Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Trial Tower Hall.

Feeling the various complex and strange gazes around her, Wen Jing was not surprised, since she'd already been through it once after becoming an Awakener.

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

She glanced around and, seeing no one stepping forward to provoke her, just brushed off the stares and followed the student manual to sign up to challenge the Trial Tower.

Her smart terminal automatically added her to the queue; since it was early in the month, there weren't many challengers, so Wen Jing quickly got her turn.

"Please proceed to Port D-1132 to begin the Trial Tower challenge."

The hall opened into areas lined with device ports. No staff were around; a virtual robot guided her.

"Please wear the device on your head."

Unexpectedly, the port was shaped like a helmet, with a soft single recliner placed beside it.

Wen Jing lay down and put on the helmet, making her feel like she was in a sci-fi movie from her past life.

The next moment, two cool, soft pads slid out from inside the helmet. She instinctively shut her eyes, and the scene instantly shifted—she was in a vast, boundless space.

"No wonder they call it virtual reality..."

Wen Jing looked around with curiosity. The "sky" had no sun or stars; the most noticeable thing was a pure black, many-sided tower not far away, with everything else and the sky being pure white.

The ground was a mirror, clearly reflecting her and the black tower opposite.

She stepped toward the tower, and her footprints sent faint ripples across the mirror.

"Current Trial Tower floor: First Floor."

"Gatekeeper amplification: 2x."

As Wen Jing stepped into the tower's dark doorway, a synthesized voice echoed from above.

The scenery shifted. She now stood in a massive arena made of pure white stone, surrounded by high circular walls. The spectator seats above were empty.

Across the arena, a black-robed figure with a featureless face stood silently.

As her foot stepped into the battlefield, without a word, energy rippled from the black-robed figure.

The next moment, the figure lunged at her like a ghost.

Wen Jing dodged left, funneling energy into her legs to boost her speed far beyond normal.

"Whoosh!"

An invisible energy sword grazed her right shoulder, cutting a clean slit in her virtual clothes, which then mended automatically.

"It's actually a weapon made of externalized energy..." Wen Jing was secretly startled.

As compatibility rises, an Awakener's body syncs with the high-dimensional energy of the Wild Body. The stronger the Wild Body, the higher the energy intensity. It's like the Awakener's "mana bar" and a direct measure of their power.

The gatekeeper here had a 2x amplification, meaning its energy intensity matched hers exactly.

Right now, Wen Jing only knew the most instinctive, basic way to use energy—like when she dodged, focusing energy where she pushed off to get a strength boost.

But the opponent could externalize energy and shape it into an invisible weapon.

This was clearly a Combat Skill.

Combat Skills and Secret Techniques aren't like an Awakener's innate Ability. They're universal energy techniques any Awakener can learn.

Excitement flashed in Wen Jing's eyes. She lunged forward, packing energy into her right fist and aiming at the gatekeeper's chest.

A punch that could pierce alloy steel was blocked by an invisible shield that materialized twenty centimeters in front of the gatekeeper.

"It can change its shape too? That's... bad!"

Her eyes narrowed, and she used the recoil to leap back.

Energy fluctuated in the gatekeeper's hand. It waved its free hand, and a long blade instantly appeared.

The long blade slashed at her, and the shield on the right also morphed into a falling blade—one fast, one slow, nearly impossible to defend against.

Forced on the defensive, Wen Jing reinforced her legs to jump, her core to twist, her arms to block... She pushed her combat skills to the max, finely controlling her energy without wasting a drop.

After a hundred exchanges, Wen Jing, through each brief clash, picked up on the energy fluctuation pattern when the gatekeeper's weapon transformed.

At that instant, a proficiency bar appeared on the mental panel in her mind.

"Combat Skill: ??? — Proficiency: 1%"

But Wen Jing didn't get distracted. She kept her focus on gathering intel on the enemy:

The alternating fast and slow blades were unpredictable, but each transformation had a brief stable window afterward;

The bigger the weapon she condensed, the longer it took;

The weapon never left its hand.

"Almost there..."

Wen Jing's energy was almost gone. She backed away from the gatekeeper, but her movements were clearly slowing down.

Seeing this, the gatekeeper turned its weapon into a spear and thrust it at her like lightning.

Now!

A gleam flashed in Wen Jing's eyes. She poured out all her remaining energy, her legs and waist suddenly exerting force, and letting the spear tip graze her left ribs, she closed in right in front of the gatekeeper.

Energy surged into her right fist. Her entire arm crackled as the energy nearly erupted from her body, forming a solid coating.

"Boom!"

The gatekeeper's figure shattered and dissolved into a cloud of black mist.

"Congratulations! You've completed the first floor of the Trial Tower!"

As the announcement came from the sky, the once-empty spectator seats filled with circling black silhouettes like a background audience, cheering and clapping, instantly amping up the atmosphere.

The voice then continued: "Time on this floor: 8 minutes 34 seconds. Your clear time was faster than 22% of grade-level challengers. Overall rating: D. Credits earned: 5 (+2 bonus

For one thing, at her current stage she could only sense some external energy fluctuations—if she could actually 'see' the energy flow inside the Gatekeeper, she might be able to learn the combat skill just by fighting. She wondered if there was a dedicated Secret Technique to learn, otherwise she'd have to think about evolving later.

On the other hand, her own energy intensity was insufficient, and her Gravity Silk Gland was still recovering, which meant she couldn't sustain a prolonged fight with the Gatekeeper.

She didn't care that the first challenge took so long and only got a D rating.

She'd gotten that result without using Gravity Silk. If she could utilize Gravity Silk, she'd have way more tactical options to speed things up.

She gets three tries a month and can come back to improve her time.

After turning down the challenge, she got kicked out of the black tower.

"Didn't go straight back to reality?"

Right as she had that thought, a scrolling line of text popped up in front of her:

"Buy the same combat skill elective course 'Energy Weapon' now—get 5% off! Only 76 points!"

Wen Jing's heart sank—this was the original price of 80 points!

"Exit! Exit!"

The screen went black, and when she opened her eyes, she was back in the real world.

—Why can you only challenge the tower three times a month?!

As dusk settled, she walked out of the trial tower center with a pained look.

"Did she not even clear the first floor?"

The people in the lobby who'd been watching for her results immediately checked the tower's rankings.

Anyone who passed would show up on the board; if her name wasn't there, she'd failed.

Soon, everyone found Wen Jing's information.

"She passed! Over eight minutes, D grade. Out of 5,422 people in her grade who challenged this session, she ranked 4,123rd in completion time... Huh, nothing special."

"Still pretty impressive—it's her first day on campus! When we were freshmen, some people tried and didn't even pass."

"I don't know about that. Didn't these freshmen get forced into the Wilderness once because of the raid? That must have boosted their compatibility."

"If any other freshman got that score, I'd call them a genius. But for Wen Jing to get that, she's clearly washed up."

...

The next morning, sunlight bathed a three-hectare garden.

The decorative fountain started working on schedule, droplets splashing and evaporating into a faint mist that lingered among the green leaves and elegant plants, like a dream.

This was the student council headquarters of Zherang Academy.

The plants inside were delicate varieties requiring careful maintenance—hundreds or even thousands of times more expensive than the landscaping plants along the academy roads.

This building was not funded by the academy but donated by successive student council executives, showing just how influential the council is.

In the tea room of the Personnel Department, department head, Tan Junhao, sipped morning tea and took a report from the assistant beside him.

He liked paper documents, so everyone knew not to send him reports digitally—they had to print them out.

"Chief, this is the list of potentials from yesterday's trial tower rankings."

Tan Junhao finished reading the list and said offhandedly, "This Wen Jing is kind of famous in the district."

The assistant, Tan Junhao's cousin, nodded. "People in the school district call her a genius—even upperclassmen say that. But if she's really a genius, how come her potential is only F-rank? I think she's overhyped. After all, those bottom-tier folks only have their talent to brag about."

"Getting a D on her first try at the trial tower is still decent," Tan Junhao mused.

"Should we recruit her?"

"Make her a Level 3 clerk."

The cousin frowned—he himself was only a Level 2 clerk. "New recruits always start at Level 4. What makes her deserve that?"

"Somebody's gotta do the grunt work." Tan Junhao took a sip of tea and said slowly, "We need to keep the academy from complaining and making trouble for us. The president made sure we have a quota for poor students in our annual intake."

"Winter-term students are already low-quality, and after getting wrecked by a raid, if Wen Jing can still stand out, giving her Level 3 is no big deal."

"Be generous. Even if she's the same rank as you, do you think she's really the same? After I get promoted next semester, this chief position will be yours."

"I understand..." The cousin was persuaded.

Tan Junhao smiled as his cousin drafted an invitation template and sent it to Wen Jing right away.

"After review and approval by the presidium's special committee, you meet all core requirements of the 'Zherang Academy Student Cadre Basic Competency Standards.' You are hereby appointed as a Level 3 clerk in the Personnel Department..."

"Duty requirements: 1. Use the internal title system in daily work..."

"Promotion mechanism: 1. Execute the 'Clerk Promotion Assessment Rules'..."

"...Please fill out the 'Appointment Confirmation Form' within one hour and report to the student council.—Zherang Academy Student Council Personnel Department."

Student council?

The Awakener Academy also has a student council?

Wen Jing remembered from her past life that a roommate of hers had joined the student council, and seemed to be either in meetings all the time or writing summaries every other day.

This whole page of duties and promotion rules probably meant the same thing.

She already had to work part-time to earn credits and money—how could she have the time?

This was probably a mass recruitment email, right?

Wen Jing replied and closed the page directly.

The next moment, the two men drinking tea in the tea room received a reply notification.

"Tap tap tap..." The printer beside them started printing automatically.

Neither of them opened the reply on their terminal; instead, they leisurely waited for the paper to come out.

The cousin gave a contemptuous, smug smile. "She replied instantly—those people from the school district said she was arrogant?"

"No one dares to disrespect the student council," Tan Junhao stated blandly.

He then reached out and, with a gesture, pulled the paper emitting the fresh smell of ink over.

Then, both of them saw Wen Jing's reply—

"Unsubscribe"