"Who arranged for me to get in?" After Wei Zhigao left, Su Chen studied the Spirit Communication Device in his hand. It came with an instruction manual and looked like one of the old-fashioned cell phones from his previous life, complete with physical buttons.
Because of the mist, its communication range was limited to Southwind City. It could be used for short-range, temporary messaging, and for now, it only had one contact: Wei Zhigao.
'Did I misjudge him?'
Su Chen examined it closely. The metal casing had a pretty nice feel to it.
'Whatever. I'll just take the benefits first and figure it out later.'
Su Chen could only set aside the things he couldn't figure out for now. At least he could get a lot of good stuff for free.
A Tier One Advanced physical profession was definitely stronger than Warrior.
According to the simple information Wei Zhigao provided, Gale Walker focused more on speed, with a slight boost to strength.
Warrior, on the other hand, purely enhanced strength. Generally, there was no conflict between Low-tier Professions.
In terms of future prospects, Gale Walker was definitely better.
After leaving his room, he went to the end of the corridor to check the class schedule. Su Chen noted down the classroom for the physical training class and then trained for a while.
[Warrior: 20%]
[Molten Stone Refining Technique—Introductory: 65%]
Even though the Molten Stone Refining Technique was an F-level Refining Technique, his progress was still quite fast at the introductory stage.
There were more members of the Inspector Guard in the academy. Everyone entering or leaving had to undergo strict screening, and they were conducting thorough searches of many remote corners inside.
These sights made Su Chen wonder, 'Is the attacker still in the academy?'
...
"Yuan Chenyang sure reacts fast... that old fox..." In a corner of the academy, a pair of sinister eyes scanned the surroundings as their owner whispered:
"The material of that thing is special. It'll be difficult to get it out in the open. I'll be discovered sooner or later."
"I need to think of a way..."
...
'This place is something else.' Su Chen arrived at the top-floor classroom. The room was sealed by a heavy metal door. He swiped his student ID, and with a heavy grinding of gears, the door slid open to the sides.
A few people had already arrived. They were all burly and looked at him with surprise and suspicion.
'Is this a gym...?' Su Chen glanced around. The spacious room was filled with all sorts of massive equipment, all forged from metal.
"Hey, classmate, are... are you in the wrong place?" someone asked in a booming voice, holding something that looked like a dumbbell, his muscles bulging.
"Isn't this the physical training class?" Su Chen asked.
"It is... but..." The person nodded and said hesitantly, "How come I've never seen you before?"
"I'm new," Su Chen said casually. The few of them exchanged glances but didn't say anything else.
He looked around, then picked up a dumbbell. Both ends were made of black metal, and there was something like a dial on the grip.
Su Chen gave it a tentative turn and saw a blue fluorescent light flow through the patterns on the dumbbell's surface. He felt the dumbbell get a little heavier.
'Interesting...' Su Chen realized that this equipment was indeed quite effective for physical training.
"Su Chen..." A somewhat familiar voice called out from behind him.
"Old Bai?" Su Chen turned around, quite surprised to see Bai Fengxi dressed in workout clothes. Her hair was tied up high, making her look very capable. "You're training your body too?"
'Old Bai?'
The others' eyes widened slightly. 'This kid knows Bai Fengxi that well?'
Everyone thought of Bai Fengxi as Yuan Chenyang's "student," a sort of "second-generation elite" who was naturally in a different league from most people.
"Just here to learn a few things..." Bai Fengxi said evasively.
Seeing that she didn't look surprised at all, Su Chen immediately understood. "You were the one who got me in?"
"It was Yuan Chenyang. He doesn't plan on taking on any more students, so he could only give you this chance," Bai Fengxi nodded.
"Thanks," Su Chen said.
Bai Fengxi accepted his thanks calmly.
KLAK KLAK!
The metal door opened again. A palpable sense of pressure washed over the room, so strong that even Su Chen could clearly feel it. A lean but powerfully built man walked in, his muscles clearly defined.
Everyone gradually gathered around, their expressions solemn. "Instructor!"
"That's the instructor—Zheng Shi," Bai Fengxi whispered.
Zheng Shi scanned the room, his gaze landing on Su Chen. He frowned slightly and said in a deep voice, "We have a new member today, Su Chen. From now on, he will be training with us."
"Su Chen..."
"Never heard of him..."
The crowd murmured. Suddenly, someone gasped in a low voice, "Fuck, no wonder this kid looks familiar. It looks like he's following Instructor Jiang He's path."
"Jiang He... No wonder he's so handsome..."
In an instant, a flood of gazes filled with envy, jealousy, and hate fell upon him.
Even Instructor Zheng was stunned for a moment. 'Jiang He...'
"Quiet!" Instructor Zheng's brows furrowed as he barked. "Let's start training. I'll guide you all later, so think about any questions you want to ask me."
"Su Chen, come here."
Su Chen obediently followed Instructor Zheng to a corner. The man, all business, took out a metal plate that was sealed in some kind of transparent, resin-like material.
"Look at it here. Memorize it," he said succinctly.
Su Chen took it. There was a long string of text on the metal plate inside. He only gave it a single glance before a notification popped up on his panel—
[Tier One Advanced Profession discovered—Gale Walker. Fulfill the conditions to acquire the profession.]
[Gale Walker Acquisition Condition 1: Accumulate a total of three years of running time. (One year completed)]
[Gale Walker Acquisition Condition 2: Raise any basic physical Training Technique to Mastery.]
Su Chen's brow twitched. Three years of cumulative running time. His entire previous life only amounted to one year, leaving two more to go.
'This is way too troublesome. Even if I don't need to eat, drink, or feel fatigue, it would still take at least three or four years to complete.'
'No wonder that Wei Zhigao fellow reacted the way he did.'
This kind of profession clearly wasn't meant for ordinary people.
Due to physical development, most people only began high-intensity physical training or spiritual meditation after reaching adulthood.
But an activity like running could be built up from childhood.
With that thought, Su Chen handed the metal plate back. The information recorded on it was slightly different from what was on his panel, but he was already used to that.
"Memorized it?" Instructor Zheng was surprised to see him hand it back after just a single glance.
When other students received their profession information, they wished they could read every word a dozen times over, terrified of missing any detail.
'Does this guy have such a good memory?'
He thought about reminding him, but on second thought, he simply put the object away with a blank expression. "Go back to training."
Su Chen found a corner and casually started hefting a dumbbell.
"What profession did you choose?" Bai Fengxi sidled up to him.
"Gale Walker," Su Chen said.
"Tier One Upper?" Bai Fengxi's brow furrowed slightly. She chose her words carefully as she reminded him, "This special training class has regular assessments. If your progress isn't up to par, you'll be kicked out."
The academy naturally wouldn't let slackers just freeload.
"How often?" Su Chen asked, already calculating in his head.
"Once a month."
Seeing the pensive look on Su Chen's face, Bai Fengxi added, "As long as you've thought it through."
Instructor Zheng was making his rounds, checking on each student's training progress.
The other students didn't have a panel to display such intuitive data, so they could only rely on experience to judge how far they had trained the relevant Skills required for their professions.
The requirements for a basic physical profession weren't difficult—it was just a matter of increasing physical strength—but achieving a perfect promotion was another story.
"...You idiot! Did you train on your own again? Your abdominal and back muscles are obviously overdeveloped! If you keep this up, you won't be able to achieve a perfect profession acquisition!"
Instructor Zheng scolded him with bitter disappointment. The burly teenager standing before him kept his head down, not daring to speak.
These guys came from all different strata of Southwind City, but none were from backgrounds that could afford to train them from childhood. Many were even from ordinary families and valued this opportunity immensely.
Seeing this, Su Chen couldn't help but sigh. 'The Warrior profession was so damn considerate. It let me acquire it directly, which saved me so much trouble.'
[Warrior has sensed the host's sincere gratitude. It is in a great mood and has decided to eat Gale Walker.]
'What the hell?'
The notification popped up abruptly on his panel, and the color drained from Su Chen's face.
'Bro, don't do it! What if you get counter-killed? Will I even have my Warrior profession anymore?'