Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the instructors’ quarters, villa No. 8.
MCMAU was indeed quite big. Fang Ping spent the majority of his day running around the school premises.
He knocked on the door of villa No. 8.
After a short wait, Lu Fengrou opened the door and greeted Fang Ping with a yawn.
Fang Ping was actually quite curious about these high ranked martial artists. They all looked so sleepy all the time. Was it due to their busy schedules or the other way around, where they simply had nothing to do.
At the sight of Fang Ping, Lu Fengrou drawled out his words, “You’re here quite early. I thought you had reunited with your family?”
“I’ve come back early to train and work hard so that I won’t sully my instructor’s reputation!”
“Haha!”
Lu Fengrou did not believe his wheedling for one second. She casually waved her hand in a simple motion and the mug on the coffee table found itself in her hand. She drank from the mug. “Just spit it out.”
Fang Ping’s gaze was fixed on her mug. He could not help but ask, “Instructor, is this telekinesis?”
“It’s a way to use Mentality. Don’t dwell on it. It’ll be a long time until you can learn this skill for yourself.”
Lu Fengrou did not care to explain or say any further. She drank another mouthful of tea. “Do you have questions on cultivation to ask me? Or is it something else?
“You’ve entered Rank-2, so your training should be focused on bone-honing. Are you thinking of cultivating another combat technique or is it something else that you’re looking for?”
“No, no...”
Fang Ping shook his head. His mind was still wrapped up in how Lu Fengrou skillfully got her mug to fly into her hands with just a simple wave.
“Instructor, can Grandmasters really ride their swords in the air as rumored?”
“Riding their swords in the air?”
Lu Fengrou chuckled. “You think too highly of them. Riding a sword in the air is possible, but it won’t last long.
“Just like your elevated stance. You can stand on air, but for how many steps?
“Grandmasters use their Mentality to strengthen their aura and combat techniques. It’s to deepen their understanding of their own bodies...”
“So that’s how it works, huh?”
Fang Ping tilted his head slightly. He could not help but ask another question, “Instructor, are you close to entering the Grandmaster level?”
If Lu Fengrou were to become a Grandmaster, Fang Ping would have lots of benefits to reap from.
The instructors were not their disciples’ parents, but the disciples would receive perks from having a Grandmaster-level mentor nevertheless.
The instructor could provide them with guidance directly derived from their own experiences.
Plus, a tip or two from a Grandmaster would be enough to satisfy Fang Ping’s appetite.
“There’s still a long way to go!”
Lu Fengrou denied the assumption and shook her head. “Achieving Grandmaster-level isn’t as easy as you make it out to be. I’m only starting to get the basics of harnessing Mentality. It’ll take another three to five years before I can become a Grandmaster, and that’ll have to depend on my luck too.”
Lu Fengrou changed the topic. “Enough about that. You’ve become a Rank-2 martial artist, so you’ll have to earn more credits.
“Breaking through into Rank-3 from Rank-2 is much harder than going from Rank-1 to Rank-2.
“Especially when you’re at Peak Rank-2, when your limbs are all honed. Now you’ll have to start on your torso.
“Connecting your limbs and torso together to establish a circulation system between them will entail a lot.
“If you don’t have credits, you will have to do this alone. But If you have credits on hand, then the school will be able to offer you some assistance...”
“Credits...”
Fang Ping began to feel a little helpless. ‘My credit has gone back to zero. This means that I’ll need to take up more missions.’
“Right, so do you have something to ask of me or not? Spit it out ASAP. I need to take a nap.”
Fang Ping was speechless. ‘Just how tired are you that you need to nap every day?’
He did not beat around the bush any longer. He took a moment to think before speaking, “Instructor, I want to establish an e-commerce platform for the students, but the school is worried that I can’t take on the responsibility as they don’t think I’m strong enough.
“So I need you to be my guarantor...”
“You’re asking your instructor to be your guarantor?”
Lu Fengrou raised her brow. “What e-commerce platform needs a guarantor?”
Fang Ping explained everything to her as briefly as he could.
Lu Fengrou did not once interrupt him until he was done talking. She suddenly said, “Are you really doing all this just to cover the delivery fee?”
“Instructor, I have no money with me now. I have no other way...”
“Stop with those words! You aren’t thinking of expanding this business in the future so that you’ll be dealing with martial artists exclusively, are you?
“Uh...”
“I advise you to give up on that. One, the government monopolizes every industry that has anything to do with martial arts.
“Two, the cash flow of such industries are even bigger than you can even imagine. You, as a Rank-2 martial artist...”
“I won’t be at Rank-2 forever!”
Fang Ping retorted, “I only want to give this a go. If it doesn’t go well, I’ll willingly give it up.
“Instructor, I know that I’m asking you to take a huge risk by being my guarantor.
“But I promise I’ll pay off any losses incurred as long as I’m earning money...”
Lu Fengrou leveled her gaze with Fang Ping. It was only after a while that she said, “Being your guarantor isn’t the problem here. I just want you to know my opinion on this. Instead of wasting your time in this fight for an uncertain future, you might as well take up more missions...”
“This is the solution only an average man would come up with”
Fang Ping blurted that out. Lu Fengrou glared at him and said exasperatedly, “You might die if someone else heard that! If you were to be hunted down and killed, don’t come looking for me!
“Average men, huh? Many Grandmasters started on their path with these missions.”
“Those who use their minds will rule the people while those who don’t will end up under their rule...”
Fang Ping muttered. He did not want to be a mindless brute.
Martial artists who lived like that found their lives to be exhausting.
Lu Fengrou could not be bothered with his antics anymore. She considered it for a while before saying, “If you insist, I will do this for you.
“There’s a condition, though. You have to proceed with your cultivation at the same time.
“If you fall behind in your cultivation because of this, you’ll have to give that up.”
“This is a given. I’m not doing this alone either. I’ll be more involved in the early stages before I hand the project over to someone else.”
“Good that you know it.”
Lu Fengrou advised him for a while before impatiently saying, “Fine. I’ll remember that. If there’s nothing else, you may leave now.”
Fang Ping did not linger for long. He got up but suddenly sat back down before saying sheepishly, “Instructor, have you watched the championship?”
“Mm.”
“My battle with Fang Wenxiang was literally earth-shaking. I think...”
Lu Fengrou: “...”
Lu Fengrou stared at him before finally saying, “Me guaranteeing for you and Fang Wenxiang’s reward. You choose one.
“Martial artists deal fairly. You can’t expect me to do something for you without anything in return.
“Fang Ping, do you know what I mean?”
Fang Ping’s expression was one of resignation. ‘I had guessed that this would happen!’
Compared to the guarantee of a Rank-6 martial artist, the lowly Rank-1 Fang Wenxiang was insignificant.
Lu Fengrou’s comparison between the 2 was an unequal one.
Any other corporation out there would happily agree to hand out a handsome compensation for a Rank-6 martial artist to be their guarantor.
“I know. Thank you for your trouble.”
“Mm. Go.
“Also, you have to work harder. It might not be long until you’ll be slated to enter the Catacombs.”
Fang Ping halted in his steps, though he did not ask further as he walked out of the villa.
...
In the next two days, Fang Ping took advantage of a majority of the students being absent. He simultaneously attended negotiations with the school and asked Li Chengze to start developing the platform.
It was not that hard.
He was only planning to make it an internal affair, at least while they were still at the early stages. The platform would not extend outside of campus and neither would he accept orders from outsiders until he hired some martial artists.
If he were to extend his services outside of the campus and the items got lost, he would not be able to afford the loss.
The school could not reach a definite decision on whether or not they should allow delivery men on campus, which would be an issue.
Fang Ping had attended more than a handful of meetings. Old Man Li’s opinion was, “You can ask the students to do it.”
Fang Ping frowned. ‘Do you think that I hadn’t considered that?
‘The point was that students in MCMAU were too f*cking expensive!
‘There were no students from other faculties in the school. They were all martial arts students! The price I have to pay to hire them is too big!’
Old Man Li was ready to give up on him. He said dismissively, “Are you stupid?
“Aren’t you the best of all freshmen?
“You can form a club about exchanging martial arts knowledge or something. Quite a lot of freshmen are martial artists now.
“They’ll take a look at you, a Rank-2 martial artist who’s also the best of all freshmen and would be more than eager to join when given the chance to.
“If you start to earn some money, you can distribute a portion of it to them. If you don’t, make them work for free. Just string them along.
“They won’t care about the measly pay. You can make up a system that awards internal contribution and give out rewards or even guidance to the top contributors.
“And you can entice them through simple sweet-talk!
“Tell them that they can interact with Rank-3 and 4 martial artists, even Rank-5 ones.
“Just think, would you agree to run a simple errand if you could talk to a senior Rank-4 or 5 and get to learn something from them?
“Not everyone has a Rank-6 instructor. Not everyone has advanced into Rank-2, unlike you.
“More than half of the freshmen are still aspiring martial artists. Will there be a shortage of those willing to do the work for you?”
Fang Ping was astounded. The old man was much more conniving than him!
He had intended to pay them but the old man had convinced him otherwise!
MCMAU was quite large, but he could only get about several hundred orders a day after the platform was constructed. That was their current limit.
If he really made the students do all the work for him, just 10 of them would suffice.
“Instructor, is doing this appropriate?”
Fang Ping was convinced, but he was also unsure if it was appropriate.
Old Man Li looked at him scornfully. He casually said, “I was only giving you a suggestion. It’s up to you whether you want to follow it through.”
“What... Instructor, your advice is really brilliant. People like us should really help those who are lagging behind. We must help each other so that they can quickly become martial artists!”
Fang Ping felt like a hero. He really felt that he should offer a helping hand to students who were lagging behind.
As the best of all freshmen – he might even be the best in MCMAU sometime in the future – he should create an appropriate cultivating environment for the students!
...
With that altruistic thought in mind, Fang Ping visited the Martial Arts Club.
Students who wanted to start a club must register via the Martial Arts Club.
In the Martial Arts Club.
The member by the counter looked at Fang Ping with a surprised look when he heard his name.
Fang Ping had quite the reputation in the club.
He was quite famous on campus too, with the championship and all.
“Name of the club?”
“Mutual Help and Love Club!”
“There’s already one with that name.”
“MCMAU Mutual Help and Love Club!”
“That’s taken too.”
“The Strongest Club!”
“Taken!”
Fang Ping was speechless. Moments after, he said, “Ping Yuan Club?”
“There’s no club with this name. Do you really want to use this name?”
Fang Ping stood, deep in thought. Sternly, he said, “Yes, I’ll use this one!”
“You can start a club, but you cannot disrupt the order of the school. Also, club membership cannot be established by force. Otherwise, The Martial Arts Club will intervene.
“I have to remind you to watch out for someone issuing your club a challenge after it’s founded...”
“It can be challenged? I’m not opening a martial arts center, am I...”
“Duh. After the club is founded, the school will assign you a venue for activities and society room. The club can receive a sum of money from the Martial Arts Club, which will be part of your public fund.
“Of course, not everyone can start a club.
“We didn’t review your application not because it’s unnecessary, but because of your contribution to the school through your participation in the championship. That’s why you can start a club here.
“If you’re challenged and have less than 10 members at that point of time, your club will be rescinded.
“The rules don’t apply during the first three months. After these three months, the Martial Arts Club will evaluate your performance. If the club has less than 10 members, the club will be dissolved.”
“Three months later?”
Fang Ping was relieved upon hearing the news. He nodded. “Understood. Can I begin recruiting members now?”
“Wait. We’ll bring you to have a look at the area we’ve assigned to your club. You can also collect a club fund of fifty thousand yuan from the Martial Arts Club every month.”
Fang Ping’s face lit up with glee. Fifty thousand a month was quite a lot!
Although MCMAU was rich, there were not many clubs in the school. About a hundred at most.
That meant millions in club funds, a sum MCMAU could afford. Clubs demonstrated teamwork, after all.
MCMAU had always encouraged students to work in teams.
The Martial Arts Club member quickly led Fang Ping to a building. He said, “The club rooms are all here. The members of a newly formed club are still unconfirmed, so the room won’t be big.
“When your club has over a hundred people, you can apply for a change of venue.”
As they chatted, the Martial Arts Club member brought Fang Ping to an office. He opened the door and gestured, “This will be your room.”
“It’s quite big!”
Fang Ping was speechless. It was even more spacious than the office Distance Ltd had rented.
There were some basic office desks and chairs inside, and scrap paper littered the floor. It was not that dusty, though.
“If that’s doable, I can make this a branch.”
Fang Ping said in his mind. The Martial Arts Club member did not react. After showing him the room, he said, “Three months later, the Martial Arts Club will evaluate the club’s name list. If there are less than 10 members, the venue will be taken back and the club funds that were previously given will also be collected.
“You can do whatever you want now. Recruit members if you wish”
“Yes, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
The Martial Arts Club member left after that.
Fang Ping heard someone else in the other offices ask him if a new club had just been formed.
Fang Ping did not eavesdrop on their conversation. He was the president of a club with no members. Who would be so bored as to issue him a challenge mere minutes after having formed the club?
“Everything’s done except for the most crucial part!”
“After I recruit some freshmen and trick them into working for me free of charge after the platform is constructed, I can finally start earning money!”
Fang Ping did not think of profiting from the platform during the early stages.
If students showed their support for this platform, and the school itself experienced the benefits, Fang Ping might try earning some profit from it then.
“If the school can give me even a 10% discount, I’ll be thrilled!”
Fang Ping’s thoughts were filled with perfect fantasies. The possibility of obtaining this discount would depend on future happenings.
If the platform had really become the main means of resource redemption, and several middle and higher-ranked powerhouses had been relieved of their duties, his dreams might just be possible.
“The construction of a skyscraper starts from nothing. One day, every martial resource in Sino Nation, or even the whole world, will pass from my hands!”
Fang Ping’s chest puffed with ambition. He would be the world’s most prominent second-hand dealer, no, distributor!
He dashed toward the hostel area. It was high time to start recruiting members for Ping Yuan Club!