Free Web NovelChapter 46: Chapter 44: Battle of Wits
Mo Ning’s gaze fell upon the Birch Forest in the first scroll, and a thought stirred in his mind.
One by one, symbols of Secret Divination and Divination materialized from the void, landing lightly in every corner of the painting.
On the tree trunks, in the canopies, among the fallen leaves—the symbols flickered with a faint, ghostly light, like a swarm of fireflies that had finally found their way home.
He muttered under his breath, as if playing a game against an unseen opponent:
"The Magic Power turbulence symbol, ’Mi’erta’—in ’Tower Push War,’ it represents a dense forest. On the game piece, it’s shown as trees in a circular arrangement."
In the painting of the Birch Forest, several clusters of trees happened to form rings, arranged in a scattered yet orderly fashion.
He had noticed these small details before but had dismissed them as mere coincidences, not giving them a second thought.
Only now did it dawn on him—this was a clue for the Treasure’s assessment.
The so-called "Tower Push War" wasn’t a real war, but a niche type of Divination Chess.
Divination Chess, as the name implied, was a board game with core rules based on Secret Divination and Divination.
Every move corresponded to the deduction of Divination Formulas, and every piece played signified a contest between variables.
Because Divination Chess was excellent for training one’s Divination calculation abilities, many Wizards recommended that Apprentices play Tower Push War often to strengthen their fundamentals in Divination.
But most Apprentices didn’t like it. The game was too mentally taxing, more tiring than studying, and it easily made one feel like an idiot.
In short—the experience was awful.
Mo Ning, however, happened to be very familiar with Tower Push War.
Unlike the vast majority of Apprentices, he quite liked Tower Push War.
The complex Divination deductions, the exquisite formation changes, the schemes and strategies hidden behind the movement of the pieces—he didn’t feel fatigue, but enjoyment.
It was an intellectual game reserved for the clever.
Back in the Royal Library, he had even found and finished reading a tedious book titled *Game of Intelligence: The Origin of Tower Pushing War*.
The book detailed the meaning of every piece, the origin of every formation, and the Divination principles behind every tactic.
Ordinary newcomers were already dizzy just from learning Secret Divination and Divination; who would spend time playing Divination Chess?
Let alone read a book so niche that very few people even knew it existed.
Among the new batch of students who entered the academy, there was likely not a single other person besides Mo Ning who had read this book.
And over the past five days, many elements in the scenery outside the window, which changed once every day, were related to the pieces of Tower Push War.
The circular layout of the Birch Forest corresponded to—Mi’erta.
The three snow-capped mountains in a pyramid formation corresponded to—Malata.
The churning whirlpool in the great river corresponded to—Ancient Seaside.
The mega-waterfall pouring down from the horizon was even more direct, corresponding to—Angelon.
And so on.
「Five minutes later.」
"...The Earth-Shaking Gray-Horned Rhinoceros is a First Level Magical Beast. It’s a huge and powerful monster, so it clearly represents the Divination symbol ’Agaya’."
After a meticulous search, Mo Ning finished looking for the Divination symbols.
He gave them one last look-over to confirm nothing was missed, then nodded slightly. "That should be about it."
He gazed at the more than three hundred Divination symbols, one hundred percent certain in his heart:
’The designer of this hidden assessment must be a fanatical enthusiast of Tower Push War.
’Since this is a hidden assessment themed around Divination, its gameplay must be the most typical kind of Divination gameplay.’
It was said that the "examiners" for the assessments were mostly Wizards.
And among the more than two thousand Wizards in the academy, it was perfectly normal for one of them to be a Divination Chess enthusiast.
But most Wizards’ interest stopped at just "playing for fun," whereas this designer had clearly turned their passion into an exam question.
Mo Ning’s gaze slowly roamed across the starry sky formed by the symbols, his eyes flickering.
’If I’m not mistaken, the next step is to combine all the Divination symbols using permutations and combinations.
’Then, from the countless possibilities, I have to find the one correct Divination equation and calculate the final result.
’Only then can I complete this hidden assessment.’
At this thought, his brow furrowed slightly.
From a probabilistic standpoint, how many possible permutations and combinations could be made from over three hundred symbols?
It was a terrifying, astronomical number.
But this was very much in line with the high-difficulty characteristic of the Treasure’s assessment.
Mo Ning pondered for a moment, and a thought naturally surfaced:
’I’ve got it! Yesterday’s mega-waterfall is the key to cracking this problem!’
The most frequently appearing Divination symbol was the one for "forest," which appeared eight times in the Birch Forest.
None of the remaining symbols appeared fewer than twice.
Only "Angelon," representing the mega-waterfall—the Divination symbol for a "shocking, mysterious torrent"—appeared just once.
’Unique means key. Unique means breakthrough.’
Mo Ning mused, ’Using Angelon as the core will drastically reduce the number of combinations.’
Even limiting the types of equations with "Angelon" as the core variable to a First Level Apprentice’s standard, there were still at least hundreds of them.
Each type, in turn, contained countless possibilities—different variable values, different permutation orders, and different nesting levels would all lead to completely different equations.
If it were an ordinary newcomer, even if they were lucky enough to get this far, completing this task manually would take at least a month of hard work.
The kind without any sleep.
’This is too difficult!’
Thoughts raced through Mo Ning’s mind:
’Analyzing the designer’s motive, the main purpose of the Treasure’s assessment should be to test the breadth of one’s Knowledge of Divination.
’The designer using the niche "Tower Push War" as a breakthrough point in itself indicates a certain tendency.’
He tapped a finger lightly on his knee. ’This tendency... hmm, it should be—obscurity.
’From this perspective, the final correct equation derived from the permutations and combinations is most likely a relatively obscure one.
’Someone whose Knowledge of Divination isn’t broad enough is unlikely to know those obscure equations, let alone find the key to the Treasure’s gate.’
Most newcomers—no, the vast majority of newcomers—fell into the "not broad enough" category.
Mo Ning, as it happened, did not.
Having immersed himself in the Royal Library for half a year, the breadth of his knowledge had expanded to an extent even he hadn’t anticipated.
At the time, he was only thinking, ’Since I have time, I might as well read more and fill up the database for my plugin.’ He hadn’t thought much beyond that.
Today, all that seemingly "useless" knowledge was coming in handy.
In that instant.
Four obscure equations with "Angelon" as their core variable popped into Mo Ning’s head.
This meant the workload had been reduced from over a hundred types to just four.
But that still wasn’t enough.
’As long as I fully understand the designer’s motive, the scope should be able to be narrowed down even further.’
Mo Ning narrowed his eyes slightly, expanding and examining the four equations one by one in his mind:
’The Ultra-Low-Frequency Magic Power Potential Equation, the Anka High-Order Iteration Verification Formula, the Kaleidoscope Subsequence Solution, and the Mount Seventh Set Analysis Equation.
’Which one is the crux of the designer’s problem?’
His brain spun at high speed, beginning a frantic search through his vast and jumbled database.
Before long, an answer surfaced in Mo Ning’s mind. ’There’s a ninety percent chance it’s the Kaleidoscope Subsequence Solution.’
He quickly listed a series of supporting points:
’In the first millennium that kicked off the Era of Secret Divination, countless pioneers lit the way forward for the new era like a sky full of stars.
’I remember a book that evaluated the hundred greatest pioneers of that first millennium.
’The system of Divination they created together virtually laid the foundation for the entire era.
’Although Kaleo was also a very great Wizard, compared to the other pioneers, Kaleo is considered somewhat "obscure."’
That was the first piece of evidence.
The second piece of evidence:
’One of the main uses of the Kaleidoscope Subsequence Solution is for calculating ultra-long-range Magic Power conduction.
’Ultra-long-range Witchcraft has been an obscure field since its inception because it’s difficult to construct, the barrier to entry for research is very high, and the variety of Witchcraft is pitifully small.
’And the equations developed based on ultra-long-range Witchcraft naturally became the most obscure of the obscure.
’Therefore, this fits the "obscurity" requirement.’
The third piece of evidence:
’The mega-waterfall that appeared outside the picture window yesterday had a drop of an astonishing one kilometer.
’If you think of the water as Magic Power, the flowing waterfall is equivalent to "Magic Power conduction." Isn’t that just "ultra-long-range Magic Power conduction"?’
The three pieces of evidence, like three links in a chain, interlocked perfectly, fitting together seamlessly.
This was enough to confirm his suspicions.
Using the "Kaleidoscope Subsequence Solution" as the filtering criterion, the scope narrowed once again.
The workload for solving the assessment plummeted from that daunting, astronomical number to just 1% of the original.
Mo Ning was almost certain—this was the correct way to solve the problem.
No Wizard likes a fool.
Finding the answer through brute force, exhaustive searching, or sheer luck might get you through an assessment by a fluke, but it would only make a Wizard frown.
The designer had hidden the test question so deeply, broken the clues into such tiny fragments, and set the bar so high; he surely hoped that the test-taker would be able to read his mind.
Now, it was time to get to work.
A thought stirred in Mo Ning’s mind.
The [Eye of Truth] flashed, and a Nebula swirled in the depths of his pupils.
A panel formed from a Light Curtain slowly unfurled before him.
Divination Calculator, activate!
The three hundred-plus Divination symbols instantly leaped from the five scrolls, transforming into streaks of light that slammed into the illusory panel.
The next second, a torrent of data erupted.
Every second, tens of thousands of combinations were generated, compared, verified, and then rejected by the calculator.
The discarded combinations turned into countless tiny specks of light, flickered for an instant on the panel, and then dissipated like smoke.
The speed was so fast that no naked eye could catch it, so fast that no mind could follow it.
「Five seconds later.」
The data torrent came to a screeching halt.
The violently pulsing Light Curtain subsequently calmed down.
A complex Divination equation lay quietly in the center of the panel.
Mo Ning glanced at the equation, and the corners of his mouth curved up. "So it’s a ’Five-Ring Nesting’ subsequence solution."
At this point, he was one hundred percent certain—this was the final step toward the "Treasure."
The scenery outside the picture window had changed five times, which was undoubtedly a hint at the "Five-Ring Nesting" structure.
This was also a relatively obscure equation within the broader category of the "Kaleidoscope Subsequence Solution."
As far as he knew, most of the Witchcraft that applied the Five-Ring Nesting subsequence solution belonged to the Curse Faction.
These curses, whispered in the dark and impossible to defend against, were precisely the kind of Witchcraft that most required ultra-long-range Casting.
The greater the distance, the higher the demands on Divination—Five-Ring Nesting was born for this very purpose.
To be honest, Mo Ning was a little speechless at this result—obscure Divination Chess, obscure equations, obscure Witchcraft... It really was "obscure" enough.
