East Dragon University, teachers housing.
There were rows of villas in various styles such as Western castles and Eastern courtyard houses, looking quite distinct from each other.
Sun Mengmeng led Fang Yuan while walking carefully on the road. “Every teacher has their own villa. Without permission, don’t barge in as you please! Not only do the villas possess the school’s seals, but each teacher has their own way of dealing with trespassers. The unreasonable ones could even beat you half dead without anyone batting an eye!”
“I know, they’re like the cave abodes of cultivators. Of course, I won’t just barge in!”
Fang Yuan nodded and followed Sun Mengmeng toward the periphery. They arrived at an ancient rural courtyard that had red bricks, green roof tiles, and stepped gables.
Sun Mengmeng went to the main entrance and knocked.
“I am Sun Mengmeng. I would like to see Teacher Lü Songyang! I brought a student who has just broken through!”
There was no response from within even after waiting a while.
Sun Mengmeng was slightly puzzled. “That’s strange. Shouldn’t the teachers be around at this time?”
Bang!
Out of the blue, there was a violent vibration. The door opened immediately, and a disgruntled-looking Lü Songyang appeared.
Fang Yuan noticed that his clothes were in a mess, and there were some charred spots. It was possible that there was a lab accident, resulting in an explosion.
“What?”
Under his gaze, Sun Mengmeng trembled. “A-according to the school rules, once a first-year has become a cultivator, the first time they visit a teacher, the teacher needs to meet them.”
“You mean him?” Lü Songyang opened the screen and fished out some information. “Lin Meng, a mere 35% brain development? Breaking through immediately after entering school. Yet another who seeks quick success. I won’t accept him! No way!”
“What? Only 35%?”
Sun Mengmeng’s eyes were wide with surprise.
Of course, she did not have detailed information on Fang Yuan. All along, she had thought that he was a nurtured genius from a renowned family with at least a 50% brain development, which would explain why he broke through immediately upon entering university. Her expression froze.
“Your fundamentals are too weak. Even if you had purchased drugs on loan, coupled with meditation techniques, the most you would have been able to raise it to was 40%. You are among the worst in East Dragon University!” Lü Songyang was full of disdain.
“You must have heard in my public class? Despite that, you forcibly broke through. You seek quick successes, which is a character flaw. Your future achievements will be limited!”
“Junior, what other specialties do you have? Hurry up and show them!”
Sun Mengmeng was flustered and kept gesturing with her eyes.
“None!”
Fang Yuan shook his head. His heart settled. So it’s true. After forming spiritual roots and becoming a cultivator, the Mystic’s brain development is hidden. The only way to check would be to open the sea of consciousness. This is absolutely taboo to any cultivator!
After knowing this, he would no longer need to worry about others discovering that his brain development was at 100%.
“Hmph, don’t bring these kinds of students here in the future!” Lü Songyang stared angrily at Sun Mengmeng and shut the door. “I don’t accept any kind of trash!”
…
Inside the dormitory.
Fang Yuan sat crossed-legged and absorbed all the surrounding energy particles in an instant. Resignedly, he opened his eyes and waited for the energy particles to recover.
After being rejected this afternoon, he and Sun Mengmeng went their separate ways on an unhappy note.
It was obvious that Sun Mengmeng felt that Fang Yuan’s potential was limited and not worth her further investment.
However, Fang Yuan was unbothered.
He had more or less known what would happen. The only reason why he had followed Sun Mengmeng to choose a mentor was simply to test his hypothesis.
“Still, I can’t stay in this dormitory any longer. It’ll severely hamper my progress!” Fang Yuan’s face was full of dissatisfaction. “I have to raise my cultivation level and accept missions. Then I will move to the higher-level districts. Oh yeah… I still need to prepare credits to exchange for a spiritual technique that lets me hide my cultivation!”
…
Although he absorbed all the surrounding energy particles, including those in the nearby rooms every time he cultivated, those around him were all ordinary first-year who had yet to break through. He did not have to worry about being discovered for the time being.
Morning the next day.
After suppressing his urges for an entire night, Fang Yuan cultivated again once the concentration of energy particles had recovered.
Crack!
A crack sounded from his body. He knew then that he had broken through to level two Mystic.
“In fact, this is normal. Wu Wudi used twenty-seven days to finish Qi Refinement. But compared to me, he’s trash. If there were ample energy particles around, I could reach level five in a mere three days!”
Fang Yuan sighed regretfully. He opened his screen and selected the spiritual techniques category. After browsing through each technique at an incredible pace, he soon found what he was looking for.
“Breath Holding Technique (Spiritual Technique): Able to hide the aura of low-level Mystics. Able to deceive cultivators at the same level! Price: 50 credits!”
“Exchange!”
Fang Yuan immediately deducted fifty credits from his account and got his hands on the Breath Holding Technique.
“One’s aura in this world is energy radiation. Using spiritual roots to affect the operation of a few spiritual power structures, one can affect the body’s external radiation, thereby deceiving…”
This technique used a modern train of thought to explain the ancient breath-holding techniques in an easy to understand manner.
“Arcane Smart-Brain!”
Fang Yuan used the Arcane Smart-Brain to crystallize his psyche and form the model for the Breath Holding Technique, imprinting it into the smart-brain.
“This Breath Holding Technique is about the level of a first-class arcane spell. It’s just right!”
With the assistance of the smart-brain, as well as being a Demon God, it was a piece of cake for him to learn spiritual techniques.
Fang Yuan rubbed his forehead, and the aura bursting out from his body immediately weakened. It was now at the strength of someone who had just begun cultivating.
“However, this Breath Holding Technique is only a spiritual technique. The most it can do is deceive those at or below level five Mystic. If the teachers observe closely, they can see through this technique unless I cultivate the Breath Holding Dao Art!” Fang Yuan groaned. “Unless… I modify this Breath Holding Technique!”
Although he had just begun cultivation, his experience was nothing to be scoffed at. Coupled with the calculation of the Arcane Smart-Brain, it would be quite easy for him to improve a spiritual technique.
Soon, a brand new model formed.
“Breath Holding Technique (Modified): Able to hide one’s cultivation level. One can choose to increase the depletion rate and activate the strengthened form to escape detection from those under level ten Mystic. Duration five minutes!”
“Photon computers are seriously amazing!”
After the modification, Fang Yuan sighed. He was shocked.
Even the simplest Breath Holding Technique had reached a perfectly balanced state after the photon computer’s optimization.
Even he found it hard to surpass, and he could only sacrifice parts of the technique to bolster other parts of its ability.
“However, there should still be people willing to purchase it if I put it on the school website. Unfortunately… unless I want to be seen as a monster, I couldn’t have finished the modification immediately after purchasing it. Hehe…”
Fang Yuan shook his head and began browsing missions.
He did not have any mentors that would impart knowledge on spiritual techniques directly to him. Even if he wanted to attend classes by himself, he needed to pay with credits.
Surprisingly, East Dragon University’s credit expenditure was terrifying!
The hundred credit reward for advancing to Mystic was instantly cut in half after purchasing a spiritual technique. Soon, he would have nothing left.
Looking at the Eastern Dragon Leaderboard now, Fang Yuan felt extremely envious. He almost wanted to rob them.
“According to Sun Mengmeng, the missions with the most credits are published by the school. Missions published by the teachers may reward spiritual techniques or other items. As for missions published by students, the rewards may be great, but they may also be scams. Of course, the latter is more common…”
Fang Yuan considered methods to obtain credits carefully.
“Honestly, first-years should study hard and obtain their first credits through cultivation breakthroughs and passing courses. But for me, that just gives way too little!”
Even if Fang Yuan wanted to be a straight-A student, he was limited by the number of classes he could take on as a first-year.
Although it might be a significant number to ordinary first-years, it was really too little to him.
“At least, if I want to change dormitories, I need to spend a lot of credits. But I don’t want things to become troublesome, so I should settle everything at once… and go straight to district five!”
Fang Yuan frowned. He truly had had enough of the safe zone’s environment.
To his cultivation, it was as though a person dying of thirst was only given a drop of water. It was downright cruel!
“I still need to cultivate for those classes. With the efficiency of the Arcane Smart-Brain, I should pass them with full marks after a few days…”
He started looking for missions that were suitable for him. It would be best if the mission allowed him to come in touch with rare materials and curious objects, allowing him to confirm the material required to advance the Heaven Devouring Mystic Technique.
“School mission—Hunt star beasts! Long-term mission. Mystics can accept. The credits are rewarded according to the star beast materials submitted!”
Fang Yuan found a mission, and his eyes lit up. “This isn’t bad… Aside from credits, the star beast materials can sell for a good price… After I reach level five, I’ll give it a try!”
Planet East Dragon was unfit for human survival.
Instead, certain plants and star beasts were thriving on the planet.
In addition, due to the harsh environment, they had evolved special abilities and were not much weaker than cultivators.
Even now, humans only occupied less than half of Planet East Dragon. There were still many places that were heavens for star beasts.
According to certain legends, star beast races could give birth to kings. They were beings capable of fighting with high-level Mystics.
As such, the school made hunting star beasts a long-term mission. Perhaps there was the intention of letting the students experience the world as well.
“With this weak body… if I don’t use my Demon God power, I’d be able to deal with a single star beast at best. And I’d die if I were surrounded… I should forget it!”
Although this mission had good rewards, it had always been the monopoly of the seniors. Fang Yuan guessed that it was difficult for even Sun Mengmeng.
Furthermore, it really was very dangerous.
Otherwise, why would she rather settle various administrative missions than hunt and break through?
“I’ll exclude it for now. Let’s keep looking!” Fang Yuan continued scrolling down. Suddenly, his gaze shifted. “Research assistant mission?”
