Chapter 24

The heavy metallic door of the detection device reopened, revealing the stunned high school student holding a long sword inside.

The significance of having parents accompany their children became apparent at this moment.

Xu Qiao suppressed her excitement and walked over to pull the dazed Lu Yang out of the device, leading him through the murmuring crowd until they left the Memorial Square and arrived at a street that Xu Qiao couldn’t quite identify.

At that point, Xu Qiao turned around and tightly embraced her much taller neighbor.

Except for a few specific types of spiritual entities that can be relaxed to B-level, all the combat-type entities in the First Military Academy require A-level qualifications, including the rare S-level.

Xu Qiao: 【Okay, I’ll let him know. 】
—-
After politely dealing with several admissions offices, the siblings held back their laughter as they took the subway back to Ping’an Community.

As soon as they entered, Xu Qiao immediately asked Lu Yang to release his spiritual entity so she could take a closer look.

In the next moment, the transparent long sword materialized before Xu Qiao.

Among the various types of spiritual entities, animal or insect entities are the most active, plant entities come next, and the most stable are the object entities.

However, object entities also have their own temperament and emotions; they are not simply lifeless objects.

Even though Xu Qiao and Lu Yang were like siblings, she still smiled and asked the long sword before her, “Can I touch you?”

The long sword quietly moved closer to Xu Qiao’s hand.

This was a sign of consent.

Xu Qiao thanked it, gripping the sword’s hilt with one hand and the sheath with the other.
—-
In non-combat or special situations, and without an ability user controlling them, spiritual entities appear in their most stable form. Animal and plant entities take on the size of their mature counterparts in reality, while object entities are of conventional sizes.

Lu Yang’s long sword measured 1.2 meters in length, with a hilt and sheath that were entirely black, featuring intricate carved patterns.

Xu Qiao observed it closely, like admiring a painting, recognizing mountains, rivers, and trees among the flowing carvings.

As she touched the engravings, she asked Lu Yang, “Have you seen a similar sword before?”

Because spiritual entities have hereditary characteristics, Xu Qiao had known from a young age that she would awaken a lotus spiritual entity and had enjoyed browsing through various lotus books and videos. Lu Yang probably did the same.

Lu Yang shook his head. “There’s nothing exactly the same.”

He had searched for many swords, from the ten legendary swords that actually existed in ancient times to the mythical top ten swords, but the images preserved from the old era were often imaginative fictions. The flashy pictures of swords from the new era were even less reliable as references.

Perhaps it’s love that extends to everything associated with it. Xu Qiao said confidently, “This sword of yours must belong to a famous blade.”

Lu Yang just smiled.
—-
After admiring the sword sheath, Xu Qiao drew the sword, revealing an eighty-centimeter-long sharp blade that was about five centimeters wide and less than one centimeter thick, presenting a cold, icy silver color.

It was already the sharpest weapon, and being transparent, Xu Qiao felt the chilling aura of death emanating from it as she gazed at the sword.

She couldn’t help but exclaim, “It’s really impressive.”

She also wanted to be a formidable female swordsman, someone who could easily slay an A-level beast instead of hiding behind her teammates in combat armor.

At that moment, a green lotus leaf emerged, swaying slightly before suddenly forming an identical transparent water sword next to the long sword.

The water sword, created with C-level abilities, was as solid as ice and appeared quite powerful.

The lotus spiritual entity seemed very satisfied, controlling its water sword to collide with the silver long sword beside it.

The long sword remained still, unsure of its intent, and lightly collided with the water sword. With a splash, the water sword shattered and fell to the ground, forming a puddle.

The green lotus leaf promptly vanished.

Lu Yang looked nervously at Xu Qiao.

Xu Qiao smiled and said, “It’s fine; the more powerful, the better. It’s a good example for us. Maybe one day our water swords will be able to clash with yours.”

While speaking, she transferred the water on the ground into a planting pot, encouraging her spiritual entity in her mind: “He only has one ability, but we can heal, grow vegetables, and attack. We can also dehumidify the room when the plum rain season comes; it’s much more useful than just gold abilities.”

She felt a wave of happiness from the lotus in her mind.

Xu Qiao then said to Lu Yang, “Your spiritual entity can attack on its own, but you need to learn and master various attack techniques. You can learn the specifics at military school, but during the summer, you can follow the sword techniques sent by Teacher Qin and practice close combat.”

Just as Lu Yang was about to nod, his stomach suddenly growled loudly.

With the awakening of his spiritual entity, Lu Yang had instantly acquired the physique of an A-level ability user, leading to a fast metabolism and high consumption.

Xu Qiao laughed, “Alright, I’ll go cook. You keep getting familiar with your spiritual entity.”

While Xu Qiao busied herself in the kitchen, Qin Chi returned in his car. Hearing the noise, Lu Yang went straight to open the door, only to find Aunt Liu, pushing a stroller, entering the building before Qin Chi.

Upon seeing Lu Yang, Aunt Liu excitedly asked, “Little Yang, did you awaken your spiritual entity this morning? How did it go? Is it like your dad’s?”

Lu Yang simply nodded.

His spiritual entity was a sword, just like his father’s, so they were indeed the same.

Aunt Liu assumed he was a B-level ability user, which was still quite admirable. If she had a B-level ability user as a relative, she could walk proudly through the Second Ring!
—-
After a few compliments, Aunt Liu went upstairs to prepare dinner.

Qin Chi followed Lu Yang into unit 101.

Xu Qiao poked her head out from the kitchen, smiling, “I’ll make a little extra; you can have lunch with us.”

Qin Chi replied, “I knew Little Yang would be hungry. I bought four roasted chickens when I passed the roast chicken shop, so you just need to fry the vegetables.”

Xu Qiao happily said, “Alright, you guys start eating. Little Yang, go get some bowls and chopsticks.”

Lu Yang replied, “I’m not in a hurry…”

His stomach growled again as Qin Chi took out two roasted chickens, the aroma wafting directly into his nose.

Qin Chi chuckled, “Eat up; otherwise, you won’t even be able to release your spiritual entity later.”

Reluctantly, the high school student sat at the dining table, trying to control his speed, and finished an entire roasted chicken by himself.

At that moment, his communication wristband rang.

Lu Yang answered the call.

On the other end was the admissions office of the First Military Academy in the central district, who not only knew about Lu Yang’s spiritual entity level but also had his recent humanities scores.
—-
After congratulating him, they expressed their hope that Lu Yang would enroll in the First Military Academy. Although, according to base regulations, military schools couldn’t reduce tuition fees to compete for high-level ability students, they could offer other incentive policies, such as rewards of high-level weapons, battle armor, etc. Furthermore, the teaching quality of the First Military Academy was already the best in the entire base.

The First Military Academy appreciated Lu Yang as a promising candidate and assumed that he would choose them, so their tone wasn’t as enthusiastic as other military schools. There was even a hint of unacknowledged arrogance, as if receiving this call was a privilege for Lu Yang.

Lu Yang replied, “Thank you for your recognition, but I’ve already decided to enroll in the Second Military Academy.”

The other person responded, “…I respect your choice, but I’m still a bit curious about your reason for choosing the Second Academy.”

He wasn’t the only one curious at that moment.

Lu Yang glanced at Qin Chi sitting beside him, then looked at Xu Qiao, who was standing at the kitchen door, astonished by his response. He calmly explained, “Because I’m more accustomed to the environment of the Second Ring, and the Second Academy is located there.”

The other person chuckled lightly and ended the call.

Lu Yang breathed a sigh of relief.

Xu Qiao’s mood was complicated as she asked, “Are you worried that the students at the First Academy will be difficult to get along with?”

Most students at the First Academy came from high-level ability user families in the central district, including the children of the base’s upper echelons.

Every school has its own issues of discrimination stemming from wealth and ability levels, and the First Military Academy was no exception.

Lu Yang nodded, “Yeah, it’s easier to get into trouble there. The Second Academy is more suitable for me.”

Conflicts easily arose among boys, especially at their age.

Lu Yang wouldn’t proactively provoke anyone, but if someone were to challenge him first, he probably wouldn’t hold back. If he happened to encounter a wealthy kid who couldn’t handle losing and cried to their family for help, Lu Yang would be fine suffering alone, but he feared it would also drag Xu Qiao down with him.

Xu Qiao understood Lu Yang’s concerns; she was just envious of the First Academy’s teaching resources. After all, they had S-level instructors, and the combat experience and skills they could impart were incomparable to those of A-level instructors.

Qin Chi, who had silently listened to their discussion, finally spoke up with a smile: “The Second Academy is also a good choice. I’m familiar with several instructors there and can look after Little Yang. Once his strength improves, I could even ask Principal Wei to give him a few pointers.”

Lu Yang’s face flushed red. “No, no, let’s just pretend we don’t know each other at school. You don’t have to give me special treatment, and you definitely don’t need to trouble the principal.”

Qin Chi replied, “When I say look after you, I mean increasing your training intensity. I have two different standards for my little landlord and my students.”

Lu Yang: “…”

Xu Qiao looked at the two of them, and any feelings of regret and disappointment quietly dissipated.

Despite Qin Chi only having C-level abilities, she inexplicably believed that Lu Yang would grow remarkably under his guidance.