Leaving Su Haifeng's office, Zhang Yu walked on the way back to the classroom.
Next week, he has to break into the top ten in mana for the entire grade to qualify to represent Songyang High School in the magic competition.
The week after, the monthly exams will start. Only with excellent results can he secure a better contract from the school.
Zhang Yu is fully confident about breaking into the top ten in mana within the next week. After all, his Circulation Qi Gathering Method has reached level 4, and the level will only continue to rise, with his mana growing increasingly rapidly.
However, apart from mana, the monthly exams will also test physical education, Dao Heart, martial arts, and Daoism. Zhang Yu feels immense pressure to improve all four significantly in the next two weeks.
As for the general education exam?
Not to mention that general education only accounts for 50 points, but in the model class, almost everyone scores almost perfect, leaving no room for differentiation.
Regarding how far he can go in the monthly exams in two weeks, Zhang Yu is also a bit uncertain.
"In any case... just grind."
Zhang Yu felt himself getting fired up.
Who says shifting manually isn't shifting?
Yu Shu! Show me your limits in the next two weeks!
Therefore, as soon as he returned to the classroom, Zhang Yu began absorbing and circulating spirit machine, fully operating the Circulation Qi Gathering Method.
In the blink of an eye, it was time for the first class to end.
"Ugh, so tired."
Just when Zhang Yu wanted to take a break, the countdown with a chilling coldness rose again, forcing him to keep going.
"Damn!"
"Stupid ritual... One day I'll kill you!"
In another corner of the classroom, Zhao Tianxing looked at the message he received on his phone and let out a sigh of relief.
Previously, physical education teacher Wang Hai had sent him to inquire about Zhang Yu's supply channels. After the other party asked about the results today, Zhao Tianxing told him about yesterday's art exhibition.
Wang Hai's reply was: Got it, you don't need to follow Zhang Yu for now, just maintain a good relationship with him. Come to the Training Field after school tomorrow, and I'll give you a Body Refinement class.
Not having to continue spying on Zhang Yu put Zhao Tianxing at ease.
And the reward of an extra class from Wang Hai made Zhao Tianxing secretly pleased.
After all, as a star teacher, the quality of Wang Hai's private sessions requires no words; not only are they expensive, but they are often hard to book.
As for maintaining a good relationship with Zhang Yu...
Zhao Tianxing looked at Zhang Yu's seat and saw him meditating.
"After yesterday's incident, I must have become a clown in his eyes."
Thinking that Zhang Yu might already be laughing at his clumsy performance from last night, Zhao Tianxing felt his cheeks burning again.
However, remembering Wang Hai's private lesson reward, he made up his mind to chat with Zhang Yu when he gets a chance after class.
But as the morning classes went on, Zhao Tianxing couldn't find a single opportunity to exchange a few words with Zhang Yu.
"Still meditating?"
"Meditating during class."
"Meditating between classes too."
"He hasn't even gone to the bathroom once... such a strong kidney."
Seeing Zhang Yu's dedicated demeanor made Zhao Tianxing feel uneasy.
Finally, during lunchtime, Zhao Tianxing prepared his meal and intended to sit next to Zhang Yu.
Then he saw Zhang Yu, like a ghost, gulp down his meal in two bites and dash out of the cafeteria.
Bai Zhenzhen grumbled internally: "Really? Competing even over lunch? Can't we eat in peace?"
Lunchtime at Songyang High School is the only period without grades, without Su Haifeng's supervision, without Wang Hai's interference.
It's a rare moment in the school day for top students to relax, take a breath, and even gossip.
Songyang High School's spiritual SPA time.
Bai Zhenzhen was quite displeased with Zhang Yu's academic monster attitude of even sacrificing lunchtime for training.
Bro, how can we eat in peace if you're grinding so hard?
What if you surpass us?
Is this an academic competition or what?
Returning to the classroom, Zhao Tianxing watched Zhang Yu meditate again and thought to himself, indeed.
For the entire afternoon, Zhao Tianxing couldn't find a single chance to talk to Zhang Yu; whenever he turned around, he was either diligently attending class or meditating.
This eager watching made Zhao Tianxing increasingly anxious.
"Even someone of his level who's already a Golden Core cultivates so hard; isn't he leaving us ordinary students any room?"
Finally, when school was out, Zhao Tianxing found a chance to follow Zhang Yu, thinking he might look for a part-time job today too.
But he heard Zhang Yu say, "Looking for a part-time job?"
"Xiao Zhao, we high school students should prioritize studying first, not run off to work every day."
"Don't think earning 800 an hour is something; those are temporary jobs, not available every day."
Looking at his balance of 8,300 yuan, Zhang Yu had the confidence to stop working for now and focus on his cultivation.
So he went home, took a neural replenishment elixir, and continued meditating until the next morning.
Apart from bathroom breaks and switching Yu Shu's specialization back to the Circulation Qi Gathering Method, Zhang Yu spent all his time on meditation.
Thus, in the blink of an eye, four days passed.
After these four days of hard training, Zhang Yu's Circulation Qi Gathering Method reached level 6 (45/120).
His mana also surged from 8.3 to 9.4 after these days, just two positions short of the top ten in the grade.
...
Outside the freshman hallway on this day.
Su Haifeng sauntered over to the back door of the classroom, looking at the students doing self-study.
As the head teacher of the model class, he came over despite being off-duty just to use his cold gaze, merciless mockery, and the authority of the grade director to harshly boost the students' spirits.
Then Su Haifeng noticed that today's classroom was more intense than usual.
Fewer students went to the bathroom.
More were earnestly meditating, and fewer were dozing off while meditating.
Actually in a daze but pretending to look at the book just to avoid being noticed by him was no longer there.
The class's zoning-out rate had noticeable decreases.
In fact, from two days ago, Su Haifeng had vaguely noticed this trend.
Through his observations, he discovered the trend was triggered by a student named Zhang Yu.
With Zhang Yu's frenzied meditation, continuous 0% zoning-out rate, and the mana surge over these few days... Bai Zhenzhen, Qian Shen, and Zhao Tianxing were the first to be stimulated.
Then Bai Zhenzhen and company's intense efforts stimulated even more people.
The 550 point scorers are grinding, the 600 point scorers are grinding, even the 650 point scorers are grinding, how could you stay relaxed?
Even Songyang High School's student body's average dining duration in the cafeteria reduced by over 20%, Su Haifeng noticed from reports.
Looking at Zhang Yu still meditating, Su Haifeng sighed internally: "Is it due to the hit on his self-esteem from before?"
"Perhaps I can use this tactic more often in the future."
Unknowingly, he'd already thought of his next teaching research paper topic: "Exploring Insulting Students in High School Education".
After taking a satisfied look at the classroom's learning atmosphere, Su Haifeng nodded and then left.
Shortly after Su Haifeng left, when the bell rang for dismissal, Zhang Yu stood up immediately and headed towards the quiet room of the school.
Because Zhang Yu had the lowest zoning-out rate in the entire grade last week, he not only earned a 500 yuan bonus and a commendation but also one hour of free Heavenly Spirit Root rental.
Today was the day to redeem that one hour of Heavenly Spirit Root at the school.
Because both the spirit root rental and quiet room meditation are scheduled by the school, if Zhang Yu missed it, the reward would be void, so he hurried without delay to the spirit root rental office.
Zhao Tianxing seized the opportunity to follow Zhang Yu and said: "Are you going to rent a Heavenly Spirit Root?"
Seeing Zhang Yu nod, Zhao Tianxing continued: "You don't usually rent Heavenly Spirit Roots from the school, do you?"
"Do you want me to introduce you to the types of Heavenly Spirit Roots at our school?"
Zhang Yu's eyes flickered slightly. The former Zhang Yu, due to cost, rented spirit roots from various teaching institutions with promotions and wasn't very familiar with the school's Heavenly Spirit Root types.
After all, with the advancement of the times, especially after the organization and research by the Ten Major Sects, spirit roots were no longer as crudely categorized as in ancient times.
First, in terms of grade, spirit roots were divided into five levels by the Ten Major Sects.
Among them, the lowest level is the Human Spirit Root, then the higher-level Earth Spirit Root, and an even higher-level Heavenly Spirit Root, which can all be bought as long as you have money.
Further up are the military-grade Divine Spirit Roots and the Sects' exclusive Immortal Spirit Roots.
Divine Spirit Roots can only be used by the military and some special government departments.
Immortal Spirit Roots can only be used if you join the Ten Major Sects.
As for categorization, like the olden days' gold, wood, water, fire, earth spirit roots... there's no such classification in Kunxu anymore.
Because the design and manufacturing industries of spirit roots have advanced and prospered, spirit roots are gradually categorized by different functions, such as learning, combat, cultivation, etc., etc.
Zhao Tianxing said: "The most popular spirit roots in our school are definitely the learning-type and cultivation-type spirit roots."
"For example, the 'Ji' Spirit Root..."
Zhang Yu was taken aback: "Chicken Spirit Root?"
Zhao Tianxing said: "It's 'Ji' as in deposit, the Ji Spirit Root can temporarily deposit in a body, transferring the mana refined by the spirit root to oneself, a favorite of many wealthy people."
"There's also the muscle-enhancing spirit root loved by many, which refines spirit machine into a growth spirit machine during meditation, directly injecting into muscles, accelerating muscle growth, ensuring 24-hour muscle gain, greatly increasing body refinement effectiveness..."