Eye of Insight!

Lin Xia had overslept that morning. By the time he woke up, he had only a little over ten minutes to wash up and get to class.

As a result, Lin Xia hadn't awakened the [Eye of Insight] at all.

He planned to activate it after class, during his lunch break.

By now, the students in the classroom had gradually calmed down. They seemed to have accepted the Reinforcement Pillar's cruel odds.

Seeing this, Teacher Xiao Ya glanced up at the clock and realized class was about to end.

She cleared her throat and said:

"Class, the odds I mentioned earlier are only conclusions drawn by scientists after tens of thousands of observations. They aren't guaranteed to be absolutely accurate.

"The same goes for the [Card Padding Mechanism] I'm about to explain.

"Let's use Lin Xia as an example. After all, he already has a Summoning Card—and it's the most precious kind, an SSR-level card."

Teacher Xiao Ya's voice was incredibly gentle, and she looked at Lin Xia with undisguised admiration.

A sour atmosphere spread through the classroom.

The students made a show of clamoring "Wow!" but their eyes held only jealousy and resentment, not envy.

Of course, Xu Jian was the exception.

He was the only one holding both thumbs up, his face full of admiration and delight. He even looked a little smug, as if Lin Xia's good fortune reflected on him.

As for Zhu Tingyu and Liu Yucheng, one rested her head on her hand while the other stared at the blackboard. Neither looked at Lin Xia, but both wore expressions of longing.

Wu Ziyang, meanwhile, was sprawled across his desk as if asleep, without the slightest reaction.

"Suppose Lin Xia wants to reinforce this Card. It would then be called his Main Card.

"An SSR-level Main Card is incredibly precious. It would be such a waste if it got destroyed, wouldn't it?

"So, is there a way to increase the odds of successfully reinforcing a Main Card?"

Teacher Xiao Ya held up a slender finger and smiled. "There is. There's a method that can do just that.

"It's called the [Card Padding Mechanism]!

"We use Cards with low ratings, or ones we don't need, and let them get destroyed.

"That way, we increase the chances of succeeding on the next attempt.

"For example, Lin Xia's Card has already been reinforced to +5. Before trying for +6, he could use some useless Cards to deliberately trigger a streak of failures, greatly increasing his odds of reaching +6!"

"Teacher... Do you mean the Reinforcement Pillar has some sort of compensation mechanism?!"

Lin Xia had been listening closely, so he was the first to ask.

"Exactly!"

Teacher Xiao Ya's smile widened. She greatly admired Lin Xia's insight, which far surpassed that of his peers. Still, she emphasized, "Let me remind you again: the Card Padding Mechanism is only a hypothesis. It isn't guaranteed to be accurate. We humans know far too little about the secrets of the Reinforcement Pillar!"

"Ding-a-ling~!"

The bell rang.

Teacher Xiao Ya began packing up her textbooks and said, "Remember to gather at the secret realm entrance on time this afternoon. This is an important moment—it's when you'll obtain the first Summoning Card of your lives. Don't be late!

"Also, anyone who wants to reinforce a Card tonight can sign up...

"Tomorrow's lesson will be on [Formation Combinations and Stat Bonuses]!

"Class dismissed!"

After Teacher Xiao Ya left the classroom, the students got up and began packing their books.

"Come on, let's go grab some food!"

Xu Jian nudged Lin Xia with his elbow and raised an eyebrow.

"I've got something to take care of. Go ahead and bring me a meal."

After saying that, Lin Xia rushed out of the classroom without waiting for Xu Jian's response.

He wanted to activate the Eye of Insight as soon as possible.

"Hey!"

Lin Xia was running so fast that he bumped into Zhu Tingyu's shoulder at the doorway.

Faced with her resentful glare, Lin Xia nonchalantly blew her a kiss, apologized, and then turned and ran off.

"Ooh~"

The girl beside Zhu Tingyu covered her mouth, her face full of gossip. "There's something going on between you two, isn't there~~"

"N-No, there isn't!"

Zhu Tingyu had grown up surrounded by rich and powerful young men.

They pursued her with the refined manners of gentlemen in a movie.

Since she had never paid much attention to this sort of thing, Zhu Tingyu naturally assumed that only that kind of behavior meant someone liked her.

Lin Xia's carefree behavior... made it impossible for her to realize that he was interested in her too.

Back in his dorm room, Lin Xia locked the door and hurriedly opened the system panel to start the awakening process.

The next moment, he felt a warm current spread from the soles of his feet throughout his body, eventually gathering in his eyes.

Ten minutes later.

[Eye of Insight activated!]

[Eye of Insight: After use, you can see the next point at which the Reinforcement Pillar will successfully reinforce a Card!]

[Uses: 1/1]

[Gain 1 use every 24 hours. You can store up to 30 uses; any excess uses will be wasted!]

"Whoa..."

Lin Xia stared at the pop-up before him in disbelief. He could even feel his heart beating faster.

After a long while, Lin Xia finally recovered from his shock.

He unlocked the door in case someone came back, then sat on the bed, his thoughts returning to Teacher Xiao Ya's lesson.

"Every day, powerful people all over the world have their Main Cards destroyed when reinforcement fails, causing their strength to plummet..."

"Many Awakeners never dare to try reinforcing a Card in their entire lives, leaving their strength stuck at a bottleneck..."

"And I... can succeed at reinforcing a Card once every 24 hours, with 100% certainty?!"

Lin Xia swallowed. Even after all this time, he was still a little excited!

He was even itching to try out the Eye of Insight!

Teacher Xiao Ya had said that after the trip to the secret realm that afternoon, they could go to the Reinforcement Pillar!

Thinking of this, Lin Xia glanced at Vegeta's favorability bar.

"70%... Only 30% to go. I wonder if I can fill it up in the secret realm?"

"Looks like I'll have to show off more in the secret realm. I should try to make the Prince appear as soon as possible!"

As he planned out his goals for the afternoon, Lin Xia took off his shoes and lay down on the bed.

Just then, he frowned.

A strange noise was coming from beneath his pillow.

Lin Xia picked up the pillow, and his frown immediately eased.

Beneath it was a twenty-yuan Empire banknote.

There was no need to guess. Liu Yucheng had definitely put it there.

The guy clearly didn't want to owe him anything, not even the cost of a meal.

Lin Xia shrugged and slipped the banknote into his pocket.

A while later, his roommates returned one after another.

After eating the chicken leg rice Xu Jian had brought him, Lin Xia drifted off to sleep.

In the blazing summer heat, waves of warmth beat against the windows, trying to wake the sleeping students—lunch break passed in the blink of an eye.

"Let me pluck your heart out~~!!

"Try to melt it slowly~~!!"

Lin Xia was woken by the song blaring from the loudspeaker.

He muttered a complaint about the dorm supervisor's taste, then got up to wash.