Chapter 208: Taking Stock of the Rewards

Chapter 208: Chapter 208: Taking Stock of the Rewards

[Lin Qi, a new month has begun!]

[Your time in the Refining God Tower, Gravity Room, and Disaster Beast Trial Tower has been updated!]

[Because your Azure Sky Sixth Institute placed first on the overall points leaderboard in the freshmen’s Disaster Beast Hunting Competition, 9 hours of training time have been added, and the Source Energy Concentration in your Martial Arts Room has been increased by 90%.]

[Refining God Tower: 24 hours/month]

[Gravity Room: 21 hours/month]

[Disaster Beast Trial Tower: 21 hours/month]

...

A smile spread across Lin Qi’s face after he finished reading the first message.

He had already experienced the benefits of the three major Cultivation Resources.

In the first month, he’d felt the school hadn’t given him nearly enough time. He used up all his training time in just half a month, and during that period, his Martial Arts strength had improved by leaps and bounds.

Now, each time allowance had been increased by 9 hours—a total of 27 extra hours. His training efficiency was about to get a massive boost.

’But this extra training time is only temporary.’

Lin Qi stared at the screen, lost in thought. Every new student had a base amount of training time, and the bonuses from various assessments and competitions were temporary.

For example, placing first this time added 9 hours. If the institute dropped to second place in the next competition, the bonus would be reduced to eight hours.

BEEP!

Just then, his white smart robot entered the Martial Arts Room carrying his dinner, a Level 3 Nutritional Meal.

As soon as he opened the white plastic box, a fragrant aroma washed over him. Lin Qi began to eat right there in the Martial Arts Room.

He read the next three messages while eating.

[Lin Qi, for earning a total of 15,008 points in the Disaster Beast Hunting Competition—208 First-Level Calamity Beasts, 700 Second-Level Calamity Beasts, and 78 Third-Level Calamity Beasts—you will receive 9,997,200 Xia Country Coins after a 10% tax deduction.]

Lin Qi was completely thrilled when he saw the message.

He hadn’t taken the time to carefully count how many Calamity Beasts he’d killed over the three days, let alone calculate how much money he’d earned.

But when the rewards were announced, he didn’t expect it to be so profitable.

’This is even more money than I imagined. An income of nearly ten million Xia Country Coins in one go.’

A moment later, Lin Qi calmed himself down.

’Making money hunting Calamity Beasts like this requires help from both the military and the academy.’

Lin Qi was well aware that it was only because he was at a Martial Arts University, with the help of the school and the military, that he could freely hunt Calamity Beasts.

If he were on a real battlefield, he wouldn’t have such a safe environment to hunt Calamity Beasts so easily, nor would he be able to earn so much money.

As for the 10% tax, he had no problem with it.

Many of Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy’s facilities, as well as many national public resources, required money.

And Martial Artists were widely recognized as the most lucrative profession, so they were expected to pay a significant amount of taxes.

Then he read the next two messages.

[Lin Qi, for ranking first within the Azure Sky Sixth Institute in the Disaster Beast Trial Tower (July), you are awarded 500,000 Xia Country Coins. For ranking 4th among all freshmen, you are awarded 1,000,000 Xia Country Coins.]

[Lin Qi, as the champion of the individual freshmen competition, you will receive 6,000,000 Xia Country Coins.]

[A deposit of 9,997,200 Xia Country Coins has been made to your bank card ending in XXX!]

[A deposit of 1,500,000 Xia Country Coins has been made to your bank card ending...!]

[A deposit of 6,000,000 Xia Country Coins has been made to your bank card ending...!]

Seeing the last few deposit notifications, Lin Qi broke into a grin, feeling utterly pleased.

All three were text messages about his rewards being deposited. They added up to nearly 17.5 million Xia Country Coins, which was getting close to 20 million.

This was his highest income to date.

Adding the nearly ten million Xia Country Coins he already had, his net worth was now close to 40 million Xia Country Coins.

’I’m one step closer to saving up for the Water of Rebirth.’

Lin Qi let out a breath and threw the empty food container into the trash can.

He stood up and began to walk around the Martial Arts Room.

Although he was still a long way from being able to afford the Water of Rebirth, he had only been at Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy for a month and had already earned nearly 30 million Xia Country Coins.

’For a genius, Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy is just a place to make money.’

’The stronger you are and the higher your Talent, the more money you make.’

Lin Qi now had a clear understanding. He looked at one of the messages.

The Disaster Beast Trial Tower reward was 1.5 million: 500,000 for being first in the institute, and 1 million for being fourth among the freshmen.

’According to Taozi, the rewards are given out once a month.’

’The higher your rank, the bigger the reward. Eventually, they might even start awarding resources directly.’

’And the higher the floor, the better the reward.’

’I’m on the second floor right now, and even first place is only worth 500,000. If I can push through to the third floor, the monthly rewards will be even higher.’

’The academy doesn’t just encourage competition; it also pushes us to challenge the higher floors of the Trial Tower.’

His thoughts settled. Lin Qi let out a long breath and sat cross-legged on the floor.

He cleared his mind of distracting thoughts and began to cultivate his Source Energy Skill. The rewards had been received, and the freshmen competition was over.

Next, it was time for him to consider breaking through to the Third Realm.

INHALE... EXHALE...

A moment later, as he breathed, his mind calmed, and he began to expand his Perception.

Within his Perception, the Source Energy Particles filling the Martial Arts Room were as numerous as stars in the sky. The Source Energy Concentration had indeed increased significantly, just as the message had said.

Lin Qi visualized the Vajra Tiger and used the Gale Technique to inhale the surrounding Source Energy Particles.

BOOM!!

Countless specks of light—the Source Energy Particles—surged into his body. The sensation was like someone blasting him with a fire hose, flooding his insides.

Source Energy poured through his pores like flowing water. Lin Qi felt a chill run through him, and his whole body shuddered.

Waves of chilling energy entered his body, flowing to every corner, and were instantly devoured upon contact with his cells.

The Source Energy began to temper the various parts of his body.

Especially his body’s Great Tendons, the effect of the tempering was diminishing, as if they were about to reach their limit.

Lin Qi was secretly delighted; the effect of his cultivation had instantly improved by a large margin.

The longer this went on, the greater the advantage he would accumulate.

「Two hours later.」

[You have absorbed more Source Energy, increasing your Qi and Blood Value. Qi and Blood Value +0.2]

[Qi and Blood Value: 39 → 39.2]

...

Lin Qi exhaled and opened his eyes, the golden light within them now more distinct.

’My Qi and Blood Value is only 0.8 away from the Third Realm. At the Peak of the Second Realm, the efficiency of refining my body’s fascia is decreasing, so an increase of 0.2 isn’t bad at all.’

Lin Qi stood up and clenched his fists.

At the Peak of the First Realm, he had used Five Elements Training to speed up the refinement of his smaller muscle groups, avoiding getting stuck for too long.

’Now that I’m approaching the Peak of the Second Realm, am I going to be stuck for a long time again?’

He could feel that the finer fascia in his body also needed tempering, and that would take time to grind out.

’I didn’t want to waste time grinding in the First Realm, and I don’t want to in the Second Realm either.’

Suddenly, he remembered that Dean Liu had asked him to come to his office in two days. ’Could it be about this?’

...

「Azure Sky First Institute, inside a certain villa.」

In the living room, a male student wore a foul look as he stared at the forum on his screen.

It clearly displayed his post from a few days ago, where he’d promised to go streaking if anyone managed to defeat Huo Wanyang, Ao Feng, and Duan Chuchu.

Now, a crowd of people in the thread were urging him to fulfill his promise and streak across campus.

He was filled with immense regret. If he’d known this would happen, he never would have made the bet. Who could have expected Lin Qi to actually defeat them one after another?

’Should I just pretend it never happened? Otherwise, I’m facing social suicide.’

’No. My Martial Arts conviction is to always keep my word. I have to do it.’

With that, he immediately stripped off his clothes, put on a smart camera, and bolted out of the villa, running two laps around the area at the fastest speed he had ever managed.

He then blurred his face and private parts in the video before posting it on the forum.

The post was taken down by the moderators less than three hours later.

But it had already been saved by countless people, shocking innumerable freshmen at the academy.

Many were impressed, not expecting the guy to actually be a man of his word. A surprising number of people expressed their admiration.

...

「Shanghai. The city was home to Nether Sea Martial Arts Academy, one of the three top martial arts universities.」

Inside a teaching building of the Nether Sea Ninth Institute—a colossal, deep-blue structure shaped like an aircraft carrier—a conversation was taking place.

In one of the spacious, all-blue offices, a middle-aged man in blue and white training gear stood by a window, gazing at the stars in the pitch-black night sky.

"I really didn’t expect you to defeat Wei Peng and become number one at our Nether Sea University."

"Li Hanjiang, you were ranked seventh in the nation in the entrance exams. To think you’d defeat the national top scorer... you’ve set a new record for Nether Sea University."

"It seems your time in North River Province really held back your training."

On the sofa behind him sat a well-built young man with a cold expression, exuding a sharp aura.

He laughed and said, "I didn’t expect to beat Wei Peng either. His title as national top scorer feels like a fake."

"It would have been more satisfying to defeat Huo Wanyang."

The middle-aged man chuckled. "There are no frauds among the top three national scorers."

"They’re all top-tier geniuses."

"The fact that you could win only proves that you are stronger than Wei Peng!"

"Speaking of Huo Wanyang, I just got word that the freshmen tournament at Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy also ended today."

"Huo Wanyang took the championship, right?" the young man asked.

The blue-clad middle-aged man shook his head with a smile. "Huo Wanyang lost in the finals."

The young man was stunned and said in surprise, "Huo Wanyang actually lost?"

"I’ve heard of him. His nickname is Marquis Wen, like a reincarnated Lv Bu. He has Innate Divine Strength and has never been defeated."

"Who could possibly defeat him?"

The blue-clad middle-aged man smiled and said, "The nation’s tenth-ranked, Lin Qi."

"The nation’s tenth-ranked... Lin Qi!"

Li Hanjiang committed the name to memory. His appraisal of this new rival grew.

’Anyone who can defeat Huo Wanyang is definitely a powerful opponent.’

"This year is truly strange. The national top and second-ranked scorers both lost in their freshman tournaments. You could say it’s history in the making."

"Only Liang Yuxin of Shanyu Martial Arts University managed to hold on to her number-one spot," the blue-clad middle-aged man remarked with a sigh.

The young man stood up and said, "It seems the national freshmen league in two months will be very exciting."

"My original target was Huo Wanyang. Now, it’s Lin Qi."

"Plus, there are probably some geniuses with Awakened Special Abilities looking to come out and stomp some noobs. I can’t wait." A look of keen anticipation crossed Li Hanjiang’s face.

...

「Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy.」

The news of Lin Qi defeating Huo Wanyang spread throughout the entire school.

This was huge news for all the students, as nothing like it had ever happened before.

Many second and third-year upperclassmen now knew that an incredible genius had arrived among this year’s freshmen.

「August 18th.」

After the Martial Arts General Education Course ended, Lin Qi left the large classroom, letting the others go ahead.

He took the elevator to the top floor, and suddenly thought of his teacher, Mu Hong.

He had taken Li Qing and Wang Zixuan to the Otherworld and had yet to return.

...