Chapter 204: Chapter 204 – Gu Yueyan’s Request
“Wow…”
A wave of profound bliss arose from the depths of Ren Suo’s heart as he looked at the statistic in the data stream: [Tier 1, 42%]. In addition, the soreness in his muscles after Practicing filled him with joy.
From being unable to even advance 1% in his Practice, he could now progress 1.5% in one day. Such an improvement was naturally beyond what words could describe.
After Ren Suo cleared three checkpoints in “The Mage Under the World Tree”, the mage in the game had also defeated three demons of the arenas. The Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo had also been successfully activated thrice, and as a result, Ren Suo’s talent score had also increased three times in that short duration.
In addition, he had also played the role of Fa Hai (a monk in Chinese legend) and destroyed the love between Mage and the foreigner girl—do not be mistaken, for Ren Suo had already planned to set the plot up such that Mage would fake his death from severe injury at the end of every checkpoint. It was definitely not because Caroline loved the black-haired mage that Ren Suo made the mage die such a horrible death, absolutely not…
Although Ren Suo did not have, at present, any specific equipment to measure his own talent score, he estimated that he should now be at least on the same level as that of an average civil servant. By the time he cleared all seven checkpoints, it was not impossible for him to be above average!
Very soon, he would be able to experience what it was like as a tier 2 Practitioner!
—Then, he chose to watch TV.
It was actually not just any television program, but a variety show—an interesting one.
[The Awakening Grand Challenge]!
It was an international reality show that was different from other entertainment variety shows in that it was much more hardcore. In the show, various methods were attempted to make people Awaken.
Those who wanted to participate in the variety show had to sign legal contracts before they were allowed to take on the various challenging ‘methods of Awakening’ in the show. From what Ren Suo had seen thus far, the methods were not just limited to ‘electrocution’, ‘running along the edge of a boiling pot of oil’, and ‘dancing hundreds of meters above ground’.
Of course, the program was not out to kill people, and all sorts of protective measures were in place. For example, the pot of oil was actually not hot, or that the electric chair only released sparks and actually had a voltage lower than 36V…
However, none of the failed cases were aired. Amongst the cases which were shown to viewers, the contestants either ‘passed the challenge but did not Awaken’, or otherwise ‘passed the challenge and Awakened’. The show would not want the viewers to know that the challenges were all fake, and at the same time, it gave the contestants sufficient ‘physiological stress’.
Ren Suo had learned about all of the above secrets through the intranet.
Nevertheless, there were a handful of contestants who Awakened in the show, but it was not known whether it was just for dramatic effect or that it was the truth. What was known, however, was that there were a huge number of participants, and each episode was insanely popular. Even if the show was blocked within the nation, there would still be numerous people who re-uploaded it on other sites.
The reasons why Ren Suo watched the show was because of his curiosity, and also for work.
That was because the ten Practitioner Institutions around the nation would be implementing a similar method, which was to urge students to Awaken under extremely dangerous circumstances, in accordance with the “Nature Exploitation Technique to Awakening” theory.
Of course, they definitely did not want to create such great fanfare over the employed method like in other countries. Contrastingly, it was kept a secret, and only a small number of students would take part in the Awakening Ceremony. Those students certainly would not be told about the safety precautions that were put in place and would be made to think that they were in a dangerous situation by mistake.
In fact, Ren Suo, as well as other healing Practitioners, would always be nearby, ready to perform emergency resuscitation if anyone was in a critical situation.
Indeed, it sounded just like a typical college story in fantasy novels: the protagonist would suddenly encounter a dire, near-death situation, through which he would experience a breakthrough. However, the protagonist would still be too tired and almost be unable to make it through the fight. Subsequently, the principal and the teachers would appear, laughing. They would then disclose that it was all a part of the school’s orientation ceremony, and the new student would be relieved. Remembering how handsome he looked and how strong he was during the situation moments ago, the protagonist would then continue successfully in his school journey to grow his harem of girls…
The implementation date of the plan had not been confirmed, but it was unlikely to take too long; otherwise, Ren Suo would not have received such a notification from the school at that point in time: [Do not leave the Heavenly Institution of Lian for the next few months. Be ready to be called into action at any time.]
However, if the entire plan was unable to be managed by the higher-leveled Practitioners perfectly, it would be equivalent to being irresponsible for the student’s safety. Ren Suo felt that there was an extremely high possibility that the plan would be unsuccessful.
‘The whole world has already begun to change due to the rejuvenation of Reiki…’ Ren Suo thought. He counted with his fingers and muttered, “Combat, the Internet, education, medicine, materials… Various industries are changing, and the world is truly becoming more and more interesting.”
After watching two episodes of “The Awakening Grand Challenge”, Ren Suo checked the time and realized that it was lunchtime. He headed over to Dong Chengling’s house for another free meal.
Gu Yueyan naturally went over too, but this time, she ate peacefully and did not ridicule Ren Suo. She focussed on chatting with Dong Chengling instead. Ren Suo was also glad to be able to eat in peace and took the opportunity to eat two more braised prawns.
It was Ren Suo’s turn to wash the dishes that afternoon. Since Dong Chengling had taken care of acquiring the ingredients and cooking, Ren Suo and Gu Yueyan naturally expressed their gratitude by taking turns to wash the dishes. In fact, Ren Suo had actually considered buying a dishwasher, but after thinking about it, he realized that in that case, he would not be making any contributions despite eating the food that Dong Chengling cooked. As such, he dismissed that idea and diligently washed the dishes.
After washing the dishes, Ren Suo left Dong Chengling’s house and went downstairs. However, he was surprised to see Gu Yueyan leaning against the wall at the entrance of the dormitory building and staring at the ceiling. She seemed to be waiting for someone—or something.
Ren Suo glanced at her and asked, “Did you forget to take something? Hurry upstairs to get it, I think Chengling is going to take her afternoon nap soon.”
“No, I was waiting for you, Ren scum,” Gu Yueyan replied. She said, “I heard that nowadays, you are either staying at home or at Teacher Dong’s house eating. Have you not found a girlfriend yet?”
Ren Suo said righteously, “First of all, even though I don’t have a girlfriend, I don’t support teacher-student relationships either… In school, you would not meet many people of the opposite gender who are of a high standard. Although you may find me extremely outstanding, and although you may still think so, when you come out to society—”
“Who would want to be in a teacher-student relationship with you! What’s more, you are not a teacher anyway!” Gu Yueyan chided with a look of disdain. She said, “I want to ask you for help.”
“Me? Help?” Ren Suo questioned. He thought about what Gu Yueyan had just said, then looked at her abdomen, her calf, then her thigh. He said, “My healing ability cannot treat obesity…”
“Thank you for your concern, but I exercise regularly and have a very good figure. I don’t need you to help me lose fats,” Gu Yueyan said.
She held her anger in and continued, “However, you’re right, I do need the help of your healing ability.”
“You might not know this, but I have Awakened…” Gu Yueyan said.
Ren Suo looked at Gu Yueyan. Fortunately, Ren Suo now had to face Dong Chengling at least twice a day and he had continuously trained to adapt to the strong temptation of the extremely attractive ‘2-star key’. At the least, he no longer had any difficulties while talking to Dong Chengling.
Coming face-to-face with Gu Yueyan who merely possessed a 1-star key, hmph, her attractiveness was no more than soy milk and dough sticks sold on the street.
Ren Suo replied, “Well, I didn’t know that.”
Gu Yueyan continued, “However, my Awakening is not yet complete and I still need to undergo some special training.”
Ren Suo was slightly confused. He asked, “Your Awakening is not yet complete? What does that mean?”
Gu Yueyan replied, “Awakening is categorized into two parts: ‘strength’ and ‘knowledge’.”
“Typically, a person would acquire both when Awakening, which allows the person to be able to cast his Awakened Ability with ease. However, after I Awakened, I have no ‘knowledge’, but only ‘strength’. Although I can still cast my Awakened Ability, I do not know what its effects nor its prohibitions are. This is called incomplete Awakening, which belongs to a semi-awakened state. This is a fundamental knowledge of Awakening, how can you not know this?”
Ren Suo shrugged and said, “It’s not like I attended your lessons. Practice was the main focus of my studies previously, and Awakening was barely discussed.”
After all, when Ren Suo took part in the mass training for civil servants, the video of “A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters” had not appeared, and it was by sheer luck when ordinary people Awakened.
Since then, three months had passed, and many incidents had taken place during that time, such as the activation of Reiki Treasures and the uploading of numerous videos by Naisser Ren. The nation’s research on Awakeners intensified ever since, but the researchers and the students were naturally the people who reaped the benefits first.
Ren Suo wondered if he should also spend some time reading the latest research papers on the intranet. However, those thesis papers were much more boring than the “Risky Investigation Reports” in the ‘Mysterious Sightings’ section…
Ren Suo clenched his fist and asked, “So, how do you need me to help you? Should I beat you almost to death to force you to Awaken in times of danger?”
Gu Yueyan glared at Ren Suo and replied, “As if! I’m actually already almost there. Teacher said that even if I did not do anything and continued Practicing slowly for a few months, it would still be possible for me to naturally grasp the ability.”
Ren Suo retorted, “Just wait a few months then.”
Gu Yueyan took a deep breath and said, “No, I need to master this Awakened Ability quickly, I really need this ability. Moreover, the earlier a person masters his Awakened Ability, the better it is.”
“As such, I want to make a deal with you. During this process, I may be in danger as I am Awakening for a second time, and so as a recovery Practitioner, you can guarantee my safety.”
“Feel free to name a price, I will agree to it as long as it is reasonable. Hmph, my Gu family is quite wealthy.”
Ren Suo was slightly puzzled. He questioned, “In that case, shouldn’t you apply to the Institution for assistance? You are a top student in the level, would the Institution not help someone like you?”
Gu Yueyan seemed somewhat helpless as she explained, “The Institution said that my situation is very rare, but essentially harmless too. Moreover, compared to Awakening at once, it is safer for the stress of Awakening to be spread out over many days in my case. Especially since I am one of the top students, the Institution is even more unwilling to take any risks.”
“Even Teacher Dong thinks that I should not be so anxious about it. Otherwise, why do you think I would come to you for help?”
Ren Suo rubbed his chin and said, “Well, if you really want to talk about making a deal, I do indeed have a small task I need your help with… However, I need to confirm that what you say is true and that I would not be harming you if I do help you.”
Gu Yueyan quickly said, “You may ask around if you want, but do not tell anyone that I asked you for help. I don’t want people to misunderstand and think that I am close to you.”
“Alright, alright,” Ren Suo said.
As she watched Ren Suo walk to the side to make a call, Gu Yueyan smiled deviously, as if her ‘plan’ had worked out. She took out her mobile phone, typed a message in WeChat, and sent it to ‘Xiao Qiao’:
[Sister Qiao, thank you for your suggestion.]