Chapter 130: Independence (2)
In the room, Su Yu shook his head and laughed.
He was certain that this fellow would definitely be able to get some customers.
Almost all the residents of the Mental Tempering Garden were high-tier geniuses. Many of them were from large families. These units were too dirty. These students wouldn't mind paying one merit point to have their units cleaned.
"This is quite a good business idea." Su Yu sighed as he grumbled, "I have two Divine Characters, but why don't they have this ability as well? Otherwise, I would definitely be able to earn a lot today!"
There were over 100 units in a single block. Even if the building wasn't fully inhabited, there would be no less than 60 residents in the building. Even if only half of them were willing to pay, he could earn 30 merit points.
That was a big business! He could finish the job quickly and safely to earn the equivalent of what he could earn from killing three early-stage Infinite Strength cultivators.
He was regretful. There was nothing he could do if his Divine Characters were so lame. After setting his luggage down, he scanned the room. Not only was it dirty, it also lacked the usual daily necessities.
"Sigh."
He had to spend even more money! The academy had charged him 17,000 dollars and 1 merit point earlier, leaving him with around 5,000 dollars and 41 merit points.
"Let's clean this place up first."
After picking up a random rug, Su Yu started cleaning the unit.
...
While Su Yu was cleaning, there were more and more activities in block 3.
The new students were moving in one after another. Not everyone could afford staying in the high-level zone. And even some who could afford it wouldn't be willing to stay there. It would be too much of a waste to spend 10 merit points per year just for a slightly better accommodation.
Some of the students also chose to stay in the common zone only because they enjoyed the lively environment there. A villa was good, but it was too lonely living alone. The apartment block here felt much more welcoming than an empty villa.
As for the ordinary dormitories, they were too crowded and would not be beneficial for one's cultivation. The common zone of the Mental Tempering Garden was perfect. Each student would get a single apartment unit while everyone would be in the same building.
As block 3 bustled with noise and excitement, a chubby guy was moving all over the building, earning a sizeable sum of merit points. While the old students were still worrying over making merit points, this chubby guy had already earned more than 10 merit points just by cleaning some apartment units.
"Making money is quite easy!"
The chubby guy remarked to himself. This felt too easy. This was his first day in the academy and he had already earned more than 10 merit points. And there seemed to be even more new students arriving. He could probably earn at least 30 merit points by the end of the day.
He was currently busy cleaning an apartment unit. Beside him, the student asked curiously, "Student, what is your Divine Character? Is cleaning its sole ability?"
The chubby guy smiled and said, "That is its only ability for now."
"That's a waste of an ability. What a pity."
The student felt regretful for him. He said, "By the way, what's your name?"
"Xia Huyou."
"Xia Huyou(Misleading scammer)?"
The student was stunned. What sort of a name was that?
The chubby hurriedly explained, "No! It's Xia for Great Xia, Hu for tiger, and you for especially. Xia Huyou, that's my name."
"Xia?"
The student asked blankly, "Don't tell me you're from that Xia Family."
"You can say so. I'm a distant relative of the family."
Xia Huyou had a helpless tone as he said, "The Xia Family has been in existence for so many years. There are a lot of people with that surname walking around nowadays. But apart from the direct descendants of the Great Xia King, the rest of us are basically the same as the regular people."
The new student nodded, "True. Otherwise, it would be too scary to imagine a Xia Family member cleaning my room for me. By the way, I heard that someone from Marquis Xia's line is joining the academy this year. Do you know about that?"
"Yeah." Xia Huyou curled his lips and said, "It's a girl. What's her name? I forgot. That's a cocky fellow. But she's not staying here. She's staying at the special zone instead. What a wastrel. She's actually spending 100 merit points per year just for accommodation."
"Marquis Xia is rich. He's the number one merchant of Great Xia. Would he care about a little bit of merit points?"
The new student was impressed as well. Some people simply lived a much better life than others. Not even some of the bigger families would be willing to spend 100 merit points just for accommodation.
When the new student saw that Xia Huyou was so talkative, he asked, "You have been everywhere. Do you know if there's any big shots in our block?"
"The freaks are either staying in the high-level zone or the special zone. As for our block...the strongest is probably the fellow in unit 609. Su Yu from Nanyuan, a high-high student."
"Su Yu?" The new student said, "The fellow who got a high-high evaluation due to a damaged Mark of Culture?"
"You know that as well?" Xia Huyou said in astonishment, "Don't tell me you really believe that he only managed to get high-high evaluation because of a damaged Mark of Culture?"
"Is that not the case?" The student said, "That's what I heard. His willpower is weak yet he managed to get a high score during that test. He's not even at the Mental Tempering Stage. If the Mark of Culture isn't broken, would he be able to get a high-high evaluation?"
Xia Huyou smiled and said, "Think what you want, but I advise you to not provoke that fellow. No matter what, he's a ninth-stage Source Opening cultivator. Fresh Mental Tempering Stage students like us can probably be killed with one slap by him unless we have powerful Divine Characters."
"Ninth-stage Source Opening..."
The student nodded in agreement. True, their willpower might be stronger, but a lot of them were rather weak in physical cultivation. Provoking Su Yu was basically the same as asking for a beating.
"Those freaks won't fear him. I heard some of the freaks are already in the Great Strength Realm."
"But that has nothing to do with us."
Xia Huyou was already done cleaning the room. While walking away, he said, "Feel free to call me if you need anything in the future! I'll give you my card later. I provide apartment cleaning services three times per week. You can hire me instead of doing it yourself!"
"Sure. Thank you, Student Xia."
"You're welcome."
/p>
A wide smile appeared on Xia Huyou's face. See, it was so easy to earn money! And people here were even thanking him after paying him. If he could expand his cleaning services to the entire Mental Tempering Garden, he would be rich! But he had heard that the academy provided the same services as well.
Before long, he arrived at the 6th floor. He was staying there as well. He wouldn't have encountered Su Yu so early otherwise. His gaze landed on unit 609 curiously. The door was shut.
Xia Huyou raised his brow. Su Yu, high-high student, a genius of Nanyuan, and a student of Liu Wenyan. He seemed like a nice guy, but he was too stingy! He was so stingy he wasn't even willing to spend one merit point. If he ended up exhausting himself to death cleaning the apartment, he deserved it!
While he was thinking, the door opened. When Su Yu saw the chubby guy in the corridor, he smiled and said, "Student, can I ask you something? Are there a lot of stores selling beddings downstairs?"
"Not really. There are only three of them in total and there is only one near our place."
"Thanks!"
Su Yu then walked out of his unit and shut the door.
Xia Huyou hurriedly asked, "Do you really not want my help with it? It's very cheap! I'm only charging 100 dollars. If you don't have cash, you can swipe your card instead. My business accepts cards!"
"I'm good. Thank you for the offer."
Su Yu was smiling politely, but inwardly, he was cursing. Dream on! Was 100 dollars not money? Paying 100 dollars for someone to go downstairs for him? Did he not have legs himself?
"By the way, where's the cafeteria?"
"It's quite far, but still within the Mental Tempering Garden. It's in block 15."
Su Yu nodded and asked again, "Student, you can consider buying some meals over. Since everyone has just arrived, they are probably tired and too lazy to go that far. You can probably earn some money selling food."
Xia Huyou sighed and said, "I wanted to do that as well, but the profit margin is too low. The food in the cafeteria is too expensive. If they have to pay enough for me to profit as well, they might as well leave for some fine dining instead."
"Is the food there really that expensive?"
"Yes." Xia Huyou nodded and clenched his teeth in fury, "You need to swipe 1 merit point there to get a credit of 10,000 dollars in the cafeteria. Each meal is worth hundreds of dollars. You would probably end up spending 1 merit point per month to eat there."
Su Yu was speechless. Damn it! The academy must have gone crazy from greed!
"How about those without merit points? Are they going to starve to death?"
"Not really. You can always cook. You can also eat at the Visitor District. They accept cash there and the food there is priced fairly. Only the cafeteria here is overcharging their food."
...
Su Yu laughed helplessly. After arriving at the academy, he realized how poor he was and how greedy the academy was.
When Xia Huyou saw that Su Yu was being chatty, he followed Su Yu and said, "Student, in the academy, you need to learn to make your own money. The academy encourages its students to be independent. Otherwise, it won't be able to support so many people, especially when everyone is a cultivator."
Su Yu nodded. That was true. There were nearly 100,000 people in the academy. That was too many people for the academy to support.
"We are all new students, so there won't be that many ways we can make money. We can't even get those missions. You might think that all the new students are very well-off now, but wait a few months. At that time, new students will probably be the same as beggars."
Xia Huyou sighed and said, "We need to look for our own income. Relying on family alone won't work."
"Yeah." Su Yu nodded again.
Xia Huyou lowered his voice and said, "Brother, I have a good money making idea. Are you interested?"
Su Yu looked at him and said, "If it's guaranteed to make money, why are you looking for me? We don't know each other that well, right?"
"It doesn't matter. We will be close after getting to know each other." Xia Huyou smiled and said, "You're Su Yu. I know you. A high-high genius from an ordinary family, right? Do you want to make some money?"
Su Yu merely looked at him silently.
"It's really very easy. I can promote you and incite some people to challenge you. You can charge them for each challenge, earning money regardless of the result. What do you think?"
…
Su Yu smiled and said, "Why don't I promote you instead? You can be the fighter."
Xia Huyou helplessly said, "I wish. But I'm not as well-known as you. You're quite famous and the Mark of Culture happened to be damaged during your test. Many people believe that you're not qualified to be a high-high student. This is a good chance. You should grab any money you can. After your talent is revealed, you won't be able to do this anymore."
"Forget it. I'm not interested."