New Idea

Li Qi looked at the message on his communicator's light screen. "Hmm, why is it an Illusionist?"

Four days later, the instructor for the public class would be from the Illusionist school.

Among the Spirit Reader schools, Controllers were undoubtedly the foremost, followed closely by Illusionists.

The former were known for their uncanny object-control methods, while the latter were famous for their unpredictable Mental Attacks. They could cause enemies to unknowingly fall into illusions. Those with weak willpower could sink into them and die painlessly within the illusion.

"An Illusionist, then. It'll be good to learn about it. Maybe I have talent as an Illusionist too."

He shook his head slightly. With no choice available, he could only attend the class and see whether it might awaken his talent as an Illusionist.

Four days later, when Li Qi arrived at a lecture hall in the North Building, more than thirty people were already seated inside.

Compared to the public classes for Martial Artists, very few had come to listen today. The instructor probably knew that as well, which was why she had not chosen a large lecture hall.

After waiting in the lecture hall for quite some time, the instructor who came to teach was a petite, beautiful woman.

The female instructor swept her gaze across the lecture hall. She paused slightly when she saw Li Qi, then continued surveying the room. With a sweep of her Mental Force, she determined that there were thirty-five students attending today's class.

At the same time, her Mental Force revealed that several of those thirty-five were Martial Artists.

Because Martial Artists emitted too little Mental Force, they were easily noticed when mixed among Spirit Readers.

She did not care about that. Curious Martial Artists came to listen in every time she taught.

The female instructor said, "Today, I will explain Mental Attack—a technique in which Illusionists excel, but one that can also be used by every Spirit Reader school."

"Everyone knows that Spirit Readers possess powerful Mental Force. Since Mental Force is born from the body and cannot directly attack the body, multiple schools emerged.

"For example, Controllers who attack by manipulating objects, Illusionists who attack the will, Beast Tamers who command insect beasts, and so on. These schools all bypass the weakness of Mental Force being unable to directly attack the body.

"Mental Attack, meanwhile, is a technique that every Spirit Reader school can learn. It is simple and direct: use Mental Force to penetrate and attack the enemy's Sea of Consciousness.

"This method is simple, but it is extremely effective against Martial Artists."

At this point, the female instructor looked toward the few Martial Artists mingling among the crowd.

When she saw the expressions of two of them change drastically, she smiled softly and changed the subject.

"However, it is impossible to directly kill a Martial Artist of the same level this way. At most, you can cause some interference.

"Because within a Martial Artist's Sea of Consciousness, there is Mental Force with a purity equivalent to that of a Spirit Reader at the same level. Its quantity is simply far inferior to ours. When our Mental Force penetrates a Martial Artist's Sea of Consciousness to attack, it is weakened by two levels."

Only then did the two Martial Artists' expressions improve, while Li Qi's eyes lit up.

An ordinary Spirit Reader's Mental Attack cannot threaten a Martial Artist of the same level because the quality of their Mental Force is the same. But I'm different!

At the reminder, Li Qi became excited. My Mental Force is more than ten times stronger than that of Spirit Readers at the same level. In terms of quality, it is at least three orders higher than theirs!

Under such a powerful Mental Force impact, even if a Martial Artist of the same level doesn't die, the Mental Force in their Sea of Consciousness will still be injured.

The reason he was so excited was that he knew the Sea of Consciousness was where the soul resided!

And Mental Force was the power of the soul. Once the power of the soul was injured, most Martial Artists would instantly lose focus, exposing an opening.

When I attack with Mental Force weapons, they can cross dozens of meters in the blink of an eye. It takes only an instant!

Even if the enemy loses focus for just an instant, that will be enough for me to severely injure—or even kill—them!

Only then did Li Qi realize that he had been distracted. He hurriedly focused and continued listening to the female instructor's lesson.

Since this class covered only Mental Attack, the female instructor on the podium finished the lesson in just half an hour.

Moreover, she had no intention of answering questions. She left the lecture hall directly, as if to say that anyone with questions should go buy her course.

Li Qi, who had studied and lived at Zhaoguang Academy for nearly a month, had grown accustomed to the female instructor's attitude.

By now, he understood that Zhaoguang Academy had always instilled the concept of equivalent exchange in its students.

Especially regarding instruction, the academy gave instructors tremendous freedom. Apart from requiring every instructor to teach a certain number of public classes, there were no other restrictions.

It even seemed to encourage instructors to offer paid courses, almost like it was fleecing the Molten Empire...

After attending the public class, Li Qi returned to his dormitory and entered the Virtual Universe, where he began training his Movement Technique and Mental Shock.

Roar!

Surrounded by several beast-type demonic beasts, Li Qi easily evaded their attacks.

At the same time, his Mental Force struck at the demonic beasts' Seas of Consciousness. Unfortunately, the effect was negligible, and the demonic beasts were barely disturbed.

No. In the Virtual Universe, the demonic beasts and I are at the same level. There isn't much difference in the strength of our Mental Force, so Mental Shock has almost no effect.

As he dodged, Li Qi pondered, Unless I can set the demonic beasts' strength two orders below mine. But the demonic beasts are generated through automatic matching. I have the authority to change their numbers, but not to lower their strength.

It seems I can only put aside the idea of training Mental Shock for now and continue practicing combat techniques.

Without the necessary authority, Li Qi could only return to his original plan and continue honing his Movement Technique and defensive skills amid the demonic beasts' siege.

Six months passed.

Li Qi's physical fitness broke through to Apprentice Level Ninth-Order, and he began challenging others in the Virtual Universe. His record was thirty-seven wins and eleven losses.

Because Spirit Readers possessed the enormous advantage of flight at the Apprentice Level, he relied on that advantage, his high Mental-Force Amplitude, and a Movement Technique nearing the Perfect Level to win multiple consecutive victories.

Although he had also been defeated by some Planetary Level students with exceptional combat skills, those Planetary Level students had not won easily. After reaching the Planetary Level, they found it difficult to adapt to Apprentice Level combat methods.

As a result, by now, aside from fellow Spirit Reader students, no Martial Artist students were willing to spar with him anymore.

Li Qi could do nothing about this situation. Excluding the ten matches that carried no point penalty, his thirty-seven victories had earned him thirty-six points—far from his planned additional two hundred points.

Li Qi sighed. "If I still can't raise my physical fitness to the Apprentice Level Ninth-Order Peak after using up my points, I'll have to ask my family to provide some cultivation resources."

Ding!

Suddenly, the communicator on his wrist rang. He opened it absentmindedly.

But the moment he saw the message on the communicator, he sprang up from the sofa...