Reinforcement Pillar!

By ten o'clock the next day, all the students were present in the classroom.

However, the female teacher was late and hadn't shown up yet.

At this point, the students began to chat.

Although there were ten people, only a few were actually talking.

Among them were Lin Xia and Xu Jian.

"Holy crap, look at Liu Yucheng's dark circles, he looks like a panda. Did this guy stay up all night?"

Xu Jian whispered.

"He probably did. I wonder if he made it to Bronze,"

Lin Xia nodded and asked curiously.

"No, I'm sure of that."

Xu Jian put on an expression of seeing through everything and leaned closer, "When I woke up this morning, I saw him sitting on his bed looking annoyed, his face uglier than if he'd eaten shit, and he was muttering something. If he had made it to Bronze, how could he possibly look like this?

I told you long ago, at this stage, it's impossible for anyone to reach Bronze!"

"But you said yesterday that I had a chance to do it."

Lin Xia's entire face was glowing, looking energetic and vibrant.

Of course, there was also a hint of a mischievous smile.

"I was just saying it casually."

Xu Jian waved his hand, "It's absolutely impossible for anyone to do it!"

"Oh, really."

Lin Xia stopped talking and sat up straight, waiting for the teacher's arrival.

Zhu Tingyu, who was sitting alone in the front row, seemed to have overheard their conversation, and a flash of light crossed her eyes.

"Sorry, everyone, I was delayed by something on the way."

At this moment, accompanied by the sound of high heels hitting the floor, the female teacher hurried in.

She stood on the podium, panting, and scanned the students. Seeing that everyone was present, she nodded with satisfaction.

"My name is Xiao Ya, and I've been the homeroom teacher for five years...

...Now, let's begin the lesson."

After introducing herself, Teacher Xiao Ya turned and wrote the words [The Path to Becoming Stronger for Awakened Ones] on the blackboard.

Then, she drew two forks below it and wrote [Traditional Leveling] and [Card Enhancement].

"As an Awakened One, if you want to become stronger, it's nothing more than improving your own stats.

And there are only two ways to improve your stats.

The first is to enter a Secret Realm and level up by fighting monsters.

This method is very stable. As long as you don't rush for quick success and honestly challenge the corresponding Secret Realm according to your own strength, you will level up and thus improve your stats.

The other method is Card Enhancement.

Once this method is successful, your stats will not only increase quickly, but they will also increase more than leveling up!

But!"

Xiao Ya emphasized her tone at this point and tapped the blackboard to get the students' attention, as this was knowledge not taught in high school:

"Card Enhancement is limited to the summon cards you own.

By consuming material cards that only have an OVR value but cannot be used, you can charge the Reinforcement Pillar to complete the enhancement process.

No matter what kind of summon card you obtain, its initial state will be [Lv. 1 Enhancement].

And theoretically, cards can be enhanced up to [Lv. 13 Enhancement]!

Each successful enhancement will increase attributes, and there's also a chance to obtain [New Skills] and [Form Evolution]!

However, if a card enhancement fails, it will dissipate!"

As soon as Xiao Ya finished speaking, the classroom erupted in an uproar!

Lin Xia also gasped.

The cards would dissipate?!

Then wasn't card enhancement just a gamble?

Once it failed, it would be a huge loss!

No wonder he hadn't heard much about this kind of thing.

It seemed that the country was deliberately controlling card enhancement to prevent Awakened Ones from rushing in blindly, leading to failed enhancements and a significant drop in strength!

After all, Awakened Ones were strategic resources for the country!

"Whoosh~!"

With a wave of Teacher Xiao Ya's arm, a virtual screen appeared before her.

The screen displayed a three-dimensional image.

Within the image was a tall cylindrical object.

It was covered in strange patterns, and emitted a faint glow at regular intervals.

"This is a Reinforcement Pillar."

Teacher Xiao Ya explained, "After the anomaly three hundred years ago, these pillars grew all over the world. They are incredibly hard; even the strongest awakened individuals now cannot destroy them."

"Teacher, since the Reinforcement Pillars are so tall... why have I never seen one?"

A male classmate asked, raising his hand in confusion.

Following his lead, the rest of the class chimed in, stating they hadn't seen one either.

Seeing everyone's bewildered faces, Lin Xia felt relieved.

It seemed he wasn't the only one who hadn't seen the world.

Even Zhu Tingyu, who exuded an air of wealth, frowned.

"That's because projectors were installed around the Reinforcement Pillars, making the area invisible."

Teacher Xiao Ya's expression turned grim. "This is due to human greed. It's said that back then, many exceptionally talented awakened individuals, seeking shortcuts, blew up their precious cards until they were nothing but dust... ultimately shattering their Dao hearts and committing suicide!

Therefore, the Great Xia Empire and other major powers imposed extremely strict controls on Reinforcement Pillars, even completely prohibiting their use!

It was only in the last few years that our country began to gradually relax these controls."

As the teacher's words fell, the classroom fell into a dead silence.

The students shifted restlessly, their faces etched with insecurity.

They seemed to be asking themselves if they could resist the temptation of the Reinforcement Pillars when faced with it.

After all, traditional leveling up was not only slow but also carried the risk of death.

Whereas with card reinforcement, failure at most only resulted in losing the card.

Conversely, if reinforcement succeeded, the increase in strength would be far easier than fighting monsters to level up!

Lin Xia was also pondering this question.

But then, he seemed to recall something and asked:

"Teacher, is it because the Empire has made a breakthrough in the research of Reinforcement Pillars that its use is being opened up?"

Upon hearing this, the classmates frowned, confused as to why Lin Xia would ask that.

Then, they turned their gazes back to the podium.

To their surprise, the students saw that Teacher Xiao Ya's expression was one of shock, but it quickly shifted to admiration.

"Classmate Lin Xia is correct. According to our research, we discovered that Reinforcement Pillars have clear probabilities!

The success rates for 2-star to 6-star reinforcement are: 99%, 55%, 50%, 45%, and 35%!

As for 7-star and above... we have not yet determined clear probabilities.

So, my advice is, if you successfully reinforce your cards to 6-star, do not attempt to reinforce them further, as the probability of failure is high!"

"Heavens, the success rate drops drastically starting from 5-star!"

"You say that as if a 50% chance means you're guaranteed to succeed!"

"Yeah, you're worrying too far ahead. I feel like even 3-star is a matter of luck, and some unlucky people might even fail at the 99% chance of 2-star!"

"Hiss... that would be too tragic!"

As the teacher's words ended, the students began to discuss with grim expressions.

Some students even swore they would never touch a Reinforcement Pillar in their lives!

Lin Xia, however, furrowed his brow, resting his chin on his hand, recalling the system reward he hadn't awakened yet:

"Eye of Insight... could it be...?"