Chapter 13: Speculating on Transcendent Futures

You received an increased loan limit because you were admitted to a second-tier university.

However, beyond level 7, the experience requirements grew significantly, and the experience gained from basic divine blessing crystals diminished further.

Even after exhausting all the predatory loans, you only gained about two-thirds more experience.

Still, with the remaining funds from your equipment loan, you purchased a batch of upgrade stones, raising your Drunken Madness set to level 7.

Overall, thanks to the change in the status of every member of the Crimson Heart squad, you all experienced a profound transformation once again.

On July 1st, Year 125 of the Supernatural Era, the Crimson Heart squad used a teleportation array to arrive in Cloud City.

Upon arrival, you had everyone report to their respective schools first.

Regarding the various student aid loan programs within the university, the rule was simple: as long as you could sign and they provided money, you signed!

After all, the fees for tuition, accommodation, books, teaching, guidance, and dozens of other expenses amounted to a substantial sum each year.

As practitioners of idealism, all their current efforts were a form of bitter perseverance!

Everything was for the future!

On September 1st, Year 125, when the semester officially began, according to the mentor training system at Cloud City Second University, you were assigned to Mentor Wang Guang, a specialist in the warrior discipline, becoming his student.

Through your investigation, you learned that under this mentor system, the mentor wielded significant power.

They could even petition the university to expel their own students.

Of course, each mentor had a limited quota, so unless absolutely necessary, they wouldn’t dismiss their free labor.

Unsurprisingly, Mentor Wang Guang was no saint.

Upon first meeting you, seeing that you only had a Black Iron rank talent and that your network profile showed no notable background or wealth, he immediately began assigning you dangerous tasks.

He used the excuse of building your physical strength to send you to collect Crimson Heart crystal cores from the lava caves near the school.

After researching, you discovered that these rare minerals formed under harsh conditions, and caves containing them were home to abyssal creatures known as Lava Demons.

The lowest-ranked Lava Demon was level 8.

Above them were elite level 9 demons, level 10 demon soldiers, and level 11 demon commanders.

This wasn’t a mining task—it was a death sentence.

You chose to ignore this.

You attended all the freshman warrior courses regularly.

You diligently studied the various combat skill classes.

You ignored Wang Guang’s demands and consumed the physical enhancement pills the school provided weekly.

To punish you, Wang Guang publicly berated you in front of all the freshmen, branding you as disrespectful to your mentor.

Such petty slander left you utterly indifferent.

Moreover, during the school’s monthly training opportunities, you covertly invited the other members of Crimson Heart squad to accompany you.

Face? What was face worth?

Would you risk your life in a lava cave just to please that wretched beast and save face?

During classes, you gradually became close with your roommate Xu Hai, often helping him skip classes and still get attendance.

In gratitude, Xu Hai occasionally shared the school-issued enhancement pills with you.

You accepted without hesitation.

On November 15th, Year 125, thanks to priority supplies from the Crimson Heart squad, you reached level 8.

On January 5th, Year 126, Wang Guang issued an ultimatum: if you didn’t go to the lava caves to mine and submit the required Crimson Heart crystal cores on time, he would recommend you receive a major demerit.

A major demerit meant a one-year delay in graduation.

And on the eve of graduation, prestigious war groups and financial conglomerates would outright reject your job applications.

In other words, high-paying jobs would be forever out of reach.

You paid no mind to this hollow threat and continued leading the Crimson Heart squad through daily dungeon runs and material farming on campus.

On January 20th, Year 126, the last member of Crimson Heart squad reached level 6.

That same day, the school’s dean contacted you, hinting that you should confess your mistake to Wang Guang.

Normally, the school was reluctant to issue major demerits to ambitious students, but if your mentor insisted, the dean could only mark your record with a black spot.

After all, by school policy, the mentor had comprehensive authority over your discipline.

Seeing the dean’s kindly demeanor, you tried to play the victim and appear broken, hoping to move him.

If you could gain the dean’s protection, perhaps Wang Guang couldn’t continue to exploit you.

Unfortunately, your act failed to sway the dean.

Or rather, the dean and Wang Guang were cut from the same cloth.

Realizing this, you switched tactics and started speaking bureaucratic doublespeak to the dean.

In this era ruled by the supernatural, official jargon was still rough around the edges, and even this battle-hardened dean was left speechless by your countering rhetoric.

The next day, you were formally issued a major demerit.

You felt no ripple of emotion upon hearing this campus-wide announcement.

During the last simulation, you were forced out of the safe zone, left alone in the misty wetlands to face monsters.

This situation was far better than that.

What surprised you was that your roommate Xu Hai sent a long message of comfort and invited you to drink at the dorm that evening.

Upholding the principle that kindness must not be wasted, you joined Xu Hai for drinks.

That night brought you a tremendous gain.

It turned out Xu Hai had been trading supernatural futures.

Recently, he received a tip and invested 3.5 million into mythril, betting it would surge.

But it was a false rumor!

He lost everything down to his last pair of underwear.

Luckily, his family was wealthy; after scolding him, his father covered the debt.

However, he never expected that the once-stable supernatural material, electrum, would multiply twelvefold in just one day yesterday.

The rise and fall left him seething with regret.

He said that if he had known earlier, he would have bought electrum days ago.

Sadly, there was no cure for regret.

Hearing this, your hand trembled slightly as you drank.

Xu Hai had no cure for regret, but you did!

On January 21st, Year 126, electrum’s price surged twelvefold!

This meant that if you played your cards right, it could become a very lucrative source of income.

To thank Xu Hai for the tip, you toasted him three times in a row.

This surprised Xu Hai; he could tell you were genuinely happy.

Wang Guang’s foolishness in giving you a major demerit didn’t faze you, and you were even joyful.

He admired your attitude.

In the end, he gave you a thumbs-up, praising your magnanimity and declaring you destined for greatness.