Era of Mist

Chapter 134: Chapter 133: Returning to the Star Worker School

Just as expected. Before the light waves from the circular Enlightenment Badge had even faded, the circular Teacher Badge also began to release... release... ’Are those pieces of chalk?’

’They have to be. What else could they be?!’

I watched as the circular Teacher Badge, like a slingshot hunting birds, flung out what looked like pieces of chalk, one after another. The chalk pieces flew out with a WHOOSH, carrying the strange sensation of a strict teacher’s cane, and struck the progress bar again and again.

The progress bar shot up like it was on steroids, surging forward. The buff from just these two special states pushed it straight to the sixty-mark.

They say things happen in threes. Since two good things had already happened, then—of course there was a third!~~~

Stars appeared.

It was that machine gun muzzle-flash effect again. Huge streams of stars flew out from the right side of his vision, CRACKLE-POPPING as they mobbed the poor, beleaguered progress bar.

Shi Tiexin understood. During his dream training, all the textbooks he studied had the ’Learn-and-Practice Integration’ attribute. When he finished studying all the secret manuals, he had also completed all the supplementary ’Learn-and-Practice’ manuals.

What was even more valuable was that the two Top-Grade Masters in his dreams not only explained the secret manuals but also meticulously detailed the ’Learn-and-Practice’ sections. This was far more effective than fumbling around and practicing blindly on his own.

As expected, this was reflected in his field of vision by an exceptional number of stars flying out.

CRACKLE-POP! The two progress bars shot to their ends simultaneously. Amidst a brilliant glow, two overlapping words for ”Pass” flew out one after another, smashing the ”Fail” to smithereens with two loud BANGS. But the speeding stars didn’t stop there; a massive number still threw themselves into the embrace of the progress bars.

Watching the two progress bars extend like crazy, Shi Tiexin almost laughed out loud. At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel that having someone to guide you was indeed better than trying to reinvent the wheel. ’When I choose a school after the Lesser Provincial Exam, I have to pick one with a stronger faculty. I can’t get caught up in that trope of reviving some third-rate sect.’

’After all, no matter how good the masters at Fengming First Middle School are, I might not get another chance to attend their lectures. And even if I could, my level is so low that I wouldn’t understand anything anyway. It’d be no different from not going at all.’

Besides, Shi Tiexin had a hunch that the dividends from completing the Champion Scholar Stone’s first fated mission were almost used up. He could feel the point of light on the Champion Scholar Stone’s worldline slowly dimming, like a lightbulb running out of power.

The dream classroom was more effective than just ”dream-leveling,” and there was certainly a fundamental difference. The reason was obvious: during dream-leveling, no matter how many lessons he took or exercises he did, the system’s grade markers never appeared in his vision. But in the dream classroom, they did, just as if it were real.

But this kind of dream classroom definitely had a higher cost. The light connecting him to the Champion Scholar Stone had become faint and intermittent. ’This is probably the last big push. After this wave, the leveling-up bonus won’t last much longer.’

’But this wave... it’s an insane haul!’

The stars CRACKLED and burst forth with no signs of weakening. Like a seasoned stock trader, Shi Tiexin internally screamed, ’Rise! Rise! Rise!’ And the two progress bars did not disappoint, holding strong and climbing steadily. He originally thought just reaching ”Pass” would be great, but from the looks of it, it wasn’t going to stop there.

SWISH! SWISH!

The two progress bars bloomed with light one after another, and the huge word ”Good” shot up, completely knocking the word ”Pass” flat.

Just as Shi Tiexin was feeling happy, the teleprompter popped up out of nowhere. It even sprouted a pair of thick, curved eyebrows and deep bags under its eyes. Its large eyes stared at him, full of spirit, a truly invigorating sight. ”Speaking of making great progress, one must bring up the quest for immortality on Fangcun Shan. And speaking of Fangcun Shan, it reminds me of the first-half-of-the-year collaboration between Math and Rhetoric... in short, blossoming on two fronts!”

PFFT—!

Shi Tiexin nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.

Rattled by the teleprompter, Shi Tiexin leaped out of bed and walked to the narrow window, full of vim and vigor. He opened it, letting the fresh outside air fill his lungs. Shi Tiexin calmed his nerves, and a feeling of relief slowly washed over him. The feeling wasn’t intense, but it was steady and lasting, bringing a faint smile to his face.

Finally, all the conditions were met.

Finally, after so much hardship, after so much suffering, he could go to the Lesser Provincial Exam!

Shi Tiexin patted his face, cutting off those thoughts. ’Now is not the time to get sentimental. The final stretch is the hardest. I can’t let my guard down at the last moment. Only when the Lesser Provincial Exam rankings are posted high on the dome, or better yet, only when I have the official school acceptance letter in my hands, can I finally rest easy.’

In his vision, the growth of the ”blossoming on two fronts” progress bars had stopped, both halting at a little over the thirty-mark in the ”Good” tier. The Champion Scholar Stone still had a last bit of light and heat left, barely hanging on to provide a little more progress. Shi Tiexin estimated that reaching ”Excellent” for both would be the absolute limit.

’Let’s see...’ he calculated. ’If I go take the exam now, my loadout will be two subjects at Limit, two at Perfect, and two at the second-tier ’Excellent’. This setup isn’t low, especially with the four first-tier subjects being basically maxed out. But the two second-tier subjects aren’t a sure thing. Someone will definitely be able to surpass me.’

’After all, certain people aren’t short on cash. They have so many supplementary manuals they can even give them away to their lackeys. If someone like that doesn’t even have a second-tier ’Excellent’, it just wouldn’t make any sense.’

’Besides, this ’certain someone’ also likes to pull dirty tricks outside the game.’

”He Chong...”

Shi Tiexin stared at the artificial sun. The golden light shone on his face, but it couldn’t hide the coldness in his eyes.

’It’s been so long. It’s time to go back to school and settle things!’

「Three days later.」

「Star Worker School.」

Star Worker School was a semi-private school funded and built by the Star Worker Union, mainly to solve the educational needs of the children of official employees of the Star Engineering United Group. Note, and this is the important part: ”official employees.” Who were the official employees? Well, it definitely wasn’t the manual laborers who worked themselves to death in the powder-additive workshops.

For the most part, people in the administrative system—the ones who wore suits to work—were considered official employees. For instance, that officer in charge of selection, Zhang Quan, and the backstabbing Deputy Director Tao Zhongming. The management and technical staff in the production system were also official employees. You could even tell the difference from their factory uniforms; the uniforms of official employees were a whiter shade.

Especially those who wore white hard hats in the factory. If you saw one of them, giving a salute was never the wrong move.

Ordinary workers didn’t have such good treatment. Only after struggling desperately to get ahead and signing a long-term contract could they be considered official employees. Only official employees paid into the various insurance plans, including the medical insurance Shi Tiexin was constantly thinking about. Having insurance was another major characteristic of an official employee.

These official employees might not be considered much in the outside world, but within the conglomerate, they were figures envied by all the ordinary workers. They weren’t necessarily all fabulously wealthy; most of them actually had a monthly salary of just two or three thousand value points. But the children from these families no longer had to worry about survival.

And a significant portion of these children were the ones who attended the Star Worker School.