Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Although Fang Ping was determined to change his weapon, he currently did not have the time to return to school.
November 20th. The school mass-sent a text to all the students of the special training classes.
The message was straight to the point, with just a few simple statistics.
“Fang Ping Team: 132 credits
“Zhao Lei Team: 128 credits
“Fu Changding Team: 110 credits
“Yang Xiaoman Team: 108 credits
“Chen Yunxi Team: 90 credits”
In Fang Ping’s team, Zhao Qing and the others had completed their own missions, resulting in their accumulated credits surpassing Zhao Lei’s team.
Still, it was a tight race between the top 2 teams.
Only Chen Yunxi’s team fell behind drastically. Whether it was intentional or because they failed a mission, no one knew.
Previously, when Zhao Lei’s team suffered a fatality, someone in Chen Yunxi’s team suggested they slack off and stop accepting missions.
Perhaps Chen Yunxi could not rouse the team. It was possible that her teammates dragged out the time because they did not want to do any more mission.
The school’s intention was clear. They wanted to provoke the students so that they would keep pushing onward.
Moreover, in order to not give the first team the chance to cut corners, Fang Ping quickly received a second text notification.
“For the first team, after you have accumulated 100 credits, you will be awarded 50% of your accumulated credits.
“After accumulating 150 credits, you will be awarded 60%.
“After accumulating 200 credits, you will be awarded 70%…”
Every increase of 50 credits led to an increase of awarded credits by 10%.
If they could get 350 credits, their reward could be doubled. Adding on the fact that the school doubled it already, at this point, Fang Ping and the rest could get 1050 credits!
This was unbelievably great!
Most Rank-3 martial artists could only get that many credits in one year, and even that was not guaranteed.
Now, the team could earn it in one short month. Although the team had 10 people, all of them were new Rank-1 martial artists. Having that many credits would give them a big advantage over the other students.
Fang Ping’s team received this text, but Chen Yunxi’s team did not.
However, they received a different text reminder. “For a total of lower than 120 credits, the school will not double the award.”
In the remaining 10 days, if Chen Yunxi and her team could not complete missions worth 30 credits, the school would not give them any special treatment.
Under the pressure and motivation from the school, each team redoubled their effort into tackling missions.
…
In these 10 days, Fang Ping’s mini-team claimed three Rank-2 missions, but they only complete two in the end.
For the last one, Fang Ping and the others could not find the target and had to give up.
The missions were not all smooth-sailing. Some criminals hid themselves very well. It was normal to fail to find them.
Zhao Qing’s team had performed similarly. They had completed one more mission than Fang Ping’s group, but one of their members was injured.
On the 30th, all of them gathered again.
…
Magic City.
When everybody returned to school, the school requested each team to gather in the training room.
Only when all of Fang Ping’s team members arrived did he open his mouth to say, “We couldn’t find the person from the last mission, and there were no leads, so we had to give up.
“We thought that if we finished the last mission, we could reach 200 credits.
“Now, we only have 186 credits, which is quite a shame.”
It was indeed a pity. With 186 credits, based on the 60% bonus, they would only be awarded little over 111 credits.
If they had completed the last mission, Fang Ping’s team could have earned tens more credits.
On the other hand, Zhao Xuemei was very satisfied. “It’s good enough. 186 credits are equivalent to completing three or four Rank-3 missions.
“In one month, we Rank-1 martial artists have managed to do pretty well. We’ve done a good job!”
Even Tang Songting was nodding in agreement.
Even if they had been Rank-3 martial artists, it was not guaranteed that they could have completed three or four missions of that rank in just one month.
As the teammates discussed amongst themselves, Chen Yunxi’s team entered the room, all of them rather muddied and covered in dust.
One of her team members was complaining. “It’s all because Chen Jialong was holding us back. That’s just great. With 100 credits, let’s not even talk about doubling the reward—we don’t have anything!
“The 10 of us have been busting our butts for a month, and we didn’t even get 10 credits to show for it!”
“Bullshit, what does that have to do with me! You didn’t put in much effort yourself. You can tell just by looking at our contributions. You’ve contributed a total of 7%, far below the average! At least I have 11%!”
“That was just a coincidence. If not for…”
“Stop arguing. Both of you are responsible. Zhou Jian is injured, and there are not even enough credits to buy medicine!”
“…”
The few of them were squabbling. Some were dissatisfied, and some were resentful.
The injured members of the team remained stony and did not make a sound, their disappointment apparent without the need words.
In a team of 10 people, they had been through hell for a month, yet they could not even double their reward. With 100 credits, it boiled down to 10 credits a person. Those who contributed less would only get five or six credits.
That was equal to getting two Normal Vitality Pills in one month. It would not be enough to replenish Vitalities, let alone heal injuries.
Chen Yunxi’s head was lowered. She had not said a word since entering the room.
The teammates slandered each other without reservation, but none of them spoke to Chen Yunxi.
Fang Ping’s team stared at them coolly. Among them, some were celebrating that they were in Fang Ping’s team. If they had been sorted to Chen Yunxi’s team, they would have had a hard time.
The same applied to Zhao Lei’s team. Someone had even died there. Rumor had it that they had pushed too hard in their later missions, and more people were seriously wounded.
Soon, everybody saw the arrival of Zhao Lei’s team.
There was not much excitement, nor were they overjoyed that they had gotten many credits. Their faces were all somber.
Zhao Lei was, too. When he saw Fang Ping, he turned his head away.
Their entire team kept silent and did not say a word.
The awkward silence was only dispelled when Fu Changding arrived.
“Ha ha ha, you’re all here? The missions were crazy difficult, but our luck wasn’t bad. In the last stage, we even managed to finish a mission. Now, we’ll be able to rest well these few days.”
“It’s because of you, our amazing Leader. You managed to guess where the target was hiding without a shred of information.”
“Thank goodness. It was just a wild guess. Luckily, I hit the mark spot on.”
“Leader, you’re amazing!” This voice was sugary sweet and obviously belonged to one of the two pretty female students.
As they spoke, the team strutted into the training room boisterously.
Only after he sensed the tense atmosphere, Fu Changding instinctively cracked his neck and paced over to Fang Ping. In a small voice, he asked, “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.”
Fang Ping did not elaborate. He smiled and said, “Looks like you guys did well on your missions?”
Fu Changding was pleased. “That’s for sure!”
Tang Songting gave a cool huff. “Others might not know, but I’m not blind. Wild guess my foot—you made your family hire someone to find him, didn’t you?”
Fu Changding did not object or deny, saying casually, “That’s within my capabilities. What can you about it?”
Once he said this, Tang Songting scoffed but did not say anything else.
Fu Changding being seeking help from his family was indeed within his right. His family’s resources were resources nonetheless.
Fu Changding ignored him, smiling at Fang Ping. “You guys have first place in the bag this time, huh?”
“Not sure. We don’t really know how Zhao Lei’s team did.”
“You don’t know, but I do!” Fu Changding grinned widely. “In the last mission, Zhao Lei panicked. He was too desperate to succeed. They had already found the target, but the guy managed to give them the slip when they had him surrounded!
“Judging by their sour expressions, you should be able to guess the results.”
Fang Ping was amused and said, “You sure are well-informed.”
“That’s true. There are so many people in one team; how can there be many secrets?
“Even for you guys. If you guys hadn’t split up, I would have known everything like the back of my hand…”
Fu Changding did not mind telling Fang Ping what he knew of his team’s circumstances.
In fact, there were people on Fang Ping’s team who also kept themselves in the loop.
As they talked, the last team arrived, led by Yang Xiaoman.
Fu Changding smiled broadly and greeted them. “Yang Xiaoman, I heard you’re chasing after me. How many credits do you have?”
“Only ghosts are chasing after you!”
Yang Xiaoman cursed. She was not as downhearted as Chen Yunxi nor as reluctant as Zhao Lei and she mumbled, “138 credits. What about you?”
“138…tsk tsk, a good number! But I have 150 here. It seems like you’re out of the game.”
“Wipe that smile off your face!”
Yang Xiaoman huffed once before stepping over to Chen Yunxi. She approached her and comforted her, speaking softly.
In this round’s groupings, Chen Yunxi’s team had performed the worst.
Even though someone died in Zhao Lei’s team, at least they did well in their missions, and his teammates listened to him.
Chen Yunxi’s team was a mess. Pretty much everyone knew that.
…
As the students chatted in small groups, a few instructors walked in.
Huang Jing was there too.
The moment he entered the room, Huang Jing said coldly, “Silence!”
Everybody quietened in a split second.
Huang Jing looked around. He did not pick at the others first, staring straight at Zhao Lei. “Zhao Lei, because of the risks you took, Student Lu Kunqiang was sacrificed in the process of your mission. 30% of everything you’ve earned will be deducted and given as compensation to Lu Kunqiang’s family. Do you have any objections?”
“No.”
Zhao Lei shook his head.
“Other members, 10% of your earnings will be deducted and used for compensation!”
In Zhao Lei’s team, some were reluctant and some were silent.
Based on what they got, they did not get first place. They had slightly over 350 credits.
With Zhao Lei’s 30% and the others’ 10%, that would be at least 60 credits deducted.
Although some felt it was the Instructor’s fault for not rescuing them, they knew better than to say that out loud.
The instructors had not guaranteed that they would rescue them. They had warned them before the departure that the instructors were not almighty and that there was a possibility that someone could die on missions.
Huang Jing did not care if they were satisfied or not and resumed speaking. “I think all of you must have gained quite a lot this time, quite some experience too.
“A student has been sacrificed on a mission. This isn’t an anomaly. This is what it’s like for martial artists, constantly battling life or death.
“Some of you may be upset. Why didn’t the instructors save us?
“I don’t want to explain anything. If you’re practicing martial arts with the idea that someone can rescue you at any time, you’re dead wrong!
“I won’t blather on. This time, the team in first place in Fang Ping’s team, with a total of 186 credits accumulated.
“The school awards you 186 credits and an additional 112 credits for being in first place, so your total comes to 484 credits.
“In second place is Zhao Lei’s team, who has accumulated 179 credits, which brings you to a total of 358 credits.
“Third place: Fu Changding’s team has accumulated 150 credits and has a total of 300 credits.
“Fourth place: Yang Xiaoman’s team has accumulated 138 credits, which brings you to a total of 276 credits.
“Fifth place: Chen Yunxi’s team has a total of 100 credits!”
As the five teams’ credits were announced, many were shocked. The difference was too big!
The first place, Fang Ping’s team, had a total of nearly 500 credits!
And the fifth place, Chen Yunxi’s team, only had 100 credits.
At Fang Ping’s side, many of them were bright and cheerful, beaming joyfully.
Although Fang Ping had the most credits this time around, his teammates received a fair amount too. Even if they had fewer credits, they still had it far better than Chen Yunxi’s team.
“Alright, all your individual credits have been assigned. You can check them on your own time later.”
Huang Jing interrupted everybody’s discussion and said again, “This time, some of you have performed well, and some of you have performed terribly. I don’t want to name anyone.
“Today, all of you can rest for a day. Tomorrow, the special training classes will be divided into new groups.
“10 people in the starter team, 39 in the replacement team.
“I think most of you can guess which team you’ll be put in.
“That’s all I have to say. All of you should properly sum up your gains or losses this month!”
When he finished speaking, as always, Huang Jing left as quickly as he arrived.
…
The moment Huang Jing left, everybody went to find their instructors-in-charge to check their contributions.
Fang Ping found out he took up a total of 30% of the total contributions, which meant he had earned 145 credits!
Tang Songting had 18%, Zhao Xuemei had 16%, Zhao Qing had 12%…
The other 6 people had 24% between them, which was just about 4% each. Even so, none of them felt it was an unfair result.
Even if it was just 4%, it was already close to 20 credits each.
Aside from credits, they had other rewards too, such as Vitality Pills, cash, Bone-honing Pills, and even a few alloy weapons.
Moreover, none of them were badly hurt, and their rewards were not meager. Adding on the initial items the school had given them that were worth 30 credits, even the ones who received the fewest rewards would have close to 60 credits worth.
The other teams, even Zhao Lei’s team, did not gain as much.
The deduction of 10% notwithstanding, almost all of them were wounded. Recovering from injuries took quite a sum of expenditure.
…
Fang Ping did not chat much with the others and quickly rushed to the logistics department to receive his awarded credits.
After he received the credits, Fang Ping reached a total of 161 credits!
Going by his original number of credits, he should have broken through 200 credits by now, but Fang Ping had exchanged 40 credits for an alloy saber earlier.
This was not the largest number of credits he had accumulated.
Currently, Fang Ping also had plenty of medicinal pills and elixirs on hand.
He had 50 Normal Vitality Pills, 5 Rank-1 Bone-honing Pills, 8 Rank-1 Vitality Pills, 1 bottle of Healing Water, and 2 Rank-2 Vitality Pills.
He also had an E-grade alloy saber, a pair of alloy combat boots, two alloy daggers, and D-grade brass knuckles.
As for cash, Fang Ping had not been given any when it was being allocated, so he still had 6 million.
Solely from receiving his credits this time, Fang Ping’s Wealth points increased by 2.9 million.
The medicinal pills and weapons he had received also gave him close to 4 million Wealth points.
In this one month, Fang Ping had gained more than 7 million Wealth points.
Of course, his usage was also shocking.
Wealth: 12080000
Vitality: 300cal (308cal)
Mentality 257Hz (269Hz)
Bone-honing: 55 bones (90%), 1 bone (45%), 150 bones (30%)
Before he started the missions, Fang Ping’s Wealth points had already reached ten million. With the 7 million Wealth points he got this month, he should have over 17 million.
In that one month, Fang Ping had also used up around 5 million Wealth points.
Aside from using them on honing, he also depleted some during combat.
“I should start planning more carefully.”
After looking at his stats, Fang Ping decided to make good use of his rewards this time and increase his strength.
At this stage, everybody would have a period of growth in strength. If his own increased, it would not be unexpected.
If he did not use the Wealth points, they would just be collecting dust. Converting them into strength was key.
