[Name: Chen Mobai]
[Age: 18]
[Realm: Qi Cultivation Rank-5]
[Spiritual Root: Gold 23, Wood 27, Water 23, Fire 17, Earth 10]
...
In Red Sandstone City, at the Fifth Daoist Academy High School, a handsome youngster sitting by a window in a classroom took out his phone, which was thin and smooth like jade, and opened the added the latest details on his personal profile data.
At the start of the new school year, the homeroom teacher was checking up on everyone's cultivation progress over the holiday. Chen Mobai updated a few things before getting ready to send his profile to the homeroom teacher, when a voice reached his ear.
"Wow, you really did spend the holiday secluded in cultivation, you've broken through to Qi Cultivation Rank-5."
His desk mate had just sent his own profile data, and couldn't help but snidely remark after glancing at Chen Mobai's profile, noting his [Qi Cultivation Rank-5] in the realm column.
Although the content on the personal profile was self-reported, the school could easily verify the information through various assessments. Hardly anyone filled things out falsely, as getting caught would result in the false information being recorded in their files, potentially affecting their chances of further education or future resource allocation.
The Daoist Academy was rather strict with those who falsified information.
"I'm not like you, I have True Spiritual Root. As long as I work hard, my cultivation will be much faster than yours with your False Spiritual Root," Chen Mobai replied, there was a hint of smugness in his voice.
Chen Mobai was somewhat proud of himself. He had been practicing hard at home during the holiday, other than when his mother took him to the temple to offer some incense. He was finally able to break through his bottleneck with the help of some herbal elixirs and advanced to Qi Cultivation Rank-5.
"It's so unfair that your spiritual root attributes could be classified as True Spiritual Root."
With a face full of resentment, his desk mate had nothing to say. These were the rules of the Daoist Academy after all.
If one's spiritual root attributes are higher than 20, it's considered that one possesses that attribute. The fairness of the Heavenly endowment was up for debate when he was in his mother's womb, slightly more balanced distribution resulted in his four attributes and being classified as False Spiritual Root.
In reality, his spiritual root attribute points were not much different from Chen Mobai's; it's nearly equal.
"Hmm, not bad, many people have made progress during the holiday."
The homeroom teacher had finished looking through every students' progress and a rare smile crept forward onto his usually solemn face. He proceeded to commend every student that showed progress during the break, Chen Mobai being one of them.
The teacher's praise made the two beautiful girls in front turn their heads. Chen Mobai couldn't help but puff out his chest and hold his head high, a smug expression on his face.
Being at Qi Cultivation Rank-5, he was now amongst the top twenty in his class.
Now that he's a senior, with a little more effort, he might be able to make even more progress before the Daoist academy entrance exams.
If he can reach Qi Cultivation Rank-6, even if he can't get into the top-tier Daoist academy, there's still a chance for the secondary-tier ones. It's a guarantee for him to be accepted by the local Alchemy Dao colleges of Dan and Chixia.
Once you enter a Daoist academy after the exams, you are exempt from being drafted for the war of territory expansion for ten years.
There might even be a chance to achieve the Foundation Establishment.
"Finally, I would like to specially commend Song Zheng and Yan Bingxuan. I never thought that in my lifetime, I would be able to teach two students who are at the late stage of Qi Cultivation."
Chai Deyun only became a homeroom teacher six years ago. The current class was the first class he had seen through from the beginning and now, the emotions were running high. Setting down his tablet, he looked at the class with a much more tender gaze than usual and together with the rest of the class, he observed the boy and girl who stood up.
They were the top students of the class and the ones with the most exceptional spiritual root attributes. Truly living up to expectations, they had made it to the seventh layer of Qi Cultivation before the exams.
This achievement essentially secured their spots in the secondary-tier Daoist Academies. Within ten years they might have the chance to attempt the Foundation Establishment. If successful, they would become Gold Core Cultivators in the future, a designation even within Daoist academies, warrants special attention for cultivation.
Chen Mobai couldn't help but feel envious. Unlike him, Song Zheng and Yan Bingxuan were True Spiritual Root holders and one of them has a spiritual root attribute surpassing 40, causing their cultivation to be much more effective.
"Alright, that's it for today's lesson."
As the ring of the bell from the school's highest building echoed, Chai Deyun announced the end of the school day after reviewing the test papers.
Instantly, all the students dashed out of the classroom.
Chen Mobai was no exception. Taking only his phone, he leapt out the window, directly to the Cultivation Room.
Thanks to his constant practice during the holiday, his Cultivation Level has broken through, his Propulsion Technique was three times faster now. He rushed straight to the Cultivation Ground before most people.
Not having time to pick, he saw a vacant Cultivation Room with the door open and charged straight in.
A soft 'ding' sound.
After scanning his electronic student id from his phone, the "Vacant" sign on the display screen at the door disappeared. With that, the door closed slowly.
"Damn!"
The student who was just a step slower could only curse before he hurriedly sprinted towards another vacant Cultivation Room.
Couldn't blame them for being so frantic.
It was just because Spiritual Energy was so hard to come by.
After six thousand years of exploitation by the Daoist Academies, the resources on Earth were almost exhausted. The territories occupied by the 36 celestial realms and 72 earth realms had their whole Spiritual Vein's Elemental Energies expropriated by the state, with only the surplus Spiritual Energy outside enabling cultivators to maintain their basic breathing exercises.
But if a cultivator wanted to absorb Spiritual Energy to cultivate, they would have to pay Good Deed Points to the Daoist Academies.
The fee for having a Lower-grade, Rank-1, Ground Vein Spiritual Energy delivered to their Cave Dwelling for a month required the cultivator to pay 10 Good Deed Points.
At the fifth layer of Qi Cultivation, Chen Mobai found the Lower-grade, Rank-1 Spiritual Energy to be of little use to his Cultivation Level.
The intermediate grade, Rank-1 Spiritual Energy needed a monthly payment of 20 Good Deed Points.
For upper-grade, Rank-1 Spiritual Energy, the monthly Good Deed Points payment reached 40 points.
For Chen Mobai, the intermediate grade, Rank-1 Spiritual Energy could only serve to stabilize his Cultivation Level and enhance it slightly. If he wanted to make rapid progress, the upper-grade, Rank-1 Spiritual Energy would be the best choice.
Naturally, if Rank-2 or even Rank-3 Ground Vein Spiritual Energy was available, it would be even better.
However, that was wishful thinking.
Only cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage or businesses could apply to the Daoist Academies to use the Rank-2 Spiritual Vein.
As Chen Mobai sensed the concentration of Spiritual Energy in the 3 square meter Cultivation Room begin to rise, he turned on the spiritual energy testing app on his phone.
After about a minute, the value on the phone finally stopped fluctuating.
[Spiritual Energy Value: 10]
The grade of the Ground Vein's Spiritual Energy can be measured using the Spiritual Energy Value.
As set by the Daoist Academies, a Spiritual Energy Value between 1 and 10 is categorized as a Rank-1 Spiritual Vein.
Values between 10 and 100 represent a Rank-2 Spiritual Vein, and from 100 to 1000 is Rank-3 Spiritual Vein...
This continues, with the highest grade being the Rank-6 Spiritual Vein, supposedly located at the territory of two old Divinity Transformation stage ancestors belonging to the Daoist Academy.