Top Students

Ren Yi pushed that strange feeling to the back of his mind.

Speaking of Anomaly Artifacts, he suddenly remembered the debt note the Class Monitor had given him after the Three Cities World ended.

At that time, as a token of gratitude for Ren Yi's cooperation in helping her deal with those Extinctions, Zhang Qiuqiu had promised to have her parents make an Anomaly Artifact for him, provided he supplied the materials himself.

Ren Yi looked at Zhang Qiuqiu, reaching into his semi-fluid chest to rummage around for a moment. He pulled out a crystal that was translucent and enveloped in faint, unique energy fluctuations.

The crystal felt warm to the touch, with fine streams of light swirling inside. It was clearly no ordinary item; it was the special energy crystal he had looted from the Battle-Damaged Guy back in the Xinglong Entertainment City.

"Class Monitor, take a look at this. Is it enough to serve as a material for an Anomaly Artifact?" Ren Yi handed the crystal over, his tone serious.

Zhang Qiuqiu took the crystal. The moment her fingertips touched it, she felt the rich and pure energy within. She couldn't help but look up at Ren Yi.

"And here you were calling me rich. It looks like you've been hiding some depth yourself, haven't you?"

Ren Yi instinctively rubbed his nose. Great, he had picked up that habit from the Instance.

"Not at all. It was just luck. I happened to find it in that Great Anomaly Instance I told you about... So, does it work?"

Zhang Qiuqiu nodded and carefully tucked it away. "No problem. I'll check with the elders in my family as soon as I get back and give you an answer as soon as possible."

"Roughly how long will it take to make?" Ren Yi asked casually, feeling a spark of anticipation for his very own Anomaly Artifact.

"I can't give you a specific date yet. I have to go home and discuss it with my mom and grandmother to see what form and type of Anomaly Artifact would suit you best."

"If it's fast, a few days. If it's slow, it still shouldn't take too long," Zhang Qiuqiu replied honestly.

With the matter of the Anomaly Artifact settled, the group lost interest in wandering around aimlessly.

Ren Yi looked at Lord Cha, who was squatting on the ground fiddling with a set of keys. Remembering the most critical question, he spoke up.

"Lord Cha, now that we've enrolled, how is our study life going to be arranged? Are we supposed to have regular classes?"

Hearing this, Lord Cha looked up as if he had just heard the world's biggest joke. He stared at them with an expression usually reserved for idiots, his tone dripping with disdain.

"Classes? What classes? How could an Anomaly academy have something like 'classes'?"

Ren Yi, Zhang Qiuqiu, and Lu Zihan looked at each other, their faces filled with confusion.

Ren Yi spoke again. "What else do you do at school besides attend classes? We can't just wander around every day, can we?"

"That's just empty formalism for Humans!"

"When you hadn't awakened yet and were still in the human world, the schools gave you a one-to-one imitation of that process."

"Now that you've awakened as Anomalies, naturally, we extract the essence and discard the dregs."

Lord Cha waved a hand, sounding completely righteous.

Ren Yi fell silent. No, no, no—the definition of 'dregs' seemed a bit too broad here.

Seeing the trio's skeptical expressions, Lord Cha stopped pretending and let his ears droop as he confessed.

"Fine, there actually are classes, but none of you can take them right now."

"Why?" the three asked in unison, completely baffled.

Lord Cha stood up, brushed the dust off himself, and explained, "All the courses in our academy are focused on actual combat, specifically regarding Instance construction and the application of rules. You must reach C-rank before you can start classes."

"Because only C-rank and above Anomalies have the ability to construct their own Instances."

"If you haven't reached that level, you won't understand a thing in class. It's a pure waste of time."

Ren Yi was stunned. "Then what do we do until we reach C-rank? We can't just be idle the whole time."

"You participate in club activities!" Lord Cha's energy returned instantly, his voice rising.

"Our school has tons of clubs, and every single one of them is short on labor—I mean, short on precious core members. A freshman's primary task upon enrollment is to join a club and accumulate combat experience."

At this point, he slowly added to his previous explanation. "That's why dragging you into the Board Game Club Instance wasn't just me messing around. It's a school tradition!"

"Believe it or not, every Student Mentor does this!"

"Our spots as Student Mentors are competitive; those with the best grades get priority!"

"As for the conditions I promised you earlier, that was purely because things almost went south in the Instance and I was apologizing. Otherwise, you'd never get such a good deal."

Ren Yi's mouth twitched. He thought to himself, 'Holy crap.'

So, forcibly 'kidnapping' freshmen into high-risk Instances was actually a school tradition?

Who started this? This tradition was too ridiculous—it was a textbook example of shady operations.

Lord Cha knew he wasn't exactly in the right, so he coughed twice and continued explaining.

"I didn't have much of a choice. Besides us students, there are many large Instances that use this time for 'Autumn Recruitment,' and they snatch up freshmen aggressively."

"Small student clubs like ours can't compete with them at all. That's why the school gave Student Mentors special privileges to contact freshmen first. It was a last resort."

Ren Yi finally understood everything.

It turned out that the role of Student Mentor wasn't some heartwarming position to help newcomers get familiar with the campus and handle enrollment.

It was a benefit the school provided to senior students.

And that 'benefit' was this group of freshmen who had just arrived with no foundation, left at the mercy of the various clubs.

As for the Instance internships Lord Cha mentioned, he had seen them in Anomaly science posts before.

How did they put it?

"The cubs over at the school need internship experience, and they're relatively cheap. Everyone who knows, knows."

So much for 'extracting the essence and discarding the dregs.' What was this internship all about?

He suddenly remembered something he had heard before and looked at Lord Cha.

"Speaking of which, Lord Cha, I heard you stayed at Aunt Lu Qing's Lu Family Courtyard before. Was that an internship too?"

Hearing this, Lord Cha's eyes shifted. He quickly coughed to hide his embarrassment. "Cough, cough, that's all in the past."

"Aunt Lu is a very good boss. The benefits were great, and the Instance was stable. I only got the chance to intern there because Wutong recommended me."

He glanced at Lu Zihan.

"However, regarding internships—interning at your own home doesn't count. Don't even think about finding a loophole there."

Seeing that Lord Cha didn't want to talk more about it, the group didn't press further. Lord Cha simply laid it out clearly.

"In short, after all freshmen enroll, they must participate in club activities on campus to accumulate strength and progress."

"Only when your level meets the standard and you successfully promote to C-rank can you formally sign up for academy courses."

Ren Yi nodded thoughtfully, then spoke calmly, his words instantly shattering the atmosphere.

"But, I've already accumulated enough progress for promotion."

Back in the Three Cities World, he had coincidentally swallowed a massive amount of pure energy, giving him a huge boost.

His progress for C-rank had long since been filled; he didn't need to slowly accumulate it at all.

But even so, he still couldn't directly break through to C-rank.

"My brother said before that for C-rank, even if the progress is full, you can't break through. You have to take a specialized Rank Exam at the school."

"So, what do I need to do to take this exam?"

Lord Cha, who had been acting nonchalant, suddenly widened his eyes. His mouth fell open wide enough to fit a fist as he stared at Ren Yi in shock, his voice stuttering.

"Huh? You... your progress is already full?"

Ren Yi ignored his shock and turned to Zhang Qiuqiu and Lu Zihan beside him, asking casually, "You two should be close too, right?"

Ren Yi knew that Zhang Qiuqiu had also 'eaten' a lot in the Three Cities World.

As for Old Lu... as the eldest son of a landlord family, Ren Yi didn't think he needed to worry.

Zhang Qiuqiu's expression remained indifferent as she gave a slight nod, her tone calm.

"It's not a big problem. I didn't rest during the summer break; I participated in several Instances in a row. My progress has been nearly full for a while now. I'm just one step away."

Ren Yi sighed inwardly. The Class Monitor really was a try-hard.

After returning from the Three Cities World, she hadn't rested at all and had been grinding progress like crazy. Most people couldn't match that kind of drive.

Lu Zihan rubbed the back of his head, an embarrassed look appearing on his face as he scratched his hair.

"I'm still a little short, but not by much. I'll just buckle down and practice when I get back. I'll have it filled soon."

Lord Cha stood to the side, his face gradually stiffening. His eyes were full of disbelief, even a hint of a breakdown, as he couldn't help but shout.

"Wait, your progress shouldn't be like this!"

"Normal freshmen have just reached the mid-stage of D-rank at most when they enroll. Some haven't even broken through to D-rank yet! How are you all already at full progress?!"

He had mentored so many batches of freshmen, but he had never seen such a ridiculous freshman squad. Every single one of them was a monster-level existence that completely shattered his understanding of what a freshman was.

Ren Yi shrugged, looking perfectly composed. "Can't be helped. We're just top students."