Astral Apostle

Chapter 260: Meeting (1)

Zhou Jing stopped short, looking in the direction of the voice.

The person who spoke was a 14 or 15-year-old boy. He had thick lips, thin eyes, and an ordinary appearance. He had a head of yin-yang hair that was half green and half blue. He was just short of carving the words “I’m awesome” on his face.

After sizing him up slightly, Zhou Jing knew what to do. He let out a light smile,

“My abilities are alright. Young man, what’s your name? You look like a talent, so your abilities should be very powerful, right?”

“Of course!” This person pressed his thumb against his chest and said proudly, “Tang Liu, Class S. My ability is to move at high speed. The ninth person to be chosen was me!”

“Impressive, impressive. Nice to meet you.”

Zhou Jing coaxed him as if he was a child. He found an empty seat and sat down before sizing up the others.

Among the 10 new students specially selected by the Crown Faculty, there was a huge difference in age. It ranged from teenagers like Tang Liu to middle-aged women in their forties, not a small range.

Other than Tang Liu’s smug look, most of the others gave him a friendly smile and introduced themselves briefly. They only gave him their names and did not report their abilities like Tang Liu.

Only one person did not speak, but it was an acquaintance. It was Wu Fan, who was also on the tail stream. He was the twelfth candidate and had also come to the Crown Faculty.

Although the two of them had known each other on the ship for a few months, they had only nodded and spoken a few words.

Zhou Jing knew that Wu Fan was a taciturn person, so he did not chat with him. He only nodded in greeting.

Seeing this, Wu Fan also nodded at him.

......

At this moment, a gust of wind suddenly blew.

Whoosh!

A figure flashed in Zhou Jing’s eyes. Tang Liu had already disappeared from his seat and suddenly appeared on the seat beside him, as if he had teleported.

“You haven’t answered me. What abilities do you have?”

Tang Liu widened his eyes in urging, but his thin eyes were still a slit despite him forcefully opening them as wide as he could.

Zhou Jing looked at the other party in surprise.

High Speed Movement? What a fast speed!

He had increased his speed because of his physical enhancement, but the other party’s high speed was purely his superpower. In terms of movement speed, Jason’s four enhancements were inferior to the other party. He had never met someone so fast.

“The combat level of the main world is indeed much higher than that of the Mutant World. A new student who has awakened a powerful superpower can crush the warriors of the Mutant World in the field of attributes.”?Zhou Jing’s mind raced.

It seemed that just relying on Jason’s four blood enhancements might not necessarily allow him to be able to suppress all the high potential Awakened Supers, but it was hard to say in reality…

Although he was thinking about the question, Zhou Jing did not show it on his face.

“It’s just a very ordinary physical enhancement superpower. Of course it can’t compare to you.”

When Tang Liu heard this, he immediately said in disdain, “What? Your superpower is very ordinary!”

“That’s right. I also feel that I’m ordinary. I don’t know why I was chosen.”

Zhou Jing casually agreed.

Tang Liu rolled his eyes and suddenly patted his chest. He said proudly, “Brother, don’t be discouraged. I think you’re a good person. As long as you acknowledge me as your boss, I’ll protect you in the future!”

“Aiya, isn’t that a pity? I already have a boss. He’s very powerful. I don’t dare to betray him.” Zhou Jing shook his head and sighed with a regretful expression.

Tang Liu’s interest was piqued.

“Who’s your boss?”

Zhou Jing smiled so widely, his eyes were reduced to slits.

“His name is Lin Kun, and he was chosen by the Gem Faculty. I only recognize a strong person like him as my boss… How about this? If you can teach him a lesson, I’ll agree to be your lackey, although I don’t think you have a chance of winning against him.”

“Who said so! Just you wait and see! Lin Kun, right? I’ll remember it. If I have the chance, I’ll fight him!” Tang Liu was unconvinced and rubbed his palms together.

The others smiled without saying anything as they watched Zhou Jing fool with the middle schooler.

Zhou Jing deliberately tried to get closer to him, and soon, Tang Liu felt that the two of them were much more familiar with each other. His words gradually became casual, and after a while, he managed to pry out Tang Liu’s experience.

At the age of 14 or 15, he was at the age of receiving compulsory education. This kid had always been at the bottom of the class. He never studied and liked to cause trouble and form cliques. He was a hooligan in school and was quite rebellious even at home.

He should have had no bright future, but he was lucky to have awakened a powerful superpower.

He was an ignorant and incompetent person since he was young, but just like that, his future potential directly surpassed countless obedient children who studied hard every day. There was nothing fair about this.

After obtaining the superpower, Tang Liu immediately stopped attending compulsory education. Moreover, his rebellious heart caused him to emigrate and leave home… However, he did not cut his ties fully. His parents and siblings simply emigrated as well and came over in the same batch as him, with the reason that they wanted to take care of his life.

Zhou Jing did not comment after hearing this, nor did he have any opinion.

In this era, it was rude to criticize others’ family matters. This was because family conflicts were already the norm in society. Everyone had their own difficulties and choices. Not judging others was not only respecting others, but also respecting oneself… After all, there was no point in hurting both parties.

The ten of them waited for a while before they finally saw the instructors of the Crown Faculty and some of the accompanying senior students.

“Everyone, welcome to the Crown Faculty. You’re the new students we’ve chosen. Our Faculty has high hopes for you.”

Li Yun’s tone was enthusiastic.

This middle-aged man was the Chief Instructor of the Crown Academy and wore a Purple Star Crest on his chest, signifying his Rank 4 Super status.

“Hello, Instructor Li.” Zhou Jing and the others stood up to greet him.

“Let me introduce everyone. This is the instructor team of the Crown Faculty…”

Li Yun extended his hand to introduce the team of ten to the new students.

All the courses in the Supers Academy were not limited to the faculties. They were chosen according to the needs of the students. Every instructor’s course would allow them to face the students of the three faculties, so for most students, it did not matter what course their instructor was from.

However, to the top students who were focused on nurturing, the instructor team of a faculty was like private tutoring. They would specially train the leaders of their own faculty to deal with the inter-faculty competitions. This was a public benefit and special treatment.

The world of Supers was still very realistic. If one had the ability, there would be special treatment. The cost-effective ratio of nurturing high potential Supers was naturally higher than that of nurturing ordinary Supers. Fairness and equality was only guaranteed for the foundation. One could not expect the strong to have no special privileges at all. This system did not violate any rules.

Ever since human civilization entered the interstellar era, they rarely used ideals to fool people. What should be done was done. After all, the world’s understanding of reality was becoming clearer and clearer. They had always hidden the fact that they were distorting reality and treating people as fools. To the interplanetary system that had already colonized hundreds of planets, there was no need to do so. This was because technology and economy were almost expanding endlessly, and material comforts were guaranteed.

“They’re the leaders of the Crown Association, the main force of the competition…”

After getting to know the instructors, Li Yun pointed at a group of senior students and explained the function of the Crown Association.

Deng Yunjie put his hands in his pockets and walked out of the crowd. He scanned the few of them and slowly spoke.

“I’m Deng Yunjie, the president of the Crown Association. You can call me President Deng. In the new student competition in a month, the ten of you will be the absolute main players. Prepare well. At that time, you have to listen to my instructions and arrangements. Whether you participate in the group arena, team competition, or when you go on stage will be decided by us.”

Zhou Jing and the others nodded without saying anything.

However, Tang Liu was a little unhappy.

“Huh? We still have to listen to your commands? Why can’t we choose ourselves?”

Deng Yunjie looked at him and explained unhurriedly,

“Do you think the competition in the department is just for fun? This is not just about you. The results you guys have achieved will also affect the GPA of everyone in the department. This is related to the interests of the group and can’t be played by an individual. Of course, if you have any objections, you can mention it when the time comes. We will consider it carefully, but in the end, you have to listen to our instructions. The team can only have one voice.”

“O-okay.”

Tang Liu shut up resentfully.

Although he was a hooligan, he did not dare to explode when he saw Deng Yunjie, this even more ruffian-like senior.

Li Yun secretly noted down that Tang Liu might be a troublemaker, but his expression did not change. He took over the conversation and smiled,

“In order to deal with the freshmen competition, in this month, our instructors will track your class performance and cultivation progress and give you one-on-one guidance. Therefore, everyone has to cherish this opportunity.”

The few of them nodded. Of course, no one would push the privilege away.

At this moment, Tang Liu spoke up curiously,

“Well, there are thousands of new students this year, and each faculty has recruited at least a thousand people. Are there only ten people from each side participating?”

When Li Yun heard this, he smiled and waved his hand, “Of course not. In this new student competition, every faculty has 20 slots for the group arena, 30 for the team competition. Adding it up, a total of 150 new students from the three faculties will participate. We still have to select some people from the new students to fill the spots, but the 10 of you will definitely participate.”

It was too time-consuming for all the thousands of new students to appear. Only 150 of them had the chance to fight for a spot. The others could only be spectators and would not even have the chance to participate.

This was inevitable. Apart from re-educating all Awakened and maintaining stability, the Supers Academy’s other goal was to choose worthy candidates to nurture and select talents for the various governments and organizations.

However, although they could not perform on stage, in the daily course, ordinary students could still shine for the faculty and earn points. The accumulated points would eventually affect the faculty’s ranking.

Each faculty had to have top students, but their average level could not fall behind.

At this moment, Deng Yunjie glanced at everyone. His gaze paused on Zhou Jing for a second before he suddenly spoke out,

“You all have good potential and don’t have to go through the internal selection process. However, we still need to have a clear understanding of your combat strength… After selecting the other participating freshmen, we will hold an internal spar to understand the comparison of your combat strength. Only then can we decide if you will participate in the group arena or the team competition.”

Tang Liu’s eyes lit up as he looked at the other nine people excitedly,

“So we have to fight then? That’s great! I’m definitely the strongest.”

Hearing this, the few of them looked at each other without any reaction.

Zhou Jing shook his head secretly.

It seemed that this was also an assessment. Although he was a designated candidate, if he was defeated in actual combat by a new student selected, not only would it be embarrassing, but it might also cause the department to shift their focus away from nurturing him.

Therefore, the participating freshmen would most likely try their best to defeat the 10 of them.

“Competition is really everywhere…”?Zhou Jing finally understood the atmosphere of the academy.