Knights Belong to the Wealthy

Outside the school.

Eric's expression was resolute, his eyes filled with determination.

He *had* to be determined!

After over an hour of searching online, Eric finally figured out a few things. For example, what exactly was a knight?

Modern-day knights weren't all that different from the ones he had read about in novels or seen in movies in his previous life. The only real difference was the modern setting. In this world, knights existed openly as a legitimate profession.

If being a knight was just another high-powered career, Eric, though interested in superpowers, wouldn't necessarily feel compelled to become one.

But in this society, being a knight was more than just having a powerful career. It was a symbol of power and status!

The law of the jungle—where the strong prey on the weak—was as true here as it had ever been.

In Eric's previous life, the difference between people wasn't so stark. After all, anyone could be taken down by a bullet—everyone was just a regular person.

But in this world filled with knights, the divide was crystal clear.

Take what Joe said earlier, "In politics, you can't rise above the state; in business, you can't expand beyond the city." Eric hadn't fully understood it at the time, but now it all made sense.

Ordinary people made up the majority of society, and there were no obvious restrictions on what they could do.

However, there were legal requirements—and yes, they were explicitly written into the law!

For a business to expand beyond the city, its legal representative had to be a knight. The level of the knight didn't matter.

But if the business wanted to expand across state lines, the legal representative had to be at least a Fourth-Rank knight!

According to the information Eric found, knights were ranked from one to nine, with First Rank being the lowest and Ninth Rank being the highest. Knights below Fourth Rank were considered lower-tier, while those at Seventh Rank and above were regarded as Grandmasters.

If you wanted to start a company that could operate across state lines, the legal minimum requirement was that you had to be a Fourth-Rank knight or higher.

And if you aimed to build a multinational corporation, while there were no strict legal requirements, the reality was that if the company's leader wasn't at least a Seventh-Rank knight, no matter how great the product or how vast the market, there was no way to expand the business internationally.

Even if the company had a Seventh-Rank knight, they'd still have to prove their strength to secure their foothold.

Take Malcolm Stewart, for example—Master Malcolm!

Griffin Holdings' primary product was the same as in Eric's previous life: instant messaging software. In China, QQ was the dominant messaging platform, but it was only popular there!

Griffin Holdings hadn't even broken into the Asian market yet because, while Malcolm was a Seventh-Rank knight, Google had developed its own instant messaging platform, and the knight overseeing Google in Asia was an Eighth-Rank knight.

Until Malcolm could prove he was strong enough to compete with Google, expanding into that market was impossible.

That's why Malcolm immediately challenged Tim upon breaking through to the Eighth Rank—it was to prove that he was now worthy of the opportunity.

The same dynamics existed in politics, the military, and other sectors.

In politics, for instance, things were quite different from what Eric remembered from his previous life. In this world, the governor of a state held the most power, and the minimum requirement to hold that position was being a Fourth-Rank knight.

In practice, though, governors these days were rarely below Fifth Rank, and in some of the more powerful states, the governors were even Grandmasters of the Seventh Rank.

The current governor of Ohio, where Eric lived, was a Sixth-Rank knight. Although not the weakest, he wasn't particularly strong either, which put Ohio at a disadvantage when competing for resources.

The amount of resources a state could secure determined how much support the government could give to developing knights.

The rumors of Ohio's governor approaching a breakthrough excited Joe for this very reason. A Grandmaster-level governor could secure far more resources for the state.

Whether in business, politics, or even entertainment, the same logic applied across the board.

For instance, famous celebrities not only needed talent and good looks but also some degree of knightly strength.

Because without strength, no matter how much money they made, they wouldn't be able to hold onto it.

Unless, of course, their parents were powerful knights.

Nowadays, the children of the wealthy and powerful often went by one label: "Knight Heirs."

After all, those who controlled wealth and power were knights.

Ordinary people rarely had a chance to rise to the top of society. The only exception was if they had strong knightly support behind them, and even then, they'd need to show they brought more value than the knights themselves.

If you couldn't become a knight, then you were destined to have no connection to society's elite.

This massive gap in status drove ordinary people to desperately aspire to become knights.

Even the weakest knight, even if they did nothing, could simply lend their name to a small company and make a million dollars a year.

In reality, most knights were elites in their own right, and unless they were willing to submit to someone stronger, they rarely attached themselves to others. Instead, they often chose to start their own businesses.

Compared to ordinary people, the advantages knights had were overwhelming.

"If I don't become a knight, no matter how many brilliant business ideas I have, I'd just be setting them up for someone else to take," Eric muttered. This was the harsh conclusion he reached after all his research.

Aside from the knight-related differences, society wasn't much different from his previous world.

This meant that while Eric had plenty of ideas and business concepts, the one thing he lacked was the ability to protect what was his.

He might be able to make some small money, but the idea of building a major business was just a pipe dream.

If he crossed certain lines, the most likely outcome was that his entire enterprise would be taken from him. While the laws in China were fairly strict and there were many powerful people in the government to maintain order, they wouldn't take his life—but the empire he built would likely become someone else's.

For example, right now, there was no equivalent of WeChat in the market.

If Eric launched a similar product, one of two things would happen: either it would be taken from him, or it would remain popular only in the city, unable to expand. No matter how much money it made, it wouldn't be his in the end. Stronger forces would eventually claim control.

Ordinary people could only live cautiously, perhaps running a small local business to get by.

But even within the city, there were no guarantees of safety.

The constant pressure and struggle of this life placed even greater limits on ordinary people than Eric had faced in his previous life.

If Eric didn't want to end up as a nobody, becoming a knight wasn't just an option—it was practically inevitable.

Even if he wanted to be a nobody, he'd at least want to be a comfortable and secure one, right?

Fortunately, ordinary people were still the majority, and society hadn't completely abandoned them. There was still a path to rise up.

The college entrance exam remained a golden opportunity for ordinary people to change their fate.

These days, many prestigious universities offered knight training programs, giving ordinary people a glimmer of hope.

Some specialized knight academies also recruited students through the entrance exams.

But as the saying goes, **"Knighthood belongs to the rich."**

Knights possessed immense power, and training a knight required resources that most ordinary people couldn't even imagine. The financial burden was staggering.

Given these circumstances, getting into a knight academy and receiving government-sponsored training was reserved for the absolute elite.

Every year, the difficulty of getting into knight academies through the college entrance exam was even greater than getting into the top schools in Eric's previous life!

In 2017, China had 9 million students taking the college entrance exam, yet only around 20,000 students were admitted to knight academies or knight training programs across the country.

In Eric's previous world, while only a few thousand students got into prestigious schools like Tsinghua or Peking University, China had many top-tier universities, and together they admitted over 100,000 students each year.

Now, more than 100 universities had knight programs, but they admitted only 20,000 students in total annually—a shockingly low number.

A one-in-500 chance might not seem terrible, but in smaller cities like Eric's, that ratio expanded tenfold!

This was the main reason why Chris and many other students felt hopeless.

There were also plenty of other hurdles to overcome in applying to knight academies.

Chris had mentioned the $10,000 registration fee, which was just the first of many.

Eric's biggest headache right now was this very fee. Knight Academy registration opened the following week, and the window was limited.

If he missed the deadline, no amount of money would help.

"Ten thousand dollars just for registration…"

Eric, who had been so full of ambition moments earlier, suddenly felt his enthusiasm deflate. The registration fee alone was enough to douse half of the fire within him—let alone the costs that would follow.

"What a headache!"

Eric sighed, feeling like he was one of the worst-off reincarnators ever.

…

By the time Eric finished lunch and returned to school, he only had $15 left in his pocket.

Afternoon classes hadn't started yet, and some students were preparing for the upcoming college entrance exams while others were chatting. The main topic of conversation was still the upcoming Grand

master battle that Jack had mentioned earlier.

Seeing Eric come back, Chris, who was doing practice problems, put down his pen and asked with concern, "Did you go play games?"

Eric rolled his eyes and snapped, "Do I look like I have time for games? I was looking up information about the college entrance exams."

He rubbed his hands together and smiled mischievously. "Chris, do you happen to have any extra money?"

Chris frowned, hesitated for a moment, then said, "I've only got ten bucks left…"

"Come on, don't joke around. If you have any money, how about lending me ten grand? I'll pay you back a hundred times over when I make it big!"

"Heh."

Chris gave a forced smile, adjusted his glasses, and went back to his practice problems. Eric must've gone crazy from being broke.

Eric sighed again. This was a dead end.

Everyone was a student. Even if Chris wasn't particularly well-off, no one in their right mind would lend him ten grand.

Did he really have to ask his parents for the money?

But his family's financial situation wasn't great, and $10,000 was no small amount. Given how slim Eric's chances of getting into Knight Academy were, would his parents even be willing to fork over that kind of money?

It was Saturday, and there were less than two days left before registration opened on Monday.

If he had more time, he might be able to scrape together the fee somehow. But in less than two days, finding $10,000 out of thin air was next to impossible.

And this was only the first step. There would be many more expenses down the road.

In this society, strength came from resources.

Without the support of an industry, it was impossible to go far.

If kids from ordinary families didn't get into Knight Academy, relying on a regular income alone, how many families could afford to produce knights outside of the university system?

The reason knight academies were so sought after was that they provided students with most of the resources they needed. The government funded the training.

Even if the resources weren't sufficient, once you were admitted to Knight Academy, banks would be more than happy to offer you loans, and loans wouldn't be a problem.

Alternatively, you could sign contracts with large corporations ahead of time. Knight students were in high demand, and major companies were eager to fund some potential talent.

But all of this hinged on one thing: getting into Knight Academy in the first place.

Thinking you could become a knight without spending money? Dream on.

Eric sighed again, losing count of how many times he had done so today. Reincarnating into this world—why did it feel so suffocating?

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