Class Assignment

However, this posed no difficulty for Xu Mengqing. He answered every question at an astonishing speed.

Very soon, with one-seventh of the sand still remaining in the hourglass, Xu Mengqing finished the last question and set down his pen.

The paper was graded quickly. Out of a total of one hundred and fifty points, he scored one hundred and thirty-six, safely surpassing the passing line.

Seeing that he had passed, he let out a slight sigh of relief.

After completing his registration at the association, the receptionist handed Xu Mengqing a Soul Guidance badge engraved with his name.

Xu Mengqing rubbed the standard Soul Guidance badge between his fingers, learned some more rules about the Mecha Designer assessment, and then left the East Sea Mecha Designer Association.

After returning to school,

Xu Mengqing immediately felt a powerful wave of hunger wash over him. Without another word, he headed straight for the cafeteria.

The Intermediate Division cafeteria was located in a small building beside the main teaching building. The building had three floors, serving the six grades of the Intermediate Division. First and second years ate on the first floor.

However, what left Xu Mengqing rather speechless was—

There were only tables in the cafeteria, no chairs. Students had to eat standing up, supposedly to strengthen their sense of urgency.

Did they fucking learn this from Shrek?

The cafeteria had three windows, marked with the characters A, B, and C respectively.

After asking around, Xu Mengqing learned that meal c was completely free, meal b required partial payment, while meal a had to be paid for in full.

Naturally, the ingredients for meal a were the best, followed by meal b. Meal c was just ordinary food.

The sign beneath the meal c window said steamed buns.

He wanted to eat meal a too, but his finances would not allow it. So, after taking a few steamed buns from meal c, he went to meal b and bought some meat dishes.

Perhaps because his body had been strengthened, Xu Mengqing's appetite was not small either.

After eating and drinking his fill, Xu Mengqing returned to his dormitory.

He found the dorm room completely empty, with no one inside. It was already afternoon—why had none of his roommates arrived yet?

Puzzled, Xu Mengqing went to ask the dorm supervisor. Only then did he learn that he was the sole occupant of this dorm room.

This pleased Xu Mengqing somewhat. After all, he had the Holy Dragon Pearl, and he usually cultivated inside it. This saved him from having to explain why he did not meditate and cultivate in the dorm.

Back in his room, Xu Mengqing locked the door, made sure no one was nearby, and with a thought, his figure instantly vanished from the room.

Inside the Holy Dragon Pearl Space, Xu Mengqing appeared on the shore of a vast lake.

The Holy Dragon Pearl Space was already completely different from what it had been a year ago.

Everywhere around him grew incredibly lush Blue Silver Grass, its blades glowing with a gentle, warm blue light.

The ring of Blue Silver Grass nearest the shore was arranged according to a Taiji Bagua Array, spreading around the circular lake. Faintly, the primordial energy of heaven and earth gathered and flowed there.

The Blue Silver Grass within the space seemed to sense Xu Mengqing's arrival. It seemed to radiate joy, its leaves and stems swaying gently.

Xu Mengqing slowly walked onto a huge boulder by the lake and sat down cross-legged.

He immediately began circulating the Heaven-Swallowing Spirit-Devouring Art.

As the cultivation method circulated, a powerful suction force formed around him. Vast amounts of pure primordial energy of heaven and earth were wildly drawn in, surging into his body. The surrounding Blue Silver Grass seemed to answer the call. In an instant, the entire Taiji Bagua Array activated at once, layers of pale blue light illuminating one after another and rippling outward like water.

The primordial energy of heaven and earth, which had previously flowed slowly, instantly became violent and surging under the combined pull of the array and cultivation method, wildly converging on Xu Mengqing as though it had taken physical form.

The next day,

At dawn, as sunlight fell upon Xu Mengqing, he opened his eyes.

After a night of meditation, he was full of energy, and the Soul Power within his body had successfully broken through to level seventeen.

Xu Mengqing exhaled a breath of stale air. With a thought, he instantly exited the Holy Dragon Pearl Space. Time passed at the same rate inside the Holy Dragon Pearl as it did outside, which was why he dared cultivate there without worry.

After washing up, Xu Mengqing opened his door.

The moment he stepped out, he ran into Tang Wulin, who was also leaving the room across from his.

Xu Mengqing smiled and spoke first. "Wulin, how was it? Did you get your Level One blacksmith badge too?"

Tang Wulin nodded. "Mm, I got it! What about you?"

"I got mine too."

After breakfast, the two headed to the opening ceremony venue.

The ceremony was held in Eastsea Academy's plaza. This was the only time each year that students from the Advanced Division and Intermediate Division gathered together.

Xu Mengqing and Tang Wulin squeezed into the formation for new students. They were both quite tall among the freshmen, so they had been placed toward the back. From there, they could see the students of the entire academy.

There were around a hundred students in each grade of the Intermediate Division, making roughly seven or eight hundred across all six grades. The Advanced Division had far fewer, with fewer than two hundred students in total. It was said that they were split into three grades. This showed just how difficult it was to advance from the Intermediate Division to the Advanced Division. The odds were only a little over twenty percent.

"Hello, students. Today is the annual opening ceremony. Next, let us welcome Dean Yu to give a speech."

Eastsea Academy's dean was an elderly man who looked to be in his sixties. He was of average build and quite unremarkable in appearance, with graying hair, glasses, and the air of a scholar.

"Hello, students. Every year at this time, I feel somewhat emotional. A group of students from both the Intermediate Division and Advanced Division graduate and leave the academy. Yet at the same time, some students advance from the Intermediate Division to the Advanced Division, while new students join us."

"In my view, the academy is like the Federation's blood-producing institution, constantly supplying the Federation with qualified talent. In the future, I hope that all of you will also be able to..."

The dean was an excellent speaker. Without any script, he spoke with great feeling for a full quarter of an hour before gradually wrapping up. After the dean's speech came the most important matter of the opening ceremony: class assignment.

The students who did not need to take part in the class assignment left first. The new Advanced Division students went to the Advanced Division campus to be assigned classes, leaving only the first-year Intermediate Division freshmen in the plaza.

"Next is the class assignment. As everyone knows, at Eastsea Academy, the lower the class number, the more outstanding its students are. However, this is not absolute. We hope that the lower-ranked classes can also strive to catch up. This year's freshmen number one hundred and eight in total, divided into five classes. When I call your name, step forward and enter Class One..."

After hearing Long Hengxu's words, Tang Wulin finally understood what he had meant yesterday by punishing Xie Xie, Yun Xiao, and Zhou Changxi by placing them in Class Five.

There were five classes in total. The earlier the class, the higher the overall quality of its students. Without question, Class Five was the worst class.

Xu Mengqing did not care much about this.

"Xu Mengqing, Tang Wulin, Zhou Changxi, Xie Xie, Yun Xiao..."

Class Five had only twenty students, the fewest among all five classes. Most of the students assigned to Class Five looked dejected and listless.

"The homeroom teachers of each class, take your students back to their classrooms and familiarize them with the academy."

Five teachers stepped forward. One of them headed toward Class Five.