Chương 9: Summer Plans

Still, this result cemented me as Rank #3 much better than the midterm had placed me at Rank #2. I wouldn't be at much risk of being knocked out of the Top 10 Ranks who would move into the Inner Court after another year...that is, as long as I didn't fall behind in my cultivation base. The last several lessons in Technical Studies were to inform us what summer would entail, and if you asked me, it resembled a vacation in only a scant few aspects.

If you asked most of the other students, they wouldn't give it nearly that much credit. In fact, it would really be quite the opposite of a vacation. One of the first points touched on in the last series of lessons was the reason there were no students in the Academy when we'd first arrived. During summer, every student, and most of the faculty as well, spent their days at one of several preserves/hunting grounds considered the territory of the Dimension Governors, with one aim: to hunt magical beasts and collect their cores. There were four different preserves, one for each class year's hunting. The faculty was well able to ensure there were no deaths during this, but students who failed to collect cores would soon fall behind in cultivation, because absorbing Qi from monster cores was a great deal faster than our rudimentary cultivation technique.

We wouldn't even have the chance to get a better cultivation technique until we joined a sect, and during the whole year, I'd only reached the Third Stage of the Fourth Earth Realm. With just the basic cultivation, I might not even reach the Fourth Stage in another whole year, and it got mountainously worse once the Fifth Realm was reached. Since reaching the Sixth Realm, the requirement to test to join the 10,000 Scrolls Library, was my goal, I'd need to perform as well hunting magical beasts as I'd done in the Academy's subjects.

Fortunately, this was another area in which my old Dive Gaming career gave me an edge. Whenever a new Dive MMO came out, it meant new chances for new revenue streams for the clubs, so usually all but the best players of the previous one switched to it, and even they usually played the new in addition to keeping their skills up in the old. At times like those, if you leveled up in normal ways you'd get left behind very quickly, so I was used to fighting monsters who were tough, tricky, or both.

The PVR collectively gave us students another edge as well: the primary feature of the Experiential Body, it was explained, was that we'd instantly absorb a certain portion of Qi from any magical beasts, or indeed other cultivators that we killed, just like gaining EXP. Even on top of that, we could still absorb Qi from monster cores that dropped, each of which would be worth quite a lot more than from simply killing the monster. Potentially, at least.

We were given two days to prepare ourselves before leaving. Students wouldn't be permitted to attack each other, but were permitted to interfere otherwise. As such, it was strongly suggested by every class instructor that we meet and come to non-interference agreements during this time. As the current contenders to enter the Inner Court the year after next, the top 10 of the year held their own meetup.

Shokoya, the one of us with the most studious reputation after me, had set up a big table in the Academy library with a large map of the region we'd be going to. "All right, looks like everyone's here. So this," he pointed at a wide plain to the south with a pencil, "is where the teleportation formation exit is. Now, I say that for the ten of us, going after the small fries in the plains is a waste of time. We know straight from the Elders that the further north you go, the stronger the magical beasts become. However, the reserve is set up such that it takes a full day to cross the plain and enter the more advanced areas—which means we need to be able to set up camps for ourselves. They basically expect that we'll stay near the main camp for the first 2 weeks to a month for them to teach us wilderness survival. But just in case, is there anyone here who won't need those lessons?"

"That would be me," I said, "One of the things I was known for in my pro club as a Dive Gamer was exploration and discovering wild dungeons in games that had those, and a lot of the stuff I learned in order to operate on my own in those should apply here." Volunteering as a survivalist back then had been a win-win—I could make gold farming quotas without worrying as much about competition from other players, and I got as much time to myself as I wanted. "Once the Elders let me go, I plan to head straight for Luoxuan Canyon."

Shokoya nodded. "I was going to suggest that place for you if it hadn't occurred to you yet. That place is so dangerous for anyone who can't hard counter the Gazers and Giant Bats, I doubt anyone will interfere with you even in the late stages."

"I appreciate it."

And just like that, my part of the meeting was basically over. A few more things became clear from more discussions—most of the bottom 5 agreed to group up with Shokoya and start their proper grind in the Dark Forest just beyond the starting plain, then move gradually deeper before ending at a large lake in the northwest. Jue Zhu would of course be seeking the most dangerous challenges the preserve had to offer, at Mount Bing just north of the canyon. He'd have liked to travel with me, but with his laborer background he had no virtual wilderness experience and thus would be starting later. Qingling Mei would be forming her own group with her friends outside the top 10. Helping them out would put her at risk of dropping out of the top 10 and losing out on the Inner Court later, but that wasn't an issue for her since she had her heart set on the Thorned Lily Sect, which she was plenty talented for even if she carried others with her.

Finally, Kunlun Jong would take the area to the east of Luoxuan Canyon as his hunting ground. A short but broad river flowed from Mount Bing through that plain and further east out of the preserve, and there were chances to encounter relatively rare aquatic magical beasts there. He looked forward to the challenge, he said.

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