Chapter 4
In this world, everyone dreamed of becoming a Star Wielder.
There were quite a few paths to becoming a Star Wielder. The most common was undoubtedly getting into a military academy, which was not only the least expensive but also the safest.
Li Yang continued searching for information on the major military academies.
Huaxia had two top military academies: Zhongdu Military Academy and Star-Slaying Military Academy. Both were located in Huaxia's capital, Central Capital.
Neither school ranked above the other; they simply had slightly different areas of focus. After all these years, neither had come out on top.
Because of He Song, Li Yang was very interested in Zhongdu Military Academy. She focused her search on that school, and her eyes lit up.
An Agronomy Department!
A military academy actually had an Agronomy Department!
Among the many posts introducing Zhongdu Military Academy, one was particularly popular for its unusual angle: "Come to Zhongdu Military Academy and wander through a golden sea. We guarantee our junior brothers and sisters won't have to worry about staying single!"
The post included a video. When she opened it, a vast expanse of golden wheat billowed across the screen.
The wheat had to be a mutated plant. It was three times as tall as ordinary wheat, and its ears were as thick as a person's thigh. Best of all, the golden grains all shone with a golden light, looking just like tiny nuggets of gold.
Li Yang stared, forgetting even to blink.
It didn't matter whether they were beautiful. What mattered was that, just like the four-leaf clover, they all had extremely high safety ratings!
There had only been one four-leaf clover, but here was a whole field of wheat. If she harvested it all, would she still have to worry about losing her life?
Full of enthusiasm, Li Yang focused her search on the Agronomy Department.
The reason military academies had an Agronomy Department was to study mutated plants.
But the Agronomy Department was a highly unpopular field. Among the top-ranked military academies, only Zhongdu Military Academy had maintained a separate department for it; the others placed it under their armaments departments.
Since the others didn't have a separate department, they didn't have the large-scale, standardized cultivation found at Zhongdu Military Academy's Agronomy Department either.
The more Li Yang read, the more determined she became. She was going to Zhongdu Military Academy's Agronomy Department!
Honestly, Li Yang wasn't interested in the Astral Realm or mutated creatures or any of that. She'd leave such dangerous things to the brave. All she wanted was to wander through a golden sea, harvest some wheat, and extend her life.
Monday.
After completing the procedures for returning to school, Li Yang took an empty seat in the last row of the classroom.
The original owner had left school at the beginning of the year. Her grandmother's death had been too great a blow, and on top of that, her grades were average. She couldn't get into a good university, and even if she scraped her way into an ordinary one, she couldn't afford the expensive tuition.
Li Yang had looked through the original owner's textbooks beforehand and breathed a small sigh of relief.
The two worlds had quite a few things in common. The high school curriculum, for example... The humanities, especially history, were probably quite different, but the sciences were more or less the same.
Li Yang had studied science in her previous life. Although it had been a long time since she graduated from university, she hadn't forgotten everything she'd learned.
Other military academies didn't have high academic requirements, but Zhongdu Military Academy did. It would have been quite difficult for the original owner to get in with her grades, but after completing a practice test herself, Li Yang wasn't worried. If she crammed while she had the time, it shouldn't be much of a problem.
Students trickled into the classroom, and a few boys gathered to chat.
"Today's the military academy general assessment. I'm so nervous!"
"I heard Zhongdu Military Academy raised its required physique stat by another three points this year! It's crazy. It gets higher every year!"
Li Yang's ears perked up at that. Three more points would make it 83, so it seemed her 90 points were enough.
"Why even think about Zhongdu Military Academy? The people who can apply are either geniuses or loaded."
Li Yang didn't understand, but the other boys did. They sighed. "True. Take our Brother Yu. His physique stat was about the same as ours originally, but nothing can stand in his way when his dad's rich. No point envying that."
So he'd meant "wealthy" instead of "talented."
They lowered their voices. At Li Yang's distance, she shouldn't have been able to hear them, but she could hear them perfectly clearly. It was probably because she'd improved her physique.
"Is that Soul Condensing Pill really so amazing? Can one pill raise your physique by ten points?"
"One million a pill! How could it not be amazing?"
"Didn't Yu Hongyuan take two?"
"His family is seriously rich!"
This world had had Star Wielders for three hundred years, and a complete cultivation system had since been established. Military academies also had research departments for different fields, so it was no surprise that corresponding pills had been developed.
So a pill worth a million could only raise her physique stat by ten points. Li Yang felt a little more reconciled to her Life-Burning System.
A girl cut in. "I don't think much of Yu Hongyuan, anyway. A physique stat piled up with pills looks good but is useless. Even if his dad pays to send him to Zhongdu Military Academy, he'll still be a good-for-nothing!"
"Stop being so sour. He's just going to Zhongdu Military Academy to gild his résumé, so he can come back and inherit the family business without anyone questioning it."
"I'm not sour. I just don't think much of it. The one I admire is our grade's top student. Her dad's in the military department, and she didn't rely on being fed pills to raise her physique stat!"
"Please, Fang Chuyun's whole family are Star Wielders. Her older sister is really talented and already a third-grade Star Wielder at such a young age. Besides, how do you know she hasn't taken pills? Maybe she's been taking them since she was little. Otherwise, how could she have piled up 85 physique points?"
"What? Her physique stat is at 85? I'm only at 65. Comparisons really do make you want to die."
"Yu Hongyuan has at least 83, right? That's the application cutoff for Zhongdu Military Academy this year..."
As they spoke, a tall, burly, solidly built boy walked in. His voice was louder than an ordinary person's. "I could hear you gossiping about me from the doorway. What do you mean, 83? I just tested it this morning. It's 86!"
There were more people in the classroom now. When they heard him, they gasped and called out, "Brother Yu, you're amazing! First place in our school is yours!"
"Of course," Yu Hongyuan said smugly. "85 is a major threshold. It's very hard to improve beyond that, so 86 is as high as it gets!"
Hearing that, Li Yang glanced at her information panel: physique stat: 90.
So it was really hard to get above 85. She'd pushed her physique stat a little too high.
Another boy said with an envious look, "I heard that if you get accepted by either of the two top military academies, our city will give you a scholarship of 100,000."
He swallowed and added, "Of course, you're not short of that kind of money, Brother Yu."
Yu Hongyuan couldn't be bothered with him. Why would he care about a little prize money? It was only 100,000. To go from 84 to 86, he'd taken another Soul Condensing Pill!
Li Yang's ears, however, perked right up.
What? A scholarship? How much?
A hundred thousand!
She absolutely had to get into Zhongdu Military Academy!
Chapter 4
Li Yang had returned to school today precisely so she could make it in time for the military academy general assessment.
The general assessment wasn't an entrance exam. It was to see whether students were qualified to apply.
Getting into a military academy wasn't easy. In her previous life, Li Yang had known about political background checks and military physicals... In this world, however, the political background check had been eliminated, and the military physical was even simpler and more direct: they tested physique stats.
As long as a student's physique stat met the standard, they could apply to the corresponding military academy.
Huaxia had many military academies. Besides the two top institutions, Central Capital and Star Slaying, there were more than thirty first-rate military academies and over a hundred ordinary ones.
For most students, getting into an ordinary military academy was already very good. Getting into a first-rate one was equivalent to getting into a 985 university in Li Yang's previous life.
As for Central Capital and Star Slaying, they were top institutions ordinary students didn't even dare dream of. Very few were even qualified to apply.
At around eight in the morning, the students who wanted to apply to military academies gathered on the athletic field.
The students first had to register and pay, after which they would be tested one by one in order.
Li Yang winced at the cost when she paid. Three hundred was no small sum to her!
The other students didn't mind the expense much. They were used to it. Physique stats were a key reference for anyone who wanted to become a Star Wielder, so almost every licensed hospital in Huaxia could test them.
A hospital test cost at least 500, so the 300 for the military academy general assessment was actually a bargain.
"I tested at 63 yesterday. My mom had me drink old hen soup all day. Do you think I can reach 65 today?"
"Heh. Did you put a Soul Condensing Pill in that old hen soup?"
"If I could afford a Soul Condensing Pill, would I need to drink old hen soup?"
"Stop believing in those folk remedies. If you want to raise your physique stat, you either work hard at training or throw money at pills. Everything else is feudal superstition!"
A stir ran through the crowd as the two people who drew the most attention in the school appeared at the same time.
The tall, sturdy boy was Yu Hongyuan, Li Yang's classmate. He held his head high and his chest out, dressed in a black tracksuit that faintly revealed the well-developed muscles of his chest and abdomen.
The slightly shorter but still statuesque girl, who was at least 1.8 meters tall, was Fang Chuyun. Standing next to the burly Yu Hongyuan, she was not at all overshadowed. On the contrary, her upright posture, long, straight legs, and cold, sharp features completely crushed him in presence.
Several people in the crowd drew sharp breaths, and someone couldn't help squealing, "Ahhh, Sister Fang, you're killing me!"
"Walking next to Sister Fang, Yu Hongyuan looks like a bodyguard."
Yu Hongyuan had fans too, and one immediately retorted, "What's she so smug about? Our Brother Yu's physique stat has broken past 85. He'll wipe the floor with Fang Chuyun!"
"He got there by popping pills. What's he so proud of?"
"Fang Chuyun's whole family are Star Wielders. How do you know she hasn't taken pills? Besides, there's nothing shameful about taking them. Star-Slaying Military Academy developed the Soul Condensing Pill!"
"They both raised their physique stats through their own abilities, so who's better than whom? Our Brother Yu doesn't have a fifth-grade Star Wielder for a dad or a third-grade Star Wielder for an older sister. If he did, his physique stat would've broken 90 ages ago, okay?"
"That's hilarious. What does her family have to do with it? Is Yu Hongyuan as disciplined and hardworking as Fang Chuyun? The way to improve your physique has long been an open secret. Isn't it just training like crazy? How many people have managed that? They're all looking for shortcuts!"
Yu Hongyuan and Fang Chuyun truly were the school's most talked-about figures. As many students supported them as disliked them, and whenever the two sides got together, they argued up a storm.