Chapter 29

The moment those words were spoken, the whole room fell silent.

Every freshman without priority in choosing a department screamed inwardly, Help! Please, whatever you do, don't transfer me to the Beast Taming Department! Aaaah!

Li Yang also wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, immensely relieved that she had done fairly well on the practical exam.

The deans of all seven departments had finished speaking, and each department had its own guiding word. Li Yang was quite curious: what came first for her Agronomy Department?

Agriculture first? Plants first? Wheat first? Steamed buns first?

Li Yang amused herself with her own imaginings.

The speeches ended, and the opening banquet came next.

Yu Hongyuan finally found Li Yang. He squeezed his way over and asked, "So, shall we leave first?"

Li Yang had her heart set on the buffet that cost ten thousand yuan per person. There was no way she would leave. "We'll go after we eat," she said firmly.

Yu Hongyuan was just about to say, "Once you've eaten, it won't be so easy to leave..."

Before he could finish, someone had already zeroed in on their target and strode over.

"Li Yang, I'm a teaching assistant from the Star Combat Department. Would you be interested in joining us?"

"Hello, Li Yang. We've seen your practical exam and believe you're exceptionally intelligent and perfectly suited to the Star Magic Department. Would you consider joining us?"

"Li Yang, your Spirit stat is very high. You were born to be a Spirit Department student. Would you consider joining us?"

"Li Yang, if you join the Star Support Department, we'll help you apply for a first-class grant. The department will cover all the resources you use until graduation."

"Ahem, I just thought I'd ask. Li Yang, are you interested in the Pill Department?"

"Li Yang, take a look at the Weapon Forging Department. It's the best choice for us commoner Star Wielders to turn our lives around!"

"The Beast Taming Department is the true path for commoner students to turn their lives around. Come on, Li Yang, join the Beast Taming family. You'll love it here!"

The opening banquet's dishes hadn't even been served, yet the teaching assistants from all seven departments had flocked to Li Yang, each extending an olive branch.

The students nearby were shocked. One after another, they turned to look at Li Yang, murmuring, "So she's Li Yang, the woman who took down Zhong Qian."

Li Yang: "..."

She hadn't expected to be surrounded by onlookers right off the bat. Weren't there supposed to be loads of provincial top scorers? Why had they all crowded around her?

The teaching assistants each had distinctive characteristics. One look was enough to tell which department they came from.

The assistants from the Star Combat Department and the Star Magic Department stood right next to each other, and the friction between them was almost enough to ignite gunpowder. The Pill Department and Weapon Forging Department were also jockeying against each other. The Spirit Department and Star Support Department seemed laid-back, but neither showed the slightest intention of stepping aside.

Meanwhile, the Beast Taming Department teaching assistant twitched her cat ears, her pair of mesmerizing slit pupils making people's scalps tingle under her gaze.

What Li Yang didn't know was that, numerous as the provincial top scorers were, not all of them had applied to Zhongdu Military Academy. At least eighty percent of them also came from Star Wielder families.

Almost every Star Wielder family had a department of its own that it specialized in. The Lin Family, the Zhong Family, and several others, for example, had always specialized in Star Combat.

The Shen Family, the Ying Family, and several others specialized in the Star Magic Department.

As for the Spirit Department and Star Support Department, because they were indispensable, all the major families had a foothold in them.

Although the official department selection wasn't until the day after tomorrow, most outstanding students had actually been earmarked for their departments long ago. Only a handful were still undecided.

The most outstanding among them were undoubtedly Li Yang and Ning Shaoyu.

Both came from commoner backgrounds, and Li Yang was a higher priority than Ning Shaoyu, so the people from all seven departments had flocked to her first.

The Star Combat, Star Magic, and Spirit Departments were very reserved. They merely invited her without immediately offering generous terms.

The Star Support Department, however, had spared no expense, offering to cover all her resources until graduation and making the other students drool with envy.

The Star Support Department teaching assistant added, "If you come to our department, our vice dean will personally take you on."

The Star Support dean was a Seventh Grade grandmaster. When Yu Hongyuan heard those words, his back teeth ached with envy. His greatest dream was merely to have a Sixth Grade Peak mentor in the Star Support Department, yet Li Yang was about to shut a Seventh Grade grandmaster out!

The Pill Department's teaching assistant was a graceful young woman. She smiled and said, "Li Yang, come to the Pill Department. What's a full resource waiver? Our Pill Department isn't short on money. We'll give you the right to live in a second-class dorm for a year."

Although a second-class dorm wasn't as expensive as a first-class one, it still cost ten thousand yuan a day.

Over

the course of

a year, that came to 3.56 million!

Li Yang: "..." The Pill Department really was rich!

The Weapon Forging assistant gave a cold laugh and stepped forward. "Li Yang, come to our Weapon Forging Department. The dean will take you as his personal disciple and have a growth-type Star Weapon tailored to you, one you can use from First Grade all the way to Sixth Grade!"

A chorus of sharp gasps rose from the crowd. Yu Hongyuan dug his fingernails into his palms, his face flushed as he said, "Fuck, fuck, fuck is a plant."

A growth-type Star Weapon?

Li Yang's heart pounded at the thought.

Seeing that the three major combat departments were also losing their composure and about to offer their own benefits...

Li Yang couldn't bear to listen anymore. She couldn't listen, mustn't listen. She was no saint; she was a pauper. What these rich people were saying was shaking her "Dao heart" too badly!

"Sorry, teachers," Li Yang said before they could speak.

Everyone looked at her.

Li Yang said seriously, "I've already chosen a department. I'm going to the Agronomy Department."

Chapter 29

Everyone fell silent, the same bewilderment showing on each young face.

What department?

What was she talking about?

Star Combat, Star Magic, Star Support, Spirit, Pills, Weapon Forging, Beast Taming... Weren't those the only seven departments at Zhongdu Military Academy?

There was no such thing as a "Thick Blood Department"!

The name sounded pretty creepy, too.

It couldn't be helped. The people in charge of recruitment were all young teaching assistants, twenty-six or twenty-seven at most. They had attended nearly ten opening ceremonies, and it had always been those seven departments, so they had naturally overlooked the Agronomy Department.

The Agronomy Department rarely made any noise in everyday life, either. There wasn't a single person from it on the top hundred rankings, and the department didn't offer classes or issue missions with astonishing rewards...

Unless they deliberately searched for it, it really was hard for them to know about it.

As it happened, one of the freshmen had heard of it. The young man called out, "Is that the Farm Work Department that scams people to death without a shred of remorse?"

How had it become the Farm Work Department now?

The teaching assistants from the three major combat departments were all heaven's favored children, but now they were as dumbfounded as a bunch of idiots.

Everyone looked at the young man who had spoken. His face grew hot, and he stammered, "It's... wheat... golden... harvest... the really scammy one... someone posted about it on the forum... ahem, I mean, someone complained about it..."

Yu Hongyuan couldn't listen anymore. He would be part of the Agronomy Department himself from now on, so he had to step forward and clear his department's name. "Agro as in agriculture, nomy as in a field of study—the Agronomy Department is one of Zhongdu Military Academy's eight major departments!"

Li Yang looked at Yu Hongyuan in surprise. She hadn't expected Comrade Big Yu, who had been saying "agro—what, nomy—what, what department?" just a few days ago, to be speaking up for the Agronomy Department now.

The cat-eared Beast Taming Department assistant, on the other hand, mused, "Our school does have an Agronomy Department, but they haven't recruited students in years. I thought it had been shut down."

The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart. Li Yang's heart suddenly trembled. "There are still teachers and students in the Agronomy Department. They're earnestly studying crops. There's no way it could be shut down."

Someone asked curiously, "The Agronomy Department really has students? How many? Roughly what cultivation level are they?"

Li Yang: "..."

Someone pulled out a phone and looked it up. "Only three. A Second Grade High Stage holdout and two Grade One High Stage problem cases," they said ruefully.

"Holdout?"

"An old student who's been enrolled for twenty years and still hasn't graduated."

"..."

"Then what about the problem cases?"

"Problem cases who've been enrolled for ten years and are on track to become holdouts."

"..."

Someone else asked, "What about the Agronomy Department's teaching staff?"

"I can't find anything."

"Huh?"

"It seems that maybe, possibly... the entire Agronomy Department has only one dean teaching."

"..."

That string of exchanges left the people asking speechless, the people answering speechless, and the people listening even more speechless.

Even Li Yang herself began to feel uneasy.

She hadn't thought about it carefully before, believing everything about the Agronomy Department was wonderful. Now, hearing what everyone said, she realized there was a serious problem—the Agronomy Department seemed to be teetering on the brink. Surely it wasn't really going to be shut down?

Just then, someone cleared their throat and said, "Li Yang has quite the sense of humor. That joke was really convincing, hahaha."

Once the student spoke, everyone came to their senses. Right, how could Li Yang possibly go to a department where birds wouldn't even shit? She was just saying it to be clever, wasn't she? It was just that the joke was so cold it made people shiver.

More and more people caught on. Indeed, even if this Agronomy Department existed, and even if someone really did sign up, it couldn't possibly be Li Yang.

Li Yang had a Limit Physique, was Donghua Province's top scorer, and was the woman who had taken down Zhong Qian. The seven major departments were crowding around her. Forget the Agronomy Department—she probably wouldn't even spare the others a glance apart from the three major combat departments.

Li Yang was about to explain when the Star Magic teaching assistant spoke first. "Don't worry, Li Yang. The Star Magic Department is a place for serious research. We study Star Cores and write Star Skills... You can find answers to the secrets of the Astral Realm in the Star Magic Department."

He then emphasized, "The Star Magic Department has the most complete, most exquisite, and greatest number of Star Skills. With your talent, as long as you're willing to put your heart into it, it won't be long before you can try comprehending rare Star Skills." He placed particular stress on "greatest number" and "rare."

The three major combat departments were starting to dangle bait as well. Although the Star Magic Department assistant's words were vague, their implicit meaning had already set the students around them abuzz.