Transmigration: Children of The Plane - Chapter 181: Entering the Academy
Entering the Academy
“Prince Consort, please come over here. This is the first test of our Gen Empire Academy entrance exam.” Head Instructor Li said with a pained voice.
After telling Liu Mei to stay outside and wait, Xue Bai eventually managed to calm down the Head Instructor and other students.
Since Xue Bai knew he still had Yue Zifeng’s soul imprint on his body still, he was fine with having the eagle be far away from him. Nobody here could hurt him anyway, so if anything Liu Mei being far away would only be beneficial.
And after walking through the tall Academy gates, Head Instructor Li guided the group of students toward a small building just a few meters away from the gates.
The building was simplistically built, resembling a normal residential house with two floors. However, once the students entered, they realized that the building didn’t have two floors but rather was all one floor with a large ceiling.
Inside the building were three 4-meter-tall stone pillars, each with different colored mystical-looking runes branded to them.
Looking at the three unfamiliar-looking stone pillars, Xue Bai thought, ‘One of these must test for a cultivator’s Martial Vein grade. But what are the other two?’
Xue Bai could tell that the runes on the pillars were law runes, but like snowflakes, every single law rune was different. After all, every law rune represented the quintessence of a person’s law comprehension.
Even if you followed a master your entire life and had no life experience beyond his teachings, you still wouldn’t have the same law rune as your teacher. It was impossible.
No matter how similar two people’s knowledge, experience, and cultivation journeys were, a law rune would still be slightly different in some parts of it.
So even though Xue Bai had seen his fair share of cryptic and mystical-looking law runes, he still couldn’t identify what the runes covering the stone pillars were.
However, Xue Bai kept his thoughts to himself and instead asked for something different.
“Which pillar would you like me to use first, Head Instructor Li?”
Unaware of Xue Bai’s ignorance toward the testing stones, Head Instructor Li pointed at the closest one and explained its purpose.
“Prince Consort, our Gen Empire Academy doesn’t have many requirements for one to be able to join. So beyond having a loyal heart toward our empire, one must at least have a decently high grade Martial Vein. And this first stone pillar will test yours. Though we know someone of your talents must surely have a high grade Martial Vein, we still must have you test yours for formality’s sake.” Head Instructor Li said humbly.
He had seen the miserable endings of everyone who had gone against Xue Bai. So while he still didn’t like the mysterious gigolo, he didn’t dare do anything to aggravate him.
After all, while Liu Mei wasn’t in the room with them, Head Instructor Li didn’t think for a second that she couldn’t hear him. Because of this, as much as it hurt him, he had to act like a humble servant.
Xue Bai nodded at the old man’s words.
While an Empire needed talents and would groom everyone it could to help protect itself, some people were just too untalented to be groomed.
Though Xue Bai wasn’t aware of the exact percentage, since the Gen Empire was one of the lowest-ranked empires in the Northern Continent, he guessed that at least 30-40 percent of its population didn’t have a Martial Vein. At the same time, another 30-40 percent of it had only a low Yellow-grade Martial Vein.
The remaining 20-40 percent would consist of the middle, high, and peak Yellow-grade Martial Veins.
And the Gen Empire Academy was the highest institution in the entire Empire, so how could they not accept the best of the best?
So the Gen Academy Empire only accepted middle Yellow-grade Martial Veins at the minimum.
However, once Xue Bai looked at the pillar once more, he noticed something.
There were only 8 runes on the stone pillar that Head Instructor Li pointed at. And while Xue Bai didn’t know what the runes were, he could guess.
Most likely, the 8 runes were for the low, middle, high, and peak grades for the Yellow and Black grades.
“Head Instructor Li, this Martial Vein testing stone pillar only goes up to the peak Black-grade, correct?” Xue Bai asked as he walked over to it.
Though Head Instructor Li didn’t know where Xue Bai was going with the question, he still nodded. It was common knowledge that the limit of their Martial Vein testing stone pillar was only the peak Black-grade.
And while this was definitely a bad thing, what else could they do?
The Gen Empire was the second worst Empire in the entire continent. They hadn’t even seen a youngster with a high Black-grade Martial Vein this calendar year, while the last middle Black-grade Martial Vein genius they had was poached away by a rival Empire.
So the stone pillar was all they needed for their Empire to run functionally.
“Yes, it is Prince Consort. Why does that matter?” Head Instructor Li asked curiously.
“Well. Because of this.”
Placing his palm onto the stone pillar, Xue Bai didn’t hold back his Martial Vein rank at all, and after the stone pillar felt his low Heaven-grade Marital Vein, it instantly started showing cracks.
And after another 2 seconds, it crumbled.
Silence ensued.
“NO, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!” Head Instructor Li was the first to react, and his old face instantly crumbled just as badly as the pillar.
Anguish, regret, and sadness appeared on his face like an abstract painting.
“Your tools are too low rank for me? What else did you expect?” Xue Bai said nonchalantly.
“But why didn’t you warn us if you knew that?!” Head Instructor Li was on the verge of tears at this point.
The Martial Vein testing stone pillar was something the Empire could barely afford with even half of their yearly outcome. And Xue Bai had just destroyed it for no reason.
“Because you told me so?” Xue Bai shrugged as he walked over to the next pillar, “Would you like to test my comprehension as well?”
“No need! You pass Prince Consort.” Head Instructor Li said with pain in his voice.
Then he turned around to the other 5 students there and continued, “This year’s entrance exam will be postponed for some time until we can get another Martial Vein testing stone pillar. Until then, as an apology, you all can be Gray-Robed Students in the meantime.”
“What about me, Head Instructor Li?” Xue Bai asked as he almost teleported in front of the old man, giving him a fright.
‘How the hell did he move so fast? I couldn’t even sense anything?’
By using his comprehension of the Dao of Space, through great effort, Xue Bai could fold the space in front of him, allowing him to cross long distances in just one step.
And though it was slightly different from teleporting, in short bursts of speed, it was almost the same.
So while Head Instructor Li mistook Xue Bai’s folding of space to be teleportation, it wasn’t that far off.
“Which robe do I get to wear when I get enrolled?” Xue Bai didn’t care for the man’s shock and continued to pester him.
From what Xue Bai knew, in contrast to a sect’s Outer, Inner, and Core Disciples, the Academies of the Northern Continent had Gray, Brown, Black, and finally, Gold.
Brown-Robed Students matched Outer Disciples and usually had a cultivation that was in the early realms of the Houtian Great Realm. Black-Robed Students matched Inner Disciples and had a cultivation base in the middle realms of the Houtian Great Realm. Finally, Gold-Robed Students matched Core Disciples and had a cultivation base in the late realms of the Houtian Great Realm.
But unlike the other different types of students, the Gray-Robed Student was different.
That class of students was almost like the handyman disciples that the Soaring Sword Sect had.
They weren’t given any resources, nor were they truly students of the Academy. However, they were allowed to be on the premises and were given access to the plentiful and pure Spiritual Qi within the walls of the Gen Empire Academy.
And these students usually either had low Yellow-grade Martial Veins or students with normal potential but, due to other factors, were demoted to a gray robe.
These students had little reputation and got almost no help from the Academy. After all, why would the Academy waste its resources on someone they had demoted or denied entry?
The other students with Xue Bai were greatly annoyed after they heard the classifications. Since they were now required to be such a pitiful and low-class existence, even though they were far beyond the Vein Transformation realm and had middle and high Yellow-grade Martial Veins, their anger toward Xue Bai escalated.
However, once they remembered Liu Mei, who was only a few hundred meters away, their grievances disappeared, and they only became regretful at the fact that they all decided to let Xue Bai go first.
Because of these simple classifications, Head Instructor Li gave Xue Bai a black robe with a mountain engraved at the breast area.
“Prince Consort, after we leave this building, we will also give you an identification token that will be both your binding to the Academy and your credit card. Once you join the Academy, you will receive 100 Academy Points, which you can use to buy almost everything that the Academy owns. Whether it is access to special training grounds or cultivation resources, Academy Points can buy everything!” Head Instructor Li explained.
“Can I buy Academy Points?” Xue Bai asked curiously.
While he didn’t have any Spirit Stones to his name, he had an almost limitless supply of natural resources in his mind. So as long as he wished to, Xue Bai could pillage for a week, sell his inventory, and return with a net worth that rivaled noble clans.
Because of this, Xue Bai planned to do just that if he could buy the points.
Sadly his plans were shut down before they even manifested.
“No Prince Consort. You can’t buy Academy Points using Spirit Stones if that is what you were asking about. After all, we house most of the heirs of the noble clans here, and Spirit Stones are something they lack the least. The Academy would go bankrupt in a week if they could.” Head Instructor Li apologetically said.
Xue Bai waved off his apology. While it was slightly annoying that he couldn’t game the Academy’s rules, it wasn’t that much of a damper to his plans. He could also just buy resources from other places.
