Course Selection?

Cloud-Perch Academy, west wing.

The room was small, the smallest of the three. It was about the same size as the place he'd lived in Willow Town, and the furnishings were simple: a bed, a wooden table, a writing desk, and the like.

The room was very clean. There wasn't a speck of dust on the desk or cabinet, as if they'd just been cleaned. Fresh bedding had also been laid out on the bed, saving him quite a bit of trouble.

There was even a pot of tea on the table. Chu Ming was a little thirsty, but he didn't drink any...

He placed Poetry, Politics, and Military Strategy on the desk, opened his bundle, took out his change of clothes, and put them in the cabinet.

Xiao Shan would usually have taken care of these chores. Now he had to do them himself.

Still, it was simple enough. He'd done everything himself in his previous life, so he had it all sorted out in no time.

Once he'd unpacked, he sat down at the desk to rest and opened Poetry, Politics, and Military Strategy to study.

The thick book was half as tall as he was, and he'd already read nearly half of it. At this rate, he'd probably finish the whole thing in another seven or eight days.

If he stopped deducing cultivation techniques and practicing the Body Forging Technique, and devoted himself to the book, he could finish even sooner.

As he read, Chu Ming pondered his current situation.

"Ning Hao is particular about his behavior and dress, and seems steadier. Liang Yuan looks rather sloppy, but he seems quite accomplished in calligraphy and painting."

He'd heard every word the two men had said in the courtyard.

"Calligraphy and painting..." He mused. "Maybe I could grind out the skill, imitate the great masters' paintings and calligraphy, and sell them."

Chu Ming had a dozen or so taels of silver on him, enough for meals. But practicing martial arts required medicinal soup, and he also wanted to give some silver to Fang Xiao, his steward, and Xiao Shan, the girl.

There would surely be plenty of other things that required silver down the line, too.

So he'd been considering ways to earn some.

Ning Hao and Liang Yuan's conversation had given him an idea.

"Once I'm familiar with the academy, I'll look for some related books to read."

It wasn't easy to grind out a skill on the panel. He needed a certain level of proficiency or some insight.

[Reading] had appeared only after he'd read many travelogues. The Wind-Slapping Palm had taken many days of continuous practice, and the others went without saying.

There was, in fact, a quicker way to get silver: use a martial artist's strength.

As the saying went, "Murder and arson put gold belts around your waist..."

The seven streams of qi and blood he'd condensed gave him more than twice the amount available to an ordinary martial artist. In terms of qi and blood alone, he would be hard to beat within the Blood Activation Realm.

But that sort of thing was risky. The Criminal Defense Division wasn't there to make up the numbers.

"Silver is secondary. The most urgent thing is to finish reading every book in the academy."

The more books he read, the more the two special abilities, Mastery and Integration and Drawing Inferences, could come into play.

"Last..." His gaze sharpened. "There's the matter of the Chu Family."

As he thought, time slipped by. At dusk, someone suddenly knocked at the courtyard gate.

Ning Hao and Liang Yuan had gone out half an hour earlier. Chu Ming had no choice but to set down his book, leave the room, and open the door.

"Brother Chu, are you about done settling in? I'll take you to dinner."

The person at the door was Lu Xian, who'd brought him to Cloud-Perch Academy that morning.

They'd both come from Willow Town, after all. Worried that Chu Ming wouldn't know his way around or where to eat, Lu Xian had come by at dinnertime.

"Sure. Just a moment, Brother Lu."

Chu Ming went back inside, took three taels of silver, and followed Lu Xian along a path, through the Middle Academy's main gate, and into the Lower Academy.

"Brother Chu, Baiyuan Academy has a dining hall in the Lower Academy. It's cheaper than eating outside, so we all eat here."

"Of course, you can also go to a restaurant outside the academy, but that costs more and wastes time. Unless there's a special occasion, we usually eat in the academy's dining hall."

As they walked, Lu Xian explained the academy's setup: meals, accommodations, transportation, classes, instructors, and well-known senior students...

Listening to him, Chu Ming felt as if he'd returned to the high school dormitory in his previous life.

They walked for about fifteen minutes. More and more scholars appeared along the way, most of them seemingly on their way to dinner.

"Brother Chu, we're almost there." Lu Xian pointed to a three-story pavilion ahead. "That's the academy dining hall."

They quickened their pace. As they approached the dining hall, they spotted someone waving to them from a distance.

"Brother Chu, Brother Lu." The man jogged over, his face wreathed in smiles.

"Brother Guan, did you get us a table?" Lu Xian asked.

"I did. Don't worry, Brother Lu. With Brother Chu here, would I let him go hungry?"

It was Guan Chong, third place in Willow Town's Academy Exam, with a scholar's kerchief on his head.

"Come on, Brother Chu. Dinner's on me today. Let's celebrate your arrival."

The three entered the dining hall shoulder to shoulder, the aroma of food washing over them.

The dining hall was spacious, with rows of tables and chairs neatly arranged. It was much like the school cafeteria from his previous life.

Guan Chong led them along a path at the edge of the hall to a table near a corner.

"This is the table you reserved?" Lu Xian didn't seem very pleased with the spot.

It was dusk, and there wasn't much daylight to begin with. Oil lamps lit the dining hall, but the light barely reached this corner.

Guan Chong's face flushed slightly. Looking a little embarrassed, he said, "It's mealtime, so there were too many people. This was the only table I could grab..."

"Couldn't you have come earlier?"

"...That wouldn't have worked either. I had to order the food and save a table. I couldn't do both at once..."

"This is the first time the top three from Willow Town have eaten together..." Lu Xian was about to say more, but Chu Ming cut in. "As long as we can eat, it doesn't matter where we sit."

They'd spent the whole day bumping along the road from Willow Town. He'd eaten a little at noon, and now he was hungry again.

"Brother Chu, we have a lot of classes these next few days, so we'll have to make do for now. Once things settle down, we'll have a proper meal at a restaurant outside the academy."

Guan Chong deferred to Lu Xian, while Lu Xian seemed to look to Chu Ming as their leader.

Chu Ming glanced at the two of them, then looked at the food already laid out on the table: seven or eight dishes, a mix of meat and vegetables, and a large bucket of steaming white rice.

Under the Sword Gourd Spiritual Sense, he could tell it had all just come off the stove. There was nothing wrong with it.

"Sounds good."

Lu Xian and Guan Chong had only met him once, yet they'd been so warm and eager to please...

After thinking it over, he understood why.

It was probably because he'd spent time alone with Lord Feng Yuan, the Principal Eighth Rank Registrar.

The three took their seats. After exchanging a few polite words, they finally picked up their chopsticks and began to eat.

The portions were generous, and the food tasted good, too. The academy dining hall was far more decent than the cafeteria at his old school.

Halfway through the meal, Lu Xian picked up the teapot, filled Chu Ming's cup, and said with a smile, "Brother Chu, you don't know how the academy's classes work yet, do you?"

"No, I don't." Chu Ming ate at an unhurried pace. He really hadn't learned how the academy taught its classes.

"You've read Poetry, Politics, and Military Strategy, right, Brother Chu? It has five sections: poetry, politics, history, rites, and the Art of War. The academy requires us to choose three to study. Poetry is compulsory, and we choose the other two ourselves."

"What are you planning to choose, Brother Chu?" Lu Xian asked.

Chu Ming paused. Wasn't this just like choosing between the arts and sciences in high school...

"I haven't decided yet. Could you tell me about the options, Lu Xian?"

"Sure. I'll explain them in detail."

"First, the required subject is poetry: poems, lyrics, songs, and fu. It represents one's literary talent."