Chapter 696: The Iterative Power of the Power Network
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 696: The Iterative Power of the Power Network
In the Ninglan Territory.
Due to the multi-school joint exam, an announcement had been broadcast throughout the city, as well as in every mercenary shelter and sanctuary.
General residents were subject to certain restrictions on their range of movement, managed at a level similar to a military exercise. Special wilderness areas and mountain ranges outside the city were marked as restricted zones, with residents warned not to enter.
This special hunt was set to last for seven days. Every corner of the Ninglan Territory had been notified, and the news was spreading like wildfire across the Plant Network.
Anyone causing trouble or breaking the rules during the hunt would face the consequences alone. Conversely, those innocently caught in the crossfire could apply directly for hunting disability subsidies.
During this period, the recovery of mutant beasts and other prey hunted by the examinees in the Ninglan Territory would be handled by professional Ninglan Territory indigenous people hired specifically for transport. During transport, examinees were strictly forbidden from involving these personnel in combat, whether directly or indirectly.
Of course, there was another group involved in these "corpse transport teams." High-year students from various academies were tasked with recovering carcasses from rugged terrain that was difficult for ordinary people to reach.
This task was posted on the academy task panel, though the rewards weren't particularly generous. The students who chose this task didn't care much about the rewards; they were mostly thrill-seekers and "amusement seekers" who just wanted a sense of participation and a front-row seat to the chaos.
After all, the exchange competition was for the low-year students. The seniors were already watching with such envy they were practically drooling. Moreover, since the event was being live-streamed, some people probably signed up just to show their faces on camera.
* * *
Meanwhile, we were still wandering through the market.
At this stage, we had already chosen our classes, and I had unlocked my skill tree.
The Mage skill tree consisted of ten skills. The first skill to be lit up was "Fireball Spell," which would be a Mage's only powerful offensive tool in the early stages.
Indeed, the skill tree wasn't fully open from the start; it had to be unlocked gradually. The cost to unlock skills was "Points." In other words, the more points you had, the stronger you became, until all ten skills were lit.
However, for us Teaching Assistants, it wasn't that complicated. We didn't need points. We only needed to tally the number of examinees we "killed" to unlock our skill trees.
For instance, I started with one initial skill point, which the New Student Guidance used to light up Fireball Spell. The second skill required two skill points—meaning I needed to kill two students to unlock it.
The third skill required... 3 points.
Seeing this, I breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it wasn't exponential. If it were, unlocking the final skill would require... a quick calculation showed I'd have to kill over five hundred people!
If I spent all seven days killing people, I'd go insane, wouldn't I?
Luckily, that wasn't the case. I clicked through the skills one by one; even the very last skill only required ten points.
Even so, that was still a lot of people to kill. Despite the massive number of participants in this joint exam, without overwhelming strength, one couldn't dream of pulling off a "one-man army" slaughter. Even with all skills unlocked, total dominance wasn't guaranteed.
How should I put it? If any Teaching Assistant failed to unlock their full skill tree by the end of this exam, they'd probably be the laughingstock of the academy for the rest of their lives.
Aside from the skill tree, the matter of weapons was also quite nuanced.
When the Omni-Link Main Network Tree was being developed, various restrictions made it necessary to divide roles into classes. Because of the skill tree, casting required an additional medium as a prerequisite.
Therefore, equipment was vital.
Poor-quality equipment might literally "explode" upon use. Thus, the appraisal spell included a specific value to describe a weapon's sturdiness: "Durability."
"Speaking of which... the contract doesn't seem to restrict us from using our own weapons," Lifaeya remarked as we strolled through the "Equipment Market."
"But it does restrict triggered weapons and one-time alchemy items used for cheating. So, don't go looking for loopholes," I reminded her.
"If there's a loophole, why not use it? It's for our own benefit! Since it's a legitimate right, we should defend it to the death!" Lifaeya declared righteously.
"That's the problem with contracts. What we should or shouldn't do ought to be governed by moral judgment, not just an exhaustive list of rules. Restrictions generated through that method will always have loopholes."
"Oh, don't overthink it~ What if they're actually encouraging everyone to find loopholes? Let's not make the conversation so stiff. Xiao Han, what weapon do you plan to use?"
"Me? If nothing goes wrong..." I pulled out a book-shaped case. "I'll use this."
"Oh! I knew it! I heard you named this book 'The Persuader,' right?" Lifaeya saw the Book in the Box and excitedly reached out to examine it.
"Its name is the Book in the Box. 'The Persuader' is more of a... joke? After all, it did help me 'persuade' quite a few people back then."
"This book is practically your trademark now. I feel like you're going to start a trend in the Witch Academy of hitting people with books!"
"Blindly following trends isn't good, but if they insist on it, I won't bother stopping them," I said, taking the Book in the Box back from Lifaeya.
"Let me see it again~"
"What's there to see in a weapon? What about you? What's your plan?" As I spoke, I cast a Power Network appraisal on my Book in the Box. Currently, its durability limit was...
"???"
The result showed that the durability of the Book in the Box exceeded the upper limit of the Power Network's information grading. This meant that the skill tree's power mediums could barely damage it. Or rather, even if it took a scratch, the book's self-repair would instantly make it as good as new.
"Me? I'll just use my own wand~ But I see a lot of casting weapons for sale here. It looks quite novel..."
"Then you can buy a few and try them out."
"But everything here seems to be priced in points. What do we do as Teaching Assistants?"
"Teaching Assistants have infinite supply authority during this joint exam. That means we can take as much as we want. Of course, using storage equipment to clear out stock maliciously is strictly forbidden," I warned.
"Wow, being a Teaching Assistant is actually pretty sweet~"
"You won't think so once you leave the city during the exam," I added, twisting the knife with a smile.
"What do you mean... Oh! Right... It's not just leaving the city; getting back in will be hard too!" Lifaeya realized.
After all, if we just swaggered in or out, wouldn't we be besieged by everyone?
"Actually, there's a very simple method."
"What method?"
"Get killed. For one hour after respawning, you aren't a valid hunting target. It's a 'Safe Period.' You can use that time to return to the city, buy supplies, and then head back out to shake off any trailing examinees," I said with a grin.
As special hunting targets, Teaching Assistants couldn't be exploited as "infinite point farms" for students. Almost the entire Expansion Realm was under the control of the various Transcendent Academies. Transcendent Mentors would appear instantly before any student who died in the hunt. This applied not just to TAs, but to careless examinees as well. Consequently, some people would experience a very real threat of death during this hunt!
A respawned Teaching Assistant had a one-hour Safe Period during which other students' attacks would be ineffective. Whether an attack was effective depended on whether a "Health Bar" was visible above the target's head.
The design of the Health Bar was an effect Sister Agnes and the others had spent a great deal of effort to perfect. It was a true reflection of a person's waning life force. There would be no bizarre situations where a Health Bar emptied but the character didn't die, or where someone was on the brink of death but their Health Bar stayed stuck at a sliver.
The Safe Period was a breathing space for TAs. However, if a TA chose to attack during this time... the Safe Period would be immediately canceled, and their Health Bar would appear!
Thus, the Safe Period wouldn't become a "God Mode" exploit for Teaching Assistants.
After a round of "free" shopping, we wandered back. At the plaza of Ninglan New City, a massive crowd had gathered. They were organized by class, nearly filling the entire space, as they were being guided out of the city.
"For this final joint exam, you must all do yourselves proud! You must show the spirit of your class! I don't care if you go solo or form a team—any choice that lets you hunt targets and gain points is a good one!"
"Do you see those two? They are the special hunting targets you might encounter during this exam. They are Teaching Assistants from the Witch Academy. Right now, they can only use the Power Network, just like you. My requirement isn't high: each class must kill at least one. For every one you kill, I will personally provide a generous reward..."
Just as Lifaeya and I arrived to watch the show, we were singled out by that Counselor. Although she said "those two," it felt like she was one step away from reading out our ID numbers.
At that moment, not only the students in that Counselor's class but examinees from many other classes were drawn by the "bizarre" commotion.
However, when they saw the white-haired figure, a few of them instinctively shuddered. Their experiences from the Dream Test were resurfacing.
In contrast, they didn't have much of an emotional reaction to Lifaeya, whom they didn't recognize. In fact, some looked quite eager to try their luck.
"Xiao Han, let's go. If we stay, I feel like we're going to be leered at. That teacher is being so cringe," Lifaeya whispered, urging me to leave.
I took the hint and didn't linger. Staying there would just be asking for trouble.
"Forget it, Sister Xiao Han. Let's just head out of the city. I remember that using transcendent power isn't allowed inside. Let's go outside and test the power of these spells."
"Fair enough. Let's go."
I nodded in agreement. I wasn't quite used to the skill tree format yet, but I could sense every update to the system.
For example, the casting bar for Fireball Spell wasn't as slow as it used to be. And of course, the power had changed too!
The very first player had mastered "Lesser Fireball Spell." Even then, the casting time was long, and the worse the weapon, the longer the interval between casts.
The spell we now possessed had evolved; the "Lesser" prefix was gone.
Leaving Ninglan New City, we reached the outskirts, but the open ground was still crawling with examinees. This wasn't surprising, so we headed further out.
"Let's give it a try. Yours is Fireball Spell too, right?" Seeing that no one was around, I spoke up.
"Yeah, pretty much. But I want to see you show off first, Sister Xiao Han!"
"Fine, as you wish." I held the Book in the Box before me and performed a simple "cast."
I didn't need to make any further movements. Countless threads of Power of Knowledge evolved into runes and spell frameworks, forming a magic ritual nearly as tall as a person.
It seemed the Power Network's method of building frameworks upon my Order hadn't changed.
In an instant, a fireball the size of a human head appeared at the center of the ritual. This initial size was already the limit of what the old "Lesser Fireball Spell" could achieve.
But it didn't stop there. It could be charged. The charging lasted about a second, and during that second, the fireball grew from the size of a head to nearly half the height of a person.
"Whoa! The power of this Power Network spell is terrifying! I almost got fooled! Who spread the rumor that Power Network spells were weak?" Lifaeya shouted excitedly. This Fireball Spell was already approaching the strength of her using a Fireball Spellbook!
"Indeed. It seems the power models of the Power Network are iterating very quickly." I was also surprised by the spell's potency. Although I knew the progress theoretically, trying it firsthand was a completely different experience.
However, casting through the Power Network still had its "pain points."
The casting speed was much slower than using a spellbook. While the gap for a single Fireball Spell might seem acceptable, the disparity would only widen as spells became more advanced.
No wonder the spells on the skill tree didn't seem overwhelmingly powerful and were mostly... utility-based.
For instance, the skill after Fireball Spell was Ice Shield. The first slot represented "Offense," the second "Defense," and the third was "Mobility"—represented by "Gale Spell" and the like.
"Lifaeya, aren't you going to try casting to get used to it?"
"Me? I'll pass. Tsk~ this Power Network feels so awkward to use. It's nowhere near as convenient as a spellbook!" Lifaeya began to complain.
"It is inconvenient, but... this fixed attack mode is better for cultivating combat strategy, training mental reflexes, and mastering combat rhythm."
"Sister Xiao Han, only you could make something like this sound so high-end. I feel like this thing won't do anything except produce a bunch of people with rigid thinking! If they face a spellbook with that mindset, they'll be turned to ash!"
"Well~ it's still in the testing phase, so there's no need to worry about the future. Besides... weaklings who don't know how to adapt won't succeed no matter how they learn. True experts can draw nourishment under any restrictions. Learning is never dictated by the environment alone; a person must be responsible for themselves."
"There you go with your big lectures again. I can't win an argument against you~ Let's go, let's go! While we still have time, I'm going to find a nice spot to camp and have a barbecue to welcome my fate of being hunted tomorrow!"
"Don't be so pessimistic. Maybe we'll be the ones hunting them?"
"Sister Xiao Han, you really are confident!"