Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao came to understand only after Yuan Manqiu’s explanation.

The Refiners’ Registration Examination was one of the most difficult qualification tests amongst all professions. Many prestigious academic authorities would be invited every year to be examiners, not to mention that a tremendous amount of heaven and earth treasures would be consumed during the exam.

If any Tom, Dick, or Harry could take the exam, while the wasted time of a Master Refiner could be considered as nothing significant and the squandering of heaven and earth treasures could also be considered as nothing, but if in a one in a million chance, a refining accident which leads to a spiritual energy explosion took place, then how could that be written off?

So for someone to register for the exam, there were certain requirements such as work experience, assurance from the sect, university recommendation, and so forth.

Yuan Manqiu said, ”In accordance with our institute’s regulations, for someone to take the qualification test for any profession whatsoever, they must have 40,000 credits. Only then would the institute write a letter of recommendation.”

”40,000 credits?”

Li Yao blinked his eyes. Although he did not know how big amount was that, it sounded like a lot.

Yuan Manqiu nodded: ”Maybe you can’t understand the notion of 40,000 credits, but you should know of the two genius students—Peng Hai and Ding Lingdang—who had enrolled in our institute in the last two decades. To acquire these 40,000 credits, even Ding Lingdang had taken two years, while Peng Hai took one and a half year. Aside from them, nobody else had been able to accomplish this in two years.”

Li Yao stood in amazement as if he was thinking about something.

Yuan Manqiu patted his shoulder: ”Now do you understand? In short, we don’t need to think too much about it. In this one year, I will do my utmost to teach you. I hope that you will learn everything seriously, and whatever happens in one year, at least you have fought all out. You will not be left with the slightest bit of regret!”

”Come on, I will take you to pick some components. You need to assemble a crystal processor which has incredible computational power. It would provide a tremendous help in cultivation.”

Li Yao followed Yuan Manqiu to the edge of the ruins where there was a delipidated, three-floored building.

This was the temporary school building of the Refining Department as well as the library, dormitory, canteen, and the training room.

In his heart, Li Yao was, however, constantly wondering:

‘So even Senior Brother Peng had taken one and half year to complete 40,000 credits!? This is truly awesome.’

’But, so what?’

’I have once said that I will definitely chase Senior Brother Peng’s footsteps. It starts from this moment on.’

’In this one year, I will definitely surpass Ding Lingdang and Fiend Blade Peng Hai and complete 40,000 credits. Afterward... I will become a true refiner!”

’At that time, I will restart Project Mystic Skeleton and refine a true Mystic Skeleton Battle Suit with teacher, setting off a super strong storm in the cultivation world!”

A long time after they left.

The afterglow of the sunset gradually swept past the ruins as a dark curtain gradually enveloped the land bit by bit.

The wrecked Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit stood still quietly in the dark, as though it was a tombstone.

Suddenly—

A speck of a starry shimmer jumped out from the depths of the eye sockets of the wreckage.

A speck of starry shimmer which was a hundred times dimmer than the glow of a firefly.

The starry brilliance was flickering and faltering as if its faint phosphorescence would extinguish at any moment.

Following that, a second speck, a third speck, a fourth speck...

Many starry shimmers jumped out, speckling the air. Altogether, over a hundred incomparably feeble shimmers struggled, danced, and glittered as they weaved into a bunch of feeble flames which tried everything to manipulate the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit to break away from its pedestal.

However, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit’s main frame had completely melted, and the joints in its steel frame had fused together. No matter how much effort these starry shimmers put forth, they were unable to move even a single inch.

”Creak—”

Finally, they were able to move the little finger of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, slightly deforming it by 0.1 mm.

This action consumed too much of the starry shimmers’ spiritual energy, causing a sound to spread out from the depths of the wreckage; perhaps it was the sound of over a hundred faint sighs.

Over a hundred starry shimmers flared before they returned to slumber in the depths of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.

The depths of the eye sockets once again turned hollow, and the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit once again reverted back into a monument which was staring at the pitch black ruins.

...

At night, will-o-the-wisps-like specks of radiance rose and speckled the sky above the ruins.

This was the remaining chaotic spiritual energy from the explosion surging out. It gave off the misconception of fireflies spreading out everywhere as they casually danced in the air.

In the three-floored building, Li Yao, in a completely content manner, looked at his just finished work.

It was a debilitated, stationary-type crystal processor system which had occupied half of the entire room; it was an out-and-out colossus.

All of the materials from which this crystal processor was assembled from were found in the ruins, a majority of which were the fragments of professional crystal processors and quasi-military level crystal processors used by the professors, all of whose computational power was astonishing. Even if it was given to a third-grade sect, its level was enough to become their master crystal processor.

This was the benefit of joining the Refining Department. If it was any other department, they would absolutely not allow a freshman to have access to such advanced crystal processor components.

And in the ruins of the Refining Department, there were still many wrecked precious magical equipment which Li Yao could play with as he wished.

Although this ugly, colossal crystal processor looked ordinary, it could increase the computational power of the mini-crystal processor which he was currently wearing by a hundred times, which was enough to perfectly launch huge amounts of telepathic thoughts, like the ”Federation Cultivators’ Nexus”.

Its only drawback was that its cooling system was huge, making it impossible to carry, thus it had to be fixed inside a room.

However, this drawback was nothing to Li Yao. The mini-crystal processor he wore had gone through slight modifications which allowed him to link the mini-crystal processor with the huge crystal processor so that the huge crystal processor’s transmitter could transmit telepathic thoughts to the mini-crystal processor.

As a result, the mini-crystal processor had become the display terminal of the huge crystal processor. All the computation power that was needed to carry out processing was done by the huge crystal processor and the result was then displayed by the mini-crystal processor.

As long as he did not leave the campus of the institute, the system would always work. No matter where he went, he could enjoy the assistance of computation power that was comparable to the main crystal processor of a battleship.

”That’s more like it!”

Li Yao took a deep breath and rubbed his hand. He could not wait to start up the huge, stationary-type crystal processor.

A huge spiritual energy tide spread out in every direction with a ”buzzing” noise, giving him a feeling as though he was slowly being submerged in the sea. Following that, the entire room was immersed in a colorful radiance as a 3D hologram gradually appeared. Thousands of star-like, vivid icons circled around him, giving off an appearance of being inside a sea of stars.

”The huge crystal processor’s computational power is really awesome. Just the start-up hologram is so cool. I wonder if this crystal processor can start the ‘Federation Cultivators’ Nexus’ at its highest settings?”

Li Yao let loose his imagination.

However, at present, he didn’t have the time to play around, as he needed to clearly understand the credit system.

You could say that getting 40,000 credits in a year was a race against time.

Li Yao suppressed his excitement as he gazed at a very crude and wild icon.

The icon consisted of an iron fist which was laden with rust and smeared in blood with a crossed sword and saber in the back—this was the emblem of the Grand Desolate War Institution.

With a move of his thought, all kinds of colorful lights with varying brightness and contrast spread around as they expanded into a completely new, semi-transparent world.

Li Yao had logged into the Wasteland Battle Network!

The Wasteland Battle Network was not as simple as the internal network of a university.

Hundreds of years ago, during the time when the Wasteland was covered in bloodshed, grassroots martial artists first built the Wasteland Battle Network through which they exchanged, compared notes, traded, and did gathering like activities. Afterward, with the Wasteland Battle Network acting as the foundation, the Grand Desolate War Institution was founded.

One could even say that the ”Wasteland Battle Network” was the Grand Desolate War Institution’s predecessor and foundation. 50% of the studies and training of the students could be completed through the Wasteland Battle Network. Even the ”Federation Cultivators’ Nexus” had taken a lot of good points from the ”Wasteland Battle Network” and gradually improved to the current system.

”Roar! Roar!”

Roars of demon beasts immediately floated into Li Yao’s ear one after another, and his nose even seemed to get a whiff of the desolate stench of the Wasteland. Before his eyes, a red tide spreading in the wilderness-like scene appeared.

Countless experts were cultivating, fighting, hunting, and teaching in the wilderness. It was the same as the ”Half-step Great Illusionary Land”; however, the Wasteland Battle Network had simulated an environment that was even more detailed than that of the Federation Cultivators’ Nexus.

Not only was the visuals improved, but even the auditory, the olfactory, and the somatosensory systems had been stimulated to the extreme.

Li Yao knew that it was all because of him using the huge crystal processor which had tremendous computational power and enabled him to run the Wasteland Battle Network at its highest configuration. That was the only reason why it was possible to simulate such perfect sound and light effect.

If he had logged onto the Federation Cultivators’ Nexus at this moment, then he would have similarly entered an incomparably detailed, infinitely wonderful, new world.

”According to teacher, after I have logged into the Wasteland Battle Network, I will naturally know the basic rules and regulations as well as how to get the credits. I wonder what I should do next? Is an assistant-like thing going to appear?”

Li Yao, filled with interest, wandered around the Wasteland as he watched powerful experts fight with system simulated demon beasts at a distant while wondering to himself.

At this moment, a gorgeous blood-colored crystal suddenly floated over to the top of his head, upon which had the word ”credits” engraved.

A voice suddenly rang in his ear:

”Student Li Yao, do you want to learn all the information regarding credits?”

Li Yao subconsciously nodded his head before the ”Crack” sound of the blood color crystal splitting into countless information fragments resounded as they submerged into Li Yao’s neural field.

In the blink of an eye, Li Yao felt that there was something extra in his memories. Upon carefully searching his memories, much to his surprise, he recalled many sections regarding Grand Desolate War Institution’s credit system.

It was like at some time in the past, someone had given him a full night and day course that carefully explained to him the credit system.

”Such brilliant telepathic thoughts transmission technology!”

Li Yao praised. As he recalled the information that had just submerged into his neural field, he discovered that credits played a very important role in the Grand Desolate War Institute and was most crucial for studies and training.

”If you have credits, you can wander the entire world, but if you don’t have credits, you can’t even move an inch.” This was the true portrayal of the Grand Desolate War Institution.

For freshmen who had just entered the institute, the dormitory provided by the institute free of charge was no better than a pigsty, similarly the food provided was like pig wash, the uniforms were like beggar clothes, and the little cultivation resources provided were the size of a fingernail.

Do you want to eat delicacies? Please pay credits!

Do you want to sleep in a royal palace-like mansion? Please pay credits!

Do you want many cultivation resources? Do you want high-ranked training facilities? Please pay credits!

Even a lot of professional courses established by powerful experts required one to pay a certain amount of credits and only then could he or she study. Moreover, once you are unable to pass the exam, these credits would entirely go down the drain!

In short, if anyone wants to become a true powerful expert, it was necessary for him to use every trick in his sleeves to earn as many credits as possible and then use these very credits to acquire many resources, and after repeating the same thing again and again, you would become strong step by step!

And as the institute which is most concerned about combat within the federation, the procedure of earning credits was certainly not as simple as attending classes. One could even say that earning credits using conventional methods like attending classes or taking exams was like a drop in the bucket.

The true leading method was still open trading and combat!