Chapter 250 - On Par With a Gold Warlord?

“That military officer is not using credits, right?”

As he followed Lin Yao’s gaze, Song Ji nodded. “He is not using credits. He’s using merit points.”

“Are we allowed to use merit points here?”

When he saw the surprised look in Lin Yao’s eyes, Senior Brother Song’s expression was still calm.

“Of course. Merit points can be exchanged for things in the Treasure Chamber of the military personnel. This is a hard currency accepted in many places.”

“Let’s go then.”

Upon hearing Lin Yao’s words, Song Ji was ready to lead the team inside the institute. However, after taking a few steps, he discovered that Lin Yao wasn’t following him but had gone to the location of the Radiance Array instead. Song Ji could only smile wryly.

“Junior Brother, I have already spent all my credits. Please wait for a while. I’ll definitely bring you here at the beginning of next month.”

“It’s alright. I can use my own.”

After speaking, Lin Yao switched on his special cell phone and accessed the interface of the military personnel’s Treasure Chamber.

Song Ji was visibly stunned by Lin Yao’s action. “How did you get this? This is only for people who have participated in fights and killings with criminals and freaks.”

“Coincidentally, I’ve helped military personnel several times before.”

“How many merit points do you have? Although you have not graduated and the cost of using the array is half that of an adult’s, the Radiance Array is still quite expensive.”

“I recall having more than 5,000 points, but I spent 1,000 points in exchange for a lot of materials yesterday, so I have 4,000 points left. Is that enough?”

As Lin Yao inquired about this, he felt somewhat worried, but he soon noticed that Senior Song Ji looked dumbstruck.

“5,000? How did you get 5,000 points? I remember you becoming a warlord only a short time ago. You earned 5,000 merit points when you were just a martial artist!?”

Song Ji was truly shocked. Most of the universities shared missions with the military personnel and constables. Students who were about to graduate, such as juniors and seniors, would have to complete certain field missions. This was both an assessment and a trial.

They would be rewarded with academic credits and merit points for helping the military personnel and constables. As a student of the University of Monster Science and Technology, Song Ji had naturally completed several official missions. This was precisely why he knew how difficult it was to obtain merit points.

“I participated in field missions only after reaching the silver level. Because of my lack of experience, I didn’t complete my first few missions and I had to rely on the military personnel and senior brothers to make up for my shortcomings. I became more proficient later on, but it’s considered a huge gain to get 1,000 points in one trip. For 5,000 points, I’d have to complete five missions!”

Lin Yao rubbed his nose upon seeing how surprised Senior Song Ji looked.

“My detection ability is fairly strong. All these merit points were obtained through the detection of freaks.”

Lin Yao told Song Ji some of the things he had done, as he felt that there was nothing to hide. However, before Song Ji could utter a word, gasps of shock were heard around them.

“Younger Brother, are you able to detect freaks?”

Upon turning his head, Lin Yao saw that the person speaking was also a senior. After sizing up Lin Yao’s face several times, he muttered to himself, “No, you are too young. Given the military’s style, you wouldn’t be sent to the battlefield until the most critical juncture, unless your ability is very important and your safety can be guaranteed… Detection… Your ability to detect freaks is very strong, and you can locate them from afar!”

Every student who was able to come to Shanghai to study was an elite student. Thanks to some of the past behavior of the military personnel and the information revealed by Lin Yao, the senior had already guessed many things.

Initially, Lin Yao didn’t think much of this. He only exclaimed, as this place truly deserved its name. However, what happened afterward left Lin Yao dumbfounded. Upon hearing that man’s words, everyone in the surrounding area turned their gazes to him. Following that, several people rushed over to Lin Yao and extended invitations to him.

“Younger Brother, do you want to join a team? Our Kamikaze Team…”

“Our captain is ranked 37th on the Hidden Dragons List…”

“Stop, stop. Don’t frighten my junior brother. He’s only a senior high school student, and there’s no rush for him to take on any missions.”

Looking at the excited crowd, Lin Yao didn’t understand why they were that agitated. In the end, Song Ji helped him resist the enthusiastic seniors. Nevertheless, he was also staring at Lin Yao with a very strange gaze, which made Lin Yao feel somewhat puzzled.

“Why is everyone getting excited over a detection ability?”

“Of course they are! The freaks that can escape from the Skynet’s surveillance are extremely cunning. Whenever we go on a mission, the greatest difficulty we face is not fighting the freaks but finding them. A fight can last one minute, whereas locating the freak can take two weeks. This is what usually happens on our missions. Your detection ability is recognized by the military personnel. How can they not be excited?!”

Upon speaking of this, Song Ji paused for a moment before continuing to speak. “Besides, there are many student casualties every year when students go out on missions. 80% of these casualties are due to sneak attacks from freaks. The freaks have strange and mysterious abilities, and it’s hard for humans to survive an ambush. On the other hand, if we have a teammate who can detect freaks from a long distance, all of this will change. At the very least, we can run away if we can’t beat the freak.”

Knowing the enemy and yourself would allow you to go unscathed through a hundred battles. It was certainly important to detect the enemy in advance. This involved one’s personal safety, so one could not blame these people for being that enthusiastic.

Despite knowing this, Lin Yao didn’t plan on teaming up with them. Even if he were to form a team, he would want to be the core member.

During the conversation, Song Ji also told him how many merit points were needed to use the Radiance Array once.

“It takes 300 merit points to use the Radiance Array once. What you have is enough for 10 times or so.”

“Is it that cheap?”

“It’s not cheap. First, as a student, you are only charged half of the usual fee. Second, ordinary people will usually use the array for 10 to 20 minutes. Do you think everyone will use it for almost two hours like you?”

“Uh…”

The fees were calculated based on the number of occasions and not the duration of usage. This was certainly a steal for Lin Yao.

At the same time, Lin Yao was also trying to figure out why the University of Monster Science and Technology would do this.

Generally speaking, the university was not a private school but a base for cultivating geniuses. Charging the fees based on the number of occasions was considered a small preferential treatment for the geniuses.

After causing a commotion, Lin Yao used his special cell phone to pay in the card-swiping area. However, he was stunned again upon seeing the balance after the payment.

Upon discovering Lin Yao looking stunned, Song Ji couldn’t help feeling speechless. ‘What’s happening? Why does he look so shocked?

‘Don’t tell me it’s because he doesn’t have enough merit points. That’s impossible. Junior Brother Lin Yao is not stupid enough to come here without sufficient points. Wouldn’t he be courting trouble then?’

As his mind was filled with questions, like Lin Yao, he also saw Lin Yao’s merit system interface, which the latter didn’t conceal from view. He was also dumbfounded. After a few breaths of time, a startled voice was heard.

“This… 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, 37,000 merit points. How is that possible? How did you get so many points? That’s more than all the merit points that I’ve got!”

Upon seeing the numbers displayed on the merit system interface, Senior Song Ji was dumbstruck, and so was Lin Yao. He hadn’t expected his merit points to increase that sharply. Very soon, he figured out it was because he had received merit points for eliminating the mirror space freak last night.

He would be rewarded for contributing at a young age. In addition, the mirror space freak he had encountered last night was very unique and could be considered a chaos-level or gold-level equivalent freak. As a result, although Lin Yao had only annihilated the mirror space, his harvest was unimaginable.

This was in addition to the fact that he had left behind a mysterious item in its complete form for China. This had earned him another huge reward.

Lin Yao also felt astounded about receiving such a big reward suddenly. This was a good thing, so he soon smiled.

“I won’t be short of points for my training in Shanghai anymore. Senior Sister, can I swipe another 300 yuan? I want to exchange two training qualifications for the Radiance Array.”

Upon seeing Lin Yao’s decisive and extravagant approach, Senior Song Ji couldn’t help but say, “The rich are willful. Are you going to use one time and waste the other?”

These words left Lin Yao speechless. “What are you saying, Senior Brother? I have the holy water to repair my body. I can develop my body twice a day.”

Lin Yao went through the usual development process. After being electrocuted until he was almost half-dead, Lin Yao rested under the sun for more than two hours. Afterward, he spent 100 more merit points to absorb some sunlight in the hall of the Radiance Array until his body was filled with light energy. He then gulped down a bottle of No.7 Holy Water and underwent a second physical development.

Thus development took two more hours. When the development ended, it was already nighttime, and Lin Yao slowly recovered in the care of Yan Yu’er and the rest.

Taking into consideration his personal safety and his ability to recover faster, Lin Yao spent 100 more merit points to fill his body with light energy before exiting the room with the Radiance Array.

‘Two developments and two replenishments cost a total of 800 merit points. Fortunately, I have a lot of merit points and I am not afraid of not having enough points.

‘Anyway, this is mostly credited to my young age.’

There was preferential treatment for young geniuses in China. Young geniuses who had not graduated would receive more merit points when they slew evil spirits and exhaust fewer merit points when using the various training facilities. It was due to these two privileges that he had no shortage of points. Of course, this was because of Lin Yao’s thunder and light abilities, which consumed very few resources normally. If he had been an ordinary warrior, no matter how many merit points he had, they would have been invested in an abyss like the Spirit Energy Room.

‘Planting the Tree of Heaven Punishment is the best decision I ever made.’

After leaving the University, Lin Yao glanced around the campus, and his gaze eventually landed on the Towering Sky Pagoda. He still remembered Song Ji’s words about the various combat illusions in the Towering Sky Pagoda, which he could use to hone his combat memory. Lin Yao was somewhat tempted by this.

‘I didn’t have the money previously. Now, I can find time to sharpen part of my combat memory.’

Despite having this thought, Lin Yao had no plans to go to the pagoda immediately. He had more important things to attend to today.

Soon, they drove back to the apartment. After they arrived home, Qi Qing, who had been separated from Lin Yao and the others earlier on, also returned. She was carrying several boxes encrypted with passwords.

“Mr. Lin Yao, the materials you’ve bought have arrived. Please take them.”

“Okay, carry them to my room.”

After getting the others to leave, Lin Yao opened the boxes and saw 30 bottles of Moon Essence potion, as well as two spirit essences wrapped in spar.

Upon putting away the Moon Essence in a safe place, Lin Yao looked at the spirit essence of the cicada and the golden lion with excitement on his face.

‘It’s finally here! If I was right, my abilities will be neck and neck with a gold warlord’s abilities from now on!

‘I won’t need a year to make the top 50 of the Hidden Dragons List. I’ll be able to achieve this tomorrow!’