"Real combat?" Fang Yu was mildly puzzled.
"How is that different from the combat assessment?" Wang Mo was curious too.
"At a martial junior college the students are weak — most never reach Level 20 — so we don't run combat teaching," Yan Fu explained. "A university is different. Huguang Martial Arts University runs five years, and even the weaker students almost all reach Level 20 by their fifth; the stronger ones get there in their third, or earlier."
Fang Yu and Wang Mo nodded.
Martial junior-college students who reached Level 20 before graduating were as rare as phoenix feathers, but at a martial arts university there were plenty — you could call it common.
University students generally had higher talent and stronger Aspects, plus better teaching staff, a better training environment, and longer to train... so the overall strength of the student body was a great deal higher.
Fang Yu thought instinctively of Jiang Chenyi, whom he had seen earlier.
Past Level 25 with his first year barely over — a monster... though of course Jiang Chenyi was a New Moon Martial Arts University student, far beyond anything Huguang could compare with.
In the whole Blue Moon Alliance.
New Moon Martial Arts University; the New Moon's ten key martial arts universities; Blue Star's thirty first-rate martial arts universities; two hundred and twenty ordinary martial arts universities; five thousand martial junior colleges... five clearly separated tiers of martial higher education.
A martial arts top scorer like Jiang Chenyi would go to the New Moon's top ten at the very least.
The target Fang Yu had set his brother and sister was the New Moon's top ten as well.
"Level 20."
"That earns you the right to go to the Primordial Star and become a real fighter," Yan Fu said with feeling. "Why does the Blue Moon civilization treat warriors so well? The core purpose is to encourage warriors to go to the Primordial Star."
Fang Yu turned that over.
"So at a martial arts university, every student who reaches Level 20 is encouraged to take part in real combat?" he could not help asking.
"Clever." Yan Fu nodded. "February 20th to March 20th, and August 20th to September 20th, are Huguang Martial Arts University's two combat periods."
"Every student whose bodily skill is at Subtlety and whose Life Tier is Level 20 must take part in fighting on the Primordial Star... As a direct-entry student you'll certainly be under special development, and your strength is sufficient, so in all likelihood you'll be required to fight as well, and return to the school for study in late September with the rest."
"Mm — Wang Mo and Zhang Tao are qualified to fight too, but they aren't under special development, and they're new arrivals... If they'd rather not go, they won't be compelled the first time."
"Real combat means fighting Primordial Star savage beasts, and the strong of alien worlds, to the death. The fatality rate is high."
Fang Yu understood, more or less.
The second recommendation list was fixed for August 15th, and the transfer combat assessment for September 15th... Both must be tied to Huguang Martial Arts University's teaching schedule.
"So what about the transfer combat assessment?" Wang Mo asked, curious.
"The combat assessment only means fighting some weak savage beasts inside the safe zone beside a starry-sky base. It's mainly to give new students a little practice," Yan Fu said, smiling. "In fact the requirement is only Level 15."
"It's we junior colleges who require participating students to have bodily skill at Subtlety at minimum, for safety's sake — which is why only seventy students a year are sent, to keep the eventual fatality rate under one percent..."
Fang Yu and Wang Mo exchanged a look.
So the cap on the combat assessment was not about controlling costs as they had assumed. It was about safety.
"Teacher, what happens if I refuse?" Fang Yu asked.
"You still enrol as normal," Yan Fu said. "Only, the extra development effort put into you will probably be reduced. Possibly cancelled."
"Is that fair?" Wang Mo could not help himself. "At a martial junior college we barely have any courses on the Primordial Star. Fang Yu's strength is good, granted, but requiring real combat straight out of the gate? Isn't that absurd?"
"It isn't fair, no."
"But how much fairness is there in this world?" Yan Fu shook his head. "Requiring combat isn't only about tempering students. It's one of the ways the Blue Moon Alliance assesses the universities — students have to complete enough kills on the Primordial Star before a martial arts university passes its own assessment and receives its funding."
"To be an elite student under special cultivation, enjoying a great deal of extra resources, and to want none of the risk or the responsibility... is there anything that good in this world?"
Fang Yu understood completely now.
Behind a great many rules that looked unreasonable, there were practical considerations.
For a martial junior college, the annual assessment was mostly the students' Level 15 rate, Subtlety rate and so on... all of it safe and risk-free.
A martial arts university received far more resources and funding from the Blue Moon Alliance, but its assessment was harsher too, so naturally its students had to shoulder responsibility, and more danger, and a higher fatality rate.
"As it happens, Wu Ya turned Huguang Martial Arts University's contract down," Yan Fu said suddenly. "As far as I know, they wanted to take him by direct entry in his second year."
"Direct entry?" Fang Yu was curious.
"Your direct-entry place is most likely for the blade work at Subtlety," Yan Fu said. "Whereas awakening an Upper Aspect earns you a direct-entry place easily... After all, even among martial students at ordinary universities, few have awakened an Upper Aspect."
Fang Yu nodded.
Those who awakened Upper Aspects mostly did so before eighteen, and with an Aspect that strong, unless their talent for skill was absurdly bad, getting into a first-rate martial arts university like Modu or Yandu was not difficult.
Why would it fall to Huguang Martial Arts University?
"But Wu Ya refused," Yan Fu said, smiling.
"Then this recommendation of his," Wang Mo said, curious. "Doesn't he still have to go to Huguang?"
"Of course not." Yan Fu shook his head. "He's been recommended to Modu Martial Arts University... it simply hasn't been made public."
"Just as your blade work at Subtlety wasn't made public, Fang Yu."
Fang Yu and Wang Mo understood at once.
"Teacher, what would you advise?" Fang Yu looked at Yan Fu.
"From the point of view of my own interests, your signing is best — my performance bonus is higher," Yan Fu said. "Only, the risk in real combat genuinely is very great... which is why I wanted to say all this to you in advance."
Fang Yu nodded.
Real combat meant everything unknown... In the past, because of his mother, Fang Yu had searched out a great deal of material on the Primordial Star.
Much of what was online had been blocked, but from the fraction that leaked through you could infer a good deal, and the place was extremely dangerous... Historically, even Starry Sky Warriors had died on the Primordial Star.
"Fang Yu, there's no need to take the risk," Wang Mo said quietly. "At least get into the university and train a while first, take the relevant courses."
"Mm. I'll think about it," Fang Yu said.
***
Before long Wang Mo and the others left ahead of him.
Fang Yu followed the female teacher from earlier straight up to the building's ninth floor. Ordinarily this floor was the school's restricted area and students were not permitted up.
It was Fang Yu's first time here as well.
Reaching an office, the teacher pushed the door open first and spoke with some deference. "Professor Tang, I've brought Fang Yu."
"Hm? Professor?" Fang Yu was privately startled. Anyone teaching at a martial junior college was a High-Rank Warrior at minimum.
Who could make a High-Rank Warrior that deferential?
"I am an associate professor. Address me as associate professor. Don't be clever; remember it next time." A mild voice. "Come in."
"An associate professor? A woman?" Fang Yu thought, startled.
"Yes." A flicker of embarrassment crossed the teacher's face, and she took Fang Yu into the office with her.
Fang Yu's eyes swept the room: six figures, and at their head a young woman in a close-fitting grey martial uniform, perhaps twenty-five by her face — good-looking at best, but full of a keen, martial spirit. At this moment she was looking calmly at Fang Yu.
At the same time.
Fang Yu noticed a middle-aged man of middling build beside her, watching him with a smile.
Without waiting for the teacher's prompt, Fang Yu said respectfully, "Associate Professor Tang."
"Mm."
"Fang Yu, you are genuinely a talent. Blade work at Subtlety this young — your gift for skill is very high." The young woman in grey looked at him. "However, on whether to take you by special admission, the six of us were divided... I myself was against it."
Fang Yu was mildly surprised.
From this brief contact alone he could feel that this Associate Professor Tang's character was not the ordinary sort.
"It was Teacher Jiang Wei who overrode the rest of us and used his own special-approval slot to admit you." The young woman in grey indicated the middle-aged man beside her. "You should thank him."
"Thank you, Teacher Jiang," Fang Yu said gratefully.
He understood: his becoming a direct-entry student was entirely down to this Jiang Wei's insistence. Otherwise he would have been an ordinary recommendation at best.
"No need for thanks. You are good enough yourself," Jiang Wei said, smiling.
"Huguang Martial Arts University provides ordinary university students with 300,000 Star Coins a year in development funding," the young woman in grey said. "For the outstanding, we increase that and sign a special contract."
"Special contracts come in three tiers."
"The Elite Contract, the Earth Contract, the Sky-Patrol Contract..." she said. "By school rules, a junior-college student admitted by special approval receives an Elite Contract."
"The Elite Contract carries certain special school resources and a million Star Coins a year in development funding... Since you are a transfer and will enter directly as a fourth-year student, the funding you missed from first to third year will be paid together with the fourth year's, in one sum."
"Less the 300,000 in development funding you received across three years of junior college."
"You will be given 3,700,000 Star Coins at once."
"Now. Sign it." The young woman in grey indicated a document on the desk.