271 Chapter 271: Weird Exchange (1/2)
”Fuck you!” I shouted, showing the golden pillar of light my middle finger. Yeah, it was extremely rude, but come on, this was so ridiculous Ling Dao deserved the insult. ”What Five Great Academies!? You think this is The Great Ruler, is it!? You're in the wrong story, dude! Get serious and tell us the truth!”
”Ahem…” Ling Dao cleared his throat sheepishly. ”Yeah, sorry. I was kidding. Mu Chen is correct. There are no Five Great Academies…”
”WHO THE FUCK IS MU CHEN!?” I roared.
”Sorry, I mean Richard Huang. Anyway, instead of great academies or whatever, we'll bill you monetary rewards corresponding to the number of blood tokens you've collected. Spend them however you want.”
Ling Dao was clearly telling us to upgrade our equipment or buy new ones. I didn't, because Gan Jiang and Mo Ye were still in pristine condition. Actually, their real names were Hei Yue and Bai Ri, but I completely forgot about their names after the chapter I received them and just called them Gan Jiang and Mo Ye because…well, Fate/Stay Night. Sorry about that. It's about time I start switching back to Hei Yue and Bai Ri.
I sincerely apologize for the confusion.
However, the world didn't revolve around me, and the other students sorely needed the funds to buy their armaments or upgrade their current equipment. Harrison was unwrapping the bandages from his fists and was probably considering a purchase of divine gauntlets. Theodore might want to upgrade his Thunder Hammer to improve its strength, armor penetration and damage. The Knights of Pendragon Academy probably didn't need new armor, considering the still pristine condition of their armaments. However, I was aware that Lilith probably wanted a new sword.
”What the hell?!” one of the readers complained at the side. ”What's the point of getting these stupid monetary reward if you have no use for it? You might as well attend something that gave you spirit pills or elixirs or treasures instead! Or cultivation manuals!”
For one thing, this was not a cultivation story, and God, if I hear that stupid word one more time, I swear I'll go smash something. This was reality. And in reality, you don't conveniently just happen to have a tournament or event pop up right at the most opportune time to offer something that you needed right at that moment as the first prize or whatever. Hell, most of the time, you would never get what you wanted. Life just didn't work out so conveniently. I mean, seriously…if you need a Dragon Pill, since when would an alchemy tournament just so conveniently occur a few minutes later, offering that Dragon Pill as the first prize?
Only in stupid cultivation and xianxia novels with conveniently contrived situations would such overly expedient things happen. Oh, boss fight coming up? I'll just happen to conveniently find some treasure weapon in this tomb I'm exploring beforehand to tip the scales in my favor! Oh, I need some herbal ingredient for a breakthrough? I'll just happen to conveniently find that herb in the middle of some dangerous forest that I was somehow exploring even though I'm supposed to focus on breaking through or running away from the enemy.
Yeah, if only real life worked out so conveniently, then nobody needed to be so diligent. Most of the time, the prizes you won from a tournament don't happen to conveniently align with what you need. Seriously, though, if you happen to need to obtain something, why the fuck would it show up as a prize in a tournament?
That was so ridiculously contrived and conveniently, and often served as a poor excuse for the protagonist to show off his skills, beat everyone, and get the praise and compliments from the audience and big-shots.
Just…no.
”Then I'll drop your story!” the reader shouted stubbornly. ”I'm here to read about overpowered main characters curb-stomping stupid, one-dimensional enemies with their cheats! I don't care about logic! I just want my power fantasy!”
I kicked the reader back through the fourth wall he broke out of, and then sealed the dimensional rift shut. Drop my story then, see if I care. This was my story, and I was going to dictate how it went. Not pander to the likes of you xianxia addicts seeking overpowered Mary Sue protagonists around which the world revolved around, and how everything just conveniently fell in their laps and in place for them to breeze through life.
”…”
Charles and Gawain were staring at me in astonishment. I scratched my head and shrugged apologetically.
”Sorry. Fourth wall matters, as usual.”
”I almost thought that was an Emergence event!” Charles exclaimed. ”But I didn't expect a human to pop out from the other dimension…”
”Well, these sort of readers can be considered monsters and a blight on the universe of web novels,” I told him. ”But enough of that. Let's get out of here.”
”…uh, right.”
The other students were walking into the golden light and being teleported out. After a month in this place, I was getting sick of the Spiritual Road, and I couldn't wait to get out of here. Joining Harrison and Theodore, I strode into the golden light and allowed myself to be transported back into the real world.
*
After the Spiritual Road training camp, we were given a week to rest. We attended classes as usual, and I trained like always, whether it was at home in Dad's dojo or in Teacher Fielding's combat magic class.
”So, Richard, are you ready for the exchange session?”
It was right after I finished one of those combat magic classes when Vincent Violet approached me. I had just left the classroom, so I was taken aback when he called out to me. Calming myself down, I turned around and swallowed.
”Uh…I guess?”
Violet raised an eyebrow. ”Don't forget that you and the others are supposed to go to Vermillion Academy for an exchange session after the Spiritual Road training camp. You will be leaving in three days. I hope you've started packing.”
”Oh, right.”
”Vermillion Academy, huh?” Harrison happened to be passing by when he heard that. Lily Liam and a few of the Holy Saints were accompanying him. No, not Saint Judgement. Holy Saints. There's a difference. ”Their Hell Beast team is one of the favorites to win the national tournament. They are the strongest team in Vermillion Academy.”
”Oh, I've heard of them.” Lily nodded in agreement. Then she looked at me with a sly smile. ”You've met their captain, haven't you?”
”…uh, yeah.”
”Their entire team basically has no weakness,” Harrison continued gravely. ”Their captain is a top-tier summoner with an extremely powerful Soul Beast.”
”Ha ha ha ha!” Craig was laughing as he passed by, with Sheila beside him. ”That might be true, but Richard here has defeated her in combat!”
”Wait, how the heck did you know that?” I demanded, annoyed. My duel with Lilith was during the Spiritual Road, and even though there were spectators, I was pretty sure none of them were from my school. Otherwise I would have been able to meet up with them instead of floundering around alone for almost a month.
”Your duel with her has been uploaded onto the Internet,” Sheila informed me with a smile. ”A lot of the other students have been trying to analyze and dissect the battle, to pick apart your tactics and magic.”
”Maybe I shouldn't have accepted her challenge after all,” I grumbled.