5: Chapter 5 Holy crap, a pro?!

The Professionals Association is one of the largest and most foundational institutions of the Blue Star Alliance, standing alongside the military and executive systems to jointly support the operation of human civilization.

In a sense, it is responsible for governing all combat professionals.

Its functions are numerous, the most important being the registration and management of professionals; the very first thing everyone who undergoes a combat class Awakening must do is go to the Professionals Association to complete their registration.

Secondly, it handles the collection of social resource benefits for combat professionals.

Beyond that, it also includes the formation and management of grassroots professional organizations such as guilds and adventure groups, as well as the operation of various rankings like dungeon clearance statistics, professional Rank rankings, and clearance rankings.

As one of the most foundational institutions of the Blue Star Alliance, every city has a Professionals Association building.

The Professionals Association building in Linglan City is situated right in the center of the city.

Unlike the surrounding metal skyscrapers that pierce the clouds, the Professionals Association building is not particularly tall—not even exceeding fifty meters—but its footprint is astonishingly massive, covering an area over a kilometer in radius.

Lu Yang took a hovering air-car and spent over half an hour arriving at the association building's private parking lot.

The air-car slowly landed in the designated parking space, its doors sliding open silently, and Lu Yang stepped out of the cabin amidst the smart butler's prompt.

He looked up, and the first thing he saw was that magnificent dark-black building.

Its lines were square and clean, its surface covered in matte material, emitting a steady, subtle glow under the light of the binary stars.

In front of the building was a huge plaza.

Standing in the plaza was a row of Monument to the Heroes over a hundred meters tall, with surfaces as smooth as mirrors, densely engraved with individual names and their deeds.

These names all belonged to the combat heroes of the Human Alliance.

Some performed brilliantly in battles against alien races, single-handedly turning the entire tide of war; some pioneered high-difficulty dungeons, carving out paths for humanity to obtain better equipment and skill books; and others stubbornly guarded the planets and even star systems behind them beneath the claws and fangs of starry behemoths.

It could be said that every single name was an undying star in the history of human civilization.

Lu Yang stood at the edge of the plaza, gazing from afar at that long wall of monuments, an undisguised yearning welling up in his eyes.

He hoped that one day, his own name could also be engraved on this monument.

At the end of the plaza was the main entrance of the Professionals Association building.

The gate was over fifty meters wide, with a magnificent Aura, resembling a giant's portal.

At this moment, a large number of combat professionals were entering and exiting outside the gate, their steps hurried or leisurely, and their various professional attire overlapped under the sunlight into a flowing scenery.

Lu Yang's gaze swept across the crowd, discovering that young people made up a considerable proportion.

This was also normal; all senior high school students in the entirety of Linglan City had completed their Awakening yesterday.

As newly minted combat professionals, they would all come here to register and then enter the free welfare dungeons, so young faces naturally gathered in crowds.

He took steps forward with a brisk pace, walking toward that gate seemingly built for giants.

Lu Yang walked through the doors, and his vision suddenly cleared as an absurdly large hall unfolded before him.

The dome was very high, and light evenly spilled down from the top, illuminating the entire hall until it was transparent and bright.

Combat professionals shuttled between them, heading to various areas to handle different business.

Lu Yang tapped open the holographic projection navigation on his personal terminal, and the distribution map of various departments of the Professionals Association immediately emerged in mid-air.

Registration and Management Department, Auction and Commercial Trading Area, Private Equipment and Consumables Customization Area, Dungeon Area...

Beneath every area tag were augmented reality arrows guiding the direction.

The gentle voice of the intelligent assistant rang in his ear: "Master, as a newly Awakened combat professional, you need to go register your combat professional identity first, collect your social resource benefits, and then head to the dungeon area. Or you can also go to the trading area first to buy some equipment and skill books before making plans for dungeon challenges..."

Following the guiding arrows, Lu Yang quickly arrived at the registration area.

The registration hall was not small, with over a hundred chairs placed inside for waiting.

Yet now it was packed with people; every chair was occupied, and even the empty spaces were standing with quite a few people.

These people had youthful faces, among which there were no lack of faces familiar to Lu Yang.

They were those combat professional classmates who had undergone Awakening yesterday at No. 4 High School.

Looking at the densely packed crowd, Lu Yang felt somewhat depressed; if he had known, he would have left home a bit earlier.

There were quite a few high schools in the entirety of Linglan City. Even if each school only had a few dozen combat professional Awakened, added together it would still be over a thousand people. For all of them to crowd over to register on the same morning, it would be a wonder if there was no queue.

He went to get a number, found a spot in the corner to stand, and quietly waited for his number to be called.

During the waiting intervals, many teenage boys and girls in the hall gathered in groups of twos and threes to converse in low voices, looking like schoolmates or acquaintances.

There were also some students who came alone, shuttling between seats, actively striking up conversations with others, looking for the possibility of forming a team.

Just at this moment, an enthusiastic voice came from not far away: "Hey~ buddy! I remember your name is Lu Yang, right?"

Lu Yang turned his head to see a curly-haired teenager with brownish skin and a tall, sturdy build walking quickly toward him with an enthusiastic smile on his face.

Lu Yang looked at him and found him familiar; he should be someone seen at yesterday's Awakening ceremony.

He smiled and replied: "Yeah, you're also from No. 4 High School, right? I think I saw you yesterday."

The teenager said enthusiastically: "That's right, my name is Anthony, and I'm a priest!"

As he spoke, his hand flicked, conjuring up a priest's staff like a magic trick, and he waved it around rather decently.

Watching his posture of wielding the staff, Lu Yang always felt that this wasn't a priest casting a spell, but rather looked like a Berserker swinging an iron rod.

His expression couldn't help but become somewhat subtle.

"...What is your intelligence?"

Anthony immediately scratched his head in embarrassment, giving a chuckle: "3 points. My brain doesn't work too well."

The corners of Lu Yang's mouth twitched slightly, momentarily not knowing what to say in response.

Anthony was also a bit awkward, quickly giving a dry cough to cover it up: "It's fine, it's fine. Anyway, I'll put all my stat points into intelligence in the future, so it won't be much different. Plus, I even went and bought a whole set of equipment, making my intelligence a bit higher than a priest wearing novice gear."

Hearing this, Lu Yang was slightly surprised.

Who would have thought, this kid is actually quite wealthy.

Lu Yang smiled and said: "That's pretty good."

Anthony seized the opportunity and enthusiastically issued an invitation: "Buddy, how about we form a party together? I've already learned Elementary Healing and Elementary Holy Light; my healing output is definitely sufficient!"

After speaking, he even deliberately squeezed his chest, and his thick chest muscles twitched twice, visible even through his clothes.

Lu Yang didn't understand how he pulled that off, but he was deeply shocked.

However, he hadn't expected Anthony to take the initiative to invite him.

Thinking carefully, it made sense; everyone was from the same school, and with the alumni relationship, partying up was always more reassuring than grouping with strangers.

The distribution of equipment and Materials was also easier to negotiate, so there wouldn't be conflicts over a single drop.

To be honest, if Lu Yang hadn't awakened his Immortal Talent, he would have been very happy to form a party with Anthony.

Being able to gather a complete set of new equipment in the early stage, coupled with two basic healing skills, was already considered a pretty decent setup among commoner professionals.

Unfortunately, his goal was the Nightmare difficulty.

If they really formed a party, it would end up harming the other guy instead.

Lu Yang smiled with a hint of apology: "Sorry, I plan to solo."

Anthony was clearly stunned for a moment, and then his eyes widened abruptly, revealing a look of shock: "Holy crap, a big shot?!"

Anyone who can solo the novice dungeon is truly a big shot.

Either they have money, they have Soul Talent, or they have both.

Lu Yang smiled indifferently: "It's alright."

Anthony was full of envy, accompanied by a bit of regret, and scratched his head as he said: "Alright then, I'll go ask someone else."

He also knew his boundaries and didn't shamelessly beg to be carried.

After speaking, Anthony turned around and continued shuttling through the crowd to look for teammates.

Lu Yang didn't pay too much attention to it either, continuing to lean against the corner and wait for his number to be called.

After a short while, several more teenage boys and girls from No. 4 High School came over one after another to invite him to a party.

Lu Yang politely declined them one by one, using the exact same excuse: that he wanted to solo.

After hearing this, the other party also showed surprise, and then tactfully bid farewell and left.

However, very soon, Lu Yang noticed a trace of something amiss.

There were always people sneaking glances at him.

At first it was just scattered gazes, but before long, more and more people were stealthily sizing him up.

Those eyes held curiosity, exploration, and were mixed with a bit of hard-to-conceal envy.

At first Lu Yang was a bit puzzled, but after turning his brain around, he quickly figured it out.

It was probably those classmates who came to invite him earlier who spread the gossip about him wanting to solo the dungeon.

A big shot who could solo a free welfare dungeon naturally received quite a bit of attention.

Facing the gazes cast from around him, Lu Yang didn't have much of a reaction.

He had been mentally prepared for this long ago.

This was just the beginning; once he reached the dungeon area and opened the Nightmare difficulty, the attention he received would only be far greater than now.