The two of them argued for half a day, but Xiao Lin managed to understand the academy’s taxation system thanks to that. Even though he trusted Song Junlang, he still needed to be careful after having been tricked so many times.
According to the rules of Dawn Academy, any income the students received after graduation needed to be taxed. Even though the taxes were not that high, especially since they regarded themselves as the elite of Planet Norma. Students were usually not taxed, but any form of gambling or business transaction would need to be taxed by the academy.
Xiao Lin could not help but remark that the academy really knew how to make money. It was no wonder the forums had betting capabilities–it was a way to keep things monitored. It was obvious their year was not the first one that used them.
Song Junlang was adamant he would not pay a single cent, saying, “I know you managed to get quite a bit from that incident with the Americans. You should have exchanged quite a bit of redemption points before the monthly examination, so you’re definitely not lacking points.”
That was true, but redemption points were just numbers to him, because he did not know how to turn those numbers into usable resources. If he spent it on higher level equipment, he would only be able to keep it in the dormitories and not have a use for them until later. Any equipment he bought for his current level would be cheap, but they would not be used for long.
“Department Head Song, you said you could get me to Black Iron-rank in half a month. How do you plan on doing that?” Xiao Lin asked curiously.
“Using food of course. How else would I do it?” Song Junlang looked like he was answering to an idiot.
Xiao Lin rolled his eyes, asking suspiciously, “To be able to raise my rank in such a short time, did you use the dean’s golden dragon as your materials?”
“No no no, I can’t tell you just yet, but just trust me. When have I ever lied to you? Let’s get the bets in order first!”
Song Junlang looked like he was very confident. Xiao Lin was actually not too interested in the redemption points, especially since he still had quite a bit of New Dollars on hand, but he was very tempted by the idea of raising his rank in half a month.
The two of them discussed it for a while. Song Junlang had obviously given it a lot of thought before contacting Xiao Lin. He even mentioned wanting to pull some graduates into the gambling pool. The more people who joined the pool, the more they would get in the end.
As a former genius graduate, even with his current circumstances, Song Junlang still had quite a good network of connections within the academy. He only needed to broadcast it a little for even more people to know.
“Everyone needs money!” Song Junlang emphasized. “Even if we are the internal divisions, the difference in wealth is extreme. The stronger folks can easily get various resources. Raising your skill needs hard work and talent, but potions and various resources that enhance training is important as well. You’ll spend a lot after you graduate, so no one would ever let a chance to make money pass by just like that.”
“You say that, but aren’t we just scamming everyone else?”
“If you gamble you should be ready to lose!”
“Well just leave it to me, remember not to slack off these few days!”
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t slack off, even if the gambling pool didn’t exist.”
Xiao Lin hesitated before showing the dean’s strange letter of appointment to Song Junlang, but it did not get too much of a response. Song Junlang told him not to worry too much. Even if war were to happen, they would not use the students in the academy.
However, Xiao Lin understood that the students in school were still reserved for worst case scenarios. If push really came to shove, like the last moments of the war against the orcs, the students would still be mobilized to the battlefield.
After finishing up the call with Song Junlang, Xiao Lin contacted Fei Yawen. She was the research student who provided him with the training potions before the monthly examination. He had not contacted her for a while, but since he needed to ramp up his training, those potions were absolutely necessary.
Fei Yawen naturally did not reject him, but Xiao Lin received some unpleasant news from her. After the success Xiao Lin saw with the potions, Fei Yawen and her supervisor managed to reach an agreement with the student union to prepare to conduct large scale trials.
Since the early results showed that the potions were most effective at around Black Iron and Bronze rank, the first-year students were naturally roped into the testing process. Of course, the participation would be voluntary, and the student union would contact a few of the monitors and other students with decent attributes to ask if they were willing to volunteer. Thanks to the gambling pool on the forums, the class monitors were unlikely to reject the offer.
Xiao Lin did not need money, but it did not mean the others were the same. There were quite a few students who wanted to make a small fortune from the gamble.
Even if Xiao Lin could not be certain the potions would work on the others, it still meant that he was now under more pressure. Song Junlang might have guaranteed that Xiao Lin would be able to reach his goal in half a month, but Xiao Lin was still not going to slack off with his training at all.
The few days that followed, Xiao Lin had practically missed every single class. Thanks to the permissions the dean had granted him, Xiao Lin was basically the only who got to experience the real feeling of being a higher education student with the freedom to choose his own classes.
The professors were no strangers to those sort of students, and had long since decided to not care about it. Some of them even respected him. Of course, they only respected his background, not his skills. Even the professors found it hard to even talk to the student union president, let alone the dean.
Song Junlang had disappeared for a few days as well. Only after asking Chen Yu did Xiao Lin know that Song Junlang had gone to the New World, probably to contact his old friends to throw them under the bus.
More interestingly, Chen Yu had tried to ask about Xiao Lin’s progress with his courses with a look of concern. Xiao Lin gaped for a while, not knowing how to answer. That guy was actually silently trying to gauge his total attribute scores.
Chen Yu was the year leader of the second year, and no longer had the authority to look at information on the first years. Only the first-year year leader could do that, but that position was currently vacant.
Even though Xiao Lin was not favored by most in the race, Chen Yu was someone who interacted quite a bit with Xiao Lin, so he was clear on how deep Xiao Lin’s background was. That was why Chen Yu felt that he needed to strongly consider Xiao Lin as a candidate.
Of course, Xiao Lin did not reveal anything, simply waving the question away with a laugh.