Chapter 183: Chapter 183

The next day, Lu Lin only received the message about his class and schedule from Wu Hongming after waking up in the morning.

Each morning, they had two main lessons. There were five required basic courses: Alien Knowledge, Alien Race Knowledge, Exotic Beast Knowledge, Alien Geography, and Alien Treasure.

In addition, there were four combat training courses, usually held in the afternoon: Daily Training, Equal Competition, Fight Against All Odds, and Jungle Exploration.

These nine courses were compulsory. There were also many optional courses, such as Exotic Beast Weakness Analysis, Alien Language Explanation, Alien Race Customs, Introduction to Secret Realms, Sixteen Forbidden Lands, Inheritance Secret Realms, Treasure Secret Realms, Death Secret Realms, and many others.

Wu Hongming suggested that on top of ensuring he learned the nine basic courses well, Lu Lin should also take more optional courses. Perhaps today’s seemingly unnecessary knowledge might save a life in the future, he had added.

Lu Lin decided to understand them better before choosing. After all, he couldn’t know the specifics of these courses just by looking at their names. He had never even heard the term ’Secret Realm’ before and had no idea what it meant. Why is there a Death Secret Realm? Do you die just by entering?

After thanking Wu Hongming, Lu Lin got up, washed, and ate breakfast.

Zhou Ziqiang had already made a pot of meatball soup and was now frying dough sticks.

Zhou Ziqiang glanced over and noticed something unusual about Lu Lin’s gait, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint it. Thinking for a moment, he decided not to mention it.

He had trained all night and felt invigorated that morning. Influenced by Lu Lin, Zhou Ziqiang had trained all night and clearly felt his own tempering level had improved significantly.

"By the way, Ziqiang, how did the rest of the competition go after I left yesterday?" Lu Lin asked.

Zhou Ziqiang served him a bowl of meatball soup, a ’you finally asked’ expression on his face.

"Mr. Lu, we all lost."

"After you left, Principal Wang randomly picked ten more students from the school to fight against us, but in the end, we all lost."

"The students from Iron Blood College are just too strong. I must work harder."

"Hmm." Lu Lin nodded, showing his understanding.

Iron Blood College students had an initial tempering level above 0.95%. Ordinary students stood no chance unless the difference in their levels was small. After all, their casual training could surpass the painstaking efforts of others. Besides, no student from Iron Blood College would waste their Talent; they must have been grinding hard this past month. Otherwise, how could Hang Jianshe have reached the Second Level Star Core Warrior rank within a month?

"Well, then let’s go to school together. I... I’m also taking classes at Luse Alliance College."

"What?" Zhou Ziqiang was stunned, almost dipping his hand into the frying oil.

"Mr. Lu, didn’t you win the Challenge Match? Why do you still have to take classes at Luse Alliance College?"

"Ah... I’ll tell you on the way."

After eating breakfast, the two walked to the school together.

It wasn’t that Lu Lin was reluctant to drive, but No. 11 Keming Street was too close to Luse Alliance College. By the time the car started and stopped, they could have walked there.

Compared to Iron Blood College, which lacked activities for senior students, Luse Alliance College had a much more vibrant atmosphere. While walking on the campus, Lu Lin saw groups of students chatting and laughing, and even boys and girls holding hands on their way to class. This finally allowed Lu Lin to experience the charm of university life.

Upon arriving at the teaching building, Lu Lin and Zhou Ziqiang went their separate ways. Lu Lin was in the elite class, a small group of just over ten people. Zhou Ziqiang, however, was in an ordinary class with over 300 students.

Following the information sent by Wu Hongming, Lu Lin arrived at the third floor of the teaching building.

Inside the classroom, several students were already chatting.

As Lu Lin walked in, everyone turned to look at him, not saying a word.

Lu Lin smiled. These early arrivals were basically the ones who had participated in yesterday’s Challenge Match. Yao Zongheng and Cong Xiaolong were both there, as well as several other First Level students.

"Good morning, classmates."

"It seems that everyone is recovering well."

Considering that they were going to be classmates, Lu Lin thought it necessary to greet everyone in a friendly manner.

Just shut up, will you? Can’t we just be ordinary classmates for four years without you bringing that up?

A voice came from behind the door, startling Lu Lin. Turning his head, he saw it was Lei Ming.

Lu Lin stepped back two paces and sat down in an empty seat. Seeing him seated, the others consciously shifted their positions, trying to put more distance between themselves and him.

Soon, everyone had arrived. Lu Lin counted: eleven people in total. It was him and the ten who had fought on the stage yesterday.

Hang Jianshe walked in and nodded to Lu Lin without saying a word. Zhu Haolin also looked like he wanted to say something, but he hesitated and ultimately said nothing.

Strictly speaking, the students in this class could be divided into two groups. First: Lu Lin. Second: Lu Lin’s defeated opponents.

"Alright, everyone’s here. From now on, you’re all classmates in the same class. You should care for and help each other." Lei Ming didn’t bother with any grand pronouncements. After he finished speaking, he posted a QR code on the big screen.

"This is the group for our class. Everyone scan the code and join."

"Course content, schedules, and important notices will be sent to this group from now on."

"Alright, now that everyone has joined, I’ll send out the textbooks. You can all download them."

Lei Ming sent the content for the five basic courses to the group. Lu Lin, like everyone else, chose to download the entire package for future reference. However, relying solely on a Personal Terminal wasn’t foolproof. When facing exotic beasts and Alien Races, it was crucial to have the information memorized for swift reactions.

"Has everyone finished downloading? Good. That concludes our theoretical courses for this year."

"Next, we’ll focus entirely on the three practical combat courses."

"Teacher!" Hang Jianshe raised his hand.

"Teacher, we have four practical courses: cultivation, duel, group combat, and escape."

"Heh, so you’re referring to that." Lei Ming chuckled. "There are corresponding Star Veins Tempering Cultivation Methods in the school library. You can go pick one out yourselves. I won’t elaborate further here."

"Therefore, our curriculum this year will primarily focus on those three practical subjects. In the final examination, these three will account for 90% of your grade."

"Now, everyone come with me to the Performance Martial Arena. Lu Lin, you come too."

Lu Lin’s strength far surpasses the others, Lei Ming thought, troubled. To be honest, he isn’t really suited for this kind of class. If he used Indifference, everyone would likely be floored.

Still, it’s the first class of the new semester, Lei Ming mused, deciding to include him.

One hour later, Lu Lin was bored, sitting on the side of the Performance Martial Arena. The ten students were sparring in groups on the arena floor. Even Hang Jianshe was practicing one-on-one with Cong Xiaolong to increase their actual combat experience.

It wasn’t that everyone was excluding him. Among the freshmen of Iron Blood College, who would dare to alienate Lu Lin?

Today’s actual combat was mainly for Lei Ming to understand everyone’s Star Martial learning situation. But when Lu Lin stepped up, using only his raw power and Inch Step, he crushed all ten of them. After that, no one else was willing to fight him. Even Lei Ming, when he personally entered the fray without using Star Skills, only gained a slight advantage due to experience.

So, Lei Ming announced that Lu Lin had passed this Star Martial stage. After assessing Lu Lin’s Star Skills and Star Power reserves, Lei Ming would offer him targeted advice on combining the two.

Lu Lin didn’t mind. He just watched from the side.

As he watched, Lu Lin also realized Lei Ming’s good intentions. He started teaching from the very basics: stance, footwork, evasion, punches, and kicks.

Lu Lin knew he lacked these fundamentals, even though he had mastered five Star Skills: Ten Steps Kill, Inch Step, Golden Body Sutra, Soul Splitting Skill, and Inch Tick. However, these Star Skills were advanced techniques, created and refined by Bosses who were true masters of martial arts. Just because Lu Lin could learn these skills didn’t mean his foundation was good. On the contrary, Lu Lin’s foundations were extremely poor.

While Lei Ming was instructing others, Lu Lin was also learning little by little. His learning speed was incredibly fast. As soon as Lei Ming demonstrated something, Lu Lin would immediately grasp it and could replicate the desired form and feeling upon standing up. With just two or three repetitions, he could perform the movements with great proficiency.

Lei Ming saw this and specifically praised Lu Lin, saying that he had good Talent and strong learning ability. Once Lu Lin could internalize these fundamental methods of force application into habit, his Combat Power would see another significant boost.

In fact, Lu Lin had already felt it. For instance, when using Inch Step, he felt his speed had increased. But the true improvement was the elimination of the awkwardness he previously felt when transitioning between movements. Previously, when he practiced Inch Step, each step was almost a discrete action. He relied solely on his powerful strength and familiarity with the leg meridians to complete the connection between each movement.

Those who were unfamiliar with it would shout "666" when they saw it. But if a true footwork master were to fight him, they could likely discern his movement patterns after just one or two exchanges and strike decisively the instant he tried to shift his motion.

Just half an hour into the class, after practicing the footwork and linking movements taught by Lei Ming, Lu Lin saw a dramatic improvement. Now, if he were to face dozens of opponents again, he could defeat them with even greater ease and leisure, and they wouldn’t even be able to touch a hair on his head.

"Alright, that’s all for this class. Make sure to practice when you get back."

"If any of you need it, you can use the strength and footwork training room. It has high-intensity dodgeball training machines."

"Lu Lin, Hang Jianshe, Cong Xiaolong, Yao Zongheng, Zhu Haolin—the five of you, stay behind."

After the other students left, Lei Ming approached them and said, "The University Students’ Sports Meet is approaching. Lu Lin has already been selected as a reserve member for the school team."

"The preliminary qualifiers are a month away. All of you should push yourselves during this time. See if you can quickly reach Level 3 and join Lu Lin in experiencing such a grand event."

"The preliminary qualifiers will be held in Bovangpo City on an alien planet. That city is also the garrison for Hua Xia Military Academy, West Point Military Academy, and Amazon Military Academy. If you get the chance to go, you might even be able to spar with masters from those three academies."

The five of them looked serious. For now, they could only attend as reserve team members and observe. But in two years, they would be the ones responsible for leading the team. By then, the older students would have graduated. If the new intake wasn’t strong enough, and if their own abilities were lacking, they might bring great dishonor to Iron Blood College.

"By the way, Lu Lin, what’s your current Star Vein tempering level? Do you need any resource support from the school?"

"If you can advance to Level 4 in this month, you might have a chance to compete."

"I do," Lu Lin nodded.

However, what he needed wasn’t just Star Crystals and elixirs. More importantly, he needed a large number of students or Martial Artists who had not yet Comprehended Star Skills.

If there were Level 6 Martial Artists, it would be even better, he thought.