After struggling to swallow, she said, "Since my usable spiritual power has increased a lot now, Instructor Li suggested I give it a try."
"Did you place a bet? My virtual assistant said your return rate is high. The virtual assistant this time is quite cute—a cat head."
Jian looked at Chu Ran with admiration. "Your account balance actually reaches one million carats? Little sis, please take care of me!"
Chu Ran picked up a purple crystal fruit and handed it to Jian. "Eat up. Little sis treats you to a purple crystal fruit."
Jian happily took a bite. "I don't have that much money in my account, so I can't even access the betting interface, let alone any virtual assistant."
"It seems only seed players from the First Training Institute get dedicated virtual assistants every year?"
"Are people from the First Training Institute that rich?"
Jian threw the pit into the trash and scratched her face. "The First Training Institute gives generous subsidies to top students. Many also hire them as personal trainers. Generally, the top ten are not short on money, and quite a few come from well-off families."
"I also received subsidies a few times at the beginning, but later I didn't get many chances," Jian said a bit wistfully. She was really poor now.
Chu Ran handed her another purple crystal fruit. "You'll have chances again soon."
Jian swept away her melancholy, quickly stuffed it into her mouth, and mumbled, "That's unlikely. The Third Training Institute is very poor. Look, Instructor Li hasn't been able to buy a house in the central district after all these years."
"The Creations used by freshmen here are all Basic Creations that the Spiritist Association didn't want. But if it weren't for that, I might not have been able to successfully invoke the gods. Thank the Third Training Institute's poverty," Jian said sincerely.
Chu Ran patted her head gently. "You don't need to say that in front of others."
"Of course, I'm not stupid." Jian gnawed on the purple crystal fruit like a hamster, extremely fast.
"But given the current situation, you probably won't be able to attend combat training and sparring classes. I wonder how the instructors will arrange things."
Cancelling was out of the question. The Spiritist Tournament preliminaries were imminent. Instructor Li and the others would probably resort to cramming. But practical training was risky, and it was best not to take chances now.
Chu Ran found out their arrangement the next day.
Looking at the screen where Edwood, shrouded in a black robe, looked gloomy, Chu Ran felt a slight twinge of guilt. She sensed a heavy weariness of a corporate slave from him.
"So why did you turn on the training institute's signal jammer in your dorm?" Edwood's tone was heavy. "I called you fifteen times, and in the end, I had to contact Lei Jianguo."
Lei Jianguo contacted Instructor Li, who then contacted Chu Ran, finally getting Chu Ran to answer Edwood's call.
Chu Ran scratched her head awkwardly. "I was curious and forgot to turn it off."
Edwood sighed.
He had been exhausted lately.
Although he didn't have much real power in the Spiritist Association before, he had a lot of free time, so he never complained. But after the former vice president, who was actually doing work, died as a Zerg spy, all the association's affairs fell on him. Even though he grabbed a few helpers to share the load, overtime was still tiring.
And on top of that, he had to work under the table for the soon-to-be-empty accounts of the Spiritist Association.
Now that side job had become official.
A day ago, the government, military, Spiritist Association, and research institute held a special meeting about Chu Ran's situation.
"Get this straight—it's your Spiritist Association that's preventing me and Lei Jianguo from resting properly! Look at my dark circles. Do you know how many days I haven't slept well?" Gao Yuan cursed at the meeting.
He indeed had two very obvious dark circles. The reconstruction of the Seventh Sub-Star was already draining, and he had to host researchers from Central Star, the special squad, and even deal with the God Summoning Society and the Chu family affair, not to mention the unknown rats lurking in the shadows. His head was almost bald!
Gao Yuan raged helplessly, "I'm only the second-in-command. Why do I have to handle everything!"
All participants in the meeting fell silent.
Because the top leader of the Seventh Sub-Star was probably vacationing on some healing planet.
That top leader had been appointed by the rival faction of the Huang family on Central Star to counterbalance Huang Ni.
He held a high position but was in poor health and advanced in age.
Since Huang Ni's spiritual power was damaged and she retired, this check-and-balance leader immediately washed his hands of everything, dumped all political affairs on Gao Yuan, who was being groomed as his successor, and used his age as an excuse to live year-round on a healing planet.
With something as big as a Zerg invasion, he should have returned. But just as he bought his spaceship ticket, the Zerg invasion was resolved, leaving only a mountain of trouble. So this old and frail top leader decisively claimed illness.
Gao Yuan continued to bear the title of second-in-command while doing the top leader's job.
Lei Jianguo was also haggard. After all, he was seriously injured during the Zerg invasion. Although his spiritual power wasn't damaged, his body needed time to recover. Lately, to balance the special squad and the researchers from Central Star, he hadn't rested well either.
Charlie An was even worse off. A person always particular about appearance, he wore clothes from two days ago to the meeting.
Facing everyone's resentment, Edwood couldn't refuse the task of giving Chu Ran practical training lessons.
If he ever saw the soul of the Spiritist Association's former vice president, Edwood was tempted to first use it for something useful before彻底 destroying it.
"Starting today, every morning you'll go into practical training with me, afternoons follow Charlie An's physical enhancement plan, and evenings someone will come to the dorm to teach you Creation lessons, so you can make a low-level Special Artifact as soon as possible."
Chu Ran looked at the devilish schedule that left almost no free time. While marveling that the intensity was even heavier than senior year of high school, she nodded in agreement.
Someone who had survived the college entrance exam in a province with intense competition had nothing to fear.