But conversely, because reproductive technology had freed them from those constraints, parent-child relationships within plutocratic families were also extremely pragmatic. With too many children, they became like investment products; how many resources parents invested in each child depended on their potential and returns.
With his E-rank talent, Terry was not currently his mother's most talented child. To obtain more resources within his family, he had to do everything he could to increase his value.
Compared with children from other, patrilineal plutocratic families, however, he was fortunate. Matrilineal plutocratic families would have at most a dozen or so children a year-only twelve if there were no twins or other multiple births-and had more than enough resources to support them.
The former kind of family, on the other hand, had to practice "family planning" entirely according to the resources they controlled. Raising underage children in patrilineal families was just like raising venomous creatures in a jar to see which survived. Those who failed to awaken after turning eighteen met particularly miserable ends, some living worse lives than people born poor.
"Heh." Terry steadied himself and looked at Wan Ling and the others. "She's been logged in this long without entering the Trial Tower? Do you actually believe that?"
Their expressions stiffened at his retort.
That was right. There was nothing else in the Trial Tower's space. Anyone who walked in another direction would soon be teleported back in front of the tower. Besides, this was not Wen Jing's first challenge. Why would she wander around outside instead of going in?
Could it be...
As the minutes and seconds passed, Yu Yang and the others grew less and less certain.
The students from various intakes watching and waiting had differing reactions. News spread rapidly through the group chats, and several threads discussing the matter even appeared on the forum.
"It's out!"
Suddenly, someone shouted in the strangely tense hall.
There was no need to specify whose result. Apart from those who had just arrived, all the students waiting there specifically for the result immediately refreshed their searches for Wen Jing on their terminals.
The next moment, the result of her second Trial Tower challenge appeared.
[Student: Wen Jing, challenges: 2/3, clear time: 14:59, challenge rating: F]
"What the hell? The last second?!"
"She almost didn't clear it!"
At the sight of Wen Jing's result, involuntary cries of surprise rose from the people following the matter in the hall.
Trial Tower challenges were rated by the time taken to defeat the guardian, but there was also a minimum time requirement. Once fifteen minutes passed, if the challenger had not defeated the guardian, the challenge counted as a failure, regardless of whether they were still alive.
That meant it was impossible to turtle up and muddle through a Trial Tower battle. Challengers had to fight with everything they had, using a do-or-die approach. Dying was preferable to dragging things out.
Wen Jing's result looked as though she had only narrowly defeated the guardian in the very last second.
"Hahahaha..."
Terry, who had also been worried deep down that he would be proven wrong, froze. Once he registered it, he suddenly burst into wild laughter, excitement surging within him.
Since they had only just enrolled, credits for general and elective courses had not yet been tallied. The top few students in the winter class were therefore extremely close in credits, with their Trial Tower scores being the main deciding factor.
With this Trial Tower result from Wen Jing, if he gritted his teeth and borrowed some points from his family at interest, bought supplements that strengthened energy perception and private training from the store, then made another push in the Trial Tower, or even explored the Ancient Wilderness once, he could gain at least three credits.
Then he would have fourteen credits. Even if second and third place pushed for more points just as he did, as long as Wen Jing had nowhere to earn more, he could secure a place in the top three!
"How could this happen?!"
In stark contrast to Terry's wild delight, Yu Yang and the others, who had remained unwavering before, looked stricken now that the result lay before them.
They could not understand why this had happened. Had she performed below her usual standard? Impossible. If she were someone whose performance suffered under other people's scrutiny, she would never have become the shadow haunting all the grind kings on School District Planet.
Wan Ling suddenly shuddered, as though something had struck her. "Could she actually have been injured while exploring the Ancient Wilderness?"
The others instantly saw the light. "That's right. That must be it!"
They all still remembered how hard Wen Jing pushed herself. Before any of them had made their first exploration of the Ancient Wilderness, she had already entered it twice. Although she had looked no different from usual today, perhaps her Wilderness Body had suffered some internal injury.
"Tsk. Then she only has herself to blame."
Hearing this from the side, Terry looked enlightened. He accepted this explanation too and could not help secretly rejoicing.
He felt even more certain now. Wen Jing had been injured exploring the Ancient Wilderness and would not recover in the short term, so she was no longer any cause for concern-some winter-class students injured during the plundering still had not fully recovered, after all. The D rating she had earned upon enrollment would be her best result this month.
People born poor really lacked perspective. Letting one or two points from exploring the Ancient Wilderness affect her class ranking was simply throwing away a watermelon to pick up sesame seeds.
A constant buzz of discussion filled the hall. Faced with this result, many shared Wan Ling's thoughts, as did the five waiting members of the Operations Department.
"How boring. Let's go, let's go." The spirited senior girl waved a hand, while Ji Shuang beside her frowned deeply, seemingly unable to accept the result.
Du Ran, whose nerves had been taut all along, exhaled, unable to say whether he felt disappointed or relieved.
With the result out, quite a few of the spectators gathered in the hall began leaving of their own accord.
The classmates on good terms with Wen Jing looked either solemn or regretful. They stayed to wait for her to emerge, meanwhile putting together words of comfort in their minds.
"You're still not leaving?" Wan Ling asked irritably when she saw Terry still standing there.
Terry laughed and joked with some autumn-class plutocratic scions whom Wen Jing had offended. "Why wouldn't we stay and watch such a great joke?"
Tan Junhao's "blacklisting" had done nothing to Wen Jing, who had not been working part-time lately. They were now eagerly anticipating the sight of her humiliation. Some even secretly entertained thoughts of taking advantage of her injury to avenge their previous disgrace.
"Xiao Shuang, what's wrong? Aren't you leaving?" The senior girl looked questioningly at Ji Shuang, who seemed to have no intention of going.
Ji Shuang looked toward the passage, her expression unreadable. "She hasn't come out yet."
"Hm?"
For a moment, the other four did not understand what Ji Shuang meant. They already knew the result. Why wait for Wen Jing to come out?
At the same time, Yu Yang and the others waiting in the hall also noticed something amiss.
"Why hasn't Wen Jing come out yet?"
"Wait, did she immediately challenge the Trial Tower again?"
Everyone could challenge the Trial Tower three times a month. Wen Jing's result had already updated, so she should have been ejected from virtual reality long ago. If she still had not come out, the most likely explanation was that she had used her remaining third attempt immediately after receiving her F rating.
"Why did Wen Jing get so carried away...?"
Realizing this, Yu Yang and the others grew even more anxious. Wen Jing's Wilderness Body was clearly "seriously injured" right now. She should have come straight back, rested if she needed rest, and gotten treatment if she needed treatment!
But thinking about it, someone as talented as her had earned a D rating on her first attempt, only to get an F this time. How could that not affect her mindset?
"Sigh..."
For a time, the commoner students present who liked Wen Jing sighed for her, while plutocratic scions like Terry were beside themselves with joy.
The next moment, the lights in the Trial Tower hall suddenly dimmed.
"Pop! Pop! Pop!"
Immediately afterward, accompanied by a series of crisp celebratory pops, masses of golden holographic fireworks burst out of thin air across the hall's ceiling.
As everyone was caught off guard, a golden shower rained down.
Every academy student within the Trial Tower's network coverage had a text notification forcibly projected onto their retinas by their smart terminals.
[Congratulations to Wen Jing, a first-year winter-class student, for breaking the academy's historical record in the first-floor Trial Tower challenge of intake #8584 and earning an S rating! Current record time: 6 seconds.]
After a brief silence, the entire hall erupted.
The news exploded not only at the Trial Tower. A message was simultaneously pushed to the smart terminals of every student and teacher at the academy.
An S rating! Someone in this intake had actually earned an S rating!
Normally, the highest rating in a Trial Tower challenge was A. The only way to earn an S was to break the historical record. Unless that record was broken, no matter how close someone came, they could only receive an A.
This historical best was not for a single academy, but for all three academies. Nor was it the best for a particular month or year. It meant the best record against a guardian possessing that combat technique since the Trial Tower had first entered use.
The three Awakener Academies had existed for thousands of years and produced countless geniuses. Even with the Trial Tower's guardians constantly rotating, there were only a few hundred types, and thus only a few hundred corresponding S ratings.
An S rating might go decades without being updated. Most of those who achieved one were students of Mystic Radiance Academy, while only five in all of history had come from Red Earth Academy.
Apart from those who met unfortunate early deaths, almost every survivor had ultimately become a renowned powerhouse in Federation history.
Now, Wen Jing had become one of them.
Chapter 33
Time rewound to Wen Jing's first battle after entering the Trial Tower.
The guardian's energy strength always matched the challenger's current level. Compared with her first challenge, the damage caused by its attacks had now clearly increased considerably.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!"
In the empty Trial Tower plaza, two figures exchanged blows continuously. Everywhere they passed, the surroundings suffered severe destruction, only to be restored the next instant thanks to the properties of virtual reality.
Yet up close, one would see that Wen Jing precisely evaded every attack from the black-clad guardian. Whatever attack it made, it seemed to offer itself up to feed her moves. The battle's rhythm was entirely in her hands.
Although Awakened with low compatibility could not yet use any special abilities, certain basic innate abilities within their Wilderness Bodies would gradually manifest in them.
For example, as the compatibility of an Awakened whose Wilderness Body specialized in speed increased, even if they could not use any special abilities, their human body would naturally be faster than that of an Awakened who specialized in defense, and vice versa.
At this moment, the same phenomenon manifested in Wen Jing.