Chapter 2: Four Academy System

Translator: Lordbluefire

Su Long eventually left, in a carefree manner at that.

Yet, Su Yu felt empty within. His father left just like that, leaving no time for him to prepare.

In one aspect, he was worried about his father’s safety. But he was also worried about his life in the future.

He was used to having his father’s care, his father’s company. Now that he was abruptly thrust into a world of his own, he truly couldn’t get used to it.

“Father…you forgot to wash the bowls before you left!”

Su Yu nagged, trying to find joy in bitterness. He then sighed. There were things he truly didn’t want to think about because he would involuntarily feel nervous if he thought about them. The Allskies Battlefield was incomparably dangerous. He was worried that if he continued thinking, he would chase after his father and drag him home.

“Civilization Academies…”

Su Yu also couldn’t be bothered to wash the dishes. He sat on the sofa and fell into a daze.

Before his father left, he nagged and told Su Yu to join the Great Xia Civilization Academy. In the past, Su Yu had indeed wanted to take the college examination for the Civilization Academies. However, now…

“If you didn’t go to the Allskies Battlefield, I would join one of the Civilization Academies. But since you are so adamant about going to the Allskies Battlefield, how can I not worry about you?

“You might not be able to return even if you spend a few years there. Now, you want me to worry about you every day from the backlines?

“How old are you now? Don’t you know how to think?”

Su Yu rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming.

“This is what you force me to do. In any case, you are no longer at home. I will not join the Civilization Academies, and I have to get into one of the war academies no matter what!”

Su Yu gritted his teeth. Those from the Civilization Academies had it good. Their jobs were to decipher the culture of the myriad races, analyze the cultivation arts of the other races, and research their civilization.

Any civilization researcher could safely stay in the backlines. There was no need for them to participate in the slaughter at the frontlines.

As for the war academies, the students there were being prepared and nurtured for the front lines.

In the past, he had worked so hard to study the all-races languages. Wasn’t it to be able to safely stay in the backlines so he could accompany his father?

But now, his aged father had actually run off to the dangerous Allskies Battlefield.

If he really entered the Civilization Academies, there would be almost no chance for him to head to the frontlines.

Things were different for war academies. It was said that they would go to the Allskies Battlefield very often for their practical lessons.

“War academies…I need strength to pass their exams!”

It was one thing for Su Yu to think about it, but he still felt a little vexed. One couldn’t simply join the war academies just because they wanted to. Strictly speaking, at the very least, it was more difficult compared to joining the Civilization Academies for him.

The criteria for martial strength in the Civilization Academies wasn’t high. However, it was different for the war academies. After all, the war academies were responsible for delivering experts to the frontlines.

Origin Opening, Thousand Pound, Ten-Thousand Stone…This was the cultivation system of the human race.

The bodies of humans were innately unsuitable for cultivation. Hence, one had to activate their Origin Opening Nine Apertures before they could connect their meridians and energy channels, which would allow them to come in contact with origin qi and officially step on the path of cultivation.

In Origin Opening, there were nine apertures. The mouth, nose, eyes, and ears made up seven apertures. The remaining two were the Baihui and Shenque, which corresponded to the acupoint at the crown of one’s head and the acupoint at their navel.

After opening the nine apertures, one could then absorb origin qi to refine their bodies, strengthen their bones, and achieve a complete transformation, officially becoming a cultivator that had immense combat strength.

“I’ve just opened three apertures, which are my mouth and nose. There are no signs of my ears opening yet, so I’m still not at the fourth level. Like this, it isn’t going to be so simple to join the war academies”

Su Yu mumbled. The war academies were established for the sake of nurturing experts. As their consumption was great, they definitely wouldn’t waste resources on the weak.

If one wanted to join, it was for the best if they had opened their ear apertures which enabled them to reach the fifth level of the Origin Opening Realm. Their chances of successfully joining would then be more assured.

Naturally, if they had opened the apertures of their eyes and reached the sixth or seventh level, it was almost guaranteed that they would be able to join.

For those with higher talent that had activated their Shenque and Baihui, the war academies would issue a direct invitation.

For those people below twenty who had activated all nine apertures, they could apply to join the war academies any time, and they would be accepted immediately.

“I’ve only opened three apertures…”

Su Yu sighed. Opening three apertures weren’t considered too bad. Naturally, it definitely couldn’t be counted as very good either.

In the Nanyuan Mid-grade Academy he was in, there were a total of nine preparatory classes with 750 students. Of all of them, over a hundred people were at the third level of Origin Opening, and tens of them were above the third level.

According to the recruitment ratio of the war academies in this school, they would at most select not more than 20 people.

This also meant that those in the fourth level would have a very high probability of being selected, while those in the third level were a dime a dozen. Only one of them would be selected out of every hundred.

Moreover, war academies could be divided into the strong and weak ones, and the war academies that selected students at the third level of Origin Opening wouldn’t be that strong. If that was the case, he might as well choose a Civilization Academy to join.

“There are still three more months. War academies…let’s see again at that time!”

Su Yu gritted his teeth. Since his father was so unreliable, he naturally had to rely on himself more.

Who would want to run to the Allskies Battlefield no matter what at such an old age?

…

“Hu…”

Su Yu was once again shocked awake in the middle of the night.

His head was drenched in sweat.

“It’s that damnable dream again…Father…”

Su Yu subconsciously called out. In the past, when he woke up from a nightmare, his father would rapidly rush over. But when he called out today, there were no signs or noises from outside his room.

Hence, Su Yu’s expression turned sluggish. Only now did he recall that his father had left in the afternoon.

“Ai!”

Su Yu sighed. He then turned the lights on and glanced at a communicator. It was only 3 a.m, still very early.

“It has been over ten years, but it has never stopped.”

He had the same dream for over ten years, no matter who it was, no one could stand it.

Hence, he could only get used to it. When he was younger, he almost died because he didn’t dare to fall asleep.

“What sort of situation is this exactly?”

Su Yu leaned against his bedhead and pondered over this question. He had been thinking about this question for many years.

He had mentioned it to his father before, but his father was also helpless. If he went to the hospital to see a doctor, the doctor would say that a psychological shadow might have formed in his heart due to fear.

The main point was that Su Yu couldn’t remember what he had been frightened by.

“It’s the same thing every time. At the end of the dream, I was hunted to death by humans, by demons, by monsters…”

Su Yu was vexed. He had the same dream every night, but it was not accurate to say that the details were exactly the same. He was being hunted down in his dreams every day, but the people hunting him were different. Or to put it even more accurately, some of the people basically weren’t humans.

There were all sorts of monsters and although they seemed illusory, he could tell that they weren’t the same type of lifeforms from their characteristics.

Who had he antagonized exactly?

He had been hunted down continuously in his dreams for over ten years. There was definitely no one else like him.

Back then, his father had guessed whether this was something done by the dream demon race’s spells. However, this place was the human realm. If the dream demons had really cast a spell that lasted over ten years here, they would have been killed by the experts in the human realm long ago.

Moreover, if there really was a dream demon who barged into the human realm, its purpose would only be to target an expert. Wasting over ten years on an ordinary human? If that other party wasn’t an idiot, it would surely be a super idiot!

“It’s endless, so annoying!”

Su Yu mocked. He also didn’t know when this unending cycle of dreams would end. Now, he was already somewhat used to it. If he couldn’t get used to it, there was no need for him to think about living peacefully.

“Father said that after opening the nine apertures and entering the Thousand Pound Realm, one would be invulnerable to all illnesses and become untainted by all things insidious and evil, with origin qi refining one’s body. At that time, I should be fine then?”

At this moment, Su Yu could only place his hopes that his nightmares would end when he entered the Thousand Pound Realm.

As he contemplated, time flew by. In the blink of an eye, there was already bright light outside the windows.

Dawn had arrived.

Su Long had left but Su Yu’s life had to continue. Today wasn’t a holiday, so he still had to go to the academy.

…

After washing up and eating a simple breakfast, Su Yu lifted his bag and walked out of his home.

Downstairs.

A youth that sported a flattop was waiting downstairs. When he saw Su Yu coming down, he hurriedly shouted, “A`Yu, I heard my father saying that yesterday Uncle Su…”

“Mn.”

Su Yu grunted even without waiting for him to finish.

The flattop grew anxious. “What’s Uncle Su doing? How old is he already? By going to the Allskies Battlefield, isn’t he simply courting d…?”

At this moment, he suddenly halted.

He wanted to say that Su Long was courting death, but he couldn’t say this to Su Yu’s face despite feeling it was true.

“He went of his own will. I also couldn’t stop him.”

Su Yu forcibly smiled. “In addition, there are several millions of soldiers in the Allskies Battlefield, along with many invincible experts of the human races guarding there. He won’t get into trouble so easily.”

“I know but Uncle Su is m…merely at the Thousand Pound Realm!”

The flattop was even more anxious than Su Yu. “Experts of the Thousand Pound Realm are very powerful to us, but they are considered the weakest lifeforms in the Allskies Battlefield. The starting path of the soldiers from the various races there is already the Thousand Pound Realm.”

“I know.”

“A`Yu, why are you not anxious at all?!”

The flattop felt very panicked for Su Yu’s sake. If he was in Su Yu’s shoes, he would have been crying and making a huge deal of noise.

“Is there any use if I’m nervous?”

Su Yu was helpless. His father had already left. At such a time, it would be useless no matter how anxious he felt.

“Go to school first, talk less nonsense.”

“Go to school?” The flattop spoke in shock, “You still want to go to school…”

Su Yu glared at him until he felt somewhat embarrassed.

“You don’t say? If I don’t go to school, don’t tell me I’m supposed to mope around at home and wipe my tears dry every day, waiting for bad news from the frontline?”

Su Yu rolled his eyes. What nonsense was this fellow talking about?

“Go, let’s go to school. A few days later, the school will have the examination name list for recommended universities. I want to go and register myself.”

“I thought you have registered?”

Chen Hao looked at him strangely and said, “Have you forgotten that you went with me to register together last week?”

“I know, but I registered for the Civilization Academies back then. This time, I want to register for the war academies.”

Chen Hao started. The war academies?

“You…”

“I’m leaving!”

Su Yu no longer gave him any chances to speak nonsense. Yesterday, he had made his decision, so he still had to register and put his name on the list for the war academies’ examination. Whether he passed or not, that was another matter.

…

Nanyuan Mid-grade Academy.

At the registration venue.

The teacher responsible for registration checked his information and spoke in a strange manner, “Su Yu, didn’t you already register to take the Civilization Academies’ examination? You grasped 18 types of all-races languages and can be considered among the top in our Nanyuan Academy. Even if you want to join the Great Xia Civilization Academy, you should have a 90% chance of passing. Why do you still want to choose a war academy?”

Usually, students who registered for two systems were unconfident in getting the choice they wanted. Hence, they had to have a fallback plan.

Su Yu was intelligent and was willing to put in the effort, having managed to grasp 18 types of all-races languages in these few years. With this result, even the most famous Great Xia Civilization Academy in Great Xia would open its doors for him.

If it wasn’t for this, Su Long wouldn’t have been so sure that his son could join it before he left so suddenly. He had even specially reminded Su Yu to send him letters.

Su Yu didn’t explain too much. He smiled. “Teacher, it’s best to have a backup plan for the sake of cautiousness. I thought everyone can register for two systems? It would be good to have something to fall back to.”

“That’s true, but you truly don’t have to do this. You just have to perform well in the exam.”

The teacher in charge of registration smiled. “Our school has long since sent the name list of top students like you guys to the universities. Although we still need you to pass the exams, in truth, all of you guys already have files in the high-grade academies of Great Xia. Even if you flunk the exam, the other party might still give you a second chance.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Hao who was at the side exclaimed in envy. He couldn’t help but speak, “Teacher, is my name on the list?”

The teacher in charge of registration glanced at him and chortled. “Yup, I’ve sent your file to the internal affairs academies.”

Chen Hao’s face crumbled.

Internal affairs academies!

The four academic systems were war, civilization, scientific research, and internal affairs.

Internal affairs delved into life skills such as mechanical repairers, chefs, chauffeurs, executives, entertainment… All these were considered branches of internal affairs.

Meanwhile, the war academies nurtured experts, the civilization academies deciphered the civilization of the various races, and the scientific research academies studied and developed weapons and pills…

These three systems weren’t bad. To these youths, they would only choose the Internal Affair Academies if they couldn’t get into any of the other three.

The teacher in charge of registration then ignored him and helped Su Yu with his registration. He then laughed. “Mainly, you still have to focus on the civilization system. During this period, it would be good if you could grasp one or two more languages. They would be helpful to you in the future. As for cultivation, don’t be in a hurry. It’s enough for those in the Civilization Academies to cultivate to the Thousand Pound Realm in the future, being invulnerable to all illnesses.”

The Civilization Academies didn’t require one to have strong combat strength. This teacher was also worried that Su Yu might walk on the wrong path currently.

Su Yu smiled and nodded, not rejecting the suggestion. After all, his teacher reminded him out of goodwill.

However…during this period, he was going to place more focus on his cultivation.