Chapter 40

During her first challenge, she had fought the guardian purely with human combat skills and talent. Even the "Master of Mechanics" effect granted by Gravity Sensing had been unusable because of her injuries at the time.

There had been no bonuses from her wilderness body itself, either-after all, you could hardly expect any special bonuses from a little bug that had yet to grow eyes and whose only lifesaving skill was jumping.

Now, however, after two rounds of exploration and evolution in the Ancient Wilderness, the abilities and traits added to her wilderness body had already enhanced Wen Jing herself.

When her eyes tracked moving objects, they took on the prismatic perspective of compound eyes, refracting the guardian's future trajectory;

As her hair swung, she could sense the energy fluctuations when the guardian changed weapons, even with her back to it;

When she employed movement techniques and fought, she could control every ounce of force precisely, using gravity, the environment, and her enemy to carry out all sorts of seemingly coincidental attacks.

Nothing on the battlefield could escape her eyes.

Wen Jing did not even need to mobilize energy to dodge as she had the first time. The most basic anticipation alone let her handle all the guardian's attacks with ease.

Yet despite having countless opportunities to defeat it, she never acted on them. Instead, she kept observing the guardian, looking like a feline toying with its prey.

Wen Jing had already familiarized herself with its attacks and found its weaknesses during her first challenge.

She was doing this because she wanted to observe the energy fluctuations inside its body.

[Combat technique: Energy-Shaping Weapon-5%]

The proficiency for this combat technique was still displayed on her mental panel.

Wen Jing had come up with this idea as early as the end of her first challenge. If she could "see" the flow of energy inside the guardian, perhaps she could learn how to use this combat technique directly through repeated battles. Wouldn't that save her the eighty points needed to buy the course?

Unfortunately, she had found no secret technique in the points shop that let her see energy circulating inside an opponent. For now, by combining her level-two compound eyes with Gravity Sensing, she could just barely use deduction and imagination to model its internal energy circulation indirectly.

As the seconds ticked by, Wen Jing gradually constructed a rough model of its energy circulation.

But when she checked the panel, the combat technique's proficiency had only risen to 10%, without any dramatic leap.

Bang!

Refusing to give up, Wen Jing trembled as she tried combining it with the method for using an energy shield, forming an extremely unstable longsword. A surge of energy followed, and the sword shattered before it could even clash with the guardian.

"How could this happen?"

As she puzzled over it, the familiar synthesized electronic voice rang out again inside the Trial Tower. "Ten seconds until settlement. Failure to kill the guardian before settlement will result in a failed challenge!"

"Countdown: 9, 8... 3, 2, 1."

At the very last second, the guardian broke apart into a cloud of black mist before Wen Jing.

"Congratulations on completing the first-floor challenge of the Trial Tower!"

This time, she did not even have time to watch the audience's final cheers before she was ejected from the Trial Tower. The familiar settlement sound effect rang out:

"Time taken on this floor: 14 minutes, 59 seconds. Your victory was faster than 0% of challengers in your year. Overall rating: F. Your rating did not exceed that of your previous challenge. Credits gained: 0."

There was no prompt about the next floor this time. Under the Trial Tower's challenge rules, anyone whose rating fell below E could not qualify to challenge the next floor.

Outside the black Trial Tower, the mirrorlike ground reflected Wen Jing's face as she frowned in thought.

Naturally, she did not look this way because she had received a low score.

Rather, now that the battle was over and she was recalling its various details, she suddenly realized that her failure to replicate the combat technique might not have been her own fault. The problem very likely lay with the guardian.

The guardian merely had a human shape. In essence, it was a technologically simulated "pseudo-human," much like a liquid robot. Its supposed weaknesses were merely programmed settings.

Thus, the energy circulation method she had deduced from the guardian very likely did not apply to the human body at all. Being able to replicate the external fluctuations of the guardian's combat technique perfectly was already impressive technology. She could not expect its internal workings to be fully simulated too.

More likely still, this was a deliberately implemented "anti-theft measure."

Realizing that learning skills through the Trial Tower might be a dead end, Wen Jing sighed regretfully, turned around, and walked toward the Trial Tower again.

The black doors opened, revealing the guardian standing in the center of the plaza.

Seeing Wen Jing stride in, it immediately raised its hand, about to deliver a horizontal slash followed by a sideways chop.

Still simmering with frustration, Wen Jing knew what it intended the moment it moved. Like a speedrunner, she expertly parried the attack, feinted into another move, then reinforced her legs with energy and drove up a knee in a lethal strike.

Bang!

With a single move, the guardian dissolved straight into black mist.

The next instant, cheers erupted from the spectator stands above.

Unlike the previous two times, when there had only been sound effects, countless fireworks burst overhead in the arena, sending down a magnificent golden rain.

"Time taken on this floor: 6 seconds. Your victory was faster than 100% of challengers in your year. Overall rating: S. Credits updated to 15 (+12)... Would you like to continue to the next floor?"

Wen Jing raised her eyebrows at the announcement.

The base credit reward for successfully completing a Trial Tower challenge was three, corresponding to an F rating. From F through C, each higher grade added one credit. That was why her previous D rating had earned her five credits. From C through A, the difficulty increased, with each grade adding two credits.

Achieving an A rating in the monthly Trial Tower challenge earned ten credits. She had not expected the jump from A to S to add five credits outright.

Each floor of the Trial Tower awarded credits based only on the highest score achieved. If she continued challenging higher floors, credits would continue accumulating under the same rules.

"Continue."

After Wen Jing made her choice, the scene before her changed, and she stood before the black doors once more.

A text advertisement popped up:

[Buy the matching elective combat technique course, "Energy-Shaping Weapon," now for 15% off the points price! Only 68 points!]

"An S clear improved the discount by 10%?"

Wen Jing's eyes lit up as she understood why Instructor Joel had told her to challenge the Trial Tower. She had not forgotten that her previous D clear had only earned a 5% discount.

She stepped across the threshold before her. This time, the guardian waiting inside the tower possessed twice her energy.

In the Trial Tower lobby.

Everyone was still reeling from the shock of the new record, and the entire lobby was in an uproar. Even the students who had dispersed earlier but had not gone far turned back curiously at the commotion.

Then they saw the notification that popped up on their smart terminals.

Their eyes widened, and they instinctively hurried toward the Trial Tower lobby.

Just as these people arrived, the golden effects they had missed appeared for a second time-

[Congratulations to Wen Jing of the first-year winter class for breaking the academy's historical record in the second-floor challenge of the #8584th Trial Tower session and earning an S rating! Current record: 10 seconds.]

"What?!" Terry and the others felt as though they had been slapped a dozen times, their heads buzzing.

Yu Yang and the others burst into cheers. Wan Ling cupped her face and shrieked, "Ten seconds! She only took ten seconds on the second floor!"

Although they did not know what had happened with that earlier F rating, everyone had known Wen Jing would keep challenging the second floor once they saw her S rating.

Yet even these classmates who believed in Wen Jing's strength had only thought she should be able to earn an A rating on the second floor, and perhaps even continue to the third.

They had never expected Wen Jing to break the record again against a guardian with twice her energy, without even taking twice as long!

If the first announcement had left the many students present too stunned to recover, this second golden rain truly ignited everyone's emotions.

Not just those present-even the academy's teachers and students receiving the second mass notification initially thought it had been sent repeatedly because of some exceptional case. Once they read its contents clearly, they too grew excited.

Those hostile to Wen Jing felt dazed, as though trapped in a dream. Terry hurriedly pinched himself, hoping to wake from the nightmare.

Yu Yang, Wan Ling, and the others were flushed red. They had forgotten all about mocking Terry's group and could not stop pacing back and forth.

The five members of the Operations Department were also flushed, partly with excitement and partly with shame. Du Ran felt the latter especially keenly.

A moment earlier, they had merely been shocked by Wen Jing's talent. Only with this second announcement did the other three understand why Ji Shuang had always thought so highly of her.

It was not that Ji Shuang held an especially favorable opinion of Wen Jing. She had simply understood Wen Jing's talent and strength earlier.

They had called themselves geniuses, yet now, as second-years, their results on the Trial Tower's first two floors could not compare with Wen Jing's.

The other people present, those ordinary students who felt neither goodwill nor ill will toward Wen Jing, were now clenching their fists and cheering in uncontrollable excitement just like Yu Yang and the others.

This had nothing to do with personal likes or dislikes. It was the collective pride of the academy's students.

A message could be sent through a smart terminal with a single thought. At this very moment, messages kept refreshing on Red Earth Academy's forums, social circles, and chat groups... Many teachers and students had also received inquiries from friends and family.

When a student earned an S rating in the Trial Tower, an official academy notification would also be sent to Azure Jade Academy and Mystic Radiance Academy.

People over there were still asking about Wen Jing breaking the first-floor Trial Tower record, while they already knew she had broken the second-floor record too!

Awakened students were assigned to academies according to their potential. As members of the academy that always ranked last, its teachers and students also invariably placed last in all sorts of inter-academy exchanges and leagues.

Red Earth Academy's teachers and students understood why, but that did not mean they were truly willing to remain background extras forever whenever the other academies' geniuses appeared.

Now a genius who surpassed both other academies had appeared. Even if they were not that genius themselves, the satisfaction and pride were still unparalleled.