The Dean looked at Chen Yu and spoke.

Chen Yu returned to his senses and looked at the Dean. "I will do my best."

The Dean nodded. "For the next month, don’t leave the academy. Build up your strength and prepare."

"...Alright." Chen Yu nodded.

Half an hour later, Chen Yu left the Dean’s office.

He now had a complete understanding of the academy ranking competition.

The ranking competition was a matter of honor for the twelve academies, and it also determined the allocation of resources.

If an academy failed to reach the final rankings three times in a row, it would face the dire consequence of being disbanded and merged into another academy.

It was a harsh and cruel reality.

Resources were not infinite.

The resources consumed by a single Superpower Academy were unimaginably vast.

And that was precisely why there was competition.

At its core, the academy ranking competition was a resource allocation tournament.

And in the last competition, Jingzhou Superpower Academy had failed to reach the finals for the first time.

Although it was only the first time, it was a wake-up call.

’I’ll do my best...’

Chen Yu was very calm.

The rankings weren’t important to him, but he would still fight for what he could.

The higher the academy’s rank, the better its prospects for future development.

Even though he didn’t care about the rankings, if he had a chance to act, he would.

His current achievements had little to do with the academy’s training, but that might not be the case in the future.

Resources were important, too!

As he walked out of the administrative building, he saw Tianhai Yoou waiting by her car. She immediately waved at him.

Chen Yu strode over. Tianhai Yoou looked at him, her bright eyes glinting. "Chen Yu, did the Dean talk to you about the academy ranking competition?"

Chen Yu nodded. "Yeah, he did."

"So, what are your plans?"

Tianhai Yoou asked.

"I’ll participate, of course."

Chen Yu replied.

Hearing this, Tianhai Yoou smiled and patted his shoulder. "Good luck. I have high hopes for you. If you have any problems with your training, you can come to me. I’ll do my best to help."

"Thank you, Teacher Tianhai."

...

After bidding farewell to Tianhai Yoou, Chen Yu arrived in front of a pagoda-shaped building on campus.

This was the academy’s Exchange Building.

Inside, one could exchange for resources needed for training.

The only currency accepted was academic credits.

It was also Chen Yu’s first time here.

He had accumulated quite a few credits—over a hundred thousand from two missions and their extra rewards.

He walked into the pagoda. The interior was spacious.

The first floor was the Resource Exchange Hall, the second was the Martial Arts Exchange Hall, and the third was the Cultivation Method Exchange Hall.

Chen Yu wanted to exchange for some training resources.

And these particular resources were also used by the upper echelons of the Extraordinary Realm.

Spirit Pearls!

Tianhai Yoou was the one who had told him about them; otherwise, he would have had no idea.

Spirit Pearls were a special training resource that could strengthen an Awakened’s Seed of Superpower and enhance their abilities. At the same time, one could use the Celestial Destiny Skill to rapidly absorb a Spirit Pearl’s power and achieve a breakthrough.

Entering the first-floor hall, Chen Yu walked up to a terminal and swiped his student card. A screen quickly popped up, and Chen Yu looked at the information displayed.

Spirit Pearls were divided into different levels.

A Level 1 Spirit Pearl cost one hundred academic credits.

A Level 2 Spirit Pearl cost one thousand academic credits.

A Level 3 Spirit Pearl required ten thousand academic credits.

A Level 4 Spirit Pearl cost a whopping one hundred thousand academic credits!

There were six levels of Spirit Pearls in total. Above Level 4 were Celestial Spirit Pearls, and the highest tier was the Divine Spirit Pearl.

Spirit Pearls of different levels contained different amounts of special energy.

Celestial Spirit Pearls and Divine Spirit Pearls were not available for exchange. The academy had none in stock; in other words, you couldn’t buy them even if you had the money.

Under normal circumstances, only a Ninth-level Martial Artist attempting to break through to the True God level would use a Celestial Spirit Pearl.

As for Divine Spirit Pearls, those were used by beings who had already reached the True God Level.

Even if they were available, a Ninth-level Martial Artist would find it difficult to absorb one. Anyone below the ninth level would simply explode from the power.

Looking at the available Spirit Pearls, Chen Yu exchanged for one hundred Level 1 Spirit Pearls and fifty Level 2 Spirit Pearls.

’I’ll start with one Level 3 to try it out.’ After some thought, Chen Yu chose to exchange for a single Level 3 Spirit Pearl.

Once the exchange was complete, his academic credits had dropped by more than half.

Chen Yu looked at the three different types of Spirit Pearls.

Each Spirit Pearl was only the size of a longan fruit.

The Level 1 Spirit Pearl was cyan.

The Level 2 Spirit Pearl was red.

The Level 3 Spirit Pearl was purple.

The differently colored pearls contained different special energies.

After carefully putting the Spirit Pearls away, Chen Yu left the pagoda and headed toward the dormitories.

Back in his dorm room, Chen Yu picked up a Level 1 Spirit Pearl and swallowed it.

That’s right—to absorb a Spirit Pearl, one had to swallow it.

He activated the Celestial Destiny Skill, and the swallowed Spirit Pearl began to emit a searing heat inside his body.

A warmth spread through his internal organs.

In just a few moments, Chen Yu had completely absorbed the Level 1 Spirit Pearl.

There were no major changes in other aspects, but his Qi saw a considerable increase.

Chen Yu estimated that two or three Level 1 Spirit Pearls were enough to elevate his Qi.

However, there seemed to be no change to his Seed of Superpower.

Chen Yu checked his interface; there was no increase in his Skill experience either.

Normally, Spirit Pearls could enhance the abilities of other Awakened, so they should have enhanced his as well.

That’s how training with the Celestial Destiny Skill worked, but he saw no growth now.

’It seems Spirit Pearls are useless for increasing my Skill experience...’

Chen Yu sighed internally.

But he quickly adjusted his mindset. If Spirit Pearls couldn’t upgrade his Skills, it didn’t really matter.

After all, he relied on the Source of Life to upgrade his Skills anyway.

It would be nice to have, but it wasn’t a big loss without it.

However, the boost Spirit Pearls gave to his Qi was still significant.

Now, Chen Yu understood why the students of the Superpower Academy generally had much higher cultivation levels than ordinary Martial Artists.

With a special method like the Celestial Destiny Skill, combined with the boost from Spirit Pearls, it would be strange if their progress *wasn’t* fast.

It was a pity that only the Awakened could practice the Celestial Destiny Skill. Otherwise, if it were made available to all of humanity, the overall strength of the human race would multiply several times over, if not more.

...

Snapping back to the present, Chen Yu took out another Spirit Pearl and absorbed it.

The Spirit Pearls couldn’t increase his Skill experience, but they worked just fine for training his Celestial Destiny Skill. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

He couldn’t leave the academy for the next month anyway, so it was the perfect opportunity to raise his cultivation level.

Then, he would be able to unleash the true power of his Epic Level Skill, Destructive Celestial Light.