The re-examination took slightly longer than previous years, but when he walked out of the exam hall, it was barely eleven o'clock.
It wasn't yet time for lunch.
Su Hao went straight back to the hotel. Opening the door, he saw a lump of goose-yellow something bounce up.
It hit the ceiling.
"Gunu... thump."
"So you were sneaking in some computer time."
"Gunu, gununu!"
The silkworm dragged out a spirit orb and abruptly poured spiritual energy into it.
It had completed its training—how could playing on the computer be called sneaking!
"Fine."
Su Hao was in a good mood and decided to let it off the hook.
He pushed the silkworm aside and plopped down in front of the computer.
He opened the official website of the Spirit Union, then jumped to the internal forum.
The Spirit Union had a public website accessible to ordinary people, as well as an internal network only available to official spirit envoys or spirit breeders.
Su Hao had just obtained the qualifications.
Before this, he was at best just a student raising spirits.
"Please log in to your account."
Su Hao entered the newly acquired spirit breeder certification number and set a password.
An exquisite page unfolded before him.
"According to President An, I can only access the Dragon Kingdom regional forum right now, and only with the lowest permissions..."
The internal network had several major sections.
There was a trading marketplace, a discussion forum, and a New World section—some of which he currently lacked the authority to enter.
Su Hao entered the marketplace page.
Instantly,
The screen displayed a dazzling array of item categories.
He filtered for "Spirit Techniques," and the page changed, showing images of technique manuals, along with descriptions and corresponding prices.
*Death Ripple*, *Thundercloud Storm*, *Light of Annihilation*...
Many top-tier techniques could be purchased here.
Of course, the prices were exorbitant, and sufficient permissions were required.
"Outside, only some basic techniques circulate, and the methods are very crude. Real technique manuals have to be bought in the Union marketplace."
"Not only that, but in the Union marketplace, besides purchasing techniques, you can also sell your own original techniques."
Every technique here had been certified by the Union.
Private dissemination was prohibited, especially for commercial use—getting caught meant heavy penalties.
Schools could teach some techniques because they had purchased the "distribution rights," and could only teach them to students.
The reason for such strictness was to encourage spirit envoys to innovate and create more moves suitable for spirits.
Su Hao was a mundane person—he just wanted to make money.
Before, he lacked the channels. Even the "Improved Charge" couldn't be sold even if he wanted to.
Now, with the official Union marketplace, it was great.
"Charge is a basic technique, but the improved version has originality, so it should pass the review."
"After review, the Union will set the price. The Improved Charge is still a basic technique, so it won't be priced high, but basic techniques also have a broader audience, and I can still make a decent amount of money."
The Union also had rules: for basic techniques like this, the price was highest in the first year, then decreased year by year.
This was the Union's way of protecting the creator's interests while allowing basic techniques to spread more widely—besides, basic techniques weren't that complex, and even Union laws couldn't completely stop piracy.
It was better to fully open them up after a certain period.
Su Hao typed "Improved Charge" into the name field.
He entered the technique description.
He entered the detailed training plan.
To ensure the review passed, the plan was over two thousand words long, and he even included pictures of the silkworm training.
Finally,
Su Hao took out his phone, scanned the code, and paid the review fee for the plan.
—Five hundred yuan.
Whether it passed or not, that five hundred was gone for good.
"Damn expensive!"
...
It happened to be the weekend, so Su Hao planned to stay in Yunhua City for two more days.
He could still stay in the free hotel.
After lunch, Su Hao went to the association's library.
As soon as he entered, seeing the vast collection of books, it felt like walking into a mountain of gold.
His eyes lit up.
"As the saying goes, knowledge is wealth, knowledge is intel value!"
Su Hao calmed his excitement a little, scanned the bookshelves one by one, and picked out a few comprehensive books with the most substance, written by masters.
He placed them on the table.
"Gunu (σ｀д′)σ"
Su Hao only then remembered there was still a silkworm on top of his head.
He thought for a moment, then went back to the shelf and pulled out a thick book.
*The Cultivation of a Spirit*.
What caught Su Hao's attention wasn't the book's title, but the author below it.
—General Elephant, Bard.
This was a highly legendary spirit.
Its owner had died unexpectedly during an expedition. The grief-stricken armored elephant didn't sink into despair but instead relied on its own efforts to evolve into General Elephant and continued to grow stronger.
It lived for decades, fighting constantly, and had already reached a strength that could overpower the main spirits of a Heavenly King spirit envoy.
And it was just a spirit that had lost its owner!
Very inspiring!
"General Elephant Bard's book should give the silkworm some inspiration, right?"
Su Hao pulled the book out and placed it on the opposite side of the table.
Without him needing to say a word,
The studious silkworm leaped down from his head.
Su Hao himself opened a book, and as the intel value notification sounded in his ears, he immediately got into the zone.
Time passed like flowing water,
When Su Hao snapped out of the world constructed by the master, he had already read most of one book.
What followed were some profound concepts that he currently found difficult to understand.
"Let me see how much intel value I've gained."
Su Hao flipped open the panel with a swipe.
It showed the intel value as... 84 points.
"Why only 84?"
Su Hao had chosen the books with the most substance. Based on his reasoning, the more advanced the knowledge, the more intel value it should provide.
A master's work should give him at least thirty-four points—even if he had only read most of it, it shouldn't be this low.
He frowned.
Suddenly, he remembered that the rate of intel value growth had been slowing down recently.
Some books he hadn't read before no longer gave him intel value.
"Intel value comes from unfamiliar knowledge related to spirits, and unlocking intel value is equivalent to acquiring new knowledge. When I encounter similar knowledge again, I can't gain intel value from it."
"So..."
"Is it going to get harder and harder for me to gain intel value?!"
Su Hao's expression stiffened.
The situation seemed less than ideal.
Just as he was thinking this,
"Ding-dong!"
The crisp, pleasant sound rang out again.
"Intel value accumulated to 200 points. Panel begins upgrading."
"Panel upgrading..."
...
Inside the Spirit Breeder Association,
Vice President An Yushan was leisurely sitting in his office, sipping tea and handling official business.
Suddenly, the phone rang. He picked it up. "Alright, alright, I understand. Raise his book borrowing permission by one level."
He hung up the phone.
An Yushan sighed in admiration. "Now that's a true genius. Gifted, yet not arrogant because of it. He got his certification with a perfect score in the morning, and by the afternoon, he's already buried in the library. No wonder he came from an ordinary background yet achieved this."
"Truly commendable!"
His appreciation for Su Hao grew even stronger.
...
In another room,
"What?" Ai Zishi looked astonished. "He's better than me, and he works harder than me too? No way, I'm skipping dinner tonight. I have to study three more training plans!"