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At eight in the morning, at Guan Mountain District's Number One High School.
Li Yuan was frowning, twirling his pen while working on the math test paper in front of him, feeling waves of headache, derivatives, limits, continuity, indefinite integrals, linear transformations... College content from over a century ago, now they had all become high school math exam topics.
People in this era are much stronger physically, and their learning efficiency is higher, so exam difficulty has increased as well.
"Math is really difficult."
"Memorizing history and biology is way easier than this," Li Yuan muttered to himself, yet he was seriously working on these math problems.
Since his junior year, Li Yuan's spiritual power had been continuously improving, which significantly increased his thinking speed and memory... As a result, even though he only spent four hours a day on his academic studies, his grades were still not left behind by his classmates.
Even among the whole grade, his academic performance had improved.
Keep in mind, Guan Mountain District's Number One High School is a key school, and an average student there would be considered a top student in some regular high schools.
However, this was also approaching the limit of Li Yuan's academic study potential.
An increase in memory greatly improved Li Yuan's performance in subjects like language, history, and biology, which require a lot of rote memorization... But subjects like math and physics were difficult.
Unfortunately, in the current college entrance examination, math and physics are the subjects with the highest score weighting.
"I must study hard and try to get full basic scores in math, physics, and chemistry." Li Yuan resolved.
Just then.
Buzz~
Li Yuan's smart ring vibrated twice in quick succession.
"Hmm?" Li Yuan glanced out of the corner of his eye, his eyes lighting up.
"Your account ending in 1486 has received 50,000.00 Blue Star Coins... transferred into account ending with... balance 83,124.64 Blue Star Coins."
"Your account ending in 1486 has received 50,000.00 Blue Star Coins... transferred into account ending with... balance 133,124.64 Blue Star Coins."
Two sums of money, fifty thousand was a reward from the Starry Skies Fighting Network.
Another fifty thousand was an award for a Second Class scholarship.
"Good!" Li Yuan couldn't help but clench his fists; if it weren't for being in class, he would probably have jumped up in excitement.
100,000 Blue Star Coins!
From childhood till now, Li Yuan was receiving such a large sum of money for the first time.
Most importantly, in a way, this was a reward gained through his own efforts.
It's fundamentally different from what his uncle and aunt gave him.
Just like many people remember receiving their first paycheck after growing up and starting work, even if they later obtained ten times, a hundred times more wealth... it couldn't replace the significance of that first paycheck.
The first time is always special.
"Brother Yuan, what's up? You seem so happy? Did you solve a big problem?" Yan Zhou, who was sitting beside, glanced at his own test paper and whispered, "Let me see."
"No."
Li Yuan calmed down, subconsciously glanced up in the direction of the teacher to see if the teacher had noticed him, "I only answer the first question every time."
Suddenly.
"Some students, don't think the teacher can't see you, it just that I don't want to call out your name," a cold voice sounded, "Do it yourself! Can you cheat like this during the college entrance exams?"
Li Yuan and Yan Zhou both lowered their heads and closed their mouths at the same time.
...
At nine in the morning, in the principal's office.
The principal, Tan Zhenlong, who was working, suddenly looked up at a flickering light screen projection not far away.
"Master, it's the 'Director Wang' from the Education Bureau," a gentle voice rang out.
"Number Nine, answer the call," Principal Tan set down his pen, "Activate reception mode."
"Yes."
Woosh~ The principal's office immediately changed as beams of light swept across, significantly altering the decor of the office, making it visibly more comfortable through the change in lighting.
"Director Wang," Principal Tan said with a smile.
In the projection, a young man wearing a jacket appeared, looking to be about thirty years old.
"Principal Tan, sorry to disturb you," Director Wang said with a smile, "I need to trouble you with something, it's about a student at your school."
"A student?" Principal Tan became curious instantly.
"Yes, this morning the city's Martial Arts Hall notified us that we need to report information about a student from your school named Li Yuan, he should be a senior," Director Wang said, "Yesterday, he just broke into the Blue Star Youth Rankings..."
"Li Yuan? I know of this student, he is a good prospect," Principal Tan nodded repeatedly, "I understand, I'll compile the data and send it to you right away."
Having worked in the education sector for decades, he had encountered similar situations more than once.
Principal Tan already understood the implications and knew what he needed to do.
"Alright, it's all routine, I won't keep you any longer," Director Wang said with a smile, "Go ahead with your work."
Ending the video call.
"Li Yuan?"
"The Blue Star Youth Rankings? He made it on so quickly?" Principal Tan was surprised as he sat at his desk.
Yesterday, he had been invited to see the match between Lin Lanyue and Li Yuan and felt that the latter might make it onto the Blue Star Youth Rankings.
But he didn't expect it would happen so quickly.
After thinking for a moment.
"Number Nine, contact Teacher Xu Bo," Principal Tan spoke, and the connection was quickly made.
"Old Tan, you looking for me?" Xu Bo appeared in the video, smiling, "What's up? Hurry up and say it, don't delay my cultivation."
"Cultivating during work hours?" Principal Tan glared.
"No Martial Arts classes this morning, what else would I do if not cultivate?" Xu Bo replied with conviction, "My diligent cultivation is also so I can do my job well."
Principal Tan couldn't help but smile helplessly, "Let's not digress, I have something to tell you."
Quickly.
```
Principal Tan explained the relevant situation.
"The Blue Star Youth Ranking? Martial Arts Department? It must be about the special recruitment by the five prestigious schools." Xu Bo shook his head lightly, "Based on my experience, it's probably impossible to get the special recruitment qualifications."
In this era, the Martial Arts Department within Xia Country, responsible for managing martial artists, held astonishing power.
The subordinate Martial Arts Hall and Martial Arts Offices were also extremely influential.
"Yes, that's what I think too," Principal Tan sighed lightly, "Not awakening the Martial Spirit means you're not suitable for any high-rank cultivation methods. Future physical quality improvements will fall far behind those of other martial artists. Indeed, it's difficult to get directly recruited by one of the top five schools through special recruitment."
Xu Bo nodded slightly, without saying much more.
Although he had a suspicion that Li Yuan's physical quality had improved remarkably and he had high actual talent... that was just his guess.
Over the years, not just throughout all of human civilization, but even within Xia Country alone, there had been many students like Li Yuan. Strong in martial arts skills, decent physical quality, but never able to awaken their Martial Spirit...
Very few ultimately stood out.
"Let's just focus on training him well," Principal Tan pondered, "Even if the special recruitment isn't successful, with his results, it won't be difficult for him to get into a Martial Arts University. His future won't be bad."
"In the future, he might even catch up to you," Principal Tan suddenly said with a smile.
"I hope so," Xu Bo changed the subject, "By the way, Old Tan, since the special recruitment selection is going on, why don't you just give him..."
Xu Bo was interrupted before he could finish speaking.
"Hang it up!" Principal Tan's face lost its smile as he waved his hand, "Hang it up!"
...
"Special recruitment?"
Xu Bo, dressed in his martial arts uniform, stood in his office and pondered, "Forget it, it's just a pipe dream, no need to tell Li Yuan about it. It'll just make him uneasy."
Xu Bo continued to practice his Basic Cultivation Method.
"After my arm was severed, the nerve toxin wasn't completely cleared out, my Origin Power isn't flowing smoothly, and my dantian is also damaged, causing my physical quality to drop by four levels." Xu Bo reflected silently, "All these years, I've only been barely able to maintain at level 19."
"But at least, I'm still alive."
"As long as I don't give up, there's always a glimmer of hope." Xu Bo's eyes shone with light.
...
Li Yuan was completely unaware of his selection for the special recruitment qualification screening by the top five prestigious schools.
It was noon, and classes were over.
"Old Zhou, you guys go ahead to the cafeteria, I've got something to do," Li Yuan told Zhou Qi and the others to go ahead.
One by one, the classmates left until Li Yuan was the only one remaining.
He approached the classroom door, glanced at the corridor, and confirmed that there was no one in the nearby classrooms.
Unable to hold back any longer, Li Yuan immediately activated his smart ring, "Xiao Yu, connect me to auntie."
"Beep—Beep—"
A full six seconds passed.
The hum of a holographic screen projected in front of Li Yuan, visible only to him—a privacy screen.
"Li Yuan, what's the matter? Why the urgent video call?" Aunt Chen Hui looked at Li Yuan anxiously, from what could be seen in the background, she was at her office.
Chen Hui was a middle school teacher.
"Auntie, put on the headphones," Li Yuan said with a smile, "I have some good news for you."
"Good news?" Aunt Chen Hui was taken aback.
Soon she put on the headphones.
"Auntie, it's about the scholarship and..." Li Yuan promptly explained the situation, and concluded with emphasis, "Don't worry, auntie, I'm not lying to you, both amounts have already been deposited into the account."
As he spoke, Li Yuan sent a screenshot of the account to his auntie.
"100,000 Blue Star Coins?" Chen Hui was a bit surprised, her mouth hanging open slightly.
This was almost the equivalent of her annual take-home salary.
"Good!"
"Good!" Chen Hui repeated, her eyes slightly moist with emotion, and she instructed, "Li Yuan, go ahead and eat. Remember to call your uncle after lunch, before one o'clock, they rest from one to two in the afternoon."
"He'll definitely be very happy when he knows about it."
Ever since her son and daughter entered middle school, adding Li Yuan on top of that, these past few years Chen Hui had felt a tremendous financial pressure.
Particularly this month, her husband Li Changzhou had gone to the war front in Northern Border Province for a high compensation package.
Chen Hui often lay awake at night, worried sick, dreading suddenly receiving a certain kind of news.
But she couldn't show it in front of the children.
Chen Hui knew that the 100,000 Blue Star Coins Li Yuan just received wouldn't solve the family's problems.
But at that moment, Chen Hui finally saw a glimmer of hope.
...After hanging up the phone with his auntie.
Li Yuan tried to call his uncle, Li Changzhou, to share the good news with him.
Beep—Beep—
No answer.
"No answer?" Li Yuan was taken aback and couldn't help but feel a bit worried, then he reassured himself, "Uncle must be busy with something."
Leaving a detailed message on the communicator and sending the screenshot of the deposit to Li Changzhou, Li Yuan had done everything he needed to.
With that, Li Yuan finally felt a bit more at ease as he walked out of the classroom.
The September sun poured down on the corridor and on him too.
It was warm and comforting.
"Today's sunshine is really nice." Li Yuan smiled as he went downstairs toward the cafeteria.