The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 133: Chapter 133: Assignment Grading

Professor Ye Hong paused:

[Class 131, No. 4444 Ji You.]

A few big characters shone bright before Professor Ye Hong’s eyes. His brow furrowed unintentionally as if he thought of something, slightly displeased, but still, he reached out and opened the beautifully wrapped package.

What caught his eye were 5 pieces of processed materials: Iron Pear Wood, Black Sand Ore, Golden Armored Beast Tooth, Long-Mouthed Pig Tooth, and Gold and Silver Fish Teeth.

As a professor specializing in the study of materials science, with over 200 years of experience, indeed, Professor Ye Hong is already 250 years old. His vision, of course, is extraordinary. With just a brief glance, he felt that this assignment was completed very cleanly and neatly.

Setting aside his preconceptions about Ji You, Professor Ye Hong still became slightly interested in this assignment.

First, he picked up the long-snouted pig’s teeth for a closer inspection. The teeth of the long-snouted pig are very hard, suitable for making defensive weapons or the outer shell of a Low-star Mecha. Of course, whether it is for weapons or mecha shells, many other materials need to be matched together, and the long-snouted pig’s teeth are just one component.

The processing of long-snouted pig’s teeth is not difficult; the key is to remove all impurities completely, a test of patience.

Professor Ye Hong looked at the test results in silence:

Impurity rate, content 0.005%.

Effective utilization, 95%.

...

Professor Ye Hong’s eyelashes slightly trembled. The impurity rate was only 0.005%; is she a newcomer? Processing for the first time? This level of cleanliness could already reach the standards of an ordinary laboratory.

After a bit of thought, Professor Ye Hong gave an A grade.

Next up were Black Sand Ore, Golden Armored Beast Tooth, and Gold and Silver Fish Teeth.

With the three types of animal teeth, the most important aspect for the long-snouted pig’s teeth is the impurity rate, the Golden Armored Beast Tooth’s is hardness, and the Gold and Silver Fish Teeth’s is precision... Professor Ye Hong selected these three materials for the students to practice because their focal points differ, which is comparative and enables the students to grasp quickly their processing methods.

Having reviewed the four assignments, Professor Ye Hong was truly somewhat surprised. He had taught for hundreds of years and had seen many talented students, but Ji You, with the number 4444, still gave him a small surprise. He recalled Xu Siyu’s classroom assignments, and upon comparison, he found that even Xu Siyu had not performed better than Ji You.

She’s someone who has never fully attended a single class.

Listening to lectures via the Star Network is, of course, not as effective as attending classes in person.

But—

This No. 4444 has completed the assignment so excellently.

Professor Ye Hong’s face grew stern as he continued to take out the last piece of homework.

As soon as he handled the Iron Pear Wood Silk, Professor Ye Hong’s pupils instantly constricted: What’s going on? The weight of this Iron Pear Wood Silk is problematic; it’s quite light, almost a third of the previous weight!

——Such a result indicates that the quality of the Iron Pear Wood Silk has stepped up a level!

How is this possible?

All the materials for the students were personally selected by him; they were definitely the lowest grade Iron Pear Wood, the inferior material that manufacturing factories and laboratories had no use for. Such material was perfect for students to practice with, as it did not cause waste nor depletion of resources.

Professor Ye Hong first suspected that student number 4444 deliberately used high-grade Iron Pear Wood Silk for the class assignment. He immediately had his assistant look into the source of Ji You’s materials and soon found the answer.

It was the inferior material provided by the school.

With a somber expression, Professor Ye Hong examined the situation closely and then ruled out the possibility that Ji You had used high-grade material on her own. But why did the Iron Pear Wood Silk handled by her improve in quality?

He pondered from all angles.

Eventually, Professor Ye Hong found the reason: she had actually dissolved the Iron Pear Wood Silk and then recompressed it, removing unnecessary impurities. Originally 200 grams of Iron Pear Wood Silk was left with only 50 grams, but these 50 grams were all of premium quality, even directly usable for level 4 or higher weapons.

...

After thoroughly studying the situation, Professor Ye Hong finally picked up his pen and assigned an A+.

After giving the grade, Professor Ye Hong narrowed his eyes and sat in silence for a while, masking the indescribable complexity in his heart.

On the other side, after Ji You submitted her assignment, she finally felt relieved. Seeing there was still time, she immediately logged into the Star Network, swiped her Student ID Card, and entered the school’s network zone. It was still bustling with throngs of people as lively as ever.

Ji You quickly made her way to the competition area, as it was the last day for open selection registration. Despite having low talent, poor physical fitness, and even a complete lack of experience in operating Simulation Mecha, Ji You still dared to give it a try and registered herself.

After registration, opponents were not matched by the system automatically but rather, contestants were allowed to challenge others. Earning 100 points from challenges and winning 10 matches, with a win rate of at least 70%, would automatically move the contestant onto the next round of the competition.

It was only in the second round that opponents would be randomly matched.

What strange rules for a competition.

Ji You critiqued internally. Moreover, she saw many potential problems: for instance, what if a group of acquaintances in real life were to conspire and deliberately lose to each other, alternating in a way that would allow everyone to achieve 10 victories and control their win rate around 70% - wouldn’t that be outright exploiting the rules to cheat?

Right now, Ji You didn’t understand that her concerns were completely unnecessary. The Star Network system had a very sophisticated set of assessment standards that already precluded any possibility of students cheating. Additionally, if cheating were discovered, severe measures would be taken against the cheaters. Not just within the whole Alliance but across the entire interstellar community, there was an advanced emphasis on the credit of individuals and companies. Such a dishonest act could potentially ruin the student’s entire future.

Thus, no student dared take such a risk.

The reason why the competition rules were set up this way during the open selection stage was for Alliance University to give all students who wanted to challenge themselves an opportunity to train. How to select opponents, gather intelligence on them, and how to arrange the order of one’s own challenges... all of these were aspects of a very intricate course.

After successful registration, Ji You did not immediately start selecting matches. Instead, she watched a few, and quite coincidentally, she saw a contestant operating a Heavy Armor Breaking Army Mecha again, who had a very recognizable name: ’Daddy Universe Strongest’.

With such a strong smell of teenage rebelliousness and unique style, one wonders whether the person who picked that name feels any shame at all.

’Daddy Universe Strongest’ had a distinct style of combat. He usually launched a strong attack from the outset, leaving his opponents without any power to fight back. After winning, he would sarcastically throw out the phrase, ”Good boy, next time you see your Daddy, remember to surrender directly.”

Ji You: ”...”

For some reason, the flamboyant and ridiculous style of this person inexplicably reminded Ji You of the goofball Yue Qiguang.

After watching several matches in a row, and feeling increasingly eager, Ji You finally decided to step in and test the waters.