Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Fierce Scramble Among the Elite Academic Factions-Attention, This Is Not a Game(Did he attain enlightenment in a single night?)

"Chu Cheng, I am Wang Yibo, director of admissions at the Ten-Thousand Dragon Tower. I wonder whether you would be interested in joining us. If you are willing, in addition to a scholarship of one hundred gold, we can also prepare a Draconic Bloodline Essence and the inheritance mark of the upper-tier hero, Dragon Knight, along with all the prerequisite materials for that inheritance, including the River Styx Water used for resetting your points."

"Furthermore, I can guarantee that a legendary-ranked mentor will take you on as a formal disciple."

"Chu Cheng, I am Zhang Tianxing, director of admissions at the Elemental Throne. I wonder whether you would be interested in joining us. If you are willing, in addition to a scholarship of one hundred gold, you may choose any of our academy's four elemental upper-tier hero inheritances, and we will prepare all prerequisite materials for you, including the River Styx Water used for resetting your points."

"Furthermore, I can guarantee that a legendary-ranked mentor will take you on as a formal disciple."

"Chu Cheng, I am Li, director of admissions at Hell Nine Towers."

"Chu Cheng, I am Zhang, director of admissions at the Star Tower."

A total of twelve special invitations from the most elite academic powers lay spread out before him in a neat row.

Their terms were all the same: a scholarship of one hundred gold, a legendary mentor, and a hero inheritance unique to each academy power, all of them upper-tier hero inheritances, complete with every prerequisite and the River Styx Water needed for resetting points.

He did not know whether this was the standard offer for all special recruits, or whether it was just because he was the only one they were competing over, but in any case, he thought it was not bad at all.

Since all the academies had the same standard, Chu Cheng did not need to agonize over it. The ones he had already ruled out could stay ruled out; he only needed to pick one from the remaining few.

His gaze settled directly on one of the invitations, and Chu Cheng asked outright:

"Being invited by your academy is an honor. I have a few questions I would like to ask."

The other side responded at once.

"Please ask, Chu Cheng."

"I already possess an original hero imprint, and it overlaps with the hero imprint your academy is offering. I would like to know whether the academy's hero imprint could be exchanged for other resources. Also, does the academy have any higher-level hero inheritances? If so, might I be given a chance to obtain one?"

"By the way, my talent is related to space. If there is a matching hero inheritance, an upper-tier hero would be acceptable too."

When Wang Chao, the director of admissions at the Shrine of Order, saw Chu Cheng's reply, he paused, handed the message to several colleagues beside him to look over, and quickly sent back an answer:

"First, if you already have a better hero inheritance of your own, of course you may exchange the hero inheritance opportunity provided by the academy for other resources of equivalent value."

"Second, the academy does indeed possess higher-grade hero inheritances. Since you have an original hero imprint, you may jump the queue at any time. However, the inheritance of a legendary hero is extremely difficult, and the required compatibility between the inheritance and a person's abilities and talent is very strict. If the compatibility is too far apart, success is nearly impossible."

"By contrast, the hero inheritance offered by the academy is for an upper-tier hero. It is a power fully under the academy's control, and its inheritance difficulty is much lower than that of other hero inheritances."

"Also, the academy does not currently possess any space-related hero inheritance, but it can exchange resources with other academies and help you secure one."

"Mm."

"I wonder what rank of hero inheritance that would be?"

Wang Chao immediately replied:

"Space is one of the highest laws. There is no hero inheritance below the upper tier. As far as I know, there are no fewer than four upper-tier hero inheritances and two legendary hero inheritances. I cannot make a specific promise regarding the legendary ones, but I can guarantee that obtaining an upper-tier space-related inheritance should not be a problem."

Chu Cheng asked at once:

"What would be required to exchange for a legendary hero inheritance?"

Wang Chao pressed his lips together and said:

"A legendary hero inheritance appears only after very long intervals, the price to pay is too high, and there is a great deal of competition for it as well. This resource may not amount to much for the academy, but we still have to consider the cost. If you want a legendary hero inheritance, you must show performance and potential that the school administration believes are worth it."

"Director Wang, could you give me the specific standard?"

"Simple. After enrollment, there will be an initial assessment for all new students in this intake. Place in the top three, and that will be enough."

Chu Cheng said, "I will think it over."

"Very well."

He ended the communication and temporarily crossed the Shrine of Order off the list.

It did not even have a space-related hero inheritance, and yet he would still need to place in the top three among the freshmen to have a chance. Why should he go to all that trouble when he could simply choose an academy that already had a space-law inheritance?

Although he was extremely confident in his own strength, there was still a risk of blowing it.

A large portion of the students selected by the twelve top academies were just like him: perfect scores on the entrance examination.

The college entrance exam in this life was different from the one in his previous life. Its difficulty was standardized, and once one's strength reached a certain level, a perfect score was not difficult.

But even among perfect scorers, there were huge differences. Some of them possessed extraordinary talent and even more extraordinary family backgrounds.

Think about it: if someone had support comparable to Sun Yu's, or even better, with equipment fully maxed out in red and purple quality, and some of the top elites even holding legendary gear from the very beginning through their direct lineage.

Add to that top-tier class or hero-class professions, carefully selected and paired skills all raised to above level ten, and a mountain of swordsman and even sword-saint manuals pushing weapon skills to expert level.

Then pile on the maximum number of extra free attribute points.

Even without talent boosts, such financial power alone could still manufacture an expert.

In fact, the offspring of the strong were more likely to awaken talents, and the stronger the parent, the more outstanding the child tended to be.

With so many advantages stacked together, Chu Cheng truly had no guarantee of victory.

It sounded discouraging, but from another perspective, his current results were already incredible.

Born to an ordinary family, without much support from his relatives, and with only average teaching resources, he had relied solely on his own effort to stand shoulder to shoulder with what others had achieved through generations, or even surpass them. If word of that got out, it should be the second-generation heirs who would be the ones unable to believe it.

That said, none of that prevented him from choosing a top academy that suited him better.

Thinking of this, he sent a group message to all the other top academies except Hell Nine Rings and Abyss Tower, as well as the Elemental Throne and the Shrine of Order.

He asked them directly whether they had any legendary-or-higher hero inheritances related to space.

Less than ten seconds later, eight admissions directors responded one after another.

At first he was rather surprised that there were so many. But after checking them one by one, he found that most of the academies did not have any. Their replies were the same as the Shrine of Order's: they were willing to help him trade for a space-law hero inheritance.

There was nothing more to say. He crossed them out immediately and turned his attention to the only two academies that did possess space-law hero inheritances: the Star Tower and the Ten-Thousand Dragon Tower.

He sent messages to both the Star Tower and the Ten-Thousand Dragon Tower, asking in detail about the space-law hero inheritances they had and how difficult they were to obtain.