Vitality Checkups

In the office. 

The process was simple — hand over the money, register, and fill in the application form.

When the others were not looking, Fang Ping conducted a simple experiment — he touched the others' registration fees' money casually a few times.

His Wealth did not increase, which was in line with his expectations. 

He had already expected this to happen, so he was not disappointed.

There were not many who registered, so the process ended shortly after.

The class teacher piled the students' registration forms together and glanced at the eight students in front of him one by one. They represented the hope of Class (4) this year in the martial sciences exams. 

He had anticipated that these students would apply, the only exception being Fang Ping. 

He was Fang Ping's class teacher. Fang Mingrong had attended several parent-teacher meetings, so Liu Anguo knew the situation the Fang family was in.

Every year there were students who wanted to give it one last gamble, though, so Fang Ping being here was understandable, albeit unexpected.

Liu Anguo suppressed his thoughts and said, "The day after tomorrow, which is the 9th, Wang Jinyang from Nanjiang Martial Arts University will return to our school to answer all of your questions. Everyone should know that. Remember to attend the seminar when the time comes."

The crowd nodded. Experiences shared by their senior would be of great help to them.

"When the time arrives, the school will distribute the full version of the timetable for the martial sciences examinations and also some reminders. All of you must read it carefully."

Although Liu Anguo was the class teacher, he mainly taught social sciences, thus when faced with a large group of students. he would only bring up the topic of martial sciences briefly.

There were supplementary classes in martial arts both in and out of school. This was the main venue of studies in martial sciences. 

The others had all attended some classes or hired personal tutors.

Liu Anguo glanced cursorily at the group. Among them, Fang Ping was the only one who had not attended classes in martial sciences elsewhere. 

This, he knew without needing to ask. If he had gone to classes, his father would have mentioned it during the parent-teacher meetings even though he himself did not talk about it.

He sighed mentally. Liu Anguo suddenly stood up and left his seat only to squat down and open the lowest drawer of his office desk.

After a while, Liu Anguo stood up with a pile of thick books in his hands. He put them on the office table and said to Fang Ping, "See if there's anything you need. The others have all attended supplementary classes in school, so they'll all have those. You can take these if you want."

Fang Ping was slightly taken aback. It was exactly what he needed, though, so he said hurriedly, "Thank you, teacher!"

Liu Anguo did not think anything of it. Those books were not cheap — they sold for hundreds of yuan outside — but he did not mind helping those students who were in dire straits.

Liu Anguo did not know what to feel when he saw Fang Ping hugging all the notes and books in his arms joyously without reservations. 

Judging from that, the kid really did not prepare for anything at all. If not, he would not have needed some of these really common books.

He did not put much hope on Fang Ping, but he was still his class teacher. Liu Anguo hesitated for a moment before turning to Wu Zhihao and saying, "Fang Ping's knowledge about the martial sciences exams is less thorough than yours, and he did not study too much for the general studies too. 

"He'll probably find it difficult to finish reading those books. Wu Zhihao, can you make a copy of your notes for Fang Ping?"

Those notes, made by the prospective candidates themselves, would have a better effect than books.

Pinpointing the main study points, compartmentalization of the contents… those were all done by the students themselves. 

Wu Zhihao had the best grades in Class (4), and the chance of him passing the tests was high.

Borrowing his notes to study could save him a lot of time and energy.

Notes were personal property, though. Even the teacher did not have the right to order him to share them; he could only request. 

In his past life, his class teacher was also a good teacher, but Fang Ping had moderate grades and a lukewarm relationship with his teacher, so he did not interact with him much.

He did not expect his teacher to be this responsible.

Him being unprepared for the exams was not the responsibility of the teacher. Gifting him those books was already a huge favor, but he was still asking for notes on behalf of him.

Fang Ping did not wait for Wu Zhihao to open his mouth. He said quickly, "Mr. Liu, I don't need…"

He had not finished his sentence when Wu Zhihao smiled from beside him. "It's nothing. I'll make a copy later. It's not a big deal, anyway.

"This might sound a bit callous, but it's still unknown whether you'll get to use them."

Wu Zhihao did not fear hurting Fang Ping's dignity. Everyone understood that even Wu Zhihao himself might not enter the fourth stage: the general studies test.

The class teacher had already asked, and Wu Zhihao did not want to make him look bad.

Wu Zhihao had already agreed, so Fang Ping thanked him without objection.

Indeed, Fang Ping's head hurt when he looked at the huge bundle of notes and books in his hands.

If he could borrow Wu Zhihao's notes, he could narrow down the main points that would come out in the exam. He would not be completely clueless and read all of them.

After those words, the registration process ended.

Liu Anguo asked them to return to class while he continued to mark test papers.

...

After they walked out of the office, Wu Zhihao said to Fang Ping, "Some of my notes are at home. If you need them quick, you can come back with me to my home. If you're not, I can bring them to you from home tomorrow."

The other had already done him a favor. How could Fang Ping have the kindness to bring the notes for him? He said hurriedly, "I'll take them. Thank you so much this time, really."

"You're welcome. We're all classmates."

Wu Zhihao was not arrogant. He said jovially, "We from normal classes rarely pass the tests. We're not opponents.

"I'll say something truthful. Please don't mind.

"At the very least, you won't need to start on those materials before you pass the physical assessment, so that you don't waste your time. 

"After you pass the physical assessment, you can spend more time on that.

"Although general studies includes a lot of content from various disciplines, it's a bit different from the social sciences exams in that the content that comes out is always repeated.

"To us martial sciences candidates, the toughest stages to crack are not general studies and cultural studies but the physical assessment and the practical test.

"Those two stages have definite criteria, so they're also the stages that eliminate most people."

After Wu Zhihao finished speaking, Yang Jian piped up from beside him, voice filled with confusion, "Is that so? Why do I feel that general studies and cultural studies are more difficult?"

Wu Zhihao did not bother answering him. This depended on the individual.

Fang Ping nodded. He was as green as they came, so listening to their recounts was good for him.

After some thought, Fang Ping asked, "That… Where should I go for a vitality checkup?"

As someone new to the martial sciences examinations, Fang Ping did not think him being ignorant was a problem. 

The others did not seem surprised. Yang Jian said immediately, "The Vitality Measuring Machine is used to check your Vitality points. Sun City only has one, located in the First People's Hospital. These things cost too much to make, and Sun City is not that big, which means that not many people will need it. That's why we're not left with any other choice."

After Yang Jian finished saying his piece, Zhang Hao reminded him, "Fang Ping, if I were you, I wouldn't go check. I'm not saying this to hurt you, but there's no time for you to increase your Vitality points now.

"Checking your points with this machine is expensive. Five thousand bucks for one checkup, no discounts.

"It's not far from the physical assessment now. You might as well wait till the physical assessment to check your points."

"Five thousand?"

Fang Ping gaped. Is this daylight robbery?

The hospital practically monopolized the business, and it would not be short of patrons — it was mandatory for martial sciences candidates to analyze their condition in advance.

Fang Ping had wanted to figure out his current situation, but he could only give up. 

Wu Zhihao laughed, probably because he knew what Fang Ping was thinking. "The Vitality Measuring Machine in the hospital is a large one that can measure one's current fluctuations of Vitality and its maximum limit accurately.

"This should be your first time checking this, so the result won't need to be so accurate.

"Aren't you coming to my house for the notes tonight?

"I have a smaller one at home, but it is a little inaccurate, with a difference of 5 cal, give or take. You can give it a try."

"What, Zhihao, your family bought that?"

The others were quite surprised when they heard him say that.

Although the smaller ones were not as expensive as the large one, and it was cheaper with the likeliness of error, an error with a 5 cal difference was considered big.

Barring that, those specific machines were already expensive.

In everyone's eyes at least, it was already a huge sum of money.

That one in Wu Zhihao's house would have to cost hundreds of thousands at least.

Wu Zhihao smiled nonchalantly, "It's secondhand, so it didn't cost much. I have to check my points frequently, and going to the hospital for a checkup is expensive and wastes time. That's why my dad bought a secondhand one for me from Taobao, just for me to get an approximate value."

That was true. The others needed an accurate value.

A difference of 5 cal would result in inaccurate results.

If those present all went for a checkup in Wu Zhihao's house, the results they got might all be the same.

Yang Jian's result might even be higher than Wu Zhihao's, and that would be normal.

If they really prepared for the tests based on these inaccurate numbers, elimination would be inevitable.

It was useless to others, but not to Fang Ping.

Fang Ping only wanted to see how many cals were equivalent to his 1.1 Vitality. He only needed an approximate range.

Fang Ping quickly had a grin on his face when he heard Wu Zhihao's words. "I'm going to trouble you, then. I don't know how to thank you. One thing's for sure: after I pass the tests, I'll treat you to a big meal!"

"Hahaha…"

Zhang Hao laughed loudly. He teased, "Fang Ping, I'm afraid that Wu Zhihao won't get to eat that meal."

"Get out." Fang Ping said confidently, "I'll definitely pass the tests. No question."

"Hahaha…"

The others laughed again. They were not laughing at him, exactly. They thought that Fang Ping was really confident. Among the eight present, even Wu Zhihao did not dare to say with confidence that he would pass the tests. 

After laughing for a while, Zhang Hao said to Wu Zhihao, "Zhihao, remember to tell us the result of Fang Ping's checkup tonight.

"Although it's not accurate, you can pinpoint his points after a few tries."

The others were all curious about Fang Ping's Vitality points. It was purely curiosity, like how one would be curious about their friend's marks after a test.