Scholar World

As a Star Level being, Lu Yan'an had a terrifying capacity for learning. As he read books on his Light Brain, he could take in the words at a glance and retain them in his memory. A more careful read was usually enough for him to memorize them completely. But he didn't rely on his powerful memory to skim through books; instead, he made sure to memorize everything he read first, then think it over several times.

In just seven days, he had read all seven books, memorized them completely, and understood their contents. In the process, he'd gained plenty of new insights.

"Your progress is pretty average!" Lord Shen sat nearby, looking at Lu Yan'an's progress and making a snide remark.

"But I suppose you pass, barely! Tsk, you're only a little Star Level guy, after all. Your level of life is too low." Lord Shen still wasn't particularly satisfied, but it didn't say anything to discourage Lu Yan'an. As an Immortal Expert and an intelligent life-form, it could read and memorize all seven books with a single sweep of its spiritual power! But it clearly realized how great the gap between them was, and didn't say anything else.

"I am only Star Level, after all. I'm sure my learning ability will improve once I break through in the future." Lu Yan'an went along with Lord Shen's line of thought.

"Actually, I should have waited until you reached World Lord Level before letting you study this material. But by then, your path would have been set, and you wouldn't be able to follow the path of an Illusion Martial Artist. Starting now might not be as efficient as studying at World Lord Level, but that doesn't really matter. You can keep learning over time. After all, learning is a lifelong process." Lord Shen resumed its usual rambling.

"Come on, I'll take you to the Virtual Universe for the next stage of your studies!" Lord Shen beckoned, ready to log in.

But when it turned around, it saw Lu Yan'an looking troubled, his face full of reluctance. It immediately guessed what was on his mind and smiled at him. "Don't worry. The time's up now. You'll only be incontinent for seven days."

Without waiting for a response, Lord Shen logged in. Beside it, Lu Yan'an took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and, with a tragic look on his face, pressed the button to log in...

Virtual Universe.

Scholar World.

This was where Lord Shen had brought Lu Yan'an.

"Scholar World is the top-ranked virtual world for knowledge," Lord Shen said as they walked along a broad street. "The academic atmosphere here is strong. Strength doesn't matter; all that counts is your academic achievement. It's one of the few unusual worlds in the Virtual Universe!"

As if remembering something, Lord Shen added, "But don't go around offending people here, understand?"

Seeing Lu Yan'an nod obediently, it continued its introduction. "Strength may not matter here, but remember: only Immortal Experts have eternal life. To keep their research from being limited by their lifespans, most scholars have reached extremely high levels of cultivation, either through their own efforts or with the help of rare treasures."

"Take a random stone and throw it down on this street, and you'll hit a Domain Lord, several World Lords, or even an Immortal Expert!" Lord Shen paused, speaking in a teasing tone.

"I bought you a course." Lord Shen opened its personal system interface and spent a hefty sum of Immortal Coins—the currency used among Immortals—to purchase a course package.

"The human race of the universe is an enormous population, and with so many people, all kinds of challenges in life are bound to arise. So courses on how to deal with life's challenges are very popular. The course package I bought is taught by a great scholar! The quality of the teaching is excellent."

Lord Shen explained this to Lu Yan'an. It had spent quite a bit this time. Any course in Scholar World bearing the "great scholar" label was bound to be expensive. Besides, courses could only be purchased in Scholar World. Once someone left this virtual world, the Virtual Universe System would automatically delete all the courses they'd purchased, to protect the interests of the great scholars.

A great scholar was someone in Scholar World whose knowledge in a particular field had reached a certain level. Every great scholar was an Immortal. In Scholar World, you could say that every great scholar was an Immortal, but not every Immortal was a great scholar!

Lu Yan'an nodded, looking at Lord Shen with gratitude.

Scholar World offered many ways to learn. Which method should he choose? What courses did he need? What kind of teacher? Without Lord Shen's guidance, Lu Yan'an might have been swallowed up by the vast torrent of knowledge! Following its advice would let him learn as efficiently as theoretically possible.

"Hello, I'm your teacher for the course 'Solving Life's Challenges'!" A refined-looking man with a warm, welcoming air appeared before Lu Yan'an and said with a smile, "I'll be teaching you one-on-one from now on. I hope you'll find your own solutions to life's challenges through my course."

Lu Yan'an nodded.

The two of them appeared on a beach.

The refined man said to Lu Yan'an, "As members of the human race of the universe, we all encounter different kinds of challenges over the course of our long lives. Figuring out how to deal with them is a very important subject."

"To become extremely capable of solving life's challenges, you must first have strong logical thinking skills. That's the foundation for solving problems," the refined man said.

"Logical thinking skills?" Lu Yan'an thought it over for a while, then nodded slightly.

Logical thinking was the foundation for dealing with trouble. When reading a book, for instance, you first had to read it before you could judge whether it was good or bad. Without the act of reading, you couldn't distill, assess, and summarize your own views. You could only follow in other people's footsteps and parrot what they said.

"You need to analyze your predicament and identify the factors that caused it. Then think about what conditions you can make use of, what conditions you can create, and how to solve the problem," the refined man said. "All of that takes logical thinking. And that's exactly what most people lack! This is the first step, and also the most important one!"

The refined man paused, then continued:

"Choosing the right direction is the most important part of solving a problem. If you start off in the wrong direction, all your efforts will be wasted, no matter how hard you work."

Lu Yan'an felt fortunate to have met such a great scholar as soon as he entered Scholar World, someone who could chart the course of his scholarly journey. He didn't know how many coins Lord Shen had spent, but he felt it was worth it. This was only the beginning, yet he'd already found his path as a scholar in the few words at the start of the course. No wonder the teacher was a great scholar!

The great scholar continued:

"Before I begin the next part of the course, you need to brush up on the fundamentals of science. I've prepared a syllabus for you. From now on, you'll need to complete the tasks on it as I instruct you. After that, we can continue the lessons!"

As he spoke, the great scholar waved his hand and sent all the fundamental knowledge Lu Yan'an would need, along with a syllabus, to his Light Brain. Then the great scholar left...

Now alone on the beach, Lu Yan'an looked at the list with a helpless expression. He realized he was about to return to the packed schedule he'd had as a student on Earth. The list covered an astonishing range of subjects, from basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to building a spaceship with his bare hands. Even with his Star Level brain, just looking at all that material made his head spin.

There was nothing for it. He'd just have to study like crazy! But Lu Yan'an wasn't ungrateful. He understood that if he completed the course and trained his ability to solve life's challenges under this great scholar's guidance, he would make a huge breakthrough! It might not change his strength, but it would certainly be a leap forward in his cultivation as an Illusionist!

Time to get grinding! Lu Yan'an was already exceptional, and he had a Star Level brain to boot. Combined, those qualities made him incredibly efficient at absorbing knowledge.

As he studied day after day, time flew by...