Chapter 13

[Secret technique: Mental Imprinting (elective), +50 credits, price: 50 points]

Judging by the credits earned from studying these courses, the points they cost were not "equivalent."

After all, buying a course meant spending the points, but earning credits required verification that you had mastered the ability.

Those courses that seemed like "good value" probably did not make it so easy to earn credits.

Following the little shopping cart attached to the courses, Wen Jing unwittingly opened a shopping website with "Points Store" written across the top.

Here, Wen Jing saw even more things, a dazzling assortment. Anything an Awakened could use was available.

[Rapid Algorithm Flagship Edition, limited-time offer: 998 points]

[Up to 80% compatibility with thermal-radiation abilities! Exclusive Flame Blade instructional video, 45 points]

[Ancient Wilderness Locator Stone, suitable for Awakened of F rank and above, prices starting at 400 points]

[Aether Medium, bulk sale: 500 g/1 point]

[Blood Orchid, can treat all wilderness body injuries below C rank, bidding starts at 6,500 points]

Everything was for sale, from algorithms and exclusive instructional videos sold by Awakened to precious resources from the Ancient Wilderness and supplementary materials... and all of it could only be purchased with points, not credit currency.

Wen Jing also saw a window for exchanging points for credit currency. Each point could be exchanged for 100,000 credits, but there was no channel for exchanging credit currency for points.

Fortunately, Dean Bai had reminded her to choose points-there would certainly be people exchanging points for credit currency, but it would definitely be a seller's market, with a premium guaranteed.

Shaking her head, she closed the tantalizing store and began looking into ways to earn points.

Aside from trading, the most direct way to obtain points was still to increase her academic credits.

Every thirty days after enrollment, each class would tally its rankings, and the three students with the most academic credits would receive points as rewards.

Every 120 days, each year group would hold a ranking competition. Students would receive academic credits and points according to their results, with the top ten receiving the most points.

In the middle of every year came the biggest event of all, the [Academy League], which brought together students from all three academies. Placing well in it would earn an even greater quantity of academic credits and points, enough to create an enormous gap in academic credits.

The reason winter entrants were said to be at a disadvantage, and plutocratic families rarely had children in winter, was that winter entrants had only half a year to grow between enrollment and the league, yet had to compete against students who had studied several additional quarters.

Reading this, she recalled the six-month appointment ■■■ had mentioned aboard the spaceship. So this league was what it referred to.

"So now I'm going around in circles!"

Wen Jing could not help complaining.

Even the nearest class ranking tally was thirty days away. To earn the points awarded to the top three in class, she first needed academic credits.

To earn academic credits, she first needed to earn points to buy electives.

"Are there any other ways to earn academic credits?"

Soon, the student handbook gave her the answer-challenge the Trial Tower.

The Trial Tower was advanced technology found only in awakener academies. The ordinary version used for entertainment was called virtual space, while the Trial Tower was a more advanced [virtual reality].

Dying in combat inside it would not affect the real body. Virtual space could actually do that too, but what made virtual reality special was its ability to synchronize an Awakened's energy, allowing them to use various combat skills and secret techniques inside.

In turn, it could also simulate opponents of the same level, making it an excellent place to measure an Awakened's overall strength.

Everyone could challenge the Trial Tower three times each month, with academic credits awarded based on their highest score.

At the same time, the enemies inside the Trial Tower were updated every month. Simply "memorizing a guide" would not earn academic credits.

"Interesting." Wen Jing's eyes lit up.

Since she had three attempts, she decided to give it a try now.

The Trial Tower could not be accessed through a smart terminal. She had to visit a designated location and use specialized equipment. Without delay, she changed into her new school uniform and headed out.

Ten minutes later, following the navigation, Wen Jing reached the "Trial Tower Center," an oval building full of futuristic flair.

Red Earth Academy was enormous, and many places, including its roads, felt empty, but people streamed through here. There were numerous entrances and exits, and the place looked very lively.

The moment she entered the lobby, she drew a great many gazes.

The first-year students present, in particular, quickly opened their smart terminals after a brief moment of shock and frantically sent messages out-

Wen Jing had come to challenge the Trial Tower!

Chapter 13

The Trial Tower lobby.

Sensing the various complicated, strange looks around her, Wen Jing was not surprised. After all, she had already experienced this once after awakening.

Most students at Red Earth Academy who came from the school district planet knew her or had heard of her.

Sweeping her gaze around and seeing that no one was stepping forward to provoke her, she simply ignored those looks and followed the student handbook's instructions to apply for a Trial Tower challenge.

Her smart terminal automatically took a number and joined the queue. Few people came to challenge it at the beginning of the month, and before long, a device became available for Wen Jing.

"Please proceed to port 1132 in Zone D to begin your Trial Tower challenge."

The lobby led to separate areas housing the equipment ports. There were no staff members; a virtually projected robot guided her.

"Please put the device on your head."

Unexpectedly, the port took the form of a helmet, with a soft reclining chair for one beside it.

Wen Jing lay down and put on the helmet. It felt very much like a scene from a movie in her previous life.

The next moment, two cool, soft contact components extended from either side of the helmet. She instinctively closed her eyes, and the scene before her instantly changed. She stood in a vast, boundless space.

"It really does deserve to be called virtual reality..."

Wen Jing looked around with curiosity. There were no suns or stars in the "sky" here. The most conspicuous feature was a pure black polygonal tower not far away; every other direction, along with the sky, was pure white.

The ground beneath her feet was a mirrored surface, clearly reflecting her figure and the black tower opposite her.

She walked toward the tower, her footsteps sending faint rings of ripples across the mirrored surface.

"Current Trial Tower floor: first floor."

"Gatekeeper multiplier: 1×."

As Wen Jing stepped through the tower's pitch-black doorway, an electronically synthesized voice sounded in the sky.

The surroundings changed again. She appeared in an enormous arena built of pure white stone, surrounded by high circular walls. The spectator seats at the very top were empty.

Directly opposite her in the arena, a figure in black robes stood quietly, its face indistinct.

As she stepped into the battlefield's bounds, there was no unnecessary conversation. Energy fluctuations rose from the black-robed figure.

The next moment, the figure attacked her like a ghost.

Wen Jing dodged left, pouring the energy inside her into both legs and sharply increasing her speed.

Whoosh!

An invisible energy longsword swept past her right shoulder, leaving a neat cut in the virtual fabric before it automatically repaired itself.

It's actually a weapon formed by projecting and condensing energy... Wen Jing was inwardly startled.

As compatibility increased, an Awakened's body would synchronize with the wilderness body's higher-dimensional energy. The stronger the wilderness body, the greater the energy intensity. It was like an Awakened's "mana bar," and also the most direct measure of an Awakened's strength rank.

The generated gatekeeper before her had a multiplier of one, meaning its energy intensity was exactly the same as hers, the challenger.

At her current stage, Wen Jing knew only the most instinctive, basic way of applying energy: concentrating it at the point of exertion to enhance her strength, just as she had when dodging.

Her opponent, however, could project energy outward and condense it into invisible weapons.

This was clearly a combat skill.

Unlike an Awakened's innate ability, combat skills and secret techniques were universal methods of using energy that all Awakened could learn.

Excitement shone in Wen Jing's eyes. She abruptly stepped forward, concentrating energy in her right fist and driving it straight at the gatekeeper's chest.

That punch could pierce an alloy steel plate, yet an invisible shield suddenly appeared twenty centimeters from her opponent and blocked it.

"It can even control the changes in shape. Then... not good!"

Her pupils contracted, and she used the recoil to retreat urgently.

Energy fluctuated again in the black-robed gatekeeper's hands. With a sweep of its free left hand, a long saber instantly took shape.

The saber slashed toward her, while the shield on the right also transformed into a long saber and descended, one fast and one slow, making them almost impossible to guard against.

Instantly forced onto the defensive, Wen Jing alternately strengthened her legs to leap, her waist and abdomen to twist, and her arms to block... pushing all her fighting skills to the limit as she finely controlled the energy within her, wasting not the slightest bit.

They chased and pressed each other through nearly a hundred exchanges. Through their brief clashes, Wen Jing captured the frequency of the energy fluctuations when the gatekeeper's weapons changed shape.

At that instant, a corresponding proficiency bar immediately appeared on the panel in her consciousness.

[Combat skill: ???-Proficiency: 1%]

But Wen Jing did not let herself get distracted, focusing fully on gathering information about her enemy:

The fast and slow blades were difficult to predict, but there was a brief period of stability after every transformation;

The larger the weapon it condensed, the longer it took;

The weapons had never left its hands.

"Just about enough..."

The energy inside Wen Jing was almost depleted. She put some distance between herself and the gatekeeper, but her movements were visibly slowing.

Seeing this, her opponent transformed its weapon into a spear and thrust it toward her with lightning speed.

Now!

A sharp gleam flashed in Wen Jing's eyes. She unleashed all the energy inside her without reservation, her legs, waist, and abdomen exerting force at once. At the cost of the spear grazing away a strip of flesh beneath her left ribs, she surged right up to the gatekeeper.

The energy swiftly transferred to her right fist. Cracking sounds came from her entire arm, and the energy almost burst out of her body, forming a tangible layer.