Mysterious energy…
Boost Arcana fivefold…
Ling Jiu fell into thought.
He was currently absorbing pure Dark bio-energy, which had Arcana ten times higher than that of Gene Arcana. Meanwhile, the mysterious energy that Niu Ben had mentioned was only five times higher.
Did this mysterious energy have anything to do with the Dark Bio-energy?
Perhaps it was a Dark Bio-energy that had diminished effectiveness but not as low as that of the Gene Arcana?
“Possible,” Ling Jiu mumbled to himself.
“It is precisely because of this mysterious energy’s existence that the geniuses of the Ultimate Matriculation Camp are willing to stay and plant trees on the goddamn planet.”
Time flew by as the two chatted away. An hour later, they came to a world of ice and snow.
There was snow everywhere, and icebergs that stood like mountains.
Bitter wind was howling in the air over the boundless ice field.
“Brother Niu, is this the Arctic or Antarctica?” Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking at the endless snowy field, Ling Jiu asked in surprise, “Is the dimensional passage leading to that planet right here?”
“This is Antarctica.”
Niu Ben nodded. “We will be in the Antarctic Ice City in a while.”
“The Antarctic Ice City?”
Sure enough, after another ten minutes, a silver city towering in the icy wind and snow appeared in the field of vision.
The city wall was 100 meters high, and the top was sealed. The massive city seemed to be made of ice, like a towering iceberg.
“Bro, this is the Antarctic Ice City,” Niu Ben said. “The dimensional passage leading to the Ultimate Matriculation Camp is inside this city, and the supplies for the camp are also sent from here.”
“Interesting.”
The airship arrived in front of the city wall and then landed.
“Bro, it may be a bit too cold out there. Put this jacket on.”
Niu Ben took out two down jackets from the closet, one for himself and the other for Ling Jiu. But Ling Jiu just smiled and declined.
“Thanks, Brother Niu, but I don’t need that.”
“Take it, you’ll know when you get out!” Niu Ben said. “The Antarctic Ice City is at the extreme point of Antarctica, where the temperature is the lowest on Earth. It’s just June when the temperature in Antarctica hasn’t reached the coldest time of the year, but it is still minus sixty or seventy degrees. Most people can’t withstand it!”
“All right then.”
Ling Jiu could not resist his kindness and held the down jacket in his hand. Seeing that Ling Jiu was still not wearing it, Niu Ben could not be bothered to remind him again. He would put it on when he got out there.
The extreme cold hit their faces as soon as the hatch opened. Niu Ben could not stop shivering. “Damn it, it’s freaking cold.”
After the two got out of the airship, Niu Ben stored it away. He was shivering from the cold despite wearing a thick down jacket.
He looked over at Ling Jiu, whose eyes were darting around curiously. He was struck dumb; Ling Jiu was only wearing black casual wear.
“Aren’t you cold, bro?”
“A little.” Ling Jiu shrugged.
“A little? You’re really tough.”
Niu Ben inhaled. “I have received no less than a hundred people. This is the first time I have seen someone so immune to cold like you.”
“It’s not so bad.” Ling Jiu smiled. “Shall we go in now?”
Niu Ben quickly arrived below the city wall, took out a card, and inserted it into a card slot. After a few beeps, a pleasant-sounding voice came. “Identity verified.”
Immediately after, a gate slowly rose. Niu Ben gestured at Ling Jiu to walk through the gate. After the two entered, the gate came back down again.
A passage appeared in front of them. After walking for about a hundred meters, they passed through an alloy door and a building appeared.
Neat lawns and a beautiful rock garden with neatly trimmed trees were in front of the building. It was a world apart compared to the outside.
“Who would have thought that Antarctica had such a paradise!” Ling Jiu could not help exclaiming.
“Outside the ice city is a layer of solid ice 100 meters thick. This layer of ice completely isolates the severe cold outside, separating the inside and outside into two distinct worlds,” Niu Ben smiled and said. “Let us get inside.”
“Okay.”
Niu Ben brought Ling Jiu into the building. The interior of this building towering over the Antarctic continent was indistinguishable from any ordinary corporate offices.
There were receptionists in the lobby on the ground floor, staff on the first floor, and fitness equipment on the second.
They ascended all the way to the top floor and came in front of an office, where Niu Ben pressed the doorbell.
“Come in.”
A pleasant voice was heard coming from the inside.
The two pushed the door open and saw that it was an office designed in an antique decoration. A woman with black hair was sitting on an office chair, eyes on documents.
“Madam,” Niu Ben greeted the woman.
The woman, who apparently was the camp commandant, looked up at Niu Ben: “Have you brought the guy?”
“Yes, Madam.”
Niu Ben grinned, pointing at Ling Jiu.
“Good.” The woman then looked at Ling Jiu. “So you are Ling Jiu?”
“Yes, Madam,” Ling Jiu replied.
“Welcome to the Ultimate Matriculation Camp.” The woman broke into a smile. “I presume that Niu Ben must have told you a lot of things about the Ultimate Matriculation Camp. So I will not repeat it. I have only one thing to tell you. It is more difficult to leave than enter the Ultimate Matriculation Camp. There is no other way except for working hard. All the best.”
“I got it.” Ling Jiu nodded in acknowledgment.
“Good.” The woman took out a form and signed it. “Niu Ben, bring him to get the three-piece set and head straight over the camp.”
“Yes, Madam.”
Niu Ben took the form, brought Ling Jiu, and took the elevator to the underground. There, he got Ling Jiu the three-piece set of equipment from a place called the Logistics Department. It consisted of a Venom Suit, a shovel, and an electronic card.
That was all of it.
“This is a lower-level Venom Suit. I guess you should have known its uses. But its primary function is as a spacesuit on this planet. The shovel is for planting trees. The electronic card is your identity card in the camp. With this card in hand, you can freely enter and exit the camp, open the dormitory, store your points and so on. It is equivalent to a card on a university campus, which is quite convenient.”
As the two took the elevator to the fifth floor underground, a huge basement appeared in front of them.
At the center of the basement, a yellow vortex was suspended in the air. It was the dimensional passage.
A table was placed in front of it with a staff member sitting there.
“Uncle Wang.”
Niu Ben walked up to the staff with a smile. “This is a new trainee.”
The staff glanced at Ling Jiu. “Give me your ID card!”
As Niu Ben handed over their identity cards, the staff swiped the cards in a card reader.
“Your identities match. Permission granted to enter the dimensional passage.”
Ling Jiu and Niu Ben entered the dimensional passage and came to a massive square.
Surrounding the square were containers-like houses connected by pipes.
In the center of the square stood a pitch-black pillar.
The pillar was a triangular prism, and on each side was a screen on which many names were recorded.
“This is the scoreboard.” Niu Ben pointed at the pillar with dragon engravings. “The contents of the three sides are the same!”
Ling Jiu looked to the side.
No.1: Toynbee Abraham; Vulcan; 967,456; 25 years old; 20431209
No.2: Qiu Haohao; Pangu; 941,276; 23 years old; 20441215
No.3: Alek Ansel; Freedom Alliance; 93,9871; 26 years old; 20411208
No.170: Hao Shuai; Freedom Alliance; 0; 17 years old; 20510604
No.171: Bai Ya; Tianwei; 0; 17 years old; 20510604
From top to bottom, there were 171 names recorded. His name turned up on the last line.
No.172: Ling Jiu; Pangu; 0; 17 years old; 20510607
“My name appeared as soon as I arrived. It’s right on time!” Ling Jiu muttered.
“There are currently 172 students in the camp, so 172 names are on the scoreboard,” Niu Ben said. “From left to right are rank, name, Arcana combine, points, age, and serial number. You will know by just looking at the serial number it is determined by the entry time of the trainees. You just came to the matriculation camp today, so the serial number is 20510607.”
“Ahh, now I know,” Ling Jiu said. “The top three trainees are of years 2043, 2044, and 2041. In other words, they have been in the camp for 8, 7, and 10 years respectively, right?”
“That is right.” Niu Ben nodded.
“Ten years! Who can stay on this barren planet that long?”
Ling Jiu was speechless, suddenly regretting coming to the matriculation camp.
What were others coming here for? –The mysterious energy.
But this thing was useless to him.
So, what on earth did he expect to get from the matriculation camp?
Rewards? There were no rewards.
The mysterious energy? It was useless to him.
The Ultimate Suit after the graduation? God knows what that thing was.
Could it be better than the Emissian Suit that 9527 gave him?
“I shouldn’t have come here!” He sighed.
Seeing Ling Jiu’s brows knitted together, Niu Ben could not help laughing, thinking that Ling Jiu was discouraged.
“Despite the matriculation camp’s poor environment, lack of rewards, heavy tasks, and difficult training conditions, it is very helpful to us. That mysterious energy is of great help to every Arcanist. Not only can it boost Arcana fivefold, but it also speeds up our self-cultivation—it’s much quicker than Gene Arcana. This is something you can’t exchange with anything. Many trainees have been here for eight or even ten years, but many of them stay deliberately. As once they leave the camp, they can never absorb that mysterious energy anymore. Hence, many of them want to stay in the reserve camp as long as possible to improve themselves to the maximum. That’s the real purpose for their stay here.”
“I didn’t know that.” Ling Jiu forced a smile.
“Let’s go. Let me show you around. The entire camp is roughly divided into four areas: the cafeteria, dormitory, leisure and entertainment, and seed bank. You don’t need me to tell you what the cafeteria and dormitory are, do you? The leisure and entertainment area has bars, internet cafes, KTV, basketball courts, casinos, and other entertainment venues. There is only one recognized currency in the matriculation camp, and that is points. You can use points to buy drinks, surf the Internet, karaoke, and so on. As long as you have enough points, you can even do many things with the opposite sex in the camp, you know what I mean? All in all, the points are currency in the matriculation camp. You can do anything with it.”