Lu Qingyue seemed troubled for some unknown reason, and Shen Xiao didn't want to pry. The car was full of people, asking now would only make the Empress look foolish. It was better to explain first and talk to her privately after they got off the car.
"Then let me briefly explain spatial rifts, to give you a quick lesson. Spatial rifts have appeared since the spiritual energy resurgence. The location is random and uncertain, it might appear here, or it might appear at the school—it's all a matter of probability."
"See that pillar of clouds in the distance? That's not due to fog, that's a spatial rift. Stepping into the area of the pillar leads to another world. You can think of it as a portal, the other side is also a world. Let's call it the other world for now, where there are strange people and beasts. The strange beasts mentioned in our missions come through spatial rifts. It's a mutual passage, if they can come, we can go too."
Shen Xiao flicked his finger, and a long sword appeared in his hand and then disappeared.
"Most of our spatial equipment and weapons came from there. It's a place where danger and opportunity coexist."
Su Qiao leaned back in her chair, staring at the bandage on Shen Xiao's wrist, unconsciously swallowing. Was this a spatial magic item? She'd heard that even a single magic item with just one cubic meter of space could fetch millions.
"There are treasures everywhere over there. No wonder you and Lu Zihao are so rich. I want to go sometime."
Shen Xiao smiled but didn't explain. "You're mistaken. Lu Zihao is rich because his family owns mines. I'm rich because I'm clinging to the Empress."
"The other world is desolate. If it were full of treasures, those desperados would have already rushed there. That's true, but it's also very dangerous. Spatial rifts are unpredictable, you don't know when they'll appear or disappear. You could enter and the rift could vanish the very next time, leaving you with no way back."
"The result would be you wandering aimlessly in an unfamiliar world, waiting for the next spatial rift to appear before you can return. And you wouldn't know when or where. Think about it from their perspective, the alien beasts we're currently hunting are in the same situation. If this spatial rift closes and disappears, they'll have no way out. All that awaits them is being hunted."
"It's the same if you go to another world. If you're unlucky and get captured, you might be kept as a pet or even become food. So forget about that idea. You can't go unless you're at least Rank 4."
"Why do I have to wait until Rank 4?"
"Don't you understand the realm divisions?"
"Yes, the higher the number, the stronger you are!" Su Qiao laughed: "I'm listening to your explanation, Instructor Shen. I don't know this. Lu Qingyue, well, she's shaking her head too, you can explain."
Shen Xiao was extremely annoyed. It was understandable that Lu Qingyue had missed a class and didn't know, but why didn't you understand either? That's just plain lazy.
"Then I'll explain it simply. First, let's talk about the levels we can access. From weakest to strongest, the strength is Rank 1 to Rank 9, which can also be summarized as three major realms. Low Rank: Rank 1 to Rank 3, Middle Rank: Rank 4 to Rank 6, High Rank: Rank 7 to Rank 9."
"Do you know why it's divided like this? Third, sixth, and ninth ranks are all hurdles to overcome, resulting in a leap in strength. Take the breakthrough from third to fourth rank, for example. The biggest increase is in internal spiritual power, almost doubling. Moreover, due to the physical breakthrough, there's a possibility of awakening special abilities again, a transformation in talent."
"Similarly, reaching seventh rank also brings a transformation in strength. At the middle rank, or fourth rank, the internal spiritual power reserves increase. Most people with abundant spiritual power will choose to create spiritual power armor for constant defense. This spiritual power armor is very strong, capable of immunizing against damage from ordinary firearms. And they can achieve brief flight through spiritual power pulses."
"These two points directly create a huge difference. In short, it's not just a slight increase, this is why it becomes a distinguishing standard. As for high rank, it's even stronger. Sending us fourth-rank warriors on an expedition to another world is only recommended if we have some self-defense capabilities. You can just get a basic understanding of this for now."
…
"Let's continue with the mission. This mission is to hunt down alien beasts. Don't worry, they're just some mutated rats. Their strength is negligible. These low-level alien beasts aren't fully developed mentally, and their movements are rather monotonous. With a little effort, they can be dealt with quickly."
"A D-rank mission requires fifty ear-rats. With some effort, you can complete the mission. The difficulty is average. If they were truly difficult, they wouldn't have issued a D-rank mission for us to hunt them down for practice. First-rank ear-rats are inherently weak, if you can die at their hands, you're a valuable asset."
Su Qiao nodded thoughtfully: "What do ear-rats look like?"
Lu Zihao explained, "Confucius said, 'The ear-mouse is an animal, resembling a rat with a rat's head, brain, ears, and tail. It can jump and hop, but cooked and eaten, it can't fill one's stomach.'"
Su Qiao was stunned for a few seconds before subconsciously clapping and praising: "Hearing your words is like hearing a profound truth! After listening to Senior Lu's explanation, I'm even more confused about the appearance of the ear-mouse. And! Did Confucius actually say that?"
"I might be mistaken, it was Lao Tzu who said it."
"You're full of twisted logic every day! Lu Qingyue, stop writing this down! This idiot is lying to you, don't be fooled!"
Snatching Lu Qingyue's notebook, she was a little worried and flipped through the previous messages again. She wished she hadn't looked, because what she saw was astounding. The messages were scattered, useful and useless alike.
Su Qiao couldn't stand it anymore: "Lu Qingyue, ask before you memorize things! You've been scribbling things down haphazardly and are practically going mad with cultivation! Especially you, Lu Zihao, you're not allowed to spout nonsense in front of Lu Qingyue anymore, understand? Look what this girl has done to you!"
Lu Qingyue hurriedly explained, "It's okay, I'm just writing it down first. I'll definitely organize it when I get back. Do you really think I'm stupid?"
Su Qiao joked, "Not stupid? To buy a teddy bear cheaper, you came up with the idea of buying the whole toy store. And it actually did save you a lot of money!"
"We have money and are willing to buy, what does that have to do with being stupid?"
After Shen Xiao spoke, Su Qiao stopped teasing Lu Qingyue. "Okay, okay, I misunderstood you. I'm a poor person, I can't understand your way of thinking."
She turned her head and poked the gray cat dozing in Shen Xiao's arms: "Lao Jiang, you cats are the natural enemy of mice, I'm counting on you this time."
"No problem, I'll eat anything I can catch, meow!"
Looking at the chubby Lao Jiang in his arms, Shen Xiao really doubted whether it could even run. Whether it could catch up or not was another matter, he just hoped it wouldn't be chased by the ear-mouse.
"Are you sure? The ear-mouse is bigger than you."
"Really, meow?"
"Really."
"Then I take back what I just said, the ear-mouse is Lao Jiang's natural enemy. Master, remember to protect Lao Jiang, meow."
Well, before the mission even started, one of its key members had already been defeated. But none of that mattered, he needed to think about Lu Qingyue first, because Su Qiao's teasing had made her even more unhappy.
It seemed she was still upset because of yesterday's events, he needed to deal with that quickly.