Chapter 23 (continued)

Of course, Li Yang was definitely going to stay for all seven days.

Seven free days—she might as well use them.

After that...

She would think about it later. First, she would learn more about the school. Maybe there were cheaper dorms!

Li Yang had never had much luggage. After hanging up her few changes of clothes, there was hardly anything left to unpack.

She opened the freshman welcome package and found some toiletries, a spare set of bedding, a set of tableware, and a long black coat.

The coat was high-quality, with sturdy fabric and a neat cut. The Zhongdu Military Academy's emblem was embroidered over the left breast in silver thread: two crossed swords piercing a star, symbolizing breaking open the Astral Realm and protecting humanity.

"This must be the uniform." Li Yang unfurled the coat with a swish and put it on. It fit perfectly, as though it had been tailored for her.

Li Yang had never submitted her measurements, but presumably Huangcheng No. 1 High School had done it for them. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been a senior waiting there specifically to pick them up.

Besides those things, there was also a thin sheet of paper: the enrollment information.

Li Yang read it carefully and picked out a few key points.

First, details on choosing a department, courses, and teachers were all available on the app.

Second, the military academy had a strict assessment system: monthly exams, midterms and finals each semester, and an annual exam every year.

Assessment results were tied to resource allocations. Simply put, the worse your results, the fewer basic resources you received.

Third, the school had one and only one graduation requirement: becoming one of the Third-Grade Star Wielders.

As Li Yang read, she murmured, "Rather than a school, it's more like a 'sect.'"

Li Yang realized that the military academy was very different from the universities in her previous life. If she had to compare it to something, it was more like a martial arts

or cultivation

novel's sect.

The military academy had different departments with different areas of study. There were four combat departments: Star Combat Department, Star Magic Department, Star Support Department, and Spirit Department.

There were also four noncombat departments: Pill Department, Weapon Forging Department, Beast Taming Department, and Agronomy Department.

Li Yang had a clear goal. She only wanted to join the Agronomy Department, but she didn't mind learning about the others.

For example, the Star Combat Department specialized in close-combat Star Skills. Lin Yuesuo was in that department.

The Star Magic Department specialized in ranged Star Skills. Li Yang really hadn't seen people of this type among the Star Wielders before.

As its name suggested, the Star Support Department specialized in support-type Star Skills.

The Spirit Department was the most unusual, specializing in control and team command.

Then there were the noncombat departments. As their names suggested, one mainly developed pills, another mainly researched weapon forging, and then there were the relatively obscure Beast Taming and Agronomy Departments.

Beast Taming taught students to control star beasts and mutated beasts.

The Agronomy Department focused on cultivating star plants and mutated plants.

Li Yang had already registered on the school app and planned to look up information on all eight departments.

On the freshman forum, quite a few senior students had posted guides, such as:

"Choosing a department is like being reincarnated a second time. Click here for a veteran senior's guide to 'reincarnation.'"

"Shocking! The four combat departments have earth-shattering secrets!"

"A rational analysis of the pros and cons of the four combat departments and three noncombat departments."

"Does the Pill Department always make money? Does the Weapon Forging Department always depend on luck? Are people in the Beast Taming Department always perverts? Come read the heartfelt words of a ten-year veteran student."

Li Yang tried clicking one, and a dialog box popped up: "Spend 0.01 merit points to view this post?"

Li Yang: "..."

No wonder there were so many posts, and no wonder their titles were so sensational. They charged for them!

At first glance, 0.01 merit points seemed very cheap, but the exchange rate was 1:10,000!

A hundred yuan to read a post?

Li Yang would have to be crazy to click.

She browsed for a long time, looking for any mention of the Agronomy Department. If there really was one, she wouldn't mind spending a hundred yuan to read it...

But there wasn't.

In that vast ocean of "helpful posts," not a single one mentioned the Agronomy Department.

"Is it that unpopular?" Li Yang had been prepared for it, but she hadn't expected the Agronomy Department she had set her heart on to be so overlooked.

But soon, Li Yang perked up again.

Being overlooked was good.

That meant no one would fight her for the wheat!

Li Yang then searched for information on the dorms. She hadn't known until she looked, and what she found gave her a shock.

It turned out the dorm she was staying in had the worst conditions.

The post was free, published by the school itself, and gave a detailed account of the dorms on campus.

Dorms costing one merit point a week were fourth-class dorms, like the one Li Yang was staying in now. They were basically where freshmen congregated.

Above those were third-class, second-class, and first-class dorms...

The fees for these dorms rose with each class. First-class dorms were actually charged by the day, at fifty thousand yuan a day.

"Highway robbery!" Li Yang stared in astonishment. She deeply suspected she hadn't come to a military academy, but a black-hearted inn!

But she soon understood what was going on.

"So it depends on Starlight density..." Li Yang read on and finally understood why the first-class dorms were so expensive.

It wasn't that the first-class dorms were particularly luxurious, but that they were in superb locations, surrounded by dense Starlight that could greatly increase students' cultivation speed.

The fourth-class dorm where Li Yang currently lived had fairly good accommodations, but the Starlight density was extremely low, though still much higher than outside the school.

Students could also live off campus. The rent was cheap enough, but over time, their cultivation speed would fall far behind that of students living on campus.

Reading this made Li Yang's teeth ache. "It's still so expensive."

Ten thousand yuan a week really broke her!

With what little money Li Yang had, she could barely afford a place to stay!

Li Yang thought of the tasks the senior had mentioned... Well, she would see if there was a way to make money.

The school app was only a communication app. The freshman forum was all Li Yang could access; everything else was locked.

The freshman forum was bustling. The paid posts displayed their click counts, and those numbers kept climbing.

Li Yang looked on enviously—a hundred clicks meant one merit point. It was so easy for the seniors to make money. Once she became a senior herself, she would make sure to post a guide for the next year's juniors.

The school app also had a very convenient feature: a navigation system.

After Li Yang typed in "task office," it immediately generated an optimal route and even recommended a carpool ride. But since it cost money, Li Yang declined.

She let Fang Chuyun know she was heading out.

Fang Chuyun asked where she was going.

Li Yang said frankly, "I'm going to see if there are any errand tasks. Don't bother coming." It's not like you're short of these few merit points.

But Fang Chuyun thought, "All right, then I'll keep practicing the Basic Star-Wielding Cultivation Technique." Li Yang can afford to wander around, but I have to seize every moment to cultivate!

Although the two of them weren't on the same wavelength, they got along surprisingly well.

After walking out of the dorm building, Li Yang marveled again, "This school is really huge!"

The map made it clear too. Rather than a school, it was more like a small town.

Li Yang's fourth-class dorm building was in a remote area, five kilometers from the nearest task office.

No wonder the app had suggested a carpool. If it hadn't cost five hundred yuan, Li Yang would have liked to take one too.

Fortunately, Li Yang was very fit now and could easily run five kilometers. The new campus also fascinated her, so she took in the sights with interest along the way.

The task office was a hall.

A huge screen stood directly ahead, constantly scrolling through all sorts of tasks. Many individual smaller screens were scattered around the hall, with plenty of students gathered at them choosing tasks. Some were alone, while others were in teams, and all were operating the screens rapidly.

For a moment, Li Yang felt as though she had walked into a major stock exchange.

The noise around her was incessant-

"What kind of crappy tasks are these? Can't we get some that don't send us to other provinces?"

"A collection task in a two-star quarantine zone, and it only pays five merit points? Are they tossing scraps to beggars?"

"This task is good... Fuck, who was that fast?!"

"It's all these crappy tasks welcoming freshmen, and they pay next to nothing. So annoying!"

Li Yang found a small screen too. She looked closely and saw the task list at a glance.

The task that filled the screen most often was: welcome two freshmen from XX city. Reward: 0.1 merit points.

Li Yang thought of the senior who had welcomed them and realized, "So that was a task too."

The senior had earned a thousand yuan just for picking them up and bringing them over?

Li Yang perked up. This school might cost a lot, but it didn't seem hard to make money here either!

There was a registration page on the small screen. Li Yang could register by entering her name and ID number.

Once she had completed the simple registration, a task list appeared on the screen.

As a freshman, Li Yang had a very limited selection of tasks she could accept.

Just then, a task popped up-

Task name: deliver a document to room 404, building 5, Star Magic Department.

Task difficulty: Gradeless.

Posted by: Chen Sisi (teaching assistant).

Task reward: 0.5 merit points.

Li Yang: "!"

Such a simple task paid five thousand yuan?

She hurried to click accept, but in the blink of an eye, the task turned gray, with a line of text beside it-already accepted.

Well...

She hadn't gotten it.

Li Yang understood why the student who had missed out on a task had cursed.

Five thousand yuan had flown away just like that.

She was about to lose it too!

Soon, several more tasks appeared on the screen. All were limited to freshmen, like benefits teachers had given them. The tasks weren't difficult, and the rewards were generally around 0.5 merit points...