Free Web NovelChapter 26: Chapter 26: Struck It Rich and a Wonder of Heaven and Earth
The information that followed confirmed Mo Ning’s judgment:
[Resolution: To encourage deep exploration and innovative thinking in the Spiritual Domain, the Rose Council has decided to award you the following research grant.]
[Funding: 600 Black Tower Points. The amount has been transferred to your Guiding Ring account. Current Balance: 985 Black Tower Points.]
The corners of Mo Ning’s mouth curled up uncontrollably.
’I’m rich!!’
He probably had more funds than most other Apprentices.
It was like suddenly jumping from the poverty line to the middle class.
His balance should have been 995 Black Tower Points, but his wealth had shrunk by 10 points that afternoon after buying 3,000 sheets of scale pattern paper.
sheets of scale pattern paper for one Black Tower Point was not cheap.
It couldn’t be helped.
The academy had only gifted him 100 sheets, which was nowhere near enough for a heavy user like him.
Mo Ning suppressed his excitement and read on:
[Material Grant: Calming Ointment, two jars; Calming Oil, ten bottles; Magic Power Measuring Device, two-month rental period.]
Mo Ning’s smile widened.
He had received a jar of Calming Ointment from the previous assessment, bringing his total to three.
After tomorrow’s first class, once he grasped the Basic Meditation Technique, he could improve his Spiritual Strength much more quickly.
He suddenly felt a pang of regret. ’If I had known the reviewing Wizard was this generous, I should have asked for more supplies.’
Notably, the rental period for the instrument was a month longer than he had requested.
According to his plan, half a month would have been more than enough time to collect the experimental data.
He had only written "one month" to round it to a nice, whole number.
’Does the reviewing Wizard think one month isn’t enough to complete the project?’
A glint appeared in Mo Ning’s eyes. ’Wizard, I’m afraid you’ve underestimated me.’
But the next message gave him pause:
[Additional Material Grant: Golden Kui Essential Oil, fifteen bottles.]
[Reviewer’s Note: A nurtured physique will in turn nourish the spirit, increasing the rate of spiritual growth.]
[All items will be delivered to your secure locker within one hour. Please be sure to collect them.]
[May you persevere on the path to truth and contribute to the construction of the great Witchcraft Tower.]
’Golden Kui Essential Oil?’
Mo Ning quickly searched his memory for information.
Golden Kui Wood is a Low-Tier Spiritual Plant. It grows slowly, its wood is hard, and its leaves contain trace amounts of spiritual essence.
Through a multi-step process including distillation, purification, and refinement, it is made into a pale, golden, oily liquid—Golden Kui Essential Oil.
Regularly applying the essential oil to the skin can slowly raise one’s Physique Value.
’So, what exactly did the reviewing Wizard mean by providing an extra batch of this essential oil?’
Mo Ning thought for a moment and finally realized something: his theoretical framework had a flaw.
He had only considered changes on a spiritual level, completely neglecting the physical aspect.
The soul and the body are not isolated entities.
They are two sides of the same coin, the root system and the crown of the same tree.
A weak physique cannot support a powerful soul, making it impossible to possess great Spiritual Power.
By that same logic, properly nourishing one’s physique would also help increase Spiritual Strength.
The reviewing Wizard had seen the flaw in his framework at a single glance.
The fifteen bottles of essential oil and the review suggestion were the Wizard’s way of giving him an extra hint.
Mo Ning instantly understood why the rental period for the Magic Power Measuring Device had been extended to two months.
This was an implicit suggestion: the theoretical framework needed revision, and more experimental data had to be collected, thus requiring a longer rental period.
’As expected of a Wizard,’ he thought, full of admiration.
It was no coincidence that this person was a reviewer.
Vast experience, keen insight, and the ability to grasp the essence of a problem at a glance—these were undoubtedly the products of countless research projects.
After finishing his meal, Mo Ning hurriedly left the cafeteria.
He had already decided to revise his project’s theoretical framework that very night.
For other Apprentices, incorporating the physique into the framework would be nothing short of "major surgery."
First, it would require adding a "variable set" to the framework.
Because in the Divination Language, "physique" is not a single parameter, but a collective term for a group of interrelated variables.
Muscle strength, bone density, Qi and Blood activity, cellular metabolic rate, and so on—each dimension needed to be quantified, defined, and imbued with meaning in the language of Divination.
They would form a complete set, with each variable being independent yet also influencing the others.
Second, adding a new set of variables would increase the entire framework’s complexity by at least thirty percent.
It wasn’t a simple matter of "adding a few more lines."
Certain parts of the framework would have to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch.
The originally elegant coupling of variables would be thrown off balance by the new additions.
The once self-consistent chains of derivation would be broken by the introduction of new factors.
The relationships between variables would have to be either redefined or adjusted—there was no third option.
For most Apprentices, completing this task would be impossible without several days, perhaps even a dozen, of hard work.
But for Mo Ning, it wasn’t such a major undertaking.
As he was about to walk out of the cafeteria, he was struck by the faint, almost imaginary feeling of being watched.
Mo Ning faltered for a fraction of a second.
He knew what this was.
Among those with Spiritual Talent, about a third possessed a special perception linked to their Spiritual Power that would trigger if they were watched by someone within a certain range for longer than a specific threshold.
According to the books, this ability was called Spying Sense.
And he, as it happened, possessed this ability.
Mo Ning didn’t turn around.
He merely paused for that brief moment before quickening his pace as if nothing had happened, and left the cafeteria.
His gait was steady and his posture natural, as if he hadn’t noticed a thing.
Inside the cafeteria, a graceful figure calmly withdrew her gaze from the cafeteria entrance.
She sat in a far corner, a plate of nearly untouched food before her.
Her left earlobe was adorned with a small, vermilion mole, like a single, solidified drop of blood.
*****
「Apartment 804.」
Mo Ning shut the door, cutting off all sound from the hallway and the small plaza outside.
He strode to the washstand, wondering, ’I’m just a straggler, nothing special about my performance. Who would be paying attention to me?’
He was sure he’d been keeping a low enough profile that he shouldn’t have attracted anyone’s notice.
He couldn’t understand it.
Mo Ning took a glass and filled it with warm water from the wolf-head faucet.
The wolf’s mouth opened automatically, and water flowed from it as steam rose to mist over the mirror.
He raised the glass for a sip, then turned to look out the floor-to-ceiling window.
Just like in the morning, the world outside was still filled with a fog so thick it blotted out the sky.
’This fog isn’t beautiful at all,’ he wondered. ’Why would the academy ’transport’ it here?’
The question turned over in his mind, but he had no answer.
He finished the water and was about to turn back to his desk.
Suddenly, the fog outside the window began to churn violently.
It was as if a god had reached down with an invisible, giant hand from a distant Divine Kingdom and, with great Divine Power, gently swiped it all away.
The fog began to recede with incredible speed, like an ebbing tide, peeling away in layers and dissipating into nothing.
The vast, white fog that had roiled all day vanished without a trace in a matter of breaths.
The world snapped back into focus.
Mo Ning stared, utterly dumbfounded.
An incredibly straight cliff stretched across the horizon.
It was too wide to see either end, as if the edge of the world had been sliced clean by a blade, leaving this sheer, towering wall.
And from the top of this very cliff, a colossal waterfall, carrying billions of tons of water, cascaded down.
The water plummeted from the sky, a silver Giant Dragon diving from the heavens with world-shattering force, crashing into the lake at least a kilometer below.
A thousand-meter drop!
Billions of tons of water!
Crashing down with thunderous might!
The lake’s surface shattered on impact, sending up a plume of mist that was instantly beaten back down by the unending torrent.
In that instant, this ribbon of white was the only thing that existed between heaven and earth.
It hung there, as if ancient and unchanging.
It fell there, as if Eternal and unceasing.
Mo Ning stared out the window in a daze, profoundly shaken by the sight.
Only one thought remained in his mind: *This* is what the poets meant when they wrote of the Milky Way falling from the heavens.
He watched for a full five minutes before finally snapping out of his stupor.
At this moment, he finally understood why the academy would "transport" this waterfall here.
At certain times, the fog would be dispelled by some unseen force, and the magnificent spectacle of a waterfall cascading from a high cliff would appear without warning, delivering an immense visual impact.
It was a rare and wondrous spectacle of nature.
Mo Ning took a deep breath, slowly suppressing his awe, and turned back to sit at his desk.
The orange glow of the Magic Energy Lamp spilled down from overhead, bathing his desk in a warm circle of light.
He buried his head in his work, beginning to construct the new theoretical framework for his Breathing Technique.
The director of the Royal Library, Sir Rent, had once stood between two bookshelves and solemnly warned him:
"My boy, diligence is the sharpest blade a Wizard has for carving out new, unknown fields of Witchcraft.
"I have never seen a lazy person become a great Wizard. Not one!
"Treasure every single second!"
Mo Ning agreed with those words with all his heart.
*****
「Seven in the morning.」
Mo Ning’s eyes opened promptly. He sat up and glanced instinctively toward the floor-to-ceiling window.
Unsurprisingly, the scenery outside his window had changed once more.
Vast, mighty rivers, their surfaces churning with rolling waves, now rushed past his window.
The river was at least three kilometers wide, and rolling hills were visible on the opposite bank.
Strangest of all, several whirlpools were visible to the naked eye in the middle of the river.
In any other world, such a phenomenon would be impossible.
Mo Ning glanced at the whirlpools for a moment. ’There must be some huge things living in that river,’ he murmured.
He quickly washed up and prepared to head to the Mysterious Secret Hall of the Quiet Forest.
Despite having only slept for four hours, his eyes were clear and bright, with not a hint of haggardness from lack of sleep in their depths.
This was all thanks to another Secret Technique: the Snake Sleep Technique.
This was another hidden gem he had personally unearthed from the Royal Library of the Holy Spear Kingdom.
The original version was a rather impractical Meditation Technique: it helped one fall asleep quickly but made it difficult to stay in a deep sleep. One would often wake up shortly after dozing off, only to fall asleep and wake up again.
Mo Ning had spent a week analyzing, deconstructing, and rebuilding it.
The version he now used was the seventh iteration of the Snake Sleep Technique.
He could now fall asleep in under thirty seconds, and the proportion of deep sleep had increased by over eighty percent—a massive improvement from the original.
That was why he felt so refreshed upon waking.
