director, bragged with his younger brothers and sisters, and, after lunch, left the Orphanage money for the meal as usual.

The difference was that this time the amount was rather large—a full two hundred Gold Yuan Vouchers.

At the entrance of the Orphanage, he encountered Li Yuan, who had "happened" to be passing by.

Li Yuan's school was in Yuzhang, and Zhang Zhi had to travel to Yuzhang to change trains on his way to Seven Dragons Prefecture.

After walking and chatting for a while, Li Yuan learned that Zhang Zhi planned to leave the next day and asked whether he needed help buying tickets.

The technology in this world was more advanced than that of Earth in some areas, yet far behind it in others. By Zhang Zhi's standards, it was roughly equivalent to Huaxia in the 1990s.

Internal-combustion trains were already quite mature technology here and were the main means of transportation for ordinary people traveling to other cities.

Of course, things like Teleportation Arrays existed too, but the price of using one was exorbitant. Aircraft technology was also fairly well developed, but this was a Transcendent Realm, and civilian aircraft were not popular for various reasons.

So, the only option was to take a train to Seven Dragons Prefecture.

The territory under the jurisdiction of the Tianxing Domain was enormous, even larger than Earth in his previous life. The area of Qingshan Dao alone was roughly as large as the Eurasian Continent had been. Traveling from Yicheng to Seven Dragons Prefecture by train took about three days and four nights, and there was no direct route. He first had to go to Yuzhang to change trains.

He had only managed to buy a ticket from Yicheng to Yuzhang. He would have to wait until he reached Yuzhang to buy the ticket from Yuzhang to Seven Dragons Prefecture.

As a member of a prominent family, Li Yuan had some privileges. Seeing that he offered to help buy the ticket, Zhang Zhi did not refuse.

That afternoon, Li Yuan delivered the ticket. The ticket from Yuzhang to Seven Dragons was for a sleeper berth.

Before leaving, he made one trip to the school, intending to say goodbye to the Principal, but the Principal was still not at school.

After the train started moving, he watched the scenery outside slowly slide backward, and a strange sense of dislocation in time and space welled up in his heart.

He had often taken trains in his previous life. This was his first time taking one in this world, and scene after scene from his past experiences on Earth surged into his mind.

After feeling sentimental for a while, he composed himself and sat down in his berth.

The journey from Yicheng to Yuzhang took about twenty hours. He had bought a sleeper berth, and the trains in this world were considerably wider than those on Earth. Each row had two compartments, with the corridor running between them.

When he had read novels on Earth, they often described romantic encounters on trains. Zhang Zhi had indeed experienced one in his previous life, and on this train, a beautiful young married woman across and diagonally from him was indeed casting frequent glances his way.

However, his body was only a little over fourteen years old, so he had no particular thoughts about romantic encounters.

Besides, the woman was more likely just curious. After all, not many fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boys traveled alone in this world.

Nothing noteworthy happened on the way. He got off, transferred, and boarded the train from Yuzhang to Seven Dragons Prefecture.

The train from Yuzhang to Seven Dragons was considerably faster. Three days later, Zhang Zhi, feeling as if his entire body had gone numb from sitting, slowly stepped off the train.

Since trains in this world did not yet have air-conditioning, ordinary people really could not endure sitting on one for several days and nights in a row.

Fortunately, Li Yuan had bought him a ticket in a higher-class carriage equipped with a private shower room. Otherwise, he would certainly have stunk by the time he arrived.

After leaving the train station, he looked at the enormous station plaza, the dense crowds, and the young men soliciting passengers. For a moment, Zhang Zhi thought he had returned to the Spring Festival travel season on Earth.

He shook his head with a laugh, banished the thought, and walked toward the road in the distance.

The reason Zhang Zhi felt that this world resembled Huaxia in the 1990s was largely that certain aspects of its atmosphere were very similar to that era.

For example, it was full of vitality.

For example, most people believed that better days lay ahead.

And, for example, its chaotic public security.

The train station could be said to be the most mixed and disorderly area in a city. With his small Elite Realm body, it was best to honestly go outside and take public transportation.

Three hours later, after taking quite a few unnecessary rides, Zhang Zhi looked at the somewhat shabby school gate ahead, which bore the words "Seven Dragons Academy," and thought, I've finally arrived!

The school gate was not very large, and a long line stretched out from it.

After asking someone nearby who was maintaining order, he learned that he first needed to register at the reporting station by the school gate. Then, someone would take them to their corresponding academy.

Different academies had different subjects in their curricula.

For example, the Beastman Academy and Monster Race Academy mainly taught knowledge related to the Beastman Path.

Of course, the paths were not divided solely according to race.

For example, the Divine Path had members of every race!

The Immortal Cultivation Academy, for example, mainly consisted of Monster Race and human students, mixed with some other races. At the same time, the Human Race Academy and Immortal Cultivation Academy shared some courses.

After thanking the man, he walked toward the long line.