Chapter 489: Source Soul Acupoint (1)
Not long after Su Yu finished his discussion with Hu Qiusheng, the instructor arrived. Su Yu resumed his act as a good student, listening attentively to every word spoken by the instructor. Inwardly, however, he was busy thinking about all sorts of things, such as his recent lack of money. He wondered if he could continue getting the academy benefits.
Since he was already the top ranked new student in the top 100, that should be the equivalent of getting first place during the monthly examination. That should earn him 10 merit points, right? As the class monitor, he was still entitled to 5 merit points per month. And as a high-high student, he had a monthly stipend of 3 merit points.
He was currently ranked 29th in the top 100. He was previously ranked 24th, but his rank had changed due to the movement of other students in the ranking. Nevertheless, his rank was still high enough to receive an additional 10 merit points.
According to his calculation, he should be entitled to 28 merit points from the academy. But a certain asshole had cancelled his monthly stipend, so he wondered if the academy would still pay him. That asshole was only a discipline master, not the hall master of the Disciple Hall.
"I need to ask about this at the office. That's a lot of money."
After some calculation, Su Yu noticed that he was really broke. He had a debt of 1,100 merit points to Xia Huyou and he only had 130 merit points to his name. All the merit points he had listed earlier were the sources of merit points that would add to his total earned merit. That would be important as a high total earned merit would allow him to enter more grottos.
Additionally, high total earned merit would also grant him access to some cultivation manuals. Although he didn't need these manuals anymore, it was still a good idea to keep increasing his total earned merit.
Total earned merit would also be important when it comes to selecting missions and purchasing resources.
Basically, in Great Xia, one's total earned merit also represented one's status. The higher one's total earned merit was, the higher one's status was, and the more doors would open for one.
Even for his future advancement into a full researcher and further promotion would require enough total earned merit.
...
While Su Yu was thinking about all sorts of things, the class came to an end.
Right after class, he rushed toward the Merit Office.
"Can you check if my merit stipends for last month have been credited?" Su Yu asked right after entering the room.
The same young lady was on duty at the counter. But when she saw Su Yu this time, she was not as friendly as she was. With a cold expression, she took her time checking the records before finally saying, "You are supposed to be entitled to 28 merit points, but due to your punishment, your stipend as a high-high student has been rescinded. Thus, you are still eligible to receive 25 merit points."
When Su Yu thought about it, this should be right. Xia Yuwen had only removed his stipend as a high-high student, nothing else. 25 merit points. That was still a decent amount of money. But the 3 merit points he lost would not be gone for only one month. This might persist for many years.
He was supposed to keep receiving these stipends before reaching the Skysoar Realm. Damn that Xia Yuwen! This was such a big loss! Su Yu vowed to one day get his money back from Xia Yuwen.
He didn't really mind the cold expression of the young lady. This was most likely due to the rumors floating around about his relationship with the myriad races. Her reaction was understandable.
"Can I regain my monthly stipend for being a high-high student?"
"You can submit an appeal to the Discipline Hall."
"I understand. Please send me what I can receive for now."
Su Yu handed his merit card over. Before long, 25 merit points were transferred into his account.
At this time, he recalled the reward for placing first in the top 100. With that placing, one could get 30 merit points every month and one Infinite Strength willpower text. If one could maintain the rank for half a year, one would even receive a drop of divine or devil blood essence. That was a much better reward than what he was getting as a 29th ranked student.
And after half a year, one could get a drop of divine or devil blood essence. That was worth over a thousand merit points.
After reaching the Skysoar Realm, one would generally only require around 10 drops of divine or devil blood essence for body forging. Of course, only someone with a rich and powerful background would be able to afford such a luxurious body forging.
If one really couldn't gather enough money, one could consider staying in the first place for five years in a row. That way, one could earn ten drops of blood essence for their body forging after advancement. While thinking about all that, Su Yu ignored the young lady's disdainful gaze and left.
Inwardly, he thought of her with disdain as well. She believed everything Xia Qing said. How foolish. He couldn't even be bothered to explain himself. It was pointless. He was in quite a good mood with 25 merit points. At the very least, he had earned some money.
...
Character Faculty, staff block.
Elder Sun was a seventh-stage Mountainsea expert. Of the 36 Mountainseas of the academy, not many were at the late stage.
Elder Sun was also the deputy head of the Character Faculty.
Yu Hong was a seventh-stage Mountainsea as well. But instead of being the deputy head, she was the head of the Resource Office. That was an important position. In fact, she enjoyed more practical power than a deputy head. After all, she was almost fully in charge of all resource allocation in the faction.
Both of them had their own offices in the staff block. If they were not in seclusion, they would spend most of the time there. And at that moment, Su Yu was heading straight toward the office of the deputy head. When he arrived outside, he knocked on the door.
Inside, Elder Sun was in the middle of a conversation. When he sensed who the visitor was, the look in his eyes turned odd.
"Come in."
Su Yu strode in and flashed a wide smile, "Greetings, Elder Sun..."
Then, Su Yu noticed the other individual in the office. It was an old man with a familiar face. He was able to immediately realize that this was Lin Yao's grandfather.
"Greetings, Teacher Lin."
Su Yu acted like an obedient boy. When Elder Sun saw that, he raised his brow in annoyance. He greatly disliked Su Yu. Initially, he did not hate or even care about Su Yu. But Bai Feng had killed his student. Thus, he started hating anyone related to Bai Feng. He had not expected that Su Yu would visit him in his office.
"Elder Sun, since you have a guest, I'll be taking my leave."
Lin Yao's grandfather stood up to leave.
Elder Sun smiled and said, "We're in the middle of our conversation. What's the rush? Su Yu, why are you here? Out with it."
"Previously, you promised to provide me with a location for my research center..." Su Yu had his trademark simple smile as he said, "I have been recovering from my injuries during the past few days. But I'm all better now. Elder Sun, about your promise..."
Elder Sun was somewhat speechless. He did not expect the kid to be brave enough to really come and ask for a place.
Lin Yao's grandfather looked at Su Yu in astonishment. He asked, "Su Yu, are you really starting a research center?"
Su Yu flashed another simple and honest smile as he answered, "Of course. How can I go back on my words? I, Su Yu, am not the kind of person who would grow fat eating my own words. That would be too embarrassing."
He was indirectly criticizing some other people with that statement.
Elder Sun sneered and said, "There is an abandoned research center behind the Wentan Research Center. That's a big building. You want to apply for a research center? Sure. Get a Skysoar and five students or teachers to meet the minimum requirements before submitting your application. Also, you need to submit your research topic to the Research Department. If your topic is approved, you will naturally get your research center."
Su Yu grinned, "Elder Sun, will the academy allocate me funds after my application is approved?"
"Yes."
Elder Sun said, "But are you sure you want to take the academy's money? If you take the money, the academy will have full rights for your research results. If you can't produce any results within the time limit, you will be liable to compensate the academy."
In practice, barely anyone had been asked to compensate the academy for failing to produce any research results before. But with the changes in the Discipline Hall this year, nobody knew if that would still be the case.
The Discipline Hall was preparing to do something big at the end of the year. The various research centers would be one of their major focuses. It was very likely that some research centers might really be asked to compensate the academy this year.
"Full rights?" Su Yu said, "I don't think so, Elder Sun. The academy will only be given the right of first refusal, not full rights."
Elder Sun sneered and did not bother to argue. He said, "So you wish to apply for a starting fund? A lot of projects are awaiting funding recently so the academy is planning to cut down on some unnecessary projects. I'll be honest. You won't be able to get anything."
He was being very straightforward. He was not going to give Su Yu any money. And there was nothing Su Yu could do about it.
Su Yu could only sigh helplessly and said, "Forget it. Elder Sun, do you mean that if I can gather the minimum number of members and get my research project approved, I will be ble to start my own research center?"
"Yes." Elder Sun said, "Submit your application when you're done with it."
"Thank you, Elder Sun." Su Yu earnestly said, "I will definitely run my research center well. If I end up benefiting the whole human race with my research results in the future, I won't forget that it was only due to your great support that I would tread upon this path of research..."
Elder Sun gave Su Yu a look of impatience before sneering with disdain. Sure. He would be waiting for this kid to benefit the human race.
Su Yu said nothing else and took his leave.
Right after Su Yu left, Lin Yao's grandfather said, "Old Sun, are you really approving his application?"
"It will be an empty shell. He won't be able to do anything with it."
Elder Sun was completely unbothered.
Lin Yao's grandfather sank into a short silence before saying, "If he really ends up producing something, then it would look bad on us."
"Don't worry." Elder Sun said, "Let him be. He will only be wasting his own time and delay his own cultivation."
In fact, he would be more than happy to see Su Yu spending all the time on research instead of cultivating, staying below the Skysoar Realm forever. The two then moved back to their original topic, forgetting about Su Yu.