Pushing for One-Star Certification
As soon as Lin Qing finished speaking, Li Xiulan hurried up to the microphone, her voice filled with unconcealed urgency. "Qingqing? Does that mean Xiao Hao is definitely all right now? Will that Zhao Man cause trouble again?"
"Auntie, don't worry. It's all been handled." Lin Qing's tone was steady. "I'm no longer competing with Zhao Man for the deputy director position at the branch bureau. Without that competition, she won't have the inclination to keep making things difficult for a high school student like Xiao Hao."
Li Xiulan still frowned. "But... but you've spent so many years working toward this position. You've risked your life so many times for this chance. How can you..."
Lin Rongshan added, "That's right, Qingqing. You've worked hard for this position for years."
"Uncle, Auntie, there's nothing to regret." There was a smile in Lin Qing's voice. "Xiao Hao was willing to give up the Martial Artist Examination for my sake without a second thought. As his older sister, what does it matter if I give up a deputy director position?"
Lin Hao sat beside them, feeling a little helpless as he listened.
His cousin was dead set on believing that his qi and blood could never reach the recruitment threshold of 0.9, so she had made every preparation, even giving up the deputy director position she had fought over for so long.
He did not explain much, either, because he knew explaining would do no good.
"Oh, Xiao Hao," Lin Qing spoke again. "Things haven't completely settled down yet, so I won't visit Uncle's place for the next few days, lest someone find something else to use against us.
"I bought you two bottles of Primordial Qi and Blood Potion. I'll have one of the young guys on my team bring them over shortly. Cultivate hard over the next few days and try to get a good result in the Martial Artist Examination."
"That won't do!" Lin Rongshan immediately said. "We have to pay for these Primordial Qi and Blood Potions. We can't have you spending your money!"
"Exactly, Qingqing. We'll pay. Earning money isn't easy for you, either. You risk your life for it," Li Xiulan hurriedly added.
"Uncle, Auntie, enough." Lin Qing's tone was firm. "I'm his older sister. Do I need you to pay me for buying my little brother two bottles of tonics? I can still afford sixty thousand."
With things put that way, Lin Rongshan and his wife stopped declining.
"Once everything is completely settled in a few days, I'll come visit and give Xiao Hao some guidance on his cultivation while I'm there," Lin Qing added.
"Good, good!" Li Xiulan was delighted and hurriedly nudged Lin Hao's arm. "Xiao Hao, thank your sister. Make sure you listen carefully to her guidance when she comes. She's a two-star martial artist. Personal guidance like that is hard to come by!"
"Got it, Mom," Lin Hao agreed with a smile.
But inwardly, he thought, My cousin may be a two-star martial artist, but she might not be able to guide me as I am now.
Lin Hao chatted with his parents for a while, then returned to his room after lunch.
After reaching back to close the door, he crumpled the dismissal notice from No. 2 High School into a ball and tossed it into the wastebasket by the corner of his desk.
Then he placed the two bottles of Primordial Qi and Blood Potion his cousin had just had someone deliver on the desk.
He also took the two bottles of Primordial Qi and Blood Potion he had refined himself out of the drawer.
Looking at the four bottles of Primordial Qi and Blood Potion, a faint smile appeared on his lips.
Being dismissed from No. 2 High School could, in a way, be considered a good thing.
The things the teachers taught at school no longer held much meaning for him.
Rather than waste time at school, he would be better off cultivating properly at home.
With these four bottles of Primordial Qi and Blood Potion, he no longer had to worry about the hunger brought on by cultivation.
He could cut loose and really push his qi and blood higher.
As for the retest at the Martial Artist Assessment Center tomorrow morning, he did not give it the slightest thought.
What did surprise him a little, however, was that this retest would be conducted directly in the form of a one-star martial artist assessment.
Without a doubt, in the Discipline Bureau's eyes, he could not possibly actually be certified as a one-star martial artist.
They had done this because the entire one-star martial artist certification assessment was recorded, and the recording would be uploaded to the Dragon Nation Ministry of Martial Arts' system.
In other words, conducting the retest this way left no room whatsoever for falsification and could ensure the authenticity of the results.
A retest of the entry qualifications for an industrial park security position had escalated to the point of requiring a one-star martial artist certification assessment linked to the Ministry of Martial Arts' system.
Who would believe there was nothing fishy going on?
Still, this gave Lin Hao some ideas.
He sat at his desk, recalling the detailed rules for the Dragon Nation's one-star martial artist assessment that he had previously learned from his textbooks.
The normal standard for one-star martial artist certification was a qi and blood value and a combat power value of 3.0 each.
However, anyone whose qi and blood value reached 2.5 and whose combat power value reached 4.5 could take a practical combat assessment requiring them to kill an early-stage one-star demonic beast single-handedly.
Passing the practical combat assessment would likewise qualify them for certification as a one-star martial artist.
His current combat power value was as high as 8.03, far exceeding the exceptional qualification threshold of 4.5.
As for his qi and blood value of 2.23, although it was still some distance from the normal standard of 3.0, it was only 0.27 short of the exceptional qualification threshold of 2.5.
The test was tomorrow morning. For anyone else, raising their qi and blood value by 0.27 in a single day would be nothing short of a tale from the Arabian Nights.
For him now, however, it was entirely possible.
As for killing an early-stage one-star demonic beast single-handedly...
The two Shadow Mimic Spiders he had killed alone in the alley last time each had a combat power of 2.4. The intensity of fighting the two together was no lower than fighting a single early-stage one-star demonic beast.
And his current strength was far beyond what it had been back then.
He was also confident that tomorrow, he would be considerably stronger than he was now.
Viewed that way, this qi and blood retest for the industrial park security position really was not a bad thing for him.
Instead, it was a good opportunity to obtain one-star martial artist certification for free while showing everyone his strength.
As long as he secured one-star martial artist certification, the so-called "improper recruitment" matter involving his cousin would naturally collapse without being attacked.
Would a genius capable of obtaining one-star martial artist certification through an exception at eighteen need his older sister to pull strings to snatch an established industrial park security position?
If word of that got out, the entire Jiang City martial arts community would laugh their teeth out.
Along with it, No. 2 High School's dismissal of him would become a complete and utter joke.
At that thought, Lin Hao's eyes brightened further.
He took out his phone and opened the Jiang City Martial Arts General Bureau's official announcements to check the support Jiang City offered one-star martial artists.
Anyone certified as a one-star martial artist could receive a monthly qi and blood subsidy of fifty thousand. This was not special support from Jiang City, but a benefit the Dragon Nation provided to all one-star martial artists.
Jiang City's additional local benefit policy was that any one-star martial artist with household registration in Jiang City would be directly allocated a home with property rights measuring at least 120 square meters in the main urban area. As long as they did not transfer their household registration away and remained in Jiang City, they could use it permanently.
Lin Hao knew that, compared with the additional benefit policies of the five surrounding cities, Jiang City offered the lowest benefits of the six because it was relatively poor.
Still, his family were Jiang City locals.
Compared with this old building in the mining district's family housing compound, where more than half the wall plaster had peeled away and there was not even an elevator...
Having a home of at least 120 square meters in the main urban area would already be a major improvement in their family's living conditions.
Aside from the benefits for one-star martial artists, the Martial Artist Examination in just over twenty days was also an excellent way to earn money.
Jiang City would award eight hundred thousand in cash to whoever placed first in the city's Martial Artist Examination.
And Jiang City No. 1 High School, which he now attended, offered the largest reward of all Jiang City's high schools for taking first place in the city's Martial Artist Examination: five hundred thousand.
Added together, that was 1.3 million.
With that money, his father could go to Jiang City's best hospital for comprehensive treatment of his lower back injury.