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Chapter 96 - The Dominance Dao!
Ling Lan blinked at the three instructors before her in bemusement. She hadn't expected this mission to involve all three of her instructors at the same time — the fact that even the usually aloof Number One had appeared made her feel rather touched.
"What's going on, instructors?" asked Ling Lan.
Number Nine was the most anxious; she immediately opened her mouth to ask, "Ling Lan, what Dao did you choose?"
"Dao?" Ling Lan was taken aback, but understood right after and replied quickly, "I didn't choose any of those Daos."
"How could that be possible?" Number Nine's face was filled with disbelief. Passing meant that the testee had found the Dao that belonged to them — why did Ling Lan have to say that she hadn't chosen a Dao? Number Nine wasn't the only one who didn't believe her; even the typically contrary Number Five also didn't believe her. Only Number One had an unfathomable look of deep thought on his face.
"Well, I can't really say I didn't choose ..." said Ling Lan bashfully as she rubbed her head and smiled. "I chose to walk my own Dao, and then the system said I passed and just let me out."
Number One's eyes brightened, flaring with an intense light, while Number Five and Number Nine's faces were filled with shock, which quickly turned into triumphant joy ... how lucky were they, to be able to raise a pupil who could forge her own Dao — this sort of person would undoubtedly become a historic figure.
Ling Lan said somewhat regretfully, "Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether I can complete it. The development of this Dao is all up to me to figure out."
********
After Ling Lan had been sucked in by the black vortex from the scene of the second panel, she hadn't appeared in a new scene, but had entered an expanse of nothingness instead. Everything had been a grey blankness around her, not a single thing in existence, while Ling Lan herself had just been suspended in mid-air within this nothingness.
Just as Ling Lan was getting restless, the grey blankness suddenly twisted and actually turned into an enormous grey dragon to pounce at the suspended Ling Lan.
Back then, Ling Lan had been terrified, but finding that she had been robbed of the ability to move, she could only watch helplessly as this enormous grey dragon swallowed her whole.
Within that split second, countless images flashed before Ling Lan's eyes. The countless Daos which existed in the world were displayed before her, and she experienced all the trials and epiphanies associated with the Daos along with the images ... when Ling Lan woke up once more, she found that she was still suspended within the nothingness, unharmed, as if all that had just happened had just been a passing dream.
An extremely wispy voice came from a distance: "Of these countless Daos, one of them belongs to you. Which one will you choose?"
"Dao? Is that the evolution pathway I want?" asked Ling Lan pensively.
"Those paths earlier, didn't you see them all?" replied the wispy voice.
"Hate, frenzy, tolerance, control, ties, responsibility, and even kindness and murder ... every person had to abandon some part of themselves ... is this the cost for evolution?" This sort of choice greatly displeased Ling Lan. Was it really necessary to make sacrifices to become stronger?
"Gain and loss, has always been fair; to sacrifice or not, is up to the individual." The wispy voice was cold and emotionless, but it also spoke the truth. In the end, everything was up to personal choice.
"Is it fair?" Ling Lan closed her eyes, once again immersing herself in the grief and epiphanies brought on by those images. It was true that all those people had become the top of their fields, standing at the pinnacle of human achievement, but they also lost some very important things in the meantime. Even those people who had chosen the Fellowship Dao still lost their family —— when one's love was all-encompassing, and all men were equal in one's eyes, what significance did family have?
She did not believe that those people had chosen the Fellowship Dao purely for themselves to begin with — it was likely that they had chosen it also for the sake of their families, but in the end, the outcome was distinctly different from their original intentions. In that case, what purpose was there in becoming strong this way?
It was true that Ling Lan wanted to become strong because she didn't want to live a restrained life. If she was strong enough, her father's military benefits wouldn't be coveted by others, and she eventually wouldn't have to keep pretending to be a man to hold onto them.
She really wanted to give birth to an exceptional baby, but her identity now meant she needed to be strong enough to push down a man she liked in order to get the other half of the genetic material needed for her child.
Moreover, she wanted her child to be able to live openly without having to sneak around, growing up honestly under the care of her boundless love ... she wanted to live this life without any regrets, looking down upon the whole world with a smile ... all of this required her to become even stronger, perhaps even strong enough to stand at the very top.
However, this didn't mean that she was willing to sacrifice certain things in the process. For instance, she didn't want to become a madman or a villain, scorned by the world, so the Demonic Dao, Ghoul Dao, or Killing Dao were all unsuitable for her. She also didn't want to become a saint, a benevolent figure, or a king, to become some sort of leader, for this would force her children to have to be on their guard from a young age, losing the childish innocence and joy they should have. Thus, the Sage Dao, Sovereign Dao, and Benevolence Dao were all not the Dao she needed either. Whatever emotionless-type Dao or relationship-centred Dao were all nonsense, Heart's Dao, Literary Dao, Martial Dao ... all these evolutionary Daos with their multitude of restrictions and conditions were not at all pathways that Ling Lan wanted to walk ...
After analysing each and every one of the Daos, Ling Lan still couldn't find a Dao that suited her. Dissatisfied, she said, "Didn't you say that there would a Dao suitable for me among all these Daos? Why is there none that catches my eye?"
The wispy voice rang out once more, "There are hundreds and thousands of Dao in the world, how do you know that there is no Dao that is suitable for you?"
Ling Lan's response was quick. "In other words, the Daos I've seen are only a portion? Then isn't that strange? Why won't you let me see them all?"
The wispy voice rang out again, but it no longer sounded cool and unaffected; this time, there was a trace of dissatisfaction in its tone as it said, "Due to coincidence and serendipity, you've been given the blessing of several Daos. Don't be too greedy now."
Ling Lan cared not for the voice's dissatisfaction, but rather found the answer she sought from its response. "In that case, I won't choose any of those Daos you've shown me."
Ling Lan's reply stunned the wispy voice. "Why?" Previously, anyone faced with this situation would always joyfully choose one of the Daos offered; why would this person before it now bear to give up such a great opportunity? It was finding this a little hard to accept.
"Didn't you say that there were hundreds and thousands of Dao in this world? Then I need to find the one that suits me best!" Ling Lan used its own words against it, the teasing tone in her voice obvious.
The wispy voice was instantly aggravated, "All these Daos I've given you are Daos which have been tried and tested, created and developed by those who have succeeded, capable of helping you grow strong quickly. Anything else would have to depend on your own capabilities, leaving you stumbling in the dark — you may end up accomplishing nothing in your life, unable to become strong ... are you stupid?"
"Hehe, not faking it anymore?" Ling Lan poked fun at the voice.
The voice went silent, and Ling Lan continued to say, "You're the system of the learning space, aren't you? Stop pretending to be some mysterious master and just tell me straight, what exactly is this?"
"Choosing the right evolutionary Dao, refers to your path of evolution." This time, the voice was no longer wispy, but was the usual system's voice Ling Lan was familiar with.
Only then did Ling Lan nod contentedly. There we go — acting all high and mighty like some deity, beating around the bush with mysticism and riddles; these were all things she wasn't used to. "Isn't this just taking on training step by step?" asked Ling Lan curiously. She still hadn't wrapped her mind around the appearance of this mysterious concept of Dao.
"Dao is a sort of enlightenment, a plane of thought, a realm ... not just regimented numbers and training." The system's reply was airy, but Ling Lan still understood and nodded somewhat thoughtfully. This was thanks to Ling Lan having read way too many novels in the past — some Chinese Buddhist scriptures and teachings would often appear in novels, so this sort of words with deep zen flavour was no problem for her.
"All those Daos I saw were a type of extreme. In other words, when someone walks to a particular extreme, he may be able to realise some profound secret of that extreme ..." There were many things to do with humans which cannot be explained by technology. For instance, the Qi cultivation exercises she had learned was one of these miraculous things.
This time, the learning space's system did not respond, for these things needed to be discovered by the host themselves.
After another few minutes, the learning space's system asked again, "You really don't want to choose those Daos? They're really a shortcut, you know."
But Ling Lan recalled those cultivation-type novels she had read — it's been said that the experience of others can only be referenced but not imitated blindly, because everyone is different. Only those things which one has realised on one's own are truly suited for oneself, so perhaps Dao is the same ...
Ling Lan had her answer. She shook her head once more, "I don't want them."
"Is it that you don't want to become strong anymore?" The system's voice was somewhat disappointed; its host Ling Lan was exceptional on so many fronts, so it just couldn't understand why Ling Lan would give up this obvious chance to become strong.
"Of course I want to, but like you said earlier, only one Dao of the hundreds and thousands in this world will be suitable for me — and I really want to walk that Dao," said Ling Lan firmly.
"Even if you end up a complete failure, you mustn't regret this," cautioned the system once more.
"No regrets." Ling Lan was a greedy person — she wasn't willing to cast away her feelings. Perhaps this avarice would ultimately cause her to lose the chance to grasp Dao, but she believed that even if she never found the Dao that belonged to her, she could still become strong.
"In that case, shutting down the learning space's legacy system ..." Since the host had no need of it, then there was no need for the existence of the learning space's legacy system.
Following this announcement, Ling Lan felt all the miscellaneous images of Dao within her mind being extracted, along with all the accompanying epiphanies. At the end, a thundering voice crashed down, "What is Dao?"
The answer spilled forth from within Ling Lan, "A human's true heart!"
Her reply echoed throughout the space, and the light in Ling Lan's eyes grew brighter and brighter. She said firmly once more, "Yes, a human's true heart."
"And what is your Dao?"
"Freedom, an existence without shackles, so my Dao should also be free, not limited to the boundaries of any Dao ... it is the existence of any possible Dao."
Ling Lan abruptly lifted her head, and the light in her eyes was so bright it could almost illuminate this entire virtual space. "So, I shall name my Dao as the Dominance Dao."
"Congratulations, you have passed." The voice of the system rang out once more, telling Ling Lan the good news. Before Ling Lan could continue to ask any questions, she had been whisked away again by a black vortex, and when she was spat out once more, she had already arrived at where Instructor Number One and the others were at.
********
"The Dominance Dao, is it?" Number One peered intently at Ling Lan, and a momentary trace of satisfaction flit through his eyes. This was truly the dominant air his disciple should have; he was very pleased with Ling Lan's choice.
Chapter 97 - Logging Into the Virtual World!
Mission completed, Ling Lan was sent back to the great hall of the learning space by Number One and the others. Little Four was sitting in a corner, nodding off. When Ling Lan appeared, Little Four was immediately shocked awake, and opening his eyes to see Ling Lan, he quickly pounced and hugged her tight.
The sudden extraction of Ling Lan's awareness while she was scheduled for combat had thoroughly frightened Little Four. Although Little Four was also a member of the learning space, he was a support intelligence-entity responsible for helping the host to handle general affairs and had no control over the actions of the learning space. Still, he secretly made a resolution — he would make himself evolve further so that he could help Ling Lan bring the entire learning system under her control, so that the learning space would no longer be able to extract Ling Lan's consciousness as it liked.
This incident led both Ling Lan and Little Four to find their respective objectives for becoming stronger. The two of them no longer just went with the flow, but began working purposefully for the future.
By the time Ling Lan woke up, the arena battles were already all over — Ling Lan ended the ranking battles this time in second place. Ling Lan wasn't all too bothered by this, for Ling Lan's current goal was already not something this small little scout academy could satisfy. She wished even more for even more powerful people to fight.
Ever since Ling Lan came out from the learning space, she had already vaguely gained some insight on the existence of Dao; although she still couldn't borrow any of its energy, this was enough to imbue her body with a trace essence of Dao. In other words, if Ling Lan exposed just a little of this Dao essence, even a tenth grade student would be unable to resist its influence and would become unable to perform at full capacity. This was what made Dao so terrifying — it had the ability to limit and weaken the opponent.
Ling Lan believed that this wasn't all there was to Dao, but she had only just learned of it and was still unclear about what Dao truly was. At the same time, she was also unsure as to the limits of this essence. How strong did an opponent have to be before this Dao essence would lose its effectiveness? All of this still awaited her exploration and research.
However, right now, Ling Lan wasn't ready to delve into this yet. Her entire concentration had been captured by the virtual world. That's right, Ling Lan and the others had finally been approved to enter the virtual space that could stand as a self-contained world of its own. The catch was that they still couldn't freely access and explore the whole virtual world of the Federation, but were restricted to hanging out in the virtual world of the Central Scout Academy.
In Ling Lan's words, this was obviously the 'newbie village' of the game world — only when one's level was high enough would one be able to go out into the big bad world out there.
Still, just this was enough on its own to thrill Ling Lan and the others. Before entering, they promised to meet up at the login point inside. Subsequently, they all went back to their own dorms, and lied down in their respective personal login pods.
The current virtual world was not like that of Ling Lan's previous world. The Federation was extremely strict with the management of the virtual world — the rules and regulations associated with it were no less than that of the real world, and was in fact significantly stricter. It should be known that over the millenniums, there had been over dozens of cases where the anarchy within the virtual world had spilled over to cause catastrophes in real world society. All these incidences caused the federal government to start taking the virtual world seriously, and to come up with various laws specifically targeted towards the regulation of the virtual world, which had also come to be known as humanity's second world.
Of course, the emergence of these regulations caused this second world to become very organised, which in turn led to this second world's rapid development, becoming unbelievably prosperous. It should be known that the Federation's mainframe used a human's brainwaves as the condition for logging in, and that every person's brainwaves were one of a kind, never-changing. Think about it. Every person could only have one ID and one image, no alternate accounts — if someone were caught committing some crime or breaking some law, they would be stripped of their right to log into the virtual world, and may even have to go to jail.
Current humans had already gotten used to existing within a virtual world, living a second life within this secondary world. This made people care very much about their own IDs, taking care with their virtual selves, obeying the law. Of course, if you weren't afraid of the federal government stripping away your right to enter this second world, you could just cause as much trouble as you want.
Naturally, this wasn't foolproof — as technology continued to develop, humans were also continuing to evolve. Black-hat hackers who existed tens of thousands of years ago still existed tens of thousands of years later; but now they were called under one umbrella term — hacker.
This was not because hackers had become weaker, but rather, hackers as a collective had a higher entry point now. Only those whose minds had mutated in a way that allowed them to hide their true self within the virtual world could become a hacker.
Of course, among the hacker collective, there was still a side branch. That was a group of hackers who had the power to harm the electrical brainwaves of other humans, thus being able to commit murder within the virtual world —— they were known by the people of the Federation as 'virtual spectres'! A scary existence capable of 'eating' the souls of humans.
Of course, all this had nothing to do with the present Ling Lan. It was impossible for Ling Lan, who could only hang around the virtual world of the Central Scout Academy, to bump into these fearsome beings; she was currently excitedly waiting for the connection from her login pod to go through.
Very quickly, Ling Lan had arrived at a large hall. It looked very familiar, actually being the exact replica of the Central Scout Academy's great hall. This caused Ling Lan to sweatdrop — who knew the academy would be so shameless as to set the login screen of the login pods to be the school's great hall.
Ling Lan looked left and right, but didn't notice any selection icons of any kind. However, in the near distance, a glimmering pillar of light could be seen slowly rotating.
Just as she was puzzling over the situation, Ling Lan suddenly heard a familiar voice ring out inside her mind, "Boss, do you want to change your name and appearance?"
"Little Four? How did you get here?" Hadn't she been brought here by her brainwaves? How had Little Four been brought along?
Little Four said smugly, "Who do you think I am? I am the god of the virtual world — as long as there is a login signal, is there anywhere I can't go?" Before Ling Lan could ask any other questions, he asked again, "Boss, do you want to change your name and appearance?"
"I was just wondering why there wasn't the option to change my appearance ... where is it? Quickly, tell me," said Ling Lan happily. This was her first time encountering the virtual world, so she was truly clueless how to go about doing things.
At these words, Little Four's expression turned scornful as he said, "Please Boss, what option to change your appearance? There's no such thing. Once the mainframe has confirmed your brainwaves, it'll automatically model your virtual self after your real world name and appearance — and this is also the only ID you can use to enter the virtual world."
Ling Lan said glumly, "Then there wouldn't be any sense of being in a virtual world! Isn't that just like reality?"
"Otherwise, how would the government here be able to control this virtual world?" Little Four wasn't at all surprised.
Ling Lan sighed deeply, feeling rather disillusioned, but she abruptly perked up and asked, "Little Four, what did you say earlier?"
Little Four cast a scornful look at Ling Lan, wondering if Ling Lan had gotten dementia so young. "I asked if Boss wanted to change your name and appearance."
Ling Lan clapped her hands together loudly, "Yes, that." Confused, she asked, "Little Four, if the mainframe generates name and appearance automatically after confirming my brainwaves, then how can you help me change my appearance and ID? And if you help me to change them, will I be stuck that way from now on?"
Little Four glared at Ling Lan, miffed that Ling Lan thought so little of him. He sniffed and said, "Am I that lame? Who do you think I am? God! I can change your brainwave information every time you login to the mainframe, and let you have a different appearance and ID every single time."
Ling Lan was moved, "Doesn't that mean that ... I can have countless alternate accounts?"
Little Four said smugly, "That's right, but I recommend you start out with just your real account and just one alternate account for now. Making too many would also be a waste."
"Why would I use an alternate account?" Ling Lan didn't think that she needed to do anything illegal or unconscionable, so she really didn't see the need for an alternate account.
Little Four looked at her as if she were an idiot. "Don't you want to go out and look around? With the appearance of an adult?"
Ling Lan blinked, startled, but was then overwhelmed with joy, "I can go out? Not just stay confined here in the Central Scout Academy?"
Unhappily, Little Four reminded her once more, "Boss, I already told you, I am a god-like existence. All the restrictions of the virtual world doesn't exist for me. Yup, it's like what you mentioned before — all tofu walls 1 ."
Ling Lan felt dizzy with joy. She thought that she would still be trapped within the scout academy for another few years before she could come into contact with the greater world outside, but unexpectedly, because of Little Four, she could enter mainstream society right now, to get a true understanding of this world.
However, Ling Lan quickly calmed herself — six years of training within the learning space ensured that Ling Lan would never remain in an abnormal mental state for long. Once again, she refused Little Four's offer, because she needed to log in with her real ID and image for today, for this was the day she would be meeting up with her other companions in the virtual world for the first time.
Still, Ling Lan also told Little Four that the next time they had the chance, she would use a fake adult appearance to explore the outside world, to get a better understanding of this virtual world.
Under Little Four's nudging, Ling Lan walked to stand before that pillar of light, which was actually the teleportation tunnel to enter the virtual world. Ling Lan only hesitated for a moment before stepping resolutely into the light.
Ling Lan's entry point was a large plaza, which vaguely resembled the plaza of the Central Scout Academy, except it was bigger and wider. This was also the first entry point for all the students. Ling Lan could already see several familiar figures sitting on one of the long benches in the plaza not too far away, waiting for her to arrive.
Ling Lan walked over, smiling as she said, "You all sure move fast, all of you actually arriving before me."
Seated on the bench, Han Xuya pouted and said somewhat sulkily, "Boss, you are the last one. What took you so long? We've been waiting for almost half a day."
Beside Han Xuya, Luo Chao smiled shyly at Ling Lan, face filled with a quiet joy. For the past few days, because she was afraid that she would affect Ling Lan and the other boys during their fights, she had not gone to the hall to cheer them on, and this had caused Luo Chao's spirits to become a little low. When she saw Ling Lan once more, Luo Chao's mood immediately brightened immensely.
Qi Long, who had become slightly impatient due to the long wait, hurriedly said, "I've asked those NPCs 1 . There are a lot of missions here, which can give us cash, or even let us learn some combat moves."
Qi Long, with his passion for fighting, was completely helpless against this temptation, almost ready to abandon his boss and run off to seek the true path of combat.
Seeing how eager and restless everyone was, Ling Lan said, "Why don't we first exchange contact information, and then just go our own ways for a bit? We can just contact each other if we need any help."
"Okay!" Ling Lan's suggestion was unanimously approved; they all also believed that it was much more convenient to move separately. Just like that, each of them recorded down the others' contact information, and then they all went their separate ways.
1. i.e. soft and easily broken
2. Non-player characters. In other words, A.I. controlled characters.
Chapter 98 - Legacy Mission?
After everyone had left, Little Four asked listlessly, "Boss, what should we do now?" Little Four, who had already been to the real virtual world, just couldn't muster up any enthusiasm for this enclosed little world.
"Let us just explore this newbie village a little ..." In contrast, Ling Lan was very interested, for this was the very first time she was encountering the virtual world. She never expected that it would be so realistic — when she had first seen Qi Long and the others, she had almost thought that they were still in the real world.
Newbie village? What does that mean? Little Four was troubled; why couldn't he understand what his boss was saying?
However, for the sake of not cracking his image of 'smartest intelligence-entity', he didn't dare ask Ling Lan what it was, but instead secretly went to trawl through his own databases. Very quickly, in some random web novel, Little Four found the term, and when he took a look at the context of the term, he finally understood.
Little Four looked around at this closeted little world, compared it with the meaning of 'newbie village' in net-gaming, and found that his boss's description was just perfect. Once more, Little Four was awed by Ling Lan's deep knowledge — Boss sure is Boss, alright — able to use such concise and simple terms or sentences to describe a complicated thing in its entirety. Just look here ... to ensure that those children who have yet to properly establish their values and world views were not led astray, the academy chose to protect them within an enclosure. Wasn't this exactly like the newbie villages which had been established in net-gaming 10000 years ago to protect the rights of new players?
Setting aside Little Four's current adulation towards Ling Lan which was surging like the waters of the Huang He 1 and threatening to overflow ... Ling Lan spent a whole day satisfying her curiosity, roughly exploring the entire area of this small enclosed world and getting a rough idea of the conditions within this enclosed city.
The city was very large, over a hundred times larger than the scout academy in reality. By Ling Lan's estimations, it was impossible to learn all the nooks and crannies of this city without spending several years' time. This vastness was probably also for the sake of keeping the scout academy students at bay. After all, they had to stay put here in this patch of virtual reality for over 10 years while they remained in the academy — if they conquered this city within a few days, the students would definitely riot.
Time in the virtual world wasn't extended like Ling Lan imagined it to be, but moved at the same pace as real-world time. In other words, a day in the virtual world was equal to one real day.
Ling Lan wandered the city shops for a while and found that there weren't any strange or incomprehensible products — everything in the shops were items that also existed in reality. Then, when she asked, she found out that the things one bought in this virtual world were actually things being bought in reality. The moment you made an order and paid, the seller would send out the goods in the real world. Oh, right. A gentle reminder — things bought in the virtual world were non-refundable.
Of course, all sorts of learning halls were still the most common in the city. Within them were countless recordings of lessons for various courses — as long as you could complete certain preset missions, you would be able to receive one of the course videos for free. Of course, you could also choose to buy the lessons outright, but the cost in gold was enough to blind you ... Hells, it was just too expensive.
If it were possible to transfer some credits in from the real world to exchange for currency, perhaps the students would not be so resentful, but unfortunately, to push the students to become independent quicker, the academy banned this trading function. Even more unreasonable was that every student who first entered wouldn't be given any money at all by the miserly academy, not even a single cent.
Want to buy something in the virtual world? That's fine, students. Please accept a mission and use your own two hands to build your fortune. All the NPCs will smilingly parrot this sentence, completely unmoved by the children's tantrums or wailing complaints.
Of course, the academy wasn't truly that heartless — they set up countless easy small missions within the virtual world. Naturally, the money one could earn from these missions wasn't much, but as long as one completed the mission, one could obtain the associated gold or redeem particular course instructions for free.
Rumour had it that there were also some legacy missions and ultimate combat moves available which caused the students eyes to burn with want, for these missions could let an average child rise meteorically overnight.
Of course, it wasn't easy to get this type of high-level mission, which was dependent on luck and circumstance. Moreover, even if you received this kind of mission, whether you could complete it was still uncertain — ultimate moves and legacies weren't that easy to obtain. These hidden details were still completely unknown to Ling Lan and the other new students who had just gained access to the virtual world. They could only begin from the small missions, and learn more about this 'second world' of humanity as they earned some pocket money.
As Ling Lan had the ultimate cheating device in the form of Little Four, she truly took to the virtual world like a fish to water. Facing the tens of thousands of content produced daily, Little Four carefully helped Ling Lan to pick out those missions which had the best cost-benefit ratio, allowing Ling Lan to accumulate gold at the fastest possible speed.
If necessary, Little Four could also directly bypass the lock on the virtual space and exchange credits for virtual currency to bring to Ling Lan. But this suggestion was immediately refused by Ling Lan. Ling Lan felt that she already had too much of an advantage presently because of Little Four. If she pushed it even more, she would really draw the wrath of the heavens and the grudge of the people ... Ling Lan decided it would be better to keep a lower profile.
Of course, Ling Lan also refused Little Four because she still had one great advantage — the battle points she had gained in the ranking tournament were actually valid for changing into virtual currency. Ling Lan guessed that this was a reward mechanism put in place by the academy for the top talents, a covert form of encouragement. It could be expected that these exceptional children would be able to rely on this additional wealth from reality to pick up useful skills a step earlier, which was in line with the educational compass of the scout academy.
********
Just like that, Ling Lan busily passed a year between the scout academy and the virtual world. Within this period, she went through two more ranking tournaments, and for both times, she maintained her ranking at 4th place. The first time, she met Luo Lang in the semi-finals and chose to give up; while the second time, she met Qi Long in the semi-finals and also chose to give up.
Don't blame Ling Lan for not having any fighting spirit — the difference between their strengths was just too wide. Asking Ling Lan to fight with them was really just like asking her to bully children, and there was really no benefit for either side. If not to guarantee that she would be able to get the best education and the best cultivation resources, Ling Lan would have no desire to fight at all.
This move also caused Ling Lan's reputation to only circulate within her grade; the upper grade seniors had still had some interest in Ling Lan at the beginning, but in the end, seeing Ling Lan consecutively get held back in the top 4, they gradually lost interest.
Ling Lan didn't care about any of this — the scout academy was just a place for her to learn, not a place for her to show off. Besides, she was very busy every day. She had lessons of the scout academy to learn, missions of the learning space to do, and she still had to make some time to research the Dao she wanted to walk. Of course, she also didn't forget to go complete several small missions in the virtual world with the highest returns as selected by Little Four every day.
On this day, Ling Lan logged in to the virtual world as usual to do her missions, but the moment she entered the virtual world, she was immediately bombarded by the countless alerts of her companions trying to contact her. She opened her flashing communicator, and found that Qi Long and the others were desperately trying to get hold of her.
"What's up?" Ling Lan was extremely curious — although the others would contact her every once in a while, they had never tried to contact her all at once like this before. Something big must have happened.
"Boss, where are you?" Qi Long's loud voice almost shattered Ling Lan's eardrums.
Ling Lan took a look at the familiar buildings around her and replied, "100 metres in front of the Electrodynamics building."
This time, Ling Lan was preparing to complete a particular Physics instructor's mission, and obtain instruction from said instructor in Physics topics. This wasn't in the form of a video, but was a personal one-on-one instruction. Furthermore, the instruction time awarded depended on how well the mission was completed. In other words, the better Ling Lan did in the mission, the longer the instruction time she would get ... This was also why she was willing to take on this mission.
"Hehehe ... Boss really likes to joke ... you can even measure out 100 metres just like that," said Qi Long amidst silly laughter. He had of course picked up on Ling Lan's dissatisfaction in her tone — it must be because of his overly loud volume earlier, but he was really just too excited and just couldn't control it.
"Don't accept that mission right now!" Qi Long suddenly thought of why Boss would be there, and hurried to stop him. Although the reward of that mission was tantalising, the mission contents were truly rage-inducing.
It was an examination mission, involving two solid hours of examination time. Of course, this wasn't the reason why the children would be driven wild — were there any dumb children who could enter the Central Scout Academy? They weren't at all afraid of tests. But, as a mission from a Physics instructor, why were the contents being tested from all subjects?! Even the smartest child would have one or two weaker subjects; thus, a majority of the children had all failed, with only a few all-rounded abnormals who managed to scrape by.
Among Qi Long and the others in the group, only Han Jijyun had managed to pass the test and receive a month of face-to-face instruction. This caused Han Jijyun's knowledge in Electrodynamics to improve in leaps and bounds — according to Han Jijyun, he didn't have to worry about anyone chasing up to him in this subject for the next 5 years now — it was truly fantastic.
"Reason?" asked Ling Lan calmly. She wasn't someone who would easily give up on her objective. Qi Long would have to give her a convincing reason, otherwise she would still choose to proceed with the mission.
"Come quickly to Mecha Street, a legacy mission has appeared here." Qi Long tried to lower his voice, but he couldn't hold back his excitement. He was so moved that he was on the verge of frenzy.
"Legacy mission? Really?" Ling Lan was startled by this news. Within this year, she had gradually come to understand some of the secrets of the virtual world, finding out that it was possible that there were some legacy missions here just waiting for the right person to come along and find it. Still, that was just a rumour after all — she had yet to hear of any student who actually obtained a legacy mission, but of course this didn't include any students who may have obtained a legacy and then kept it a secret.
"Of course really! This mission has already been verified by the academy. Now everyone is preparing to go give it a try, but I hear from the students who've tried that the test of this mission is really weird. They all lost without knowing why, and was sent directly back out. But no one really believes what they say, and are all waiting to go try it once for themselves. Boss, that's a legacy mission. Legacy, " Qi Long spilled all that he knew in a flood, shouting in his enthusiasm.
Qi Long just couldn't contain his excitement. The term 'legacy' could not be used lightly in this world — only those strong enough to reach the level of a imperial operator and beyond had the right to bequeath their life's learnings through a legacy method to a disciple. And a legacy mission was a type of test set by an imperial-level and above fighter to choose a disciple.
1. Yellow River, third longest river in Asia
Chapter 99 - Walk One's Own Path
"It can't be ... aren't legacy missions the type that can only be stumbled upon by luck? Why would they have an open test this time?" Ling Lan's first reflex was to think that this was a joke, but then, considering Qi Long's straightforward personality, he would never joke about something as major as this. So, she started asking for more information.
"I'm not sure about that myself. Maybe the one who set the legacy mission just likes to use this kind of wide-scale elimination method to choose a disciple. Still, I like it," said Qi Long, grinning happily. He felt that he would have very little luck with those legacies which depended on chance, so he was ecstatic to see this type of publicly accessible legacy mission. Plus, he felt that this sort of legacy was fairer.
Qi Long would think this way due to his personality — being someone who favoured the direct approach, just looking at the convoluted twists and turns of some things gave him a headache.
"So it's a sea-selection 1 !" Ling Lan exclaimed in realisation. Of course, Ling Lan's words made Qi Long on the other end of the communicator gasp out in repeated admiration once more, for he felt that this descriptor was truly perfect for the situation.
The skin on Ling Lan's face had gotten exceptionally thick by now, having gotten used to taking credit for all those net-terminology or modern slang so popular in her previous world. Thus, she just calmly took it in stride and told Qi Long that she would hurry over immediately.
Although Ling Lan wasn't particularly keen about this public legacy mission, this was still Ling Lan's first encounter with a so-called legacy mission after all. She was very curious, and so decided to hold off on her current mission and go take a look at Qi Long's area first.
Little Four fully supported this plan; he was very annoyed at himself for overlooking this legacy mission, and so decided that he would analyse this sort of legacy mission closely to avoid missing them in the future. He would make sure to find all the legacy missions and present them to his boss ... It had to be said that Little Four was really very greedy, actually planning to round up all the legacy missions within the virtual network. Luckily Ling Lan didn't notice what Little Four was thinking right now, otherwise she would certainly be rendered speechless — legacies weren't like the Chinese cabbages they could eat every day!
********
As its name implied, Mecha Street was a street filled with mecha shops. However, in the newbie village, er ... no, the enclosed city of the scout academy, what the shops sold were all kinds of mecha figurines of different sizes, readily available for the students to peruse to better understand this world's strongest solo weaponry. Whether they were male or female, as long as they had money, they would definitely buy one of the mecha models they liked.
The mecha models were very realistic — the materials used to make them were actually of the same alloy type as real mecha. That said, real mecha were made with the highest grade materials, while the models were made with secondary level materials, along with some miscellaneous junk materials. Still, every part of the mecha was made perfectly, just like on a real mecha. All movable and removable parts worked exactly like a real mecha, and even the controls and operational instruments within the mecha's cockpit were all present and accounted for. This made them perfect for letting the children learn about the internal structure of mecha and some of its basic operations.
The moment Ling Lan arrived at Mecha Street, she could see countless students surging in a particular direction. So, without even having to ask Qi Long for directions, Ling Lan knew exactly where she should go. It was very likely that these students had all rushed over after hearing the news.
Moving with the crowd, Ling Lan finally arrived at her destination. Seeing the human blockade spanning 100 metres long, Ling Lan couldn't help but frown deeply. Just at a glance, there were probably about almost ten thousand students gathered here.
Ling Lan could only contact Qi Long once again to find out where they were. Because they had arrived early, they were now stuck about 60 to 70 metres to the front. They had never expected that within a few short minutes, over ten thousand students would have rushed over. Now, they were stuck with no way to move forward or backward, and so could only stay put and wait for their turn to take the test.
Seeing this, Ling Lan decisively turned around, prepared to go back to her earlier mission. So many people ... who knows when it'll be before it's her turn? Ling Lan didn't have that much time to waste; in fact, her time had been tight to start with.
But Little Four stopped her, asking her to wait a while, before disappearing in a hurry.
Ling Lan thought of Little Four's abilities and so decided to be patient and wait. However, she didn't like to be surrounded by people, so Ling Lan looked around to her left and right ...
The shops on mecha street were basically all three-storey buildings, with the lowest level being taller than the floors of a regular building by about a half-storey because the model mecha on the first floor were all very big and tall, some even reaching a height of up to three metres high. These models could allow a person to sit in the mecha's cockpit to experience first-hand how it really felt to operate one, but of course, the price of this type of mecha wasn't cheap. Without external financial support, relying solely on the students' own efforts to gather money, it would be impossible to purchase these mecha without investing up to seven or eight years of time. Of course, if Ling Lan wanted, with Little Four's assistance, she would be able to purchase it after two years at max.
The second storey of the shops were where the well-crafted miniature model mecha were displayed, available for perusal and purchase by students who liked collecting them. Meanwhile, the third storey was where the cashier was located, and where one could go to pre-order some model mecha. After all, some mecha were extremely expensive, so the shops didn't want to tie up too much of their cash flow in stock.
Every mecha seller's shopfront was decorated uniquely and with personal flair — there were those which drew inspiration from sci-fi and fantasy, while others were simple, some traditional, and even more in line with modern trends ... Ling Lan's attention had been drawn by a shop roughly three metres in front of her. A canvas sign full of vintage flavour hung from its walls, and a string of small red lanterns trailed down from the roof of the third storey.
Ling Lan's eyes flashed; perhaps she could make use of this.
Before she could be surrounded by people, Ling Lan took advantage of the little space she had around her to take two small quick steps, and then, with a spring of her toes, she leapt off the ground.
"Owie, who stepped on my head?!" A small student whose attention had been absorbed by the front suddenly felt someone stepping on his head. He quickly looked up and saw a small nimble figure flying by.
"Someone is jumping on top!" Quite a few other people had also noticed Ling Lan's actions, and they all began making a racket.
Ling Lan could be seen flying to land on the side of the wall of the shop, where she tugged on the string of lanterns with one hand to send herself flying upwards once again. Ling Lan's body was extremely agile; she managed to flip up onto the roof in an instant like a nimble monkey.
"F*ck, so that's also a way of doing things." Those observing abruptly realised that it wasn't absolutely necessary to walk on the ground to move to the front. Those with fast reflexes immediately copied Ling Lan and began climbing up the shop. However, it wasn't long before everyone else gathered their wits and leapt towards that string of lanterns. The result was tragic but predictable — how could this small string of lanterns bear the weight of so many people? — it snapped from the middle, causing many of the students on the lower half to fall down.
It would have been fine if things ended there, but at that moment, everyone was still rushing towards that shop, thus resulting in a disastrous stampede. It was said later that countless students had been evicted right out of the virtual world because of this stampede incident. When those students tried logging in once more, they were warned that their virtual bodies had been destroyed by unbearable pressure, and that they would have to wait till three days later before they could log in again.
This caused the students to beat their chests in frustration, full of bitter regret. If they had known this would be the outcome ... why did they have to try and follow that despicable person's shortcut? If they had just obediently kept their place in line, they were likely to have gotten their turn after just a full day and night of waiting.
Ling Lan had no idea that her spontaneous movements had actually sparked such a tragedy within the virtual world. She sped over the rooftops, and it wasn't long before she saw Qi Long and the others hemmed in on all sides by people. One, two, three, four, five ... nine — yup, every one of them was there, all stuck within the crowd.
Making a direct call to Qi Long's communicator, Ling Lan said smugly, "Lil' boy Qi Long, I see you ~" It was rare that she had the urge to tease them. Ling Lan sat on the edge of a rooftop and looked down at her friends peering around trying to find her when they heard the news.
"Boss, where are you? Why can't I see you?" Qi Long was very surprised. He was barricaded on all sides, stuck, so how in the world had Boss come to find them from over 100 metres away?
Han Jijyun lowered his head in thought, when suddenly an idea popped into his head. He looked up and immediately saw Ling Lan grinning and waving at them.
What an intelligent child, being able to find the key point so quickly. Ling Lan confirmed once more that Han Jijyun was very smart; as long as he was given a tiny hint, he could immediately hone in on the most important points.
Under Han Jijyun's prompting, Qi Long and the others also looked up to see Ling Lan smirking at them. With some frustration, Qi Long said, "Now why didn't I think of that?" Since this virtual world was known to be almost 100% realistic, of course it would be possible to also travel over the rooftops. Unfortunately, it was already too late now. They were squeezed within the crowd, unable to find any space to sprint towards a shop wall.
In the end, they could only regretfully let Ling Lan help them to go ahead and find out about the contents of the mission. Ling Lan naturally did not object. She waved a casual farewell to them and then disappeared.
Han Jijyun sighed and said, "Boss Ling Lan is truly the boss, always able to think of things we'd never think of. Compared to him, we're just too weak." Rather than martial prowess, Han Jijyun was more admiring of Ling Lan's intellect — this was a natural focal point for intelligent people.
Qi Long nodded in agreement, and said somewhat dejectedly, "Yeah, we all learned combat arts together, but in the end, while we can still only use them as sparring stances, Boss can apply them as killing tools already."
Qi Long would still pester Ling Lan to spar with him every once in a while, and Ling Lan would accept if she was in a good mood. Both of them would only use those common combat arts taught by the school during those spars. However, for the exact same move, while Qi Long was still just replicating it as taught, Ling Lan was already simplifying it and absorbing it, making it truly part of her own personal combat arts.
Those observing from the side-lines may not have been able to see the situation clearly, but Qi Long who was in the thick of it knew very well that Ling Lan was truly very scary. His combat ability had already surpassed them by too much. At times, he would even get the illusion that the pressure Ling Lan exerted was as formidable as his father's.
Because every time they crossed moves, Ling Lan would always pull back right before he would hit his fatal spots. To an outsider, it would seem as if they were fighting evenly, but in fact, Ling Lan was just holding back. Sometimes, his moves even had a trace of mentoring embedded within them, pushing Qi Long's understanding of how to fight better.
However, even though Ling Lan was already holding back that much, Qi Long could still feel the force of the wind behind Ling Lan's fists. It scraped over his body so sharply that it felt as if it could split his skin — this force was a terrifying one, and he knew he would have no chance of surviving even just one hit. It would be a total GAME OVER.
This truly displayed the resilience of Qi Long's personality. He did not become sullen and depressed in the face of Ling Lan's fearsome strength, but instead respected Ling Lan even more. At the same time, he also pushed himself to train harder, refusing to allow himself to be too much weaker than the boss he had acknowledged. This, was his pride as a follower.
1. i.e. audition. Choosing from a sea of participants.
Chapter 100 - The Case of the Glass Window!
It wasn't long before Ling Lan arrived at the mission location. Frankly, if you didn't look closely, it would be impossible to see where it was, because the entire Mecha Street was filled with people. The ground wasn't visible no matter which end you looked at. However, Ling Lan's eyes were sharp. She noticed that at the entrance of one particular shop, the children were lined up and entering one at a time, and so she knew she had found the right place.
Ling Lan did not choose to jump down, for she suspected that if she tried to cut the line right then, it would definitely incite the rage of the crowd. If that happened, no matter how adept she was at fighting, she would still be beaten up by all the students like a rat crossing the street 1 . So she laid flat on the roof, and peeked over the eaves to look down. As she expected, the third storey had windows.
That being so, she positioned herself, and then, hanging down with her feet hooked on the eaves, she managed to touch the windows of the third storey. Right now, Ling Lan only hoped that the glass wouldn't be anything insane like bulletproof glass or tempered glass.
She tapped on the panes lightly, and the glass produced a crisp and clear sound — it should just be regular glass. Ling Lan decisively clenched her fist and threw a heavy punch. A crisp 'bang!' rang out, and there was now a hole in the glass. Ling Lan continued to rain several more blows at the window until all the glass had been shattered.
Ling Lan's savage method was noticed by the students below, and a furor broke out among the students waiting on the street. They had never even considered such a violent way of entering a shophouse. Quite a few of the students were mentally chiding themselves — if they had only known of this method earlier, then they wouldn't have had to wait so patiently in line for so long.
Ling Lan paid no mind to the envy-jealousy-hate of the students below. She loosened the grip of her legs, both hands grabbing on tightly to the window frame, and nimbly flipped herself from outside the window into the shop.
But when Ling Lan got a better look at the scene inside the shop, she was instantly depressed. Because, of all the places she could enter from, she had coincidentally entered the room where the portal to the test was located. As a result, she was immediately caught red-handed by the instructors posted there to maintain order.
An elderly instructor with a white beard pointed a trembling finger at her and raged, "Who are you? From which grade? How can you be so disrespectful?!" Ling Lan was wearing the red uniform specific to the special classes, so it went without saying that he was one of those prideful princes. The only question was which grade he was from.
Ling Lan swiftly took a look around the room, and found that other than the one angry old teacher in front of her, the other teachers, especially those of the younger generation, weren't as angry as she would have expected. Some were even smiling slightly with a trace of approval in their gazes.
Eh? This action of hers was obviously going against the established order of things, and may even create chaos and confusion — why weren't the instructors offended? Why would they even approve ? Ling Lan abruptly remembered that this was a world where the strongest survive, where everything was decided through strength. Was intelligence also considered a type of strength? Did the academy openly announce this legacy mission, but never really intended for the children to enter the test under normal pathways? So, this method of hers which would seem so rebellious and off the beaten track in her previous world ... was actually considered a display of intelligence here?
Ling Lan did not linger on the idea, letting it sweep by without thinking any more of it. This was because she needed to respond properly to the instructor; the academy placed top priority in respecting one's teachers and honouring the truth, and Ling Lan had no intentions of flouting this tradition.
"Good day, teacher. I am Ling Lan of grade 2 Class-A." Ling Lan's calm self-introduction caused some of the teachers to break out into laughter. This child showed no hint of shame for being caught doing something wrong — his expression was closer to that of an innocent babe's.
"Even if you are a child from Class-A, one of the most excellent of students within the academy, I will submit a complaint to the school administration on your horrible behaviour and make them take away your right to be in Class-A." Ling Lan's easy attitude without any sign of repentance had thoroughly enraged the already angry old teacher.
The old teacher's words made the younger teachers around him smile bitterly, silently shaking their heads. This elderly teacher was infamous within the academy for being mule-headed. Right was right, wrong was wrong, no ifs and buts about it — he was a stubborn old fogey who would show no mercy. It was for this very reason that the academy administration had put him in charge of keeping order here. They were hoping he would be able to frighten some of the academy's more unruly students with his sternness and keep them in check. Who knew that before he could have a chance to frighten those naughty students, he would already clash with an intelligent child with unorthodox thinking?
The younger instructors were all glum — if this old teacher weren't here, they would have just let Ling Lan go ahead and take the test already! It couldn't be helped. They just really liked this sort of student who was willing to leap out of the box, and who was filled with limitless potential.
Ling Lan was also extremely troubled. She kneaded her forehead, thinking about how she could solve this problem. It wasn't that she was really afraid that the elderly teacher would complain, but rather, she felt that it would be wrong to make this old man with a head full of white hair angry.
After a beat of silence, Ling Lan opened her mouth to ask, "May I know who is the owner of this shop?"
A young man was sitting on a sofa by the side talking quietly with another young man in military uniform as they watched events unfold. Hearing the question of the child who broke the window, he hurriedly raised his hand and said, "That's me. I'm over here." With a smile on his face, he waited with interest to see what Ling Lan would do next.
Seeing the young man's intrigued expression, Ling Lan's heart settled. With a slight bow of her head, she said sincerely, "I'm sorry I broke your shop's window pane! May I know how much it would cost to install a new one? I will pay for it."
"It's fine, it's fine, it's just a small glass pane," said the young man, still smiling, casually refusing Ling Lan's offer.
But Ling Lan insisted, "I did it, so I will take responsibility. The academy has taught us before that we should not run away from our responsibilities."
Ling Lan's words caused all the teachers present to nod their heads silently — even the angered elderly instructor was stroking his white beard in gratification, and the harsh expression on his face gentled considerably.
An impressive child! A sharp glint flashed through the eyes of the young soldier beside the young man. Defusing the elderly instructor's rage with just a few short sentences; he could already predict that this case would end peacefully.
"Haha, what if this piece of glass is very expensive? I know well that you scout academy students don't have much money here," said the young man with a mischievous smirk. It seemed like the young man just wanted to mess around with Ling Lan on purpose. At the same time, he was subtly reminding Ling Lan that she shouldn't make promises so quickly before she had all the information.
With a shake of her wrist, Ling Lan sent the small item in her hand flying through the air straight towards the young man. This movement was extremely sudden, but the young man was not at all flustered. He calmly reached out his right hand and easily caught the item.
This sharp and clean catch caused Ling Lan's brows to lift up slightly; looks like the owner of this shop was more than he seemed. Ling Lan kept her surprise lidded as a smirk appeared on her face. "This is a fragment of that glass of yours. It would be easy enough to find a device to assess its components. We students of the scout academy are protected by the scout academy ... I believe that Big Brother wouldn't want to offend the scout academy, right?"
Every student who studied at the scout academy would receive the academy's protection. Any adult who tried to cheat or deceive the students would certainly draw the frenzied vengeance of the scout academy.
The way Ling Lan looked at the young man, just as if he were an idiot, made the young soldier beside him chuckle, while the young man couldn't help but hide his face behind a hand, speechless. He just hadn't been able to stop himself from teasing this cute little boy a little — did the boy have to retaliate so fiercely? Actually being looked down upon by a 7 year old child ... Boo hoo hoo, he didn't want to live anymore.
The elderly instructor's face, which had already gentled completely by this time, actually smiled a little at this speech of Ling Lan's, nodding all the while. So this child wasn't an unruly and naughty child — he was very clear on what was right and wrong in the bigger picture, and was also a responsible child. He really wasn't a bad child at all ... looks like he couldn't treat him too harshly now, to avoid hurting the child's development ...
Unknowingly, the elderly instructor's thoughts had been changed by Ling Lan's performance.
"Alright, just giving me 500 Federation virtual coins will do." The young man could only give an amount that was lower than the market rate by 30%. Ling Lan naturally didn't refuse the other's kind intentions and stupidly insist on paying the so-called correct price just to prove how noble she was.
That done, Ling Lan packed away her contempt, her expression turning earnest as she thanked the young man. This caused the young man's spirits to brighten instantly, and he once again felt like this child before him was just too adorable.
Boo hoo hoo, he must definitely propose to his girlfriend as soon as possible so they could consummate their marriage and have a plump little baby next year as cute as this child before him ...
Ling Lan swiftly transferred the requested gold coins to the young man, and the case of the broken window was settled just like that. Then, she walked over to stand in front of the elderly instructor and said seriously, "Thank you, teacher, for your guidance."
These words of Ling Lan finally moved the old instructor. The children these days were all very rebellious, and would usually hold a grudge against their teachers when rebuked, rather than be grateful for it. Yet, the elderly instructor could see very clearly that Ling Lan was sincere when she thanked him. Ling Lan's current demeanour made the old instructor unable to maintain his initial sternness, so he only said gruffly, "Remember, there's no next time."
Eh?! Was this still that merciless stubborn old fogey they all knew? All of the other instructors were extremely surprised that the elderly instructor would let Ling Lan off so easily 1 . They had initially thought that the elderly instructor would personally go all the way to the disciplinary department to make a complaint. Who would have guessed that the end of the matter would be this 'all thunder but no rain' type of result?
A smile hung on the corners of the young soldier's lips as he looked at Ling Lan's face which was dripping with sincerity. What a perfect finishing blow! Who knew that after leaving the academy for over a decade, another aberrantly exceptional child would appear ... Lin Lan ... Lin 1 ? Linn 2 ? Ling 3 ? The child's surname and that of the prodigy of his time actually sounded the same. What a coincidence ... could it be that it was the same Ling?
At this thought, the young soldier's expression dimmed. When he looked at Ling Lan once more, his gaze carried a trace of prayer, hoping that this stunningly intelligent child would be able to grow up safely. He hoped that the child would not end up like his old classmate, who had lost his wings to some sinister plot eight years ago before he could fully shine his brightest ...
The old instructor ignored the shock on the other instructors' faces. He scoffed in his heart: "Did you all really think I was senile and blinded by old age? That I wouldn't be able to see this child's brilliance? Being hard on him would have just been to prevent him from walking down the wrong path due to his overwhelming intellect. But this child really handled this matter well. He completely captured my weak points, making me unable to continue being stern. Oh, how perfectly he did it ..."
A trace of worry appeared on the elderly instructor's face, along with some quiet satisfaction; his feelings were mixed. This child would either grow up to become a hero, or an outlaw — who knew what path he would choose in the future ...
Seeing that the case of the broken window had been settled favourably, the teacher in charge of calling the students to enter the test did not continue to call on the next student. Instead, he indicated for Ling Lan to come over and gave him some time to prepare as he waited to be transported through the portal for the test.
1. a common enemy
2. I love the original phrase here, which literally translates to 'lift a cane up high but put it down gently', but I just couldn't find a way to make it fit naturally. >.<
3. The soldier is thinking of the wrong character for Ling Lan's surname here.
4. Another wrong surname with the same sound, but a different character from the first.
5. Finally got it right.
Chapter 101 - A Simple Test?
Ling Lan hadn't even waited for two minutes when the instructor said, "Ling Lan, it's your turn."
Under the instructor's guidance, Ling Lan touched the portal.
Her hand had barely touched the portal when she felt a tremendous sucking force pulling her entire body into it. Of course, this was just what Ling Lan felt. From an outsider's perspective, Ling Lan had only walked through the portal and disappeared.
"I hope this child can receive his inheritance!" This notion suddenly rose up within the young soldier's heart.
However, very soon he had received news from the secret monitors that that child had also been rejected and had been sent back to the login point.
Even such an exceptionally talented child had been denied? Ling Xiao, exactly what kind of inheritor were you looking for? It couldn't be denied that the young soldier was a little disappointed deep down, for he had really thought highly of that child. Perhaps there would be a chance in the future for him to help that child ...
The staff who were monitoring in secret had tracked Ling Lan's movements in the virtual world from the very moment she entered the portal. Only when they saw her walk into the library from the login point, where she then proceeded to sit and study, looking as if she had no intention of moving, did the staff ease their monitoring.
The young soldier didn't know that these monitors, who were led by him in name, actually had another mission. The higher-ups had instructed that whenever a child named Ling Lan attempted the legacy mission, the child should be monitored closely every step of the way.
********
The moment Ling Lan entered the specialised space of the legacy mission, she actually found Little Four tucked away in a corner waiting for her. Surprised, she was just about to ask him what was going on when Little Four mysteriously pressed a finger against his lips and made a loud "Shhh!", signalling Ling Lan not to speak.
Ling Lan glared at Little Four irritably. If he was really trying to be stealthy, would he have made such a loud shushing noise? Still, Ling Lan didn't interrupt Little Four, merely waiting patiently for him to explain.
"Boss, someone is monitoring this space." Sure enough, Little Four gave her some momentous news.
"What exactly is going on?" asked Ling Lan in confusion.
"This space is not yet the real legacy mission space. It is just a transit station that the virtual world has specially set aside for this legacy mission, which is why it can be monitored," explained Little Four. "I've tracked it, and it's connected to the military."
Ling Lan frowned, "And you still dare to stay here?" Wouldn't the other side discover Little Four and cause them trouble?
Little Four rolled his eyes at Ling Lan, extremely displeased that she didn't trust him. "Who am I? I am the god of the virtual world. They can only see what I want them to see. Like right now, all they can see is an image of you standing in front of that diamond-shaped crystal, investigating it seriously." Little Four was very smug about this.
"Now who was it who acted as if a great enemy was upon us, telling me to not make a sound?" Ling Lan glared coolly at Little Four, instantly smothering his budding self-satisfaction.
Sensing that things were veering off-track, Little Four immediately adopted an obedient look, eager to please. This made Ling Lan annoyed and amused in equal measure; in the end, Ling Lan could only let it go, turning to focus on a more important question.
"About this legacy mission, how much do you know?" Since Little Four had come so early, he should have already gotten some understanding of the situation.
But reality wasn't as simple as Ling Lan had assumed. When Little Four heard this question, his entire face fell. With a greatly stricken look, he said dejectedly, "Sorry, Boss, I can't get into that place." Little Four pointed to the front where the diamond-shaped crystal was hovering in the air, slowly turning on its axis.
"What is it? A portal?" Ling Lan walked over to the crystal to peer at it curiously.
Little Four said gloomily, "It is also a type of portal, but this crystal is some strong person's solidified spiritual essence. I believe that the test space is right inside. Originally, I wanted to go inside to find out more, but I had just gotten close when I was repelled by the spiritual force around the crystal. It almost injured me," said Little Four as he patted his little chest in remembered fear. If he had gotten hurt, his mental faculties would have been disrupted, and it might have been a very long time before he could have appeared in front of Ling Lan again.
"Oh? Then what should I do?" Hearing Little Four's words, Ling Lan became more cautious.
"You just need to touch that crystal. That's what I saw many of the students do," said Little Four. "After they touched the crystal, they disappeared from this virtual world, and then one or two minutes later, they reappeared in the virtual world again, but they were already back at the login point where we first logged in."
"Disappeared from the virtual world? Could it be a new space?" Ling Lan understood what Little Four was saying. In other words, they hadn't been transported to another area in the virtual world, but had disappeared directly from this virtual world itself.
Little Four thought for a moment before saying, "I have some incomplete data here — it seems that there is a theory that when a person's strength reaches a certain level, a realm will emerge. And every individual's realm is an independent space."
Hearing this, Ling Lan couldn't help but think of Dao. The essence of Dao can weaken an opponent's abilities — was it then also a type of realm, except that this realm was not yet complete?
The notion came and went, and Ling Lan moved on to her next question, "Did all those students fail the mission?"
"Of course! Otherwise the next person wouldn't be able to enter. This legacy mission is really very interesting, only allowing one person to enter at a time. Only when the person inside has failed can the next person go in. Luckily the testing time is quick — the results are typically out within two or three minutes. There was even one student who didn't even manage to last 30 seconds before being sent to the login point. How stupid," said Little Four with clear schadenfreude.
"Perhaps I won't do much better," said Ling Lan disapprovingly. Who knew what things would be tested inside — no one could guarantee that they would definitely be able to pass.
"Boss will surely do fine and take down this legacy mission." said Little Four with a pout. In his mind, Ling Lan was the smartest!
"Little Four, thank you." Ling Lan was very touched by Little Four's faith in her. She stroked Little Four's small head, while her mind was working through her next options.
With some doubt, Ling Lan said, "Little Four, I want to give up on this mission. You know why ... I don't want the military to notice me." It would be fine if she didn't manage to complete it, but if by chance she really managed to complete it, it might result in some negative repercussions for her.
Puzzled, Little Four said, "Even so, you don't have to give up, right? I can create an illusion, so no matter whether Boss succeeds or fails, I can make it look like you're chased out after 3 minutes."
"Little Four, you can create illusions?" Ling Lan was extremely surprised. But then, she recalled that Little Four could alter human brainwaves, so of course he could also mimic human brainwaves to make an illusory Ling Lan appear in the virtual world.
"However, if I stay inside, it will still be useless when the next person finds that they can't get in," said Ling Lan with a sigh.
"That's easy. I'll just make a new space and let the children after that enter that new space. And then, I'll set it so that they'll be sent back to the login point at a random time between one to three minutes." Little Four didn't see the problem.
"And what about the contents of the test?" After all, quite a few students had already entered the real legacy mission space to take the real test. If by any chance it was discovered that the test contents were different, it would be bad.
"Tch, Boss, you really have too many questions. Wouldn't you already be inside the real test by then? As long as you're inside, when you take the test, I'll be able to find out the test contents then. At that time, I'll just copy it over ... Also, if by any chance Boss fails and gets thrown out, I won't even have to make a new space anymore. So, Boss, just go in and leave everything to Little Four."
Little Four couldn't stand it any longer and nudged Ling Lan impatiently to go in. Although Little Four could give those monitors an illusion, he couldn't just let Ling Lan continue to just stand still in front of the crystal — that would be suspicious.
Ling Lan finally relaxed. She put her hand onto the crystal floating in the air — for some reason, when she touched the crystal, she felt an indescribable sense of kinship, warming her deeply from the inside ...
Then, she was enveloped by the warmth of this spiritual energy and was brought to a place shrouded in fog. There was nothing at all in her surroundings other than semi-transparent fog and mist.
Just as Ling Lan was wondering what she should do, the mist suddenly condensed to form a grey figure. This figure was short and small, roughly the height and size of the present Ling Lan. And then, the little figure started to go through a set of combat arts.
Ling Lan took a close look and found herself speechless. Was this the test? Wasn't this just a little too easy? It turned out that that little figure was going through one of the basic combat arts that all students learned from the academy in grade one.
"Scout basics combat arts?" Ling Lan tentatively gave her answer, but found that the little figure was still going through the motions without stopping.
So it wasn't testing her for the name of the art? A thought flashed through Ling Lan's mind, and she struck a pose and begun following the grey figure to go through this set of basic combat arts. However, Ling Lan started from the very first stance; she wanted to prove her hypothesis.
Sure enough, Ling Lan found that the moment she started, that little figure restarted to follow Ling Lan as she went through the movements. As she had guessed, it was indeed a test of body language. Of course, it wasn't impossible for it to also be a test of combat art names, so Ling Lan decided to cover all her bases to make sure that she would pass safely.
Ling Lan called out the name of each move as she performed them, until she and the grey figure were moving completely in sync. When Ling Lan finally finished going through the entire set of combat arts, the grey figure disappeared, leaving Ling Lan standing alone in the space once again. She hadn't been thrown out, so it looked like she had passed this first round of testing.
Ling Lan let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness she had guessed correctly. That one set of combat arts had taken up roughly two to three minutes ... which meant that most students had failed in the second round. What in the world was this second round testing for which would cause all of the students to fail?
Ling Lan's heartbeat became a little erratic just thinking about it. At this moment, the mist once again condensed into a human figure, but the figure this time was no longer a small child, but a bulky adult. This figure proceeded to go through yet another set of combat arts, but this particular set made Ling Lan's facial expression change drastically.