Chapter 126 - 90: Mr. Mo Ning’s Method Works So Well
A faint red instantly flushed the skin of her right hand, spreading from her fingertips to her wrist, then all the way up her arm.
She picked up the short saw in her right hand, aimed it at the cut surface of the underground stem, and began sawing rapidly.
Barely a dozen seconds had passed.
With a loud SNAP, the connection between the underground stem and the main stem was completely severed.
What would have originally taken two minutes was now done in over eighty percent less time.
Anya even described how it felt, her voice tinged with amazement. "It was so much easier to cut. It was like the underground stem had gotten softer."
Reina grinned so wide her eyes crinkled. "Mr. Mo Ning’s method is amazing!"
Her face flushed with excitement, she said, "Let’s cut the other side! I think I know how to increase the Amplitude even more."
The Dazed Girl pressed the Vibrating Stone against the cut surface on the other side and quickly channeled a stream of Magic Power into it.
This time, instead of slowly adjusting the frequency, she immediately found the optimal point.
The cut surface actually began to ripple like a wave.
This was proof of her words—she had indeed increased the Amplitude.
"CRACK! CRACK!"
Louder cracking sounds echoed continuously from the cut.
A thought suddenly flashed through Anya’s mind.
She put down the short saw and held out a delicate index finger. In an instant, it turned a deep crimson, as if about to drip blood.
The Noble Lady aimed her fingertip at the cut and jabbed it with lightning speed.
As her fingertip met the surface, it produced a muffled thud.
"THUD!"
The sound carried a power that was enough to make one’s skin crawl.
The bamboo root at the cut shattered on impact.
A smile spread across Anya’s face. "I didn’t expect Bursting Strike to work so well here."
Using a Qi and Blood Secret Skill was much faster and less exhausting than spending ages sawing with a short saw.
Reina glanced at her teammate’s fist, a little stunned. "Your Martial Arts are incredible!"
Anya shook her head. "This is an academy. The most powerful things here are knowledge, and the people who truly master it."
Reina didn’t disagree. "That’s true."
A mere minute and a half later.
Working together, the two girls easily severed the second underground stem, pulling the even thicker stalk out from the earth.
The two couldn’t help but exchange a smile.
Reina was beaming. "This was supposed to take us five hours! At this rate, we’ll probably finish the whole task in just one."
She did a quick mental calculation. The task paid 6 Black Tower Points, which was 2 Black Tower Points each. That meant earning 2 Black Tower Points per hour.
An eight-hour workday would mean 16 Black Tower Points. Ten days of that would be 160 Black Tower Points.
And Sitt, widely regarded as the strongest newcomer, had only received an initial sponsorship of 150 Black Tower Points.
The Dazed Girl felt like she was looking at a golden road to riches, and she couldn’t stop smiling.
Anya laughed. "Mo Ning was being too conservative. We saved more than half our time—it’s closer to eighty percent."
She paused, then added, "He’s great at everything, but he’s just too modest."
Reina agreed wholeheartedly. "Way too modest!"
The Dazed Girl unconsciously glanced toward the depths of the forest.
She felt strongly that someone like Mr. Mo Ning shouldn’t be bogged down by tedious, worldly tasks. He should be free to focus on his thoughts.
This was the perfect example. A solution Mr. Mo Ning came up with after just a little thought was worth more than a long time of hard work from an ordinary person like her.
In fact, it hadn’t even been an hour.
The two girls completed the job of clearing thirty underground stems a full ten minutes ahead of schedule.
In the corner they had chosen, the once densely packed black soil was now overturned, revealing large patches of dark, fresh earth.
The severed underground stems were stacked neatly to one side, looking like bundles of kindling.
As they cleared more and more of the stems, the two became increasingly skilled.
While excavating the last ten stems, Anya and Reina even figured out a way to combine the vibrations of her Martial Arts with the Vibrating Stone.
Anya would channel her Qi and Blood Power into her fist, striking the bamboo root at the exact moment the Vibrating Stone released its resonant frequency. The two forces combined, producing a destructive Effect where the whole was far greater than the sum of its parts.
On average, it took them only ninety seconds to clear a single underground stem—including digging it up, severing both ends, and pulling it out.
It was an astonishing level of efficiency.
Who would have thought that just over half an hour ago, they were sweating bullets while struggling to cut the very first one.
Afterward, Anya activated her Guiding Ring and whispered, "Submit task."
A moment later, a wooden puppet hurried over from the depths of the Steel Bamboo Forest.
The puppet quickly inspected the excavated stems and the condition of the Steel Bamboo roots, confirming the task was complete.
The Black Tower Points were credited to them immediately.
As for the pile of stems, they were academy property; the plantation would handle them.
The two girls exchanged a look, both of them jubilant.
*****
「Meanwhile.」
Mo Ning stood before a stalk of Steel Bamboo, intently studying a newly grown cluster of Black Moss.
An ethereal screen of light hovered beside him.
On the left side of the screen, a data stream composed of Secret Divination and Divination scrolled by without pause.
The right side of the screen displayed a magnified image of the Black Moss’s structure—a view captured by the Insightful Secret Eye’s microscopic perspective, revealing details invisible to the naked eye.
Mo Ning’s gaze drifted over the pores as his finger unconsciously traced arcs in the air, as if outlining some hidden pattern.
After a few seconds.
A cool sensation from his Guiding Ring gently pulled him from his reverie.
A stream of information flooded into his mind:
[Reward Notification: Serial Number 7-118-256, Mo Ning.]
[Your task team has completed Steel Bamboo Plantation Task Five: Clear excess underground stems. Per the agreed-upon equal distribution of rewards, you have received 2 Black Tower Points.]
[The relevant funds have been transferred to your Guiding Ring account. Current Balance: 4,245 Black Tower Points.]
Mo Ning was suddenly at a loss for words.
’The team worked hard in the Steel Bamboo Forest for an hour, all for a measly 2 Black Tower Points?’
Again, it wasn’t that he looked down on anyone.
’But I really find this level of inefficiency unbearable.’
Mo Ning shook his head, thinking to himself, ’I should just stick to what I’m best at for earning Black Tower Points... Hmm, perhaps I can give Anya and Reina a boost.’
Just as he was about to find his teammates, his Secret Technique Whisper vibrated faintly.
A message from Anya came through.
[The reward for discovering the Dark Wizard Traitor has been distributed. The academy awarded 200 Black Tower Points.]
[The original reward was only 150 Black Tower Points, but my relative, Auntie Nasha, argued the case and got it raised to 200.]
[I believe a 20/80 split is a fair ratio. I’ll take 40 Black Tower Points, and I’m transferring the remaining 160 to you.]
The final sentence of the message carried a tone of sincere admiration:
[Dear Mr. Mo Ning, I trust that someone as generous as you won’t refuse this arrangement.]
[I must say, it is an immense pleasure to be your companion.]
Mo Ning was taken aback.
’Rewards can be negotiated? So this is the kind of benefit you get from having connections in the academy?’
He had originally planned to split the reward evenly with Anya. After all, the Noble Lady had done most of the work, while he had essentially just watched from the sidelines.
He hadn’t expected Anya to take the initiative and decide on a 20/80 split herself.
Mo Ning sighed softly and accepted the Noble Lady’s proposed split.
The cool sensation from his Guiding Ring returned, delivering another message to his mind:
[Fund Transfer Notification: Serial Number 7-118-256, Mo Ning.]
[160 Black Tower Points have been credited to your account. Current Balance: 4,405 Black Tower Points.]
A slight smile touched the corners of Mo Ning’s lips. "Now this is a normal rate of earning!"
He secretly decided to go on a little spending spree later.
For the many Wizards and Apprentices in the academy, one place was universally known as the "Black Tower Point Abyss."
The library.
A single random tome for a First Level Apprentice could easily cost over one hundred Black Tower Points.
4,405 Black Tower Points seemed like a fortune, but in the library, it wouldn’t even make a ripple.