Chapter 469: I Will Intervene in the Joint Exam as a Teaching Assistant
“Ahh… ow… it hurts… it really hurts!”
In the soundproof Body Cultivation Room, I felt Sister Bai’s delicate fingers carefully dab a colorless semi-congealed ointment on every part of my body.
The ointment spread over my skin left no trace, like evaporated moisture, yet it caused a sharp pain in that area of my flesh.
“Xiao Han, this is not like you, is it? Although the first attempt can indeed be quite painful, shouldn’t it be enough to make you cry out loud?” Sister Bai said, but her hands did not stop even for a moment. As they glided over my right arm, she perceived the structure and muscle direction of my limb solely through touch, her gaze fixed on my forearm as if admiring a work of art.
“Um… well, there’s no one here, holding it in will just damage myself…” I organized my thoughts and said, “Sister Bai, is this really an ointment for training tactile perception? Such an intensity of pain could only numb the sense of pain, right?”
“Don’t worry, Xiao Han, this ointment is crafted using Alchemy. One of its properties is to suppress spontaneous bodily pain sensation, but it won’t obstruct subjective pain suppression.”
“This… is this torture?” I immediately retorted.
“In the initial stage of Body Cultivation, an individual cannot achieve complete control over their body, so external stimuli are needed to force one’s will to adapt to the senses. Adaptation is the first step in body control, but! Xiao Han, you are practicing Self-Awakened Body Cultivation. I mentioned earlier, this ointment brings pain not for you to enjoy, but when you feel pain, why not use your ability to control your body to block it out?”
“Eh?” I was taken aback by Sister Bai’s sudden change in tone, “I thought pain was part of training…”
“Pain is not the primary purpose of training; it’s a measurement standard. It helps you recognize yourself at the beginning, perceive your limits, preventing that perception from adversely affecting you. Perception is a tool you hold, but it can also harm you, so in perceptual training, you must learn not to let your own perception backfire or obscure you. Right now, you need to have an initial understanding of it.”
“This understanding varies from person to person, including gender, age, development status, and even ethnicity. This disparity also needs to be acknowledged. Additionally, you need foundational knowledge to understand the essence of normal perception, how the systems of vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch operate together on a living body.”
“Mhm…” I nodded eagerly.
Of course, I already knew this; it belonged to basic biological knowledge from my past life. For example, vision can only see the visible light spectrum, hearing can only detect certain frequencies, and neither ultrasonic nor infrasonic waves can be perceived. The same goes for smell, taste, and touch.
For these senses, there are corresponding means. For instance, the pain of touch is a subjective recognition that occurs when tactile feedback reaches a certain threshold, often accompanied by related instincts that can influence personal behavior, emotions, thoughts, and mental processes.
However, basic educational obligations regarding these aspects in this world are not well-established. The education in the Main World primarily focuses on selecting talent and cultivating the cogs that maintain its operations.
This is harsh and realistic, much like how family planning that encourages reproduction also aims to provide a larger base of prospective students for the Extraordinary Academy. After all, quantitative changes can lead to qualitative changes.
Soon, Sister Bai kindly finished applying the ointment and helped me put on my clothes that I had taken off.
However, the sustained effects of the ointment would last quite a while. If I didn’t want to be tormented by this pain that wasn’t particularly intense but persistent, I needed to continuously adapt my ability to control tactile perception, turning this instinct into an innate bodily talent I could subjectively manipulate. It was akin to the Self-Generated Magic I developed alongside the Academy Head, which is a unique trait of Extraordinary Witches.
And I had to do better than just instinctive control.
After all, if this ability was subjectively mastered but not even as good as instinctive control, it would be pointless to exert so much effort.
“Hiss~” As soon as I relaxed, I felt the pain; even the slight friction between my clothes and skin could provoke a terrifying stimulus feedback.
“Take it slow; later on, you will adapt,” Sister Bai quickly reassured me. “As your consciousness strengthens, you will realize the strength of your spirit, but you must understand that the spirit of Body Cultivation and the spirit power of meditation are different concepts. A strong spirit allows you to do more, such as multi-tasking and multi-threaded control. These dispersed thoughts in your primary consciousness can be fully utilized to control your senses.”
“I can indeed feel a clear difference; compared to my previous self as an ordinary person, I feel somewhat terrifying now… hiss… umm, what are you doing, Sister Bai?” Just as I spoke, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my thigh; I looked down to see that Sister Bai had tightened the thigh ring around my leg.
“Of course, I’m helping you create the perfect sense of pressure,” Sister Bai rose and clapped her hands, seemingly satisfied with her creation.
“Sister Bai, your unusual interests always surface in strange ways. You look so serious,” I gently touched the inner side of my thigh, the most sensitive spot, where the pressure from the thigh ring caused a throbbing pain—truly, I was suffering for Sister Bai’s peculiar preferences.
“Is that so?” Sister Bai didn’t seem to find any fault in my comment; she took out a small notebook and handed it to me. “This contains the finished ointments used in tactile training that I’ve documented outside the Main World, along with Alchemy recipes, manuscripts, and teachings. You’ve dabbled a bit in Alchemy, haven’t you? Feel free to try making your own; after all, something made yourself is more reassuring.”
“Oh, wow~” I took the more detailed notes, with elegant handwriting detailing the Alchemical content.
In fact, I had used the Earth Vein Identification Technique when Sister Bai was applying the ointment, but there was little recording about this ointment in the Earth Veins. Most of the information was what Sister Bai had mentioned, and at most it recorded the material composition and the extraordinary energy composition of the ointment.
Now that I had this from Sister Bai, my identification technique immediately completed the information synchronization.
“Hmm… this seems a bit overly simple,” I commented. After understanding the materials, crafting techniques, and rituals involved in Alchemy, I couldn’t help but sigh.
Although I said this, seemingly simple as it was, there were no traces of this product in the Main World’s Earth Veins, indicating that such a thing didn’t exist there.
“Of course, this item is similar to the incense used for meditation; incense is also a product of Alchemy. It’s very simple, at least entry-level is easy.”
“Now that you mention it, I’m somewhat tempted to become self-sufficient.” After all, who wouldn’t want to use something at cost price?
It’s just that I couldn’t guarantee the final quality of the finished product; it surely couldn’t compare to Sister Gong Xi Huanxin, who had immersed herself in crafting incense for who knows how long. After all, experience generally correlates with time.
“But if there are many things possible, it’s not necessary to do them yourself.”
“However, I think that even if I can delegate, I shouldn’t be incapable. What if someone tries to corner me?” I instinctively spoke.
“Corner you? Xiao Han, why do you have such a strange thought? Have you already made plans to make enemies out of everyone from the start? You must understand that even the most unfavored Extraordinary Witches in the Void do not need to worry about such matters. The Void is a very realistic place, where interests prevail; even enemies will negotiate calmly over benefits.”
“Hmm… really?” I showed a hint of embarrassment; I was indeed constrained by my previous life’s thoughts.
However, I didn’t deny my viewpoint. Witches could pull off such things, wasn’t it because they were inherently powerful?
But that level of competition was beyond my imagination; even if I worried, it wouldn’t change anything. It was better to adapt to the current situation.
“Right, you just need to show your value. Let’s not dwell on that; let’s talk about something else. Recently, the topic that’s been most circulated in the academy is the joint exam; what do you think about it, Xiao Han?”
“What to think… of course, just watch from the sidelines. What else could I do? Does it concern me?” I shrugged, feigning disinterest. One reason I became a teaching assistant was to avoid being interrupted by those periodic tests, even if it’s just for a day or two—that would still be a disruption.
What I valued was not the wasted time but the interruptions. As my research on the extraordinary deepened, a single attempt sparked by inspiration could take an entire day or even several days, so I naturally didn’t want to be disturbed.
“Just watching… so, Xiao Han, do you want to see it more clearly?” At this moment, Sister Bai raised the corners of her mouth with a smile.
“More clearly…” I turned to look at Sister Bai’s exquisite face and that rarely seen smile, “Whoa, Sister Bai, the way you look at me with that smile gives me the feeling that you’re plotting something against me.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll take care to notice next time.”
“Eh? Is that what I’m emphasizing? Even if Sister Bai wanted to plot against me, you can tell me to do anything!” I quickly clarified when I noticed Sister Bai misunderstood.
“Really?”
“Of course! But what you were about to say earlier… you wouldn’t want me to continue participating in this joint exam, would you? After all, I’m a teaching assistant now; that wouldn’t be appropriate, would it?” I shifted the topic.
“I was just curious. Once you become a teaching assistant, you can no longer receive rewards from this joint exam, but the rewards from this joint exam are quite substantial.”
“Substantial?” The last time someone mentioned substantial rewards was during that dream exchange competition, and I barely benefited from it; everything had been gathering dust. Additionally, after becoming a teaching assistant, the academy also provided me with a batch of resources, which was also quite substantial, but I still hadn’t touched them much. Those were just spellbooks, magic sources, alchemical potions, and a few other precious materials.
I vaguely remembered that I still had a few custom coupon for alchemical items that I hadn’t used…
Hmm… I still have one pick-up chance at Manager Shali’s store.
Unknowingly, it seemed I had many things left undone, yet I was continuously moving forward, leaving behind many things from my past.
“Indeed, this time it’s different from the last dream exchange competition where there were only those few people competing. This time, it will be a clash between many new students from various academies, so… you can imagine?”
“Hmm, but that has nothing to do with me, right?”
“That’s true, but… teaching assistants also have ways to participate. Don’t you want to experience it firsthand? If you miss this opportunity, you’ll only be able to watch the joint exam live stream at the academy.”
“Ah, that… is a bit too much information.” Sister Bai’s words caught me off guard; I hadn’t even thought about the upcoming final exam yet.
The announcement on the academy system only stated that the final exam would take the form of a multi-academy joint exam, but it didn’t include a theoretical exam, as each Extraordinary Academy’s theoretical system differs and naturally could not have a unified theoretical examination.
As for the content of the practical test, I truly was unclear.
“You wouldn’t happen to still be unaware of the joint exam’s content, would you?” Sister Bai suddenly realized.
“Um, indeed, I haven’t looked into it.” I honestly nodded.
“All right, then let me briefly explain it to you.” Sister Bai sighed at this point. “In short, the location of this joint exam is an archipelago in the tropical ocean of the Main World.”
“An archipelago? So, doesn’t that mean it’s a Sea Tribe’s event?” I asked.
“Perhaps, rather than saying it’s an exclusive event, it’s more of a slight accommodation for the Sea Tribe. I heard that there are temporarily constructed underwater volcanoes shaped by spells in the sea area, and if one isn’t careful, it could end badly, so they can’t be too reckless.”
“Oh, I see… that idea is quite brilliant.” I laughed, estimating that the Sea Tribe Academy thought they had it made, but in reality, they would suffer greatly.
“Since it’s a joint exam, there must also be balance; that island is called Bobapop Islands, a well-known tourist destination. You should have heard of it, right?”
“Bobapop Islands? No… not really…” I scratched my head, embarrassed to admit. After all, my knowledge of the Main World was not extensive, or rather, I had yet to travel since my inception into this world, let alone had the chance to learn about any tourist hotspots.
“It’s fine if you haven’t heard of it; you just need to know this place exists. At that time, various academies will be led by the Wizard Academy to make arrangements there.”
“The main approach is to use a technique from the Wizard Academy called the Great Illusory World Space Magic to replicate a false world from the real world and overlay this illusory world on top of the real Bobapop Islands to form overlapping space, similar to how our Witch Academy overlays onto the real Magic Capital, ensuring it doesn’t interfere with the normal operation of the Bobapop Islands in the real world.”
“Wait a moment? Great magic?”
“Is there a problem?” Sister Bai looked at me suspiciously, quickly reacting, “Great magic… oh, you’re thinking about the Great Spellbook?”
“Mhm.” I nodded slightly.
“The Great Spellbook is the term we Witches use; Wizards have also continued the tradition of names starting with ‘Great,’ but because this concept was introduced later, many modified spells were whimsically prefixed with ‘Great’ by their creators. Thus, this spell is not on the same level as the Great Spellbook.”
“Got it…”
“Of course, the Great Spellbook is not something ordinary; it’s quite precious. Anyway, let’s not dwell on this. Let’s talk about the joint exam format and the roles of teaching assistants and instructors in it. You might even become a battlefield reporter there. Haha, just kidding.”
