End of February, school opening day.
Because his home was relatively far away, Su Yuan, as usual, got up early to go to school.
On the first day of school, maybe everyone came late. When Su Yuan arrived at the classroom, there were only a few scattered people.
Su Yuan walked to his seat and sat down. He took out "Great Flame Geography," "Blue Sea Star General Language," "Star Power Cultivation Basics," and other books, recalling and summarizing the battles and gains in the Great Barbarian Mountain Area over the past month.
"It's a pity that there might not be any chance to go to the Great Barbarian Mountain Area to max out Instant Movement and Gray Flame Strike in a short time."
On one hand, the high-stakes exams were approaching, and the improvement in the realm had to be more urgent. Simply reaching the Eighth Stage was not enough. At least, he had to enter the Ninth Stage, or even formally step into the Bronze Level!
On the other hand, preparation for the cultural subjects was also necessary. Overall, this semester's studies were relatively tight. If there were no accidents, it would be hard to find time to level up his skills in the Great Barbarian Mountain Area.
"You seem different from before... Hmm? Have you awakened?" While Su Yuan was pondering, Jiang Jun's voice suddenly came from the side.
Su Yuan had been fighting in the Great Barbarian Mountain Area for nearly a month. He had just come out, and the bloody aura on his body had not completely dissipated. Jiang Jun, with her keen perception, immediately noticed Su Yuan's difference.
When she saw Su Yuan's silver pupils, she confirmed it but didn't know what kind of Soul Card it was.
Su Yuan turned his head to look at Jiang Jun, who had just sat down, and felt a slight movement in his heart.
The Star Power fluctuations on her body were exceptionally intense. She had already reached the Ninth Stage, seemingly just recently breaking through, so she was not good at concealing it yet.
"Yes, I was lucky. I had an awakening during the holiday." Su Yuan smiled and then said, "But you, you have already broken through to the Ninth Stage. No student in our Fourth Middle School has reached the Ninth Stage yet. Impressive! Breaking through before the test, getting into the top ten should be no problem this time!"
"No, I'm not the first one to break through to the Ninth Stage." Jiang Jun's face showed a hint of confusion. "Don't you know? Chen Jiujun broke through to the Ninth Stage just before the winter vacation. He also took advantage of the holiday to participate in the special recruitment of Wanzhou Academy and passed smoothly."
"Oh?" Su Yuan was a little surprised. "Chen Jiujun got specially recruited by Wanzhou Academy?"
The cities of Great Flame Country were divided into three levels, directly governed by higher-level cities.
For example, Guangchuan City was the lowest third-level city, while Qingye City, where Zhuang Xun was, was a second-stage city.
As for the higher first-level cities, there were nineteen in total, collectively known as "Three Cities, Four Extremes, Twelve States."
From an administrative level, Guangchuan City belonged to Qingye City, and Qingye City belonged to Shuzhou City, located in the southwest of the Twelve States.
As for Wanzhou City, where Chen Jiujun participated in the special recruitment, it bordered Shuzhou City to the east.
The higher the city's level, the more educational resources it had. So, the Star Power Academies in the nineteen cities were undoubtedly stronger than those in other cities!
Among them, Wanzhou Academy in Wanzhou City ranked twelfth in the latest academy rankings, two places higher than Shuzhou Academy, which was fourteenth. It was absolutely an academy that all students in Guangchuan City dreamed of entering!
And Chen Jiujun had been specially recruited in advance?
Su Yuan admired, "No wonder he is a genius who awakened a blue Soul Card."
Chen Jiujun was the second student in Guangchuan Fourth Middle School, after Su Yuan, to reach the Star Apprentice Sixth Stage. He was not only famous in Fourth Middle School but also well-known among students throughout Guangchuan City.
His father was a renowned Gold Level Star Card Master in Guangchuan City. It was said that although Chen Jiujun received a Skilled Level Soul Awakening Card from the school, he did not use it. His father spent a considerable amount of money to prepare a Master Level Soul Awakening Card for him.
And he lived up to expectations, even exceeding them, awakening a Master Grade Thunder Attribute Soul Card, becoming a top genius in Guangchuan City!
As for the special recruitment of first-class Star Power Academies...
Star Card Masters heavily depended on talent, and there were differences even among geniuses.
To attract top talents, strong academies would identify some genius students in advance and recruit them before the high-stakes exams. This was known as the special recruitment.
With the idea that better students should receive better education, the special recruitment by such academies was allowed by the Department of Education but with some restrictions, leading to high requirements for special recruitment.
The minimum threshold for special recruitment by the nineteen academies: Star Apprentice Ninth Stage, low-grade blue Soul Card, and Master Level Martial Arts.
Among these three conditions, Su Yuan's Soul Card and Martial Arts met the requirements.
Because he didn't have a Soul Card before, Su Yuan put more effort into cultural subjects and Martial Arts.
The basic saber skill had long reached the Master Level. During this trip to the Great Barbarian Mountain Area, his saber skill transformed through practical combat and reached the Great Success level.
As for the Soul Card, the top-grade blue Azure Sky Phoenix was self-explanatory.
But in terms of the realm, Su Yuan was far behind. After all, he wasted a year and just broke through the Eighth Stage.
However, Su Yuan did not envy the special recruitment. With his "talent," Su Yuan was confident enough to get into any academy, even obtaining extra resources.
Special recruitment or not, it made no big difference.
Jiang Jun asked suspiciously, "Don't you usually check your phone? When he was recruited, our class group chat exploded."
"I was busy during the winter vacation and didn't check my phone much. When I checked it these days, there was 99+ unread messages in the group chat... already scrolled up to the top..."
Su Yuan casually explained. He then heard a commotion outside the classroom.
"Look, it's Chen Jiujun! He was just admitted to Wanzhou Academy!"
"I didn't expect our Guangchuan Fourth Middle School to produce a special recruit for Wanzhou Academy. That's amazing!"
"So envious, that's Wanzhou Academy. I have no hope of getting into such an academy in this lifetime..."
"Are you kidding? There's no retaking in the Star Apprentice class. If you fail once, there's no second chance. But if you go reincarnate now, you might still be early."
"Screw you!"
"..."
Amidst the exclamations and discussions, a tall, handsome young man with a stern face walked into the classroom under the gaze of students inside and outside the class.
Chen Jiujun casually glanced at everyone in the class. His eyes paused on Jiang Jun's face for a half-second before he turned and sat in his seat.
"I must say, the gap is really big..."
Chen Jiujun thought of the geniuses he had seen during the special recruit selection and then looked at his classmates who hadn't even reached the Ninth Stage. He shook his head.
"There's really no comparison... Soon, in a few months, I will leave this countryside of Guangchuan and go to Wanzhou Academy, where talents gather, to compete with various geniuses!"
Having passed Wanzhou Academy's special recruitment, Chen Jiujun was full of spirit now. He didn't even regard Jiang Jun, who was barely a competitor before, as worthy anymore.
Having seen the talents outside, he knew Guangchuan was too small and too weak.
"No wonder Dad was so strict with me, saying that my opponents are not in Guangchuan but outside... In all of Guangchuan, perhaps only Fang Kun from First Middle School can be considered my opponent now."
These past few months were filled with good news for Guangchuan Municipal Education Bureau!
For the first time in over ten years, two students were special recruits in first-class academies in one go!
Fang Kun from First Middle School was specially recruited by Shuzhou Academy two months ago.
Chen Jiujun from Fourth Middle School was specially recruited by Wanzhou Academy during the winter vacation.
With two special recruits in one go, doubling the education resources next year was not impossible!