4: Chapter 4: Raising a martial artist is extremely difficult.

Qin Yan also felt a heavy weight on his shoulders.

He possessed the massive advantage of the panel, which could accelerate the cultivation of his skills.

In terms of Martial Arts Skill, he was confident that as long as he continued to train hard, he would even have a chance to aim for a perfect score of 10 before the College Entrance Examination.

But what about Qi and blood?

The improvement of Qi and blood was a massive mountain standing in his way.

Stance Training cultivation could indeed accelerate the tempering and growth of Qi and blood, but without sufficient resources like qi and blood potions, Qi and Blood Pills, and Advanced medicinal meals to assist, the growth rate of Qi and blood would not be fast even if one reached the profound Realm of the fourth or fifth layer of Stance Training.

A single bottle of the most common standard qi and blood potion cost as much as 200 huaxia coins.

Wanting to quickly increase Qi and blood was essentially burning money.

With his ordinary, or even impoverished, family background, he simply couldn't afford this massive expense.

Gu Feng watched the students lower their heads one by one, their morale low, and knew the timing was about right.

Suppressing them was to make them recognize reality and guard against arrogance and impetuousness, not to destroy their confidence.

Moreover, he was well aware of the predicament the students present were facing.

Most students in the ordinary classes came from average families and couldn't rely on resources to stack their strength like the wealthy kids in the elite classes. Their only advantage was putting in every ounce of effort.

“Everyone, lift your heads!” Gu Feng's voice suddenly rose. “What's with the dejected looks! The path of martial arts is like rowing upstream; can't you even handle this little bit of pressure?”

The students subconsciously straightened their backs, their gazes refocusing on the instructor.

Only after seeing that everyone's attention was captured did Gu Feng continue: “The school just issued a notice! To motivate the seniors to fully prepare for the College Entrance Examination, the school will be awarding scholarships for outstanding students during the April Monthly Exam!”

He paused intentionally, and only after seeing all the students snap their heads up with light rekindling in their eyes did he slowly speak:

“The top 5 in the grade will be rewarded with thirty thousand huaxia coins!”

“Whoa—” An uncontrollable exclamation broke out among the crowd.

Thirty thousand huaxia coins!

To many students, this was a fortune!

It was enough to buy fifteen bottles of qi and blood potion!

“The number 1 in the grade!” Gu Feng's voice was like a resonant bell, drowning out all the noise. “Will be rewarded with fifty thousand huaxia coins, plus... ten bottles of qi and blood potion!”

“Hiss—”

The entire venue completely boiled over! Fifty thousand in cash plus ten bottles of qi and blood potion—the total value exceeded seventy thousand huaxia coins!

This amount of resources was enough to allow a student's Qi and blood and strength to experience a leap before the College Entrance Examination!

The top-ranking students in the class instantly had a flush of excitement and agitation on their faces, their eyes becoming incredibly burning.

This reward... if they gave it their all, it seemed they truly had a hope of reaching it!

Even Qin Yan felt his heart thumping wildly at this moment, his blood flowing faster.

His Stance Training had already reached the third layer, and his absorption efficiency and utilization rate of qi and blood potions far exceeded his peers.

If he could get this reward, especially the rich resources of the top ten...

If he pushed his Stance Training to the fourth or even fifth layer!

By then, the effect of him absorbing one portion of qi and blood potion would be comparable to, or even exceed, others absorbing four or five portions!

“I must get it!” Qin Yan clenched his fists tightly. “For this next month, I'll give it my all! I'll aim for the top fifty, or even the top ten!”

He rapidly calculated in his mind: “Last time, the 50th rank in the school had 74 calories of Qi and blood and a Martial Arts Skill score of 73.”

“In the Monthly Exam, Qi and blood and Martial Arts Skill carry the same weight. 74 calories of Qi and blood converts to 74 points, so that person's total score was 147.”

“Some time has passed since then, and with the College Entrance Examination approaching, the competition will surely use more resources to sprint, so their grades will definitely improve... But I have the support of the System panel. As long as I put in enough effort, it shouldn't be hard to reach or even surpass that level...”

After announcing this blockbuster news, Gu Feng watched the students who had rekindled their fighting spirit, said no more, and directly announced dismissal.

The students left the gym in groups of twos and threes, excitedly discussing the reward scheme that had just been announced.

This rare, large-scale investment by the school was undoubtedly timely help for these ordinary class students with generally average family backgrounds, and a major boost on the road to a martial university.

“Sigh, this reward is good, but unfortunately it has nothing to do with us.” Zhou Yuan sighed as he walked.

His comprehensive ranking was in the upper-middle of the class; trying to break into the top fifty of the grade was as difficult as reaching the heavens.

Qin Yan patted his friend's shoulder: “It depends on one's effort. There's still a month of preparation time.”

In the Xia Country, and even the entire Blue Star, Martial Artists possessed extremely high status and power.

Many large enterprises required high-level Martial Artists to oversee them. Even an average small enterprise had to have at least a First Grade Martial Artist serving as a safety consultant.

Otherwise, the enterprise simply couldn't survive and wouldn't even be able to get the most basic production safety permit.

Not to mention, powerful Martial Artists also bore the mission of resisting invasions from otherwordly civilizations.

Powerful Martial Artists had always been the objects of worship and envy for all young people.

However, becoming a Martial Artist was hard! The only path they currently knew of to become a Martial Artist was through a martial arts university.

Therefore, getting into a martial university and becoming a Martial Artist was the common goal of all high school seniors on Blue Star!

The two then had a simple lunch at the school cafeteria.

The trays mainly contained high-protein meats and a small amount of vegetables—cultivating Stance Training was extremely taxing on the body, and this food could only maintain their basic daily consumption. To progress quickly, they had to rely on medicinal meals and supplements.

But those things were ridiculously expensive, far beyond what they could afford.

Overall, taking qi and blood potions directly offered the best value for money.

Qin Yan ate a lot because he still had to persist in practicing his Spear Technique in the evening.

As for Stance Training, with his current Qi and blood level, two hours of cultivation a day was his limit.

For this single meal, Qin Yan spent fifty. And a Martial Artist needed three meals a day, none of which could be skipped, or their Qi and blood wouldn't keep up.

The cost of food alone reached one hundred and fifty per day. That was at least four thousand five hundred huaxia coins a month.

And this was just basic diet, not counting other expenses like qi and blood potions and medicinal meals. Otherwise, the cost would be even higher.

Martial arts—it was burning money. Raising a Martial Artist was harder than hard.

...

Walking out of the cafeteria, the two walked side-by-side toward the classroom.

After arriving at the classroom, they took out their books and began studying their academic subjects. Academics were also one of the three hurdles of the College Entrance Examination and could not be ignored.

Because the gym's capacity was limited, the school chose to stagger the times for martial arts classes and academic classes for each class.

Senior Class 1 performed martial arts cultivation every morning and studied academic subjects in the afternoon.

Compared to Qi and blood and Martial Arts Skill, the requirements for academic subjects in the martial arts College Entrance Examination were not high. Out of a perfect score of 100, reaching 60 was sufficient.

Only the two Top-tier Martial Arts Universities had an academic requirement of 70.

The same applied to the Monthly Exam; the grade ranking only looked at the total score of Qi and blood and Martial Arts Skill, as long as the academic subjects were passed.

Qin Yan opened his textbook and began to study intently.

The main content of the books involved basic knowledge of human skeletal structures, Meridians, and internal organs.

A Martial Artist's cultivation was inherently a process of improving oneself, and the vast majority of these academic subjects were about this kind of foundational knowledge.

After studying for an afternoon, he went to the cafeteria in the evening and had another similarly expensive dinner, spending another 50 huaxia coins.

Qin Yan once again deeply experienced the massive consumption of martial arts cultivation.

“I must get into a martial university. Only then will I be able to achieve something in martial arts.”

A martial university didn't just have the path to becoming a Breakthrough Martial Artist; it also received favorable resource allocation from the state.

The more powerful the martial university, the more resources the state would allocate to it.

Every examinee dreamed of getting into a powerful martial university.

Jianghai Martial University, the number one martial university in Jiangnan Province, was Qin Yan's goal.

At the same time, it was also the dream martial university in the hearts of all the examinees at Linhai No. 1 High School.

But those who could get into Jianghai Martial University were few and far between.

Last year, Linhai No. 1 High School only had 7 students get in.

...