76: Chapter 76 The student dormitories are inconvenient, but I'm a responsible and good man.
Seventeenth Middle School training base.
It was just time for dinner. Students returning from the wild poured into the cafeteria in twos and threes. The sounds of laughter and footsteps, mixed with the aroma of food wafting from the distant cafeteria, made the entire base as lively as a morning vegetable market.
On the base's steel wall, Yun Zhuo and Ren Honglin walked side by side, their shoe soles crunching against the fine sand.
In the distance, the setting sun was slowly sinking toward the edge of the desert, dyeing the evening glow in the sky a mix of gold and red, wrapping the Gobi in a layer of warm light.
"Rank 16? You kid are quite fast at leveling up."
Ren Honglin said slowly, though inwardly he was shocked by the speed at which Yun Zhuo was leveling up.
He remembered seeing the kid just two days ago when he was only Rank 10; in the blink of an eye, he was already Rank 16.
And that was without any resources to Cultivate. If he could get funding from those conglomerates, his Rank would be unrivaled.
"This is thanks to Teacher Wu's teaching methods. Fighting Mutated Beasts for our lives every day, it's normal to level up fast."
Yun Zhuo replied perfunctorily.
Ren Honglin glanced at him and smiled slightly.
"Actually, not having anyone funding you isn't necessarily a bad thing, because all funding comes with strings attached."
"I'm just curious, why have I never heard of this?"
"That's because no one ever goes to No. 8 Middle School to sponsor students. If you had been a student at our Seventeenth Middle School from the start, there would definitely have been conglomerates contacting you.
Zhou Libin did contact a few for you later, but unfortunately, those guys were short-sighted and looked down on you.
Now, they must be regretting it to death."
"Can I accept funding from multiple people?"
"Of course. The better one's talent, the more people there are to sponsor them."
"Wouldn't they fight later on?"
Ren Honglin smiled slightly: "Kid, you're still too young. I don't know if you've heard this saying: Jianghu isn't just about fighting and killing; it's about human relationships and worldly affairs."
"Hmm?" Yun Zhuo looked at Ren Honglin in surprise. Are you also a Transmigration case?
"Why are you looking at me? By sponsoring the same person, that person becomes the link between them; they can form alliances or curry favor with each other."
Yun Zhuo nodded, "Understood. And what's the deal with a wingman?
A War Princess needs to undergo Body Integration with a War Spirit Master before she has the ability to act. Can a War Spirit Master use a Clone?"
"Something like that. To be precise, it's sharing Mental Energy.
A War Princess's character panel only has Attack, Defense, and Speed. They look more like humanoid weapons for the War Spirit Master.
They can't rely on their own Mental Energy to drive their second form.
But a War Spirit Master is different. Mental Energy can increase with Rank.
When the Rank reaches a certain level, there will be a surplus of Mental Energy. At this point, you can contract a second War Princess.
After sharing the War Spirit Master's Mental Energy, they can drive themselves.
But a War Spirit Master's corrosion energy furnace has a constant conversion capacity for Corrosion Energy, so there is another key point here: improving the Corrosion Energy conversion capacity and adjusting the War Princess's Corrosion Energy absorption.
This requires the use of azure essence stone."
"You mean that although azure essence stone can improve the corrosion energy furnace's conversion capacity, it can't achieve 100% matching?"
"That's right. According to official statistics, no matter how much azure essence stone is used, a War Spirit Master can match at most two War Princesses. Any more, and you'll need to lower the War Princess's Corrosion Energy absorption capacity."
"I didn't expect there to be such an operation." Yun Zhuo thought to himself: Others can only match two, but that might not be the case for me.
"How about it? Do you regret it now?"
"What would I regret?"
"Why didn't you agree when I asked you to contract that girl earlier? She is at least Heaven Rank High Grade. If you had contracted her, your leveling speed could have at least doubled.
Now, if you want to contract her, she might not agree."
"Pfft! She was too ugly. It would be disgusting to look at her every day."
"You kid, finding a War Princess isn't like finding a wife. It's just like pair figure skating. She's just your teammate. Why do you need her to be so beautiful?"
"Pair figure skating?"
"Yeah. If you haven't seen that, you've at least seen synchronized swimming, right? After the competition, everyone goes back to their own homes to their own mothers."
"We don't have to live in the same dormitory?"
"No. But once you go to university, if you want to, you can live together. How about it? Do you regret it now?"
"That still won't do. I'm so handsome; over time, that girl would definitely fall for me. If I don't like her back and she does something rash and commits suicide, wouldn't I be the one who ruined her life?
So, if I don't like someone, I shouldn't give them hope from the start. That is what a responsible, good man does."
Yun Zhuo didn't say the other part, which was that ugly people are more troublesome.
"You kid..." Speaking of this, Ren Honglin suddenly changed the subject: "You should still have some runes on you, right?"
"Is the Principal short on money recently?"
"What money? I'm taking them to exchange for azure essence stone for you. Although that stuff is rare, it's not impossible to get.
It's just that our Dawn City is located in a barren border region with a lack of talent, so War Spirit Masters who can contract two War Princesses rarely appear."
Yun Zhuo took out all twenty-two corrosion crystal drop rate runes at once.
"Principal, I don't want azure essence stone. I want runes that improve Corrosion Energy absorption. Can you help me collect some?"
"You have azure essence stone?"
"Mm."
Yun Zhuo told a little lie because he didn't need azure essence stone at all.
Ren Honglin glanced at him. He also knew that for this kid to be recommended to the Imperial Capital Martial Arts University, his backers must have a significant background; perhaps it was even Teacher Su's maiden family.
A few measly azure essence stones were as common as the stones found everywhere in this desert to the Su Family.
"Runes that increase Corrosion Energy absorption are much more expensive than the ones you have. And runes that can increase it by more than 10% are extremely rare; you might not be able to trade for them in Dawn City."
"I don't need such high-level ones. 1% trash runes will do; I'll fuse them myself."
"Fuse them yourself?" Ren Honglin laughed, "You're throwing your money down the drain."
"I have to try, and my luck has always been pretty good."
"Fine. I'll give them to you tomorrow. Also, when do you plan to set off for the Imperial Capital?"
"You want me to go early?"
"All martial arts universities have freshman placement exams. You should go early to see those true Geniuses, so you'll know if you can survive the freshman exam.
If you feel you can't make it, you can still withdraw and come back to take the Martial Arts Examination. Getting into a first-class martial arts university shouldn't be a problem for you."
"I finally got recommended, and if I come back myself, that would be so embarrassing."
Ren Honglin laughed: "Compared to your own life, what is Face?"
"Xiao Zhuo, Xiao Zhuo, hurry down, it's time to go home!"
Yun Zhuo looked down the wall; Teacher Su was holding one hand to her mouth while waving hard with the other.
Ren Honglin reminded him: "Just stay in the base dormitory tonight. Why go back at this hour?"
Yun Zhuo smiled: "The student dormitory isn't convenient."
After saying that, Yun Zhuo waved at Teacher Su: "Coming!"
"Not convenient?" Ren Honglin was stunned for a moment, then immediately laughed: "You brat, take it easy. Conserve your energy; don't forget there's still a placement exam at the university."
From the three-zhang-high steel wall, Yun Zhuo leaped down and jogged to Teacher Su's side: "Let's go!"
"What were you just chatting about with Principal Ren? You seemed to be getting along so well."
"It was about that girl from No. 3 Middle School. He wanted me to contract with her so she could be my wingman in the future."
"I think that's a good suggestion. Why not sign her?"
"Her potential is too low; she'll hold us back."