Chapter 530: Chapter 0530: Special Recruitment (8200 supplementary, requesting monthly ticket)

Secret Realm.

“Principal… something big has happened. You’ve been bumped from first place.”

The office door swung opened as a woman in her twenties with glasses entered, exuding an intellectual aura.

It was Li Weiwei. Despite being over forty, the powers of an Occupational Person combined with certain secret tonics had allowed her to maintain her youthful appearance.

This was a mysterious gift that made many women scream with envy, a blessing they yearned for.

“Really?”

Su Lu’s physical body, Bai Jing, hadn’t changed. He looked like an ordinary young man but to appear more authoritative, he’d donned a pair of non-prescription business glasses, which gave him a scholarly air.

He wasn’t too bothered about rankings.

Such rankings were, at most, just for reference and based solely on battle records.

He was lazy! And a homebody!

He had only killed the two Beast Emperors because they unfortunately set their rendezvous point in East City.

After taking action, he was inadvertently crowned as the world’s number one expert.

“I know you don’t care about the title of world’s number one… but our academy does…” Li Weiwei said, exasperated.

Eighteen years of dedication had made the academy feel like her second home.

“The quality of students we’ve been admitting at East City Mystery College has been decreasing. There haven’t been any standout new stars, and our reputation has taken a hit… Without your title of world’s number one, I fear we’ll see fewer and fewer top martial arts students choosing us, and it’ll become a vicious cycle!”

She was in charge of admissions this year and was naturally very concerned about this.

“Oh!”

Su Lu nonchalantly responded as he lay on the desk, exuding an air of indifference, much to Li Weiwei’s frustration.

“Tradition! Tradition is very important.”

This was one of Su Lu’s ‘famous sayings’. In fact, outside views of him being ‘old-fashioned’, ‘conservative’, and ‘preserving the status quo’ were all spot on!

After all, establishing the academy was just a casual endeavor for him, done to build a power base.

To truly strive for excellence, to produce super-powerful Occupational Persons, wouldn’t that just be making life harder for himself?

The brilliance of the inaugural batch was solely due to the academy drawing students from around the world, and there being no competition. It leveraged the first-mover advantage and a solid foundation in beginner-level theories.

Four years later, once the first batch of graduates had gone out into the world, the theories that Su Lu wanted to disseminate were fully opened. As countries established their own Mysterious Universities, the glory days of the East City Mystery College came to an end.

Now, even within Summer Country alone, educational institutions such as Mountain and Sea University, Azure Fighter Academy, and Sorcerer Alliance Academy are all competing with it, and some are even surpassing it.

“You…”

Li Weiwei felt like she’d been driven to her wit’s end by the principal.

While she knew that Bai Jing was pretty useless, she didn’t expect him to be this useless!

“Right, Bai Ling… it’s her college entrance exams this year, isn’t it?”

Su Lu suddenly asked.

“Oh? It’s quite surprising that you still remember.” Li Weiwei huffed, but still reported, “Indeed, she’s taking the martial arts college entrance exams this year. Her grades from the several mock exams before this were not bad, but… she won’t be able to meet our ‘Big Four’s’ requirements.”

Even now, living off its past reputation, East City Mystery College is still considered one of the top four Mysterious Academies in Summer Country, like an elite university.

If she couldn’t get into these four, she’d have to attend professional schools that focus more on auxiliary positions, something similar to vocational high schools.

Attending such schools would not only limit her career path, but her chances of encountering anything Transcendent would also be slim.

“Hmm, contact the key middle school in East City and provide them with a few special admissions quotas.”

Su Lu made the decision.

“Alright… but what about the special talent? We need an excuse.”

Li Weiwei rolled her eyes internally before asking.

“Singing! I remember Bai Ling has a pretty good voice…”

Su Lu suggested as he stroked his chin.

“Pfft… cough, cough!”

Li Weiwei almost choked on her saliva, “Singing? Very good, very powerful… In recent years, there should be very few martial arts students dividing their attention to singing and dancing, but aren’t you afraid of people accusing you of nepotism?”

“What’s there to fear?”

Su Lu responded with surprised laughter, “We’re a ‘private’ institution after all. Plus, if I dare to do it, I won’t be scared of the backlash!”

Bai Ling exhibited the tendencies and potential of a world protagonist, and he had been watching her silently.

“Indeed… I’ll get right on it.”

Li Weiwei was speechless.

She knew that to her principal, neither the school nor his own reputation ever mattered!

So, even if he lost his top ranking this time, he would just laugh it off.

“Bai Ling ah.”

After she left, Su Lu released a sigh and looked at the photo frame on the table.

It was a picture of him with a little girl.

“The influence of the world is really unexpected…”

Su Lu couldn’t help but think back to over a decade ago, when the fourth Spirit Tide descended.

After Bai Tong got married, she had indeed given birth to a daughter named Bai Ling. Chu Gufeng, as expected, turned out to be disappointing, and their conjugal life was full of discord, often leading to arguments.

Su Lu had always watched these events unfold from the sidelines with indifference. Only when Chu Gufeng’s mistresses were discovered and his tendencies towards domestic violence were exposed did Su Lu decide to banish him from the Secret Realm.

Who’d have known that shortly after, a Beast Tide would break out. Although Chu Gufeng was an Occupational Person, he tragically couldn’t escape his fate and died a gruesome death.

None of this was really Su Lu’s fault, but Bai Tong chose to part ways with him.

She had suspected Su Lu had orchestrated Chu Gufeng’s untimely death and decided to move out of the Secret Realm resolutely. Even after Su Lu explained the situation, Bai Tong still firmly believed that he bore responsibility for Chu Gufeng’s death.

This foolish woman seemed to think that if it hadn’t been for Su Lu banishing Chu Gufeng from the Secret Realm, he wouldn’t have died – well, theoretically this was plausible, but Su Lu could only sigh at how well the world had written this script.

Fortunately, he didn’t have feelings for Bai Tong, but he was quite close with Bai Ling when she was young.

“To think that she’s now eighteen… about to take the martial arts college entrance exam?”

Su Lu’s eyes then became deep, and he suddenly closed his eyes.

“The fifth Spirit Tide has descended, I’ve waited for ten years… but the coming of the sixth Spirit Tide is unexpectedly early.”

Every Spirit Tide was both an opportunity and a disaster for humanity.

Of course, if paired with Bai Ling’s protagonist luck, it seems somewhat timely.

The moment she encounters the Transcendent, the Spirit Tide comes. If she’s not the Son of Destiny, then what is?

“According to research… children shouldn’t come into contact with Transcendent powers too early, as it could have a devastating impact on their unformed minds and worldviews… the best time for enlightenment is between sixteen and twenty-four…”

“And for the protagonist of this world, getting on the path of Transcendence is the real start of her destiny, right?”

Su Lu smiled slightly, “But Bai Ling isn’t the real protagonist yet, there are still many more wanting to steal the limelight…”