"For our first lesson today, we'll cover the prologue."
Without any unnecessary pleasantries or chatter, Xie Ming launched straight into the lecture. Outside his research hours, he positively radiated the air of someone stuck at work.
Although it was a theory class, the classroom was quiet, and every student listened attentively. No one zoned out or fell asleep.
When it came to something as life-or-death as exploring the Ancient Wilderness, no one would take it lightly.
The humanities knowledge students learned on School District Planet mainly prepared them for algorithms and did not cover deeper knowledge of the Ancient Wilderness. Even if the children of financial conglomerates had access to more information than they did, the most cutting-edge research on the Ancient Wilderness was always at the Awakener Academy.
"...Besides world depth, the academic consensus is that traces of a unique civilization once existed in the Ancient Wilderness. However, because another important property of the Ancient Wilderness is that it is 'unrecordable,' our research into its culture remains very superficial."
"We can only categorize and summarize it through descriptions. Because our perspectives are always limited, you could say that in all these thousands of years, we have never truly seen the Ancient Wilderness."
At this, many students in the class looked puzzled.
The moment Xie Ming paused, someone immediately asked:
"Instructor, how can it be unrecordable? If it's unrecordable, how do we have our current knowledge of the Ancient Wilderness?"
Xie Ming had anticipated this question and was not surprised at all. He said evenly, "By recording, I mean accurate recording. Your class is rather special, since all of you have entered the Ancient Wilderness. Now use the 'memory painting' function on your smart terminals to make an imprint of your memories of the Ancient Wilderness."
As its name suggested, memory painting was an advanced brainwave imaging technology that could produce imprints of images from a user's memories.
The technology drew on subconscious memories, and could sometimes reproduce images that the users themselves felt they had not remembered.
Puzzled, the students did as instructed, and soon cried out in surprise. "How is this possible?!"
Wen Jing also examined the imprint she had just made of her memories of the Ancient Wilderness.
The image was pitch-black, with nothing but chaotic lines devoid of any logic. Everyone else had the same result as her.
Then she tried making an imprint of a memory from reality and obtained an ultra-high-definition photograph.
"Although the senses of many of your wilderness bodies differ greatly from your human senses, you can still tell how different this is from your actual memories, right?" Xie Ming's voice rang out.
Wen Jing nodded instinctively. Her wilderness body had no eyes, but could sense light and heat. The world she "saw" merely lacked the concept of color; it still had light and darkness, somewhat like thermal imaging.
Xie Ming continued, "And I can tell you that as your compatibility increases in the future, the senses of your wilderness bodies and human bodies will become compatible. But even when Awakened with 100% compatibility make imprints of their memories of the Ancient Wilderness, the results are the same as yours now."
"This doesn't only apply to accurate records in the form of memories. In the future, as you grow stronger and enter regions with greater world depth, you may find writing and totems. Those cannot be recorded either, or even brought back to the material universe. If you don't believe me, you can try it yourselves when the time comes."
Seeing the thoroughly shaken expressions on all the students' faces, Xie Ming finally found a little amusement amid the misery of working.
He smiled. "Then you'll discover that you can record the fact that you 'saw a certain kind of writing or a particular totem in the Ancient Wilderness.' You can also describe your experiences there through speech and writing, using phenomena and scenes from our reality to simulate them. But you will never be able to make a truly objective and accurate record of them."
"No medium can do it-not the central computer, materials from the Ancient Wilderness, paper... none of them."
"Why is that?" someone pressed.
"We don't know. Perhaps it's a law of the universe, perhaps some unknown, mysterious power, or perhaps... it is simply an intrinsic property of the Ancient Wilderness." Xie Ming sighed, sweeping his gaze over the room. "I hope that someday, one of you sitting here will be the person who provides that answer."
By the end of the lesson, many students were visibly moved, and Wen Jing was no exception.
She had once thought that, over thousands
of years,
with so many Awakened and research teams studying it, the fact that the Ancient Wilderness was still described as "full of mysteries and unknowns" meant a deliberately imposed class barrier to establish a monopoly on knowledge.
She had never expected the truth to be that the Ancient Wilderness itself possessed a property that prevented accurate recording.
After the lesson ended, Xie Ming did not leave immediately, but instead walked over to Wen Jing.
The students around her stopped on their way out of the classroom and cast curious looks over.
Wen Jing was surprised too. "Instructor, is something the matter?"
Could there have been a problem with those materials from last time? I don't offer after-sales service.
But Xie Ming brought up something else. Looking at Wen Jing enthusiastically, he said, "I only just learned that your wilderness body is actually an insect. I'd like you to assist me with a research project. Don't worry, there's no danger, and you'll be paid. I can give you a hundred thousand..."
Halfway through, he saw Wen Jing suddenly narrow her eyes and open her mouth to speak. Xie Ming waved a hand helplessly. "All right, all right, I'll give you one point. Are you free tomorrow?"
"No problem!" Wen Jing agreed immediately.
The curious onlookers understood after hearing their conversation, then started trying to poach the job. "Instructor, what research do you need help with? I can do it too!"
Xie Ming shook his head in refusal. "I've looked through your information. Only her wilderness body meets my requirements."
Hearing this, everyone could only disperse regretfully.
At the same time, Yu Yang approached again, followed by the five students who had been talking with him nearby earlier.
However, only Yu Yang had been Wen Jing's classmate on School District Planet. The other five were from other schools. They had heard her name, but had never met her before awakening.
After their brief interactions, they found that Wen Jing did not seem as difficult to get along with as the rumors claimed.
Another reason was that all of them were F-rank. The gap between them and Wen Jing had once been so vast that they could only look up to her. Now that they were university classmates, their resentment and competitive feelings were not as strong as those of people whose rankings had been close to hers.
They had already discussed things among themselves before approaching. Now Yu Yang took the lead. "Wen Jing, um... we'd like to... go to the welcome party with you. Would that be okay?"
Yu Yang was so nervous that his face flushed red, and he stumbled over every word. A girl beside him could not bear to watch and waved him aside.
The girl strode forward, lowering her head over her clasped hands, and pleaded in textbook fashion, "Big shot, please protect us!"
After she spoke, they all tensed up nervously, until Wen Jing's voice rang out.
"Sure."
Her ready answer sounded like heavenly music to the six of them, and they all let out huge sighs of relief.
Although they were also Awakened with F-rank potential, they knew they lacked Wen Jing's talent and strength. One of them had even been injured in the Ancient Wilderness and was still carrying an IV bottle around.
They had thought it through. Even if Wen Jing could not protect them in the end, there would be nothing they could do about being hazed. At least this was better than doing nothing.
After class, Wen Jing and her group timed their arrival at the venue for the welcome party.
It was an enormous, luxurious activity center. Its multistory structure resembled a Rubik's Cube, with walls and floors made of glass. This special glass could have its color and reflectivity adjusted at will, and could also change into several different shapes. Besides welcome parties, many of the academy's recreational and social events were held here.
It was afternoon, and the glass had turned a gradient of orange-red, glowing together with the lingering sunset, luxurious and dreamlike.
Stepping inside felt even more like entering a palace made of fantastical light and shadow.
"Welcome."
"Huh? You two?" Yu Yang stared in surprise at the two servers greeting them.
These two were not strangers, but classmates who had attended the same lesson as them not long ago. Both were even Awakened with E-rank potential.
Even more absurdly, neither was wearing a school uniform. One wore a leopard-print bodysuit, while the other wore a feathered bodysuit, each outfit corresponding to their respective wilderness bodies.
The girl in the feathered bodysuit looked reasonably sexy, but the muscular man in the leopard-print bodysuit was a real eyesore.
Seeing the group stop, the two gave them unfriendly looks, but they clearly had reservations and maintained their fake smiles. "If you're here, hurry up and go inside."
"But... didn't you join the student council?"
Yu Yang and the others looked baffled. In their eyes, joining the student council was equivalent to obtaining a get-out-of-jail-free card for this welcome party. Why were these two still in this situation?
The two urged them impatiently, "Working as servers at this event is our assessment. Hurry inside. Don't block the way."
"Assessment?"
The group gaped in astonishment. Wen Jing could not help inwardly snarking, Good thing I unsubscribed from that recruitment ad back then. Are you the student council or the Illuminati?!
Seeing their expressions, the bodysuit duo sneered. "Heh, you don't think we've got it that bad, do you?"
At those words, Yu Yang and the others abruptly caught on, and their scalps tingled.
That was right. Even E-rank freshmen who had joined the student council were wearing bodysuits and serving at the welcome party. Wouldn't they, the "main course," be subjected to an even harsher cooking?
At that thought, the group, who had believed themselves fully mentally prepared, fell apart again. They practically wanted to turn around and leave.
But then they thought of the cost of offending the student council...
Before they could sink into hesitation and indecision, Wen Jing had already continued forward as though nothing were wrong.
Seeing this, they gritted their teeth and hurried after her.
The group passed through a passage of shimmering, multicolored arrows, and the view suddenly opened up before them.
The enormous event hall, as large as a football field, was bustling with activity. There was an indoor pool, all kinds of games, buffet tables, a bar... and servers in distinctive bodysuits weaving among them.
On the stage in the center of the hall, a crowd of entertainment robots was playing instruments and singing, performing energetic songs and dances.
Of course, the performers were not the robots doing errenzhuan folk duets that Wen Jing had seen in her previous life, but fluid robots full of graceful curves.