Chapter Fifty-Four: Credits

Ye Bai focused intently on the attribute analysis beside the video. Dissatisfied with the clarity, he slid his right hand, causing the attribute analysis chart to enlarge instantly and swap positions with the video. Water attribute: seventy-two percent; wood attribute: twenty-eight percent. The adjacent screen showed Ye Bai just as he had condensed the water-wood dual-attribute longsword.

Next was the life-or-death gamble with the Pharaoh: Ye Bai struck the Pharaoh’s neck with his water-wood longsword, while the Pharaoh’s golden blade cleaved into Ye Bai’s arm. Pain surged through Ye Bai, triggering another transformation of his internal attribute force. The main screen now displayed seventy percent water and thirty percent wood. Ye Bai, unable to make sense of it, entered both sets of data into his notebook and continued watching.

The footage finally reached the last moment. Ye Bai’s left arm had been severed in three sections, and the golden blade had sliced into his chest. In deliberately slowed motion, blood flowed like melting snow. Ye Bai gripped the water-wood longsword tightly in his right hand—then suddenly, the water attribute vanished from the blade’s spine.

“Mu’er, note the maximum peak of the water attribute and the moment it disappeared.”

In the slow-motion playback, Ye Bai could clearly see every move he made. At this instant, the wood attribute, nourished by the water, caused the entire blade to extend a few centimeters in length and width. At the foremost edge of the blade—visible only in slow motion—compressed water-wood attribute force burned and wrapped around itself ceaselessly, like twisted hemp rope, spiraling along the blade’s edge.

Ye Bai checked the data: wood attribute now at ninety-nine point three percent, water at zero point seven percent.

Watching the intertwined water-wood force, Ye Bai understood why the power had vibrated at that moment. The forces wrapped around each other like hemp rope, constantly rotating along the direction of the hilt; the highest and lowest points fluctuated up and down under the rotational force. The faster the rotation, the greater the fluctuation—thus, the Pharaoh’s neck was severed through a combination of burning attribute force and vibrational power.

Having watched it all, Ye Bai was left half-comprehending—he seemed to grasp something, yet felt even more perplexed. Staring at the notebook’s data, he scratched his aching head, thinking how these percentages of attribute force meant nothing to him. How could he know what thirty percent wood attribute actually felt like?

At this moment, he found himself admiring Zhang Jian, who had mastered the balance and output of fire-wood dual attributes in just a year. This wasn’t something a few experiments—hundreds, even—could achieve. Without innate talent, one might never figure it out in a lifetime. Between zero and one, there are infinite numbers, not to mention one to a hundred.

But there was no way forward except to keep trying, keep thinking. Perhaps luck would strike one day, but most importantly, repeated experiments might eventually reveal the sensation he’d felt when slaying the Pharaoh.

He tried a few times in his hand, still at a loss, then pulled the blanket over his head and went to sleep—his mental energy was greatly depleted today.

Yaoling wore a white dress, leaning against the window. The westering sun cast its afterglow on her face; within moments, her cheeks flushed radiantly, as if she had just finished something shy and intimate.

But the girl sitting on the windowsill was lost in thought as she gazed at the sunset.

“Beep beep, beep beep.”

Suddenly, Yaoling’s wristwatch rang—it was time for their trio’s summary meeting.

Ye Bai and Cao Xiaosen were likely asleep; she messaged Ye Bai to head straight to the cafeteria’s Class C private room. As for Cao Xiaosen, she called him via video.

Just as Yaoling expected, Cao Xiaosen’s hand appeared in the video first, then he slowly climbed out of bed, revealing his face.

...

In the private room, the three sat in order. They hadn’t ordered much food—none were gluttons, though one was fond of sleep.

Ye Bai raised his glass; Cao Xiaosen followed suit. Yaoling lifted her milk tea, and they clinked their drinks in midair.

“Let’s do our best.”

The mood was fierce, filled with disdain for the many challenges ahead.

“Ling’er, your family has deep research into wood attributes. Take a look at this—what’s going on?”

Ye Bai, watching Yaoling take small bites, projected the stored data and key video from his smart brain for all to see.

“Ling’er, what do you think is happening here?”

Ye Bai pointed to the video of the moment he was wounded by the Pharaoh, and the fluctuations of water-wood attribute force beside it.

Yaoling watched the video and the attribute fluctuations, chewing slowly and swallowing, seemingly organizing her words or pondering the cause.

Cao Xiaosen was already drifting off to sleep again. The two were used to it and didn’t bother to wake him.

“This might be a stress response of the wood attribute after your body was stimulated. You know wood has healing properties—it probably tried to heal your injury, but lacking enough force, converted some water into wood. At the time, the water and wood attributes were mutually fusing.”

Ye Bai nodded, finding it reasonable. When it came to wood attributes, ten of him couldn’t match one Yaoling.

The Yao family had dealt with flowers, trees, and herbs since before the Dark Era. Afterward, their patriarch awakened another kind of wood attribute—what a stroke of destiny, and what profound understanding of forests and flora they must have.

“What about credits?”

Ye Bai had read the new student handbook, but it was too vague. He remembered Yaoling had a senior brother in his fourth year, so he took the opportunity to ask.

“Credits?” Yaoling pondered, hesitating several times before finally saying, “It’s complicated. Let me start with something else.”

Yaoling redirected the projection to her own smart brain, watched for a moment, and selected the footage of Cao Xiaosen’s battle with the sand scorpion.

She began, “Attribute force is the foundation of our existence in this world. If the Three Kings hadn’t brought wood, earth, and water from the Forbidden Undersea Realm, humanity might not even exist on Earth today.”

The projection shifted to Cao Xiaosen tapping the sand scorpion’s joint with his finger guard. Yaoling paused the footage. “Attribute force isn’t applicable everywhere. Take this sand scorpion—without Xiaosen, we might never have reached the pyramid.”

“What then? Use a particle blade?” In Ye Bai’s mind, weapons were limited to particle blades, perhaps with a few flash grenades.

Yaoling didn’t mock Ye Bai’s narrow experience—not everyone was born in the three main cities. She explained seriously, “Particle blades are only suitable for the Body Tempering stage. Once people advance to the Entry stage, they prefer pre-Dark Era cold weapons or weapons forged from mutated rare woods. Such arms often solve the problem of attribute force depletion, and are better at dealing with creatures like sand scorpions.”

Yaoling pointed to Cao Xiaosen’s finger guard in the video, “That’s probably made from some rare metal—ordinary metal wouldn’t pierce a sand scorpion joint.”

Cao Xiaosen, now awake, nodded.

“And credits—their purpose is to buy these weapons. They’re sold in the Armory outside the school.”

“That?” Ye Bai was surprised. When he entered the academy, he saw the Library and Armory—full of junk nobody would want on the street.

Yaoling placed another bite of food in her bowl and continued, “True treasures hide in plain sight. The Library and Armory outside the academy are only the first barrier. The two elderly men lounging there all day can only be mobilized by the Headmaster.”

Ye Bai felt a certain empathy and kept listening.

“That’s only one use for credits. For example, entering the virtual training room next month requires credits, and they can be traded with other freshmen or upperclassmen for useful items—there are many uses, just like money outside the academy.”

“But the two aren’t the same. Money is easy to earn; credits are hard to get.” Yaoling pouted her cherry lips and added, “To earn credits, you must pass the monthly assessment, or take private tasks from upperclassmen. Otherwise, there’s no way to gain credits.”

When Yaoling finished, Ye Bai had listened closely, and Cao Xiaosen had managed to fall asleep again.

The two, who had barely eaten, finished their meal and took Cao Xiaosen back with them.