Nirvana

Lu Yan'an was actually quite surprised himself; he hadn't expected that the first step to learning how to resolve life's dilemmas would be to study scientific disciplines.

"I've been out of high school for so many years, yet here I am picking up math textbooks again!" he sighed. In his past life, his aptitude for science and engineering had always been decent; he had followed the standard path, getting into an undergraduate program and then passing the exams for graduate school. He never imagined that after all these years, he would have to start learning mathematics from scratch.

Slowly flipping through the textbooks on his optical computer, Lu Yan'an gradually entered the zone. On the foundation of numbers, there were concepts like integers, decimals, and fractions. There were also different ways to categorize numbers, such as prime numbers, rational numbers, and irrational numbers. He had already mastered these mathematical foundations in his past life, so he breezed through them without spending much time.

However, when he truly reached the more unfamiliar territory of cosmic geometry, his reading speed began to slow down. Well, it dropped from an efficiency of ten pages per second to five pages per second. After all, it was a new field he had never encountered before...

Gradually, Lu Yan'an's reading speed continued to decline. By the time he reached the later chapters on higher-dimensional spatial geometry, he even had to stop and ponder for a full day before he could continue reading.

The situation was clear: Lu Yan'an's Star-level brain could no longer comprehend knowledge beyond a certain limit. He had hit the knowledge barrier of the Star level! After reaching a point where he couldn't continue learning a certain subject, Lu Yan'an discovered the problem himself. He began to shift his strategy, deciding not to bash his head against the wall of mathematics, and instead moved on to physics...

Force, motion, energy, rigid bodies, waves, gases, thermodynamics, vacuum, electricity, magnetism, light, mass-energy, space, time...

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, three months had passed. Lu Yan'an had constructed the framework of his scientific system, reaching the limit of what a Star-level scholar could achieve!

At this point, he began the in-depth instruction from the Great Scholar.

"Possessing sufficiently powerful logical thinking skills, you can now begin the subsequent humanities studies. We will start by looking at individual life stories to see how others resolve their life dilemmas." The refined man began his continued instruction.

Teaching step by step! As a Star-level cosmic lifeform, Lu Yan'an's brain was quite well-developed, and his speed and efficiency in learning were nothing short of rapid! Yet, even so, it took an entire year for Lu Yan'an to fully complete the Great Scholar's curriculum.

"You have completed the entire course. If you have any confusion regarding the lessons, you can come find me again." In the Virtual Universe, the refined man's expression was gentle. "I am very satisfied with your learning progress. If you are interested in truly embarking on the path of a cosmic scholar in the future, you can come find me! My name is Meng Yu," the refined man, or rather, the Great Scholar Meng Yu, said with a smile.

"Of course, if you are satisfied with the course, please leave a five-star review." A voice with a hint of playfulness rang out, and then, Great Scholar Meng Yu logged off.

Great Scholar Meng Yu's course was absolutely worth more than the price of admission, and Lu Yan'an gave it a five-star review on the spot.

Lu Yan'an sat in the shade of a tree on the beach, looking around. He felt comfortable, sensing that his perception of the world had undergone a complete transformation. After finishing his studies, his understanding of his own life, and even the entire universe, had become much clearer.

"The so-called ability to predict the future and win battles from thousands of miles away... is actually just a form of deduction." Lu Yan'an realized. "Those supreme strategists have a clear understanding of everything, from the world at large down to the various factions and groups. They understand the love and hatred hidden beneath interpersonal relationships and can deduce the final answer based on all sorts of elements!" It was like the son of the richest man making an investment; as long as his father didn't run into trouble, it was easy to deduce that this rich second-generation heir was likely an "investment genius."

Of course, that only counted as the difficulty level of addition and subtraction.

But when elevated to the level of war between nations, the difficulty was several orders of magnitude higher than such simple single-cause deduction!

It required comprehensive deduction that took into account the entire global situation, complex relationships, military capabilities of all sides, the combat styles of army commanders, and even factors like weather, environment, and food supplies. This kind of grand perspective was what made some people gods of war, victorious in every battle, while others were fools who met their end halfway!

"I am still far from being such a top-tier strategist, but I now possess a self-awareness I never had before!" Lu Yan'an thought to himself.

Self-awareness was the most critical step in positioning oneself, and it was also the first step to breaking through life's dilemmas. By clarifying one's own position and the resources at one's disposal, one could then proceed with the normal process of resolving a situation.

"I feel I can continue the trial of the Stairs of Sinking!" After nearly a year and a half of coursework, Lu Yan'an clearly felt his own transformation; both his thinking methods and his logical reasoning abilities had seen a leap in improvement.

Thus, he began to contact Lord Shen and returned to the front of the Stairs of Sinking.

In front of the massive, towering purple pyramid-shaped structure, after a year and a half, Lu Yan'an had returned to this familiar place. Compared to the immaturity he showed a year and a half ago, Lu Yan'an now appeared much more composed, and his temperament was no longer the sharp, exposed edge of the past. He was now like a sheathed longsword; while plain and simple on the surface, a chilling sharpness lay hidden beneath the scabbard!

Lu Yan'an appeared at the base of the purple pyramid, looked up at the thousand steps of the towering structure, and muttered, "Let's begin!"

With that, he leaped and landed steadily on the first step.

The power of the illusion swept over him, the scene before his eyes began to change, and his consciousness began to sink. It was still the familiar office desk, and Lu Yan'an sat there, looking at the computer in front of him.

"Xu Yuan's dilemma..." Lu Yan'an felt the memories being transmitted once again. Previously, they had caused Lu Yan'an such a headache that he had felt helpless. But now, everything was as clear as peeling silk from a cocoon. Sensing the difference in his own state compared to before, Lu Yan'an chuckled and began to analyze.

"The essence of Xu Yuan's unemployment, his father's illness, and the bank's collapse all had one core: 'money.' Under such relatively stable social conditions, the problem of 'money' is not a problem at all for a trial-taker like me." After undergoing the systematic training provided by Great Scholar Meng Yu, a series of solutions immediately surfaced in Lu Yan'an's mind for this situation.

Xu Yuan's family relationships were already very good, and his wife was the gentle, soft-spoken type. It was just that the series of sudden mishaps had violently destroyed this home!

"Then let's begin!" Lu Yan'an opened a stock trading website on the internet and began to use the mathematical models he had learned in cosmic finance to construct models for every popular stock. Using these mathematical models, he began a slaughter in the financial market, and in less than half a year, through a series of short-selling and leverage, he rolled his wealth snowball up to over a hundred million!

Seeing through the essence of the problem and having the ability to solve it—this was the current Lu Yan'an. Compared to his previous ignorance, he was now a qualified strategist. Although he was still a bit green on the scale of the universe, there was no doubt that he had successfully embarked on this path!

The subsequent development of events was predictable. With over a hundred million in funds, Xu Yuan quickly resolved all the problems his family had encountered. And when he caught the bank manager who had fled, the illusion shattered with a boom, and Lu Yan'an successfully broke through the first level!

Standing on the first step, Lu Yan'an felt a complex mix of emotions. Having experienced this trial, he realized his own changes even more profoundly! His ability to skillfully utilize the resources at hand and his powerful personal capabilities were all proof of his complete transformation! Shaking his head, he didn't dwell on it and continued to move upward.

Immediately after, the scene shifted again...

The second level of the illusion struck. This time, Lu Yan'an became a warlord in ancient times, and the mission requirement was for him to annex a surrounding city. He looked at the remnants of his defeated troops and could only sigh.

There was no choice; he had to do it! Following the instructor's guerrilla tactics—"When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy retreats, we advance; when the enemy camps, we harass; when the enemy is tired, we attack"—he began to slowly annex the small factions around him, avoiding the large ones directly. He strengthened his own side, united his own people! He avoided the strong and struck the weak! He kept maneuvering.

In three months, he took his remnants of less than a hundred people and built a force of nearly ten thousand! He had nearly three times the manpower of the city's warlord. Overnight, he pressured the city defenses, incited defections, and completed the mission without shedding a drop of blood! As the city fell, the illusion dissipated...

"Finally passed the second level of the illusion! This second level was much harder than the first." Lu Yan'an sat down to rest for a moment. His brain had been turning non-stop for over three months, and even with his Star-level strength, he was feeling the strain.

Two hours later, he finished his rest and stepped onto the third step...

One level of illusion after another.

This was also a form of practice. Gradually, he became more and more proficient in facing various dilemmas.

Although there were accidents and failures in general, he was already very familiar with this situation—log off at the speed of light! As long as I am fast enough, the penalty debuff for failing the breakthrough won't be able to catch up to me!

Time flowed like water.

Finally, Lu Yan'an broke through the 999th step and was about to reach this final challenge!