Swallowed Star

VOLUME 5 CHAPTER 16: JIANG-NAN PAGODA

“DRIP DRIP!” The rain drops dropped against the umbrella like flying ants.

Luo Feng held his umbrella as he walked by Yang Hui’s side. After walking through a manmade bridge, they arrived at a building complex. Yang Hui pointed not too far away: “Luo Feng, the one over there is Jiang-Nan pagoda. Jiang-Nan pagoda already has two students now. You will be the third student of Jiang-Nan pagoda”

“Jiang-Nan pagoda?” Luo Feng’s heart skipped a beat and couldn’t help but to ask, “Instructor, how come it has the same name as Jiang-Nan headquarter city?”

Since he became an official student of the training camp, Yang Hui is now one of his instructors in the training camp.

Naturally, he’ll call Yang Hui, ‘Instructor’.

“Haha, they’re all based off the names of the headquarter cities. Jiang-Nan pagoda has two students living there, and they’re both from Jiang-Nan headquarter city. However, they all came before you” Yang Hui suddenly lowered his voice and mysteriously said, “I’ll tell you something. Right now, one of the two students living in Jiang-Nan pagoda is named Shi Jiang! He’s extremely powerful; even I don’t think I can beat him. If you improve your relationship with him, it’ll benefit you in the long run”

“Instructor, you are not even confident of beating him?” Luo Feng was astonished.

Yang Hui is an intermediate level wargod!

“Yea” nodded Yang Hui, “This Shi Jiang is within the ranking’s top five. Many students in this elite training camp already have wargod level strength. However, they just won’t accept the title of wargod! This way, they can continue to stay in the training camp. Actually, all top 30 students in the training camp virtually have wargod level strength”

Luo Feng blinked, all top 30 students have wargod level strength?

This is insane.

All of them are just faking their strength. Even though they can graduate, they purposefully stay in the camp to finish their five years.

“The top five students are all extremely messed up!” said Yang Hui deeply, “The elites from all over the world are extremely competitive, and those that can keep themselves in the top five….. When this Shi Jiang graduates, he’ll receive the highest amount of respect no matter where he goes!”

“For example, he can easily become the chairman of Jiang-Nan city’s Dojo of Limits if he wants to” said Yang Hui.

Luo Feng froze.

The chairman of Jiang-Nan city’s Dojo of Limits? This is the head of Jiang-Nan city’s Big Four!

“After his strength increases in a few years, it won’t be impossible for him to become an ‘examiner’ of our Dojo of Limits” Yang Hui sighed. Even though the difference between his strength and that Shi Jiang’s strength isn’t too large, Yang Hui is already around 50 years old. Shi Jiang, on the other hand, is only around 20 years old! That person’s future is limitless.

While still in shock, Luo Feng arrived at Jiang-Nan pagoda.

Jiang-Nan pagoda’s courtyard was only around a few dozen m². The walls were white and had black tiles. There was even the engraving of a dragon on the wall.

After opening the gate.

There were three buildings within Jiang-Nan pagoda. When Luo Feng and Yang Hui walked into the courtyard, it was completely silent. Yang Hui directly yelled: “Shi Jiang, Zhao Ruo!”

A short haired girl wearing a large, loose nightgown was standing on the balcony of the second floor on the building to the left. A shadow jumped down from the building directly in front of them, which appeared to be a black dojo uniform wearing youth with an umbrella in hand.

Luo Feng closely examined this youth who was heartily praised by Yang Hui.

This youth was slightly taller than Luo Feng; around 1.7 meters tall. Even though he’s kind of short overall, he seemed quite buff, as if his entire body was forged out of steel. His eyes were reserved, but the occasional flash of them could easily scare people.

“He is Shi Jiang” Luo Feng silently noted.

“A new student came?” a happy voice came down from above. Zhao Ruo held her umbrella as she happily looked at Luo Feng.

Luo Feng looked at his senior. This senior named ‘Zhao Ruo’ had short hair and was quite small. The only thing wrong with her was that her skin was kind of black and her eyes were too small, causing her to fall short of a beautiful woman.

“His name is Luo Feng. From now on, he’ll be living with you guys in Jiang-Nan pagoda” said Yang Hui, “Shi Jiang, Zhao Ruo, both of you are his seniors. Luo Feng just arrived, so take care of him”

“No worries, leave it to me” Zhao Ruo thumped her chest in confidence, “With me here, he won’t be in trouble”

“Okay, then I’ll go first” laughed Yang Hui as he patted Luo Feng’s shoulder. After that, he directly left.

※※

There were three buildings in total at Jiang-Nan pagoda. The one in the center was where Shi Jiang lived. The one to the left, the western side, was where Zhao Ruo lived. Naturally, Luo Feng will live in the building to the east.

“Luo Feng, sit, sit” Zhao Ruo was extremely passionate. Right now, the three of them were sitting in the lobby.

“I came here on year 55 while senior Shi Jiang came on year 53. Both of us came way earlier than you” smiled Zhao Ruo.

Shi Jiang also let out a smile on the side: “Man, 53, 55, 57. All three of us are exactly two years apart. Not only that, but we’re all from Jiang-Nan city. What a coincidence!”

Right when Shi Jiang spoke, Luo Feng felt that his voice was heavy and that he was a calm person overall.

“I’m from Jiang-Nan city’s Su city while senior Shi Jiang is from the main city sector. What about you, Luo Feng?” asked Zhao Ruo.

“From Yang Zhou city” said Luo Feng.

Shi Jiang laughed in surprise: “My grandfather is in Yang Zhou city!”

The three of them all came from Jiang-Nan city. However, as for Shi Jiang and Zhao Ruo, one of them came to the ‘elite training camp’ after competing in the ‘basics training camp’ while the other was an elite in the government’s army and was sent here. Only Luo Feng was chosen as a regular fighter.

“Luo Feng, when you get to your room later, open the notebook provided to you by the training camp” notified Shi Jiang, “Inside the notebook is a ‘Student Notice’ PDF. Read that carefully”

“Yea, that thingy is really important” followed Zhao Ruo.

“The most important thing is your score!” reminded Zhao Ruo, “In the training camp, your ranking is the most important thing! You probably saw that ‘black dragon ranking’ in the entrance right”

“I saw it” nodded Luo Feng.

There seemed to be only one Chinese person in the top three.

“The higher your score is, the higher your rank will be in the black dragon ranking! From the 1st to the 28th of every month is the time to increase your score. The 29th of every month is the day where the ranking is reorganized! Next month, everyone’s score is reset to zero. At that time, everyone works hard for raise their score again to raise their ranking” explained Zhao Ruo.

Luo Feng froze.

This ranking is reset every month!

“Seniors, where does this score come from?” asked Luo Feng.

“Points come from ‘battle points’ multiplied by the ‘battle ability amplifier'” explained Zhao Ruo, “For example, you’re going to start raising your score in April. If your total battle points from April 1st一一28th is 2,000 and your battle ability amplifier is 1.8, then your score will be 2,000 x 1.8, which is 3,600! After that, the ranking is organized based on highest to lowest battle score”

The more Luo Feng listened the more confused he became.

What are these battle points and battle ability amplifier?

“Battle points are earned from hunting monsters! As for the detailed situation, read the ‘Student Notice’ PDF later and you’ll know” explained Zhao Ruo, “As for the ‘battle ability amplifier’, you earn that from the virtual space. Again, you’ll understand the details after reading the student notice.

Luo Feng couldn’t help but to blink in helplessness.

He has to figure out everything himself from the student notice…..

“Luo Feng!” Shi Jiang finally spoke.

“Senior” Luo Feng looked towards Shi Jiang.

“Remember, if you want to improve faster, you have to work hard to raise your ranking every month. The higher the better” said Shi Jiang seriously, “This ranking is related to how many resources you’ll receive. Even wargods are envious of these resources, which is also why many wargod students are still staying here”

Zhao Ruo grinned on the side: “For example, our senior Shi Jiang”

Shi Jiang was speechless.

Zhao Ruo giggled. Luo Feng laughed too.

※※

Jiang-Nan pagoda, Luo Feng’s room.

Not too long after turning on his notebook, Luo Feng sat on his chair while carefully reading the ‘student notice’.

“Training room? Provoking room? Gravity room? All three of these training rooms were made out of discoveries from the archaeological ruins”

With this, Luo Feng discovered more and more about the elite training camp. There are tons of equipment available, but of course, the most valuable equipment are the archaeological ones.

And the most important thing in the training camp is the一一score ranking! From high to low, this affects many things. For example, the ‘gravity room’ made out of archaeological discoveries is way more effective than the copied gravity rooms the earth currently has. However…..there’s only one ‘training room’ of this type in the entire camp. Who gets to use it? This depends on the ranking.

The higher your rank, the longer you get to use it! And this is just one point!

“If you collectively stay in 1st place nine times, you will receive one portion of dragon blood worth 80 billion and can pick any three complete instruction manuals. You can also become a direct pupil of ‘Hong’ or ‘Thunder God'”

“If you collectively stay in 1st place six times, you will receive one drop of chrysoprase worth 30 billion and can pick any one complete instruction manual. You can also receive one private lesson from either ‘Hong’ or ‘Thunder God'”

Luo Feng was dumbfounded as he read what was described in the PDF file.

Dragon blood? Become Hong or Thunder God’s pupil? And the pupil decides his teacher?

Any three complete instruction manuals?

Keep in mind that the price for an ultimate instruction manual is extremely high.

“Messed up, messed up. But all these rewards are for the person in first place, and you have to stay in first place multiple times” Luo Feng continued to read.

“Fist strength level 6, eligible to receive a portion of dragon blood worth 80 billion, SS battle uniform set, full weapon set…..”

“Fist strength level 5, eligible to receive…..”

Luo Feng read the rewards and was completely astonished.

“Tower of trials floor 5, eligible to receive the title of ‘investigator’ of the Dojo of Limits, a portion of dragon blood worth 80 billion, SS battle uniform set, full weapon set, any three complete instruction manuals, one set of Black God from the archaeological ruins”

Clearly, the tower of trials gave the highest rewards.

Investigator! Normally, that’s an existence that surpasses the wargod level. And a set of ‘Black God’ from the archaeological ruins? What’s that thing?

Luo Feng’s heart couldn’t help but to beat faster. However, once he thought about the scene from the B grade exam just now, he felt immense pressure.

He was only taking a test on the first floor and had to deal with 100 low level commander level raging bulls! And that’s probably not even the hardest thing on the first floor.

Above that are the second, third, fourth…. floors.

Even the wargod ‘Yang Hui’, who has plenty of experience, can only barge into the third floor! And the world’s strongest fighter ‘Hong’ only reached the sixth floor! It’s not hard to imagine just how difficult it is to reach the fifth floor.

No wonder they offered such shockingly high rewards.