Chapter Sixty-One: Promotion to Grade B

Chapter Sixty-One: Promotion to B-Class

Once Xia Zheng calmed down, he decided not to tell his parents immediately. He realized that if Shen Hua was unwilling to come to his house, his parents would be deeply disappointed. So, he resolved to wait until he had spoken with Shen Hua and reached an agreement before informing his family.

Back home, Xia Zheng contacted Chu Yan to inquire about Shen Hua’s whereabouts, while also trying to reach Shen Hua himself. However, it seemed Shen Hua still hadn't purchased a new phone.

Several anxious days passed in this manner. Then, Xia Zheng received a message from the Professional League: the four missions he had completed were confirmed, granting him a significant amount of promotion experience. He officially advanced from C-Class to B-Class.

After all, the missions he had completed were above his own level—one at C+ and three at B—yielding abundant experience.

His promotion to B-Class meant he was now eligible to head to Evernight City and join the battle against the Blood Clan. Xia Zheng was elated, feeling he had taken a solid step toward his dream.

The rewards from these four missions were also extremely generous. In terms of money, he earned 1.5 million Bangyuan from the Fei Beast mission, 300,000 Bangyuan for the Wadsworth bounty, 1 million Bangyuan for gathering the three medicinal herbs, and 150,000 Bangyuan for the Black-Striped King Scorpion. Altogether, that amounted to 2.95 million Bangyuan. After taxes, he was left with 2.36 million. This tax rate was already quite low due to his status as an ability user; for commercial ventures, the rate would be nearly 50%.

Moreover, his evaluation remained the highest at his level—“Dragon Tier”—granting him continued privileges, such as an 80% discount at all Hunter Shops.

Now with three million Bangyuan in hand, Xia Zheng’s earlier discussions with Chen Xiu to start a pharmaceutical company in a year’s time seemed ever more feasible, as the startup funds were nearly in place. However, since Chen Xiu still lacked experience, they would have to wait a bit longer.

He had already handed his salary card over to his parents. They had initially worried that he might lack spending money, but after learning that he received generous bonuses after every mission, their concerns faded. As far as earning money went, his parents could not be more satisfied. While most of their son’s peers were still struggling to reach an annual income of 100,000, Xia Zheng’s earnings had easily surpassed a million per year. Naturally, they kept this pride to themselves, not sharing it with others, but the sense of pride they felt was something outsiders could never understand.

After advancing to B-Class, Xia Zheng planned to head to Evernight City as soon as possible. However, due to the recent Blood Clan assault, which had inflicted heavy casualties on humanity’s forces, Chu Yan was not very supportive of the idea.

“Captain Chu, any news about Sister Hua?” Xia Zheng asked with concern.

Chu Yan replied, “Not entirely sure. The latest news from a few days ago was that Ningyuan City has been retaken. She’s probably near the outpost now. Our Heavenly Blade Squad is still in Xinglan City, another satellite city. It'll take us three or four days to open the route to the outpost.”

“I see. Should I prepare and head over to rendezvous with your team?” Xia Zheng suggested.

Chu Yan pondered for a moment: “Ah Zheng, I understand how you feel. Your progress has far exceeded my expectations, but heading to Evernight City right after reaching B-Class is still too dangerous. Why not wait until you reach A-Class?”

“Captain Chu, don’t forget that I’m a Mentalist. Even if I go head-to-head with an A-Class ability user, I’m confident. Even if I can’t win, I can certainly protect myself and escape,” Xia Zheng insisted.

Chu Yan knew that if he kept objecting, it might create a rift between them, so he said, “Since you’re so confident, then prove it to me.”

“How should I prove it?” Xia Zheng asked eagerly.

Chu Yan replied, “The Professional League is about to hold its first Ability User Championship. As far as I know, S-Class ability users won’t participate—or rather, they’re restricted by the League—so the strongest competitors will be A+ at most. Since you claim to be confident against A-Class ability users, enter the tournament and at least make it to the top eight. Then I’ll acknowledge that you’re qualified to go to Evernight City. What do you say?”

Xia Zheng had not anticipated such an event and realized he was out of the loop. After witnessing Xia Zheng’s showdown with Nalan Sheng, Camilla had conceived the idea of hosting such a tournament and proposed it at the League’s council meeting, where it received widespread support, including from the current League Leader.

The Professional League soon began promoting the inaugural Championship, drawing attention from across the Federation.

“Alright, I’ll enter. Captain Chu, you have to keep your word,” Xia Zheng replied. He didn’t care much about the tournament itself; he simply wanted to qualify for Evernight City and wasn’t willing to keep grinding his way up.

Chu Yan agreed, although the top eight would be a tough challenge. Making it through group stages might have been more achievable.

It was foreseeable that the first Championship would attract formidable opponents from all quarters: the military, the Federation’s combat divisions, major corporations, teams, and freelancers. To secure a spot in the top eight, Xia Zheng would have to give 100%—if not 200%—of his strength.

After hanging up, Xia Zheng immediately opened the League’s official website on his phone. Sure enough, there was a prominent registration link for the inaugural Ability User Championship.

He filled in the required information within minutes.

“Congratulations, you have successfully registered. Your account is recognized as a C-tier seed competitor.” Xia Zheng found that his account’s seed status allowed him to bypass the preliminary and first two qualifying rounds, starting instead from the third qualifying round. There were four rounds in total; if he won two consecutive matches, he’d enter the main competition. Apparently, A-tier and B-tier seeds entered the main competition directly, while D-tier seeds had to start from the first qualifying round.

There would be eight groups in the main event, each group with four competitors—thirty-two in total. The top two from each group would advance, followed by elimination rounds.

This meant that to reach the top eight, one had to first make it to the main event, then advance from the group stage, and finally win the first knockout match to qualify.

“By this count, I’ll need to win at least six matches to break into the top eight,” Xia Zheng mused. His outward strength wasn’t particularly impressive; if not for his “Dragon” tier rating, he might not even have been made a seed competitor. Still, he had full confidence in himself.

After registering, Xia Zheng tried to contact Shen Hua again, but her phone remained off. He felt a bit frustrated; he had been caught off guard by her abrupt message and failed to react in time. By the time he did, Shen Hua had already misunderstood him.

Needing to prepare for the championship, Xia Zheng resumed his rigorous training, this time bringing Dreamfox with him to the company. He had discussed Dreamfox’s identity with Chu Yan, who harbored no prejudice and was, in fact, deeply interested. After all, it was almost legendary to encounter an ancient cultivator’s treasury or a mystical beast.

Upon meeting Dreamfox, Claire was even more delighted, peppering her with questions and quickly growing fond of her, as Dreamfox was almost indistinguishable from a human.

Although Dreamfox currently only possessed C-Class abilities, her talents—such as her expertise in hypnosis—gave her considerable potential. After hearing Claire’s report, Chu Yan decided to recruit Dreamfox as a member of the Heavenly Blade Squad.

Dreamfox herself was indifferent to this; she mainly followed Xia Zheng, having already pledged herself to him. Claire initially resented Xia Zheng somewhat for this, but after understanding the situation, she could only sigh at how the ancient master-servant traditions were so troublesome.

Having entrusted Dreamfox to Claire for basic training—since her previous cultivation methods differed greatly from modern ability users and required relearning—Xia Zheng focused on preparing for the upcoming championship. However, he soon encountered problems due to the limitations of the training environment.

The Heavenly Blade Squad’s current ability training room was only level three, capable of containing B+ ability users. For ordinary B-Class users, this was sufficient. However, as a Mentalist, Xia Zheng’s actual combat power exceeded B-Class, even approaching B+. This made him feel constrained during training.

His mental power had grown tremendously after several advancements. When he activated the sixth and highest level of defense and unleashed a single wave of mental flames, the entire training room filled with smoke and alarms blared, forcing him to halt. Had he continued, the level-three room would be ruined.

Claire was both troubled and pleased. The Heavenly Blade Squad was currently breaking even; the antimagic ore mine’s profits were still in their early stages and would take another year to significantly improve the company’s finances. There was no spare cash to build a higher-level training room—a level-four room cost tens of millions, even up to a hundred million, and level-five was even more exorbitant. The squad couldn’t justify constructing such a facility just for Xia Zheng.

“Claire, don’t worry, I’ll find my own solution,” Xia Zheng said, knowing the situation wasn’t the squad’s fault; it was simply that his mental powers were inherently unstable and hard to restrain.

Leaving the training building, he returned to his dormitory to rest. Dreamfox was already undergoing basic training—her previous methods differed greatly from those of current ability users and would need to be relearned.

Just then, he ran into two old acquaintances—Zhang Ziqi and Cedric—who, to his surprise, were kissing and now appeared to be a couple.

“Well, you two, showing such affection in broad daylight—isn’t that a bit much?” Xia Zheng teased.

Cedric was still as impulsive as ever. Hearing someone tease him, he let go of Zhang Ziqi and immediately threw a punch, fast as lightning.

In the past, Xia Zheng would have had to take this seriously, but now he simply gathered a ball of mental energy in his palm, making Cedric’s fist feel as if it had struck a mass of cotton. Cedric even had trouble pulling his hand back.

“Hm?” Cedric was momentarily confused and then realized it was Xia Zheng, the superstar rookie.

He had now reached C+ himself and would probably advance to B-Class in a year or two. Still, Xia Zheng’s meteoric rise far surpassed his own, leaving him a bit dejected. Retracting his fist, he walked away.

Zhang Ziqi showed no embarrassment. She and Cedric had been together for over a month, now officially a couple. In the company, she was probably the only woman who dared to boss Cedric around without giving him any face.

“When did you get back, Xia Zheng?” Zhang Ziqi stepped up and patted him on the shoulder.

That bold, carefree girl from before hadn’t changed much. Xia Zheng felt as if he’d been transported back to his earliest days at the company.