Chapter 72: Eating into Poverty
Back at Mansion No. 1.
Xiaojiu and Xiaohan, the two little dragon cubs, jumped out of the pet space.
"Gawu!"
Xiaojiu immediately leaped onto Qin Fan's shoulder, rubbing its head against Qin Fan's cheek.
"Ying!"
Even the proud Xiaohan nestled beside Qin Fan, lifting its little face high.
Qin Fan, who shared a deep bond with the two little creatures, naturally understood their intentions.
Xiaojiu's intention was to act cute: "Master, I'm hungry, hurry and give me food."
Xiaohan's intention was a bit more arrogant: "Servant, hurry and prepare food for this lady."
In summary: these two adorable little creatures were both hungry.
"I gave you each dozens of eggs before we left this morning, and now it's not even noon, and you're hungry again. You two are such little gluttons..."
Qin Fan chuckled.
However, he still picked up his phone, logged into the school's app, and clicked on the dining section.
Fengtian Academy had its own specialized app, which allowed students to access various information and offered a range of convenient functions.
For example...
Services for secondary professions like Enchanters, Blacksmiths, and Alchemists.
Restaurant delivery.
Auction house and market transaction information.
And more.
Right now, Qin Fan was clicking into the dining section to order food for the two little ones.
However...
When he opened the dining section, his eyes widened instantly!
Top-grade Xuanjing Black Hair Pork Tenderloin: 30 credits/pound.
Exquisite Magic Sea Cucumber: 40 credits/pound.
Premium Unicorn Rabbit Leg: 20 credits/pound.
...
Expensive!
So damn expensive!
Actually...
For other students, these items weren't really that expensive, as they usually ordered prepared dishes.
A portion of Xuanjing Black Hair Pork Leg Rice: 10 credits/portion.
A portion of Exquisite Magic Sea Cucumber Soup: 15 credits/portion.
Indeed, it didn't seem expensive.
But for Qin Fan, it was ridiculously pricey!
Because he had to feed these two adorable but very gluttonous little ones!
Take Xiaojiu, for instance...
Back in Anning City, it needed nearly a hundred pounds of meat per day!
Now with Xiaohan added, Qin Fan had to prepare at least two hundred pounds of meat daily!
The key point was that the school restaurant sold only top-quality goods!
Being the dining hall of a top academy, they didn't stock ordinary Xuanjing Black Hair Pork; Qin Fan couldn't buy it even if he wanted to!
Two hundred pounds of meat consumption...
Just calculating with that 30 credits per pound of top-grade Xuanjing Black Hair Pork tenderloin, it would cost 6000 credits per day!
My God!
These two little ones could eat Qin Fan into poverty!
"This..."
Qin Fan's face darkened.
"Gawu gawu gawu!"
Xiaojiu kept acting cute and urging.
Xiaohan was flapping its wings, which looked like ice crystals, circling at Qin Fan's feet.
"Sigh! Luckily, that idiot Chen Wei handed over 5000 credits today..."
"Otherwise, I might not have made it through the day!"
Qin Fan laughed bitterly.
However, he still immediately placed an order for two hundred pounds of meat on the campus app.
Of course, there were top-grade Xuanjing Black Hair Pork and other high-quality magical beast meats, totaling 6500 credits.
Ding!
Soon.
In just three minutes, an unmanned intelligent delivery drone airlifted the two hundred pounds of meat from the foot of the mountain to the top.
Seeing these top-quality meats, Xiaojiu and Xiaohan immediately let out happy chirps.
Qin Fan rolled up his sleeves and easily carried the two hundred pounds of meat to the kitchen.
Fortunately, the kitchen in this mansion was large enough, and the kitchenware was adequate, including a large barbecue grill.
Qin Fan's secondary profession was 'Spiritual Chef,' a second-tier chef profession.
To say the least, his culinary skills had won Xiaojiu's approval.
Now, this little one had become picky, preferring only the meals cooked by its master and nothing else.
Qin Fan cleaned, marinated the meat, and then placed it on the grill.
After two hours.
The two little ones, with their bellies round and full, were dozing off in Qin Fan's arms.
Looking at the two little dragon cubs completely dependent on him, Qin Fan's eyes were full of tenderness.
However, when he opened his phone and saw his remaining 3500 credits, Qin Fan couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.
No way!
He had to go to the dungeon!
Otherwise, he would end up penniless!
...
...
The next day.
At just eight in the morning.
Qin Fan arrived at the Fengtian Academy's Secret Realm Hall.
This place housed all the dungeon gates under Fengtian Academy's control.
Since the game "Divine Domain" had completely merged with the real world, the dungeons from the game had also descended into reality.
At the same time, many dungeon gates had shattered, causing the monsters inside to wreak havoc in the real world.
Qin Fan had seen many such reports on TV before.
In certain small kingdoms, a level 70 diamond dungeon had shattered and descended over the capital, resulting in the deaths of all the city's inhabitants due to the dungeon monsters' onslaught.
Even some remote towns in Longguo Country had experienced such incidents.
As a powerful country, Longguo Country naturally had its countermeasures.
Every town and village nationwide had established large space teleportation arrays, allowing the local people to escape urgently and enabling the timely support of local professional corps when facing the disaster of a shattered dungeon.
Currently, Fengtian Academy housed a total of fifty dungeon gates.
The highest number among all top academies.
All dungeon gates were at least silver-tier, with the highest being legendary-tier.
Dungeons below silver-tier had difficulty levels too low for Fengtian Academy to care about. After all, the students here were top talents from across the country, and low-difficulty dungeons were not worth their time.
At this moment.
In the main hall of the Secret Realm Hall.
Many students were gathered.
Both freshmen and sophomores were present.
You could even see some sophomore teams, with dark circles under their eyes, poring over some materials.
This was normal.
The Secret Realm Hall was open twenty-four hours a day.
Some teams, after failing to conquer a dungeon, would teleport back to the real world, but the school would give them two more chances to retry.
This led to some teams repeatedly attempting and failing, and repeatedly retrying.
When Qin Fan stepped into the hall.
Swoosh!!
As expected.
All the freshmen gathered there turned their gaze towards Qin Fan.
Mainly because he was indeed too famous.
As a Dragon Master, he had won the top rank in Nanzhou Province.
And then yesterday, he defeated Chen Wei, ranked seventh in Fengtian Province, with a single punch.
It was truly shocking!
Some speculated that Qin Fan had grown so strong that he could defeat Chen Wei without summoning his dragon pet.
Others speculated that Qin Fan had not contracted a dragon pet but had, due to some opportunity, activated a Dragon Master's special trait, greatly enhancing his own strength.
But the most crucial point...
Was that all the deans of Fengtian Academy had ranked this Dragon Master as the top freshman.
"Hey! The top freshman is here! Is he going to the dungeon?"
"Mm... he seems to be without teammates?"
"I heard he initially wanted to join Luo Hao's team but was rejected."
"Haha! That's normal! After all, no one knows this Qin Fan's actual level, and people wouldn't form teams recklessly."
"…"
Ignoring the discussions, Qin Fan walked to the counter, submitted his student ID, and started applying for dungeon entry permission.
Before coming, he had already checked some information on the school forum using his phone.
He chose the highest difficulty dungeons suitable for his level!
Demon Tiger Forest!
Ogre Cavern!
Ice Serpent Nest!
All were platinum-tier dungeons for levels 20-25!
Each entry required 1000 credits!
Other dungeons had lower entry fees but were easier and offered less lucrative rewards!
Facing the risk of being eaten into poverty, Qin Fan urgently needed to challenge high-difficulty dungeons to earn credit rewards.
The sophomore girl working at the counter was shocked when she saw the information Qin Fan had registered.
"Are you sure you want to enter alone? These three dungeons are all platinum-tier!"
"Sister suggests you find some teammates to enter the dungeon together."
When the girl finished speaking.
The students around, still deciding on which dungeon to enter or studying dungeon guides, turned their heads.
"Whoa? Soloing a platinum-tier dungeon?"
"He doesn't seem to understand how terrifying platinum-tier dungeons are! Isn't he courting death?"
"Damn! Maybe he got rejected from joining a team yesterday and is now out of his mind, trying to solo to prove himself?"
"Hahahaha! That's too childish..."
"…"
Qin Fan's gaze grew colder, but he couldn't be bothered to argue with these fools.
He never argued with idiots.
"My decision is final, please stamp it, sister."
Qin Fan said calmly.
"Sister, just let him go in. If he's looking for death, we can't stop him, right?"
"Sigh, I thought this Qin Fan was something, but he's just a brainless brute!"
"These platinum-tier dungeons would be tough even for Luo Hao, Xu Niannian, and Bai Wushuang."
"…"
Hearing the urging from the crowd, the girl sighed
helplessly.
"Alright, I'll stamp it."
"But remember, don't push yourself. If anything goes wrong, use the return scroll immediately!"
Qin Fan nodded.
Without any hesitation, he took the permit and walked into the side hall, pushing open one of the platinum-colored doors.
It was the door to the 'Demon Tiger Forest' dungeon.
As Qin Fan's figure disappeared, the freshmen and sophomores in the hall shook their heads.
"Not even looking at the guide, so arrogant and conceited..."
"Haha! I bet we'll hear about Qin Fan dying in there within three minutes!"
"Being a provincial champion, he shouldn't be that bad. I give him five minutes before he dies!"
"…"
Just as everyone was cynically discussing.
Suddenly...
Footsteps were heard from the entrance.
Everyone turned to look.
They saw Luo Hao, Bai Wushuang, Xu Niannian, and Fang Tairan entering!
Their teammates accompanied them as well.
Luo Hao's teammates included Su Rou, Feng Yuan, Luo Tao, and Chen Wei, who had lost yesterday.
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