by Feng Yue
“You can use the points earned in the game to upgrade the material of the fortress, transforming it into green gold at the end. The Griffin emblem can’t be upgraded though. One aether cannon can destroy it. You must protect your command center. If the Griffin is destroyed, the battle is over.”
“Oh, so if the camp is destroyed, it’ll be impossible to continue fighting, correct?” The Principal nodded. “I only have one chariot?”
“Yes.” Cullen nodded. “But the enemy has many chariots. Please keep note to use the blockades to protect against the enemy’s cannons. As the levels increase, the amount of enemy chariots and their difficulty level will increase too…”
“Oh, sounds interesting. Let me try.” Maxwell rubbed his hands and activated the illusion before him. A large bird’s eye view appeared before him soon. Right beside the stone fortress, a rectangular steel chariot slowly powered on under his control of the music note.
The entire battlefield was like a chessboard. There was a river in the middle that the chariots could only cross with the bridge, but the enemy’s cannons could be shot across. The cannons were not very fast in the simulation, and one could dodge it if they reacted in time.
The principal’s chariot quickly passed through the levels with a passionate battle melody as background music. He solved each problem as he faced them and charged straight toward the enemy’s camp without regard of anything else.
Beside him, Cullen’s scalp tingled. Most people would take it slow and steady when they entered the simulation. They would first guard their commanding center and destroy all the enemy chariots before pushing into their nest. He did not expect that the principal would be so fast and cross the river right at the beginning, flattening everything in his path and going for the enemy’s stronghold without a care for his own weak commanding center.
Maxwell had chosen to gamble on speed with the much more powerful and supplied enemy. He delved deeply alone and killed the others before they could kill him.
“So decisive,” Cullen murmured. Thinking of the principal’s usual vigorous and resolute manner, and the dark stories he had heard from his family, awe filled his eyes when he looked at the principal.
But soon, the principal’s speed and well-practiced manipulation bewildered him again. Maxwell’s familiarity with the work grew speedily. By the time he was at the sixth level, he was practically more familiar with the chariot than Cullen, the creator!
“Not bad. As expected, the School of Royalty’s work didn’t disappoint me.” Just as Cullen was spacing out, the principal had finished the game and won one hundred points. He intimately patted Cullen’s shoulder. “The quality is good overall this year. I am anticipating which project will be the most popular.”
Cullen froze and quickly asked, “Did you see the other school’s works already?”
“Want to get insider information from me?” The principal smiled mysteriously. “I can’t say anything, but I recommend you take a look around. Maybe you’ll see something unpredictable.”
After he left, Cullen sat in his spot for a few minutes, becoming more and more unsettled. Soon, he gave the work’s copy and control to a teammate and put on his jacket.
“Huh? You’re leaving?”
“I’m going to look at the other exhibits.” Cullen rubbed his face and sighed. “It seems that I still need work on my resolution. The principal’s few words unsettled me.”
“You don’t have to go personally, right?” The teammate yawned. “We have eyes on all our competitors’ exhibits.”
“Actually, I’m not worried about the predictable things.” Cullen glanced at him. “I’m scared of the unpredictable.”
-
After Cullen had made a circle, he sat down heavily on the chair. Sighing involuntarily, his brows furrowed. It seemed that he really had underestimated the other schools.
Many of the competitors were unexpected. After personally experiencing them, Cullen realized that their quality was comparable to his own.
Rather than creating a sequel to last year’s King Kong as expected, the School of Summoning created a new work—Beast Eater. The musician entered a large maze and must use music notes to guide his phantom beast. He must go forward, explore and eat the dots of “beastly nature” on the path.
At the same time, the demons raised by the natural catastrophes paced in the maze. Once it met the phantom beast, it would start chasing and was difficult to lose. Once the beast entered a dead end and was unable to turn around, it would be eaten by the demon.
Meanwhile, the musician’s phantom beast could evolve by eating the dots of beastly nature. After becoming complete, it could turn around and eat all the demons. A yellow ball with a mouth represented the phantom beast. It would evolve to perfection by eating the dots, becoming stronger than the demons and swallow them.
This represented that willpower restricted and controlled the beastly nature, and finally succeeded—this was the purpose and meaning of the School of Summoning.
The School of Modifications created a new product called Thunder. Looking down at the sky, the musician controlled a new plane model, and faced various fleets and demons in the air. He must dodge the enemy’s attacks in the bullet-filled screen and fight back using the continuous energy.
The plane contained three large annihilation bombs to respond to various attacks. They could clear the screen instantly and kill all enemies. This also provided a period of no enemies so the player could hide in the sealed screen.
Winning against the stronger and bigger enemy, winning with formulas and energy, the game was also filled with an indescribably urgency and stimulation. The feeling of unleashing power was intoxicating. This was the School of Modification’s classic style!
It could be predicted that this product would definitely be well received by Modifications students after its release. After all, they liked to do things forcefully.
The Joker game by the School of Revelations could not be underestimated either…
Cullen calculated in his mind, but his unsettledness grew. The question mark in his mind grew, grew and grew…Finally, he sighed and glanced toward the music history department…As expected, he could not be assured, no matter what!
What had the history department done this time? He hesitated a bit and decided that he would personally take a look. But when he got near, he saw some people stalk out of the crowd angrily.
“F*cking no one can pass!”
“Those psychos…”
“I was so close!”
“No, still too slow.”
Hearing their voices, Cullen’s suspicion grew. He was about to go up and ask but heard messy footsteps behind him. Turning around in confusion, he was met with a dark mass of people rushing over.
It was amazing how many people there were. They brushed past him and charged straight toward the history department’s exhibit. Everyone’s expressions were of excitement and anticipation, as if they could not wait.
“Hurry up! You’ll be late if you’re this slow!”
“Don’t let them get there first.”
“I’m going to save a seat first. Hurry over.”
“What’s happening?” Cullen grabbed a familiar-looking student and asked quietly, “Did something happen to the history department?”
“Cullen, haven’t you heard yet?” The student glanced at him strangely. “The rumors have spread through the entire school.”
“What?” For some reason, the bad premonition grew in Cullen.
The student’s expression instantly grew troubled. “A few minutes ago, that Eastern concertmaster bet all his points that no one could successfully complete his work!”
“All his points?” Spots appeared in Cullen’s vision. “One-hundred and seventy-thousand?”
“Yeah, one hundred and seventy thousand!”
Cullen felt his vision going black. He forced his head up and saw the white-haired youth, sunbathing casually, at the front of the crowd.
“Has this
guy…gone crazy?”
Chapter 217 – Exhibition Begins
After two days of fierce competition, the rankings had changed dramatically. The School of Modifications was chasing fiercely, the School of Revelations was staying in place, and the School of Royalty seemed to have fallen down again.
At the last moment, the School of Summoning began going all out. Their teams filled the entire competition and they practically sacrificed everything, even their girlfriends. Their scores and rankings shot up quickly and leaped past Modifications. During the critical countdown in the end, they reached 271,400 points.
Finally, with the cooperation of the entire school, Summoning beat the history department with a difference of one-hundred points and hoped into first place. It was such great news!
This time, the history department was finally beaten. Otherwise, all other schools would have been defeated by a department that was close to being exterminated.
So many people secretly let out a breath of relief, but sadly, good times were always short-lived.
The end of the second round of trials was soon announced. All teams disbanded and the points were split between the teammates…and so the situation became fierce again.
One could not bear to look as everyone looked at their rankings and wailed. Everyone knew that even if a team had more than ten-thousand points, each person…well, it depended on how many players they had.
On the smaller side, the teams had seven or eight members. The bigger teams had dozens, and some even had cheerleaders! They all took their portion of the points. And the worst thing was, the history department did not have many people!
The entire time, their actual members only consisted of three students and a dog. The dog did not need points so…if one rounded up, the two-hundred seventy-thousand points would be divided by three. That was just too much!
Bai Xi did not care about the academy’s prizes and just wanted to have fun in the exhibition round, so she took ten-thousand points and became number seventeen…Charles was simpler—he just wanted to graduate. To be safe, he took more and left with ninety-thousand. This guy instantly shot from the bottom of the rankings into top ten. He became number six!
As for Ye Qingxuan…everyone went crazy because the remaining points were all his. With one-hundred and seventy-thousand points, he shot forward like a rocket, pushing him to the front of the list. Finally, after another the notifications rang out like an earthquake, Ye Qingxuan had returned to the top of the rankings. He was more than twenty thousand points ahead—First place!
Where was the justice in this world?
The students could not help but swear when they saw the flashing gold Eastern name on the rankings and went to mope in the corner with red eyes. They could not keep living like this. While they were still fighting tooth and nail over a few hundred points to become middle class, others were already millionaires and shining with gold from the inside.
Their facial muscles began twitching whenever they saw someone like that. It was like a toothache, but during their painful toothache, the school day was drawing to an end. The final round had finally begun—the graduation work exhibition!
-
“It’s finally starting,” Cullen sighed in exhaustion from behind his exhibit.
People had surged into the campus square at dawn. After the principal’s short speech, the last round of the torturous school day finally began. There was a long line of students before the School of Royalty’s exhibit. They were all waiting to test out their product, but the team was still doing their last check nervously.
“How are the results of the last check?”
A student with bloodshot eyes turned around. “Wait a sec. It’ll be done after I finish testing this portion.”
“Good luck. The final check is necessary.” Cullen sighed. “Go sleep after it’s done. I’ll take care of this, and members of the student council will come over later.”
Soon, his teammate cheered, packed up his aether ball and instrument, and collapsed onto the ground. He gave Cullen the thumbs up. “All set!”
“Then, let the testing begin!” Cullen smiled and pushed open the exhibit’s door, waving to the crowd. “Please line up in order and don’t push. This time, our graduation work will only cost ten points to experience. Hopefully, you’ll find it worth it.”
“Oh, it looks exciting here.” The old man on the side took off his hat and smiled. “Can an old man like me cut in line and try it first?”
“Principal?” Stunned, Cullen quickly moved to the side. “Please, please, come in.”
Maxwell chuckled and placed his hat on the table and asked, “What did you prepare this time?”
“Just battle simulation,” Cullen replied modestly. “We found inspiration from the war between the Asgardians and the revolutionary colonies. Our project this time mainly used war chariot battles. The musician is responsible for driving the iron chariot forward on the map. We can use aether cannons on the chariots to destroy blockades and enemy chariots. The command group that destroys the enemies wins.
“But you also need to protect your fortress. Look here, this ring of rock blockades represents the fortress. The Griffin emblem within represents the command center of our camp.
“You can use the points earned in the game to upgrade the material of the fortress, transforming it into green gold at the end. The Griffin emblem can’t be upgraded though. One aether cannon can destroy it. You must protect your command center. If the Griffin is destroyed, the battle is over.”
“Oh, so if the camp is destroyed, it’ll be impossible to continue fighting, correct?” The Principal nodded. “I only have one chariot?”
“Yes.” Cullen nodded. “But the enemy has many chariots. Please keep note to use the blockades to protect against the enemy’s cannons. As the levels increase, the amount of enemy chariots and their difficulty level will increase too…”
“Oh, sounds interesting. Let me try.” Maxwell rubbed his hands and activated the illusion before him. A large bird’s eye view appeared before him soon. Right beside the stone fortress, a rectangular steel chariot slowly powered on under his control of the music note.
The entire battlefield was like a chessboard. There was a river in the middle that the chariots could only cross with the bridge, but the enemy’s cannons could be shot across. The cannons were not very fast in the simulation, and one could dodge it if they reacted in time.
The principal’s chariot quickly passed through the levels with a passionate battle melody as background music. He solved each problem as he faced them and charged straight toward the enemy’s camp without regard of anything else.
Beside him, Cullen’s scalp tingled. Most people would take it slow and steady when they entered the simulation. They would first guard their commanding center and destroy all the enemy chariots before pushing into their nest. He did not expect that the principal would be so fast and cross the river right at the beginning, flattening everything in his path and going for the enemy’s stronghold without a care for his own weak commanding center.
Maxwell had chosen to gamble on speed with the much more powerful and supplied enemy. He delved deeply alone and killed the others before they could kill him.
“So decisive,” Cullen murmured. Thinking of the principal’s usual vigorous and resolute manner, and the dark stories he had heard from his family, awe filled his eyes when he looked at the principal.
But soon, the principal’s speed and well-practiced manipulation bewildered him again. Maxwell’s familiarity with the work grew speedily. By the time he was at the sixth level, he was practically more familiar with the chariot than Cullen, the creator!
“Not bad. As expected, the School of Royalty’s work didn’t disappoint me.” Just as Cullen was spacing out, the principal had finished the game and won one hundred points. He intimately patted Cullen’s shoulder. “The quality is good overall this year. I am anticipating which project will be the most popular.”
Cullen froze
and quickly asked, “Did you see the other school’s works already?”
“Want to get insider information from me?” The principal smiled mysteriously. “I can’t say anything, but I recommend you take a look around. Maybe you’ll see something unpredictable.”
After he left, Cullen sat in his spot for a few minutes, becoming more and more unsettled. Soon, he gave the work’s copy and control to a teammate and put on his jacket.
“Huh? You’re leaving?”
“I’m going to look at the other exhibits.” Cullen rubbed his face and sighed. “It seems that I still need work on my resolution. The principal’s few words unsettled me.”
“You don’t have to go personally, right?” The teammate yawned. “We have eyes on all our competitors’ exhibits.”
“Actually, I’m not worried about the predictable things.” Cullen glanced at him. “I’m scared of the unpredictable.”
-
After Cullen had made a circle, he sat down heavily on the chair. Sighing involuntarily, his brows furrowed. It seemed that he really had underestimated the other schools.
Many of the competitors were unexpected. After personally experiencing them, Cullen realized that their quality was comparable to his own.
Rather than creating a sequel to last year’s King Kong as expected, the School of Summoning created a new work—Beast Eater. The musician entered a large maze and must use music notes to guide his phantom beast. He must go forward, explore and eat the dots of “beastly nature” on the path.
At the same time, the demons raised by the natural catastrophes paced in the maze. Once it met the phantom beast, it would start chasing and was difficult to lose. Once the beast entered a dead end and was unable to turn around, it would be eaten by the demon.
Meanwhile, the musician’s phantom beast could evolve by eating the dots of beastly nature. After becoming complete, it could turn around and eat all the demons. A yellow ball with a mouth represented the phantom beast. It would evolve to perfection by eating the dots, becoming stronger than the demons and swallow them.
