They had once thought their son's talent was limited and that he probably wouldn't get into college, so they hadn't considered it.
But Su Bai was different now. Mastering the Three Body Technique perfectly already met the requirements for college, so his parents had started preparing his tuition.
"I'll go borrow money from my big brother!" Su Jianhong stubbed out his cigarette and turned to leave.
Lin Xiu'e added, "We still have a little over 5,000 at home. We need to prepare at least 30,000 for our son. I'll go ask Su Bai's second aunt to lend us some, too."
"Yeah, we should try to prepare as much as we can, just in case!" Su Jianhong put on his clothes and headed out.
He was going to borrow money from Su Bai's uncle, his own older brother.
Su Bai watched silently from the side without saying anything. He knew he had no way to change things yet, and could only rely on his parents.
But he believed these days would soon be over. He was confident he could give his family a better life!
"Thirteen days left... Maybe I can get stronger by assigning points and win the school scholarship, easing the burden on my parents!" He thought of the school scholarship. Yangcheng No. 1 High School set aside three scholarships for students taking the college entrance exams every year.
Each scholarship was worth 100,000 Federal Coins, enough to cover the cost of an ordinary college.
Chapter 8: Becoming a Ninja?
Two hours later, Su Jianhong and Lin Xiu'e returned, both looking rather unhappy.
"Dear, did your big brother agree to lend us money?"
"He did, but he only gave us 10,000. What about your second aunt? What did she say?" Su Jianhong furrowed his brow and instinctively pulled out a cigarette, about to light it.
Lin Xiu'e slapped his hand. She didn't like him smoking.
Their home was small, barely over fifty square meters. Whenever Su Jianhong smoked, everyone else had to breathe it in.
"Your second aunt wanted to lend us some, but her husband wasn't willing. In the end, she only gave us 1,000," Lin Xiu'e said.
Su Bai's second aunt was her younger sister. The two families visited each other often and got along well.
But her brother-in-law was useless. He didn't work properly, smoked and drank all day, and was especially stingy.
Her sister had wanted to lend her money, but her husband was the one in charge of the household. There was nothing she could do when he refused.
"Sigh, my sister-in-law was understanding, but my big brother's family isn't much better off than ours. They couldn't suddenly come up with any more money," Su Jianhong said, frowning.
They were all ordinary families. No one was better off than anyone else.
"What should we do, then? We don't even have 20,000 between us," Lin Xiu'e asked.
"I'll ask my coworkers to lend me some tomorrow. We should be able to borrow enough to reach 30,000."
Su Bai listened to his parents talking in the room. He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and stepped out.
"Mom, Dad, I have a way to get the money!"
"You? What could a young kid like you do?" Su Jianhong laughed dismissively.
Lin Xiu'e smiled, too. "Son, don't worry about the money. Your dad and I will take care of it. Just focus on your studies."
"I really do have a way!"
"Our school offers scholarships. If I place in the top three in the assessment, I can get one. Each scholarship is worth 100,000!" Seeing that his parents didn't believe him, Su Bai grew anxious and quickly explained his idea.
Su Jianhong and Lin Xiu'e exchanged a glance, then asked uncertainly, "Son, are you sure you can place in the top three?"
"Yeah. You've mastered the Three Body Technique, but surely there are plenty of students at your school who've reached that level, too?"
"If you want to compete for the scholarship, won't it ultimately come down to how much chakra you have?"
Their son's sudden "awakening" that night had astonished them, but he was only an excellent student now, still far from being among the very best.
Even they knew that while fully mastering the Three Body Technique was the standard for the assessment, rankings depended on how much chakra a student had.
They also knew Su Bai had always been weak and slow to refine chakra, so they weren't very confident about his chances of winning the scholarship.
"Don't worry, Mom and Dad. I'm not the same as I used to be. I'm confident I can win the scholarship!" Su Bai said confidently.
Although his body was still weak, he could gain one usable attribute point every day. He refused to believe that putting all those points into chakra wouldn't let him catch up with his classmates!
"Tonight will decide whether I can win the scholarship. I'll find out how much one attribute point can increase my chakra!" Su Bai returned to his room and began refining chakra.
Although he had a system that let him assign points, Su Bai knew he couldn't neglect his usual training. Becoming someone exceptional took more than just opportunity; it also took effort most people weren't willing to put in!
He sat cross-legged and refined chakra using the method taught at school.
According to more than two hundred years of human research, chakra was an energy created by perfectly blending spiritual energy and physical energy.
It was the source of energy for performing ninjutsu and Genjutsu.
Simply put, chakra was the energy needed to use ninjutsu. It came from the physical energy drawn from each of the body's 130 trillion cells, combined with spiritual energy cultivated through extensive training and experience.
Once generated, chakra spread throughout the body like blood. The more often and the longer a ninja refined it, the greater their chakra reserves became.
Buzz, buzz.
As soon as Su Bai began, he felt the chakra in his cells surging like a swarm of wild spirits. It was so active that he couldn't help slowing down, worried something might go wrong.
His nerves were taut. Refining chakra consumed the energy in his cells and required spiritual power to work alongside it. Only by combining the two could he produce chakra.
"Cells can be thought of as Yang Attribute, and spiritual power as Yin Attribute. If I want to refine chakra faster, I'll have to put points into both."
"But the exam is right around the corner. There's no time for me to slowly earn more usable attribute points. I'll put tonight's point into chakra."
Su Bai glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already nine in the evening. In just three hours, his usable attribute points would refresh for the next day.
"Hopefully, I'll be in for a surprise..."
Expectant, Su Bai closed his eyes and concentrated on refining chakra. Time passed, little by little.
One hour... two hours... three hours...
When it reached midnight—the start of the next day—Su Bai didn't hesitate. He put the refreshed usable attribute point into chakra!
Boom!
A tremendous surge of energy erupted inside him. Every cell in his body seemed to cheer and leap with joy as they frantically absorbed it!
In almost an instant, the cells in his body had "devoured" all of that energy!
"Th-this is!" Su Bai stared wide-eyed at the panel, his face full of disbelief!
Host: Su Bai Substitution Technique: LV1 (112/200) + Clone Technique: LV1 (114/200) + Transformation Technique: LV1 (108/200) + Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan (Kamui Mangekyou) — Not Activated Chakra Level: 1.04 (k) + Earth Attribute: LV0 (0/100) — Not Activated Water Attribute: LV0 (0/100) — Not Activated Wind Attribute: LV0 (0/100) — Not Activated Fire Attribute: LV0 (0/100) — Not Activated Lightning Attribute: LV0 (0/100) — Not Activated Yin Attribute: LV0 (0/100) — Not Activated Yang Attribute: LV0 (0/100) — Not Activated Current Usable Attribute Points: 0 (increases by 1 every day at midnight) Current Mission: Raise Overall Evaluation to Genin (Mission reward: 5 usable attribute points) Overall Evaluation: Ninja Apprentice
"One usable attribute point gives me one k of chakra? Have I already reached the minimum chakra level for a Genin?"
Su Bai stared at the panel, dazed. His good fortune had come far too suddenly.
Just that morning, he'd been worrying about how to raise his chakra level. Now one attribute point had turned him into a Genin? This was absurd!
After his excitement faded, Su Bai suddenly came to his senses.
"No, I shouldn't think of it that way."
"Although one usable attribute point adding one k of chakra is an astronomical amount for me right now, it won't make such a big difference once I grow stronger."
"The minimum chakra level for a Genin is 1 k, and the maximum is 100. If I rely on assigning points, it'll take me a hundred days to raise my chakra to Chunin level."
"Thinking about it, that's not too slow, but reaching the 1,000 k chakra level of a Jonin would take me three years."
"Three years isn't that long, but I can't rely solely on assigning points to increase my chakra. Other things need those points even more!"
Su Bai turned his attention to Yin Attribute and Yang Attribute. His chakra was enough for now, and he was sure he could pass the exam and win the scholarship.
As far as he knew, aside from Xia Xueqing, no one else in the entire senior class at Yangcheng No. 1 High School had raised their chakra to Genin level.
After all, Xia Xueqing was the only student at Yangcheng No. 1 High School from a Kekkei Genkai family. She had access to cultivation resources others didn't from birth, which was why she'd become a Genin so quickly.
"Yin Attribute and Yang Attribute are vital to changing my body. In the long run, I might want to prioritize these two when I get more usable attribute points."
Chapter 9: Strawberry-Flavored Milk Tea
Su Bai got up early the next morning. After a night's rest, his body had replenished plenty of energy, so he could refine chakra again.
Since chakra had to be drawn from the cells, it took a heavy toll on the body. The most direct way people replenished their energy was by eating nutritious food, such as Magic Beast meat.
The higher a Magic Beast's level, the more nutrients its meat contained, and the greater its benefits for the human body.
But Su Bai couldn't afford Magic Beast meat.
He couldn't even afford to eat it—his family only ate ordinary meat a few times a year.
It wasn't that his parents were stingy. They'd saved all their money for him and his younger sister...
This was the first time Su Bai had refined chakra since becoming a "Genin." The night before, he had cautiously refined chakra for three hours and only increased it by 0.01 k. He knew that was his normal pace; his talent was average.
But now that he had become a "pseudo" Genin, his physical strength had increased, and he could refine chakra faster. In just half an hour, he produced as much as he had the previous night in three hours.
"Gurgle~"
"I'm so hungry."
His stomach protested, and Su Bai stopped training. His body no longer had enough energy for him to keep refining chakra.
"Son, don't eat so much or you'll make yourself sick."
At the table, Su Jianhong and Lin Xiu'e stared wide-eyed at Su Bai. He had already eaten five steamed buns...
With his mouth full, Su Bai chewed twice and mumbled, "Don't worry, Mom and Dad. I'm not a little kid anymore. I know how much I can eat."
"That may be true, but why are you suddenly eating so much?" Su Jianhong asked with a frown.
He wasn't worried about the few steamed buns. It was Su Bai's appetite suddenly increasing several times over that concerned him.
This time, Su Bai didn't tell them the truth. He just said that refining chakra had improved, so his body needed more energy.
It wasn't that he didn't trust his parents. He simply didn't know how to explain that his chakra had suddenly increased by one k overnight.
After all, what he'd done was far too strange. As far as he knew, no Ninja Apprentice had ever become a Genin as quickly as he had!
After breakfast, Su Bai, in an excellent mood, rubbed Su Xiaoxiao's little head before heading to school.
As soon as he walked into the classroom, he spotted Xia Xueqing, whom he'd "teased." She saw him, too, gave a soft snort, and turned away without acknowledging him. It seemed she was still angry.
Xia Xueqing wore a fitted martial arts uniform that day. The white, close-fitting outfit made her look fresh and delicate. Her hair, which had usually fallen over her shoulders, was tied up, and a long ponytail hung down the back of her head, making her look like an adorable girl next door.
When the students saw the "main characters" arrive, they immediately quieted down, ready to enjoy a good "show."
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