Chapter 71 - 67: Reward for the Paper
"I think I recognize this face!"
’This thought was like a bolt of lightning splitting the night sky, instantly pulling Mo Ning’s mind from its daze.’
His hands froze in mid-air just as they were about to touch a certain part, ’as round and plump as a ripe peach.’
His fingertips were less than an inch from that softness, and he could even feel its faint warmth.
A strong premonition rose in Mo Ning’s heart—if he really touched it, he would be like a man sinking into a mire, falling deeper and deeper until he was completely devoured.
’I can’t touch it!’
’I absolutely cannot touch it!’
He let out a long breath, slowly suppressing the surging heat that roiled in his chest.
"Teacher Xia, please let go of me first."
His voice wasn’t loud, but it was exceptionally clear, like a stone dropping into a deep pool in the darkness:
"Let’s turn on our phone flashlights. We can use them for light and find our way out."
Xia Bamboo’s voice in the darkness carried an indescribable allure. "Mo Ning, your teacher is so tired right now. Can you let me hold you for just a little longer?"
Her voice suddenly grew huskier, its seductive power increasing exponentially.
Every word was like a honey-soaked needle, gently piercing his eardrums. "I know a lot of boys want to... um, do those kinds of strange things to me."
The temptation in Xia Bamboo’s husky voice reached its peak. "Mo Ning, if it’s you... I don’t mind. I really don’t."
A scorching flame began to burn in the depths of Mo Ning’s heart once more.
He was about to lose control again. Those desires, wrapped in layer upon layer of reason, were stirring restlessly in the dark.
SCREEE—!
This eagle’s cry was more than ten times clearer than before, carrying a power that pierced through to the soul.
The sound didn’t seem to come from outside the window, but from somewhere deeper—from the very bottom of the Spiritual World.
It instantly pierced through the layers of Illusion woven by the Meditation World, causing the lingering mist to evaporate in a flash.
An even stranger sight appeared.
The graceful figure from his mind unexpectedly appeared beside him, her lovely face breaking into a brilliant smile.
Anya had appeared!
With a strange kind of vision, Mo Ning "saw" this graceful figure.
The Noble Lady’s body was slightly illusory, its edges shimmering with a faint halo, like fine gauze soaked in moonlight.
But every detail was clearly visible:
She wasn’t wearing the blue robes of a novice, but had changed into shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, clothing that only existed on Blue Star.
The fabric clung to her body, outlining every curve with perfect precision.
Her long, fair legs were as smooth as polished jade. Her waist was slender, her shoulders were rounded, and the curves of her chest were like ripe fruit on an autumn branch. The lines of her figure were truly breathtaking.
The ultimate expression of girlish charm and allure had finally taken a concrete form at this moment.
Mo Ning suddenly felt that the curve pressed tightly against his face was no longer making his mouth go dry.
SCREEE—!
The second eagle cry pierced his soul.
A wave of clarity washed over Mo Ning, and he instantly understood his situation.
’I’ve already transmigrated to the Wizard World, but this place is Blue Star. I don’t belong to this world.’
The moment this thought surfaced, everything began to recede rapidly.
Xia Bamboo’s body became hazy, blurry, and transparent, like an ink drawing soaked in water.
The office walls, the ceiling, the exam papers, the already extinguished desk lamp—all the details lost their outlines, peeling away layer by layer, collapsing, and dissipating.
And then, Mo Ning’s eyelids twitched, and he opened his eyes.
He glanced around, his gaze lingering on the floor-to-ceiling window for a few seconds before his expression slowly cleared of its confusion.
He let out a soft sigh. "That was truly too real. The Demon’s second incarnation is terrifyingly powerful!"
The second incarnation, clearly, was Xia Bamboo.
Mo Ning couldn’t help but recall certain passages from a book.
"As your Spiritual Strength continuously increases, the power of your Meditation Space will increase in tandem.
"And the ’Demon’ that controls this world—perhaps this Demon is just another version of you—will inevitably grow stronger and stronger.
"You will come to realize that the people in this illusory world will become more and more tempting to you."
"No, perhaps they are not illusory individuals, but beings that exist in a dimension we cannot perceive.
"Because they are just too real.
"Every conversation you have with them, every embrace, every kiss, will be indistinguishable from the real world, as if you were truly living in that world.
"It’s easy to blur the lines between the two worlds and become completely lost in it."
"This is especially true when your Spiritual Strength has just experienced a leap and has not yet fully stabilized. You will find this temptation becomes exceptionally strong.
"Although this situation is an exceptional test of your mental fortitude and stimulates the spirit more strongly than usual, I believe the risk is too great.
"Therefore, I strongly recommend that you stop your Meditation during this period and do something else."
Originally, Mo Ning hadn’t really believed it.
’It’s just a Meditation World, similar to dreaming. How real can it be?’
Now, having personally experienced what Xia Bamboo had to offer, not a single shred of doubt remained in his mind.
In the Meditation World, his encounter with his high school English teacher was far more real than his encounter with Zhang Xiaoxiao.
Mo Ning could clearly recall the feeling of being held in Xia Bamboo’s arms, especially the sensation on his face, which felt as if it was about to swallow him whole.
’Too real!’
He was beginning to believe the words in the book—that perhaps it was a real world.
Or perhaps, a parallel universe where the class beauty, Zhang Xiaoxiao, didn’t exist, and he entered it during his Meditation.
Mo Ning thought of Anya’s pretty face again, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly. "Miss Anchor is indeed very useful."
According to the book, the Noble Lady’s sudden appearance was undoubtedly the "anchor" at work.
Combined with the "Cognitive Anchor" from his transmigration and the "Illusion Breaker" effect of the Phantom Carved Divine Statue, he had managed to resist the "offensive" launched by Xia Bamboo.
Otherwise, he probably would have had a hard time escaping Xia Bamboo’s temptation. He might have really lost his head and just reached out and touched her.
WHOOSH—!
Mo Ning let out a breath, driving all the flushed, romantic thoughts from his mind.
He quieted his mind and felt his own spiritual state, a deeper smile appearing on his face. "Not bad. My spirit seems to have become more consolidated."
The quantity seemed to have increased slightly, but the change in quality was more obvious—it was like taking a fluffy ball of cotton and compressing it forcefully. Its volume decreased, but its weight grew heavier.
The difficult challenge had yielded a sufficient reward.
A faint joy welled up in Mo Ning’s heart. ’Maybe after four or five more days of Meditation, my Spiritual Strength will increase by another 0.01 points.’
Although the book warned to "best stop Meditating," he had no intention of stopping.
Sitt was like a monument standing before him, a constant reminder not to stop running.
Mo Ning walked to the washstand and turned the wolf-headed faucet. He cupped some warm water in his hands, bent over, and washed his face.
The warmth seeped in through his skin, washing away the last lingering trace of the trance left over from his Meditation.
He straightened up, and just as he was about to grab a towel to dry his face, he suddenly felt the familiar coolness from his Guiding Ring.
Mo Ning’s lips curved slightly. ’It should be the reply from the "Shine" journal.’
The core theme of his paper was just using Divination Language to explain some of the principles of Spiritual Flow Transformation—in his own mind, it was just a "minor paper."
So, he had mentally set an expected payment—10 Black Tower Points, equivalent to two months of room and board.
For him, even something lower, like 5 Black Tower Points, would have been acceptable.
’After all, it was something I wrote in just ten minutes.’
Then, the stream of information arrived as expected.
[Reward Notification: Serial No. 7-118-256, Mo Ning.]
[Your paper, "A New Method of Divination Interpretation—A Preliminary Study on the Effects of Moonlight Potion on Marginal Layer Spiritual Flow Transformation," submitted to the Journal of Witchcraft Research, "Shining Light of the Black Tower," has passed the society’s review.]
Mo Ning wasn’t surprised by this.
’I’m very confident. My level in Secret Divination and Divination has already surpassed that of a Second Level Apprentice. Isn’t a mere journal paper a piece of cake?’
[The society’s Reviewing Editor-in-Chief, First Level Wizard Terry, believes that the paper’s use of the Kado Flow Change Set Calculation Formula and Maddy’s First Smooth Curve Paradigm to process marginal layer Spiritual Flow Transformation data has pioneered a brand-new data processing method and possesses a certain groundbreaking significance.]
Mo Ning was instantly stunned.
He stared at those few lines of text, his mind feeling as if countless thoughts had exploded at once.
’The paper’s theme was clearly about explaining the principles of Spiritual Flow Transformation, so why did the society focus on the data processing instead?’
’Could it be that among all the Wizards and Apprentices in the Black Tower Academy, not a single one knew that combining these two formulas could process data more efficiently and with greater precision?’
[After discussion within the society, we have decided that this paper will be published in the first section, ninth edition of the next issue of "Shining Light of the Black Tower," so that this data processing method can aid in more Witchcraft research.]
Mo Ning’s eyes widened.
He knew, of course, that the academy’s journal was divided into three sections.
The first section was usually the exclusive domain of Official Wizards; Apprentices couldn’t even dream of being published there.
The second section was mainly for publishing higher-quality papers by Apprentices.
Although a Wizard’s paper would occasionally "find its way" into this section, such cases were pitifully rare, and they were almost always things the Wizards had written casually.
Usually, the papers published in this section were meticulously written articles by the top Third Level Apprentices.
As for the third section, that was where low-quality papers made their appearance.
They served only one purpose—to pad out the page count and make the entire journal look less thin.
This was also the "primary target" for the vast majority of Apprentices.
Mo Ning had never dreamed that the first paper he had casually written would actually be "gloriously published" in the journal’s first section.
How could he not understand by now? The data processing method he had casually thrown out there was probably of great help even to the research of Official Wizards.
[In light of your important contribution to Witchcraft research, the society has decided to award you a payment of 250 Black Tower Points.]
[The payment has been transferred to your Guiding Ring account. Current balance: 1397 Black Tower Points.]
Mo Ning subconsciously stroked his Guiding Ring, his heart filled with delight.
’250 points! That’s twenty-five times more than I expected!’
This sum was more than all the rewards he had received from the random assessment in the Secluded Forest combined.
’I have to say, this money was way too easy to earn!’
But the messages weren’t over.
[The society highly appreciates your keen insight, your rigorous approach to Witchcraft research, and your extraordinary creativity. Therefore, we invite you to become a ’Silver Pen Member’ of the society.]
[Note: Silver Pen Member is an honorary title and does not restrict you from submitting to any journal. However, for every paper submitted to "Shining Light of the Black Tower," you will receive an additional incentive of 10 Black Tower Points.]
[Do you wish to accept this honorary title?]
Mo Ning was taken aback.
’A Silver Pen Member... this isn’t just some ordinary honorary title.’
According to the information he had gathered from many manuscripts, this title carried significant weight not only within the society, but also within the academy.