The treatment of working students was unquestionably outrageous.
They actually took fifty percent of the contribution points from missions, making them even darker than the Black Snake Society.
How to get rich quickly was Yan Qing's current priority.
Working students needed contribution points for every expense at school, including changing dorms, and contribution points were not easy to earn.
Even someone as strong as Yuanen Yehui had to squeeze into these shabby rooms and work several jobs.
But Yan Qing was a high-caliber human of the twenty-first century. It was time to launch his commercial empire plan.
He had never made a move back in Eastsea City, firstly because the market was too small.
Secondly, the overall environment was unstable. Even if he made a fortune in Eastsea City, a Soul Douluo or Titled Douluo might suddenly pop up and rob him.
Who could he turn to for justice?
Shrek City was much more stable. There were heaps of Titled Douluos, and as long as students did not court their own deaths, they would not interfere.
The only drawback was that in five or six years, this market would be shut down by Godslayer Soul Missiles.
The most important thing right now was startup capital, too. Yan Qing only had five thousand contribution points on hand.
He quickly sifted through the list of people in Shrek City in his mind, finally settling on a red-haired old man.
Early in the morning, Yan Qing ran to the Shrek Blacksmith Association and hammered on the door.
"Who's Feng Wuyu?"
Blazing Dragon Douluo Feng Wuyu was incredibly excited. Among the new students, two geniuses whose skills were infinitely close to Spirit Forging had appeared at once.
And they were only twelve and thirteen.
He could hardly wait to run to the dining hall and shout.
"Who's Yan Qing?"
"Who's Tang Wulin?"
Before he could act, however, he heard his own name called out from inside the forging room.
The heavens had truly been turned upside down!
He swiftly flashed to the doorway and hauled up the boy who was shouting.
"You brat have some nerve, daring to address me by name."
"This junior, Yan Qing, greets Your Eminence Blazing Dragon."
Yan Qing smiled brightly, then took a deep breath and spoke sincerely.
"Ever since I was little, I've heard that Shrek City has a Saint Craftsman whose cultivation reigns supreme across the continent. Unfortunately, I'd only heard his real name. Having just joined Shrek, I couldn't help coming to visit. In my eagerness, I called out Your Eminence's name at the door. I hope Your Eminence won't take offense."
"Hmm, you may be a rash little brat, but at least you're honest. Hahaha..."
Yan Qing's rainbow flattery left Feng Wuyu floating on air. Upon hearing that this was the very Yan Qing he was looking for, he accepted him as his personal disciple on the spot.
The old man and the boy hit it off at first sight. By the time they finally left the forging room, the two could practically call each other brothers.
It had to be said that if Yan Qing wanted to improve his forging skills, he ought to get the hell out of Feng Wuyu's forging room immediately, turn right, and go find Mu Chen.
But if he wanted to learn how to bullshit, he needed to pull out a pen and paper immediately here with Blazing Dragon Douluo. He still had plenty to learn.
Another five thousand contribution points came in. This was his first pot of gold, earned by joining the Blacksmith Association and selling the two test metals to Feng Wuyu.
Together with his assessment reward, he had a full ten thousand contribution points, enough to put his plan into action.
The next step was to find Tang Wulin.
"Wulin, I have a business proposition. Interested?"
"You can do Fusion Forging now, right?"
Yan Qing looked at Tang Wulin with a beaming smile, his gaze like he was looking at a mountain of gold.
Tang Wulin felt creeped out under that gaze. After hesitating a moment, he answered frankly.
"Yes."
"For rare metals with a fusion rate of around fifty percent, like heavy silver and starfall iron, what's your success rate?"
"A fusion rate of around fifty percent isn't very high quality."
Tang Wulin thought it over carefully before answering.
"Almost a hundred percent."
Yan Qing breathed a sigh of relief.
"For the next half month, I'll buy however much you can make, at seventy percent of market price."
"I also need a small quantity with high fusion rates, around eighty to ninety percent."
"I'll pay full market price for those."
Tang Wulin agreed at once, gratitude welling up in his eyes, and immediately prepared to find a forging room.
After all, missions submitted by working students only paid fifty percent of market price. Yan Qing's offer was a full twenty percentage points higher, and more.
Having secured his biggest supplier, Yan Qing promptly purchased a large batch of materials.
How could he earn a million contribution points in a short time?
Step one: spread the word.
Yan Qing hired people to distribute flyers in batches throughout the dormitory area and the working students' residential area.
The flyers announced that a mysterious new shop had opened in the working student dormitory.
The shop sold battle armor blind boxes. Every blind box guaranteed a piece of first-grade Thousand Refined metal.
The price was 1.1 times that of ordinary Thousand Refined metal, but there was at least a ten percent chance of getting Fusion Forged spirit alloy.
Buying a full box of six guaranteed one piece of Fusion Forged spirit alloy.
Most importantly, there was a chance of getting a secret edition: rare metal with a fusion rate as high as ninety percent.
The graduation requirement for the Shrek Outer Court was becoming a One-Word Battle Armor Master.
And the raw material for One-Word Battle Armor was first-grade Thousand Refined metal. The goal of the vast majority of Outer Court disciples was to make battle armor for themselves.
Hearing that there was a chance to improve their battle armor's quality naturally drove them wild.
The news swiftly swept through the entire Outer Court.
Step two: Yan Qing invited Feng Wuyu to lend him his backing, on the grounds of supporting his disciple's business.
At the sight of Elder Feng's signature red hair, the students who had still been hesitating came flocking over.
The twenty blind boxes offered for presale were snapped up.
"Have you heard? They're selling loose battle armor pieces over at the working student dormitory!"
"Are you crazy? You'd dare put something like that on your battle armor?"
"You have no idea. Tang Er from the second year got heavy silver with a fusion rate as high as ninety-one percent."
"Putting it on his wrist guard boosted his arm's power by at least thirty percent!"
"There's a deal that good? Then I've got to buy one too!"
"You won't get so much as a hair going now. They were snapped up ages ago."
"But I hear they're recruiting lots of blacksmiths over there. Supposedly, the terms are pretty good."
Similar scenes played out constantly throughout Shrek City. The seedling of Yan Qing's business was growing strong.
Once the planning for his business empire was more or less complete, Yan Qing began his first day of classes at Shrek.
Their teachers were familiar faces, too-Wu Changkong, who had returned to Shrek, and his junior fellow disciple Shen Yi.
"For our first lesson, we'll choose the class officers. Shrek puts strength first, and every position must be competed for. I'll take you to the simulated combat arena shortly."
"There are no rules in the arena. It'll be a pure free-for-all. The last person to fall will be class president, and the two who fall just before that will be vice presidents."
"You have fifteen minutes to prepare. You may form teams freely."
After announcing the rules, Shen Yi walked over to Wu Changkong.
The entire classroom instantly buzzed with activity.
Yan Qing swept his gaze lightly over the crowd, and the four members of Class Zero gathered behind him in tacit understanding.
"There are four minutes left. Think about which positions you want."
Xie Xie, Xu Xiaoyan, and Gu Yue all said they were not interested.
Only Tang Wulin had his mind on the extra contribution points the class president could earn and hoped to secure a spot.
Yan Qing had no intention of becoming a class officer himself. He could work himself to death for a year or so and earn a thousand contribution points.
He would be better off listing one more battle armor blind box.
Just then, a burly figure walked over.
They were all only thirteen or fourteen, but the boy before them stood a full 1.9 meters tall.
"Hello, I'm Yang Nianxia. If you don't mind, could I join your team?"
The boy wore a youthful smile, his eyes narrowed to slits as he asked them.
During a free-for-all, teams assembled on short notice would not have many members. One extra person's fighting strength could make a big difference to a team.
Everyone was somewhat tempted and looked toward Yan Qing, waiting for him to decide.
Yang Nianxia was a little surprised, too, seeing that Yan Qing, the youngest, was actually the team's main commander.
"Of course. Welcome aboard."
Yan Qing smiled and took Yang Nianxia's hand.
Yang Nianxia, if I remember correctly, was quite the smiling tiger.