Chapter 304: Mission: Part 2
Auldmandiller smiled and nodded at Lin Sheng. He had used his connection, through his old friends, to secure this credit mission for him.
The patrol mission was not a one-off expedition but containing a series of operations. As long as Lin Sheng successfully completed this one, there would be more such credit missions awaited him. And if he wanted, he could get 100 credits. This was the benefit of the special mission.
After the three selected their missions, they stood back behind their respective professors, and then only came the turn of the rest of the students. The process was just the same as before. After the students selected the missions, Vice-Chancellor Suna declared the meeting as over.
Auldmandiller had a few words with others and introduced Lin Sheng to an old professor whom he knew well. After a few moments of pleasantry, Auldmandiller brought Lin Sheng out of the hall and walked out of the university.
“Did you notice the other two earlier?” Auldmandiller asked with a smile.
“What’s wrong, professor?” Lin Sheng responded, knowing that Auldmandiller had something to say.
“f.a.n.n.y and Elind are the only best disciples in the two workshops. Since they were selected to enjoy this privilege, it means that they are the most favored students,” explained Auldmandiller. “But in Baine, the ones who are really going places are Isabel Cador, the Blue Thunder Shadow and Carlis the Mermaid. Besides, the current president of the Darkheart Society, the little guy named Gail, is good. Together, they have occupied the top three spots in the two leaderboards.”
“Err… I haven’t read the rankings…” Lin Sheng confessed. “I’ve been busy with other things recently, and you know that I’m not interested in this thing.”
“I agree. The rewards of the rankings are nothing. It’s for publicity and a stepping stone to enter the Moon Basin. But I’m sure you can make it to the Moon Basin even without the rankings. That’s okay.” Auldmandiller could not help but smile like a Cheshire cat. He was very pleased that Lin Sheng had achieved over 500 units of dark energy in his first awakening.
“But I heard that if a person joins some student societies, one can get preferential treatment in choosing a workshop? Is this true, professor?”
“Some workshops work this way. It’s like preselection, but it’s something that the elite disciples have come up with in the workshop.” Auldmandiller waved a dismissing hand. “You shouldn’t take part in that. It’s meaningless. It’s never too late to build your influence after you enter the Moon Basin. I’ve confidence in you.”
“Speaking of which, is Isabel Cador the elder sister of Mylissa?” Lin Sheng remembered that Mylissa’s last name was also Cador. And to be honest, of all the students in the Soul Fortress, Mylissa was the only person whom Lin Sheng could remember her full name.
“That’s her. Isabel is from the Crystal Wand workshop. She is good and strong. But she has a bit of a problem with some student organizations. It’s just some petty issue, anyway.” Auldmandiller smiled. “In fact, the strongest student, whom I find worth the while, is Carlis the Mermaid. She is the current president of the student council of Baine University. I expect that she will stay on and teach on campus after graduation. You might want to befriend her.”
“Understood.” Lin Sheng nodded. “How strong is Carlis?”
“I don’t know, but it appears that she is an apex Three-winger with a performance index of 19,000. However, that is all she has revealed. Lin Sheng, remember not to show your last card in any situation,” Auldmandiller reminded. “This will mislead your enemy to miscalculate your strength and underestimate you. Thus, you will have a higher chance of winning.”
“Got it.” Lin Sheng nodded.
Coming out of the campus, Auldmandiller gave Lin Sheng a mobile phone for the mission and sent him off to report to the designated place.
Auldmandiller returned to the Soul Fortress to supervise the pharmaceutical works. It was said that the workshop had secured a buyer for its new drug. The buyer had sent their representatives to the Soul Fortress for a meeting. So the professor had taken time off his busy schedule to bring Lin Sheng to the mission selection meeting. This was the privileged treatment an elite student would receive. Not only did Lin Sheng not have to break his back to work for the workshop, but he also got to enjoy favors from the professor.
That was a contrast to the other students, who only got ten credits for completing more dangerous missions sometimes. The student societies held most of the quotas for missions with over ten credits, and these missions could last over a month. The student societies used various means to get the mission for themselves before a.s.signing them to their members. That was also the reason many students outside these societies found life difficult.
However, a genius like Lin Sheng was different. Among the first and second-year students who enjoyed the same genius treatment, there were f.a.n.n.y and Elind. Lin Sheng did not know how strong the two were and their level of dark energy. As a veteran whose strength had far surpa.s.sed that of a student, Lin Sheng wanted to work his way up slowly.
After gaining the power of the Heart of the d.a.m.ned, his body was gradually mutating. Because of the surge in holy power earlier, Lin Sheng was cautious to not over-train his dark energy. So he could only cultivate step by step. When he sensed a spike in the dark energy, he would transfer the excess energy to the crystal warrior behind him.
A few days before setting out, Lin Sheng felt that his crystal warrior was getting clearer and clearer. But his control over the dark energy was still rudimentary, not even close to that of a One-winger. He was only a novice who rode on the advantage of having a huge amount of dark energy to bully other students. He was not as strong as he looked.
Lin Sheng traveled light with a bank card, some cash, and some materials for the ritual array. He hopped the campus bus and went straight toward Pine Town.
…
The bus suddenly sounded its harsh horn. Someone was blocking the way in front, waving a small flag purportedly conducting checks. The driver stopped the bus and impatiently waved a small black booklet in his hand. The persons carrying out the roadblock suddenly became pliant in their att.i.tude and let the bus through.
There were ten students on the trip to Pine Town, and they were all in the bus.
“It’s said that two teams have arrived, and we are the third. They have enough men, but as long as the professors had not come out of the mine, we will have to keep patrolling the surrounding areas. It’s a bit of a troublesome for sure,” said a blonde girl with braided hair by the name of Melissa. She was one of the fellow students sitting next to Lin Sheng at the window. Among the ten students and except Lin Sheng, Melissa had the highest dark energy—over a hundred.
It was not known if the girl was hiding her capabilities, but with over a hundred units of dark energy, Melissa was one of the best among the One-wingers as opposed to the other rookies who were of the double-digit realm. Had Lin Sheng not been here, the girl would be the team leader. But since Lin Sheng was here, he was the team leader by default.
“I hope the situation in the mine will drag on. Otherwise, we may not gain enough credits!” Lin Sheng smiled.
“You’d better hope the professors didn’t hear it. Otherwise, they won’t spare you.” Melissa laughed.
So too the rest of the team members. Those who could take part in the mission surely had some personal connections. Those wealthy families had “donated” quite a large amount of money to the university for sure.