Chapter 257: Purchasing Cores
After carefully explaining the general layout of the academy and the essential knowledge she needed, Ke Yi exchanged contact information with Xu Zhi and didn’t stay long. She simply told Xu Zhi to contact her directly if she ran into anything she didn’t understand.
Once the others left, Qi Yanxin—who had been tense the entire day—finally relaxed a little.
“So this will be our home from now on?”
Her eyes shimmered faintly, filled with anticipation for a new life. Of course, that was only meaningful if Xu Zhi was part of that new life.
“Rest for a while, Xiao Zhi. I’ll tidy things up.”
Xu Zhi nodded. She didn’t intend to sit idle. Instead, she opened her wristband and began “shopping.”
Although the building’s facilities and furniture were fully equipped, they had only brought a small portion of daily necessities and clothing from the lower districts. Most items would need to be repurchased.
At the same time, Xu Zhi explored the wristband’s functions. It was surprisingly comprehensive—displaying her personal identity, basic utilities, and a dedicated Light Institute section, divided into Outer Academy and Inner Academy.
She first checked her student ID. It showed she was a first-year Inner Academy student, with a total of 900 credits.
“So many?”
Opening the detailed breakdown, she saw that the 300 monthly ranking reward had already been deposited. In addition, there was a 50-credit enrollment bonus, a 50-credit special recruitment reward, and a 500-credit transfer.
On her very first day, she already possessed 900 credits.
Beyond that, her personal account now held 100,000 in cash. This hadn’t been part of the promised benefits. It must have been an additional gift.
For people in the lower districts, 100,000 was a fortune. For those in the upper levels, perhaps not so much. And since her food and lodging were fully covered within the Light Institute, this money was effectively her “pocket allowance.”
She glanced at the extra 100,000 and opened the Inner Academy’s trading section.
There was a student-to-student marketplace, as well as a credit exchange panel. However, credits could only be converted into money one-way—there was no option to use money to “recharge” credits.
Xu Zhi glanced at the exchange rate and immediately lost interest. Only someone truly desperate would convert credits into cash. Even without asking, she knew credits were far more valuable than money.
Credits could be used directly within the academy to exchange for extraordinary resources. Money, on the other hand, required external channels—where prices were unstable and resources were hardly easy to obtain.
The Light Institute would naturally offer its students lower prices than the outside world. As a result, credits were immensely important—encouraging competition and effort among students.
She browsed further. Academy exchanges required credits exclusively. Student trades could use either money or credits. Xu Zhi did not rush to spend the 100,000 on extraordinary resources. It was far too little to be meaningful. Better to keep it.
Opening the academy exchange panel, she discovered that the real world had established clear classifications for cores.
The academy didn’t even offer the lowest-grade cores for exchange. The starting point was high-tier cores containing attribute energy—and aside from the [Cup] attribute, the selection was fairly complete.
Cores here weren’t much different from those in the Federation. However, in the real world, cores were graded explicitly based on the energy they contained.
Xu Zhi had previously observed that energy within cores appeared as crack-like strands. It was the same here. The number of cracks represented energy concentration.
Concentration levels from 1–100 formed one tier. Within this range, attribute cores were classified solely by strand count. Once concentration exceeded 100, the core’s interior would liquefy—and its value would multiply.
Liquefied cores were extremely rare. Even within the Inner Academy, their exchange prices were astonishingly high.
Ordinary attribute cores varied slightly in price depending on concentration and attribute type. For example, a concentration-10 [Blade] core cost 20,000 in cash, while a concentration-10 [Lamp] core cost around 36,000.
Within the academy, a concentration-10 [Blade] core cost 7 credits, while [Lamp] cost 10 credits.
However, while a concentration-10 [Lamp] core cost 10 credits, a concentration-20 one cost 30 credits. A concentration-30 core rose to 60 credits.
With 100 credits, one could only purchase roughly a concentration-36 [Lamp] core.
For Xu Zhi, even a concentration-35 [Lamp] core was rare. In the Federation, although she had collected many attribute cores later on, their concentrations were generally low—mostly below 10. Few reached 20, and those above 30 were exceedingly scarce.
This was likely because the Federation’s extraordinary development was still immature, producing lower-quality crystallizations of extraordinary energy.
As for liquefied cores—the cheapest one was already an astronomical price for Xu Zhi. Worse, none matched her attribute. They were out of consideration for now.
The higher the concentration, the purer the energy within the core—making it easier to absorb and more effective. Naturally, that meant higher cost.
Even stacking many low-concentration cores together couldn’t match the effect of a single high-concentration core of equivalent total energy.
Moreover, extraordinary individuals couldn’t absorb core energy as casually as eating or drinking.
Affinity varied from person to person. Their degree of “acceptance” toward cores differed accordingly.
If affinity was too low, they might fail to fully absorb the core’s energy, causing much of it to dissipate into the air.
Even with higher affinity, one couldn’t absorb all the energy at once. Since cores were almost always harvested from extraordinary creatures, each carried some “impurities”—as well as energetic incompatibilities between creature and human. These had to be digested gradually after absorption, or guided through potions and rituals.
The higher the concentration, the fewer the impurities. The purer the energy. The weaker the incompatibility reaction.
Xu Zhi didn’t understand these concerns.
Because she had none of them.
With a casual wave of her hand, she spent all her credits on attribute cores.
Based on past experience absorbing cores, she knew higher concentration meant higher value. But she couldn’t buy only high-concentration cores. At her current “level,” she theoretically shouldn’t be able to absorb them. And her purchase records were surely not hidden from the academy’s upper management.
She also bought several [Moth] attribute cores, along with some [Blade] cores.
She didn’t purchase many [Moth] cores. She wasn’t ready to begin experiments recklessly. They were merely reserves.
For now, her top priority was clear:
Raise the level of [Lamp] as quickly as possible.
