Astral Ascendant: My Goldfinger's Forte is Deception

Pseudo Core Access

By the time the students exited the forest, Chen Wang and Zi Yun had already completed their introductory guide lesson.

The two were secretly relieved when they saw the flagships on the border of the forest.

Zhao Fao was amazed.

The field in his view was larger than anything he had ever seen.

It stretched on for miles and miles and was bordered by a large cluster of foress on all ends. They had only just exited from one of them.

There were other students and their tour guides exiting other forests. The intense anxiety and quiet awe on the faces of the former reflected the thoughts of Zhou Fao's classmates.

"Now, the flags and the small shacks you see represent university registration booths. Simply walk up to your desired university to register and undergo your entrance assessment."

Zi Yun gave one last lesson before making off to a booth that represented the School of Rhythm.

She was going to claim her credit points.

Meanwhile, Chen Wang did not leave as quickly but instead glanced furtively at the students.

He lowered his voice and stylishly suggested bringing them to his university booth to apply for the swordsman assessment.

"Let's go, he's only fishing for extra credit points!"

Su Jie whispered to Zhao Fao and started to pull him away.

Zhou Fao shrugged him off and asked vaguely, "Don't you find the way of swordsmanship attractive?"

"It's just one path, there are many more available. Besides, not many institutions can compare to Astral University!"

Astral University was Zhao Fao's first choice and Su Jie's too.

It wasn't technically the best institution in the Spiritual District but it was close.

The most important thing was that they had the most inheritances.

The downside was that the University consequently had the most number of students and thus less resources to allocate separately.

Zhou Fao actually chose Astral University solely because of the vast inheritances it offered.

"Wait up, I'm coming too!"

Ling Xue's voice came from behind them.

Upon hearing her, Su Jie's face darkened slightly.

Meanwhile, Zhao Fao's eyes lit up when he saw her.

For some reason, she looked much more beautiful than before.

Her skin was fairer....

Her features were more prominent.

It was almost as if she had taken a beauty pill.

"You do realize that with your talent grading, Astral University might not be the optimum choice for you, right?"

Su Jie's tone was cold and straight to the point.

"That is none of your business!"

Ling Xue scuffed coldly.

Her arrogance as a rich man's daughter was on full display.

Just when it looked like a fight was about to break out between them, they realized that Zhao Fao was no longer beside them.

They looked around in surprise and saw his back figure already a distance away.

It appeared he wasn't interested in their scuffle and left as soon as it began.

"Hey, wait up! I thought we were going together!"

"Humph!"

*********

Zhao Fao finished registering his details and waited for further instructions from the grumpy student in front of him.

The guy was a second-year University student of Astral University and was on a credit point quest like Chen Wang and Zi Yun. Unlike them however, he didn't seem too pleased to be here.

Zhao Fao was handed a gadget.

It was a smart watch with an holographic projection display.

He was also given a small bottle which had one pill inside.

"You can browse your assessment details yourself. Now, get out of here!"

Zhao Fao ignored his shitty attitude and moved away from the booth.

He tinkered with the device and accessed the local database in it.

"Entrance Assessment: Enter a Medova Forest Zone and retrieve ten beast cores of Ironlimbed Apes. Duration, a week."

Zhao Fao was shocked.

During their journey from the forest to the safe zone, they had come across these creatures a couple of times.

They moved in packs and were very coordinated.

The point was that they weren't weak by any chance. It was only because Chen Wang and Zi Yun scared them away with their two-star cultivation that they were able to escape their harassment.

Zhao Fao found some additional information about the creatures.

Apparently, Ironlimbed Apes were mutated descendants of the Himalayan Ape species native to the mortal district.

Unlike their predecessors, they were capable of primitive cultivation.

Fortunately, they only knew how to temper their limbs and not their entire body.

This put their strength somewhere between an adult human male and a one-star cultivator.

Of course, it was still unreasonable to expect a young mortal kid like Zhao Fao to hunt down ten of them by himself.

"This pill...." Zhao Fao turned his attention to the small bottle in his hand.

The pill inside was the Astral Brew Pill. Once he consumed it, he would temporarily gain some strands of astral energy in his body.

If he had enough of the pills and access to a cultivation method, he could take the chance to cultivate to the one-star realm with it even.

"It doesn't make sense. We won't be given a cultivation method but just the pill? Are we supposed to magically invent cultivation methods for ourselves?"

Su Jie complained incessantly as he left the booth and came to stand beside Zhao Fao.

Ling Xue also joined them. Her brows were scrunched as she spoke, "Indeed! The energy in the pill will dissipate in a short while if we don't have the right cultivator method to assimilate it!"

Zhou Fao suddenly said, "Have you considered that the intention is for us to hunt down the creatures before the pill's effect dissipates?"

"Oh?"

"Think about it. Even without absorbing it, our bodies will be temporarily strengthened when we take the pill. At that point, it's simply a race of wits and against time to complete the mission and return before the effect runs out."

Su Jie and Ling Xue were silent as they thought about it and realized Zhou Fao was likely right.

"Also, this is where we part ways. Moving as a team as we hunt might be a smart option but I prefer moving alone," Zhao Fao did not mince words and directly mentioned this. "I wish you luck in your assessments."

Following these words, he turned away and started moving towards one of the forests.

"Humph, does he think we will slow him down?" Ling Xue wasn't pleased. "How arrogant."

"It doesn't matter if he thinks so. Even I think I'll be slowed down if you're on my team!" Su Jie's reply was brutal as he turned away from her and started moving towards one of the forests too.

Ling Xue was left huffing in pained anger.

But she soon calmed down and gave a mysterious smile.

It was alright if they looked down on her because of her low talent result from the school test. Only she knew that she has something to fall back on.

This era.....

It belonged to her.

******

Zhao Fao took a deep breath once he reached the entrance to the forest.

Carefully, he retrieved the pill from the bottle and swallowed it in one gulp.

As soon as it settled in his stomach, it burst into strands of astral Qi which merged into his body cells.

A grand sensation of power arose in his mind.

This feeling....

He had never felt so strong before.

Was this what it felt like to be a–

[Ding! Temporary cultivation of pseudo one-star realm detected.]

[System notification! The Ultimate Deception System will now be temporarily activated for core usage until state ends]