Chapter 170: Showing Off in Public, Ranked Sixth (II)

With its supersonic speed, the aircraft crossed over five hundred kilometers in no time, arriving at the Jiuhuan Mountains.

As the aircraft descended sharply, Chen Chu's eyes caught sight of the buildings nestled among the forests, adding a touch of civilization to the endless wilderness. In the distance, there were other faintly visible clusters of buildings on the horizon, forming a straight line extending into the distance.

Whoosh!

The Bluebird fighter jet, controlled by several anti-gravity engines, descended vertically and landed steadily on the square in front of the Nantian Base.

As the cockpit opened and Chen Chu and the others began to disembark from the plane, Chen Qi, the homeroom teacher of Class Three, walked over from the side of the square.

Chen Qi's expression remained solemn as usual. She nodded slightly at the captain who had also disembarked. "Thank you for your trouble, Du Yu."

The captain smiled. "No need to be polite, Miss Chen. I'm also from Nantian. I have to see these freshmen off."

Li Chen was somewhat surprised. "Captain, you were also a student of Nantian!?"

Others, including Chen Chu, also showed surprise in their eyes. They hadn't expected that this captain, in his early twenties, would also be from their school.

Du Yu nodded with a smile. "That's right, but my talent isn’t as good as yours. I barely broke through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm by the time I graduated, so I joined the military as a captain."

Chen Chu then asked curiously, "Miss Chen, what are you doing here?"

It was understandable for Pang Long and the others to be here, as they were martial arts teachers, but the presence of Chen Qi, the academics homeroom teacher, was a large surprise. No wonder they hadn't seen her on the first day of the new semester.

Chen Qi calmly replied, "No need to be surprised. It's just my turn to be on duty here. Someone else will replace me next semester. Alright, follow me so we can allocate dormitories first, and then I'll find someone to show you around the place. We'll consider other matters tomorrow."

Just as Chen Qi finished speaking, a thirty-meter-high, ten-meter-wide screen on the left side of the square suddenly lit up, a row of red characters appearing on it.

"Qin Zhe, Yunshan Martial Arts High School, Fourth Heavenly Realm. Broke through on February 13th, ranked 23rd among the first-year students!"

The red flickering characters were each as large as a person, and almost everyone in the entire square could see them. Li Chen and the others who had just arrived were all stunned.

"What the heck is this?"

"That freshman from Yunshan is already in the Fourth Heavenly Realm, but only ranks twenty-third?"

"That's too crazy! Chen Chu's breakthrough last week already surprised everyone. I didn't expect there to be so many freaks breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm in the first year!"

The row of red characters slowly shrank, and then the big screen displayed the Genius Lists for the Southern Region of East Xia, for the third, second, and first years.

Chen Chu's gaze skimmed over the first two years and landed on the first-year list.

The first place belonged to someone named Ning Fei from Mingcheng High School, who had broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm on February 1st, six days earlier than Chen Chu.

Next was the second place, the third place...

"Chen Jianyi, Qinchuan Martial Arts High School, ranked fifteenth, broke through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm on February 8th."

Hmm!

Chen Chu's gaze flickered slightly as it fell on the sixteenth position on the Genius List.

"An Fuqing, from Nantian Martial Arts High School, ranked sixteenth, broke through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm on February 11th."

Sixteenth place. So An Fuqing already broke through two days ago.

"Look, An Fuqing’s also broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm!"

As everyone was looking up in amazement at the huge leaderboard, someone hurried back to the entrance of the square. It turned out to be Xia Youhui.

His battle armor was a bit dirty, and he carried a heavy shield on his back. When he saw Chen Chu, he shouted and ran over in excitement. "Ah Chu, you're finally here! Luo Fei, you're here too!"

After exchanging greetings with Luo Fei, Xia Youhui turned to Chen Chu. "Hehe! I calculated the time and knew you would be arriving soon, so I came back early. Let's go, Ah Chu, we're going to show... I mean, go sign up."

Saying this, he eagerly grabbed Chen Chu's arm and rushed towards the big screen ahead.

Xia Youhui started to explain in an excited tone. "The data on the mutated beast battlefield is separated from the outside, so you need to manually log in. Here, enter your student ID to verify..."

Ahem!

Chen Chu cleared his throat. "Let's take it easy with the registration. Why are you more anxious than me?"

"Hehe

,

just wanted to see you shine." Xia Youhui chuckled.

As Chen Chu passed the verification and then placed his palm on the detector below, the big screen lit up again, and a row of huge red characters appeared once more.

"Chen Chu, Nantian Martial Arts High School, Fourth Heavenly Realm. Broke through on February 6th, ranked sixth on the first-year Genius List."

It wasn't just Nantian's base. The same row of characters appeared on the screens in the base squares of the eighteen first-rate and over forty second-rate schools scattered throughout the southern mutated beast battlefield.

"Chen Chu!"

At Qinchuan School's base, hundreds of kilometers away, Chen Jianyi looked up at the name on the big screen, and the memory of the figure walking out of the flames flashed through his mind.

"Hahaha!

I knew it, Ah Chu, I knew you'd make a splash as soon as you arrived."

Seeing Chen Chu's name ranking sixth displayed in red on the big screen, Xia Youhui burst into laughter.

Chen Chu, on the other hand, was a bit puzzled. "Old Xia, when was this list released?"

There had been no mention of this in the information he had looked up about the mutated beast battlefield.

Xia Youhui chuckled. "From what those seniors said, it was only a few months ago, around the time we went to Kyrola. They divided it into the Genius List and the Achievement List.

"But a few months ago, the Genius List only covered the second and third years. It wasn't until last month, when freshmen started breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm and coming to the battlefield, that they added the first-year list.

"This list covers eighteen first-rate and forty-one second-rate school bases in the southern mutated beast battlefield. Whenever there's a change, those huge red characters appear for everyone to see.

"Now, everyone at all of the bases knows that there's a genius named Chen Chu. How's it, Ah Chu? Feeling pretty good, huh?"

Chen Chu glanced back at the envy, surprise, and even astonishment on the faces of his classmates and Captain Du behind him, shaking his head slightly. "Maybe a little. Saying 'no' would definitely be a lie."

Everyone had a desire to show off, an instinct that came from deep within our genes. No one was exempt, just like how women enjoyed wearing pretty clothes and men liked being in the spotlight. However, people with calm and mature personalities could usually control this desire.

Xia Youhui grinned proudly. "Hehe

,

I know how great this feeling is, so I rushed back to see you showing off. Didn't even wait for Old Liu and the others."

Wait, why are you so excited about my showing off...?

Chen Chu was speechless.

Chen Qi walked over with a glance at Chen Chu and casually said, "Xia Youhui, your timing is perfect. Take them to their dormitories and introduce them to the specifics here."

"Sure thing, ma’am. Leave it to me."

With that, Xia Youhui waved excitedly. "Brothers, let's go. I'll show you around the base first, and we can say hi to the genius seniors on the way."

"More new students again? Isn't the second semester of the year just starting?"

"This batch of freshmen is so strong!"

"Yeah, with the two previous batches, there’s already over forty people who've reached the Third Heavenly Realm."

On the steps at the entrance of the base, many seniors in ordinary combat suits watched the group of freshmen passing by, their expressions complex.

Most of these second year students were only at the Second Heavenly Realm, with only a few in the beginning stages of the Third Realm. In this world, geniuses were few and far between. Even at Nantian, a first-rate school, there weren't many students who could consistently progress.

In the previous year, there had been over six hundred students at the Foundation Building stage, but by the time they reached their second year, there were only a little over four hundred left.

During the first year, those with poor talent, or who couldn't endure the tediousness and difficulty of cultivation, or were too afraid of combat, eventually gave up and chose the academics path.

There were quite a few of these kinds of people. A few days ago, at the beginning of the second semester, Chen Chu had noticed that out of the approximately nine hundred students at the Foundation Building stage, nearly a hundred had chosen to transition back to academics.

By the time the next year started, there would be another portion dropping out, just like with the current second-year students.

Out of the current four hundred plus second year students, only around two hundred had reached the Third Heavenly Realm, and the other two hundred were struggling in the late stage of the Second. These individuals could only undertake basic tasks at the base or hunt nearby level 1 and 2 mutated beasts to earn contribution points and accumulate combat experience.

Only students who had reached the Third Heavenly Realm would venture into the mountains, and only the geniuses at the Fourth and Fifth Realms dared to venture far from the base.

Apart from this, there were around two hundred third-year seniors, most of whom had reached the Third Heavenly Realm, and many of them had broken through to the Fourth. The strongest among them had reached the peak of the Fifth Heavenly Realm and were on the verge of a breakthrough at any moment.

In total, Nantian had roughly six hundred students in the mutated beast battlefield; adding in the logistics and staff gave a total population of eight hundred. However, many students were usually not at the base, so the permanent population there was only around four to five hundred.

As Xia Youhui explained things while leading them around, everyone gained a rough understanding of the base. It was divided into several areas: dormitories for the students, a secluded cultivation area, logistics, cafeteria, mission intelligence, and dormitories for ordinary workers.

Additionally, due to the magnetic field and the Endless Mist, the data signal was largely cut off from the outside world, with the only reliable line of contact buried underground and connected to the rear of the military base.

During this time, Xia Youhui briefly introduced the two types of missions, but it was quickly glossed over. Those who could come here early were all geniuses, and no one would choose the conservative tasks. Their purpose in coming here was to fight against mutated beasts and sharpen themselves.

Of course, the most important reason was contribution points. With these points, everyone could exchange a large amount of cultivation resources suitable for themselves and improve at a faster rate.

After roughly understanding the basic information here, Chen Chu and the others went to the logistics management office to register and be assigned dormitories.

These were divided into several buildings for males and females, each with individual rooms, similar to school dormitories.

By the time everything was settled, Liu Feng, Li Meng, Bai Mu, Yuan Chenghuang, and a few others who had completed their missions returned, excitedly coming over to join them.