Chapter 184: 184

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The matriculation camp was more like a self-contained city complete with living, entertainment, and work areas.

With Niu Ben leading the way, the two first came to the dormitory. The so-called dormitory was sealed containers connected together.

In other words, all the dormitories were connected to the gas supply system. There was no need for a Venom Suit inside the dormitory and other areas of the camp.

However, outside the camp, oxygen was lacking, and the environment was extremely harsh. One needed to always wear a Venom Suit. Otherwise, life would be in danger.

The entire matriculation camp was like a large alien survival base. It was safe only by staying indoors. Once getting out there, what would happen was pretty self-evident.

After leaving the dormitory area, the two went to the entertainment area, where there were men and women of different skin colors eating, drinking, and singing karaoke.

One could hardly tell that this was another planet by just looking at it. Those people were top Arcanists from around the world, the best of the best.

“They are all trainees of the Ultimate Matriculation Camp.” Niu Ben pointed to those people. “Don’t be fooled by their appearance. All of them are the best. They might seem to live in indulgence right now, but they are actually hardworking, often only taking one day off and spending all the time in the wilderness—planting trees during the day and practicing self-cultivation during the night. They are more hardworking than you can imagine.”

Ling Jiu nodded in acknowledgment. They could sense the unique aura in each trainee.

“Let’s go, let me bring you to the most important area.” The two came to a workshop-like warehouse. “This is the seed bank. The seeds we needed for planting trees are all here.”

“Seed bank?” Ling Jiu checked around the warehouse.

“You will be like us, bro, getting the seeds and finding suitable land in the wild to plant trees starting tomorrow,” Niu Ben said. “You should choose a place not too far away. Or else, traveling back and forth is going to be a problem. Besides, you couldn’t reach in time in case of an accident.”

Ling Jiu nodded in acknowledgment once more. “Brother Niu, what kind of plant is this tree that it can survive on such a barren planet?”

“I don’t know exactly!”

Niu Ben shook his head. “But I heard that this Arcana tree came from a crashed alien spacecraft. It’s used to terraform planets. Not only can it adapt to extreme alien environments but it can also produce oxygen and mysterious energy, making it most suitable for being transported to alien planets for terraforming.”

The seed came from a crashed alien spacecraft?

Terraform planets?

Ling Jiu was deep in thought.

“Anyway, the Arcana tree is very adaptable to the environment of this planet. It has a high survival rate and will grow as long as it is planted in the ground,” Niu Ben said. “You will see the forest of Arcana trees when you go to the wild tomorrow morning. I guarantee that you’ll be shocked. Let’s enter the seed bank.”

The two entered the seed bank where there were two layers of doors, which worked the same as that of other places, to prevent air exchange.

“These are the Arcana trees?”

Ling Jiu looked curiously at the tiny blue trees that were randomly piled together.

These tiny blue trees were about one meter tall, and on their straight trunks were clusters of spherical crowns that looked somewhat like dandelions.

“These are the Arcana trees,” Niu Ben said. “They are tough. Even if you discard them randomly, they can still survive for eight to ten years.”

“That’s tough indeed,” Ling Jiu exclaimed.

“Ling Jiu.”

A pleasant voice suddenly came.

Ling Jiu and Niu Ben turned their heads in unison and saw a tall figure walking toward them. The person had long slender legs, a graceful figure, a pretty face, and cascading long hair.

It was not Ling Jiu’s first time seeing this person. However, every time he saw her, his heart would pound uncontrollably.

This woman was perfect!

A perfect body…

A perfect face…

Any man who saw her would inevitably get aroused.

“It’s you, Bai Ya.”

Ling Jiu broke into a broad smile.

“You finally arrived.” Bai Ya came up to him, her beautiful face still emotionless. “I guess you must have understood how to survive in the camp, right?”

“Sort of.” Ling Jiu nodded in response.

“Let’s work together.” Bai Ya’s face was calm. “What do you think?”

“Work together?”

While Ling Jiu was stunned, Niu Ben was in disbelief.

“Bai Ya, if I remember correctly, there seem to be many trainees who want to team up with you. Some of them are even veteran trainees who have terrific power and are in the upper rung of the scoreboard. Why do you…”

He did not continue as his meaning was obvious. Instead of choosing the powerful and wealthy trainees, she opted for Ling Jiu, a rookie who had just entered the camp. What was that?

What made him so worthy of her decision?

“Let me be honest with you…” Bai Ya nodded and shook her head. “I don’t know any of them, but Ling Jiu and I know each other. I want to team up with him.”

“Now I know.” Niu Ben nodded in acknowledgment. But there was still a hint of regret in his eyes as he looked at Ling Jiu with envy. “Brother Ling, we usually team up in pairs in the camp so that we can take turns taking care of our trees in case of accidents.”

Having said that, he glanced at Bai Ya. “You’re both new here. Actually, it’s better to team up with a veteran trainee who is basically more familiar with the matriculation camp and can guide you through things. But since Bai Ya has decided, why don’t you accept it? You shouldn’t say no to a beautiful woman.”

Ling Jiu smiled. “I can team up with you, but first thing’s first, if I decide not to work with you someday, I will end our collaboration at any time.”

“I’ll see you here at eight tomorrow morning!” Bai Ya nodded, turned, and left.

Niu Ben looked on as she left. “Bro, do you know how many veteran trainees want to work with her?”

“I don’t know, but I can imagine!” Ling Jiu smiled faintly. “I have no doubt how popular a beauty like Bai Ya is.”

Regardless of what era one was in, good-looking people always had a significant advantage, and appearance was everything. This truth would never change.

“So you know.”

Niu Ben then whispered, “As soon as Bai Ya arrived at the camp, she dethroned Euphemia Athena and became the new camp beauty. This caused a stir among the top protege trainees. Do you know that at least over half of the male trainees have asked me about her, and at least thirty percent of them have expressed their willingness to work with her? I can safely say that she has conquered many male trainees the day she arrived. It’s a pity that Bai Ya seems to be very cold. When she refused to team up with any veteran trainees, I thought she wanted to go at it alone. I didn’t expect…” Niu Ben looked at Ling Jiu with a complicated expression. “I didn’t expect her to choose you. To be honest, I still can’t wrap my brain around it.”

“Really?” Ling Jiu shook his head and smiled.

“Hey, brother, I don’t know if I should say this, but no offense…” Niu Ben said. “Although you might be handsome and talented, you are just a poor rookie in this matriculation camp. You have no points. You are nobody. As for your strength… you are probably at the bottom of the barrel in the camp. With no money and power, I really can’t figure out why student Bai Ya wants to team up with you.”

Ling Jiu had no words for it. Reaching out for his face, he grinned. “Who knows, maybe I’m handsome?”

This time it was Niu Ben’s turn to become speechless. “Bro, I told you before that it’s better for you to keep your head low when you arrive in the camp. This is because the matriculation camp has a tradition of pranking newcomers in the name of helping them to integrate better.

“But now, I want to remind you even more: stay under the radar. If you team up with Bai Ya, you will earn yourself a lot of enemies.”

“Enemies?”

Ling Jiu smiled. “Then let them come. I won’t be intimidated. I don’t mind them coming for me.”

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“Bro, I’ve said everything that should be said, so take care.” Niu Ben did not know what more to tell him.

…

That night, Ling Jiu stayed in his dormitory to practice.

He continuously ingested the Dark Bio-energy in the dark universe to strengthen his Gene Arcana Core.

He had lost track of the time when he suddenly felt his Gene Arcana Core expanded to its limit, preventing it from taking in more Dark Bio-energy.

Ling Jiu knew that he had reached the Level 6 limit in his self-cultivation. If he wanted to go further, he needed to break away from the constraint to become a Level 7 Arcanist.

There was no other way.

“Gene Arcana liquefies at Level 5, while the Gene Arcana Core forms at Level 6. At Level 7, the Gene Arcana Core must further compress to elevate to a higher quality so that it will accommodate more Gene Arcana.”

Ling Jiu thought about the forum experts’ experiences that were related to reaching Level 7.

“The Gene Arcana Core itself is a compressed form of solid Gene Arcana. Compressing it further is very difficult. So, someone borrowed from the birth process of stars and proposed the spinning method.

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“The process starts with letting the Gene Arcana Core spin at a high speed. As soon as the spinning speed reaches a certain level, the Gene Arcana Core will continue to compress and absorb more Gene Arcana. So, the key is to spin!”

Ling Jiu used his mind to control the core of the Gene Arcana to make it spin slowly. There was no difficulty in making it spin. The hardest part was making it spin at a high speed.

Only when the rotation of the Gene Arcana Core reached a certain speed would it compress itself and produce a self-compression effect.

If the rotation speed was too slow?

Then it would be useless.

Spin, spin, spin…

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