Chapter 119: I Will Grow Taller!

Chen Shu: To prevent any misunderstandings from causing trouble, there is one thing I need to clarify before we communicate further—

Chen Shu: I am afraid I cannot hand over those two sets of Runes on Jiang Lai to you. Jiang Lai and I have a good relationship, and I want to ensure his advantage in the Arena. If you are willing, I can design new Runes for you; perhaps they won't consume as much energy, but I guarantee their performance will be superior to the Runes on the market.

Chen Shu: If you find that hard to accept, you can wait a few days; I can make a set of Runes to try and convince you.

Chen Shu: If you are not satisfied, consider this set of Runes a gift from me.

Chen Shu was very confident about this.

The level of ordinary Rune Designers on the market is limited; it is not just that their attainments in Rune principles are insufficient, but the biggest limitation is the number of Runes they know—the number of advanced Runes they have mastered is far less than Chen Shu's, let alone their understanding of the principles behind using advanced Runes. If they cannot solve this problem, the Runes they design will never reach Chen Shu's level.

And wanting to come into contact with and learn more advanced Runes and their principles of use is unrealistic through self-study; one must be admitted to Yujing Academy and pursue advanced studies for at least a few years.

Perhaps a few years is not enough.

It also depends on your personal learning ability, and whether you can obtain more Runes and their principles of use from teachers that are not in the textbooks.

If everything goes well and smoothly, your mastery of Runes will be about enough, and the rest of the structural design for the Rune Group depends on talent and experience. After that, there is no need for you to be a Rune Designer for Martial Artists; go develop Spells instead.

Li Leitai: Fine.

Chen Shu: Alright, I'll give it to you within a week.

Li Leitai: Your thoughts are the same as mine.

Chen Shu:?

Li Leitai: Young man, don't type so fast; an old man like me can't quite keep up.

Chen Shu: You can use voice messages.

One minute later.

Li Leitai: I hear you young people really don't like listening to voice messages. I see you don't even want to meet in person, so you definitely wouldn't want to listen to voice messages.

Chen Shu: You can long-press to speak, and it can be converted to text after you finish.

Li Leitai: It really works.

Chen Shu: Go ahead.

Li Leitai: Jiang Lai is a key talent we are cultivating for our Arena. His willpower and talent are both very good, and he is a good kid. I had already planned to cultivate him well. Perhaps in the future, he can not only become a hegemon in our Arena but also help us conquer other Arenas in Yujing, and even compete in the World Dance Competition. Ensuring the uniqueness of the excellent Runes on him is very necessary. I never intended for those two sets of Runes you designed to leak out!

Chen Shu: Dance Competition/Stunned

Chen Shu: Sexual intercourse/Stunned

Li Leitai: This voice message became so strange, and the punctuation is so strange too. The tone has also become so strange. What happened?

Chen Shu: Modify it in that box after you finish speaking.

Li Leitai: So that's how it is.

Chen Shu: Then?

Li Leitai: What do you want? You say.

Li Leitai: Whatever method you feel is comfortable and convenient, I will accommodate you. We can discuss the price after I see the Runes. In any case, the quote I give you will definitely be higher than outside studios, but I also don't accept bargaining; I find that troublesome too.

Li Leitai: I only have one condition: do not design Runes for other Arena owners.

Chen Shu: I give you the Runes, you pay me.

Chen Shu: Keep it simple.

Li Leitai: No contract?

Chen Shu: Signing one is fine too; I'll find some time to come over.

Li Leitai: I don't like doing those things either; it's very troublesome.

Li Leitai: But if we don't sign a contract, how can you be sure that I will pay you after I get your Runes?

Chen Shu: A retired soldier who has received so many first-class and second-class merits, and has Imperial Family connections, would definitely not do such a thing.

Li Leitai:?

Li Leitai: Where did you hear that?

Chen Shu: My roommate said so.

Chen Shu: /Honest and simple

Li Leitai: Who is your roommate?

Chen Shu: His surname is Meng, anyway.

Li Leitai: What is his name?

Chen Shu: Meng Chunqiu.

Li Leitai: Never heard of him.

Chen Shu: /Sleepy

Li Leitai: Then how can I be sure that after you take my money, you won't turn around and give the Runes to others?

Chen Shu: Rely on my personal charisma/Sleepy

Li Leitai:...

Chen Shu: If that doesn't work, then we sign. You find a lawyer to draft it, find someone to bring it over or mail it over, or I'll come find you when I'm free one day/Sleepy

Li Leitai: Let's just do it this way; it's not much money.

Li Leitai: I believe you aren't that stupid.

Chen Shu: One week.

Chen Shu: Starting work now.

Li Leitai: /Handshake

Chen Shu: /Begging

Chen Shu exited the chat window.

Oh, right—

I forgot to send Chen Banxia a red envelope today!

Taking advantage of the fact that it hadn't expired yet, Chen Shu decided to send Chen Banxia a red envelope of 188.88 to wish her a happy birthday.

After thinking about it, he changed it to a bank transfer instead.

And added a digit.

His own birthday is in two months; if he transfers a bit more now, Chen Banxia will pay him back double when the time comes.

He then began to work on researching Runes.

"Sigh..."

Studying Sword Light Technique during the day, Martial Artist Runes at night, having to attend classes starting tomorrow, plus the non-negotiable Daily Cultivation and teasing Qingqing, Chen Shu's time for scrolling through short videos was forced down to one hour; he was truly spinning in circles.

The twenty-second day of the first lunar month.

Classes officially began.

The first major session of the morning was Moral Cultivation.

Chen Shu considered himself a very moral person who couldn't continue cultivating it any further, as he had to leave a path of survival for others, so he spent the session chatting with Qingqing and scrolling through videos, muddling through the class.

The second major session was Modern Spell Design Thinking.

It had some substance, but not much.

Chen Shu played on his Mobile Phone while listening to the lecture, and incidentally asked a young girl out for dinner, quickly getting through it as well.

Afternoon.

The entire afternoon was Elementary Cultivation.

It was still taught by Teacher Fu Jia.

However, as soon as class started, Teacher Fu Jia said to him, "Chen Shu, you don't have to come to this class anymore. If you want to listen, you can go upstairs to 303 at the same time for Teacher Liu Jiayi's Elementary Cultivation (4), or to 401 for Teacher Deng Yuqi's Elementary Cultivation (6), and choose for yourself. If you don't want to listen, you can also use these four hours to cultivate, or do your own things—you can play games in the Dormitory or go out to play; don't come here and waste time."

"Alright, I'll finish listening to this session."

Chen Shu still sat there honestly, listening to Teacher Fu explain knowledge regarding cultivation in detail, though Teacher Fu only lectured during the first major session, using the second major session for the students to practice cultivation; if they encountered problems, she would go over and explain them one-on-one.

At exactly six o'clock in the afternoon, the bell for the end of class rang.

Chen Shu still picked up his book and stood up, following Teacher Fu.

Teacher Fu had her bag slung over one arm while holding a transparent teacup filled with rose tea, her other hand swinging with her stride; she didn't stop, only glancing lightly at the student who had run up to her, her tone very crisp:

"Speak!"

"Teacher Fu, I'd like to learn about the 4th Tier Spirit Method."

"You're at the Fourth Stage?"

"Yes."

"When did you advance?"

"Winter break."

"And the Third Tier? Last semester?"

"Yes."

"Follow me."

"Alright."

"Have you signed up for the Martial Body Assembly?"

"Not yet..."

"Go sign up."

"Alrighty..."

Chen Shu followed her honestly to the office; this time she searched a bit longer before finding a printed copy of the "4th Tier Spirit Method."

"Intermediate Cultivation (2), the Wednesday night self-study session, I'm the one teaching it."

"Alright, alright..."

"Go back."

"Alrighty."

Chen Shu turned and walked out of the office.

Teacher Fu sat in her chair, refilling her cup with hot water, then opened her computer, holding the cup with one hand and bringing her lips to the rim, feeling the heat rising from the cup, which was mixed with a faint scent of rose; her other hand gripped the mouse, opening the student information system to check Chen Shu's entrance test and final exam scores, sipping the hot tea from time to time and quietly pondering.

This person's talent seems quite extraordinary.

Generally, top-tier institutions like Yujing Academy and Ling'an Academy have majors strongly related to cultivation where students can basically reach the Third Tier by graduation; a very small number of students can reach the Fourth Stage before graduation, and on average, fewer than one graduate per class reaches the Fifth Stage; in rare cases, there might be two or more, but most of the time there are none at all.

Currently, Yujing Academy has two Fifth Stage undergraduates; one is a girl in her fifth year of Pharmacy who advanced last semester, and the other is a student from the Ancient Cultivation Academy who just advanced this semester and is also about to graduate.

According to Chen Shu's talent, as long as nothing goes wrong, he will definitely reach the Fifth Stage before graduation, perhaps even before his junior year.

And besides his Spirit Power Talent, his Spell Principles scores were also perfect.

Teacher Fu remembered that the one who taught their class Spell Principles was Shi Qian, so she took another sip of water, opened WeChat, and prepared to consult him about Chen Shu's level in Spell Principles—whether he had just reached a perfect score, or by how much he exceeded it.

Chen Shu went straight to the school gate.

A young girl was wearing a down jacket that was clearly too large, her two hands hanging down naturally, completely invisible, with only two sleeves visible. The flow of people at the school gate was very heavy when school let out, with people coming and going; her brother-in-law hadn't arrived yet, so the young girl stood quietly in the crowd waiting.

Suddenly, someone flicked the small ponytail at the back of her head.

"!"

The young girl turned her head abruptly, her expression serious.

Her brother-in-law's face was reflected in her eyes.

"How long have you been waiting?"

"A little while."

"How did you get here?"

"I walked along Xuefu Avenue."

"Did you walk, take the bus, or ride a bike?"

"I walked."

"How long did it take?"

"A little while."

"It's so cold, you should have taken the bus or caught a taxi." Chen Shu rubbed the little girl's head; the sensation against his palm was warm. "I'll take you to try the sauerkraut pig's trotters outside our school gate."

"Qingqing would definitely love to eat this..."

"It's like a hot pot, you can order potatoes."

"Oh..."

Qingqing had an evening self-study session today, so her break time in the evening was shorter than at noon; she finished class at six and had to go to self-study at seven, so she couldn't come.

It was just as well that she couldn't come.

As he walked, Chen Shu asked, "You've been living in the Dormitory for two days now, are you getting used to it?"

"I am."

"The Dormitory is a bit smaller than your room at home."

"I am."

"Does Taozi sleep next to you?"

"Mm."

"Are you getting along well with your roommates?"

"Yes."

"Tell me about it."

"Last night, Sister Suannai took me around the school, showed me the cafeteria, and taught me how to use my card." The little girl spoke honestly. Just then, a young girl a few years old walked by following her father, also chattering away non-stop, and she stole glances at the father and daughter ahead as she spoke.

"Which cafeteria did you go to eat at? Lianyan Building?"

"Kongmeng Building."

"Why go to Kongmeng Building? It's so far."

"We just happened to be walking by there."

"Was it good?"

"It was good."

"What dishes did you get?"

"Steamed buns."

"Hm?"

"Shredded potatoes..."

"Was it good?"

"Not as good as what Brother-in-law makes, but still good."

"You..."

Chen Shu patted her head again; given her height, this action was very natural for him, and then he said, "It's fine to love potatoes, but you can't eat them day after day, year after year. What if you get sick of them one day?"

"I won't."

"How do you know?"

"I asked my sister."

"..."

He hadn't expected the little girl to have noticed this too, and to have mastered the correct way to use her sister because of it.

Chen Shu shook his head and continued, "Even if you don't get sick of them, just eating potatoes won't do; you won't grow tall. Look at yourself, then look at your sister..."

The little girl lowered her head and stayed silent.

Half an hour later.

After ordering two plates of potato slices, the little girl ate two large pieces of pig's trotter right in front of her brother-in-law to show that she was indeed eating meat, and that these two pieces of pig's trotter were today's source of nutrition, which was very rich.

She would grow tall.

The only reason she wasn't as tall as her sister was simply because she was still young; when she reached that age, she would naturally be as tall as her sister.