Darkstone Code

Joey is a very ordinary high school student, not much different from the vast majority of high school students in the Federation.

His family environment is quite decent; his father runs a deli, and the recipes are said to be passed down from their ancestors for many generations, making it fairly well-known locally.

Although his family hasn’t quite reached the level of a middle class family, it’s already much better than most families.

Originally, according to the world’s original history, after graduation, he was supposed to take over the "family business" of the deli. The Great Depression has left their business not very good; expansion is unlikely, and they can only maintain current operations.

He also sent applications to some universities, but sadly, none of them offered him an interview opportunity.

Their reasons varied.

Some universities believed his academic performance wasn’t good enough and rejected him.

Some universities thought he didn’t actively participate in sports during high school and wasn’t a sports special talent, so they rejected him.

Some universities believed he didn’t demonstrate excellent student qualities during high school, so they rejected him.

Some universities... their sponsorship fees were too high, so Joey gave up.

It’s not that he didn’t want to attend university; he just didn’t have a way.

He didn’t want to spend his years spinning around in the kitchen, marrying a woman he might not truly love under his parents’ arrangement, having two or three children, and let life slip away muddled.

He hoped his life would be brilliant, different, and colorful.

But he also understood that he had no hope; universities rejected him. High-end companies wouldn’t hire him, not even for middle or lower-level management, because he had no "alumni" and wasn’t a "Brotherhood" member. He was just an ordinary high school student.

However, at this time, a glimmer of hope appeared when the Federation President, Mr. Lynch, Sabin City’s Legislator Catherine, and the Governor jointly established a college called "Federal Hope Academy." This gave him new hope!

Incidentally, Lynch initially applied for the name "Federation University," but the Department of Social Services thought the name could be misleading, even if unused, and rejected Lynch’s application.

And today, on the weekend of the first week of August, is Joey’s interview time.

He got up early that morning, which was quite difficult for a high school student still growing. After brushing himself thoroughly with the farm horses’ grooming brush, he changed into the formal attire he wore for his high school graduation ceremony.

Accompanied by his parents, they arrived at the interview location of the university.

"There are a lot of people here..."

The hallway was full of families like Joey’s, with parents bringing their children, or a single parent. They all waited nervously for the interview.

Every time someone came out from the interviewer’s office, surrounding parents would step forward to inquire about the interview content, and Joey’s parents did the same.

Initially, Joey didn’t like that; it made him feel like his father was ignorant and embarrassed him.

But at this moment, he urgently hoped his father could find out something.

After a while, his father came back with a cigarette in his mouth, and Joey and his mother immediately stared at the head of the family.

"They said the interview content is simple, just asking about basic things, grades, hobbies, and future plans."

The man was relaxed at this point. He knew that getting into university meant a lot, and once he graduated, he just needed to work hard, and at the very least, he could mix into the middle class.

By then, Joey could marry someone from a similar class and status, or a colleague, and his small family could leap over the lower-tier handcraft workshop families, becoming middle class.

They would enjoy a better life and receive higher salaries, and their children would have more opportunities in the future.

Joey’s success might even support their extended family, so when Joey expressed his desire to attend university and received an interview notification from Hope Academy, he came personally, not caring about the deli.

Fortunately, it seemed there was a good chance!

After waiting for about forty minutes, someone called Joey’s name and asked him and his father to enter the interview office, while his mother stayed outside.

Only one parent was allowed inside, also to avoid excessive parental interference with the child’s performance.

There were four interviewers. The woman in the middle, who appeared to be in her forties, wore glasses. She looked at the materials for a while before greeting with a smile, "Good morning, Joey."

Joey Federally responded, "Good morning, ma’am," and hesitated for a moment, "and gentlemen."

At this point, his father was too nervous to speak. Damn it, he originally thought this was no different from chatting with customers or bargaining in the deli, but he was performing worse than his own son!

Perhaps noticing their nervousness, the woman in the middle smiled, "Don’t be too nervous; this is just a conversation, and you got off to a good start."

A word of praise made Joey much more relaxed, and his father also showed a stiff smile.

What followed was a very routine interview, asking Joey some questions about his grades, giving some evaluations of his high school performance, and asking him to talk about what he excelled at or was proud of.

At the end, the four exchanged opinions, and the middle woman gave Joey and his father an answer they hoped for.

"I’ve seen your file, and you’re from this state, which fits Mr. Lynch’s enrollment criteria. We only admit state students or families who own property in the state."

"Joey, you actually give me a good feeling. Maybe your grades aren’t exceptionally excellent, but at least you meet the Federation educational standards and are above passing..."

The four of them were very serious, as if they didn’t know the so-called Federation educational standards were a joke.

Maybe they had to endure it at first, but now they were used to it.

Joey nodded repeatedly. He had realized something and maybe his life would be different from this moment on!

The woman continued, "You have excellent self-expression skills, an independent personality, and emotional expression, and you’re not stage-frightened. These are very good qualities, so we preliminarily agreed to your application."

Seeing Joey about to leap for joy, the woman raised her hand to slightly stop him, "Of course, there are some formalities you need to complete, like the tuition issue..."

Finally, it came to something he was good at. Joey’s father, who hadn’t made a single sound during the whole process, suddenly straightened up. This was his meaning and value here!

As a family father, he might not be good at many things, but he was excellent at one thing, and that was paying when necessary.

"How much is it per semester?"

Years of work had allowed Joey’s father to save some money. He had no bad habits and had saved a bit, so when he asked this, he was confident.

A man who had been silent on the side smiled and said, "Not much, only three thousand five hundred per semester."

Hearing this number, Joey’s father’s mouth slightly curved upward. Two semesters per year, and it was only seven thousand a year.

Actually, this tuition wasn’t considered expensive. Tuition fees for Saint Harmony Academy were above tens of thousands a year, except for those who could obtain full scholarships; the rest were rich people.

Normal schools were around four to five thousand, three thousand five hundred...

Maybe seven thousand a year was an unbearable figure for many ordinary families, but Joey’s father thought it was okay.

The man could see his pride on his face, then pulled a form and placed it on the table, gesturing them to come closer.

Upon getting closer, the father and son discovered it was another fee list.

"What I mentioned earlier was just the pure tuition fee, excluding these."

"Such as required books, various notebooks, library usage fees, extra educational resource occupancy fees..."

Joey’s father looked at the form in front of him, and the slight proud smile vanished. He really didn’t understand the composition of university fees; he thought the seven thousand a year was the entirety.

Now it seemed that this seven thousand could be just the minimum part of it!

As the man explained, the tuition increased from seven thousand a year to nearly twenty thousand, and Joey’s father began to fall silent.

After all the item content was explained, the total annual tuition was about twenty-six thousand, and an additional two to three thousand should be prepared for participating in certain activities, which also required funds.

Four years... a hundred thousand.

Honestly, Joey’s father couldn’t support such an investment. If he really had a hundred thousand, he would have expanded his deli long ago.

Perhaps realizing that the father and son were in trouble, the man who had been explaining the fees smiled and said, "This is the standard tuition fee. If Joey can obtain a scholarship, whether full or partial, or just a motivational incentive, these fees will be correspondingly reduced."

"If you’re familiar with universities, you should know some students actually earn money while attending; we also welcome such students to join us."

"Of course, if you’re not confident and are a bit tight..."

The man pulled out a business card and handed it over.

The card held many titles, most being something like manager or client manager or operations manager.

But in the most prominent position, "Darkstone Insurance" was printed in bold.

The father and son were a bit puzzled, and the man kindly explained.

"Darkstone Insurance is Mr. Lynch’s insurance company. He knows many families have children filled with aspirations for university and the future, but some issues restrict their pursuit of dreams."

"That may have been the case before, but now, for our school’s students, it has changed."

"We have brand-new student loans..."