12 Validation

"Three?" Bai Wushang raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, it's truly incredible. I've been working here for over a decade, and it's the first time I've come across this. It's so rare to have three autonomous awakeners in the same year…" The staff member with a somewhat bald head scratched his head, embarrassed, and said, "If it's convenient, I'd like to verify your soul power values and actual age, as well as create a base profile for your life-bound pet beast to keep on record. Is that okay with you?"

"No problem." Bai Wushang agreed in one breath.

"Please follow me." The staff member got up, and politely led Bai Wushang to a certain room on the second floor.

In between trips up the stairs, he harped on an explanation. "Little brother, don't blame me for making such a hassle. If the verification passes and confirms your identity as an autonomous awakener, then the academy will give you the highest level of resource support for new students for three months, which is a considerable amount of wealth, so it's always right to be strict."

"Understood, understood." Bai Wushang nodded, somewhat surprised. "Is the academy still divided into ranks for new students, and what are the specific criteria?"

"I can't reveal too many details. Simply put, every new student can enjoy three months of resource support from the academy for free, and this resource allocation has four levels established: C, B, A, and S level, from low to high."

"Among them, C, B, and A, those three levels, correspond to students in the early, middle, and late stages of initial soul power, respectively, while S Level corresponds to autonomous awakeners…"

The staff member was a bit of a chatterbox, and couldn't stop talking.

"As for the exact resources, you'll know when the time comes… Hey, generally speaking, it's only the norm to come across an autonomous awakener once every two or three years. The past few years have been less than normal, and there are actually three—three this year! The academy is really going to be a mess…"

Bai Wushang stopped, and couldn't help but interrupt, "Erm… it's a dead end up ahead…"

"Ah, sorry, sorry. I was caught up in talking… Here, here!"

The destination was a room of 100 or so square feet, with many instruments, large and small, displayed in an array that looked like a store and two or three staff members that were meticulously wiping down and maintaining the equipment.

After learning that Bai Wushang needed to perform an autonomous awakening verification, several staff members looked at each other and exchanged surprised looks, but Bai Wushang was satisfied with their work ethics as they immediately took out the apparatus that needed to be used without too much superfluous talk—the soul power crystal ball.

It was a white crystal ball the size of a human head, pure white like jade, without a single flaw, and looking expensive.

Bai Wushang gazed at it twice, and that feeling of intimate familiarity came up in his heart. He couldn't help but recall the person who had adopted him at the age of six, and was nominally considered his adoptive mother.

Back when I was a kid myself, I was in her lab, tossing these instruments around like toys…

…That said, if she hadn't suddenly written and told me that she was now serving in the Mountain and Sea Academy, and suggested that I come here to attend, maybe I would have gone to the Red Dragon Royal Academy… After all, that is the nominal number one academy, personally supported by the royal family of the Great Qian Dynasty…

I don't know if she's doing well now; I'll go visit sometime once I've settled in…

Bai Wushang mused, but his hands didn't stop. He familiarly pressed his palm against the crystal ball, and pushed his soul power without reservation.

The white crystal ball blossomed brightly, and in almost an instant, it was completely lit up, and two lines of text emerged in the very center.

[Soul Power Value: 10086]

[Root Bone Age: 16 years old]

The staff member who led him in repeatedly looked at the data several times, then looked up with bewildered eyes, and dubiously said, "Isn't the soul power value for the peak of the Spiritualist level just 7000? Is this instrument broken—why is it so much higher?"

"No way. I've used it so many times in the past two days, and I don't see any problems anywhere…"

Another staff member also stiffened a bit, and muttered, "If the soul power value breaks 10,000, it corresponds to what seems to be an early Soul Servant level soul power value, right?"

"How about we try again?" a third staff member spoke up tentatively.

Five minutes later.

[Soul Power Value: 10120]

Looking at that first line in the center of the soul power crystal ball, several staff members present felt their throats go a little dry, and turned their heads to stare straight at Bai Wushang as if they were sizing up a monster.

"What are you guys doing?" Bai Wushang took a step back silently. Their eyes looked like they wanted to strip him naked, looking oddly scary.

"This student, do you know that you just entered the academy and broke a record… In the last 100 years since the school was built, there is an autonomous awakener's total initial soul power for the first time that can be compared to the early Soul Servant level. You are simply… too powerful!"

Bai Wushang's eyes darted in thought as he carefully inquired, "What do you mean? So am I considered to be at the peak of the Spiritualist level or the early Soul Servant level?"

One staff member kept smacking his lips, and speculated, "It's still the peak of the Spiritualist level… Perhaps it's because your physique is rather special, and your soul power capacity under the same tier far exceeds that of others, so the total amount of soul power reserves at the peak of the Spiritualist level has now broken through that defining line of the early Soul Servant level. There's just definitely still some gap in quality…

"But when you really break through to the early Soul Servant level, maybe your total soul power will be equal to someone else's at the middle stage, and your soul power will always be a bit thicker than others during the same stage—that's terrifying…"

"That doesn't sound too bad." Bai Wushang suddenly realized what it meant, and then revealed a smile. "So I've passed the verification, right?"

"Of course!"

The staff members nodded like chickens pecking on grains, and one of them had an ingratiating smile.

"Student, can you summon your life-bound pet for us to record? Academy rules require that a file be created for autonomous awakeners to keep for research purposes…"

At those words, Bai Wushang lowered his eyes, patted the bulging mass under the garment on his chest, and called out, "Milky Way, get up!"

The name Milky Way came to Bai Wushang suddenly on his way here.

The main inspiration came from the Moonrabbit's beautiful silver-white pupils, which easily reminded people of the bright stars in the sky, so Bai Wushang named it Milky Way, hoping that she could be like the endless stars in the night sky, forever blossoming with her beautiful brilliance.

"Squeak???"

First, a pair of pink rabbit ears stretched out, then the little one poked out its bewildered little head, and looked at Bai Wu Shang dumbly with wide eyes, not understanding how it had a new name after just a nap.

The staff members scrambled over, staring in disbelief with eyes bigger than Milky Way's.

"Tubular long ears, short tufted tail, pure fur white like snow, pupils silvery white like the asteroid belt, moon crescent mark on the brow… If I'm not mistaken, this should be a moonrabbit?"

"Old Zhang, be bold and skip the word 'should'!"