Chapter 381: Zhang Yu, First in Overall Contributions

Ever since Zhang Yu demonstrated his Level 20 Nine Heavens Cloud and Sky Force, his showdown with Ma Xuan and others had attracted the attention of many teachers.

Especially after Zhang Yu gained the upper hand in the first half, many teachers were curious what tactics Ma Xuan would adopt in the second half, and how Zhang Yu would respond.

Just before the second half of the match officially began, another figure appeared in the Spirit Realm space, seemingly also there to watch the Civil Engineering Department's competition.

It was a vertical text box, inside which only four large characters were simply written: "True Monarch Magnetic Pole."

Upon seeing this, Director Gao's eyes shifted, and he messaged privately: "You're finally here."

Director Gao had long grown accustomed to True Monarch Magnetic Pole's image in the Spirit Realm network.

"This guy is clearly so rich, yet he won't spend an extra cent on anything he deems unnecessary."

"Spirit Realm avatars, Nascent Soul domains, projection effects... he gets everything as cheaply as possible."

"Even his Dharma bone artifacts are patched up, updated by himself, and then used for decades."

Director Gao knew that True Monarch Magnetic Pole was mostly a stingy person.

Sometimes he genuinely wondered if the other party had been gambling; otherwise, why would he be so frugal?

"I truly don't know where all the funds this guy hoards go. It's not like he's building immortal artifacts."

Fortunately, despite being stingy and difficult to get along with, True Monarch Magnetic Pole was, in Director Gao's eyes, one of his few friends, and he could help support him today.

Director Gao's gaze swept over the teachers from the Peace Faction present, thinking, "The Finance Department is indeed wealthy, but can you convince their director to come watch the competition with you and endorse you?"

"Completely relying on the Finance Department would only make us their blood bags in the end; it might even destroy the entire Civil Engineering Department."

With the arrival of True Monarch Magnetic Pole, many teachers present showed subtle shifts in expression.

Wei Huai, the geology teacher from the Peace Faction, thought to himself, "Director Gao and True Monarch Magnetic Pole truly have an unusual relationship."

True Man Jiao Lei, also from the Peace Faction and Zhang Yu's Foundation Establishment class teacher, thought, "Did True Monarch Magnetic Pole come in person? The Artifact Forging Department indeed values the Civil Engineering Department highly; their sincerity in cooperation is very strong."

Many other teachers felt that with the War Faction now having allied with the Artifact Forging Department and having connections with a Nascent Soul God-Monarch from Sky Sword University, they would surely have an overwhelming number of projects in the future.

For a moment, the War Faction teachers present all felt a bit more confident.

With True Monarch Magnetic Pole's arrival, Director Gao, Director Lin, and the veteran Director Ling Yue True Monarch all went to greet him simultaneously.

Ling Yue True Monarch said with a chuckle, "Welcome, True Monarch Magnetic Pole, for gracing us with your presence and guidance. Our Civil Engineering Department is truly honored today."

True Monarch Magnetic Pole replied, "Old Gao said that today, the Civil Engineering Department's elite are gathered, and the top 10 for the departmental competition will be decided, so he asked me to come and observe."

"I was also thinking that several soulless production plants will be built next year by order from above, so it's a good opportunity to evaluate the current construction capabilities of the Civil Engineering Department."

Upon hearing about the major projects True Monarch Magnetic Pole held, the eyes of the surrounding civil engineering teachers immediately lit up, like a pack of wolves spotting fresh meat.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, they continued watching the match.

True Monarch Magnetic Pole then messaged Director Gao privately: "Satisfied?"

Director Gao: "Excellent, excellent, excellent [thumbs up]."

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: "Pay up."

Director Gao: "[Transfer]"

Director Gao: "This is the deposit. I'll transfer the rest after it's over."

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: "What about trust?"

Director Gao didn't reply. He knew from his centuries of experience with the other party that if he paid the full amount now, the other party would dare to watch for five minutes and then leave.

After all, the other party's time, thoughts, and ideas were all truly valuable.

Furthermore, he also knew that while the Artifact Forging Department had teachers researching artifact forging and civil engineering-related fields, True Monarch Magnetic Pole himself had no real interest in civil engineering construction.

As the second half of the competition began, the teams once again fiercely battled it out.

Director Gao pulled True Monarch Magnetic Pole aside and began introducing Mo Shangjin.

As the War Faction's current strongest student, and the only one who had mastered the Sky Kunlun Mountain Moving Divine Power, Mo Shangjin was truly the faction's signature student and the most suitable to showcase their capabilities.

Director Lin, standing nearby, would occasionally interject to introduce Xuan Liangtian, who had mastered the Mountain Moving Divine Power for the Peace Faction.

Ling Yue True Monarch stood to the side, chuckling, seemingly pleased with the Civil Engineering Department's continuous emergence of talent.

However, after listening for a while, True Monarch Magnetic Pole suddenly asked, "Who is that student?"

Director Gao glanced at Zhang Yu, who was surrounded by Ma Xuan and three others, and frowned, saying, "Zhang Yu."

Although Ma Xuan and Zhang Yu were surrounded by swirling dust and sand, every contestant shared their eye-skull camera footage with the referees and teachers, so the progress of the competition was always visible.

True Monarch Magnetic Pole said in surprise, "Is that the Zhang Yu you mentioned to me? This is my first time seeing him."

Director Gao did not answer, simply because Zhang Yu, currently under siege, looked as if he was about to be eliminated.

So Director Gao messaged privately: "Don't talk about it, don't talk about Zhang Yu."

But Director Lin, standing nearby, his eyes flashing, smiled slightly and said, "This Zhang Yu is Director Gao's beloved disciple, a favored general he has poured all his effort into cultivating."

Seeing Director Lin speak, Wei Huai of the Peace Faction immediately followed up, "Indeed, this Zhang Yu must have cost Director Gao a lot of effort, right? But it seems the situation is dangerous now..."

Just as Director Gao frowned slightly, watching the Peace Faction steer the conversation towards Zhang Yu, who was about to be eliminated, he saw Zhang Yu, fighting desperately, surprisingly taking on four opponents alone. Covered in blood, he never stopped, ultimately subduing one person.

True Monarch Magnetic Pole nodded and said, "This student is quite interesting. Old Gao, you've found a good disciple."

Watching this scene, Director Gao's previous frown immediately turned into a slight smile, and he said, "I did guide this student a few times, but mainly it's his own commendable effort."

A teacher commented, "Mastering Level 20 Nine Heavens Cloud and Sky Force and Level 20 Demon-Slaying Longevity Art in his second year of university, his martial arts talent goes without saying. To be able to fight so bravely, unafraid of losses, his physique and fighting spirit are both top-notch."

Tu Lishan quickly stepped forward to add, "If Director Gao hadn't recognized Zhang Yu's potential in his first year and recruited him for training at the construction site, how could he have improved so much?"

On the other side, Lang Yougong also said, "I'm their body-refining teacher, and I'm aware of their progress. Since going to the construction site, Zhang Yu's improvement has indeed been incredibly rapid. This shows that the true path for our Civil Engineering Department ultimately lies on construction sites."

Director Lin calmly observed the scene. When he saw Ma Xuan's team surrender one by one, and finally Ji Yuanxu also surrendered, his gaze grew even colder.

Ji Yuanxu: "Teacher, I lost."

Ji Yuanxu: "Mainly, Ma Xuan and his teammates were too unreliable. I suspect they took benefits from the War Faction and deliberately threw the match. The War Faction wanted to suppress me."

Director Lin did not reply immediately. Instead, he looked at the post-match statistics, extracted some data, and sent it to Ji Yuanxu.

One was the combat duration statistics, ranging from Zhang Yu, who had the longest duration, to Shi Yunxiang, who had a combat duration of 0, with Ji Yuanxu ranking second to last.

There was also damage estimation, where Zhang Yu still ranked first, having caused the most damage, accounting for 78% of the team's total.

The last place was still Shi Yunxiang, who had been solely focused on construction, accounting for 0% of the team's total.

Ji Yuanxu, ranked second to last, accounted for 1.5% of the team's total.

Director Lin found these statistics amusing.

"And you still think others were unreliable?"

Director Lin thought to himself, "This Ji Yuanxu, with all those famous brand Dharma bone artifacts, yet his combat duration was second to last, and his damage caused was also second to last... what a useless fellow."

Meanwhile, other teachers also looked at the post-match statistics.

Of course, the most striking statistics belonged to Zhang Yu: 89% of the team's total damage taken, first in overall physical injury, and first in estimated total losses. These figures left Zhang Yu's name deeply impressed upon the minds of the many teachers present.

Tu Lishan exclaimed, "Zhang Yu was the biggest contributor in this match. To endure for so long, his physique, body protection techniques, force-deflection skills, fighting spirit, and combat strategy were all indispensable."

"Speaking of which, after winning this round against Ma Xuan and his team, Zhang Yu's team should be in the top 10, right?"

"To reach the top 10 as a second-year student is a rare and excellent achievement."

Tu Lishan suggested, "Since there are loan rewards for outstanding contestants in this departmental competition, I think Zhang Yu should receive one."

Wei Huai of the Peace Faction said indifferently, "Zhang Yu's fighting style is simply impractical in reality; it's only for competitions. In a real battle, there wouldn't be any rules about not killing your opponent."

"If Ma Xuan and his team hadn't intentionally held back, fearing they might kill him, Zhang Yu would have been eliminated long ago."

"If he enjoys fighting so much, I suggest he goes to the Security Department. After all, they have simulated proxy battles there; he can fight as much as he wants without having to pay compensation for casualties."

Tu Lishan scoffed, "Rules are rules. Don't engineers have to learn to work within regulations? Zhang Yu's ability to utilize the competition rules to achieve victory is itself a display of capability."

"The rules are there. Why didn't Ma Xuan use them? Why didn't Bu Ziran fight desperately? Isn't it because they lack the ability? Some people are too accustomed to competing with money; they've forgotten how to fight for their lives..."

Watching the dispute between the two sides, Ling Yue True Monarch nodded slightly and said, "The Civil Engineering competition sets a rule that requires compensation for killing, which discourages pure combat. Zhang Yu's fighting spirit is commendable, but it's not truly our Civil Engineering Department's style and isn't something to be encouraged."

Tu Lishan's eyes shifted, and he thought to himself, "Now that we're gaining the upper hand, are they going to step in and play favorites?"

However, Tu Lishan glanced at Director Gao, and seeing that he remained silent, he also said nothing further.

With Ling Yue True Monarch's assessment, it seemed Zhang Yu's performance was definitively judged. The teachers present also ceased their discussions, and moments later, began commenting on other matches.

Meanwhile, Director Gao, who had remained silent, was contacting Zhang Yu.

Director Gao: "How are your injuries? Do you have money for treatment?"

Zhang Yu glanced at Director Gao's question and felt a warmth in his heart: "Is he going to send me money?"

Just then, Zhang Yu received another message, this time from True Monarch Magnetic Pole.

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: "Guess who I'm with."

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: "True Monarch Magnetic Pole and Director Gao watching the match together. Image file."

Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback, then saw Director Gao send another message: "[10 Spirit Coins]"

Director Gao: "Take it and use it for more supplements."

Director Gao: "You're already in the top 10. You don't have to fight so hard in the next match."

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: "You wouldn't want Director Gao to know you secretly took me as your master, would you?"

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: "How's your artifact forging course coming along? Try to finish the first three years' material before the end of your second year."

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: "Achieve that, and I'll give you a reward."