"What? He's charging two million per school?"
Nanjiang Second High's principal furrowed his brow, eyes calculating.
Shen Wushuang nodded. He was just the messenger.
The principal shook his head. "The school's become his cash cow. We absolutely cannot indulge him any further."
A moment later, the principal spoke again. "So, uh, Teacher Shen—think you could talk to Chen Shu about maybe... giving us a discount?"
"..."
Shen Wushuang's mouth twitched. This is what you call not indulging him?
Meanwhile, Chen Shu and his two companions had returned to the Beast Taming Arena.
Seeing the three of them strutting in with their heads held high, everyone else lowered theirs—observing a three-second moment of silence for Nanjiang First High...
"First High's infirmary is probably swamped with a line right about now."
Tang Lie spoke up, his mind drifting back to what had happened to him.
Wang Yun whispered from beside him, "Young Master Tang, let's just not mess with that demon king anymore. We seriously can't beat him."
"What's there to be scared of?! He's only got the advantage because of his level right now. Once I catch up, he'll have his juice to drink."[1]
According to textbook theory, the higher a contract spirit's potential rating, the greater the boost it received with each level-up.
If an F-rank contract spirit's base stats were 1, with each level adding 20%, its stats would become 1.2. But an A-rank spirit's base stats might be 2, leveling up to 2.4—meaning the gap between them grew from 1 to 1.2.
In other words, the higher a Beast Tamer's level, the wider the gap between contract spirits of different potential ratings.
And base stats only depended on potential rating and Beast Tamer level. System buffs and potion boosts were extra attributes that didn't affect base stats.
This was exactly why Tang Lie still had confidence—because his contract spirit was A-rank.
"Boss, you sure about that?"
Wang Yun swallowed hard. The trauma ran deep.
Tang Lie scoffed. "Obviously! I, Tang Lie, will fight this evil to the bitter end!"
The very next second, he hissed, "Shut up—he's coming this way!"
"..."
Chen Shu strolled leisurely past the three of them.
He didn't say a word, but there was an oppressive air about him.
Tang Lie's mind raced: Walk past, walk past, just keep walking...
Suddenly, Chen Shu's footsteps stopped dead. Tang Lie's heart skipped half a beat.
"Young Master Tang!"
Tang Lie flinched on instinct, a stiff smile forcing its way onto his face.
"Your..." Chen Shu paused, then said, "Nice shirt."
"..."
Tang Lie let out a breath of relief, nodding with a rigid smile.
Beside him, Wang Yun and Hong Ming both twitched. Boss, are you really sure you can get your revenge?
Just then, Shen Wushuang arrived at the Beast Taming Arena.
Tang Lie exhaled in relief. With a teacher here, Chen Shu wouldn't dare go too far... er... probably wouldn't dare.
Shen Wushuang addressed the class. "Alright, congratulations to our very own Chen Shu for bringing glory to Nanjiang Second High and stomping Nanjiang First High into the dirt!"
Regardless of how it had happened, the result was good for Nanjiang Second High.
It had rallied their own morale and knocked the arrogance right out of First High.
At the same time, Shen Wushuang resolved that under normal circumstances, Chen Shu could absolutely not be deployed again. That guy was an aggro magnet—if things kept up, Nanjiang Second High would become public enemy number one across the entire city.
As long as the enemy doesn't deploy nukes, our side will NOT send out Chen the Bandit!
"Class starts now!"
It was already late October, roughly seven months until the college entrance exams.
Shen Wushuang began reviewing everyone's Alternate Dimension performance, offering critiques one by one.
Chen Shu looked thoroughly bored. Everything Shen Wushuang taught was basic combat fundamentals—none of it was useful to him.
That evening, back in the dorms.
Chen Shu tallied up his Huaxia Currency balance. A little over eight million left.
If he bought Lord materials, he might comprehend two skills—but he also might comprehend none.
If he bought Beast Taming Pearls, he could buy dozens, but even swallowing them all wouldn't raise his level by even half.
Going from Level 8 to Level 9 required more and more Beast Taming Power. Nobody relied purely on Beast Taming Pearls to level up.
Especially high-level Beast Tamers—sometimes advancing a single minor realm cost tens of billions in Huaxia Currency. Even the richest people wouldn't burn money like that.
"Xiao Xing, keep an eye out for the three skills I need."
Chen Shu decided to hold off on spending for now. Buying Lord materials was the best value.
As for potions, the Slime was already about as perfectly cultivated as it could get.
Several days flew by in a blink.
At first, Chen Shu could sit through Shen Wushuang's lectures patiently enough, but eventually he couldn't take it anymore.
He'd even started sleeping standing up.
After class one day.
Chen Shu spoke up. "Teacher Shen, I think what you're teaching is all useless stuff."
Shen Wushuang sighed. "Chen Pi, I won't allow you to talk about yourself like that! No matter how useless you are, you need to stay confident!"
Chen Shu's eyes widened and his mouth twitched. Enterprise-level understanding, huh...[2]
"Teacher, what I mean is that it's not helping me improve much. Can you give me something else to work on? You know, differentiated instruction!"
Shen Wushuang rubbed his chin. "You staying put at school is better than anything else. The people of Nanjiang City can sleep a little easier."
"..."
Black lines ran down Chen Shu's forehead. He pressed on, exasperated. "This isn't helping me improve at all. I'm determined to get into Huaxia Academy—I can't waste time."
"Just hang tight for now. If you're bored, fill a urea bag with some dirt and play with it during class."
Shen Wushuang patted his shoulder. In all his years of teaching, he'd never encountered anyone quite like Chen Shu.
He was just a teacher, not a bandit kingpin—how was he supposed to know how to train someone like this?
"No way! I'm too bored. I need to find some poor bastard to beat up!"
With that, Chen Shu spun around and marched toward the teaching building.
"..."
Shen Wushuang clamped a hand on his shoulder. "What are you planning?"
His face was one of sheer panic, terrified Chen Shu might blow up the building.
"I'm going to talk to the principal. I'll give him a discount—one million per school. He can't possibly say no to that."
Shen Wushuang was about to stop him, but Chen Shu had already taken off running, leaving nothing behind but a figure scampering away with a bounce in his step.
"..."
Shen Wushuang had no time to chaperone Chen Shu around to different schools, but given the kid's talent for pissing people off, there was a very real chance he'd be carried out on a stretcher.
"Principal!"
Chen Shu strode into the principal's office in long, confident steps.
The principal looked up. "Hm? Chen Shu, what can I do for you?"
Chen Shu laid out his proposal.
The principal sighed helplessly. "It's not that the school doesn't support you—it's that we're strapped for resources. Training the Special Training Class alone is already bleeding us dry."
"One million per school!"
Chen Shu cut straight to his bottom line.
"One million, huh..."
The principal's eyebrow twitched. In that moment, he had to admit—he was a little tempted.