Chapter 676: The New College Entrance Examination Begins
After this event concluded, the external world and the internet did not spark much discussion for a period of time.
In fact, the people from the Security Bureau also asked me whether I needed to issue a statement to escalate this matter, but I refused, so they chose to handle it in silence. However, silence does not equate to inaction; this matter involved numerous other issues, including many hospitals carrying out large-scale rectifications.
Moreover, this stage is part of the preparation period for the college entrance examination. One can imagine that once the exam is over, even more intense restructuring actions will continue, all to ensure “my” satisfaction.
For now, however, the external internet is filled with discussions about this college entrance examination.
It seems as if this college entrance examination is suppressing discussions about the Invaders’ Cult, doomsday theories, and so on.
But… that is the reality; many matters online are loud but insignificant, and when it involves personal interests—an issue that affects a child’s pivotal life moment—no one dares to touch that bottom line.
Those who need to take the college entrance examination will still go, while the majority of ordinary people are content with the status quo. They have been conditioned under such a climate in the Main World, and unless their survival is at stake, they cannot trigger upheaval.
Even if many places erupt in anti-social parades, riots, rebellions, or independence movements, those regions that do not experience such events feel no involvement at all.
Everyone offers spiritual support to the rebels online, but reality still weighs them down, preventing them from standing tall.
During this time until the college entrance examination, I have been at Sister Bai’s house studying the technology attached to players.
However, after a while, due to class schedule adjustments, Sister Bai also left, but when there are no classes and she is free, she will come back to accompany me.
In the meantime, I was called back to the academy to sign the Witch Contract for monitoring during the college entrance examination, signifying that the examination process has officially begun.
But this does not hinder my ongoing research after I finish this matter.
These days, I have roughly understood the “Thread of Fortune Technique” that players possess.
However, understanding does not mean mastery, and I discovered that the base power for using this technique comes from a special derivative of “Extraordinary Knowledge” called “Extraordinary Pixel.”
Even though I possess two Great Spellbooks that are on the same level as this power, I still cannot replicate this technique, much like how my Mimetic Soul, Soul Drawing, and Wisdom Endowment techniques cannot be replicated in that game world.
However, with these theoretical research materials, I can derive entirely new techniques based on the power I have mastered that utilize this technical data.
But given the current situation, I still have no clear ideas.
The main reason is that Fortune, as a medium for information transmission, currently does not have many advantages.
The game world vigorously develops this technology, possibly because their world limits their development.
Just like how people from the magical world cannot imagine a world without magic, believing one can transition into modernization simply by boiling water.
Understanding the limitations of the Thread of Fortune Technique, I have devoted more energy to the energy network of Extraordinary Pixel.
After all, I am keenly interested in these things. Even though I cannot master it, I can research and learn knowledge from it. With knowledge and the power I have mastered, I can construct new techniques.
However, I have also kept a wary eye on the Thread of Fortune Technique. After all, recalling my experience with the Earth Vein Identification Technique, the lessons from the “Earth Energy Transformation Technique” are still fresh in my mind.
In any case, every technique has its value; it’s just that I haven’t discovered where it applies yet.
As for why I am studying Extraordinary Pixel… Sister Bai has also asked me this question.
After all, Principal Mei promised to let me reap the benefits of the game world, so I do have a certain probability of obtaining that “Extraordinary Knowledge.”
While it would be a lie to say I don’t want it, if I desired it too obsessively and became too crazy, then that would definitely be a problem for me.
When an obsession arises from greed and continuously breeds due to desire, such a person is not far from self-destruction.
So, I do not approach the study of “Extraordinary Pixel” with the mindset that this “Extraordinary Knowledge” will ultimately belong to me, but rather as a hypothetical enemy I must face.
I aim to understand its essence, its characteristics, its weaknesses, and its limitations.
During this time, I have also come to understand what Extraordinary Pixel truly is.
It is a form of order, a field order.
Its concept is quite similar to my Knowledge Power, but… it differs significantly.
My Knowledge Power incorporates too many characteristics, influenced by the two Great Spellbooks, and is also built upon the system of Body Cultivation.
It displays the knowledge characteristics of the Great Knowledge Tree and the wisdom manifestation of the Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell, which is the deduction of knowledge.
Now, the foundational Five Senses of Body Cultivation have also integrated into the order of Knowledge Power, and the Heart Sense is the foundation for its field structure, which is also the basis for my understanding of it. The Sense of Time deepens my control over my own power…
Once I made sense of everything internally, my mind experienced fewer disruptive “idle thoughts.” Unlike before, when my Sense of Time was “out of control” due to special stimuli, such occurrences are now rare.
As I gradually adapt to this power, the possibility of losing control significantly decreases. Unless my condition is extremely poor and I am subjected to some kind of stimulus, in such a case, it’s not even about the risk of losing control of the Sense of Time; it’s about the fact that all powers I control have the risk of losing that control.
Currently, I am still confident that the characteristics of my “Knowledge Power” far exceed those of “Extraordinary Pixel.”
However, when it comes to the techniques derived from this field order, I must admit defeat to that game world.
After all, as it stands, the techniques derived from my Knowledge Power are basically limited to a systematic “annotation technique,” and there are many nonsystematic connection techniques that have also been summarized in annotations.
Furthermore, the techniques for the “fusion, dispelling, and deepening” of Dream and Reality have little else to offer besides those related to the Wanlian Main Network Tree.
However, the techniques derived from Extraordinary Pixel are indeed diverse; it is the accumulated foundation of an entire world!
I might have lived longer across two lifetimes than the development time of that world.
After all, they have developed a complete process and supporting techniques for invading other worlds through Extraordinary Pixel. Just building that gaming platform is a huge project, while the remaining techniques are likely minor innovations based on that.
By researching Extraordinary Pixel, I can also confirm that the development of their world seems to have diverged from the path of witches. They place more emphasis on the development of field order techniques, treating it as a tool to serve their world; however… for me, the field is not everything.
No one stipulates that a field is the complete explanation of the extraordinary path; to me, it feels more like a branch-type path, but not the entirety.
Nonetheless, I cannot deny one thing: the field… is indeed a very useful means.
However, I cannot simply continue researching indefinitely.
The main purpose of my departure from the Witch Academy was to supervise the college entrance examination. Therefore, on the eve of the examination, I had to put a halt to my research and arrive at the exam site I was responsible for, coordinating with the instructors there.
Regarding the exam site arrangements, each exam site has one to two in-school students, while the actual monitoring in each examination room is still conducted by regular teachers. The students rely mainly on extraordinary powers for comprehensive supervision.
Originally, following the normal process, I should have received a spellbook for monitoring purposes—though it would be temporary—however… since I was informed that I could use the field to supervise… I did not need to use this spellbook.
Well, in fact, the field is indeed more efficient than such a spellbook with special effects to a certain extent.
So I brought nothing but a device to monitor the Earth Vein information from the academy network, as during the college entrance examination, the Earth Vein information of the exam site must be recorded in full without interference.
On the day of the college entrance examination.
I woke up very early. After familiarizing myself with the process a day in advance, I was not confused today.
But… my arrival still placed considerable pressure on this school.
Although I had visited once before, at that time they had not received formal notification. Now that the official documents have arrived, confirming that the academy teaching assistant is here to monitor, claiming there is no pressure… is all a lie.
If a candidate were to cheat here and the monitoring teachers failed to notice, yet were caught by this assistant, one can only imagine the severity of their dereliction!
“Teaching Assistant Xiao Han… you are here so early for inspections? You really do not need to come here; we have specifically prepared a place for you…”
“No need, I don’t like staying in one place; it’s too boring. Thank you for your kindness, but you don’t have to mind me.” I replied to the person who stepped forward to invite me.
“Alright, good. If you have any needs during this time, as long as it’s not excessive, we will satisfy them.”
I nodded, acknowledging that I understood.
At this time, there was still some time before the exam began, but many people were already outside the exam site, mostly parents of the children taking the exam. I even saw families coming to cheer them on.
As time passed, the crowd outside continued to grow; even with Security Bureau personnel maintaining order, they could not dampen the enthusiasm of the people.
Watching these crowds, I had many feelings, but although I felt emotional, I did not forget my duty.
This college entrance examination comes with different requirements compared to previous years. Of course, this requirement is aimed at us monitoring students, not the candidates.
The college entrance examination is the most important day of the year, allowing for no disruptions. However, due to the arrival of players this year, this globally significant event carries an added layer of threat.
Those players are potential destabilizing factors that could disrupt the college entrance examination system. With so many people gathering here, if those players launched an attack on the crowd, the consequences would be unimaginable!
Therefore, the monitoring task for this college entrance examination offers greater rewards than before, aimed at attracting stronger students from higher grades to take charge of this matter.
The identity of the teaching assistant at this exam site brings such great pressure because of this consideration.
After all, if there were no prior rumors, why would they send a teaching assistant here?
They must suspect that something unexpected might happen!
However, I feel they are overly worried. Not to mention any nonexistent rumors; if those players really came, I would be too busy to care. I am actually eager for players to come actively looking for me; I still want to possess more players to gather intelligence!
But the more I urge them to be at ease, the more tense they seem, so I simply decided to ignore them.
As time drew closer, bus after bus filled with candidates drove into the school. Another batch of students would need to pass through the door of the college entrance examination, with each person on board making a fateful choice, ultimately stepping into the extraordinary world.
I could hear many people outside discussing one thing: whether this examination session would produce any talented individuals capable of attracting attention from various colleges, considering that last year produced a perfect scorers!
This year naturally has everyone anticipating.
However, I don’t think this year will see such talent appear again, given that the college entrance examination involves the distribution of fortune. If this year were to produce another Child of Fortune… it would be too chaotic.
Additionally, the current Fortune of the Main World… to be honest, I worry for them.
First, there is the interference of the Fortune distribution ceremony of the college entrance examination, then multiple Children of Fortune sharing the wealth, impacting the influence and momentum of their fortunes. In the Witch Academy, there are even Fortune Alchemists casually reaping the benefits of fortune; perhaps other extraordinary academies have similar figures interested in Fortune as a resource. And now, players are harvesting Fortune to create qualifications for game players…
It feels as if the Main World is about to be ruined by this group!
Moreover, this leads me to ponder a question: Are Children of Fortune without fortune still Children of Fortune?
Upon realizing the current situation of the Main World, I found that the so-called world script of the world consciousness… is truly a joke.
The Main World is a world divided among the five major extraordinary races, having utterly lost its sovereignty.
Any development within the world can only rely on the will of those who control it, which makes the happenings in the Main World easy to understand. After all, when the forest is large, all kinds of birds are present; just the Witch Race alone is enough to demonstrate the “diversity of witches” to the Main World.
As buses continued arriving, my gaze suddenly landed on one of the vehicles. Through the car window, I saw familiar figures inside.
Yang Yunhan, that cheap younger brother of mine.
I haven’t seen him since that time; I suppose he should have followed my advice to stay at school. I wonder how he has been doing these days.
While freedom is something many people aspire to, absolute freedom can be terrifying and bewildering.
These insights can only be experienced by him; even if he does not understand many principles, as long as he has lived through experiences, there will come a day he suddenly matures at an unexpected moment in life.
Upon sensing that the person I cared about had arrived, I chose not to linger any longer at the school gate. I had even considered the possibility that he might be dispirited and chose not to come for the college entrance examination. But I am relieved to find he did not.
If he didn’t come, it would truly mean he was hopeless.
I didn’t even feel inclined to pull him into the Witch Academy; someone who has given up on themselves is not worth expending energy to save.
However, since he has come, I look forward to his performance.
