Chapter 73 - 69: The Statue’s Magical Effect
Nanying City.
Sixth High School.
Due to a sudden power line failure, the faculty building remained shrouded in deep, silent darkness.
Mo Ning pressed down on the pair of plump shoulders, his hands firmly and steadily pulling away from their softness.
In the last "episode," faced with Xia Bamboo’s "advances," he had been utterly panicked, with no idea how to resist.
After a day’s break, he had once again entered the Meditation World.
This time was different.
In this "episode," he acted with complete ease, not at all stunned by her "body check" maneuver.
Despite the raging hormones of his youthful body making Mo Ning feel like a fire was burning inside him, he still effectively suppressed the urge.
"SCREEE—!"
A piercing eagle’s cry cut through the jet-black night sky.
It poured in through the window, passed through his eardrums, and traveled all the way down to the deepest part of his consciousness.
Mo Ning could clearly sense some unbreakable connection between himself and the black shadow that was streaking past outside.
He didn’t know why, but that didn’t stop him from accepting it as a matter of course.
Soon, Mo Ning’s face was free, but he couldn’t completely escape Xia Bamboo’s entanglement.
Her arms were wrapped tightly around him, and she was still trying to pull him back in.
They were so close that Mo Ning could feel her heavy breathing.
He even had the spare mental capacity to think about something else: ’If all the boys in school knew I was this intimate with their goddess, Xia Bamboo, they’d go crazy with jealousy, wouldn’t they?’
The thought spun through his mind for a moment before he casually tossed it aside.
Xia Bamboo asked in a hoarse voice, "Mo Ning, am I not beautiful enough?"
Mo Ning shook his head. "No, you’re the dream of every man in this school."
Xia Bamboo was completely baffled. "Then why?"
She quickly added, as if trying to find a reasonable excuse for him, "There’s no one here, and it’s so dark. No one will find out."
Mo Ning was about to refuse when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
The words already on the tip of his tongue changed. "Teacher Xia, shall we dance?"
Xia Bamboo froze for a moment.
In this pitch-black office, with just the two of them, on a night when something was supposed to happen, he actually suggested... dancing?
Mo Ning seized the opportunity, quickly ducking his head and slipping out from under Xia Bamboo’s arms.
His right hand smoothly took hers while his left arm wrapped around her waist, and the two of them began to dance.
It wasn’t a tango or a waltz, just a simple, unrehearsed dance that flowed with their feelings.
The two began to glide gracefully in the darkness and silence.
On his original Blue Star, Mo Ning didn’t know how to dance.
But in the Meditation World, he seemed to be quite skilled at it.
His feet naturally fell in time with the beat, and his arms naturally guided Xia Bamboo’s direction, as if he had danced this way a thousand times before.
Xia Bamboo didn’t know how to dance, but under his lead, she was surprisingly competent.
During the dance, Mo Ning’s hand brushed across her waist more than once.
There were even a few times, as their bodies intertwined, when his fingers grazed that exquisitely rounded curve.
But Mo Ning remained calm and composed, his mind as tranquil as the night.
When the dance ended, Mo Ning released Xia Bamboo’s hand, took a step back, and put some distance between them.
His voice was calm and clear. "It’s getting late. I should be going."
Xia Bamboo stood rooted to the spot, her face full of reluctance. "Will we have another chance like this in the future?"
Mo Ning smiled faintly. "We will."
He didn’t give Xia Bamboo another chance to speak, turning directly and leaving the office.
Xia Bamboo stood in the darkness, staring fixedly at his departing figure.
Mo Ning walked out of the school gates and looked at the brightly lit road, suddenly feeling a sense of relief wash over him.
Without any prompting, a realization naturally dawned on him. ’I think I’m about to leave this place.’
He walked forward step by step, his pace unhurried.
The world gradually blurred, its outlines dissolving bit by bit until they vanished completely.
Mo Ning opened his eyes and saw his apartment, 804.
He subconsciously recalled some passages from a book, comparing them to his recent experience in the Meditation World:
"If you want to achieve greater Meditation efficiency and more effectively increase your Spiritual Strength, you must strive to take control of this world.
"To do that, you must proceed in two steps.
"First, you must learn to resist the ’Demon.’ You cannot always let it manipulate you.
"Second, you must learn to seize the initiative and, in turn, lead the Demon by the nose.
"But this step is extremely difficult.
"Because the Demon knows every vulnerability deep in your heart. Its cunning is beyond your imagination. You might need ten, even twenty years of effort..."
Thinking of this, Mo Ning couldn’t help but smile.
He had actively broken free from Xia Bamboo’s "restraints," refused to yield to her temptation, and had instead led her in a dance in the dark night, even prompting her to ask if they would have "another chance."
This was, without a doubt, "seizing the initiative."
According to the book, reaching this stage required at least ten years of effort.
Yet he had meditated less than ten times, and facing the Demon’s second incarnation, he had already succeeded.
Mo Ning sat up on his single bed, his gaze falling upon the Phantom Carved Statue standing silently on his desk.
The statue glowed with a gentle luster under the warm, orange light of the Magic Energy Lamp, its wings slightly folded and its gaze as sharp as a torch, as if ready to take flight at any moment.
This strange statue had played an indispensable role in his ability to seize the initiative today.
He could feel deeply that with the statue’s help, it was as if he had two bodies in the Meditation World—his own, and that of the Phantom Carving.
This meant having two perspectives at the same time.
The power of the Illusion Breaker had been tremendously enhanced.
Not by two times, but by at least ten.
That was why he had been able to handle Xia Bamboo with such ease and turn away from temptation so calmly.
The Phantom Carved Statue from Sir Rent’s desk had demonstrated extraordinary value.
Mo Ning inquired with his mind, ’What’s my current spiritual state? When is my Spiritual Strength projected to increase?’
The [Eye of Truth]’s reply came immediately.
[Spiritual Flow Transformation activity up 84.2% compared to yesterday. Spiritual Strength is projected to increase by 0.01 points after tomorrow’s Meditation.]
A smile immediately appeared on Mo Ning’s face.
Before he got the statue, the "plug-in" had predicted it would take three days. Now, it was two days ahead of schedule.
This Phantom Carving standing on his desk was pushing open a tightly shut door for him in ways he couldn’t see.
In addition, during today’s Meditation, the "plug-in" had also recorded a large amount of important data.
Combined with the accumulation from the past few days, he felt it was time to make a move—to perform a true improvement on the Meditation Technique itself.
Mo Ning issued a second command: ’I want to improve the Divine Statue Technique. New version number: v1.1.’
A holographic Light Curtain flashed into existence.
At the very top of the Light Curtain was a line of block characters—[Divine Statue Projection·Divination Calculator v1.1].
Without resting for even a second, Mo Ning threw himself into his new task.
It was currently 5:30 in the morning.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the Nu Ti Grassland gradually shed its nighttime shroud under the morning light.
Waves of grass rippled in the morning breeze, stretching from nearby all the way to the horizon, blanketing the entire land in a flowing sea of green.
An exceptionally massive beast, shaped like an Earth-Shaking Gray-Horned Rhinoceros but twice the size of an adult, appeared and disappeared in the sea of tall grass in the distance.
The giant beast wandered for a while, lowered its head to munch on some grass, then suddenly raised its head and let out a roar, "ROOOAR!"
A visible shockwave swept out from around the beast.
The tall grass in a radius of several hundred meters was hit by the wave, flattening in unison as if pressed down by a giant, invisible hand.
This was—a Gray-Horned King Rhinoceros.
The true overlord of the Nu Ti Grassland, the king of the Earth-Shaking Gray-Horned Rhinoceroses.
Mo Ning paid no attention to the scene outside his window, completely absorbed in the torrent of data rapidly scrolling across the Light Curtain.
*****
「7:30 AM」
Mo Ning, neatly dressed, opened the door to his apartment right on time.
He wasn’t wearing the Silver Pen Badge; the thing was too conspicuous and didn’t suit his low-key personality.
After a three-day delay due to the incident during the forest assessment, the second compulsory course was finally about to begin.
As soon as his figure appeared in the hallway, it was captured by two pairs of beautiful eyes.
Anya and Reina had already been waiting in the small plaza for a while.
The moment the Noble Lady saw Mo Ning, a smile blossomed on her pretty face before she demurely reigned it in.
Reina, however, was completely different.
She waved her hand energetically, her signature cowlick bouncing with the movement.
The gesture perfectly matched her enthusiastic and unrestrained personality—completely open and unaffected.
Mo Ning gave a slight nod in acknowledgment and walked over quickly.
"Good morning!"
"Good morning!"
Two enthusiastic greetings reached his ears at the same time.
One was gentle and sweet, the other as crisp as jade beads falling onto a plate.
Mo Ning returned the greeting. "Good morning."
Like a qualified "intelligence officer," Reina quickly relayed the information she had just gathered:
"Just ten minutes ago, the Battle Group formed by the joint Top Ten Squads gathered a large number of new students in this plaza and led them as a group through the Secluded Forest to the Lecture Hall."
Mo Ning knew as soon as he heard it that this was definitely a "performance" meticulously orchestrated by Remi.
On one hand, it would satisfy the "suckers" among the new students who had paid 5 Black Tower Points, making them feel their money wasn’t wasted.
On the other hand, it was also a show for the other new students: ’Folks, as long as you pay up, you can join this big, secure group. What are you waiting for?’
Mo Ning’s eyelid twitched, and he muttered, "That guy Remi really knows how to fool people."
Besides Remi, it was almost impossible to imagine anyone else coming up with such a scheme.
For at least two or three months, the academy was unlikely to schedule another assessment in the Secluded Forest.
The so-called "protection" was nothing more than leading a group of people down an already safe path.
Anya saw this as well. "Mo Ning was right last time. Remi is a guy who’ll do whatever it takes."