"Boom!"
The guardian's figure shattered, dissolving into a cloud of black mist.
"Congratulations on completing the first-floor challenge of the Trial Tower!"
As the announcement rang out from the sky, rings of shadowy background spectators appeared in the previously empty stands, cheering and applauding, instantly bringing the atmosphere to a fever pitch.
The voice continued, "Time taken on this floor: 8 minutes, 34 seconds. Your victory was faster than 22% of challengers in your year. Overall rating: D. Credits earned: 5 (+2)... Would you like to challenge the next floor?"
"No."
Wen Jing looked at the arena with some regret. After this fight, her combat technique proficiency on her panel had reached 5%, the limit of what she could currently improve.
For one thing, at this stage, she could only sense some outward energy fluctuations. If she could "see" the energy flowing inside the guardian, she might be able to learn this combat technique directly through fighting. She wondered whether there were specialized secret techniques she could learn; otherwise, she would have to consider a future evolution.
For another, her own energy wasn't strong enough. Her Gravity Silk Gland was still recovering, too, and couldn't support her in prolonging the fight against the guardian.
As for taking so long on her first challenge and only receiving a D rating, she didn't mind.
She had achieved this without using Gravity Silk. In many openings during the fight, she could have done much more if she had been able to use Gravity Silk, greatly improving her challenge speed.
She could challenge it three times a month, so she could come back and improve her record then.
After declining to continue, Wen Jing was ejected from the black tower.
"I didn't go straight back to reality?"
The question had barely occurred to her when a scrolling line of text appeared in her vision:
[Purchase the elective course for the same combat technique, "Energy-Shaping Weapon," now for a 5% points discount! Only 76 points!]
Wen Jing felt a dull ache in her heart. This was a combat technique that normally cost 80 points!
"Exit, exit!"
Her vision went dark, and when she opened her eyes again, she had returned to reality.
-Why could she only challenge this Trial Tower three times a month?!
Dusk was falling as Wen Jing left the Trial Tower center with a pained expression.
"Did she fail to clear even the first floor?"
Seeing this, the people in the lobby watching for her results immediately searched the Trial Tower challenger rankings.
Anyone who succeeded in a challenge would appear on the list. If even their name couldn't be found, that meant they hadn't succeeded.
Soon, everyone found Wen Jing's information.
"She passed! Just over eight minutes, rating D. So far, 5,422 people in our year have attempted this round, and her clear time ranks 4,123rd in the year... Huh, she's nothing special."
"That's still pretty impressive. This is only her first day here! Some people tried when we first enrolled and couldn't even clear it."
"Not really, right? Didn't this batch of new students temporarily enter the Ancient Wilderness once because they were attacked by raiders? Their compatibility must have improved."
"If any other new student got this result, I'd call her a genius. But if this is all Wen Jing can manage, I can only say she really is finished."
The following day, morning sunlight spilled over a small landscaped garden covering thirty thousand square meters.
An ornamental fountain started up on schedule. Droplets fell and evaporated, spreading a faint haze among the green leaves and elegant plants, like a fairyland.
This was the office center of the Ochre Soil Academy Student Union.
The greenery inside consisted entirely of delicate varieties requiring meticulous care, costing a hundred or even a thousand times more than the landscaping plants along the academy's roads.
This building hadn't been funded by the academy, but built through donations from successive generations of senior student union members, a glimpse of the backing behind it.
In the Personnel Department's tea room, team leader Tan Junhao sipped his morning tea and accepted a report from the staffer beside him.
He was accustomed to working on paper, so everyone under him knew that reports for him couldn't be sent to his terminal. They had to be printed and placed in his hands.
"Team leader, this is the list of promising candidates selected from yesterday's Trial Tower rankings."
Tan Junhao read the list in silence, then said casually:
"This Wen Jing is quite famous on School District Planet."
The staffer was Tan Junhao's younger paternal cousin. He nodded. "Everyone on School District Planet calls her a genius. Even some third- and second-years say so. If she's really a genius, why is her potential only F-rank? I think she's overrated. After all, talent is the only thing those people at the bottom have to brag about."
"Getting a D rating on her first Trial Tower attempt is still quite good," Tan Junhao mused.
"Should we recruit her?"
"Give her a third-grade staffer position."
His cousin frowned. He himself was only a second-grade staffer. "New recruits all start at fourth grade. Does she deserve it?"
"Someone has to do the dirty, tiring work." Tan Junhao took a sip of tea and said slowly, "To keep the academy administration from getting dissatisfied and making trouble for us, the president has set a quota for recruiting poor students every year."
"The winter intake is already low quality, and they were battered by that raid on top of it. Since Wen Jing managed to stand out, what's the harm in giving her a third-grade staffer position?"
"Be more generous. Even if you were staffers of the same grade, do you think you and she would be the same? Once I move up another step next semester, this team leader position of mine will be yours."
"I understand..." His cousin was thoroughly convinced.
Under Tan Junhao's smiling gaze, he drafted an invitation template and immediately sent it to Wen Jing.
"Following review and approval at a special meeting of the presidium, you have been found to meet all core indicators of the 'Ochre Soil Academy Student Cadre Basic Competency Assessment Standards.' You are hereby appointed as a third-grade staffer in the Personnel Department..."
"Duties and requirements: 1. The internal system of titles must be used in daily work..."
"Promotion mechanism: 1. Implement the 'Detailed Regulations for Staffer Promotion Assessments'..."
"...Please complete the 'Appointment Confirmation Form' within one hour of receiving this letter and report to the student union.-Ochre Soil Academy Student Union Personnel Department."
The student union?
An Awakener Academy had a student union too?
Wen Jing thought back to her previous life. One of her roommates had joined the student union, and as far as she remembered, the girl was either constantly attending meetings or writing summaries every few days.
With this whole long page of duties, requirements, and promotion mechanisms, it was probably much the same.
Besides earning credits and points, she also had to work to earn credit currency. Where would she find the spare time?
This was a mass recruitment message, right?
Wen Jing replied and closed the page.
A moment later, the two men drinking tea in the tea room received a reply notification.
"Clack, clack, clack..." The printer beside them began printing automatically.
Neither opened the reply on his terminal. Instead, they leisurely waited for the printer to spit out the paper.
His cousin laughed, scornful and smug. "She replied the instant she got the message. Didn't those people from School District Planet say she was so arrogant?"
"No one dares slight the student union," Tan Junhao stated mildly.
With that, he reached out and drew it toward him from a distance. The sheet of paper floated over, carrying the scent of fresh ink.
Then both of them saw Wen Jing's reply-
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Chapter 14
"..."
"Crack!"
With a crisp snap, the exquisite porcelain teacup in his cousin's hand shattered.
Seething with rage, he stared at the paper through gritted teeth. "She won't take the easy way, so she'll have to learn the hard way. I'll go find her right now!"
In his nineteen smooth-sailing years as the son of a plutocratic family, he had never been slapped in the face by a poor person before.
"What's with all this rashness? Get ahold of yourself."
Tan Junhao spoke then. His expression had darkened for only a moment before returning to normal.
"You haven't encountered many poor people growing up. This Wen Jing fancies herself a genius, so a little arrogance is normal. People like her are actually the easiest to handle. Treat them with a little courtesy, and they'll become utterly devoted without you having to spend many resources."
"Look at that person in the Activities Department. Isn't that exactly how our president won them over?"
"More likely, this person simply has no idea how much influence the student union wields!"
After lecturing his cousin a little, Tan Junhao leaned back in his chair. "Aren't we holding the welcome party in a couple of days? We'll see what she's made of then."
"If her strength doesn't match her arrogance... Hmph..."
*
Besides the student union recruitment advertisement, Wen Jing also received a public mission posted by the academy's Activities Center.
This message specifically used golden effects, marking it as a "main quest" she was required to fulfill as a student at the academy.
It was Ancient Wilderness exploration.
Every semester, students had to complete at least three Ancient Wilderness explorations. Failure to do so would result in expulsion.
At the same time, each completed exploration and return from the Ancient Wilderness would earn them one credit and one point. The more they completed, the more rewards they received.
The minimum requirement of three wasn't harsh. It seemed intended to prevent students from refusing to enter the Ancient Wilderness out of fear of danger.
After becoming Awakened, if someone stayed out of the Ancient Wilderness for too long, their body, which had already entered an enhanced state, would fall into irreversible genetic collapse without replenishment from higher-dimensional energy.
But how dangerous was the Ancient Wilderness? Even seasoned Awakened with countless battles behind them could very well fail to return from an exploration.
That was why genetic collapse had always been the second-leading cause of death among the Awakened, after Ancient Wilderness exploration.
Of course, the Awakened couldn't enter the Ancient Wilderness without a cooldown. At least with Wen Jing's current compatibility, after entering the Ancient Wilderness once, she needed to wait six or seven days before entering again. This interval would shorten as her compatibility improved.
"So the best value is 'registered exploration.' The academy doesn't encourage private exploration..." Wen Jing looked thoughtful.
Following the mission information, she opened the academy's Activities Center.
Here, she saw all kinds of missions, open not only to the academy's students but also to outside Awakened.
After all, an Awakener Academy on a planet served not only as an academy but also as an activity center for the Awakened. Research, trading, communication... all of it could be done here.