Worldwide Class Change: Minimal Effort, Maximum Reward!

"Shen Rou," she said. "Second year. B-Rank Archivist."

"I know," Lin Yi said. "Sit down."

She sat. Wang Hao sat on the opposite side, with the expression of someone who was witnessing something and had decided the best role available to him was attentive observer.

"Wang Hao described the sect structure to you," Lin Yi said.

"He described it partially," she said. "He said you were building from the ground up with the intention of competing for top rank. He said you wanted academic coverage in the founding membership."

"You looked it up."

"I looked it up when I agreed in principle," she said. "It’s registered pending membership completion. Founding member is you." She paused. "Current rank is unranked. Score is zero."

"Yes," Lin Yi said.

She looked at him. "Most people being offered a sect invitation have the leverage running the other direction," she said. "An established sect inviting someone in gives the invitee access to existing rank and resources. This is the opposite. You’re asking me to start at zero."

"Yes," Lin Yi said again.

"Why would I do that," she said. It was a genuine question, not a challenge.

"Because the existing sects that would want you are valuing you primarily for your academic scores as a secondary contribution to their combat output," Lin Yi said. "Your class performs better in a structure that values theoretical application equally alongside expedition clearance. No current top sect at this academy has that structure." He paused. "Celestial Legion will."

She looked at him for a moment. "You’re saying you’ll build the structure around the membership rather than expecting the membership to fit an existing structure."

"Yes."

"That’s a significant commitment to make based on three people."

"Three people is enough to start," Lin Yi said. "The composition grows when the right additions are available. The foundation has to be correct first."

She was quiet for a moment. She looked at the datapad she had set on the table, then back at Lin Yi.

"Your expedition output posted the other day," she said. "You cleared the upper plateau sectors of the mountain Range alone in six hours and ranked first in the academy on the first expedition of the session. And If the sect’s practical output is primarily coming from you, and I’m contributing academic performance, and Wang Hao is contributing field coordination and scouting capability. But the combined score distribution across all three of us from your expedition output alone would put Celestial Legion’s first-session ranking significantly higher than most sects achieve in their first year of operation."

"Yes," Lin Yi said.

"And the academic ranking component improves proportionally with my scores distributing to all members."

"Yes."

She picked up her datapad. She looked at it for a moment. Then she set it back down.

"Fine," she said. "I’ll join."

Wang Hao made a sound that he converted into a cough.

"I do have one condition," she said, looking at Lin Yi directly.

"Say it," Lin Yi said.

"I’m a second-year student," she said. "My knowledge base covers materials that first-year assessments haven’t reached yet. If you’re serious about the sect’s academic component, I want to be used properly. Not just as a score contributor but as an actual resource." She paused. "Let me contribute the way my class is designed to contribute. Formation theory, dungeon mechanics analysis, monster behavioral mapping. Real application, not just numbers on a ranking board."

Lin Yi looked at her. "That’s what I registered the sect to have," he said.

She looked at him for a moment longer than the response required. The blush at the edges of her face made a brief return and departed again.

"Okay," she said. "Then we’re agreed."

She stood up and opened her datapad, pulling up the Celestial Legion membership registration link that the academy system had generated. She accepted the invitation. The system notification appeared on Lin Yi’s datapad simultaneously.

Celestial Legion — Membership Update

Wang Hao has joined. (Pending confirmation)

Shen Rou has joined.

Current Membership: 3/10

Minimum membership requirement met.

Sect status: Active — Unranked

Wang Hao looked at the notification on his own datapad and then looked at both of them with an expression of deep satisfaction. "We’re a sect," he said.

"We’re a sect," Lin Yi said.

Shen Rou looked at the confirmation on her datapad. Then she looked at Lin Yi. "Celestial Legion," she said.

"Yes."

She was quiet for a moment. "It’s a confident name for an unranked sect with zero score."

She looked at him for a moment. Something in her expression shifted into something that was not quite a smile but was in the same territory. She picked up her datapad and stood up.

"I’ll have the first formation theory supplementary materials ready for review by tomorrow morning," she said. "Based on what the first-year practical assessment calendar shows, the dungeon mechanics practical session is coming up soon and the formation component will be weighted significantly." She looked at Lin Yi. "You’ve been annotating the fundamentals module heavily. I can see the study pattern in the academic system’s engagement data." A brief pause. "The multi-element anchor configuration section specifically."

"Yes," Lin Yi said.

"I’ll cover that first," she said. She moved toward the door, then paused. Without turning around, she said, "Thank you for the invitation." She said it at a lower volume than everything before it. Then she left.

Wang Hao watched her go. Then he turned to Lin Yi slowly, with the expression of someone who had been carefully neutral throughout an entire conversation and was now releasing that effort. "She’s going to be very useful," he said.

"Yes," Lin Yi said.

"Also," Wang Hao said, "she absolutely knew who you were the moment she walked in and she still sat down and negotiated terms instead of immediately agreeing, which is the most composed reaction to meeting you that anyone has had so far."

"She agreed on the merit," Lin Yi said. "That’s what I wanted."

"Right," Wang Hao said. "Yes. The merit." He stood up. "Celestial Legion." He looked at the notification on his datapad one more time. "Unranked. Score zero. Three members." He grinned. "Let’s go."