Chapter 14: High-Quality

The day went on and the new recruits were ordered to begin making their way to their first official training session. In the midst of students exiting the dorms, Feng Biao had been able to spot Hunter.

They had been able to convince Hunter's roommate to switch rooms with Feng Biao without difficulty. It turned out he was the same boy, Liu Wei, who had spoken so eagerly to Song Zhilan on the bus.

"You got lucky," Hunter said patting Feng Biao on the back.

Feng Biao internally agreed. Song Zhilan was an interesting person and the chance encounter they had left Feng Biao with more understanding of the world he had largely ignored.

Looking around Feng Biao saw Song Zhilan was walking in their direction. It seemed this time she would be joining them.

As they reached their destination a familiar face greeted Feng Biao. Zhang Fang stood arms crossed in front of a white line wearing the same expression as the previous day.

"Now that you're all here I'm going to be telling you what your daily schedule will now include. Every day at wake-up call you will make your way outside to me," Zhang Fang said as he began pacing back and forth staring at the recruits.

"We will train, and I will get all of you to the bare minimum standards the HCF requires me to. If you apply yourself you will get farther, if you don't, then you won't."

"Some among you have already made it to the Divine Mortal Rank. Congratulations, you're strong enough to be cannon fodder. If you're satisfied with that then I won't be able to help you."

"Stand here if you're below the Ascending Mortal Rank. You'll need to reach it by the end of your time here. Stand here if you're at the Ascending Mortal Rank, I will build a plan for you that will allow you to reach the Divine Mortal Rank."

"As for anybody at the Divine Mortal Rank..."

And so Zhang Fang continued to give instructions to the recruits. While the Tempered and Ascending Mortals all seemed to be in bouts of intensive physical training the Mortals were doing a wide variety of activities. Feng Biao found that at the Mortal Rank he would be given assistance in completing his Rank Up Quest.

The Rank Up Quest for the Mortal Rank always related directly to aspects of your Divinity, particularly things they found favorable. In Hunter's case, Sleipnir liked to run so he was forced to run for weeks to reach a total distance of 800 kilometers. In Feng Biao's case, Indra seemed to like to drink.

Feng Biao sat and drank as a wide array of liquors considered of high quality sat in front of him. He had chosen a small bottle of what he assumed was wine with a label in a language he couldn't read. Watching the Divine Mortals train they too were sitting down. Their training for today was simply to watch Song Zhilan spar with Zhang Fang.

They were fighting without using Divine Abilities or Divinity. However, Feng Biao could tell, Song Zhilan's physical strength was absurd. She simply stood still as Zhang Fang launched attack after attack, which made audible thumps even from the distance Feng Biao was sitting at.

Without raising a hand she did not move, the attacks simply weren't affecting her. Feng Biao wondered if this was the result of some sort of Divine Passive. In fact, could they be turned off at all?

Deciding to test this Feng Biao focused on his Contract. Focusing on [Indra's Indulgence] he willed it to be inactive. Which is when the effect of drinking a whole bottle of particularly strong wine began to flood him.

Quickly turning it back on Feng Biao decided that no Divine Abilities probably meant no Divine Passives either. Meaning the reason Song Zhilan had just kept her eyes open during an eye poke was that her constitution was completely different from his own.

Checking his Rank Up Quest Feng Biao was disappointed.

Rank Up Quest: Drink 10 different high-quality liquors (0/10)

He decided to just start chugging the liquor. If it weren't for the taste it was almost like chugging water. Wiping his mouth after filling up drinking another 4 bottles of colored foreign liquors Feng Biao checked his Rank Up Quest.

Drink 10 different high-quality liquors (0/10)

What was the problem? Perhaps Indra only liked liquor from India? No, if that was the case surely it would have been specified as high-quality Indian liquors only. Then maybe the cost of these liquors was really not that much?

Grabbing his PDS which he had clumsily folded into his pocket Feng Biao asked it if it could identify the bottle of wine in his hand. Picturing the label in his mind the PDS sprang up a list of results. The wine that matched the one in his hand cost an astounding 10,000 Merits.

For comparison, the largest amount of money Feng Biao had ever witnessed personally was Wang Hao's life savings, 5,372 Merits. In a few seconds, he had drunk a liquid worth more than Wang Hao's entire life's work.

Sitting in shock Feng Biao quickly double-checked each liquor the same way. They were all less expensive but still insanely priced. He was absolutely stunned. While price didn't necessarily mean a higher quality looking up the reviews for the wine he found it was an extremely praised magnum opus of a vineyard that used Divine Abilities to be fostered into existence.

Indra refused to acknowledge it as "high-quality" all the while. Wine made with Divinity involved was still not good enough for him? Wine more expensive than anything Feng Biao had ever heard of was not good enough for him?

If Feng Biao had cared to check he would have seen the wine he drank was the least expensive thing in his stomach. The pudding he had eaten was priced at a single Mythological Shard a packet. A Mythological Shard being priced around 50,000 Merits on average. Though the shock of that might have melted his brain for a minute.

Staring back at Song Zhilan he found she had now decided to open hand palm thrust at Zhang Fang, who went flying back as a result.

"What Rank is she?" Feng Biao wondered.

As he had still had his PDS open the same text as before appeared again on its page. "I cannot give you personal information about a Primordial Marked."

Song Zhilan raised an eyebrow as she directly looked at him and he embarrassingly mouthed sorry, before closing his PDS.

"That was instant. I guess I really do need to be careful what I think around the PDS. Seriously, how did she know?"

Training continued despite Zhang Fang being tossed back, as he had simply jumped back to his feet and charged back at Song Zhilan. As Zhang Fang heroically attacked an unmoving opponent Feng Biao found the same results.

Nothing happened, Song Zhilan simply stood still and so did the 0/10 counter in his Contract.