Pattern and World Trait

Li Qianjun said to Zhang Zhi with a grave expression, "This is no joke. If you're unwilling to be bait, I'll find a way to refuse on my end. At Seven Dragons Academy, I still have that much face."

Zhang Zhi nodded again to confirm, "With something this important, I definitely wouldn't joke about it."

Li Qianjun pressed, "How can you prove it?"

"Huh?" Zhang Zhi froze for a moment at that. Yeah, how do you prove something like this? It's not a game where a row of bright letters hangs over your head.

Then he recalled one of the achievement's effects and spoke up, "Oh, got it. If someone completes that achievement, the Trial Tower cooldown is halved. In Half a Month, I'll be able to enter the Trial Tower again. Does that count as proof?"

Hearing that Zhang Zhi could provide evidence, Li Qianjun's expression relaxed. "Good that you can prove it. By the way, don't tell anyone about the achievement halving the cooldown."

Seeing Zhang Zhi nod, Li Qianjun breathed a sigh of relief internally. "This matter is settled."

He sized up Zhang Zhi before him, finding him more agreeable the more he looked, and said, "Since there's nothing pressing, if you've run into any issues with cultivation or your Small World lately, feel free to ask me."

Zhang Zhi was overjoyed. "I actually do have quite a few questions lately."

"In the Trial Tower, I noticed that many humans aren't World Masters, and there are also plenty of alien races."

"What's the deal with that?"

Li Qianjun found it a bit odd. "These are all common knowledge about the Trial Tower. You should be able to find some related books in the library."

Zhang Zhi was even more puzzled. "I looked in the library, but I didn't find any books like that."

Li Qianjun thought for a moment, then nodded. "I think I know what's going on."

Seeing Zhang Zhi staring at him with curiosity, he said, "Those books were probably checked out."

"Checked out?"

"Yes, checked out. When you have time, go check out the Student Activity Center and you'll see."

"Over there, tons of Clubs/Societies are recruiting. Most of the common-knowledge books, especially ones related to the Trial Tower, have all been borrowed by those clubs."

"To get access to those books, you either join their club or pay a price to get them from them."

Zhang Zhi still asked in confusion, "But don't they have to return those books? Won't the club members leak the info? How does the academy allow this?"

Li Qianjun sighed lightly. "Clubs and families are often intertwined. If you have connections, you can work things out inside the library—before a book is even returned, it's already lent to the next person in the club."

"As for leaks, you should know about contracts and such. How could there be leaks?"

Zhang Zhi was a bit shocked. "Even for this kind of basic knowledge, they use contracts?"

Li Qianjun shook his head in denial. "No, it's not that. These common-knowledge books are just one part. Inside, there's a lot of experience and secrets accumulated by club members over generations. Naturally, those materials require contracts."

"But figuring out which materials are useful and which aren't—that's up to your own judgment."

Zhang Zhi understood in his heart: For Commoner World Masters just entering the academy, these materials were the most precious things. So those who couldn't afford the price would naturally join those so-called clubs and become tools in the families' hands.

After a moment of silence, he asked, "Is it like this at every school?"

Li Qianjun shook his head. "No. The closer you get to the center of the Main World, the less common this is."

Hearing that, Zhang Zhi said quietly, "I see. Out of sight, out of mind. No wonder some people collude with alien races—where there's oppression, there's resistance."

Li Qianjun seemed a bit reluctant to discuss it. "My family's Descendants also set up a club at the school. Tomorrow, I'll have someone send those materials over to you."

Zhang Zhi quickly bowed in thanks.

After thanking him, he thought to himself that he was probably seen as a genius in Li Qianjun's eyes by now, so being a bit more brilliant shouldn't hurt. Steeling himself, he asked directly:

"Your Excellency Li Qianjun, in the Trial Secret Realm, I heard another World Master mention that some people have Patterns on their World Beads. What is that Pattern? Why don't I have one?"

Li Qianjun, who had been sipping his tea, looked up sharply at Zhang Zhi's question, eyeing him with an unreadable expression before replying, "Some people do have Patterns on their World Beads. But that kind of Pattern is a reward from the Multiverse after achieving a Thousand World."

"That Pattern is called a Multiverse Rune. It gives a Small World all sorts of miraculous effects, which we call World Traits."

"For example, after I achieved my Lesser Thousand World, the trait I got was Wisdom. Its effect is that all creatures in my Small World become very intelligent. That's also my foundation for breaking through to the Middle Thousand World."

"And that's with my Small World's trait not matching my Small World's path very well."

"If it were a World Bead following the Demon Race or Beastman Path, having this trait would basically mean it's already a Middle Thousand World."

"Do you understand the effect of World Traits now?"

The question of the Pattern on the World Bead—the one that had been troubling Zhang Zhi—finally found someone who could answer it.

He slowly nodded. "From what you just said, only Thousand Worlds have this Pattern, and only they have World Traits?"

Li Qianjun set his teacup down slowly. "As far as I know, yes."

Seeing Zhang Zhi lost in thought, he continued, "If you're interested in this, there should be corresponding materials in the library. You can look them up—they list most World Traits and their corresponding Multiverse Runes."

Zhang Zhi said helplessly, "I went to the library before and didn't find any related materials."

Li Qianjun was briefly taken aback. "That shouldn't be. These are all Thousand World materials. Who would dare borrow them and not return them?"

Hearing that, Zhang Zhi countered quietly, "Thousand World materials? Shouldn't this be materials related to World Beads?"

At Zhang Zhi's words, Li Qianjun understood. "The catalog you searched before was probably related to World Beads, right? You looked in the wrong place. You should search for materials on Thousand Worlds. Those books generally aren't borrowed and kept."

Zhang Zhi suddenly realized. No wonder he couldn't find them—it was the wrong category.