Lin Rui was looking forward to Guan Biran's "little surprise" with great anticipation, yet when he arrived at the school's service center to collect his reward, he was puzzled.
There was no surprise at all; everything Lin Rui received was what he was entitled to: a scholarship of thirty thousand federal dollars, plus a refund of twenty-seven thousand federal dollars for tuition and fees for the year, all of which were directly deposited into his account.
Next, he was given a set of artificial meridians of the highest quality and three gene-enhancing potions, which were handed to him in a very high-end portable mini-refrigerator.
Just as Lin Rui was feeling slightly disappointed, the smiling manager of the service center told him that Assistant Guan had specifically instructed that Tianlan Biological Company had already arranged a surgery for him at the affiliated hospital of the school.
The company had not only hired a top-tier surgical professor to perform the operation but had also covered the surgical costs and asked him to proceed as soon as possible.
Upon hearing this, Lin Rui was slightly pleased, thinking that this could barely count as a "surprise."
Implanting artificial meridians required a full-body operation, which demanded much experience and skill from the doctor, and the quality of the meridians varied with different doctors' standards.
Those doctors, who were highly skilled and experienced, charged particularly high fees.
Although Mingde University was quite weak in the areas of xenotransplantation and biological enhancements in martial arts, its medical school was the top among the many universities in Base Nine.
The surgical professors at their affiliated hospital were also top-notch throughout Base Nine; the fee for a meridian implant surgery likely started at twenty thousand.
Lin Rui immediately took the portable refrigerator and hurriedly went to the affiliated hospital, where he found Professor Sima.
This surgical professor was around thirty years old, with delicate features and a scholarly appearance.
Professor Sima conducted a thorough examination of Lin Rui, then opened the portable refrigerator.
Upon seeing the contents, his expression briefly showed surprise: "It's Sky Blue Company's 'Divine Thunder Heavenly Flame'? No wonder—"
A look of realization appeared in Professor Sima's eyes as he thought to himself why Sky Blue Company would spare no expense to arrange for him to perform the meridian implant surgery for Lin Rui.
Since becoming a doctoral advisor, he had not personally conducted such basic biological enhancement surgeries for a long time.
Lin Rui had already been sterilized and was lying in a specialized enhancement tuning pod.
This was a fully enclosed surgical pod surrounded by transparent glass, yet Lin Rui could still hear the surgical professor's voice.
His expression surprised, he asked, "Divine Thunder Heavenly Flame? Professor, what model is this?"
Lin Rui had never heard of this name before; as he asked, he opened his personal terminal and searched the internet for information on 'Divine Thunder Heavenly Flame.'
However, after entering the keyword, he still found nothing.
"You won't find it online; it's a government-controlled model, still classified. Its prototype is the powerful bloodline talent 'Radiant Thunder Sacred Body' of the Tianji Star people. Although it has passed safety tests, currently only military officers of the rank of lieutenant colonel or above are eligible to acquire it, and it's said that one must cultivate a martial skill like Thunder Fire Stakes or a similar Thunder Fire cultivation to the Great Achievement Realm to withstand it," explained Professor Sima.
Professor Sima looked at Lin Rui: "Do you really want to switch to this set of meridians? Although its power is great, surpassing most top-grade products on the market, if your Thunder Fire cultivation is not up to standard, the burden on your spirit and body will be heavy, and in severe cases, it could lead to mental instability or even loss of control, turning you into a madman."
Upon hearing this, Lin Rui was overjoyed; he finally understood the "little surprise" Guan Biran had mentioned.
As far as Lin Rui was aware, all artificial meridians available on the market had received government authorization for sale.
Additionally, some special models of enhancements were 'controlled' by the government, either because they were too powerful or because the thresholds were too high.
These were the models that enhanced martial artists dreamt of acquiring.
As for those models under government secrecy orders, they were even more precious among the precious!
Although these meridians were also marked as special grade, their value far surpassed that of normal special-grade artificial meridians.
Lin Rui's eyes gleamed with a light as he thought to himself that this surprise was not small at all, "I'm certain! Please help me with the replacement, Professor. My Thunder Fire Stance has already met the standard."
Martial Artists wanting to implant various enhancements have prerequisite conditions, such as the level-two 'artificial meridians' previously implanted in Lin Rui, which require a spiritual power value of at least thirty and a basic understanding of stance techniques, otherwise severe rejection reactions would occur, and the brain's electromagnetic waves would also be severely disturbed.
However, Lin Rui's spiritual power had now reached 153, and his Thunder Fire Stance had reached the Grandmaster level, which should enable him to withstand this set of 'Divine Thunder Heavenly Flame'.
"Oh?" Professor Sima's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise.
At his age, Lin Rui had already cultivated his Thunder Fire Stance to the Great Achievement Realm? But it made sense—the assistant chairman of Tianlan Biological Company valued him so highly, there must be something special about this kid.
He immediately nodded and began to seriously review Lin Rui's various test data.
"I'll also adjust your artificial Dantian while I'm at it. From the holographic scan, it seems the doctor who implanted your Dantian wasn't very skilled. There are many flaws, and it's a miracle that you could accumulate so much Thunder Fire True Qi inside. I estimate that after the adjustment, your True Qi circulation efficiency and accumulation speed will greatly improve.
Also, after implanting the 'Divine Thunder Heavenly Flame' type of meridians, there are very few 'artificial spiritual vessel' types that can match it afterward. Those are all top-level artificial vessels, almost all regulated types, and are very expensive. The cheapest one here also costs three hundred thousand federal coins. Moreover, these regulated types have high requirements for the physical body and spiritual power, so you should be mentally prepared."
Upon hearing the last sentence, Lin Rui couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.
Currently, a set of top-level spiritual vessels on the market costs only one hundred thousand federal coins. Three hundred thousand federal coins was equivalent to six years' total salary for a mid-level blue-collar worker in this era.
Lin Rui then said firmly, "I understand!"
Such top-tier artificial meridians were not something he could normally come into contact with; he absolutely could not miss this opportunity.
※※※※
The meridian implantation surgery lasted for an hour, and when Lin Rui woke up, there were no wounds on his body.
Federal biomedical technology was highly developed, already capable of using medications and devices to rapidly heal human cells. Consequently, hospitals of this era only had intensive care units and no inpatient departments.
The moment Lin Rui woke up, he sensed changes within his body.
The feeling was indescribable,—if he had to describe it, it was incredibly smooth.
If his previous level-two artificial meridians were compared to a two-lane country road, now it was like a two-way five-lane highway.
And now, the connection between his artificial meridians and his artificial Dantian was very firm and tightly integrated with his body.
Lin Rui had always felt as if there was a film separating his meridians from his Dantian, but that sensation was no longer there; it felt as if these enhancements were naturally parts of his body.
After carefully sensing for a moment, Lin Rui suddenly exclaimed, "Professor, I feel like this inner core and the meridians seem to have many more branches."
His eyes showed confusion, wondering where these branches came from.
Professor Sima smiled, "Those branches are the twelve regular meridians and the extraordinary vessels in your body, which are part of the natural meridian system humans originally have—quite amazing, right? This is very similar to the meridian system of the beings from Sky Pole Star. In fact, there has long been a scientific suspicion that Sky Pole Star visitors may have come to Earth early on and had contact with humankind, even that human beings have Sky Pole Star bloodlines from interbreeding that occurred long ago.
The medical community has also been researching how to utilize the human meridian system to aid Martial Artists in their cultivation. I was fortunate to join a project that developed a technique to connect artificial meridians with the twelve regular meridians within the human body, which could improve efficiency of various artificial meridians by about twenty percent, unfortunately—"
He did not continue, instead, he started editing medical suggestions on his personal office tablet: "I've prescribed some medications for you, to help reduce rejection reactions and stabilize your spiritual power, all included in the cost of this implantation. You can go directly to the prescription window to pick them up later.
Also, the next four hours is the adaptation period. Do not engage in intense physical activities. After four hours, you can try practicing martial arts. I saw that you still have three doses of gene enhancement liquid in your portable fridge. You can inject one during practice to increase the intensity. Let me know immediately if anything feels wrong, and I can continue adjusting for you."
Lin Rui's eyes showed anticipatory excitement.
He was eager to see what was so special about this set of 'Divine Thunder Heavenly Flame' implanted in him?