The Ascension of Contracted Spirits

Chapter 75 - 73: Mutant Knight_1

The Star of Excellence, a unique reward system established by the Canghai Pavilion.

Only those who made special contributions to the academy, or achieved high rankings in certain competitions and trials, or completed specific tasks issued by the academy, achieved excellent results in certain mentors’ assessments, received the recognition of a star mentor...

There are various ways to obtain the Star of Excellence.

But truly, the difficulty of obtaining the Star of Excellence is indeed high.

For average students who are unremarkable in all respects, they can’t achieve even a single star in a whole year.

Students with average performance usually gain 2~5 stars each year.

Excellent students, who focus on their own abilities and the development of their contracted spirits, can achieve a two-digit number of stars every year.

Su Mei... half a year after entering the academy, still has zero stars.

Consequently, it’s common for people to treat her as a passerby.

"If I could use ’Riding the Wind,’ the odds of victory would be really high!"

"As long as I can get one star, I can not only surpass hundreds of students who were enrolled at the same time, but also earn rewards!!"

Su Mei clenched her fists, her arm muscles slightly bulging.

Each Star of Excellence can be exchanged for tangible rewards in the "Hall of Honor".

If you accumulate stars, rumor has it that you can even exchange them for a mentor’s customized equipment, or scarce materials difficult to find elsewhere.

Many students strive for these stars, constantly motivating themselves.

"Being bottom of the New Stars board, what’s your ranking in the power list of your year?" Ye Hanjun asked.

The New Star list serves as a great incentive, and it holds significant meaning.

But it’s only the third most important list in Canghai Pavilion.

Ahead of it, there’s the annual Power List and the Peak Power List.

The former addresses the younger grades in the North Campus District, while the latter is for the senior grades in the South Academy District, and they have different significance.

"As for the annual power list, I’m probably around 7,000..."

Su Mei’s excitement was quickly pricked, but she didn’t feel disappointed. She only reported sincerely:

"Currently, there are approximately more than 9,000 patrons in the 4th order in the North Campus District."

"Excluding thousands of students who are not adept at combat and the new students who have not shown their full potential after only one or two months in the academy."

"My performance is just barely higher than the lowest tier."

Ye Hanjun nodded, already having an idea in his mind.

The Pink Ostrich has only developed 36 patterns of ’Rushing Around,’ and its skill development is severely lacking.

But this still can’t cover up the advantages of such spirits in close combat and pursuit.

Paired with Su Mei, who is a knight, they complement each other, and don’t have any particular weaknesses. They should be able to manage against any generic opponents.

"Starting today, I will supervise what you feed Tuotuo."

"Random snacks can only serve as occasional rewards, and should never take the place of a proper meal."

"Also, you need to continue participating in the Death Challenge."

"For the real world, start with a ’Exhaustive Training’ routine."

"Basically, you pick a fixed time period every day, like dusk, for example."

"You put on heavy armor to increase Tuotuo’s load, wearing down all of its energy."

"After it ends, you eat and rest fully.

"Repeat this for seven days, and if still hasn’t broken through to the next rank, reaching the Clay Body Great Completion, I will adjust a new training plan for you after a week."

"Yes!" Su Mei recorded the key points mentioned by Ye Hanjun on a spirit cloth scroll that she had somehow brought out.

Excitement appeared on Su Mei’s face. After her gaze met the bright eyes of the Pink Ostrich, her sweet smile bloomed like a spring breeze.

"Let’s go, I’ll accompany you to the competition venue."

Ye Hanjun moved towards the door and murmured:

"You compete, tentatively getting a star."

"I watch, sensing the atmosphere of the academy’s competition, and see if there are any suitable students worthy of my further recruitment."

"Speaking of this!" Su Mei’s eyes lit up slightly, "Master Han, how many ’disciples’ do you need in total?"

"For the 4th order, there are currently two spaces left."

Ye Hanjun didn’t need to hide anything and answered frankly:

"But I’m not sure whether I need to continue training disciples on the same basis when I upgrade to the 2nd order, or whether a new Key of the Grey Moon will appear."

"I see..." Su Mei nodded and asked without hesitation: "Do you need me to recommend students for you?"

"Although I don’t have many friends, I’ve been in academy for half a year and I know some of the popular new spirit owners, more or less."

"Let’s talk while we walk."

Back turned to Su Mei, Ye Hanjun waved at her, then returned to his residence.

Honestly speaking, he didn’t care much if the disciples he was recruiting had high-quality abilities or spirits.

If it really mattered to him, he wouldn’t have taken Su Mei as his first disciple.

As long as they’re not too bad,

Like an ability that doesn’t even reach F grade or a spirit that’s totally useless.

On this basis, a disciple’s character and mind are more important filters.

Those who like to talk but never act; those who have no dreams, no desire to become stronger,

These types of people are troublesome to even interact with, let alone nurturing them into talents, which would seem to be forcing a difficult task on them.

Of course, Ye Hanjun was somewhat interested in Su Mei’s recommendation.

Anybody who could stand out among their peers through their own efforts must have their own unique strengths.

If his coaching could turn an already genial student in the eyes of outsiders into a super genius...

Wouldn’t that be interesting?

His thoughts churned but stopped when he saw the little tadpole.

"GuaGua, let’s go out."

Ye Hanjun pointed at the water bottle.

The little creature understood instantly, controlling its floating bubble to come closer rapidly.

When it was two meters away, it popped its own bubble. Daring and skillful, it somersaulted numerous times in the air before landing precisely in the bottle opening that was as thick as a thumb.

"Biu—plop!"

Ye Hanjun quickly covered the bottle with its cap.

The little creature’s curious movement was abruptly interrupted. Unable to see light or hear much noise, it blew bubbles twice before turning into a stone, sinking to the bottom of the water out of boredom.

"Get ten more rice balls, find a place to sell them. Reasonable speculation equals proper use of rules..."

He met up with Su Mei three minutes later.

As he didn’t have a spirit creature, nor did he want to stick closely to Su Mei and squeeze onto the pink ostrich that was more suitable for single riders, he ended up sweaty all over.

Ye Hanjun brought his key disciple to experience the horse-drawn carriage at the station.

Therefore... the spring breeze blew, and the sheep bleated.

After spending half an hour, both of them reached the vast green stadium.

From afar, they could hear the bustling crowd. Ye Hanjun was somewhat surprised; there seemed to be more spectators than he had expected?

He didn’t pay much mind to this thought as they walked inside.

In front of them was a large circular lawn. The low, freshly washed grass and the outer circle track made from polished stone looked new.

Further out was a ring of stand seats.

Although the seats were sparsely filled with an audience of only around one or two hundred people, which was less than one-tenth of the total seating capacity.

It was quite lively with those selling popcorn and snacks, enthusiastically marketing pet drinks, passionately predicting today’s winners... they were everywhere.

"I say, up until now only 49 knights have signed up, and they have to compete in two categories."

"From 49 to 4, there are a total of four people who can receive the ’Star of Excellence’, each person has a fairly good chance."

"Not necessarily, Knights are common roles, so there are relatively more when distributed amongst the crowd, which is why there’s a competition."

"Yes, you see other roles like Hunter, Magic Apprentice, even if you put them together, their competitions are full of death and damage. On the other hand, knights’ competition, which includes running and charging, are more interesting and entertaining."

"Eh? Do any of you have a sure-win contestant in mind? If you ask me, the only one I’m certain of is probably Miss Xinfei?"

"Exactly, the only impressive one is her."

"But this person...sigh, it’s hard to describe, you’ll see when you watch..."

Disorderly voices intertwined, difficult to distinguish upon first listen.

But Ye Hanjun managed to easily pick out the main points, his interested gaze scanned the surroundings, finally falling on a girl dressed in light yellow leather armor at the edge of the lawn.

Although she was wearing armor, the soft and elastic material wrapped her full and perky figure well, showcasing her slim and upright figure.

She stood there with her arms folded, tapping her foot on the ground impatiently.

Her chestnut wavy long hair was like a fire burning.

Because she was standing sideways, Ye Hanjun couldn’t see her face clearly.

But numerous gazes were focused on her, a few people near her even sneakily wiped their mouths, she wouldn’t be so eye-catching if she was merely a beautiful figure from behind.

"Wang Xinfei?" Su Mei also noticed her, her eyes showing surprise: "So she does participate in this type of competition..."

"Is she very powerful?"

Ye Hanjun put his hands in his pocket, casually asking.

"Very powerful."

Su Mei didn’t deny it, adding:

"She’s not a standard knight, but a mutant knight."

Mutant, also called "Branch".

Generally, the more common the role, the more likely they would have branches.

Like growing trees, they would bud, sprout... eventually becoming densely branched.

For example, Special Profession: Scholar, the first to third order are normal, but when it reaches the fourth order, a new prefix appears in front of ’scholar’.

This means that the role has changed, either narrowing down to a specific power, or increasing in power by covering a larger area.

Knight is the same.

An excellent ’knight’, upon reaching the peak of the third order, must evaluate how to change their class.

Beast Knight, Shield Knight, Fearless Knight, Heavy Armor Knight, Disciplinary Knight...there are countless branches.

Once they succeed in changing their class, in addition to the increased order and contract marks, their status will also change.

But for some people...

Be it the result of luck or bloodline,

The role they initially woke up to was not the blank slate of Knight, but the branched role of Mutant Knight.

Was Wang Xinfei one of them?