024. Efficient Action
Li Aozi drank two cans of beer and roughly figured out his situation.
While checking his belongings, Li Aozi found a note in his jacket pocket. He took it out and saw a simple message written on it:
「Mental power awakening, memory disarray, periodic memory loss, lucky in the exam, full marks, maintain image.」
The handwriting was his own, explaining his current situation clearly.
A faint blue light flickered in Li Aozi's eyes, and he had no doubt about the authenticity of the note.
Not only that, but he could easily piece together everything he had experienced:
Due to the awakening of his mental power, his brain had been impacted, causing periodic memory loss. Fortunately, during the exam, he had lucked out and guessed many answers correctly, unexpectedly scoring full marks, which led to his admission to the directly affiliated school of the Crystal Tower.
However, because of his mental power awakening, he had forgotten the content of the exam. Now, he could only maintain the image of an "excellent student" and plan accordingly.
It made perfect sense, even though it was a coincidence, but he wouldn't lie to himself.
"This is really something..." Li Aozi shook his head. "Good thing I left this note before I lost my memory; otherwise, I'd be completely clueless."
Besides the note, Li Aozi also found various hints in his personal information crystal and notebook, all written by himself, further reinforcing his understanding.
No matter what, now that things had progressed to this point, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
White Candle Interstellar University was one of the top institutions in the entire Crystal Tower civilization. He was sure to gain a lot of rare knowledge here.
However, when Li Aozi looked at his test results, under the qualifications section, it was marked with one "strong," two "excellent," and three "outstanding."
"…Something is definitely wrong here."
Li Aozi twitched his eye.
Although he couldn't see or remember what he had written on his test paper, judging by the note and the qualifications, he was sure White Candle Star had made a mistake.
But now that things had escalated to this point, even if Li Aozi tried to explain the error, White Candle Star likely wouldn't believe or acknowledge it.
Besides, the resources at White Candle Interstellar University were too good. Now that he was here, Li Aozi didn't want to give it up.
"In that case, I might as well roll with it and play the part of an excellent student from now on."
One advantage of the interstellar university, Li Aozi recalled, was that most of the students were not involved in the military or government sectors. Most were international students recruited by White Candle Star from affiliated and allied civilizations, so he wouldn't be closely monitored, making it the perfect environment to develop his academic support organization.
Li Aozi's enrollment procedures were already complete. As an outstanding student, the school treated him with great importance, granting him several privileges, including a residence permit, which allowed him to move freely and use public facilities in the Trevera area.
The school took Leoz's education seriously, forming a special committee to discuss how best to nurture him. Once they assigned him citizenship, a college, and a mentor, he could start classes next week.
Until then, he had six days to explore the school, get familiar with people, and settle in.
He opened his information crystal, finding it flooded with messages. Various media outlets had somehow obtained his contact information, and even his fellow villagers from Blue Chrysanthemum Village, who had previously held biases against "Leo," were now congratulating and expressing envy.
Li Aozi didn't bother responding to them. Instead, he contacted his fellow students in Scholarship Society group, exchanging pleasantries. His down-to-earth attitude, combined with his superior [Charisma], quickly won everyone's favor.
When Li Aozi mentioned that the Scholarship Society had greatly helped him, everyone chimed in, saying they would share the Scholarship Society model when they entered university and even organize interschool exams.
After wishing them good luck with their exams, Li Aozi took care of some personal matters for his enrollment and then fell silent.
Sitting in his spacious, comfortable single dorm room, Li Aozi felt a bit dazed.
This wasn't just good luck—it was extraordinary luck. Li Aozi even had the feeling that if he stepped outside, he might get hit by a car.
"Everything feels so surreal, but considering this is a magical civilization, I suppose it's normal."
He rubbed his head, beginning to ponder how to handle the school situation.
"Leo's" physical qualifications weren't great. To avoid slipping up, Li Aozi needed to find a way to improve his aptitude as a spellcaster.
Additionally, his experience and funds were running low—it was time to find a way to replenish them.
"Even though things are strange right now, I've got my main profession, and I've also gained citizenship in an interstellar civilization—so, it's time to return to my original body."
Li Aozi wasted no time. He quickly left the school, using a teleportation array to leave the university.
His first priority was to address the genetic damage to his original body.
Trevera was a sprawling metropolis, with sixteen magical colleges spread out like fortresses across the city, each with its own specialty.
Li Aozi made a quick trip around the city and easily purchased healing potions from a magical workshop—one of the perks of interstellar civilization was that many prescription drugs were sold without restriction.
Along the way, Li Aozi also bought some magical materials, alchemy tools, and equipment to upgrade his biopool.
Now that he had advanced to Gamma-level, his life profession as a [Craftsman] could also be upgraded. It was time to update his logistics and production systems.
As the capital of White Candle Star, Trevera had a complete industrial chain. In just two hours, Li Aozi had everything he needed.
After finishing his shopping, Li Aozi's savings were nearly depleted. Fortunately, as a university student, transportation was free. He immediately took the train, quickly returning to Blue Chrysanthemum Village, where he rented a magic carpet. Before the moon rose, he had already returned to the location where his biopool was hidden.
Whether it was an illusion or the effect of his mental power awakening, Li Aozi felt that since his awakening, his efficiency in handling matters had significantly improved.
Not only that, but he could now instantly perceive the underlying logic in many unexpected situations. His speed in taking action and making changes had also increased dramatically.
Li Aozi uncovered the biopool's concealment and dragged it out. Staring at his original body soaking in the potion and repair fluid, he immediately took out the potions he had bought, opened the bottles, and poured them all in.
The potions took effect quickly, practically working the moment they hit the pool. The light green liquid began to glow faintly, and the entire pool was soon surrounded by a dense magical aura.
The skin on the body immersed in the pool started to glow, and the potion rapidly penetrated the body, visibly repairing it with the help of the biopool. Soon, a progress bar appeared before Li Aozi:
[Gene Repair in Progress—Current Progress: 30.7%]
The potion's effects were excellent, and the progress bar steadily increased. Li Aozi didn't waste time while waiting and began upgrading the biopool.
He enchanted all the mechanical components and computer systems, improving the biopool's efficiency and cultivation capabilities. Although Li Aozi didn't know how to code, he could physically upgrade the machinery. Even without software optimization, the improvements in cooling and processing speed were significant.
The repair on his original body soon reached 100%, but Li Aozi didn't immediately switch back to it.
"Since I'm already here, I might as well fuse the two bodies. It'll save trouble."
With six days available, he could make a trip to the [Temple of Annihilation] and complete his class advancement quest.
As the guide of the [Mutant] path on Azure Star, Li Aozi was quite curious about the advanced profession of his original body—[Astral Resonator].
Normally, after class advancement, [Resonators] would go through a period of weakness. During this time, players had to take on other side professions to avoid being suppressed by other classes at this stage.
However, this approach often left [Resonators] lagging behind in individual advancement, while others reached Delta-level, and [Resonators] were still struggling at Epsilon—or even Gamma-level.
Li Aozi was curious about how the [Astral Resonator], as a path profession, would differ from ordinary [Resonators].
For now, Li Aozi decided to merge the two bodies—not because he didn't want to stay at White Candle Star, but because he realized he had two key advantages.
First, the genes of his original body and his mage body were identical, and their citizenship credentials were shared.
Since his plans had been disrupted by his enrollment in a top university, he might as well prepare fully and take a trip to the Narrative-level civilization.
Citizenship isn't something that restricts me—when major events happen, I'll just slip away.
Secondly, now that Li Aozi had the [Mage] profession and spellcaster genes in his body, he could choose a spellcaster race.
The A1, B2, and C3 types of space humans were just one of the larger categories in the universe. There were plenty of other interesting races to choose from.
Besides space humans, there were many other excellent races to consider. Narrowing his options down to humans alone would be too limiting. Apart from humans, the universe had insects, beastfolk, elves, dehydrated people, energy beings, silicon-based lifeforms, furries—well, the list goes on.
The dragon race was also a great option. Like the Golden Dragon Monk Li Aozi had seen before, at the same level, he could take on three opponents without breaking a sweat while still having the capacity to buff his teammates.
Among the dragon species, aside from the emperor-level 'Radiant Dragons,' the Golden Dragon was already at the top of the bloodline hierarchy.
But Li Aozi wasn't too keen on choosing a dragon bloodline—he had been influenced by a high-level dragon, Grinna Waterspiral, in the past and didn't want to get too involved with her.
Dragons tended to be capricious, with selfish and willful personalities, except for noble dragons like Golden and Silver Dragons.
[Mutants] were also typical spellcaster units, and there were many options beyond dragons.
For example, the main race of the [Temple of Annihilation]—the Nox Spirits—or the main race of the [Empire of Heroes], the Candela Humans.
Both were excellent choices for spellcasters.
Li Aozi had another reason for choosing a suitable race.
Merging his original body with his mage identity would directly result in a downgrade to Beta-level, which felt like a small loss.
He recalled that during the [Resonator] class advancement quest, it was possible to obtain a [Tier Advancement Ticket].
This meant that once he advanced to [Resonator], aside from forcing an upgrade to Gamma-level, he could take advantage of negative effects to gain even more power.
And if he got lucky, he might even jump straight to Epsilon-level during the advancement quest.
Once at Epsilon-level, Li Aozi could undergo a racial bloodline ascension within a year, making steady progress to Zeta-level.
The overall plan was solid, but there was one catch—this was all based on a player's mindset.
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