Chapter 748: The Importance of Credits

If you don't have a student ID, you're not a student of the academy. So what are you doing here at the Master Teacher Academy?

As the only massive Master Teacher training base under the Conferred Empire, only individuals with incredibly proud talent and resources can gain entry here; it's not a place just anyone can sneak into.

Seeing that the other party might have mistaken him for an outsider, Zhang Xuan explained, "I'm a new student who arrived this year; my student ID hasn't been processed yet!"

"A new student?" The woman was taken aback for a moment. Then she remembered that today was the day for admissions assessments and couldn't help but shake her head.

In the middle of the night, a newly arrived student, instead of resting, wanted to assess as a 5-star artifact forger...

"To tell you the truth," the woman explained, now dropping the respectful address for an upperclassman, "if you want to assess as an artifact forger, first, you need a student ID. Second, you need a rank emblem. And finally, you need academy credits. Without credits, who has the time to assess you?"

"Credits too?" Zhang Xuan asked, forcing a bitter smile.

"That's right," the woman scoffed. "Other guilds also require spirit stones as a deposit during assessments. Without credits or restrictions, people would come every day to try, and wouldn't that busy everyone to death?"

A new student, who hadn't even figured out the rules, just rushed over to assess. It was hard to tell if he was incredibly bold or simply clueless.

"This..." Zhang Xuan mumbled, scratching his head.

Indeed.

When other guilds assess ranks, it's not a casual visit. You first need to pay a certain fee. If you pass, it's refunded; if you fail, it's forfeited. This deters those who clearly have a huge gap in strength but overestimate themselves.

Clearly, it was the same here, except the restriction was changed to academy credits.

"How many credits are needed to assess as a 5-star artifact forger?" Zhang Xuan asked.

"For applying to a 5-star auxiliary occupation at the academy, it's usually two credits," the woman said. "For a 6-star level, it's four credits."

"Two, four?" Zhang Xuan gasped, then asked, "Other guilds refund these restricted fees if you pass the assessment. If I pass the 5-star artifact forger assessment, will the credits be refunded too?"

Having walked around earlier, he knew how difficult it was to earn credits. Helping someone forge a mid-grade spirit weapon wasn't even worth half a credit. Two or four credits were absolutely sky-high prices for students.

If the credits were refunded upon passing, that would be fine. But if they weren't, just the expenditure on assessing these auxiliary occupations would require an unknown number of credits.

"Refund? You're thinking too much; how could they be refunded?" the woman replied, shaking her head. "Just remember, to survive in the academy, you must have credits; otherwise, no amount of money is useful! To earn credits, you need to complete various tasks, finish various academic assignments, or break records no one else has! All right, go back. Not having a student ID is negligible if you're truly an academy student; we can be accommodating. But without credits, you don't even qualify to activate the Forging Sea. How can you assess?"

"Activate the Forging Sea?" Zhang Xuan echoed.

"The Forging Sea," she explained, seeing his lack of understanding, "is an automatic assessment channel built by the Artifact Forging Institute and the Heavenly Crafts Institute at the cost of countless human resources. Assessors just need to activate it to enter a virtual scenario and forge artifacts with the help of puppets. If successful, they pass the assessment."

"Virtual scenario, puppets?" Zhang Xuan found it strange. "Doesn't artifact forging assessment require a real feel? How can a virtual scenario assess?"

He had been to many guilds, and all required demonstrating genuine skill. What did the other party mean by a virtual scenario?

Could it be that he didn't need to actually forge artifacts and could still pass successfully?

"Real experience is possible," the woman scoffed, "but do you know how precious artifact forging materials are? Out of the academy's over one hundred thousand master teachers, no fewer than fifty thousand practice auxiliary artifact forging. How many come daily to assess their rank? If all were real assessments, how many ores and rare metals would be wasted every day?"

"Don't worry," the woman scoffed. "Although it's a virtual scenario, since the academy's establishment, it has collected data from hundreds of peak 6-star artifact forgers and condensed it with tens of thousands of forging scenarios. As long as your forging methods meet the standards, you will definitely pass the assessment! The error compared to real forging is no more than one in a hundred million!"

Although the Forging Sea involved virtual artifact forging, it had been verified by countless 6-star artifact forgers and was no different from real pill refining. As long as one could successfully forge inside, they could absolutely succeed in reality, without any problems.

"Oh!" Zhang Xuan murmured, understanding.

That's right. With over fifty thousand artifact forgers, at least hundreds would come to assess daily over a year. If all were to forge really, how many ores and refined iron would be needed?

If they succeeded in forging, that would be fine. But it was important to remember that most would find it difficult to pass. Once they failed, these ores could never be used a second time. Such a loss, even for the powerful Master Teacher Academy, would be unbearable.

Ores were not like medicinal herbs that could regenerate or be cultivated. Some precious ores, once completely consumed, could never be found again.

Therefore, using a virtual scenario for assessment was indeed the best method.

"Go back," the woman waved her hand again. "Even if you possess the ability to assess as a 5-star artifact forger, it's best to earn two credits first. Without credits, there's absolutely no way; we can't even be accommodating if we wanted to!"

"I heard you just say... earning credits requires completing tasks, academic assignments, or... breaking records?" Zhang Xuan continued, knowing that without credits, he couldn't do anything. "Could you please tell me how breaking records works?"

"Breaking records?" Her eyes rolled. The woman almost spat blood.

As expected of a newcomer, he was truly whimsical.

Since it was called a record, it meant countless master teachers in the academy had tried and failed. "You, a guy who just entered the academy and knows nothing," she thought, "I've tolerated your endless questions, but now you want to break a record to earn credits?"

What kind of daydream was this?

If these credits were so easy to earn, who wouldn't come?

He was incredibly naive!

"Yes, are there any records here that I can try to break...?" Zhang Xuan said.

If they were called trials, they must all be quite troublesome; simple ones wouldn't even wait for him to act. He had just entered school and hadn't even recognized a teacher, let alone tackled academic assignments. For him, the only way to quickly earn credits was to break records.

Of course, if the records were too difficult, he would read a few more books. If they were simple, he would go and try to earn some first.

A single penny can vex a hero. Without credits, even if one's abilities were outstanding, there would be no way forward.

"You..." The woman shook her head, displeased, seeing this guy talk about "records" repeatedly.

Do you even know what a record is, and you want to break it?

At first, she thought this newcomer might have some talent and deserved respect. But now, seeing him become increasingly arrogant and presumptuous, she was starting to feel annoyed.

However, as fellow master teachers, it wasn't good to truly show her irritation. So she suppressed her anger and waved her hand dismissively: "If you want to break records, that's fine. There's a record pathway over there; you can go and check it out yourself. But I advise you not to enter, otherwise, you might easily get thrown out..."

Records represented honor and dignity. If one couldn't break them and just barged in, they would naturally be punished.

Being humiliated was a small matter, but if things went wrong, one could be directly thrown out by the pathway, suffering severe injuries from the ordeal.

"Over there?" Zhang Xuan looked in that direction, but saw nothing due to the dense crowd.

"I have nothing else to do right now," she scoffed, lifting her chin. "I'll take you there..."

"Since you're so persistent," she thought, "I'll see with my own eyes how you make a fool of yourself."

A new student, it was one thing not to be low-key, but he even wanted to break a record? Did he think records were that easy to break?

If they were so easy to break, who would still be here helping people forge artifacts, selling various items, or even risking life and limb to go out and undertake various trials?

She had seen overconfident people, but never someone this overconfident!

He was probably a genius who had never suffered any setbacks, accustomed to being dominant in small places, completely unaware of how vast the world was.

Unaware of the woman's thoughts and that he had already left a very bad impression on her, Zhang Xuan followed closely behind, walking to the side.

Skirting past the crowds, it didn't take long until they reached a gateway.

This gateway was like the one for master teacher assessments, with a pristine white wall outside marked with various records.

"Melt three pieces of Iron-Black Crystal in ten minutes. Completed by 6-star artifact forger Zheng Rong, in the 3784th year of the Master Teacher Academy..."

"Channel Earth Flame to melt Frost-Silver Iron, turning it into liquid within an hour. Completed by 6-star artifact forger..."

"Stay in the Earth Flame Pathway for seventeen minutes. Completed by 6-star artifact forger Liu Han..."

The records above not only detailed the results but also who completed them, approximately when, and their specific achievements.

After a casual glance, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but look solemn.

It had to be said, these records were truly astonishing.

Leaving aside others, take Iron-Black Crystal for example. This substance was one of the most difficult ores to refine. Even a 7-star artifact forger would struggle to refine it in under half an hour. Yet this Zheng Rong completed it in ten minutes. Terrifying!

Even he certainly couldn't do it.

It wasn't that his knowledge and ability were lacking, but that his cultivation was insufficient.

And that Frost-Silver Iron was even more exaggerated. It was almost impossible to refine it with just ordinary furnace fire. One could only channel Earth Flame for prolonged tempering. Normally, it would take months of warming with Earth Flame to forge weapons from it. Yet the other person melted it into liquid in an hour. That was beyond terrifying.

"You can do these?" the woman sneered, seeing the arrogant youth's surprised expression.

"I can do them..." Zhang Xuan mumbled, scratching his head. "...it's just a bit troublesome!"

If he truly wanted to do it, he could definitely surpass them. But it would require a significant cost. It wasn't worth exchanging such costs for very few credits.

For example, to melt Frost-Silver Iron with his True Qi, he would only need to nourish it with Heavenly Dao True Qi and then integrate Earth Core Flame. It should melt in half an hour... But the amount of True Qi consumed would be terrifying.

Moreover, doing so would easily reveal the secret of his Heavenly Dao True Qi.

"You can do it? And it's 'a bit troublesome'?" an artifact forger couldn't help but step forward and scoff. "What a big mouth, Li Xuan, where did you find such an arrogant fellow?"