Time: August 27th - August 30th Location: Whale Island University - Crater Person: Li Songting (Weighted State) Event: Complete a ten-lap long run around the crater (Triggering an opportunity)
It was basically Li Songting sweating it out under the sunset, running into another figure drenched in sweat—the muscular... King Bu. During the challenge round, Li Songting lost too quickly. And the one who stepped up was just a spirit, utterly unremarkable among the crowd of freshmen. Until not long ago...
Su Hao listened, thought it over, and found it... unexpected, yet reasonable. "Songting's stamina is insane, but at least his physique is within normal human range. "Now that he's taken as a disciple by King Bu and training under him, in a while, will he...?"
Su Hao tilted his head up, imagining a scene a few months later. The villa doorbell rings, and outside comes Li Songting's passionate voice, "Su Hao, let's settle this once and for all." He opens the door. A massive shadow looms over him. He has to crane his neck to look up. The head... it's still the familiar head, but the body has turned into that monstrous muscular build of King Bu's lineage. A colossal frame, with granite-like explosive muscles. A normal head perched on top, suddenly grinning to reveal gleaming teeth. Terrifying! Too terrifying! He quickly shakes off that jarring image from his mind.
In the group chat, Liu Ren felt a tiny bit envious. Though his resolve to cling to Su's coattails was unwavering. But... Having a天王-level teacher, with all kinds of ultimate moves and resources handed to you on a silver platter—wouldn't that be great! "Old Su, what do you think—if I run the crater, is there a chance I'll run into King Bu?"
Su Hao: "..." He paused, then typed out a line: "First, you need to run ten laps of the crater under weight. Second, you have to turn your Lava Turtle into a Turtle Hermit, mastering basic fist and foot techniques. Third..."
Liu Ren went Or2. He decided it was better to just stick to clinging to Old Su's thigh. ...
College life was pretty free. Core courses were strictly enforced—skipping them affected final grades—but the class hours were actually much fewer than at regular universities. A few required courses were all crammed into Monday. Squeezed together and finished in one go—giving students time to take on off-campus tasks.
In the "Spirit Master Level" required course, The entire classroom was about the size of a small auditorium, with a massive screen displaying the course content. The instructor had even prepared a row of spirits. Moss Turtle, Thorn Turtle, Ten-Thousand Vine Turtle, Ten-Thousand Vine Turtle. Small Conch, Water-Covered Conch, Fairy Conch, Fairy Conch. ... They corresponded to Uninitiated, Initiate, Elite, and Transcendent levels. Using the same type of spirit for comparison, letting the students grasp the concepts of Spirit Master levels and Spirit levels in an accessible way. "The mark of an official Spirit Master is having an Initiate-level spirit that can learn the three-second 'Spirit Guardian: Protection,' meaning the Spirit Master has some self-defense capability, and the threat from ordinary firearms is greatly reduced..." "An Elite Spirit Master can perform five-second Spirit Guardian techniques, with key abilities like 'Spirit Guardian: Synchronization' and 'Spirit Guardian: Mental Connection.' Starting from Elite, there are more tactical options in combat and no-rules battles..." "Master-level Spirit Master..."
Unlike other required courses, the freshmen in this class listened with particular focus. Their spirits were also quiet. Liu Ren, sitting nearby, even started taking notes. "Old Su, you don't need to take notes?"
Su Hao pointed at his head.
Liu Ren: "..." Shouldn't have asked!
Su Hao listened at first, but he found it was all known stuff—knowledge that couldn't provide intel value. He glanced to the side. Misty Dream Butterfly was quietly playing on her phone. Flamevel Crow was quietly spacing out... thinking. Aqua Scale Beast... was quietly and laboriously learning language and writing. As the only one in the Su family spirit team that couldn't write or read Dragon Country characters, that wouldn't do—it had to catch up. Besides Misty Dream Butterfly, the other two also needed to become cultured spirits.
Su Hao simply opened his Spirit Master wristband. He entered the mission platform and started scrolling through it with beeps. It was broadly divided into three sections. [Campus Missions], [Domestic Missions], [New World Missions]. As a student at a Spirit University, college life inevitably revolved around the mission platform. No missions? No credits. No resources. The school's motto was: No pain, no gain. "Even with the two thousand credits I just got, I'm still broke..."
He spent a thousand credits on a 'Flowing Fire' flame seed for Flamevel Crow to fuse. It would take about a month to fully integrate. "I'll take Flamevel Crow for a data test then." Another two hundred credits went to ordering a 'Scale Nourishment' package for Aqua Scale Beast. Then he bought some facility training time, treasures to boost spirit base stats, and so on, leaving only three hundred credits from the two thousand. Just enough to get by.
Su Hao clicked on the campus mission section. Campus missions were usually the easiest, and freshmen could mostly take these. [Campus Cleanup 001] [Mission Description: Clean up fallen leaves from East Garden Road to West Garden Road] [Requirement: A spirit with a wind-type ultimate move, time limit 3 hours] [Reward: 2 credits] [Note: If flowers, grass, or roadside facilities are damaged during cleanup, reward is forfeited; severe cases result in deducted credits]
Su Hao recalled that he had indeed seen classmates directing spirits to clean up. A whirlwind swept up the leaves, dumping them all into the trash bin. Don't think it's easy. The real test was the spirit's control over the wind—one slip, and it might not be leaves but neatly trimmed flower beds and grass patches that got swept up. That would be a disaster. Similarly, there were tasks for trimming flower beds. And... tree planting tasks. "Location is Mentor Zone A, wait... is this a mission posted by Senior Brother Wu? "How much does Senior Brother Wu love planting trees!"
Most missions on the list were posted by the school. A few were posted by mentors. For example, Senior Brother Wu's tree-planting missions, and occasionally other mentors posted tasks recruiting temporary workers. [Lab Assistant Mission 003] [Mission Description: Assist Mentor Tang Haodang in completing the research experiment on 'The Effect of Flower Vine Demon on the Growth of 57 Flower Species'] [Requirement: Junior Cultivator qualification, interview required] [Reward: 3.5 credits/day, guidance from Mentor Tang Haodang] [Note: Posted: 3 hours ago Applicants (45)]
"Senior Cultivators are in demand everywhere. "But it's only at a top school that you can casually find a bunch of official Cultivators as assistants."
At Whale Island University, the ratio of Spirit Master students to Cultivator students was about 8 to 2. But even combat-focused Spirit Master students had to pass the Junior Cultivator certification before graduating as seniors. For cultivation majors, the starting point at graduation was Intermediate Cultivator, plus a ton of other academic requirements. Su Hao had skimmed through it. Way too troublesome. "Being a Spirit Master is simpler—just go all out and it's fine."
Su Hao kept scrolling. "Hmm... current students can also post missions on the platform." [Sparring Mission 012] [Mission Description: Assist the spirit 'Boxing Kangaroo' in initially mastering the 'Sleep Fist' ultimate move] [Requirement: A spirit with hypnotic abilities, Elite level or above] [Reward: 16 credits]
These missions had low requirements and no danger. Students picked missions based on their spirits. But the credits were low too. "However, many domestic missions are dangerous, and you usually need to pass an assessment to take them."