Mini World Game Console

"It's starting, it's starting."

Ren Suo, who had been studying English all night, realized it was time and opened the GILIGILI video website. Sure enough, he saw the "School's Starting!" notification recommended on the homepage.

September 3rd, Monday, the university sections of the top ten Cultivator's Academies in Mysterious Country officially opened.

If the junior middle and senior high departments were just minor affairs, then the opening of the university department showcased the official attitude—live broadcasting the entire opening ceremony.

Unlike other universities with thousands of students in each grade, the number of freshmen at each Cultivator's Academy ranged from several hundred to a thousand, which an outdoor stadium could easily accommodate. If the student numbers were smaller, even an auditorium could house them all.

The opening ceremony began at 10 a.m. The sun had just risen but it wasn't too hot, and all academies chose this time for their ceremonies to facilitate live broadcasting.

Among them, there was no live broadcast channel for Sky Capital's main campus, primarily because the freshmen of Sky Capital's main campus had already started school in May, and the opening ceremony had long been conducted. Naturally, there was no need to hold another one in September.

Secondly, even though the ten Practitioners' Academies were moving forward together, common sense told the people that Sky Capital Academy's opening ceremony would overshadow the rest. After watching Sky Capital's, there would be no need to watch the ceremonies at other academies.

Moreover, the opening ceremonies of the nine academies would also be broadcast on the main TV channels in various provinces and cities, mainly to roughly show the local people the teaching level of their nearby Practitioners' Academies. Therefore, the main stage for this show-off session was the Nine Great Academies, not Sky Capital Academy—everyone in Mysterious Country knew how awesome Sky Capital Academy was; there's simply no need to prove it.

Within the video portal website, the live broadcast rooms were divided into nine, and netizens could freely choose to watch the opening ceremony of any academy. In fact, the scripts for every opening ceremony were fixed. The only difference was the backdrop of the opening ceremony.

Apart from Sky Capital's main campus, the principals of the remaining nine Practitioners' Academies all had years of teaching experience as educators, and some had even served as university principals before, so naturally, they were the ones to deliver the opening speeches.

There was nothing much to say about the opening ceremony. It was all about a few nice words and introducing the teacher roster. Even if the speaker was a scholar who could be found on an encyclopedia, it would still sound boring.

Ren Suo thought there wouldn't be many people in the live broadcast rooms, yet in reality, even the Heavenly Lotus Academy's room he watched had at least tens of thousands of viewers online—this number was just for this site, in this broadcast room!

Keep in mind that several large video portals, even TV stations, were broadcasting the opening ceremonies of the Nine Great Academies. Even with so many other options and it being work hours, there were still so many people watching, which showed how much value was placed on the content of the Practitioners' Academies.

Of course, more importantly, the content of the opening ceremonies was indeed captivating!

The Heavenly Lotus Academy held its opening ceremony on the sports field, where an elder on the stage was introducing the educational philosophy of Heavenly Lotus Academy. Despite sitting under the early morning sun, the students didn't feel the slightest heat.

Because the elder stood on a platform entirely built of ice, the base inscribed with the school's motto 'Integrity, Knowledge, Realism, Innovation', from which shot out transparent Ice Crystal Chains, dividing the student queues into neat rows!

The vaporizing mist from the ice crystals made all the students feel as though they were standing on clouds, while not a single drop of the melting ice water was lost. The ground of the sports field was clean and not at all slippery, yet all students felt as if they were standing inside an air-conditioned room at 22°C!

Moreover, tall dark blue ice crystal trees rose from the ground in front and behind, to the left and right of the student queues, and in front of each class stood an ice crystal knight statue holding a sword upright, transforming the blazing September heat of Lianjiang into a land of chilling, icy winds!

"Is this the Natural Disaster Legion with the Lich King as principal kicking off their school year!?"

"This is so beautiful... I want to go to school here!"

"Stop kidding, it's only like this for the opening ceremony. If there wasn't a master controlling the ice, all of it would melt in half an hour."

"So after becoming a Cultivator, can you add ice to your cola by yourself?"

"I really want to see it in person!"

"I really want to cool off against these ice blocks that won't melt!"

Seeing this barrage of comments, Ren Suo scratched his head, walked out to the balcony to take a look at the giant ice trees in the distance, but as soon as the sunlight touched him, he immediately retreated back to the living room.

To leave the comfort of the air-conditioned room, walk for several minutes under the blazing sun, sweat profusely, then arrive at the ice crystal opening ceremony to cool off... Ren Suo wasn't stupid; he wouldn't do it. So, he had no intention of participating in the opening ceremony from the start.

In fact, Ren Suo wasn't among the faculty that had to attend, so he stayed at home to watch the entrance ceremony.

After a quick glance, Ren Suo switched to another live stream. He found that the opening ceremonies of the other Nine Great Academies were just as impressive. Some academy heads seemed to possess tree-based awakened spells, conjuring a primeval forest that blotted out the sky.

Others summoned flocks of birds to listen in silence, with all the students daring not to stir as a single movement would cause the pigeons perched on them to start cooing incessantly.

These were relatively normal. Ren Suo discovered that the most spectacular opening ceremony was held by Tianhai Academy in Shenhai City. In fact, many others shared his sentiment—the ceremony's viewership skyrocketed to over two hundred thousand!

The reason was simply that the spectacle was too impressive!

The Tianhai Academy's opening ceremony also took place on the sports field, with no change to the setting and no appearance of wild beasts or rare birds. The wonder lay in the fact that every word spoken by the principal, who stood on the podium, would condense into golden text in midair and hurl towards the students!

The principal's words blossomed like a lotus in debate, with golden characters raining down on the students without causing any Damage, dispersing like golden dust upon contact—yet it looked so cool!

According to the barrage of comments, this was a "supernatural power that comes with its own subtitles"!

If this Awakening Ability could be enhanced further, would it eventually lead to a synchronized, real-time, eight-language subtitle version?

Having surveyed the opening ceremonies of the Nine Great Academies, Ren Suo had easily grasped the officials' intention: they wanted to refresh the public's perception of the Mysterious Country's transcendent strength.

Despite common knowledge that Spiritual Energy had been restored and that various countries were vigorously developing related technologies to cultivate powerful Cultivators, officials lacked a showcase for the might of Transcendents.

Transcendents were indeed powerful, and Second Stage Cultivators were even brushing against the threshold of the Non-Human. But if two Cultivators were to engage in combat with Cold Weapons, the visual impact probably wouldn't be much better than a Sword Dao competition, at best featuring some fire or ice—not to be rude, but these days some short-video apps featured wild Awakeners who could produce such videos as popular creators.

Yet, if Cultivators were to use Hot Weapons for a demonstration, it would fail to highlight the Cultivators' strength.

Because ultimately, a Cultivator's power was reflected through the potent force of modern weapons, much like in robot animations, where it's always the robots that are cooler than the pilots, not the other way around.

The officials quickly realized that using combat to demonstrate the Cultivators' prowess was inappropriate. Combat is an activity that requires swift reaction, forcing Cultivators to use the fastest Spells for Attack and Defense.

If a Cultivator took a long time to conjure a flashy signature move, it would be too fake, like a Magical Girl transforming uninterrupted.

More importantly, with Ren Naiser's acclaimed series of videos setting such a high bar, all other combat promotional films paled in comparison.

Rather than produce a promotional film that looks like minor skirmishes, it's better to change the strategy and clearly showcase that Mysterious Country's Cultivators now possess ample strength.

This opening ceremony offered a great opportunity for display, and since the academy's Cultivators were semi-official, even if they caused some issues, the authorities could promptly rectify any problems.

However, as Ren Suo saw it, the Nine Great Academies had probably turned in a report that satisfied both the officials and the parents.

Even though everyone knew such a ceremony required a lot of preparation, as long as it looked cool enough, grand enough, and was beyond what current technology could create, that was sufficient!

Promoting how strong this teacher was with a third turn or how magical that teacher's Awakening was futile. People couldn't feel that these teachers were much stronger than the Awakener hosts on short-video software. Instead, staging such a 'grand show-off' put everyone at ease. The Superhuman Academy of the Mysterious Country was indeed powerful!

Whether this impression could be solidified in the future would depend on the teaching performance and historical progress.

Ren Suo was about to start gaming back in the living room when suddenly a phone call arrived. "Your disposition has come down."

"...Is the government finally going to make a move on this little kitty? Save me, Li Dan!"

"Oh, I mean, your research lab application has come through." Li Dan on the other end also realized her slip of the tongue. "Sorry, the document the Deputy Director gave me had 'criminal Ren Suo' clipped on top, so I also..."

Just because I cost you dozens of days of vacation, meant you couldn't get cozy with your little girlfriend, and made you go back to 18-hour work days—this Yu Kuangtu really is ruthless!

"Research lab application?" Ren Suo thought for a moment. "Oh, is it about the promotion to a Level 3 Researcher?"

"That's right," Li Dan said. "You must be an expert in a relevant field to apply for a Level 3 Researcher, at least affiliated with some nationally recognized research lab. However, I'm basically clear about your academic level, and you don't seem interested in pursuing academic research, right?"

"After graduation," Ren Suo replied, "I'd rather become a civil servant and spend the rest of my life at the neighborhood office than study for a postgraduate degree. What do you think?"

"That's why I didn't pull you into any research groups at other universities in Lianjiang," Li Dan said. "Luckily, Heavenly Lotus Academy has just started, and there are plenty of empty rooms, so I helped you apply for an independent research lab for you to work on your project alone. As for your project research, the Tactical Bureau basically has no expectations. They just hope you earnestly write two tactical papers a month, that's enough. So you have no project pressure, but at the same time—no project assistance either. At most, we can only help you apply for an empty classroom in the academy as your workplace."

"I am a person who takes work very seriously," Ren Suo said, somewhat displeased. "Having a research lab, I will definitely give it my all!"

Li Dan was evidently surprised. "Oh? Actually, there are a few project quotas in the bureau..."

"Going to the research lab to work is just too lazy. I want to apply to work from home," Ren Suo said with righteous indignation.

"...I'll try to send in the application," Li Dan said. "So, what's your general research direction? Of course, it has to be Spiritual Energy related. Just give me a general idea."

"Can it be about Ren Naiser-related videos, characters, and impact?"

"Of course. In fact, most research labs open up these types of projects to scam money."

After hanging up the phone, Ren Suo looked at the clock. It was almost 11 o'clock. He would go to the... to the cafeteria to eat.

All of a sudden, Ren Suo discovered how terrifying it was that Dong Chengling didn't cook for him—it only took 5 seconds to walk to Dong Chengling's house via the Sunny Boulevard, but going to the cafeteria meant enduring a grueling 180 seconds of Fiery Flame!

A round trip was nearly 360 seconds in a giant steamer that was the earth and sky!

Why isn't there any takeout near the academy!

Ren Suo, wielding his sun umbrella to go eat, happened to meet Dong Chengling who was walking back from the cafeteria on his way there.

Perhaps it was some special might of a Third-turn Cultivator, but Dong Chengling seemed to not fear the sun at all. Not a drop of sweat on her face, she greeted Ren Suo coolly and calmly.

Ren Suo, already sweating on his back, lit up at the sight of her. He opened his mouth wide and couldn't say a darn thing for a long time, and eventually just clenched his fists and said, "Keep cultivating, I'll wait for you!"

Dong Chengling, who had a keen sense of the change in Ren Suo's attitude, watched him enter the cafeteria. In her heart, she couldn't help but feel a surge of admiration for Qiao Muyi.

It's only the first day and it's already so effective. Perhaps I should extend it?

***

After eating and returning to the game, Ren Suo found that the strategy guide was finally updated.

Ren Suo, who hadn't studied English this hard even in his senior year of high school, had the Rebel recite everything from King Arthur being a girl to the four ways to write the character 'hui', and discuss Shakespeare's sonnets to girl operas, raising the limit to thirty-five sentences.

Finally in control of the Rebel, but stuck here solidly, Ren Suo wasn't annoyed, however.

Unlike ordinary games where you get stuck, this time the bottleneck wasn't Ren Suo's operational hardware capacity, but a test of his English foundation and his knowledge of various soft skills.

In fact, Ren Suo found that Her Royal Highness the Princess would sometimes chat with the Rebel about other topics, but since Ren Suo couldn't understand, he could only let the Rebel continue the script.

Once Ren Suo was prepared with more topic materials and had rapidly refined his English ability, he estimated that increasing the dialogue limit to forty sentences would not be a problem.

In this regard, learning English was actually the easiest. Ren Suo had the "Seeker of the Dao Correction Hat" and a nine-year history of learning English. Furthermore, due to the lack of translations and other reasons, he had played quite a few original English-language games (like "Pillar of Specialist Eight"), so his English was not bad at all.

And now, studying for the game, Ren Suo was extremely motivated. Without sleeping for the past two days, he quickly picked up his English skills again.

However, this time the game's strategy hint once again challenged his English proficiency.

"Strategy hint: Her Royal Highness the Princess is interested in the topic of the 'Fairy Palace' (talk to her about the Fairy Palace)."

The characters in the game know about the Fairy Palace too?

Ren Suo paused for a moment, then quickly came to terms with it.

It was only because his recent gaming experience had blurred his memories. After all, the game's scenes had always been set in a magical medieval court banquet hall, with NPCs like the Female Knight, the Female Demon, the White Emperor, the Rebel, and Her Royal Highness the Princess...

But in reality, the Rebel initially appeared in a bathroom with toilets and urinals.

Without a doubt, the Rebel was once a modern person, or at least, connected to someone from the modern era.

Initially, Ren Suo thought the Rebel had crossed over to a magical world that had no links to Earth, but now it seemed not to be the case. There is undoubtedly a strong connection to Earth.

Is there such a magical place on Earth? Could it be like the Forbidden Fruit Secret Realm from "Mage Under the World Tree," and the Rebel is from some magical Secret Realm?

The NPCs here must also exist for real. Ren Suo had never doubted that. But where exactly was this game taking place?

Ren Suo thought for a while and then decided not to ponder further. After all, only by completing the game would he gain more information.

So he had the Rebel lean in to chat with Her Royal Highness the Princess. "Which character from the Fairy Palace do you like?"

This was one of the flirting techniques. Don't ask yes-or-no questions; ask questions that require thought and reveal more information about her. For example, instead of asking "Are you wearing panties?" you should ask "What kind of panties do you like to wear?" Got it? Now go try it!

Her Royal Highness the Princess fell right into the trap. "I like the Assassin, what about you?"

"I like the Truth Seeker," the Rebel replied.

"I also like the Truth Seeker," Her Royal Highness the Princess said. "May I ask what you like about the Truth Seeker?"

Seizing the moment, Ren Suo had the Rebel reply with the flirting strategy. "Because the Truth Seeker, just like Her Royal Highness the Princess, has a beautiful face, a full figure, a slender waist, and an excellent rear."

...The Rebel was carried out by the bodyguards again.

After trying two or three more times, Ren Suo didn't dare to play tricks with the flirting routine anymore. He casually chatted about the characters from the Fairy Palace, and soon he was about to reach fifty sentences talking with Her Royal Highness the Princess!

Her Royal Highness the Princess ended the Fairy Palace topic at the forty-fifth sentence. "So you are the Rebel. No wonder you know so much about the Fairy Palace."

Hmm? Does the Rebel also have a persona of being knowledgeable?

Seeing that he was about to reach the goal, Ren Suo had the Rebel say, "Besides the Fairy Palace, there are many more things I'd like to talk with you about."

"What things?" Her Royal Highness the Princess asked.

"The joy, anger, sadness, and happiness of my earlier life, all my past that you were not a part of, I want to tell you. And then, I hope to have you join me in the second half of my life."

Could such smooth talk be successful? Ren Suo waited nervously.

Even though Ren Suo felt that these words were cheesy when typing them out, he wasn't the one speaking, so what was there to fear? It was the Rebel being smooth, not him.

As long as the Rebel could pass, everything else would be easy!