Chapter Ninety-Nine: Chu Cheng's Choice

“The academy has a deep cooperative relationship with the Dragon Realm. We can help you contact high-ranking dragons from that realm, such as spatial dragons and forcefield dragons, and combine that with the Ancient Dragon Knight hero inheritance. Your overall ability will in no way be inferior to that of a legendary hero.”

That was the answer from the admissions director of Ten Thousand Dragons Tower.

“Our academy is passionate about exploring the Void and has established excellent relations with many Void beings. Among them are more than one who have mastered the laws of space, placing us above all the top-tier academic houses. If you choose Star Tower, you will have more options than you would with any of the others.”

That was the answer from the admissions director of Star Tower.

“Star Tower!”

After only a glance, Chu Cheng had already made his decision.

Ten Thousand Dragons Tower had already been ruled out, and Star Tower offered far more choices. Which one to pick was self-evident.

He opened his communication channel to Director Zhang Heng of Star Tower’s admissions office and said,

“Director Zhang, I would like to join Star Tower!”

The reply came quickly from the other end.

“Student Chu Cheng, welcome to Star Tower.”

“Your admission letter and scholarship will be sent to you before you leave the examination hall. The staff assigned to escort you to campus are currently in TS City and will contact you shortly. If you have any matters, you may speak with them directly.”

“In addition, you may report to campus at any time. A freshman handbook will be sent to you later as well; it contains internal material from our academy, so please do not circulate it.”

“Understood.”

“May your new life rise ever higher, advance fearlessly, know no dread, and climb to ever greater heights.”

“Thank you for your blessing, teacher!”

After closing the communication and the interface, Chu Cheng rolled his neck and let out a long breath.

With that, the entrance exam, which for countless students was a true turning point in life, had come to an end.

And he had even chosen his school in one shot.

Chu Cheng’s mother was already gone, and his relationship with his father was poor. As for choosing a school, he could make the decision himself; there was no need to go home and discuss it with family or clan.

There were no extra battles, no ranking challenges. The entrance exam consisted of only three rounds, astonishingly simple and straightforward.

It was simple to begin with, merely an assessment of personal ability.

In his previous life, the entrance exam had covered too many subjects, so it had taken a long time. In this life, the exam looked only at overall individual strength. Each battle lasted at most five minutes, and after every battle one could recover completely and never grow tired, so efficiency was naturally far higher.

It was impossible for some exam or tournament to drag on for dozens of chapters the way it did in certain stories.

Having finished his choice, Chu Cheng looked up at the room door, placed his hand on the handle, and turned it gently.

Outside the door was a stretch of emptiness. He stepped forward into it.

Space shifted, and when he could see again, he had already left the examination hall and returned inside the Mage Tower.

Many staff members stood beside the teleportation gate. As he emerged, one of the nearest staff members said in a low voice,

“This student, please leave the examination hall according to the signs.”

Chu Cheng nodded and followed the route out, exiting the Mage Tower through another door.

A crowd of students who had already finished the exam had gathered in the square outside. Those from the same school stood in small groups. Chu Cheng went straight to the gathering spot for Yuntai City Fifth Middle School and from a distance saw them grouped together by class.

Roughly a hundred students had taken the entrance exam this time, and most had already come out.

His efficiency was certainly higher than theirs, but he had fought three rounds and spent some time choosing a school.

The other students were not as efficient, but most of them lacked the strength to reach the third round and had come out much earlier.

Zhang Chunlei and the others, who had been chatting, immediately came over and asked curiously,

“Chu Cheng, you definitely made it to the third round, right? How many did you clear?”

“Ten.”

“?”

The expressions on their faces froze as they stared blankly.

Zhang Chunlei even wondered if he had heard wrong, and subconsciously asked again,

“Three rounds?”

“Yes.”

“Hiss!”

A textbook example of inhaled shock, followed by a variety of stunned expressions.

“That’s way too exaggerated.”

“The third round was all level-30 elites, and they came in every type imaginable: dragonblood sorcerers, half-dragons, all kinds of demons, mind flayers, and other freakish monsters whose real combat power was no weaker than that of horror-class templates. How did you beat them one-on-one?”

“Maybe I was just lucky.”

Damn it.

They could tell Chu Cheng had no intention of bragging. Under other circumstances they would not have kept pressing the matter, but winning all three rounds was simply too outrageous for them to ignore.

Perhaps the news was so shocking that they had completely forgotten to ask which academy he had entered.

At that moment, Principal Zhang, who had led the team, also noticed Chu Cheng’s return. He waved him over and asked with a smile,

“How were your results?”

“Three rounds, all victories. Full marks.”

Principal Zhang raised his eyebrows, and his smile widened.

“Even better than I expected!”

“Based on your past performance, I predicted you might win five to seven matches in the third round. I never thought you’d get all ten. With a result like this, entry into a top-tier academic house is all but guaranteed. Have you decided?”

Chu Cheng nodded.

“I have. Star Tower.”

“Good. Star Tower is an excellent choice. They are skilled at communicating and building friendly ties with those beings in the Void, and they have corresponding paths for nearly every type of system. Spatial laws may be rare, but they are no difficulty for Star Tower.”

“That was my thought as well.”

“Excellent!”

Principal Zhang Erxin smiled warmly and patted his shoulder.

“You are the first student from our school in five years to enter a top-tier academic house. The school will reward you: in addition to a True Realm Stone, there will also be a scholarship grant of one hundred gold. We’ll issue it to you when you return.”

Chu Cheng hurriedly thanked him.

“Thank you, Principal, and thank you to all the leaders.”

“No need for thanks. You earned it with your own ability.”

The vice principal’s face was beaming as he began sharing experience and advice about higher education.

Chu Cheng listened very patiently. These were all experiences from when Zhang had been a student himself. Though they were only the experiences of a first-rate institution, they still came from higher education, so the differences were not great, and they were not the kind of things that would appear in a freshman handbook.

The two of them talked with great enthusiasm. At first they discussed practical matters and reminders, but as the conversation deepened, Principal Zhang began telling some old amusing stories as well.

Just as Chu Cheng was listening intently, he suddenly heard someone calling for Principal Zhang from behind.

They both turned at once and saw Sun Yu standing there. He bowed to Principal Zhang and said in a solemn voice,

“As your student, I have not disappointed your teaching. I achieved excellent results in the entrance exam and received an admission invitation from Conqueror Academy, a first-rate institution!”

Zhang Erxin smiled and nodded.

“Good. Conqueror ranks in the upper middle among first-rate institutions, and it has unique strengths in training tank classes. Its overall ranking is high. The academy has two high-tier hero inheritances and five mid-tier hero inheritances. If you get the chance, strive for one.”

Sun Yu nodded humbly.

“This student will do his best and live up to the principal’s expectations.”

“Mm.”

After reporting, Sun Yu looked at Chu Cheng, the smile still on his face, without a trace of gloom, as if whatever conflict had happened between them before had never existed.

Chu Cheng said nothing, merely inclining his head slightly.

There was one thing that made him rather curious.

Earlier, that demon lord Imotar’s projection had said it had taken a sliver of his soul as punishment for disrespect. By rights, that should have had a tremendous impact on his strength, but now it seemed as though nothing had happened at all.

“Could he have been lying, and never taken it after all?”

“Or did his family use something to make up for it?”