Infinite Professions

Chapter 461: Chapter 236: Farewell

"The so-called special recruitment competition, to put it plainly, is to evaluate the new students’ quality and then give rewards and treatment based on their performance. Such traditions are held in almost all academies, and Xingyi Martial Mansion is no exception."

Teng Qinglong explained, "This competition is divided into the new student competition and the special recruitment competition. There’s not much to say about the new student competition, as it’s for freshmen who entered via college entrance exams, usually not very strong or skilled, so the rewards for it aren’t impressive. The focus is on the special recruitment competition."

"As everyone knows, university special recruitment is aimed at exceptional talents. Whether they have extraordinary talents and capabilities, strong professions with outstanding effects, or other unique highlights, special recruit students generally have a high level overall, and accordingly, the value of the special recruitment competition is much higher."

"Thus, the rewards for the special recruitment competition far exceed those for the new student competition. The top thousand will receive a considerable amount of academic credits, and those who reach the top hundred or ten will get special rewards and catch the eye of the Martial Mansion’s higher-ups, with the potential to become disciples of the Martial Gods."

"We won’t count on those, but the academic credits are real benefits. In the Martial Mansion, the purchasing power of money is greatly reduced, and many resources can only be exchanged for academic credits, such as the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha Qi needed by the Heavenly Gang Sha Martial Artist for cultivation, and various high-tier cultivation venues and auxiliary equipment."

"So..."

Teng Qinglong looked keenly at Shen Hex, "With your strength, this is a golden opportunity to collect academic credits; don’t miss it."

Upon hearing this, Shen Hex remained silent, but Zhong Qin and the others began to stir.

"Really?"

"Is there really such a good opportunity?"

"With the captain’s strength, wouldn’t that be an absolute dominance?"

"I heard that Xingyi Martial Mansion’s academic credits are quite valuable, with one credit worth about a million Imperial Coins!"

"Wouldn’t that be like picking up money for the captain?"

Everyone spoke, looking at Shen Hex with great confidence.

After all, having personally experienced the battle at Tianbei, in their minds, Shen Hex, who could lead and fight through a host of Evil God’s Apostles from the city center to the outskirts, is definitely exceptional among peers.

With this strength, participating in the competition would undoubtedly lead to easy dominance and harvesting of academic credit rewards.

"It’s not that simple."

Their hopeful expressions were doused coldly when Teng Manyun spoke calmly from behind, "Special recruits have no limits on age, profession, or cultivation level. Theoretically, even a Martial God could be specially recruited and participate in the competition. Shen Hex is only Tier Six now; if unlucky, he might encounter some Tier Seven or even Tier Eight special recruits, facing the possibility of elimination."

"Ah!?"

This statement left everyone astonished, with Zhong Qin speaking up, "What about fairness then?"

"If you want fairness, participate in the new student competition!"

Teng Manyun’s expression remained unchanged, "There is no fairness in the special recruitment competition; it’s about the strength, potential, specialties, family background, and capital of the special recruits. Not just their cultivation level, but even spirit beasts, mecha, divine soldiers, magical treasures—whatever you have, you can bring in. Even if you bring a Tier Twelve Divine Beast, that’s still your skill."

"This..."

Everyone exchanged glances, unsure of what to say.

"It’s not that exaggerated."

Fortunately, Teng Qinglong reassured them promptly, "Although theoretically you can bring anything, the Martial Mansion higher-ups aren’t foolish enough to allow loopholes to be exploited. The special recruitment competition isn’t just about winning a duel; it uses a scoring system."

"Scoring system?"

Everyone was startled and curious.

Teng Qinglong smiled, "It’s about scoring all aspects of the competition. Theoretically, you could bring in a Tier Twelve Divine Beast or an Immortal Artifact Mecha, but these would result in extremely high negative scores during judgment, unredeemable even if you eliminate everyone else."

"So, bringing a Divine Beast in won’t help you; even if you defeat everyone and become the sole survivor of the special recruitment competition, your final score would be negative. You wouldn’t get placed or rewarded, and you’d become a joke, losing face for both yourself and your family."

"No one with a bit of sense would do such thankless things. As for those special recruits with extremely high cultivation levels, they’re quite rare; when the cultivation realm is that high, how can one still be an undeveloped freshman?"

"Generally speaking, a Tier Six cultivation level among special recruits is already considered good, and with luck, can even be among the highest, taking a strategic advantage due to cultivation."

Teng Qinglong looked at Shen Hex, "Although the Empire is full of hidden talents and extraordinary events often occur, with your strength, getting into the top thousand shouldn’t be a problem, and that would earn you quite some academic credits."

"Thousand?"

Everyone looked at each other, questioning incredulously, "Is it really that exaggerated, with the captain’s strength only making it to the top thousand?"

"It’s indeed so!"

Teng Qinglong chuckled bitterly, "Do you know how many new students Xingyi Martial Mansion enrolls each year?"

"This..."

"Few million at least, tens of millions at most!"

Teng Qinglong stated solemnly, "The Empire’s domain is vast, governing countless planets and populations. Each year, trillions participate in college entrance exams. Even with score lines, brushing off a substantial part, a significant number still enter universities. After allocation to various academies, each one receives hundreds of millions."

"Special recruits account for a small proportion among them, but still a few tens of thousands, even over a hundred thousand, each with unique skills and highlights. Coupled with the Empire’s concealed talents, monstrous contenders often emerge; getting into the top thousand is already quite remarkable."

Teng Qinglong’s words left Zhong Qin and the others wide-eyed, gaining some understanding of the Empire’s foundation and the Martial Mansion’s strength.

The remote Yunlan Star naturally doesn’t know the immense scale of those academies.

Listening to Teng Qinglong, they felt uneasy and not nearly as confident as before.

Correction, it should be he.

As the individual concerned, Shen Hex showed minimal reaction, asking Teng Qinglong, "Then what combat mode does this competition use? Surely it’s not just a duel ring, right?"

"Of course not, what era do you think it is? Still using something outdated like that?"

Teng Qinglong laughed lightly, "The special recruitment competition uses the secret realm scramble mode, throwing all participants into a unique secret realm. While ensuring safety, it maximizes the simulation of real battlefields. Participants must fight, challenge, and survive, sometimes encountering peculiar tests, like researching martial arts topics left by predecessors. Winning isn’t always through combat; tactics, wisdom, perception, luck, and professional skills all play a role. With good luck, it’s even possible to win without a single fight, relying on strategic challenges."

Upon hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up, "Does that mean we have a chance too?"

"A bit, but not much."

Teng Qinglong shrugged, "Unless you have extraordinary luck, wisdom, and perception to overcome those challenges, which is unlikely. After all, those monsters are hexagonal warriors—beyond just martial and intellectual prowess, their luck is overwhelmingly good, incomparable to ordinary people."

"Ah!?"

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent again.

"No need to be so disappointed."

Teng Qinglong smiled, "After all, you’ve fought your way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Even if you can’t match those monsters, you can still harvest others and earn some academic credits. If you’re lucky enough to encounter allies, you can team up, use numbers to overpower a few strong ones."

Everyone was startled, "We can team up?"

"Of course you can."

Teng Qinglong laughed, "Since it’s a maximum simulation of a real battlefield, theoretically, you can do whatever you want. However, it’s better to avoid overly nasty or insidious moves, as Martial Virtue is also a scoring option."

"I see!"

Everyone murmured, then turned their gaze expectantly toward Shen Hex.

"Boss!"

"We’re counting on you!"

"Help us out!"

"Sob!"

"..."

Just as everyone was joking, a massive shadow suddenly descended, enveloping the space center.

"Attention, attention, the Divine Martial Battleship has arrived. All passengers heading to the Martial Realm, please board promptly!"

Everyone looked up, stunned.

A spaceship?

What kind of spaceship was that!

It was clearly a giant sun, a crimson sun, illuminating the sky of Yunlan Star.

Numerous flying ships darted out, piercing into Yunlan Star’s atmosphere, finally landing on the space center’s tarmac, displaying eye-catching signs.

"Xingyi Martial Mansion!"

"Dharma Martial Mansion!"

"Dragon Elephant Martial Mansion!"

"Celestial River Martial Mansion!"

"Star Martial Mansion!"

"Divine Martial Star Realm!"

Each flying ship bore the signs of major Martial Mansions, serving as transport vessels from various Martial Mansions and cosmic vehicles of the Divine Martial Star Realm.

Seeing many people’s shocked expressions, Teng Qinglong again used his advantage as an "experienced senior."

"This is a Divine Martial Battleship, specifically responsible for guiding personnel from various star realms and planets to the Divine Martial Star Realm, including new students from the annual college entrance examinations."

"There are over a hundred such Divine Martial Battleships in the Martial Realm, combining Imperial Technology with various Artifact Refining Techniques. They are Tier Twelve entities, equipped with numerous weapons and high-tier Professionals, capable of directly confronting lower-level Evil Gods."

"Moreover, they possess highly advanced space jump technology, allowing swift passage through various star realms. If we board, we’ll reach the Martial Realm in no more than a month, including the time spent traveling to different planets to pick up freshmen and other passengers."

"Alright, less talk, let’s board quickly. This Divine Martial Battleship only docks for half a day, and won’t wait if we’re late!"

After saying this, Teng Qinglong led everyone out of the departure lounge towards the Xingyi Martial Mansion’s freshman transport ship.

Although Xingyi Martial Mansion enrolls millions or even tens of millions of freshmen each year, when distributed across various planets, the number doesn’t seem striking. On Yunlan Star, there are only two or three thousand people, even this is due to the accumulation of regular and special admissions over years from the Yunlan battle.

In a normal college entrance exam, on a remote star like Yunlan Star, having two or three hundred people pass each year is pretty good. After all, Xingyi Martial Mansion is a top academy within the Martial Realm.

Everyone boarded the ship with a sense of novelty and unease, with some fresh candidates buzzing with discussions.

"Is this the Xingyi Martial Mansion’s freshman transport ship?"

"How grand!"

"It’s like a small mobile city."

"Given it’s cosmic travel, the ship must have various facilities."

"But I wonder how safe it is?"

"With the Divine Martial Battleship, are you still worried about safety?"

"You can’t say that. In Imperial history, there have been attacks on divine-level battleships. Those Evil Gods love targeting promising young talents before they mature."

"Come on, this Divine Martial Battleship is itself a Tier Twelve divine-level battleship, able to go head-to-head with lower-level Evil Gods. It manifests within the Empire’s domain, each star realm protected by Ultimate Professionals. Are those Evil Gods going to risk their lives to crush a freshman with barely grown hair?"

"Unless we have some extraordinary Professionals among us, those Evil Gods would never take such risks to breach the Empire’s territory and attack the Divine Martial Battleship."

"..."

Their discussions overflowed with excitement, words failing to capture their joy.

Like this, half a day later, each ship restarted, heading towards that crimson sun-like Divine Martial Battleship.

Onboard, Shen Hex looked back to see a pale blue planet receding further away, his birthplace of this lifetime.

Farewell—Yunlan Star!