Chapter 2744 – Half-step Master
“My sister?” Kerui smiled at Hong Xinyuan’s question, then answered joyfully, “I’m afraid she won’t be able to enter today. She’ll have to wait until tomorrow to do so.”
“She can’t enter?” Hong Xinyuan grew even more confused at Kerui’s words. “Why can’t she enter? She has Grade 2 authority. Who dares stop her?” Normally, anyone with formal identification in the Upper Zone could enter and leave the Upper Zone freely. Although some circumstances could result in residents being prohibited from entering or outright banned from the Upper Zone, once someone reached Grade 2 authority, even the base layer’s supervisors wouldn’t have the courage to stop them from entering the Upper Zone.
“No, no. Nobody stopped her.” Kerui shook her head, then giggled and said, “It’s just that the Mental Path is activated today.”
“The Mental Path?” Realization dawned upon Hong Xinyuan. However, he quickly noticed a problem. He then turned to Shi Feng and asked, “How did you come in, then?”
“He must’ve cleared the Mental Path, right?” the woman seated beside Hong Xinyuan said leisurely as she glanced at Shi Feng.
“He cleared the Mental Path? How is this possible?!” Hong Xinyuan stared at Shi Feng in disbelief.
No matter how Hong Xinyuan looked at it, Shi Feng was definitely past the age of 20. If Shi Feng wanted to conquer the Mental Path, the young man’s mental strength needed to be of a similar grade to his own, which was the Special Grade.
However, in the Yuantian City Upper Zone’s history, never had a youngster with such monstrous mental strength appeared before.
“That’s right. Uncle Hong, Shi Feng indeed cleared the Mental Path. You should’ve seen it for yourself. Everyone in the entrance hall was dumbfounded,” Kerui said, nodding, with an excited expression on her face.
When Kerui finished speaking, the seated woman stood up and approached Shi Feng.
“Hello, I am Xia Qingying, the general manager of the base layer,” the woman introduced herself to Shi Feng. “I didn’t expect that the person Old Hong mentioned would actually possess Special Grade mental strength.”
Xia Qingying’s sudden actions gave Hong Xinyuan a fright. Despite being only 26 years old, Xia Qingying was the general manager of this Upper Zone’s base layer. Her authority was among the top three in the base layer. Her identity and status were astonishing.
Xia Qingying’s taking the initiative to introduce herself to Shi Feng was ten times more shocking than Shi Feng’s achievement of having cleared the Mental Path.
After a moment of surprise, Hong Xinyuan hurriedly stepped forward.
“Shi Feng, General Manager Xia is a busy person. Normally, even the base layer’s supervisors have a difficult time meeting her. She deliberately made time today to personally help with registering your identity and authority,” Hong Xinyuan explained.
Xia Qingying wasn’t an individual just anyone could meet.
Now that Xia Qingying was taking the initiative to befriend Shi Feng, Hong Xinyuan naturally had to get him to seize this opportunity. This way, the young man would face fewer troubles when residing in the Upper Zone.
“Hello, General Manager Xia,” Shi Feng said, nodding. “I will have to trouble you today.”
Shi Feng naturally understood what Hong Xinyuan meant in his explanation. At the same time, he felt grateful to Hong Xinyuan.
“It’s no trouble. Such matters originally fall within my purview as a general manager. Only, I am usually busy, and there are very few people who come to register. Therefore, I typically have several months’ worth of applicants gather on a specific date to conduct an official registration,” Xia Qingying said, chuckling as she carefully inspected Shi Feng. “Your appearance, on the other hand, is truly astonishing. Not only did you clear the Mental Path under the age of 25, but you also spent only 13 minutes to do so. This is the first time I have seen a talent of your caliber in this Upper Zone.”
“What?! Thirteen minutes?!” Hong Xinyuan was shocked once more.
Previously, Hong Xinyuan thought that Shi Feng’s achievement was only getting through the Mental Path. It didn’t occur to him that Shi Feng had spent such a short time clearing it. When other individuals with Special Grade mental strength traversed the Mental Path, their average time was around 40 minutes, about ten minutes longer than the average clear time for individuals under 20 years old.
Yet, Shi Feng had spent only 13 minutes on the Mental Path. For a moment, Hong Xinyuan couldn’t help wondering whether Xia Qingying was playing a joke on him.
“That’s right. This person here has broken the Yuantian City Upper Zone’s Mental Path clear record for those under the age of 25.” Xia Qingying nodded. She then looked at Shi Feng and smiled. “If I don’t hurry to register talents like yourself, I’m afraid those old fellows above will nag me to death.”
At Xia Qingying’s words, realization also dawned upon Hong Xinyuan. With such frightening mental strength, Shi Feng’s standard was most likely close to that of mental strength masters.
Mental strength masters!
There was not a single mental strength master residing in the base layer of Yuantian City’s Upper Zone. The middle layer only had several of such individuals. Moreover, every one of these individuals possessed identities and statuses that even the Boulder Corporation feared.
Even though Shi Feng had yet to reach the standard of mental strength masters, his talent was more than enough for the various Upper Zones to fight over him.
“You overpraise me, General Manager Xia. I just got lucky. I believe it won’t be long before the Upper Zone has many people who surpass
me.”
Truthfully, Shi Feng felt somewhat guilty when receiving Xia Qingying’s attention.
This was because he had relied on a trick to get through the Mental Path. His actual mental strength was most likely at the Advanced Grade only. He was still far from reaching Special Grade.
By his estimates, a Special Grade mental strength should be equivalent to a near-Tier 5 Concentration standard in God’s Domain. However, his current Concentration standard was only at the Intermediate Tier 4 standard, which was still far from the Tier 5 standard.
“We’ve talked for quite some time now. We should get on with official business,” Xia Qingying said, changing the topic after seeing Shi Feng at a loss in this situation. Smiling, she continued, “The formal registration for identification is simple. I only need to scan you with a device, and you’ll become an official member of Yuantian City’s Upper Zone. The troublesome part is deciding what rewards should be given to you.”
“Aren’t the rewards for clearing the Mental Path fixed?” Shi Feng asked curiously.
Previously, he heard from Kerui that anyone who successfully cleared the Mental Path would receive 10,000 trade points and one Life Potion from the Green God Company.
The Life Potion aside, just the trade points awarded were already significant. In the Upper Zone, trade points were as important as Credits in the outside world because all transactions within the Upper Zone were conducted using the Green God Company’s trade points. Moreover, depending on one’s authority level, the number of trade points one could exchange for would differ.
People without authority could exchange for only 100 trade points per day, while Grade 3 authority could exchange for 200 points, Grade 2 for 500 points, and Grade 1 for 1,000 points.
Hence, while one trade point was equivalent to 10,000 Credits in the Upper Zone, 10,000 Credits were not necessarily equivalent to one trade point.
There were some people who could make a fortune just by reselling their trade points. However, those who would actually do this were generally crazy, and the various corporations operating in the Upper Zone were more than happy to see such fools. After all, a standard meal prepared by the Green God Company already cost 30 trade points. People without authority could have only three standard meals per day. That was equivalent to 300,000 Credits per meal!
Just hearing about this made Shi Feng think that the Upper Zone was really a different world from the world he lived in. Although his physique had improved significantly and he now required higher-quality food to support his body, 300,000 Credits could still buy him several months’ worth of food. However, in the Upper Zone, he could only get one meal for such a sum.
Meanwhile, this was only board. There were also many training facilities in the base layer for rapidly improving physical fitness and even facilities that helped improve mental strength. All these facilities cost trade points to use; basic training facilities cost 20 points per hour, while advanced training facilities cost 50 points per hour.
It was no exaggeration to say that only people with Grade 2 authority or higher could satisfy their daily needs in the Upper Zone.
Of course, so long as one had sufficient authority, one could also accept work from the Green God Company to earn some points and maintain their daily lifestyle in the Upper Zone.
Take Shi Feng, for example. With Zero Wing’s fortune, he was basically a pauper who couldn’t afford even ordinary housing.
Hence, 10,000 trade points was a huge fortune to him.
“It’s fixed, but that reward is only meant for those under the age of 20,” Xia Qingying said, nodding. “There is no fixed reward for people who clear the Mental Path above the age of 20 and under the age of 25. Not to mention, you managed to break the under-25’s clear record.” “Can I ask for Life Water, then?” Shi Feng couldn’t help asking. “Life Water?” Xia Qingying smiled all of a sudden. “Do you know that Life Water is incredibly precious even in the Green God Company? Even if you become a mental strength master at your age, obtaining a bottle of Life Water wouldn’t be easy. The standard price of a bottle of Life Water is 1,000,000 contribution points, in addition to 30,000,000 trade points.” “It’s that expensive?” Shi Feng was surprised by Xia Qingying’s words.
“Expensive?” Shaking her head, Xia Qingying said with a smile, “Life Water is one of the Green God Company’s greatest masterpieces. Although it can’t bring the dead back to life, so long as a person still has a breath in them, they can recover from all injuries completely over time. Life Water can even extend a person’s lifespan and allow them to maintain youthful vitality for another 60 years.
“Sixty years is already close to a lifetime for ordinary people. Meanwhile, not only does Life Water allow you to live for an additional lifetime, but you will also retain your youthful vitality throughout this period. Do you still think it is expensive?”
Shi Feng couldn’t refute Xia Qingying’s words. In fact, he even strongly agreed with her.
For the leaders of the various international corporations, money was inconsequential. They could quickly earn it back even if they lost it. However, they had only one life to live. If these people had the opportunity to live for another lifetime, they most likely wouldn’t hesitate to spend their entire accumulated fortune.
Take the emperors of ancient times, for example. They could do anything for longevity.
Meanwhile, since Shi Feng was so interested in Life Water, Hong Xinyuan couldn’t help advising him, “Shi Feng, you should stop thinking about Life Water. Even the people living in the middle layer can hardly afford one. You should prioritize improving your mental strength for now. So long as your mental strength improves, your entry into the middle layer will be just around the corner.”
“That’s right. Let’s end the talk on Life Water here.” Xia Qingying also felt that it was unnecessary to continue talking about Life Water. After all, it was still too soon for Shi Feng to obtain one.
Afterward, Xia Qingying scanned Shi Feng with the quantum watch on her wrist. Immediately, all available data on Shi Feng appeared on it.
“Your identification registration is complete.” After looking at Shi Feng’s data, Xia Qingying said with satisfaction, “Next, we have to determine your reward.
“Not only have you cleared the Mental Path, but you even broke the existing clear record. As the base layer’s general manager, I can give you two options. “The first option is to reward you with 500,000 trade points and 50 Life Potions or medicines of equivalent value.
“The second option is to reward you with an ordinary house in the base layer.
“You may pick one of these two rewards.”
