By the next day, the results of the welcome party satisfaction survey were out.
This welcome party had received an unprecedentedly high approval rating!
Since the survey was anonymous, freshmen who had been pranked at past welcome parties would give low scores. The average had been pulled up by positive ratings from senior students and freshmen who had switched sides.
This time, however, all the freshmen gave positive ratings. Meanwhile, since the student council had organized the event, the autumn class couldn't give it low scores despite having tasted their own medicine, or they would only hurt themselves. This had led to the spectacular results.
Even the academy's logistics office sent the student council a congratulatory message, praising this year's welcome party and telling them to follow the same plan in the future.
Tan Wenshan was so furious that he lost control and smashed the printer that had printed the message.
Meanwhile, Wen Jing, the newly risen campus celebrity responsible for all this, was running through campus.
After running more than ten kilometers, she found her way with practiced ease to the research institute Dean Bai had once brought her to.
After class yesterday, she had agreed to help Xie Ming with his research. Naturally, she wouldn't forget an opportunity to earn credits.
Xie Ming took Wen Jing to another enormous laboratory. Unlike the materials analysis room last time, this room contained no Ancient Wilderness materials. The entire laboratory was filled with large instruments that looked highly sophisticated at a glance.
Wen Jing surveyed the place like a country bumpkin. "Instructor, what research do you need my help with?"
"Research on the relationship between Wilderness Body species and energy." Xie Ming looked at her as he answered, his expression serious. "Your Wilderness Body is very unusual."
"Oh? What's unusual about it?"
Wen Jing immediately perked up, thinking that there really was something to her species rank, which could evolve indefinitely.
Xie Ming was equally animated. "Not only is your Wilderness Body exceptionally small, its energy is exceptionally low!"
"..." Was this something she had to endure to earn that one credit?
Seeing Wen Jing's expression, Xie Ming laughed. "You know you were assigned to the small Wilderness Body major, right?"
Wen Jing nodded, though she felt that one's major didn't seem to make much difference at the academy.
As though he already knew what she was thinking, Xie Ming explained, "You're only first-years. Your compatibility is too low for you to use your abilities yet. At this stage, majors are only broad divisions based on Wilderness Body size. In practice, all you first-years take the same required courses together as one class."
"Your actual majors won't be subdivided according to the nature of your abilities until your second year. That also involves differences in Wilderness Body size."
He returned to the subject. "In fact, statistics on Awakeners' Wilderness Bodies show that, for D-rank Awakeners and below, Wilderness Body size is generally proportional to energy strength. That's why E-rank and F-rank Awakeners basically all have small creatures as their Wilderness Bodies, with only a few exceptions."
Wen Jing asked curiously, "That doesn't apply above D-rank?"
"Correct. Starting at C-rank, Awakeners' Wilderness Bodies all possess their own 'traits,' and size no longer has much correlation with energy strength," Xie Ming said.
As they spoke, they had reached a cluster of instruments.
"Here, lie down in this."
Xie Ming pointed to a transparent chamber connected to numerous metal pipes as he spoke to Wen Jing.
She did as instructed.
Smiling, Xie Ming closed the lid from outside. "Relax. It'll be done in a moment."
Seeing his mad scientist smile, Wen Jing's heart gave a jolt.
Since Dean Bai introduced him, and he taught a required course, he should be reliable, right?
A moment later, a dazzling red light swept through the chamber.
Along with the light, she sensed energy fluctuations.
The fluctuations were extremely faint. The old Wen Jing wouldn't have noticed them, but things were different now.
After several days of recuperation, she had recovered a small amount of Gravity Silk. Though she still couldn't manifest it in reality at this stage, she had begun to develop the gravitational sense provided by the Gravity Silk Gland. It could be considered a passive ability she had mastered ahead of time.
This sense wasn't very sensitive yet. She could only detect gravitational fields and Planck-scale gravitational waves within a certain distance of herself.
Combined with her combat skills, however, it brought about a qualitative change.
That inspired kick she had delivered when Ji Shuang blocked her at the pool yesterday would have been impossible for her in the past. With the aid of her gravitational sense, however, mass, motion, energy... had become unified, and her control over "force" had reached perfection.
Wen Jing had thought she would have to undergo some complicated process. Instead, after the red light passed, the chamber door opened automatically, and Xie Ming's voice came from outside.
"You can come out now. Any discomfort?"
"Feeling great." Wen Jing quoted the meme as she climbed out of the chamber and saw Xie Ming fiddling with the large instrument beside it.
A two-dimensional silhouette appeared in the holographic projection at its center.
The silhouette was very blurry, barely recognizable as a bug. Even Wen Jing herself had to study it before identifying a few details, such as the slightly swollen rear abdomen.
"This projection is made through particle scattering using an Ancient Wilderness material. It's the same kind of technology as the testing equipment used when you awakened."
"But your compatibility has increased since then, so the projection is more accurate too. Once your compatibility reaches over sixty percent and you can transform directly into your Wilderness Body, we won't need all this trouble."
As he spoke, Xie Ming asked, "Do you know how big your Wilderness Body is?"
"It's about..." Wen Jing began, then abruptly realized the problem and changed her wording without missing a beat. "A little bigger than the stone I sold you."
Awakeners could only bring matter out of the Ancient Wilderness with a mass no greater than their own. If she revealed her actual size, she risked exposing the Gravity Silk Gland.
The Gravity Silk Gland's ability overturned "common knowledge" about Awakeners traveling to and from the Ancient Wilderness. She had no intention of telling anyone.
Wen Jing planned to explain any attention her future evolution and growth attracted through her digestive ability, which hadn't yet begun evolving.
Xie Ming noticed nothing amiss and was excited about his new discovery. "It's actually that small! No wonder your tested potential was so low. Perhaps your Wilderness Body's mass was so small that the energy detected set a new record low. F-rank was simply the lowest rating available. You should actually belong to an even lower category!"
Wen Jing said speechlessly, "My Wilderness Body is a bug. Isn't it normal for it to be small?"
To her surprise, Xie Ming actually looked impressed and praised her. "You're quite knowledgeable."
"Hmm?" Wen Jing keenly sensed something was wrong. "Are bugs... rare?"
"Of course. Creatures that niche are apparently only exhibited in one zoo on our Red Earth Star."
At Xie Ming's unthinking reply, Wen Jing finally recognized her previous misunderstanding of this world.
Right, this world had no crop farming. Humanity utilized planetary land to the utmost, so naturally, there wouldn't be wild food chains like those on Blue Star in her previous life.
But with such powerful genetic technology, species extinction wasn't a thing either.
Apart from humans... no, strictly speaking, humans were the same. As long as the genes of any living creature within civilization's reach were preserved in the central computer's gene bank, they could be mass-produced at any time.
Certain natural ethics concerning life could be said to have collapsed in this world.
Wen Jing had previously assumed the interstellar school's environment was so good that there were no bugs. In reality, bugs were niche creatures in this world that one had to visit a zoo to see. Many people probably didn't even know what bugs looked like.
The various functions food chains served in a planet's environment had been replaced by extremely advanced technology.
This interstellar world always came up with things that seemed absurd, yet somehow made sense on closer thought...
Wen Jing grumbled inwardly.
Then Xie Ming's next words abruptly brought all her thoughts to a halt.
He said, "Besides, you're the only Awakener in all history whose Wilderness Body is a bug. We used to think this type of Wilderness Body didn't exist."
Ten days passed in a flash, and it was time for another elective class.
Under the stares of the other students around her, whose eyes said, "Seriously? Again?" Wen Jing walked over to the familiar testing instrument in the center.
The students who had attended all four Energy Amplification Method classes with her over these past days had gone from envy and jealousy at the start to... a certain numbness now.
Beside the instrument, Instructor Louisa, who in their memories had always greeted them with either a cold face or her fists, was watching Wen Jing with a smile, her gaze gentler than they had ever seen.
For the first time, the university students present learned that even instructors who charged credits for classes would give preferential treatment to students with good results.
They had never witnessed it before simply because their results hadn't been good enough.
Wen Jing nodded to the instructor, reached toward the instrument with practiced ease, and pressed her palm down inside it.
A green light lit up, and the instrument displayed her current energy amplification value: 210
At the sight of this result, the others still couldn't contain themselves, and a collective gasp rang out.
A twofold amplification was the standard for passing this course's final assessment.
This elective consisted of twenty class hours in total. After five classes, Wen Jing had reached a level they had failed to achieve even after retaking it several times.
"For the remaining fifteen class hours, I'll teach you according to your progress." Instructor Louisa looked gratified as she gave Wen Jing a meaningful look. "What level you can reach will be up to you."
"Yes!" Wen Jing's eyes lit up, and she agreed happily.
By now, she knew that Louisa didn't just teach the basic Energy Amplification Method. She also offered an advanced Energy Amplification Method course, which could only be purchased after passing the basic course.
What she was implying was that Wen Jing could use her remaining fifteen class hours to learn the advanced course from her without paying any credits.
Although Wen Jing would only receive the basic course's academic credits when it ended, the improvement in her strength would be very real!
[Mastered "Secret Technique: Energy Amplification Method," Skill points +5]