Carefree Path of Dreams

After finishing the admission procedures, Fang Yuan returned to his dormitory.

Although it was very small, Fang Yuan felt relieved to have his own room.

Lin Meng had stayed at a welfare dormitory previously. The quality of this place was similar.

He sat in silence for a while, then activated his wristband and entered Planet East Dragon’s network.

A screen appeared and started scanning.

‘Ding! Identity confirmed!’

‘Welcome to the school intranet, Lin Meng!’

‘Ding! You have received the first-year rules, your timetable, and other documents in your mailbox. Please check them as soon as possible!’

…

Fang Yuan did not care about any of that. Instead, he started browsing other categories. “Not bad… not bad at all. The East Dragon University’s school intranet is rich with all kinds of information.”

He glanced at his wristband. This was the newest model. It even had a strange emblem of a dragon coiling around a planet, which was East Dragon University’s logo.

“As long as you are a student of East Dragon University, you can receive this piece of equipment and enter the school intranet… There’s a lot of good stuff inside.”

Fang Yuan browsed casually and found the low-tier brain development drug. He could even buy it with a loan.

“Although the intranet here also accepts star dollars, the prices are slightly higher. The real universal equivalent is still credits! You can obtain large amounts of credits through completing courses, improving your cultivation, as rewards from teachers, and various other methods, and then use the credits to purchase a plethora of rare ingredients, even specialized services… It’s even possible to request personal teaching from the Undead Immortal, but the cost is astronomical.”

He looked through the database and felt that it was so massive that not even a couple of libraries could store all that information.

There were even some online courses. Some were free, while others required payment.

“Hmm… rewards await those who labor for it. This is the truth of the world. Charging for information is understandable… However, some courses, including those that provide videos and even 3D projections, lack a certain kind of atmosphere. As such, you still need to go to class for those advanced cultivation courses!”

Fang Yuan browsed the school rules and his timetable briefly. He immediately realized that East Dragon University’s education system was very lax. At the very least, there were almost no graded exams in the first year.

As long as they attended their required courses, they could do anything they wanted.

They could meditate, develop their brain, or choose other courses to study. They could even go to the wilderness to hunt star beasts if they sought thrills.

Of course, they could not blame anyone if they met their end doing so.

There was only a single year-end exam at the end of the first year. Those that failed would be expelled.

“All in all, strict in admission and graduation, huh?”

Fang Yuan changed into his school uniform and left the dormitory. He was ready to attend the first public class.

“The Scientific Cultivation Method! Taught by Lü Songyang, level eight Mystic!”

He looked at his wristband and contemplated. “The spiritual energy of this world’s cultivation is actually the energy of the universe. It has completely different nomological rules compared to that of the Spiritual Realm. Naturally, the system is completely different as well. Neither is there a distinction between Essence Soul and Stellar Malignance. It is a simple system of numbers. The higher the number, the deeper the cultivation?”

After entering the classroom, he found that the lecture hall, which had a sitting capacity of a thousand, was almost full. The majority were first years.

It appeared that many students were very interested in the Scientific Cultivation Method even if they did not plan on advancing in the near future.

“Welcome students! I am Lü Songyang!” A voice came from the podium as soon as the lesson began.

Lü Songyang appeared to be in his thirties. He was wearing red clothes and had heavy facial features. However, not a single student saw how he had entered the room.

“I shall explain the Scientific Cultivation Method to you today… In ancient times, if you wanted to cultivate, you had to possess ‘spiritual roots’. These so-called ‘spiritual roots’ in today’s terms would be brain development. A high development means high-quality spiritual roots, while a low development means just an idiot, or even a mortal. Therefore, spiritual roots are extremely important before you begin cultivation! I advise those whose development levels are below 40% to not break through for now…”

Lü Songyang went on to explain in great length the relationship between the ancient times’ spiritual roots and today’s brain development. His key message was that one should not attempt to advance recklessly and had to establish a solid foundation.

Naturally, after seeing all kinds of expressions from the students below, he sighed in his mind. “The Scientific Cultivation Method uses science as a guide for cultivation. The cultivators of ancient times absorbed the auspicious Qi in the morning and weathered the hardships of nature. Their progress was so slow that it took them a year or more for a tiny amount of progress. And from the perspective of the Scientific Cultivation Method, they had wasted a great deal of things!”

At this point, he projected a screen that displayed a semi-transparent human body with meridians visible on the body. “We all know that the acupoints and meridians of ancient legends can’t be observed in the human body. Their existence was unable to be unconfirmed. As a result, they could only use various clumsy methods to guide themselves slowly. It was extremely inefficient. For us, we start with condensing brain development into spiritual roots and then constructing acupoints and meridians with the Eight Trigrams Technique. Watch…”

Next, he talked about converging spiritual roots at the start, absorbing the energy of the universe, and then constructing a special structure within the body.

“Brilliant!” Fang Yuan was excited. “Adding an entire circulatory system inside the human circulatory system. The ancient cultivation concept of meridians pales in comparison!”

In order words, if the ancient cultivation method was a public transport network, then the modern Scientific Cultivation Method was high-speed trains, airplanes, and even rockets!

The immense difference in fundamentals naturally resulted in a thousand-fold difference in efficiency.

“In summary… the Scientific Cultivation Method is vastly superior to ancient cultivation in terms of efficiency. According to records, the ancient cultivation geniuses cultivated to the thirteenth level of Qi Refinement. The fastest was Dong Hezi of the Heaven Mystic Sect at eight years and six months. It was unprecedented at the time. However, we can reach level five Mystic using an average of two years! The fastest was Wu Wudi, who used a mere twenty-seven days!”

Lü Songyang saw a female student raise her hand and asked, “Yes, what questions do you have?”

A round-faced girl stood up. “Teacher, I am still unclear about the divisions in the ancient cultivation realms and their counterparts in the modern world! Could you please explain?”

“Sure. The realm distinctions of ancient cultivation begin with Qi Refinement. Then comes Foundation Establishment, forming the Golden Core, cracking the core to achieve the Nascent Soul, transforming the soul, and transcending the tribulations to immortality!”

“However, you must be aware that the so-called ‘transcending the tribulations to immortality’ has been proven false by science. Those Soul Transformation old monsters did not ascend to the Immortal Realm. Instead, they assimilated into the universe! This was another drawback of ancient cultivation—you eventually ended up in a dead-end. Of course, some cultivators believe that they advanced into another form of life that is merely very hard to observe… If you’re interested in the exact research, you can search for the papers in that field!”

Lü Songyang continued smoothly, “In modern times, regardless of whether we choose cultivation or the Arcane, the levels are standardized! Starting at level one, it is equivalent to the first to second levels of Qi Refinement. Level five is equivalent to the final level of Qi Refinement! Level ten is equivalent to the Golden Core stage, level fifteen the Nascent Soul stage, and level twenty the Soul Transformation stage! Of course, it’s a rough equivalence at best… In terms of true combat strength, modern cultivation beats ancient cultivation senseless. The times are always advancing.

“Beyond level twenty, it is known as Grand Arcanist in the West and Undead Immortal in the East. This is a realm that even I can not understand. Also… they can continue to advance without limit!” Lü Songyang’s eyes were full of longing.

“All right. Class dismissed!”

…

“The Scientific Cultivation Method… and the Arcane? How interesting!”

In the dormitory, Fang Yuan sat cross-legged, ready to start his breakthrough.

Although a senior and a teacher had reminded him over and over not to do it, his brain development was not 35%. After this period of training, he could reach a terrifying 180%!

“It is my limit to raise it to this level. I suspect that even the mid-tier brain development drug would fail to have any effect… The only possibility is during the breakthrough of the two paths!”

Fang Yuan’s eyes flashed, and his brain started churning swiftly. He reached 100% in an instant!

Brain development of 100%! The ability to use every part of the brain was already extraordinary and divine! He now had the foundation to become an Undead Immortal!

His eyes flashed red, and the True Spirit technique activated immediately. “Overclock 150%!”

Buzz buzz!

In the sealed-off dormitory, there seemed to be a light breeze.

“This is the disruption of matter caused by the psyche! The human psyche alone can do such things without even cultivating any techniques!”

Fang Yuan’s eyes were suddenly full of blood vessels. “180%!”

At this stage, he could feel this body overloading. It was obvious that if he did not seal the overclock mode under normal circumstances, he could very well die from cell failure!

However, his brain was spinning wildly, and everything was crystal clear. Anything and everything in his past appeared. He passed ten million thoughts in a mere half a second. Like a supercomputer, he could predict the future based on all kinds of clues with an accuracy of 60%!

“The ability to see the past and the future with the mere thought of a mortal. This was the horror of an overclocked brain!”

Fang Yuan opened Elementary Olympiad Math.

The tough questions were child’s play to him, and he solved them incredibly quickly.

At the same time, he multi-tasked. Using the method taught by Lü Songyang, he formed the spiritual roots and started constructing an entire new circulatory system in his body.

“The Scientific Cultivation Method does not have a messy collection of cultivation techniques, but it is a set! Rumor has it that it is the fusion of ten thousand ancient cultivation techniques compiled by supercomputers. Afterward, Grand Arcanists and Undead Immortals revised it. You simply need to follow it step-by-step… at least until level five Mystic. At the later stages, different majors have different cultivation techniques. But their fundamentals are the same!”

Rumble!

Fang Yuan’s body shook, and the internal circulatory system formed.

Imperceptibly but inexorably, he could feel his spiritual roots absorb the energy of the universe greedily.

At the first cultivation, his brain development spiked again!

At the same time, with the unraveling of the last Olympiad math question, the many rational thoughts in his brain converged and formed a core!

Cultivation spiritual roots; Arcane Smart-Brain!

The two powers converged at the same time. Immediately, they were agitated. It was as though they could not tolerate each other!