'Did I get in trouble?'
Chen Che froze.
He knew the incident in Yunzhou wouldn't come to light, but getting called in by a teacher for no apparent reason still made him, as a student, let his imagination run wild.
He followed Ding Dawei, and the two entered the office one after the other.
It seemed all teachers had a knack for ignoring students. After sitting down, Ding Dawei started adjusting his chair and preparing his lecture materials.
Only after finishing this routine did he seem to remember Chen Che.
"Right. After observing you over the past week, I've noticed you've done an excellent job on your written homework and your practical alchemy assignments. I called you here because I've decided to make you the class representative for this subject."
'Alchemy Class Representative?'
Chen Che was a little stunned.
In his past life, the only position he'd ever held was being the student on duty in elementary school, responsible for opening the classroom. He'd ended up losing the key and had to pay for a new lock for the class.
"About being the class representative, Teacher Ding… I don't think I'll have enough time," Chen Che said, hesitating.
'As a class officer, the teacher would think of me first whenever something came up. And since I travel between two worlds, I really don't have much spare time.'
"Don't be so quick to refuse."
Ding Dawei seemed to have expected this. "Do you know," he said gently, "why Elixir Medicine Class starts in the first year, but I wait until the second year to pick a representative?"
"School regulations?" Chen Che guessed.
"That's right. While this may be a school, it still operates on the principle that the strong are revered. That's why the student with the highest Cultivation Realm is the class monitor, and the one with the best Spiritual Root is the academic representative."
Ding Dawei paused before continuing, "In our class, your alchemy skill is among the best. If I chose someone with poor results, the other students wouldn't accept it."
"That makes sense."
Chen Che nodded, readily admitting it.
He had placed first in combat practice at the end of his first year. Since the new semester began, there had been rumors that the Martial Arts Class teacher wanted to make him the class representative.
"I know you have your reservations. After all, your Spiritual Root is average, so you want to save more time for Cultivation. Every small increase in your Realm can put you ahead of tens of thousands of people in the college entrance exams."
Ding Dawei tapped the table, his tone earnest.
"In the college entrance exams, Alchemy Dao, Realm, and combat practice are all weighted equally! But don't forget, your combat score is tied to your Realm to some degree. Alchemy Dao isn't!"
"True. To a certain extent, someone with a higher Realm is definitely going to be stronger than someone with a lower one."
Chen Che didn't deny it.
"Also, Alchemy Dao has competitions."
Ding Dawei glanced at him. "If your alchemy skills are high enough to get good results in a competition, you can earn bonus points on your college entrance exams. Perform exceptionally well, and you might even get a special admission! But not just anyone can enter these competitions. The first step is to be a class representative."
'He's really painting a pretty picture…'
Chen Che didn't say anything, but he was genuinely tempted. 'But am I good enough to actually compete?'
As if reading his mind, Ding Dawei took another sip of water. "Of course, even if your results aren't good enough for the competitions, by learning more about the Alchemy Dao, won't you be able to crush a ton of people in the college entrance exams?"
At this point, Ding Dawei had laid out all the benefits one by one.
'If this were Yunzhou, I'd definitely hesitate… after all, geniuses often die young, and the tallest tree catches the most wind. That's why I was always so cautious, never revealing my full capabilities to anyone.'
However, he didn't have those worries at Xianmen High School.
'Hiding one's strength might be a way to survive, but it wasn't necessary here in school. As a student, if you don't show your achievements on exams for all to see, what's the point of hiding your skills? If your grades are mediocre, who's going to take you seriously?'
"Thank you for thinking so highly of me, Teacher Ding!"
Chen Che nodded.
"Excellent."
Only then did Ding Dawei break into a smile. "From now on, you are Class One's Alchemy Class Representative. I'll make the official announcement in class!"
Just as he was speaking, Li Xiaoshuang, wearing a pair of baggy shorts and carrying a thermos, also walked into the office.
He saw Chen Che standing there and was curious if he'd gotten into trouble. After hearing the reason, he chimed in, "You need to have real ability to be a class representative. If you can't stay at the top, the position will be given to someone else."
"Don't let Teacher Ding down!"
"I understand!"
Chen Che nodded and was about to leave, but Li Xiaoshuang called out to him again. Under Chen Che's astonished gaze, he pulled an Eight Trigrams Mirror directly from his Storage Ring, tapped it casually, and said, "Come on, put your hand on it. I want to see how your Cultivation is going!"
"Teacher Li, you even have one of these!"
Chen Che recognized it instantly. It was the latest 'Miniature Crystal Brain Plus 3'.
Mortal technology and Cultivation had never been on the same developmental path.
But as technology advanced, Cultivators went from initial disdain to wholehearted acceptance, and began to widely adopt mortal technologies. The 'Miniature Crystal Brain Plus 3' was a prime example. In fact, to attract Cultivators, its designers had deliberately shed the original futuristic aesthetic and styled it to look like something Cultivators would prefer.
Although it looked like a Magical Artifact, it was actually a phone with powerful features and immense processing power.
Chen Che didn't hesitate and placed his hand directly on the Eight Trigrams Mirror.
[Realm: Qi Refining Fourth Layer 22.6827…%]
"It can display up to the twelfth decimal place? That's incredibly precise!" Chen Che said, filled with envy.
"The ones used for the college entrance exams are even more precise." Li Xiaoshuang glanced at the data and nodded in satisfaction. "I was worried you were so busy opening your meridians that your Cultivation might have stalled. Turns out you're doing quite well!"
"How much is it?" Chen Che asked curiously.
"Thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones!" Li Xiaoshuang said.
'One Spirit Stone is fifty taels of Spiritual Sand, and one tael of Spiritual Sand is ten thousand…'
Chen Che instantly realized this was a price he couldn't possibly afford. "Teacher Li…"
Li Xiaoshuang calmly put the Miniature Crystal Brain back into his Space Ring and said, "Go on back to class."
"Oh!"
Chen Che replied.
He hadn't even reached the classroom when he heard a sudden uproar from inside.
"For real? Someone actually confessed to the class monitor?"
"Holy shit, let me see!"
It seemed the students had discovered something shocking.
When Chen Che walked into the classroom, he saw several boys crowded around Huang Zhongfei, apparently trying to snatch something away from him.
Huang Zhongfei was perched on a desk with one foot propped on a stool, showing off a glass jar filled with paper stars and a pink envelope he was holding.
"The moment I got to class today, I found this confession letter in my desk…"
"It seems another fair maiden, captivated by my magnetic personality, has fallen at my denim-clad feet!"
"I've said it before: I don't want to date until I get into a Daoist School. For the sake of the exams, for the sake of becoming an immortal… it seems I must once again wound the heart of a pure and innocent maiden and cruelly reject him!"
Beaming with delight, Huang Zhongfei turned and saw Chen Che walk into the classroom. He then turned his back to Chen Che and nonchalantly picked a wedgie.
"It's such a burden, being this desirable…!"