4: Chapter 4 Investment

When Shen Ye pushed the door and entered, Principal Zhou was looking at his test report.

She raised her head, her gaze lingering on Shen Ye for a moment.

Her Analysis Attribute allowed her to vaguely sense the power fluctuations from Shen Ye—but those fluctuations were blurry, as if something were actively concealing them.

She didn't press him for answers.

Land of Cultivation, high-grade attribute.

One thousand Progeny, maximum value.

Divine Kingdom area of one hundred square kilometers, maximum value.

S-rank Double Time—one day in the outside world is one year in an ordinary Awakened's Divine Kingdom, but for you, it's two years.

"Do you know what this means?"

Shen Ye said, "I know."

"You don't." Principal Zhou put down the report and looked at him.

"Nanjiang No. 7 High School has only produced three S-ranks in sixty years.

The first was named Fang Zhen; he Awakened Magma Hell and the S-rank talent War Frenzy.

He took three years to break into the national top two hundred and enter Shenyu University. After graduation, he was assigned to the Frontier Pioneer Corps.

At the age of thirty-one, he died in a rift within the Gray Zone."

"The second was named Gu Yan; he Awakened the Eye of the Storm and the S-rank talent Elemental Resonance.

He was the strongest of the three, fighting his way into the top one hundred in the National Competition and entering Cangqiong University's core cultivation program.

After graduation, he was performing a pioneering mission in the Northern Mining District. He went missing during an operation deep behind enemy lines and has yet to be found."

"The third was named He Man; she Awakened the Frost Throne and the S-rank talent Absolute Zero.

She retired the earliest and is now an instructor in the provincial capital.

She is the only one of the three who lived past the age of forty."

Principal Zhou stood up, walked to the window, and turned her back to Shen Ye.

"What do the three of them have in common? It wasn't a lack of talent.

Fang Zhen's Magma Hell was a high-grade attribute, Gu Yan's Eye of the Storm was the finest among high-grade attributes, and He Man's Frost Throne was close to top-tier.

Nor was it a lack of effort.

Fang Zhen killed the Void Race at the border for twelve years; his kill count ranked in the top ten among pioneers of the same period.

Gu Yan took first place seven times in Cangqiong University's practical combat assessments.

He Man retired because she stayed behind alone to cover her teammates during a mission, and her Divine Kingdom suffered heavy damage."

She turned around.

"Their commonality is—none of them ever made it into the national top fifty."

Shen Ye remained silent.

"Fang Zhen's highest rank was 193rd nationally. Gu Yan was 87th. He Man was 112th."

Principal Zhou walked back and pushed the report in front of Shen Ye. "Without entering the top fifty, one isn't qualified to enter the highest tier of the core cultivation program at the four top universities.

Without that tier of cultivation, there aren't enough resources to grow to a level where one can contend with a Void Race Lord.

They were all stuck halfway—not because of a lack of talent, but a lack of resources.

Not because of a lack of effort, but a lack of time."

She held up one finger.

"You are the fourth!

Your talent is stronger than all three of theirs.

Double Time means you will have seven hundred and thirty years of Divine Kingdom development time before the College Entrance Examination, twice that of an ordinary Awakened.

With the Land of Cultivation, maximum Progeny, and maximum area, your starting point is everyone else's finish line.

"But a high starting point doesn't mean you will go far."

She sat down again, her tone softening slightly.

"For the College Entrance Examination, I don't require you to take first place in the country.

Those monsters—Bai Ye, Chi Yan, and Cang—are not people we can compete with.

But I hope you break into the national top fifty.

The top fifty are eligible for the highest tier of the core cultivation program.

That step was one that Fang Zhen, Gu Yan, and He Man never managed to take.

I hope you can take it."

Shen Ye took the report.

"I will," he said.

Principal Zhou Wenyin looked at him and suddenly smiled.

There was something else in that smile—it wasn't the encouragement of a principal to a student, but rather more like a researcher seeing an interesting specimen.

"Just saying it is useless."

She stood up and walked toward a door in the corner of the office.

Shen Ye had noticed that door when he entered—it was entirely silver-gray, with no handle on its surface, only a sheet of smooth metal.

Principal Zhou Wenyin pressed her palm against the door. A circle of pale gold patterns lit up around the door frame—not a seal, but the traces of spatial laws.

Behind the door wasn't another room, but an independent Divine Realm fragment—the entrance to the projection of Principal Zhou Wenyin's own Divine Kingdom in the outside world.

The door opened.

Behind the door was a corridor, with countless curios displayed on both sides.

These weren't school property, but private collections accumulated by Principal Zhou Wenyin during her one hundred and twenty-three years as a deity.

Shen Ye followed the principal inside, his gaze sweeping across the display shelves on both sides—ancient beast bones sealed in crystal, rare seeds packed in spiritual energy silk bags.

Architectural blueprint scrolls suspended in magnetic light.

Neatly stacked phalanxes of Faith Crystal.

The further they went, the higher the grade of the collection.

On the innermost shelf were only three items: an entirely golden blueprint scroll, a fist-sized crystal with a galaxy flowing inside, and a broken sword without a crossguard.

Principal Zhou Wenyin stopped in front of the golden blueprint.

"Epic low-grade architectural blueprint, heavenly tribulation platform."

She spoke very calmly, as if talking about the weather. "One of the core buildings of a Cultivation Divine Kingdom. It reduces the power of the Heavenly Tribulation when the Progeny undergo their trials, increasing the success rate.

In the high schools of the Eastern Divine Realm, no more than ten possess Epic-grade blueprints.

Nanjiang No. 7 High School is one of them."

She took down the golden blueprint and handed it to Shen Ye.

"Take it."

Shen Ye took the blueprint.

The blueprint felt extremely heavy in his hand, much heavier than the Fine-grade and Rare-grade blueprints he had held before.

He could feel the power of laws contained within—not any of the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, but a higher-ranking power, nearly that of the Heavenly Dao.

Principal Zhou Wenyin walked over to the crystal with the flowing galaxy.

"Divine Kingdom Core Fragment, Rare high-grade.

After integrating into the Divine Kingdom, the expansion speed of the Divine Kingdom's area increases by one hundred percent, and the Progeny's reproduction speed increases by one hundred percent.

Core fragments of this quality aren't necessarily found even in provincial key schools.

I obtained this in exchange for my research results back at Wanxiang University."

She handed the crystal to Shen Ye as well.

"Take it."

Then she walked to the broken sword and stopped for a moment.

"This is not an architectural blueprint, nor is it a resource."

She reached out and touched the hilt of the broken sword, which let out a very soft hum. "This is Gu Yan's sword.

Before he disappeared, the last time he returned to Nanjiang, he left this sword with me.

He said that if the school ever produced another S-rank in the future, to give this sword to him."

She picked up the broken sword and placed it in Shen Ye's hand.

"Gu Yan's Eye of the Storm was a dual Wind and Thunder attribute.

Sealed within this sword is a full-power strike from when he broke through to become a True God."

"It's not for you to use, but for you to remember—remember what the true power of an S-rank is."

Shen Ye gripped the broken sword.

The blade was cold, but he could feel that streak of sealed, violent power deep within it.

Wind and thunder, intertwined and spinning, like a sleeping behemoth.

"These three items are my personal investment."

Principal Zhou Wenyin walked out of the collection room, returned to the office, and took a document from a drawer. "The school's resource quota is calculated separately.

According to the highest standards for municipal key schools, an S-rank Awakened is allocated three Fine-grade blueprints, fifty Faith Crystal, and ten million in cash every month.

You are the only S-rank at Nanjiang No. 7 High School, so the quota is doubled—six blueprints, one hundred crystals, and twenty million in cash."

She pushed the document over.

"On the first of every month, go to the Resource Department to collect them.

Collect them until the College Entrance Examination."

Shen Ye took the document.

Twenty million a month; ten months would be two hundred million.

Combined with the three Epic and Rare-grade curios given by Principal Zhou Wenyin personally—the weight of this investment far exceeded a normal high school principal's "encouragement" to a student.