Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

[Mission completion details is as follows: Successful completion of mission (30/30). Final evaluation of mission: none (reward mission has no evaluation)]

[Mission reward: 2000 experience points towards any subjects of your choosing (double reward). Unlocked technology branch: artificial intelligence level 0]

2000 experience points!

Lu Zhou took a deep breath and thought about it. Without any hesitation, he assigned 1000 experience points to the engineering branch.

The upgrade requirements for information science and mathematics were both 10,000. It would be useless to put the experience points towards them. Among the other major subjects, engineering was the most widely used.

From software engineering to civil engineering, from a nanochip to a national project, this all could be included in the broad scope of engineering. Although when compared with other theory based subjects, engineering had to rely on the theory from the other subjects, it was also the most practical.

Furthermore, given that the mathematical modeling competition was about to begin, upgrading the engineering level was undoubtedly the best choice.

As for the remaining 1000 experience points, Lu Zhou threw it all into physics.

He did not have any special reason for that. It was purely because his physics class was about to start this semester.

Confirm selection!

White lights flickered and a line of text appeared on the semi-transparent information screen.

[Note: Engineering level 0 -> level 1, Physics level 0 -> level 1]

Lu Zhou saw this line of text and could not wait to open his characteristic panel to see his statistics.

Host: Lu Zhou

Core science:

A. Mathematics: Level 1 (0/10000)

B. Physics: Level 1 (100/10000)

C. Biochemistry: Level 0 (0/1000)

D. Engineering: Level 1 (0/10000)

E. Materials science: Level 0 (0/1000)

F. Energy science: Level 0 (0/1000)

G. Information science: Level 1 (0/10000)

General points: 775

Mission: None

Like last time, he leveled up two subjects at once!

Lu Zhou looked at his characteristic panel and was very happy.

Now the only zeros left were biochemistry, materials science, and energy science. In the short term, he probably had no use for these subjects, and so, it would not be too late to upgrade them when there were appropriate missions.

Now the first priority was to understand what the unlocked technology branch was about!

Lu Zhou looked at the semi-transparent information screen before clearing his throat and ordered.

“System, upgrade technology branch; artificial intelligence!”

[Upgrade technology branch “artificial intelligence” to level 1 requires 100 general points. Confirm selection?]

“Confirm!”

Lu Zhou answered without any hesitation.

The white light flashed slightly and soon, his general points were deducted by 100. He had 675 left.

In the technology branch column, the level of artificial intelligence was raised from level 0 to level 1 (0/1000).

It was similar to raising core subjects and nothing special happened.

Lu Zhou thought that there would be a “huge flow of information into the brain”, followed by a “sudden realization”. However, it seemed that his brain was not filled with the knowledge that was unheard of.

A USB icon was suspended on top of the semi-transparent information screen.

Lu Zhou walked over and looked at the line of text next to the icon.

[Artificial intelligence program – untitled (level 1) (not deployed)]

[Description: The program will be automatically copied onto the device once the USB is inserted. “Untitled” will be migrated to the electronic device, 1TB of storage space is required. The program can be improved by machine learning. The learning speed is determined by the computing power of the device and any external information provided. Meeting the upgrade requirements will automatically level up artificial intelligence. In addition, general points can be consumed for level up.]

Lu Zhou saw this description paragraph and thought seriously.

Although the description given by the system was hard to understand, it was easy to interpret with an analogy.

The so-called “untitled” artificial intelligence was equivalent to the system giving him an egg. He could incubate it to level 2, level 3 or even higher. At the same time, it could be used as research material or core codes.

Of course, artificial intelligence was also in the scope of information science. Therefore, he had to meet the information science pre-requisites in order to upgrade artificial intelligence with general points.

“I see, the so-called technology branch has an independent upgrade system,” said Lu Zhou as he recalled the instructions of the original system while rubbing his chin.

“What about the genetic technology branch that the system mentioned? The way to upgrade to crack the genetic code? Or to collect genetic samples? The ultimate goal… Is it to remove the telomere of the DNA? To achieve life outside of the body? Or to create epic creatures…”

It made no sense. He would have to figure it out after he unlocked the technology.

Right now, he was still young and so, he did not have to worry about aging.

“Now, I have to find a place to give this level 1 artificial intelligence a home. I definitely can’t use a cloud server or my second-hand laptop… I guess I need a new computer,” thought Lu Zhou.

Next up…

The exciting mission selection stage.

Lu Zhou took a deep breath and prayed as he reached out to the mission panel.

“Come on, give me a good mission!”

He had no idea what mission he would get.

As long as the mission isn’t too sh*tty!

Mission1: Health is everything

Description: Even though the user is lazy, the system still recommends him to exercise. Exercise with the goal of being the strongest man!

Requirements: Walk 50 kilometers, do 2000 squats, 2000 push-ups.

Reward: 1000 experience points of free distribution. 500 general points. One lucky draw ticket (95% garbage, 5% sample).

Mission 2: Reproduction is more important than scientific research

Description: Find a girlfriend immediately

Requirements: Female with the compatibility of 60 or more. Establish a relationship.

Reward: 2000 general points. Sample: Durable strengthening needle (5 hours active period, increase muscle cell development by 50%, metabolic rate increased by 100%).

Mission 3: Please do not use the system’s resources on retarded questions

Description: In a week, the National Mathematical Modeling Competition is going to begin. The lazy user will want to consume general points to solve retarded questions.

Requirements: Under the condition of not using the system for help, win the first prize from the National Mathematical Modeling Competition.

Reward: Determined by the discipline of the competition question (4000 total experience points). 500 general points. One lucky draw ticket (80% garbage, 10% samples, 5% blueprint)

The mission one is okay, what the hell is mission two?

Why would the system care about me being a loner?

Which means…

I only have one mission left to choose?

Lu Zhou was pissed off at the system as he sighed and picked mission three.

Lu Zhou left the system space and his consciousness fell into darkness.

Only then did he realize that before he entered the system space, he ate the last focus capsule…

By the time he woke up, it was already the next morning.

This was different than his previous study grinds. His sleep quality this time was quite good. He woke up early and he even used his book as a pillow.

The only unfortunate thing was that the last page of [Introduction to IC design] had been covered in his saliva.

Fortunately, it was not too obvious. It would be dried up in the current hot weather in two minutes.

“This all-day study grinding life is horrible,” said Lu Zhou as he moved his painful back.

It was seven o’clock in the morning and not a lot of people were in the school building. Through the windows, he could see people running on the track field.

Lu Zhou’s towel and toothbrush were in his bag and so, he first went into the bathroom and cleaned himself up. Then, he walked to the cafeteria under the morning sun.

As always, he bought two steamed buns and a cup of soy milk. He then sat at a corner of the cafeteria and while eating, he pulled out his phone.

First, Lu Zhou went on Weibo. All of the trending topics were celebrities and he had no interest in them. The number of his followers did not seem to change much. In fact, it was similar to when he was still on trending, which is in the tens of thousands.

Lu Zhou looked at the news briefly before closing Weibo. He logged onto the app developer platform and surprisingly found out that “Campus Train” had broken 500,000 users and was growing steadily.

The momentum was good but he had to work harder as compared to other third-party booking software, his number was tiny!

With his sleepy eyes half opened, Lu Zhou ate the buns quietly. He then moved his thumbs and opened WeChat so that he could take a look at his news feed.

[Shi Shang: Forward: Notice of the semi-final campus basketball match.]

Hmm…

He was disinterested but he still liked it to indicate that he read it.

As Lu Zhou took a bite of his bun, he continued to scroll.

[Lin Yuxiang: Mathematical modeling is so hard, the competition is starting soon, I’ll have to study and grind all night ~ (effort)]

She also posted a picture of a textbook.

Lu Zhou: “…”

I want to block this chick…

Forget it, I’ll do it after the competition.

The campus was gorgeous. With colorful ribbons hanging on the parasol trees, the environment was as lively as a festival.

Numerous cars dropped off students in front of the school gate and countless students were registering at the sign-up spot. Parents carried suitcases, helped their children to fill out forms, bought sim cards, cleaned up dorm rooms, etc. It was only eight o’clock but the street in front of the dorms was completely blocked.

Lu Zhou walked on the track field and watched the crowds from afar. He thought back to when he first entered the school. At that time, his mother was in the hospital and his dad had to take care of her. He took the train for hundreds of kilometers and entered the unfamiliar city by himself.

That was the first time he traveled so far.

Looking back at it, the time had flown by so fast and it had already been a year.

He soon noticed two familiar figures in the crowd.

One was Fat Wu. He was wearing a telecom t-shirt and was sweating as he managed a team of student workers. They guided the parents towards the telecom store. Every time school started, he would be busy. The student union was busy welcoming the new, while he was busy making money.

The other was Lin Yuxiang. She wore a plain white dress and sat under the shed at the reception for new arrivals. She smiled and had a flushed face as she handed out the forms to the younger students.

As the vice president of the student union, she was working with the student association and youth league committee, working the job that no one wanted to work. She was quite the fighter.

Lu Zhou did a rough analysis in his heart.

He was unfamiliar with the operations of the student union and he only knew about it when his class leader bragged about it.

Lin Yuxiang noticed Lu Zhou. She smiled gently at him as she waved her hand and said hello.

Lu Zhou nodded and said hello back. He did not stay for long and walked back to his dorm.

When he arrived at his dorm, Shi Shang was worried.

“Lu Zhou, you didn’t come back to the dorm last night? Where were you? You didn’t pick up my calls.”

Lu Zhou placed his bag on the table and replied casually, “I was reading books all night.”

Liu Rui was studying a physics textbook and he complained, “… You’re too good.”

Huang Guangming was lying in bed with his phone and he sighed as he said, “He’s not even a genius, he’s a god… Zhou, did you go to heaven last night?”

“Yeah I did, almost did. I won’t stay up this late after school starts, ” said Lu Zhou before he yawned. He sat in his chair and opened his laptop before he logged onto JD to search for a suitable laptop.

After he paid for tuition, he still had 40,000 yuan left. It was not a problem to buy a laptop for less than 20,000 yuan. The artificial intelligence USB was still sitting in the system space. He planned on buying a machine and quickly install the USB.

However, he had not expected that his words would surprise his two roommates.

Shi Shang was shocked as he said, “F*ck me, what do you mean you won’t stay up this late after school starts? Does this mean for the entire summer…”

Huang Guangming gulped. He did not say anything but he stopped playing on his phone.

Liu Rui laughed miserably as he said, “You only just found out? I can’t even understand the books he was reading.”

His expression conveyed, “Now you know how much pressure I had for the summer, right?”

Huang Guangming: “…”

Shi Shang: “…”

The two did not say anything but they showed a sympathetic look towards Liu Rui.

Lu Zhou failed to notice the interactions between his roommates as he was browsing the web. Finally, he chose an HP Zbook15 that was released this year.

Strictly speaking, it was not an “ultrabook” but more of a “mobile work station”. The hardware specifications were better than high-end laptops such as “gaming laptop” or “super laptop”. It had insane graphics imaging processing capabilities.

Of course, high performance meant high prices. The highest configuration model would cost him 25,000 yuan and it was not even used for gaming.

However, when Lu Zhou thought about that artificial intelligence USB in the system space, he clicked the purchase button reluctantly.

“Motherf*cker, this high tech system is so demanding…”

He had no other choice as he had to give his artificial intelligence “child” a good foundation.

If he picked a sh*tty laptop, he might turn the artificial intelligence into artificial retardation.

The money in his card instantly became 10,000 yuan or so and it was back to where he began.

As for the 500,000 yuan in the company’s account, Lu Zhou could only look at it. It was not that he could not use it, but he was an honest man and he would never do something that would stain his record.

Maybe the school would not know?

Haha, one would be lying to oneself. For this type of small-sized company, the accounting would be done by the teachers from the Department of Statistics. When he registered the company, it even saved him a small sum of money because he did not have to hire a professional accountant.

If the first big purchase he made with that money was a computer, he would definitely make Dean Lu disappointed in himself.

“I hope that little guy will be happy with this computer home as I can’t afford anything that is more expensive,” sighed Lu Zhou as he turned off his laptop.