The Four Great Powers

"My sister is this year's top scorer in Kyoto Base City!"

Just as everyone was caught up in the joyous mood, Tang Yongyuan suddenly stood up and shouted.

"What?"

Tang Yongyuan held up his phone and said excitedly, "Look, the school has already sent out the announcement."

Before the college entrance exam results were released, the scores were actually ranked, though the rankings were generally not made public.

The local education bureau already knew the highest score before people could check their results, so the school had been able to send out its notice so quickly.

Tang Yongqing took out her phone, and Su You leaned over to look. The messages in Tang Yongqing's class chat had already reached 99+, and almost every one congratulated her on becoming Kyoto Base City's top scorer for 2053.

Soon, the phones of Mr. and Mrs. Tang began ringing one after another. They were calls from prestigious schools across the Six Great Base Cities, and Su You's mother, Gong Yanrong, watched with envy.

Although her son had already become a Quasi-Martial Artist and had even signed an S-Class Contract with the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, perhaps because of her deep-seated obsession with the title of top scorer, she still couldn't help envying the Tang family.

Well, in a few years, the top scorer will be from our family. Gong Yanrong could only console herself with that thought. At the same time, she glared fiercely at Su You, leaving him completely baffled.

Over the following days, Su You accompanied Tang Yongqing to several interviews, speeches, and other events. He could only find time to practice martial arts in the evenings, and they no longer even had time to cuddle as they usually did.

Fortunately, the fuss over her status as top scorer didn't last long. In the end, both Tang Yongqing and Tang Yongyuan chose Kyoto University. One majored in pharmacy, while the other chose materials science.

In Su You's previous life, those would definitely have been considered dead-end majors. But after the Grand Nirvana, both fields had developed quite well.

Meanwhile, once life returned to normal, Su You demanded an exorbitant amount of compensation from Tang Yongqing for his "huge losses" over the past few days.

Tang Yongqing wasn't very willing at first, but after Su You sweet-talked her, she finally agreed to several conditions that made her blush whenever she thought about them.

On the evening of July 31, after walking Tang Yongqing home, Su You returned to his small training room, looking thoroughly pleased with himself, and continued practicing the Qi Accumulation Chapter of the Eight-Nine Profound Art.

Unlike when he simply used the Five Hearts Toward Heaven Cultivation Method, whenever he practiced the Eight-Nine Profound Art, Su You felt that his Life Gene Level was being optimized. However, he didn't experience anything as dramatic as the changes he'd felt when he first practiced the Five Hearts Toward Heaven Cultivation Method.

After more than two months, he was nearly finished practicing the Qi Accumulation Chapter. Unfortunately, he still hadn't found any way to gain more Merit Points, so he most likely wouldn't be able to keep up with the subsequent chapters.

In the training room, Su You circulated the Eight-Nine Profound Art and absorbed the universe's energy. Suddenly, his body trembled slightly, and the energy began pouring into him much faster.

"Nothing changed?" Su You frowned. He had just fully mastered the Qi Accumulation Chapter of the Eight-Nine Profound Art, but he still hadn't felt the sensation of a Life Gene Level breakthrough.

Did the transformation happen gradually while I was practicing? Or can the Eight-Nine Profound Art not raise my Gene Level?

Su You thought it over for a while but couldn't come up with an answer. He could only head back to rest and prepare for the Martial Artist Combat Assessment the next day.

Early the next morning, Su You joined thirty-two other Quasi-Martial Artists. Led by a martial artist from the Extreme Hall, they went to the train station and boarded a train bound for the assessment site.

The train had fifteen carriages, each holding over a hundred people. There were more than a thousand passengers in all, every one of them a Quasi-Martial Artist from Kyoto Base City or its Eight Satellite Cities.

The news that the Extreme Martial Arts Hall had specially recruited Su You into the Basic Training Camp had long since spread through Tianjin City's Quasi-Martial Artist circles.

As a result, plenty of people came looking to team up with him. Even that guy Wang Xingle had swallowed his pride and come over to give it a try.

Ever since the news of Su You's special recruitment into the Basic Training Camp had spread, Wang Xingle had abandoned the idea of causing trouble for him. He had even warned Fang Jingxue not to provoke Su You again.

A genius who could get into the Basic Training Camp might be worth testing by a true third-generation direct descendant of the Wang Family. But Wang Xingle, an illegitimate son whom the Wang Family didn't even acknowledge, had every reason to curry favor with Su You. He wouldn't dare pick a fight with him.

As the train traveled, a figure appeared on the big screens in each carriage. It was a supervisor from the HR Alliance. Before long, he was replaced by a deputy director from the Security Bureau, followed by supervisors from the Thunder Dojo and the Extreme Martial Arts Hall.

One after another, they introduced the advantages of their respective organizations and the benefits of joining, hoping to attract the Quasi-Martial Artists.

As for the Military, it generally didn't recruit ordinary martial artists from outside. Its martial artists either rose through the ranks of the armed forces or graduated from military academies.

The Four Great Powers each had their strengths and weaknesses. The Security Bureau's work was mostly confined to Base Cities, making it the most comfortable option. It offered considerable authority and a low death rate, though the growth in strength was slower.

The two Dojos' martial artists were all independent, making them the group with the highest death rate but also the fastest improvement. The Thunder Dojo was somewhat weaker overall, but its benefits were better than those of the Extreme Martial Arts Hall.

The HR Alliance offered the best benefits and was also extremely powerful when it came to top martial artists. East, the Fourth Speaker, and Atkin, the Fifth Speaker, were both affiliated experts with the HR Alliance and ranked among Earth's second-tier powerhouses.

If Hong and Thunder God, the two invincible powerhouses, were excluded, the HR Alliance's top martial artists could even outmatch those of the two Dojos.

However, the HR Alliance's internal factions were exceedingly complicated. It had nine core families and dozens of lesser families. Ordinary martial artists who joined would only end up as hired muscle for one of them, putting them far worse off than they would be in the other organizations.

The martial artists in the carriage excitedly discussed which organization they would join after the assessment. Su You closed his eyes to rest, waiting for the upcoming Martial Artist Combat Assessment.

Before long, an announcement came over the carriage speakers that they were about to arrive. Once the train slowed and stopped, the Quasi-Martial Artists filed out and streamed into the large military camp ahead.

The Martial Artist Combat Assessment was generally organized by the Military. This time, the group had come to the Kyoto City West Military Region.

After a hearty lunch at the military base, the more than one thousand Quasi-Martial Artists went to an open plaza. This was where they would receive their combat uniforms and weapons.

When Su You heard the officer call his name, he immediately ran to the front and collected his gear: a Grade 2 Longsword, a combat uniform, a pair of combat boots, and a Communication Watch.

About an hour later, after everyone had received their equipment, the candidates followed an officer to a small town about one kilometer from the military base.