22. Challenging the 49th place. Obtaining merits

Long Yin ignored attempts at conversation from her classmates and seniors as she rushed towards combat arena. Upon entering, she immediately chose her options: Ranked, 49th place, stake: 200 merits. Two hundred merits were everything she earned for her Trial Tower tirst clears. She was in luck as the 49th place was online. After 15 minutes of waiting he accepted and she recieved notification that the match would begin soon. A few minutes later she got teleported onto combat arena. She was facing a brown-haired third year that for some reason seemed to be cosplaying Rock Lee with his green spandex. Yes, Naruto, Boruto, Goruto and Doruto did exist in this universe.

'I mean, what the hell, isn't school uniform the default clothing? Why would you change into THIS?! '

He proceeded to taunt her:

- Ohoo seems an ickle firstie thinks she can skip ranks? You might be good but I'm Core Formation 6th stage. I'll show you the might of the Iron Fist!

Yin ignored him and dashed forwards, coming to a sudden halt right before entering his attack range. As her opponent was sure she was making a rookie mistake he immediately counterattacked, missed and stumbled. Yin used the chance and proceeded to grind his avatar into dust with her Star Shattering Fist.

She reappeared outside the arena, standing jext to her opponent.

- Youch! Your punches hurt! I admit you are stronger than me, but I'll defeat you with the power of YOUTH! My name is Lee Sin, remeber it, my rival!

As Yin brain turned off, trying to comprehend the ridiculous crossover, Lee Sin dashed away screaming about youth.

'What the actual f**k did I just witness? No, this is a test! If I fall to this my Dao Heart will crumble and my cultivation will never advance. Illusion, this was just an illusion. '

Shrugging in disgust once again, after carefully ereasing all memories of thr scenes earlier from her mind, she realized she was finally in top 50.

'I can collect my resources for this month. I also got another 200 merits from the match. With this I should be able to cultivate until Core Formation level five or six without trouble. The main problem with that is that classes still exist and I can't just go into seclusion for a month...'

She proceeded to merit exchange. She entered, then queued up before the receptionist in charge of benefits and purchases.

- Excuse me I'd like to collect my ranking benefits for this month. I'd also like to add 30 days of Golden Core Qi Cultivation Room to the one day I get and buy a Qi attracting serum with leftover points.

- Of course, that will be 450 merits. With that your balance is zero. Your 31 day access card and Qi attracting serum will be delivered by the end of the week.

- Thank you, have a good day.

Of course this astounded the spectators:

- 450 merits on a First Year? I think that's a record. Who is she?

-Didn't you hear? There's angenius amongst first years that reached 11th floor of the Trial Tower, then got into top 50 through a ranking match.

- Really? There's such a monster amongst years? Makes me feel bad about my progress.

- Stop complaining, what do you think breakthroughs are, cabbages? It's not easy to improve so fast, she must have amazing talent.

As she walked outside the Main Pavillon she left the hearing range of the gossip. Yin then decided to log off and meet the headmaster.

She knocked on the door to his office.

- Enter! Ah, Miss Yin, I heard about your amazing results, is there a problem?

- Yes, Headmaster. I'd like to go on a leave for the rest of the year, then take exams for first year and second year class exemption.

- That can be arranged. Are you sure though? If you fail the exams your scholarship will be revoked.

-Yes, I'm sure. I find school taking away all my cultivation time, I can do the material faster than we work in class. My gains from Trial Tower also mean I can easily pass Martial Arts test.

- Ah yes, teacher Zhao probably forgot to tell you, top 50 students are exempt from technique exams.

- Then I thank you in advance. I'll take the leave. I'll see you for the exams, Headmaster.

Long Yin exited the Headmaster office and went to her room to study for exams and wait for the delivery. After digesting the gains from VR she broke through to 3rd Stage of Core Formation. On Fiday her delivery arrived and she proceeded to go into seclusion in Golden Core Qi Gathering Room.

Time passed and in the blink of an eye the mid-term Elite class advancement challenges arrived. Long Tian, who everyone was expecting to demote to Regular used the time after Trial Tower well and reached Foundation Establishment Stage 8 peak, astonishing everyone and securing 15th place in the class ranking for himself, stopping the challenges from Regular classes. Fatty Hao and Rou You both surprised everyone, using half a year of time to advance to Core Formation 1st Stage.

The rest of the year passed by uneventfully, aside from various rumours about Long Yin absence.

Long Yin didn't waste her time. She used the month in Golden Core Qi Cultivation Room to advance into Early Stage Six of Core Formation. The rest of the year she completely abandoned cultivation to let her foundation stabilise and focused on cramming as much knowledge as she could into her head. Her efforts were not in vain, as not only did she test out of first and second year material, she even managed to pass third and fourth year exams, giving her additional free time of almost 8 hours per day. That was not enough for her though, as she discovered she could use the time to pass University Material, allowing her to skip "common knowledge" lectures and only go for specialized courses. For Long Yin having more time for cultivating in university was an amazing deal, so she decided to spend the whole second year studying for those exams. The only thing she did before diving into books was challenging the Rank 19 student to get her a stable income of merits.