Self-study was ideal. It suited Li Mingzhu perfectly at the moment.
However, the academy held assessments centered on combat every four months.
Those with outstanding results could apply for better benefits, including meat from older soul beasts to nourish their bodies.
Those who performed poorly without a valid reason received a demerit. More than five meant expulsion.
Most importantly, soul ring hunting was determined by a student's benefits, which were divided into three tiers: yellow, purple, and black.
When Zhang Xiang first told him about this, Li Mingzhu had been quite interested.
As their names suggested, these benefits were easy enough to understand. Yellow-level benefits limited soul ring hunting to beasts under a thousand years old, even for a student's future third and fourth soul rings.
At purple level, the third and fourth soul rings could be thousand-year rings, though their ages would not approach the upper limit of that range. Most came from soul beasts that had only just passed the thousand-year mark.
At black level, the academy could not actually hunt ten-thousand-year soul beasts for its students. Never mind that its dean was only a Soul Emperor; most students had already graduated by the time they became Soul Ancestors or Soul Kings.
Instead, this benefits tier guaranteed that a student's first few soul rings would reach the limits of their respective stages.
Of course, a student's benefits tier was not fixed. It could rise or fall. After all, some possessed exceptional talent yet neglected their cultivation, while others had ordinary aptitude but persevered without fail.
Although one's martial soul determined everything, this still gave students hope and motivation, keeping the academy vibrant.
As for Li Mingzhu, although he had concealed his strength, having level 19 soul power at nine years old still earned him black-level benefits.
Clear moonlight