13 Future decisions
"So that's why" Bian stood in front of a shop and looked in the mirror, his appearance was dirty to say the least. Blood stains covered his person and sand clustered to his clothes.
"I need a shower" he went back home, on his way he bought a bucket full of sapphire ice cream for the family.
'Would this fit in the fridge' he wondered.
"Mom I'm back I've paid off my debts" he said as soon as he returned.
"Do you mean it" her mood was instantly lifted
His little sister ran downstairs and was jumping for joy while celebrating.
"I brought some ice cream. Let's eat." They savored the creamy ice, it was delicious. They kept some for later.
"How did you do it" his mom asked.
"Hehe, it's a secret" he said before he handed over 10 million to his Mom. After paying 105 million from 116 million he had 11 million remaining, he gave his mom 10 million and kept the rest.
"I really need to go shower" he stood up and left before his mom recovered from her stupor.
Bian didn't return to the sanctuaries, he would miss the entrance exams for the military academies if he did.
After his dad came back he gave him a bear hug nearly destroying his spine. His dad was an evolver after all.
"Dad you're killing me" Bian tapped on his shoulder as his face turned blue. Once they parted his dad, Manwei Tian sat down and they spoke.
"You'll need to start military school, have you decided on an academy you wish to attend."
"Hmm" Bian had thought of this, with his current physique getting into blackhawk military academy would be difficult. He could specially enroll in the archery department though, after all with vital point targeting he could get bullseye all day long.
But the time for aiming would be a huge disadvantage not to mention the 'no movement' restriction and the inability to quickdraw.
He was very good at studies though, the local genius of compulsory education. Bian decided to focus on his studies and take a special scholarship in Alliance Central Military academy.
"Dad I want to enroll in Alliance Central Military academy." He said
"What! Alliance Central Military academy isn't easy to get in, forget it."
"I'm planning for a special enrolment in the research department"
"Even though, it would be difficult, and you would need a letter of recommendation"
"Don't worry, i got it all planned out." Bian spent his remaining time reading for the test.
...
Bian boarded a spacecraft the size of a country. It would take 20 days to reach the Alliance Central Military academy. Intergalactic space travel was quite boring, Bian started practicing the past questions for the exam.
He noticed something strange. Vital point targeting seemed to have evolved, as he focused on a particular question a flood of memories seem to pass by like a blur before he sees the memory related to the question.
Bian never had a photographic memory but now he can clearly remember anything he had seen by using vital point targeting, in his mind a torrent of memories would flash by like a movie playing in 200x speed. He would then see the moment he desired to witness.
"This definitely wasn't in the description" As Bian searched for information online regarding vital point targeting he saw a notice.
Vital Point Targeting has been removed from the Saints Hall due to its inflexibility during combat and a high rate of causalities among its practitioners.
Bian could only look at most of the other geno arts as most of them required an A-class license to purchase. Bian surfed the S-class Hall and searched through the available geno art. He had two S-class licenses.
'I need a footwork geno art and an attack geno art' Bian decided on one hyper geno art, Sparticle. The speed burst would aid him significantly in close quarters combat.
He stopped practicing the questions, they were useless now. What Bian needs is more information. And I know just where to start, he started studying ancient languages.
Dongxuan sutra and heresy mantra were written in the ancient language of the alliance.
Bian could feel his heart rate speed up. He was getting very excited. As long as he studied diligently his academic future would be boundless, he wrote down all the letters of the ancient language and their corresponding translations, but translating ancient languages isn't as simple as knowing all the letters.
Imagine you know this word こんにちは
The first letter is "ko" second is "n" third is "ni" fourth is "chi" and fifth is "wa".
Together it is kon'nichiwa which means hello
If you tired to translate it letter by letter though it would give an entirely different meaning. Bian kept studying as he learnt the nuances of the ancient language.
20 days later
They were divided into nineteen batches, with thousand of participants Bian had to wait three days before he went in for his assessment.
"Number one thousand, two hundred and four Bian Manwei step foward" the instructor yelled aloud.
Aiming for a special enrolment the physical requirements for admission were naturally lower as compared to other participants.
Bian stepped into the physical test center, he must reach more than 10.0 in at least 100 items including, strength, speed, quickness, leaping ability, muscle toughness, bone strength and organ function. This was the minimum requirement to pass.
The test time was quite short and Bian soon came out. Use of beast souls were not allowed during the test and failure to comply would result in an immediate disqualification.
As Bian departed he heard from behind "Number one thousand, two hundred and five Han Yan step foward!"
He looked behind and saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had hair as black as the night, she was tall, beautiful and had a domineering aura, a sight for sore eyes.
COUGH COUGH
The other instructor in front of Bian cleared his throat.
Bian scratched the back of his head sheepishly and collected his results. The results were graded from F–Level to SSS–level. The normal requirement for Central Military academy is AA–Level while for special enrolment is A–Level. As long as your grade wasn't too bad, you could still defer to other academies.
Bian was assessed as A-Level bearly passing the assessment. His time spent in the desert tempered his body physically but his geno points were lacking.
He would need to wait 10 days for the assessment to round up and anyone with a fitness of A–Level and above could register for special enrolment IF they had a letter of recommendation.
Bian called Qin Xuan for a favor, he needed a letter of recommendation. Qin Xuan denies it, but he shows her his assessment results and promises her to do almost anything.
"Fine, but you owe me one." Qin Xuan said and hung up. Since she made up her mind to support him, she would go all the way.
Bian found a bench to sit on as he reviewed the letter of recommendation from Qin Xuan, he heard a cacophony of noise from the distance. Looking up he saw Han Yan, she was bothered by all the men around due to her looks.
Bian had an idea, He signaled for her to come sit near him. She saw his sign and sat beside him on the couch.
Bian starts to talk "This here is a letter of recommendation, you know the origin of letters come from the ancient..."
Bian spoke on for hours, eventually one by one the men around Han Yan began to leave until it was just the two of them.
"Sorry to put you through that" Bian said apologetically.
"Was all you said true?" Han Yan asked
"Most of it, I'm really good at remembering stuff." Bian shrugged, a teacher during his early years had said all this stuff. He used Vital Point Targeting to locate the information from his memories.
Han Yan chuckled a little. They spoke about this and that during their stay for the next ten days.
Bian heard a story he wasn't expecting, a shura had landed on planet Roca, it slaughtered a lot of people before the defense team showed up. Bian had been lost in the sanctuaries when this happened. He also missed the divinity bout.
"See you around" Han Yan said then left. All the participants who passed have now left leaving those who would partake in the special enrolment. Bian spent these 10 days preparing for it by reading more books.
If he just glanced at a book he could remember the contents but wouldn't know how to locate it, it was better for him to read it for vital point targeting to be effective.
The Examination lasted for five hours, hundreds of study materials from which the questions would be taken was available for students to read one month before the exam. During the exam, they had to answer one thousand questions across multiple subjects, it tested one's speed, accuracy, knowledge, disciple and endurance.
Bian knew his score before they announced it. With all the knowledge he currently had, he didn't fail a single question. Although the questions weren't that had to begin with their areas of concentration were far apart. Its like writing Math, English, Physics, Chemistry, all the subjects in one paper at a go.
After a day of waiting the results were announced. Of the thousands who sat for the exams five hundred were admitted and Bian's name was on the leader board.
In first place with a perfect score of 1000 Bian Manwei, second place coming in at 998 Jing Jia. He got an SSS-Grade assessment but still did the exams to test himself.
Among Jing Jia's friends; "to think someone could outrank Jing Jia in a test", "shush don't let him hear you" "Here he comes"
"There are some really interesting people here don't you think" Jing Jia said with a smile.
