Hearing Huang Xiu announce that the credits had arrived, Ying Zhiyu, who had been engrossed in her meal, abruptly lifted her head.
“Oh, the credits are in?” Her mouth was stuffed full, like a hamster’s, making her words somewhat indistinct.
“Where do we check for credits?” Liu Lu removed her ever-present panda headphones, hanging them around her neck. She avoided Huang Xiu’s gaze, directing her question instead to Chi Xue beside her.
Gazing at her phone, Chi Xue replied without lifting her head, “Through the school’s academic affairs system backend, accessible via the Void Web.”
“By the way, A-Xiu, what was your team’s split?” Jia Qianrou set down her chopsticks and looked up at Huang Xiu.
Huang Xiu was just about to answer. But then, the entire cafeteria suddenly erupted, the cacophony of voices from all directions swelling dramatically.
With a quick glance, Huang Xiu realized that other freshmen had also received notifications of their credits arriving. Everyone was exceptionally thrilled about this first windfall of their academic journey.
“4-3-3,” Huang Xiu called out. “The Captain takes four, and I get three along with another Senior Female Student.”
“That high?” Jia Qianrou’s tone held a hint of surprise. “Mine was 5-3-2: five for the Captain, three for the Senior Male Student, and two for me.”
Ying Zhiyu swallowed the meat in her mouth. “Hey, mine’s 4-4-2.”
“Mine’s also 5-3-2,” Chi Xue chimed in, looking over.
She and Yang Qu silently nodded, both having the 5-3-2 distribution.
“Huh, none of you got the default split?” Huang Xiu was stunned after hearing everyone’s responses.
She had assumed most teams would use the default ratio, never expecting that freshmen generally only received 20%.
However, Huang Xiu conceded that it was reasonable upon further thought. Aside from a few exceptions, the combat prowess gap between freshmen and senior students in most teams was immense.
Their current share even exceeded their actual contributions.
“By the way, Bu Chenghua, what was your distribution ratio?” Chi Xue turned to Bu Chenghua, who had remained silent since the beginning.
Bu Chenghua was silent for a moment. Then, covering his face with his right hand, he said mournfully, “Don’t ask. It’s a truly sorrowful number.”
Hearing his words, everyone at the table grew even more curious. Ying Zhiyu tilted her head and asked, “So, how much was it?”
Bu Chenghua weakly raised a single finger.
After revealing it, he seemed to want to salvage his dignity, quickly adding in defense, “There was nothing I could do. I was on the outermost perimeter, where the monsters were too weak. My ability is purely defensive, so it had no real use.”
“So, honestly, I was quite satisfied.”
When they discussed the distribution ratio after leaving the Touchpoint, Bu Chenghua had genuinely been pleased with his share. After all, he received something without having done anything.
However, everything changes with comparison. He had been utterly content then, believing he’d struck gold, but now a pang of regret pricked him.
‘Why didn’t I ask for a little more?’ Even though Bu Chenghua knew it was greed stirring within him, he couldn’t help but dwell on the thought.
Meanwhile, Chi Xue, who had been fiddling with her phone, finally managed to log into the academic affairs system backend.
She lowered her head to glance at the total credits section in her personal center, then instantly looked up, her face beaming with surprise and delight.
So overwhelmed with joy, she unconsciously used an inverted sentence. “I’ve found it, credits I have now!”
What did ‘credits’ truly mean? Even a simple conversion based on purchasing power equated to a significant sum in yuan! In other words, in a mere hour-long task, she had earned an ordinary person’s monthly salary.
“Wow, congratulations.” Huang Xiu quickly froze, utterly flabbergasted. Her stunned reaction was even more dramatic than a legendary dragon king’s.
‘They all have credits…’ Huang Xiu mused. ‘Yet our team fought all the way from Nantianmen to Penglai Road.’
‘The corpses piled up like small mountains. And most critically, my distribution ratio was—’
‘Far, far ahead! Now *this* is truly far ahead!’
Huang Xiu’s lips curved into a grin as she hummed a cheerful tune. “Today’s a good day! Everything I wish for will come true!”
She opened her phone, first tapping into Senior Female Student Huai Nannan’s message—she preferred to save the biggest surprise for last.
[No more slacking, Junior Female Student Huang. Our team discussed it yesterday, and to thank you for your help, we’ve decided to give you all the credits earned after our teams merged. While it’s not a huge amount, it’s our sincere appreciation (fist bump emoji).]
“An unexpected bonus!” Huang Xiu hadn’t anticipated such good fortune—a sudden, substantial increase in credits.
Typically, when two teams collaborated, credits would be divided between them according to a ratio agreed upon by their captains, either beforehand or afterward.
In situations like yesterday’s Touchpoint, even though it appeared they were offering assistance, it was actually within the scope of cooperation.
After all, without the other team drawing fire, it would have been nearly impossible for their small squad alone to defeat a General-rank Dragon Abomination leading a legion of Dragon Abominations.
Therefore, they were rightfully entitled to a share of the credits.
Yet, Huang Xiu hadn’t expected them to forgo all of it this time.
“It just goes to show that good deeds are rewarded!” She struggled to keep her lips from curving into an even wider smile.
Then she looked up at Ying Zhiyu. “Xiao Yu, are you aware of your Captain’s decision to forgo the cooperative credits?”
“Of course!” Ying Zhiyu looked up, replying with an utterly nonchalant expression, “Senior Female Student told us, and we all agreed.”
“That’s good then.” Huang Xiu felt completely at ease now. After all, this concerned her roommate, and she didn’t want Ying Zhiyu to have reluctantly agreed simply out of deference to a senior student.
She opened the Void Web, eagerly navigating to the school’s official website and clicking the hyperlink to jump to the academic affairs system.
The page slowly refreshed, and the sky-blue background of the academic affairs system gradually filled her phone screen.
Huang Xiu didn’t even glance at the news push on the academic affairs system’s homepage, which announced the successful freshman ceremony.
She cut straight to her personal center, her gaze swiftly locking onto the credits section.
[First Semester, Freshman Year, Accumulated Credits: 312]
“312 credits!” At first glance, Huang Xiu was ecstatic, nearly leaping up to exclaim that she had never experienced such a wonderful start.
But in the next second, she suddenly realized, “Why are there only 312 credits?”
312 credits. If calculated backward according to the distribution ratio, it meant their team had collectively harvested 1040 credits.
While seemingly a lot, considering a Soldier-rank Dragon Abomination was worth 10 credits on registration day, this implied they had only killed 104 Soldier-rank Dragon Abominations yesterday.
‘Yesterday, I alone killed nearly 50,’ she thought. ‘Adding Senior Male Student Yun and Senior Female Student Wen, it definitely wasn’t just 104. There must have been at least 120 Soldier-rank Dragon Abominations.’
Huang Xiu’s brows furrowed instantly. As she stared at the credits section on her phone, she suddenly noticed the clickable blue words ‘Details’ below.
“Wait, is this the details page?”