The other major thing to do to prepare was to visit the Academy shop. We'd been earning points to spend here throughout the year—we'd been warned that Contribution Points at a real sect would not come so easily. Only the worst students would be unable to afford at least basic camping gear and rations, but there was a lot more on offer than that.
I had more Academy Points than even Jue Zhu. For getting first place in both the midterm and final scorings, I'd received 50 points each and another 50 points because they had both been perfect scores. With those, I had over 300 points when gaining over 100 was considered pretty good for a freshman. 50 points in total went to both camping gear and enough rations to not have to forage for the whole summer, as well as a charm that would wake me if any magical beasts approached my tent while I was sleeping. Then, for 150 points, I obtained my first Treasure equipment—an Earth Grade Spatial Quiver that not only could fit several hundred arrows but would also return arrows to it a minute after they were fired, and even gradually enchanted arrows put into it to somewhat improve their penetration ability. It was something of a bargain price since proper archers were as rare as cultivators here as they were as Dive Gamers.
2 more points got me 200 arrows for the quiver, and I held on to my last 65 points for now. Any Academy Points left unspent would be converted into our starting gold coins on graduation, so no one needed to worry about leaving any behind. However, the Inner Court had a second, private shop which would have better stuff. Ideally, I wouldn't spend a single point between these purchases and entering it.
The Academy's teleport formation was located in the Inner Court, so the procession of all classes to it was the best look I'd gotten at the inside so far. What I, and what the majority of the rest of the first years, was most interested to see was the Inner Court Dormitory building. The normal rooms were spartan, and not large enough for even 1 guest, but I for one didn't feel cramped. Even from a distance though, the Inner Court Dormitory looked more like a luxury hotel. We'd been lined up by rank, and without looking I could feel the envious looks of those behind the top 10 who were currently the favorites to move in there.
***
The name of Dimension Governors wasn't just for show. Their reach extended to even the 8th highest Heaven, and they were more affluent even than some factions headquartered in the 9th, the Supreme Heaven. This was because they all but monopolized public and even many private teleportation formations all over the Heavens, so their revenue streams were virtually endless. So, this was another gift the PVE was giving us—as part of their partnership in the Academy, even the sects we'd be joining had some useful teleport formations set up for them.
This particular one had limited destinations to the four magical beast game reserves and a single city that the Dimension Governors heavily influenced. The latter destination was another perk for Inner Court students, who were given a small stipend in gold and allowed to visit the city for leisure or to purchase pills, potions, or other consumable treasures.
The formation was also massive, able to teleport an entire year's students with supervising faculty at once. The Inner Court and upperclassmen went first, which gave the freshman class a slightly distant look at the current Academy elite. Their uniforms had a few more decorative elements, and compared to the rest, they definitely had more of an eccentric look about them.
Do I look kind of like that? I wonder if they have nicknames like our top 10. Jue Zhu is "Mr. Talent", Kunlun Jong is "Divine Body", I'm "Comprehension Genius", Mei is "Blood-Red Rose", and Shokoya is "Patient Blade". I think #6 and #7 have nicknames too but I forget them, and 8-10 don't so far because some people are hopeful of knocking them out in time for the Inner Court transition. Oh wait, that's right, Ding Qilong, that's #6's name and he started being called "Piercing Spear" and #7 is Lun Jiaoping, the "Stalwart Shield" with a Toughness talent. No wonder I blocked them out. Those two spar every day in free practice and are way too vocal about it. They changed places in the ranks about once a month, too...of course, my own battle record with them favors me, or I wouldn't be Rank 3. Lun is definitely the one who gives me a harder time...
Yeah, I bet you get us in those uniforms and put us in a group, we wouldn't look too different from them.
Ding spoke up, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Am I missing something or why are there 4 groups? The senior class here are actually graduates."
"It's their last chance to acquire more cores in a relatively safe place," said Kunlun, "before going away to the sects where things will be a lot harder. A lot of them are probably counting on a final boost before the entrance tests for the better sects."
"Hell of a graduation party," Shokoya murmured.
"I bet it'll be very different from the first three summers, when our turn comes," I put in.
"I'd settle for our turn on the freaking teleporter finally coming," said Kunlun.
Indeed, quite some time had passed, but the second year students were still assembling on the formation. Only a few stragglers had yet to reach the platform, though. Soon enough, we were finally directed forward.
In moments we appeared on a stone platform identical in size to the one we left, in the middle of a vast plain surrounded by tents, some of which were not actually up. Before we were even off of the teleport formation, I approached the Elder in charge of the camp as well as the wilderness survival test. They were actually the same person who had given us the orientation speech, known to my year only as Senior Elder Liam. He and three others were some sort of upper "practice elders", basically the head teacher of each year.
"You want to head into the wilderness already?"
"I do, Elder. Or at least, if it turns out I am not ready, there should be areas in which I am ready and in which I am not so I'll know where to focus."
"I'm going to address everyone first, and you should at least wait for your usual teacher to pass out Emergency Totems. Wait until then."