The students of Elite Academy could be broadly separated into two categories. One of the categories was the battle type. Wang Zheng, Olivios and many others belonged to the battle type, with their abilities more inclined towards battle. The other category was the support type. Xie Yuxin, Lia and many others would fall into this category and they were more suitable to take up behind the scene roles or supporting roles.
Specialising in battle or support wasn’t representative of who would be more superior. Anyone had the opportunity to achieve a higher position.
Based on one’s Ability X and their attributes, their curriculums were also different. It could be separated to Core modules and Electives. Everyone had to attend Core modules. Electives were based on individual preferences. Absences without official reasons were a grave matter in Elite Academy. You wouldn’t end up in a good spot unless your results were so outstanding that you could completely disregard the deductions that mentors would give or if you could settle it with your mentors. One might even be expelled in the worst scenario.
However, this had not occurred over the past few years. This wasn’t just about being expelled. Various countries had chosen and recommended one to be there. If one was to be expelled over such trivial matters, one’s future would be over. Who would dare to use such types of people?
Even Olivios was very serious about his own curriculum.
Wang Zheng took a look at his Core modules. Ability X, mecha, space fleet and strategic theories were the main modules. Other than that, combined sciences were also compulsory and would cover physics, mathematics, chemistry and et cetera. Obviously, since they were battle types, their lessons would be related to the aspects of battle. They wouldn’t become scientists but they had to have a certain degree of knowledge. This would allow them to make the right judgement when extreme situations occurred.
This place was nurturing the protectors of humans, super warriors and successors to the human civilisation.
After looking at the overall allocation of the Academy, Wang Zheng suddenly sighed. There would be politics in places with people. Nonetheless, its existence was reasonable. This structure was suitable for humans. There was a corrupted side to it but there were also benefits. Elite Academy was a great product of it. It had gotten rid of geographical boundaries, racial distinction and had put the succession of human civilisation at the forefront of everything.
One had to be prepared for danger in times of peace. It was more important the stronger one gotten.
There were also plentiful of elective modules. They covered various aspects of the human world, history of Special Forces, biology research of aliens, development and destruction of Zerg, the origin and development of Atlantis and et cetera. These were all microcosms of humankind’s history.
Wang Zheng could smile even while sleeping. Knowledge was power and these were things that couldn’t be bought with any amount of money.
“Wang Zheng, I heard that Olivios has targeted you. Is everything alright?” asked Xie Yuxin over the phone call. Xie Yuxin was in the Huang-1 class of the Vermillion Bird Region. His recommended curriculum wasn’t from the Solar System but the Aslan Empire.
“There’s nothing much. We could be considered to be old friends. It seems that he didn’t have enough when we competed during the last IG.” Wang Zheng had always been more direct when talking to Xie Yuxin. From Wang Zheng’s perspective, Xie Yuxin was the smartest amongst the people he knew.
“Yeah, I had some interactions with him. He even saved me once!” Xie Yuxin told Wang Zheng about the incident when he just enrolled. “This person can be considered a martial arts fanatic and has no other distractions. What he is chasing after is the strongest power. Truthfully speaking, it is rather rueful. The people of Arbiter are all so pure. There are reasons to their strength. Despite being a planet without an abundance of resources, the planet has now become one of the top superpowers in the Milky Way Alliance.”
Wang Zheng also agreed totally. “This is a result of their innermost desires. The truth is that Earth has also desired to become stronger. However, we are too lazy.”
Xie Yuxin had laughed. The word “lazy” wasn’t entirely wrong. There were too many historical reasons behind it. It could be considered another case where decline was inevitable when one civilisation became too prosperous. The Earth had ruled over many eras.
“Oh, right, where do I go for food? Do I need to pay for it?” Wang Zheng asked suddenly.
“Hehe, of course you don’t need to. Everything here is basically free. Money isn’t important, but the use of many tools and the garage are based on one’s extent of authority. Students of the Huang classes have the lowest authorisation,” said Xie Yuxin. “However with the amount of things in Elite Academy, one wouldn’t be able to master it all.”
Wang Zheng nodded. Both of them were very busy and Wang Zheng needed some time to get use to his new life. When he had settled down, he would look for a time for a gathering.
After not seeing each other for so many years, Xie Yuxin was still Xie Yuxin. He was still as composed. Since Wang Zheng had met him, he had never seen Xie Yuxin worried. Sometimes he really wanted to see how Xie Yuxin would look like when he was angry or worried.
In the morning of the second day, Wang Zheng had woken up and had started his training. He didn’t know why he was so happy and his whole body seemed to be filled with endless amount of energy. After completing his morning training, he collected his own breakfast from the canteen. The breakfast was plentiful and was way better than those in Ares College. Moreover, there were more choices for the flavours available. The selection changed and rotated throughout the seven days in a week and had different cuisines from different countries.
The first lesson was an introduction to Ability X. Wang Zheng had been looking forward to this lesson. He wanted to know about the overall situation badly even if it might only be some details or final conclusion. Suddenly, he felt that he was so thirsty for knowledge.
With the qualifications and strength of the mentors in Elite Academy, they could actually adopt simulated lessons and electronic mentors. There were many academies that had adopted this way of teaching in the outside world. However, it was different in this place. The mentors in this place did not have such electronic products. One could tell that this place respected individuals. Those who were qualified to teach here would likely have a glorious past even if they might look ordinary. Some of the visiting professors were even renowned characters in present times.
The one giving a lecture on the introduction to Ability X was an old man of about 80 years old. He had been around Elite Academy for countless years. Everyone had forgotten his name as the students would just address him as Old Mentor.
Old Mentor looked at the students below and revealed a warm smile. “My name is Old Mentor and I welcome everyone that came for my lesson.”
Old Mentor was rather popular. The main reason was because he rarely made things difficult for students. One didn’t really need to listen to things such as theories on Ability X if they weren’t willing to. However, he was very strict for his examinations. If you couldn’t pass or was found to skip classes, the outcome would also be devastating. Frankly speaking, he was still considered to be a more humane professor.
“We can see Ability X as a kind of phenomenon. The current common understanding of the scientific world on the phenomenon of human evolution is that these strengths originated from genetic changes. However, our research on genetics is more inclined towards improving one’s muscles and the skeletal structure. We do not have the foundation to prove Ability X’s existence with actual and practical evidence. The truth is that Ability X and genetics do not have a direct connection, and regular training of one’s muscular system would not aid Ability X much,” said Old Mentor.
“Teacher, if that was the case, based on what you said, there wouldn’t be a need to train our body.”
A student stood up and asked.
“To be able to come to this place, I believe that everyone has been training very diligently. There is nothing wrong with this. This is because the use of Ability X exerts a great toll on one’s body. Your body must be able to keep up with it. However, it would be wrong to believe that physical training would help in the development of your Ability X. What I want to tell everyone here is that the appearance of Ability X originated from the Mark of Life!”
Old Mentor wrote “Mark of Life” on the black board and made a few annotations around it to emphasise this fact.
“The so-called ‘Mark of Life’ is a category of understanding of the Universe. Any objects, including humans and non-humans, or broadly speaking, even including organic and inorganic materials. Even if we are referring to a stone, it would have a Mark of the Universe. This is the core existence that we believe in. This is a step beyond the classification of genetics just like how mankind had previously believed that all materials were made up of elements as the smallest binding matter. Subsequently, we had discovered atoms, atomic nucleus and even anti-matter and dark matter. Above all these, Marks are the core of where our memory is stored.”
Everyone started to discuss. There were many people who couldn’t agree with such an iffy argument.
“Teacher, how can we see the Mark? How can we quantify it?”
The mainstream explanation within the Milky Way now was still about genetics. This was because humans had not really been able to reach a higher level in unravelling the genetic code. With the introduction of a new theory of Marks, it was a little exaggerated and seemed to be bluffing them.
“It can’t be quantified and thus didn’t exist previously. One can only try to understand it, but it can’t be explained. Therefore, this theory only exists in this place. While you young ones continue to try to raise your abilities, there will be no harm in trying to verify this theory.” The Old Mentor laughed. “Asking questions is beneficial to everyone. The various theories within Elite Academy don’t have to be the truth. Any truth is only relative. Most of the time, we can only look at things relatively, and at this current stage, how could we go about understanding this topic better?”
Wang Zheng was listening attentively. This was more in line with his understanding of Ability X. The explanation using genetics was a little shallow. Genetics was just a form of succession of humans themselves while the nature of Ability X was a reaction of one’s spirit and appeared in a formless manner. Genetics could even be considered to be something physical and thus how could it explain something so ephemeral? Moreover the direction of the development of Ability X was to communicate with the Universe.
Therefore, the so-called Cultivation Techniques would not be able to raise one’s Ability X. Accurately speaking, it was used to allow the body to be able to match one’s Ability X and withstand the recoil of using the abilities. The effects of similar elemental attributes Cultivation Techniques would be better. If one’s Ability X was that of manipulating fire, using a Cultivation Technique that was of the “Fire” attribute would allow the physical body to better adapt and communicate about the harm to the body. The results would be that one would be able to exhibit stronger power as the body learned to use the power more effectively. The time it could last would also be longer and one would feel more at ease when using.
As for raising or attaining breakthroughs in Ability X, it happened mainly in some extreme situation that had huge stimulations to one’s spirit. It could also be due to enlightenment.
Old Mentor allowed the students to discuss this theory. This was a very important process. A skilled pro might not qualify as a great teacher. This was because what he needed to do wasn’t just about understanding it himself. He had to help the students understand.
“Teacher, what you mean is that we can train our bodies through various methods such that we have enough strength to withstand the recoil. How can we then raise the strength of our Ability X, excluding the known methods of spiritual stimulation and the sudden enlightenment?” Wang Zheng couldn’t hold back and asked.
All the current methods were all about these 2 methods. With regard to the awakening of Ability X, enlightenment was a more common method. However, this was still too dependent on luck.
Old Mentor was slightly surprised. “What do you think?”
Wang Zheng pondered for a while and replied, “The development of Ability X is about using oneself as the medium to communicate with the universe. We would need a more solid container.”
Instantly, everyone was laughing. What high-sounding sentiments those were. He was really aiming too high and had escalated himself to the level of the universe in an instant.
However, Wang Zheng was already immersed in his own thinking process and couldn’t care less about the reaction of others. “Strengthening the container would be easier to achieve, and spiritual strength would be the way we connect. If we wanted to achieve more, it would always be about having a strong spiritual strength, and it would be best to think about how to utilise it more effectively. In this case, meditation should also work. Is there a highly effective meditation method?”
Old Mentor’s jaw had dropped. “Are you new here? What is your name?”
“Wang Zheng. I just arrived here yesterday,” said Wang Zheng.
