Chapter Nine: The College Entrance Exam Preparatory Team

Hmph, to hell with talent!

Chen Ran watched Ye Mingqiu’s departing figure, a profound sadness and loneliness swelling in his heart. They had agreed to just coast along together—so why did he suddenly take off?

Oh right, this guy had seemed a bit off from the start. Although he claimed to be an orphan with no financial support, with the welfare resources from the support department, he shouldn’t have been living in such poverty. He must have been spending his money somewhere or saving it up.

At first, Chen Ran thought he was saving it, but now it seemed different. This guy had clearly planned ahead—spending money to clear the Great Voyage route, then forging a new path to turn the tide and latch onto a wealthy benefactor.

Damn it!

Absolutely infuriating!

I have to get back at him by swindling two bottles of drinks!

...

Outside the Guidance Counselor’s Office

Ye Mingqiu closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and adjusted his mental state... He certainly couldn’t show up pale-faced to meet the counselor—that wouldn’t do.

After a brief pause, his complexion improved slightly, and then he gently knocked on the office door.

“Knock knock knock.”

“Please come in.”

Click.

Ye Mingqiu opened the door and immediately saw the guidance counselor sitting at his desk, hands folded beneath his nose, smiling.

“Hello, Ye Mingqiu,” he said with refined courtesy.

“Hello, Director Zheng,” Ye Mingqiu replied politely, thinking to himself: no wonder a counselor-level expert exudes such pressure. He is far more imposing than Old Li, the homeroom teacher, sitting there like an unshakable mountain.

A moment later, Director Zheng pushed a copy of the agreement across the desk and said, “This is the contract for joining the College Entrance Exam Preparatory Team. Once you sign it, you’ll officially be a member.”

“Thank you, Director, for your support.”

Ye Mingqiu’s eyes lit up as he picked up the agreement and began to read it carefully.

Politeness aside, an agreement still had to be read thoroughly. If the school tried to cheat him, that would be disastrous. Though such things had never happened before, it was better to be cautious. The counselor wouldn’t mind him reading it.

His careful reading caught Director Zheng’s attention. The counselor narrowed his eyes slightly, smiling as his opinion of Ye Mingqiu grew.

Always maintaining vigilance—that was a virtue every psychic should embody. In the spirit world, no one knew what might happen next. The cautious always achieved greater success.

Seeing Ye Mingqiu engrossed in the agreement, Director Zheng said, “Ye Mingqiu, do you know why I chose you?”

“Because my base attributes are low, but my potential is high. My talent greatly boosts my ability, making it easier to obtain a hero-level profession,” Ye Mingqiu answered.

After undergoing the Spirit World trial, professions are ranked into five levels: Trainee, Ordinary, Elite, Lord, and Hero.

The higher the level, the stronger the profession. Hero-level is the strongest.

For support-type psychics, having a mental attribute above ten is a prerequisite to obtaining a hero-level profession. Yet almost no one can complete the hero-level trial with mental attributes that high, making hero-level support psychics exceedingly rare.

“That’s correct,” Zheng Xuejun smiled and nodded, continuing, “So far, only one support-type student in the senior year has officially become a psychic—your department’s top student, Xia Qingxue. Do you know what profession she obtained?”

“No.”

“A Prayer Bearer, an elite-level profession. This profession is very strong among elites, considered overpowered, sometimes called ‘Enhanced Elite,’ although the spirit world has no official concept of Enhanced Elite.”

“Only elite-level?” Ye Mingqiu’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Is elite level weak?” Zheng Xuejun sneered, then continued, “I suspect Tang Ruobing may have said something to you that caused you to misjudge the strength of professions and develop unrealistic expectations. So I must clarify what ordinary people can achieve and what the ceiling is.”

“At this stage, elite is the upper limit for most support psychics. To advance to Lord level, you need to accumulate more specialties, spending more time and money to build skills and traits for stronger abilities.”

“With your talent, you might reach the Lord threshold once your attributes meet the requirements. But achieving a hero-level profession is still unlikely... Even so, investing in you as a Lord-level support is worthwhile. Lord level is already very powerful, and even during the college entrance exams, Lord-level psychics perform excellently.”

Ye Mingqiu grew silent. Actually, what was taught in textbooks and classrooms was even harsher than Director Zheng’s words. They said support types only needed to reach ordinary level to get by, since there were so few of them. Even with lower profession levels, they were still highly sought after when forming teams.

Staring at the plus signs on his status panel and his three talents, Ye Mingqiu spoke earnestly, “Though it’s difficult, I will use my persistence and effort to reach the ideal shore.”

The guidance counselor was slightly moved.

“Director, in this brief life, I clearly feel the limits of my talent. The more I try to surpass them, the more constrained I become. It’s like an invisible net wrapping me, slowly draining my strength, leaving me powerless to resist... But even so, I want to use whatever strength I have, my modest talent, firm belief, and unyielding will, to explore a future that exists only in dreams.”

Ye Mingqiu said resolutely, “I want to see the scenery from higher up.”

“Then keep striving.”

Zheng Xuejun said no more but smiled and added, “By the way, if your final profession level falls below elite, you’ll owe the school a breach of contract penalty of 20 million.”

“Impossible,” Ye Mingqiu answered confidently and signed his name on the agreement. Jokingly, if he couldn’t even reach elite, he might as well end it all on the spot.

“By the way, do you have some conflict with Tang Ruobing?” Zheng Xuejun suddenly asked.

“Huh? What’s wrong?” Ye Mingqiu’s heart skipped a beat—this didn’t sound good.

But he quickly relaxed, certain that his junior Kiria Ame was not the type to snitch behind his back. Besides, if she had done so, he wouldn’t be signing this contract so easily now.

“Well...” The counselor chuckled awkwardly, “She carved your face on every fixed target in her exclusive training room and hits them hard every time she trains.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, just a little temper tantrum,” Ye Mingqiu said, relieved.

“Did you two know each other before?”

Ye Mingqiu thought for a moment and replied, “We played the same game, so I guess we know each other.”

“Oh.”

The counselor nodded slightly and said, “Next, let me explain the basic benefits of the College Entrance Exam Preparatory Team to you.”