Chapter 676: The New Session of the College Entrance Exam Begins
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 676: The New Session of the College Entrance Exam Begins
After the incident concluded, the following period saw little discussion in the outside world or on the internet.
The people from the Shi'an Bureau had asked if I wanted to issue a public notice or escalate the matter, but I refused. Consequently, they opted for a silent treatment. However, handling it quietly did not mean it wasn't being handled at all. The incident involved many other affairs, including a large-scale rectification of numerous hospitals.
Furthermore, since this was the preparation phase for the College Entrance Exam, one could imagine that even more intense restructuring would continue after the exams were over—all to ensure that "I" was satisfied.
For now, however, the external internet was entirely consumed by news regarding the upcoming exam.
It was as if the College Entrance Exam had completely suppressed topics like the Descendant Cult and doomsday theories.
But... that was simply the reality. Many things on the internet were much ado about nothing, but when it came to personal interests—major events that served as turning points in a child's life—no one dared to cross that line.
Those who needed to take the exam would still take it. The majority were ordinary people content with the status quo; they had been domesticated by the atmosphere of the Main World. Unless they could no longer survive, it was impossible for them to trigger global instability.
Even if anti-social marches, riots, resistance, or independence movements broke out in many places, regions where these things weren't happening felt no sense of involvement at all.
Everyone offered spiritual support to the rebels online, but in reality, they remained weighed down by life, unable to straighten their backs.
During this period leading up to the exam, I stayed at Sister Bai’s house, researching the technology brought by the Players.
After a while, Sister Bai had to leave due to a shift in her teaching schedule, though she would return to keep me company whenever she had no classes or was free.
Midway through, I was called back to the academy to sign a Witch Contract for proctoring and supervision during the exam period. This marked the official start of the College Entrance Exam process.
However, this didn't stop me from continuing my research once I finished that task.
Over these past few days, I had gained a rough understanding of the "Luck Thread Technique" mastered by the Player world.
Understanding it, however, did not mean I could master it. I discovered that the foundational power for this technique originated from "Transcendent Pixels," a derivative of that specific [Transcendent Knowledge].
Even though I possessed two Great Spellbooks on the same level as this power, I still couldn't mimic the technique. It was just like how that game world couldn't replicate my Mimicry Soul, Soul Depiction, or Wisdom Granting.
Nevertheless, with these theoretical research materials, I could derive entirely new techniques using my own power that utilized this technical data.
As for the current situation, I didn't have much of a lead yet.
The main reason was that Luck, as a medium for transmitting information, didn't offer many advantages at the moment.
The game world had likely poured effort into developing this technology because their world restricted their growth in other areas.
It was much like how people in a magical world couldn't imagine a world without magic, where one could enter a modern age entirely by "boiling water."
Precisely because I realized how lackluster the Luck Thread Technique was, I invested more energy into the energy network of the Transcendent Pixels.
I was genuinely interested in these things. Even if I couldn't master them, I could study and learn the knowledge. With knowledge and my own power, I could construct new techniques.
However, I kept a cautious eye on the Luck Thread Technique. After all, when I was working on the Ley Line Identification Art, the precedent of the "Ley Energy Conversion Technique" remained unforgettable.
In short, every technique has its value; it’s just that its proper application hasn't been discovered yet.
As for why I was so diligently researching Transcendent Pixels... Sister Bai had asked me that as well.
Since Dean Mei had promised to let me harvest the game world, there was a certain probability I would obtain that [Transcendent Knowledge].
It would be a lie to say I didn't want it, but if I wanted it so desperately that I became obsessed, then the problem would lie with me.
When an obsession exists because of greed and is constantly nourished by desire, that person is not far from self-destruction.
Therefore, I didn't study those "Transcendent Pixels" with the mindset that the [Transcendent Knowledge] would eventually belong to me. Instead, I studied them as if they belonged to a hypothetical enemy.
I sought to understand its essence, its characteristics, its weaknesses, and its limitations.
During this time, I also gained a general understanding of what Transcendent Pixels actually were.
They were a type of Order—a Domain Order.
The concept was similar to my Power of Knowledge, but... also very different.
My Power of Knowledge incorporated too many traits, influenced by two Great Spellbooks and built upon the framework of Body Cultivation.
It possessed the knowledge characteristics of the Tree of Great Knowledge and the wisdom manifestation of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art—which is to say, the deduction of knowledge.
Now, the Basic Five Senses of Body Cultivation were also integrated into the Order of the Power of Knowledge. Heart Sense was the foundation of its domain architecture and the basis of my understanding of it. Time Sense deepened my control over my own power...
Once I had cleared my mind, there weren't many distracting "stray thoughts." The "loss of control" over my Time Sense caused by specific stimuli, like what happened before, basically wouldn't occur anymore.
Because I was gradually adapting to this power, the possibility of losing control had dropped significantly. Unless my own state was extremely poor and I faced some severe stimulus—but in such a case, the loss of control over Time Sense wouldn't be the main concern; all my mastered powers would be at risk of spiraling out of control.
As it stood, I was quite confident that the characteristics of the "Power of Knowledge" far surpassed those of "Transcendent Pixels."
However, when it came to techniques derived from this Domain Order, I had to admit defeat to that game world.
After all, for now, the techniques derived from my Power of Knowledge were mostly limited to a systematic "Annotation Technique," along with several unsystematic bridging techniques categorized under it.
Then there were the techniques for the "fusion, dispersal, and deepening" of dream and reality. Aside from those related to the Omni-Link Main Network Tree, I didn't have many other presentable techniques.
But the techniques derived from Transcendent Pixels were incredibly rich—that was the accumulated heritage of an entire world!
It was possible that the combined time I had lived across two lives didn't even amount to a fraction of that world's development time.
After all, through Transcendent Pixels, they had developed a complete process and a suite of techniques for invading other worlds. The game platform they built alone was a massive undertaking; the remaining techniques were likely just micro-innovations built upon it.
By studying Transcendent Pixels, I also roughly confirmed that their world's development seemed to have deviated from the path of Witches. They focused more on the development of Domain Order techniques, treating them as tools to serve their world. But... to me, a domain was not everything.
No one decreed that a domain was the sole explanation for the transcendent path. In my view, it was more like a branch of the path, but not the whole.
Still, I couldn't deny one thing: domains... as a method, were truly useful.
However, I couldn't just keep researching forever.
My primary purpose for leaving the Witch Academy was to proctor the College Entrance Exam. Thus, on the day before the exam, I had to stop my research and arrive at my assigned testing center to coordinate with the mentors there.
Regarding the arrangements, each testing center would have one or two current academy students. The actual proctoring in each exam room was still handled by normal, ordinary teachers at the front and back, while the students primarily relied on transcendent powers for comprehensive surveillance.
Normally, I should have received a proctoring spellbook—even if only temporarily. However... because I was told I could use my domain for proctoring... I didn't need the spellbook.
Well, in some ways, a domain was indeed more efficient than a spellbook with specific effects.
So, I didn't take anything. I just brought a Ley Line Information monitoring device from the academy network. After all, during the exam, the Ley Line Information of the testing center's area had to be recorded and archived without any interference.
* * *
The day of the exam.
I woke up very early. Having familiarized myself with the process the day before, I had no confusion today.
But... my arrival still put considerable pressure on this school.
Although I had visited once before, they hadn't received the official notice then. Now that the formal documents were out, confirming that a Teaching Assistant from the academy was actually coming to proctor... saying they weren't stressed would be a total lie.
If a candidate cheated here and the proctoring teachers failed to notice, only for me to catch them, it was hard to imagine how severe the consequences of their negligence would be!
"Teaching Assistant Xiao Han... you're out here patrolling so early? Actually, there's no need for you to be here. We've prepared a special place for you..."
"No need. I don't like staying in one place; it's too boring. Thank you for the offer, but you don't need to worry about me," I said to the person who had come forward to invite me.
"Right, of course. If you have any needs during this time, as long as they aren't excessive, we will fulfill them."
I nodded, acknowledging the statement.
It was still some time before the start of the exam, but a large number of people had already gathered outside the testing center. Most were parents of the candidates; I even saw entire families who had come to cheer them on.
The crowd outside continued to grow as time passed. Even with the Shi'an Bureau maintaining order, they couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of the people.
Looking at the crowd, I felt quite a few emotions, but I didn't forget my duty.
This year's exam had different requirements than previous ones—of course, these requirements were for us proctoring students, not the candidates.
The College Entrance Exam was the most important day of the year and could tolerate no disruption. However, because of the Players' arrival this year, this global event had an added layer of threat.
Those Players were unstable factors who might strike at the exam system. With so many people gathered here, if the Players launched an attack on the crowd, the consequences would be unthinkable!
Therefore, the rewards for this proctoring mission were more generous than in the past, specifically to attract high-year students with strong combat capabilities.
The reason my status as a Teaching Assistant brought so much pressure to this testing center was due to similar considerations.
After all, if there hadn't been some sort of rumor beforehand, why would a Teaching Assistant be sent here?
They surely thought something unexpected might happen!
But I felt they were overthinking it. Setting aside any baseless rumors, if those Players actually showed up, I’d be more than happy. I was currently in dire need of Players to approach me voluntarily; I wanted to possess even more Players to gather intelligence for me.
However, the more I told them to relax, the more nervous they seemed to get, so I eventually stopped bothering with them.
As the time drew near, buses filled with candidates drove into the school. Another batch of students needed to cross the threshold of the exam. Every person on those buses would undergo a Choice of Fate and eventually step into the transcendent world.
I could hear many people outside discussing one thing: whether a genius capable of being scouted by the major academies would appear this year. After all, last year, there had been a Full Score Academic God!
Naturally, expectations for this year were high.
However, I didn't think such a talent would appear this year. The exam involved the distribution of Luck; if another heaven-chosen Child of Destiny appeared this year... things would become far too chaotic.
And the current Luck of the Main World... to be honest, I was worried for them.
First, there was the interference of the Luck distribution ritual of the exam, then multiple Children of Destiny carving up the Luck together, diluting its influence and momentum on any single individual. Within the Witch Academy, there were Luck Alchemists constantly shearing the "wool" of Luck, and other transcendent academies likely had similar existences interested in Luck as a resource. Now, there were even Players harvesting Luck to create game qualifications...
It felt like the Main World was being ruined by these people!
This forced me to consider a question: Is a Child of Destiny without Luck still a Child of Destiny?
After understanding the current situation of the Main World, I realized that the so-called World Script of the world consciousness... was truly a joke.
The Main World was a world divided by four... no, now five great transcendent races. It had completely lost its sovereignty.
Any development within the world could only be led by the will of the World Controllers. Thus, it was actually easy to understand why such things happened in the Main World. After all, a big forest has all kinds of birds; the Witch race alone was enough to show the Main World what "Witch diversity" looked like.
As the cars drove in one after another, my gaze happened to land on one of them. My vision pierced through the window to see the students inside, and I spotted a familiar figure.
Yang Yunhan, that cheap brother of mine.
I hadn't seen him since that last time. I assumed he had followed my advice and stayed at the school dormitory. I wondered how he had been faring these past few days.
While freedom is something many long for, absolute freedom can be terrifying and leave one feeling lost.
These realizations were things he had to experience for himself. Even if he didn't understand many principles, as long as he experienced them, he would one day suddenly grow up during some unexpected moment in life.
Sensing that the person I was watching had arrived, I stopped lingering at the school gate. I had actually considered the possibility that he might have given up entirely, perhaps even failing to show up for the exam, but I was glad he hadn't.
If he hadn't come, he truly would have been a worthless piece of sludge.
I wouldn't even have the interest to drag him to the Witch Academy; someone who gives up on themselves isn't worth the energy it takes to save them.
But since he came, I looked forward to his performance.