Chapter 86: Chapter 73: Decision
After Zhou Chubin finished presenting all the terms of his offer, Li Qian pretended to ponder for a moment before speaking in a calm, unhurried voice. "I’d like to know more about the Dimensional Rift under Jiangnan Beast Taming University’s jurisdiction."
Zhou Chubin was slightly taken aback, clearly not expecting Li Qian to ask such a question. A moment later, a helpless, wry smile appeared on his face as he replied, "I’m sorry, but if it’s about that, I’m afraid I can’t tell you."
"It’s not that I don’t want to..." he said frankly, looking at Li Qian. "It’s that I can’t. The Dongxia Federal Ministry of Education has a law that explicitly forbids disclosing any information about Dimensional Rifts to high school students who have not yet enrolled in a Beast Taming University."
Perhaps worried that Li Qian would think he was being deliberately difficult or that he would leave a bad impression, he continued without pausing, "On this matter, whether you ask me, Xue Huaiyu, or Ai Xiaolian, you will get the exact same answer."
He paused for a moment before continuing, "Of course, you could also ask some of the Adventurers in Lingshui City. I’m sure that wouldn’t be difficult for you. However, from them, you’ll likely only get surface-level information about the Dimensional Rifts."
"I’m not trying to belittle their abilities, but the fact is, they simply can’t obtain any of the deeper information."
Li Qian nodded slightly. He didn’t doubt the truth of Zhou Chubin’s words. On this matter, there was no reason for Zhou Chubin to lie to him; besides, such a lie would be easily exposed.
All he had to do was ask a few Adventurers or graduates from the Eight Great universities to find out the truth, so there was no point even if Zhou Chubin, Xue Huaiyu, and Ai Xiaolian were all colluding.
As for Chu Xiran’s earlier advice, Li Qian understood. After all, she had never worked in admissions. It was normal for her to know what to do but not the reasons behind it. Besides, she had already given him a heads-up, so this outcome was still within his expectations.
"Besides, I personally don’t think you need to worry about the Dimensional Rifts at all," Zhou Chubin said, noticing Li Qian’s interest and elaborating on the topic. "Without going deep into a Dimensional Rift, it really makes no difference which one you choose."
Li Qian nodded slightly at his words. He could understand that point. After so many years of exploration and development, even the most recently discovered Sandbar Dimensional Rift should be very well-developed on its surface levels.
From that perspective, as long as he didn’t venture into the depths of a Dimensional Rift to explore its deeper secrets, it really didn’t matter which one he chose.
As for the deeper levels of the Dimensional Rifts, Li Qian knew his own limits. At his current stage, he didn’t have the ability to get involved with them anyway.
Of course, this "no difference" was in the context of choosing one Dimensional Rift to develop in. If he were to operate across multiple Rifts, there would also be "no difference," but this meant there would be no particular restrictions holding him back.
"Furthermore, as far as I know, the Federation Ministry of Education is pushing for reforms. In a few years, the Dimensional Rifts will be opened equally to all students of the Eight Great universities," Zhou Chubin added, revealing another piece of information.
Li Qian’s expression didn’t change upon hearing this news, nor did he offer any response. He simply gave a noncommittal smile.
’Some things are clear even if Zhou Chubin chooses to ignore them or gloss over the important parts,’ Li Qian thought. ’There’s a huge difference between theoretical equality and actual fairness when you compare operating in a Dimensional Rift full of classmates and teachers to a completely unfamiliar environment.’
’In that regard, this world is quite similar to my past life on Earth. It’s a society that runs on personal connections.’
After a moment of thought, he gave a slight nod. He now had a rough understanding of the Federation Ministry of Education’s motives for such a policy.
’If most students, seeking to maximize advantages and avoid disadvantages, chose the ’safer’ Beast Taming Universities, it would likely cause an imbalance in student enrollment between schools. Ultimately, this would be detrimental to the suppression and management of the Dimensional Rifts.’
’From a long-term perspective, that would certainly be a bad outcome, so creating this regulation is understandable.’
’The only question is how effective this regulation really is, or if it’s only useful for students like me, who have no background to speak of. That’s another matter entirely.’
In reality, if he really made a deliberate effort to inquire—even trading certain benefits for it—he was confident he could obtain some information about the Dimensional Rifts behind the Eight Great universities.
Li Qian believed that his situation was relatively rare. The more common exceptions were likely the Second Generation Beast Tamers or the children of the wealthy, whose understanding of the Dimensional Rifts surely surpassed that of ordinary Beast Masters.
The Federation Ministry of Education’s law prohibited disclosing information about the Dimensional Rifts to high school students, but the subjects of that regulation were educators like Zhou Chubin. The rule couldn’t restrain large corporations or powerful factions. While their understanding of the Dimensional Rifts might not match that of the Beast Taming Universities, it was certainly much deeper than that of an ordinary Beast Master.
To put it bluntly, for the truly wealthy and powerful, this regulation was no different from a dead letter. Of course, the key was to be *truly* wealthy and powerful—not like Lu Kuihuan or Sun Shouhe, who were merely young masters from somewhat rich families.
Although he had the ability to find out, Li Qian had no intention of doing so. Just as Zhou Chubin had said, at his current stage, it really made no difference which Dimensional Rift he chose. And, of course, just as Chu Xiran had said, his future path would likely be determined by which city he ended up in.
