Mini World Of Endless Fun Awaits

It was the last day of the May Day holidays. The Countermeasure Division was still on holiday and there was only one to two security guards on duty.

As a government office, holidays were truly adhered to.

Yu Kuangtu was still in his office, but when Ren Suo went in, he heard the sound of “… Fist of Eternal Destruction…” from the computer on his work table.

Although Yu Kuangtu immediately closed the video that he was watching, Ren Suo could tell that he was watching episode 50 of “Over My Dead Body” just based from the sound—the Fist of Eternal Destruction had only been discovered through inheritance by the Ren family of Practitioners after episode 50. Furthermore, the voice said “Fist of Destruction” in a dialect of the ancient Luoyang region, and it was easily recognizable.

Ren Suo had not expected that Yu Kuangtu, with his thick eyebrows, would catch up with the latest episode of the drama series so quickly.

“You’re here?” Yu Kuangtu said as he gestured to Ren Suo to take a seat. He said, “We have to wait for a while, they have not arrived yet.”

Who has not arrived?

But Ren Suo did not question it and sat down quietly while Yu Kuangtu continued watching the episode. As he watched, he suddenly asked, “Is the ‘Over My Dead Body’ series ending soon?”

Eh? Is he asking me?

Ren Suo deliberated for a moment and decided that he would showcase his “strong analysis skills”. He said, “It will either finish in a few days or else it will be hundreds of episodes long.”

“Hmm? Why do you say so?” a slightly surprised Yu Kuangtu questioned.

Ren Suo explained, “Deputy Director, firstly, this drama series follows the historical timeline quite closely. Apart from things like Reiki, the Earth Elves, and the Monsters, there is no other additional content that deviates from history. The births and deaths of historical figures, the occurrence of historical events, and even whether the various historical figures knew the Ren family Practitioners could be traced and backed with evidence.”

“The mission of the Ren family was to live until the Central Plains united as one. When the war ends, they would hand over the method of suppressing Reiki sources to the imperial family, and the imperial family would be able to do the same.”

“And during the period of the Three Kingdoms, it was Sima Yan who ended the chaos after the state of Cao Wei was surrendered, and he established the Jin dynasty. If the drama series were to end soon, it might be when the Jin dynasty was established after the fall of the state of Shu, or after the fall of the state of Eastern Wu. However, if it were the former, it only signifies that the war was on an irreversible course, but the latter would signify the true ending.”

“If the plan of the Ren family is successful, then after the Reiki sources on the Central Plains subside, it would naturally be the end of the drama series. On the contrary, if their plan fails, or if there is an unexpected turn of events, the drama series may well continue showing. However, the Uprising of the Five Barbarians would soon follow, and the chaos that reigned would only end when the Tang dynasty was established…”

Ren Suo shrugged and continued, “But no one knows what ‘Naisser_Ren’ is thinking about, nor the source of his videos. Who knows, that he may upload the drama series in seasons?”

Nonetheless, Yu Kuangtu listened to Ren Suo attentively. He said, “Not bad… you are able to deduce so many possibilities just based on that one set up. Indeed, you should go…”

At that moment, Yu Kuangtu’s mobile phone rang. He answered the call and replied “yes” a few times, then ended the call and stopped the video. He led Ren Suo to a room on the first level of the Countermeasure Division building.

Upon entering the room, Ren Suo saw a number of people who donned white gowns setting up some equipment. Amongst them, there was a female doctor whom he still remembered—Yao Meilu, a female doctor from the Third Hospital in the suburbs.

“Eh?” Yao Meilu said as she seemed to remember Ren Suo as well. She looked at him and turned around to Yu Kuangtu, asking, “He’s the one that you want to test?”

“Well, perhaps he might be talented?” Yu Kuangtu said in an extremely humble tone, devoid of any obnoxiousness. He calmly chatted with Yao Meilu. It appeared that the Countermeasure Division and the medical system were fully independent of each other.

“He better be, otherwise we would have wasted our time. These equipment were supposed to be returned yesterday,” Yao Meilu said as she pointed at the equipment that were being set up by the rest of the medical team. After a short while, she began the examination of Ren Suo, surrounded by the various equipment.

The examination was actually to Practice with the Practice methods. As Yao Meilu watched, her face turned more and more pale. She said, “Although it’s not up to me to decide… I don’t think this talent score would meet the average standards required by the school. Furthermore, comparing the time that he activated his breathing currents previously to his current breathing current ability and talent score, it seems to me that he is lacking in Practice…”

Yu Kuangtu said, “But we are lacking talents, so the requirements can be lowered. Moreover, he is from the Countermeasure Division, and just like you, we only have a few hours of rest each week. Where would we find the time to Practice?”

Yao Meilu agreed with Yu Kuangtu. She said, “Alright, but if he does not have that talent, he would still not be accepted by the school even with his resuscitation-type Awakened Ability…”

Yao Meilu carefully retrieved a crystal cube from her pocket and handed it to Ren Suo, saying, “Hold the Knowledge Web, you still remember how to use it, right?”

Ren Suo naturally remembered how to use the Knowledge Web. It was through the Knowledge Web that he had learned “Clothes” and “Lock”, through downloading the Reiki abilities into his brain. However, the Knowledge Web that Yao Meilu was holding seemed to be slightly different. There appeared to be some white impurity deep within the crystal and was not as pure as the one that he had seen previously.

Ren Suo took the Knowledge Web in his hand and began Practicing. He was naturally immersed in the dark space within the Knowledge Net.

In the dark space, the word “Heal” slowly appeared in white. As Ren Suo looked at the word, he naturally acquired the Reiki ability: “Heal”.

When Ren Suo regained his awareness of the physical world, he had already left the space of the Knowledge Web. Yao Meilu saw him open his eyes and took the Knowledge Web from him. She observed that the impurity inside the crystal had disappeared and sighed, saying, “You had it easy, you used up all of the test credits.”

Yao Meilu turned around and signaled to a medic behind with her finger. One of the medics came forward with a cage that had a small white mouse inside.

“I will now create a small wound by cutting the skin of the mouse open. Try to heal the mouse with the ‘Heal’ ability you have just learned,” Yao Meilu said to Ren Suo as she put on a pair of surgical rubber gloves.

Ren Suo blinked and pointed at himself, saying, “But I… I just learned it less than a minute ago…”

“Being able to use the ability has no relation to the time since you learned it,” Yao Meilu said as she grabbed the mouse in the cage. She continued, “‘Heal’ is different from ‘Clothes’ and ‘Lock’. The two abilities that you learned previously are non-affinity dependent abilities and any Practitioner can utilize it. On the other hand, ‘Heal’ is an ability that transforms Reiki into life energy. It is able to catalyze the regeneration of physical body parts and is also capable of other functions like treating wounds. Since it is a life-type ability, Practitioners need to possess qualities like ‘life affinity’, which are hard to observe and detect.”

Ren Suo asked curiously, “Does that mean that without the required qualities, the corresponding type of abilities cannot be utilized? For example, without a fire affinity, fire cannot be cast?”

Yao Meilu shook her head and said, “How can that be, affinity is just one of the many criteria, and the environment and tier has a much larger impact. Just like in junior high school, for example, you may perform much better in some subjects but horribly in other subjects. There would be mathematics questions at the junior high level that you cannot solve. When you proceed on to senior high school, even though there will be more questions that you cannot solve at the senior high level, but when you look back, the questions which you could not solve previously in junior high would no longer be unsolvable to you.”

“Practitioners are grouped into various tiers, such as tier 1, tier 2, and so on. Although abilities are not as clearly segregated in this manner, the average tier required of a Practitioner to be able to utilize the ability is seen as the tier of the ability.”

“The level of affinity can be classified as weak or strong, and not as simple as ‘1’ or ‘0’. Those with a stronger affinity may be able to utilize a tier 2 ability when they are only a tier 1 Practitioner, although such a situation is extremely rare; those with an average affinity would be able to use abilities of the same tier; those with a weak affinity may only be able to utilize a tier 1 ability when they are a tier 2 Practitioner, or even when they are tier 3 or tier 4…”

“The reason why you are taught ‘Clothes’ and ‘Lock’ at the beginning is not only because they are more useful and practical, but also because they are non-affinity dependent abilities. As such, the learning rate of those abilities is only affected by the diligence and intelligence of the Practitioner,” Yao Meilu explained.

Ren Suo was enlightened. He turned to look at Yao Meilu and asked out of curiosity, “Are you a Practitioner as well?”

“Yes,” Yao Meilu casually replied. She said, “I am going to start now. If you are able to cast ‘Heal’, it would mean that you have an excellent affinity.”

“Excellent?” a stunned Ren Suo said. He said, “This ability…”

“Indeed, it is a tier 2 ability. A Practitioner with an average affinity would only be able to use this ability when he is tier 2 or above,” Yao Meilu said. She grabbed the mouse that was squeaking as it was being held down by the other medics, then cut an opening in its abdomen. She said, “If your affinity has not reached that level… then you won’t stand a chance to be…”

“Alright,” Yu Kuangtu interrupted. He said, “Ren Suo, you may begin now.”

At that moment, Ren Suo felt like he was standing on a crossroads—if he failed, he would return to his usual work routine, but if he succeeded, interesting changes may take place in his life. That moment felt extremely surreal.

He took a deep breath and placed his hand over the wound on the mouse, then began generating his breathing current according to the instructions in his memory.

White light emerged from his palm, and his right hand was almost fully engulfed in a ball of light, like a light bulb with a radius as long as his palm. Ren Suo felt his possessed Reiki deplete rapidly. When he almost utilized a third of his Reiki, he quickly stopped.

“Hmm…” Yao Meilu said as he looked at the mouse. She said, “What a pity.”

There was no change to the wound on the mouse.

“You have an average affinity, only able to generate the light effect but unable to fully transform the Reiki into life energy…” Yao Meilu said.

“Hold on!” Ren Suo said as he took a deep breath. He continued, “Give me a moment, I will try again.”

Yao Meilu looked at Yu Kuangtu. He said, “If the mouse isn’t going to bleed to death yet.”

Ren Suo calmed himself down quickly and placed his hand over the wound on the mouse. His palm was almost cupping the entire mouse.

The white light emerged once again and surrounded his entire palm. Yao Meilu was no longer hopeful. Affinity was a definite thing, much like puberty. A teenager would not grow stronger or more resilient before puberty and would develop averagely unless he or she was gifted.

Nonetheless, Yao Meilu could sense that Ren Suo was extremely nervous, for he was grabbing the mouse very tightly. His right hand was almost clenched together like a fist, and she was suspecting if the mouse would have been crushed to death instead.

But Yao Meilu somehow thought that she saw a ray of green light…

After a few seconds, Ren Suo released his grip on the mouse, and let out a deep breath. Yao Meilu looked at the mouse and was momentarily stunned.

Yu Kuangtu, who had been observing from a distance, also let out a light sigh.

The wound on the mouse had disappeared completely.

“…” Yao Meilu was speechless as she replaced the mouse into the cage. She said, “You have an excellent affinity. Deputy Director Yu, he is the last one to be tested, right?”

“Yes,” Yu Kuangtu said. He smiled and said, “I will get the security guards to help you move the equipment. Ren Suo, follow me.”

As Ren Suo followed Yu Kuangtu back to his office, he felt that he had passed the test.

“I was right, with a resuscitation-type natural ability, your life-affinity must be better,” Yu Kuangtu said as he took out a can of fruit juice from a small refrigerator below his table and gave it to Ren Suo. He said, “Oh dear me, it’s a good thing you did not let me down.”

Actually, you were wrong, if not for the Touch of Recovery, I would have failed and not have been able to bluff my way through.

But Ren Suo did not want to expose himself. He opened the can of fruit juice and drank a mouthful to calm himself down. He asked, “Deputy Director, this is because…”

Yu Kuangtu said, “Ah, well, in about a week or so, the Lianjiang School of Practitioners would be established.”

‘Here it comes’, a slightly excited Ren Suo thought.

“The school would take in students of six levels from junior high to senior high level. It would be a direct admission full-time school. There are currently about 650 students in Lianjiang in the suitable age group with Practitioner talent. Apart from culture lessons, these students would undergo thorough and detailed Practitioner training in the school.”

Six levels from junior high to senior high level…?

Am I going to become a Senior Three student? Go through Senior Three again?

Or perhaps… be a teacher?

As Ren Suo’s thoughts ran wild, Yu Kuangtu said, “The combat abilities of Practitioners would be much stronger than ordinary people. In the event that a fight occurs, it may result in death or disability. As such, such a Practitioner school would require school medics that are able to cast ‘Heal’. Unfortunately, Practitioner schools are not under my jurisdiction and are overseen directly by the government. There are merely ten of such schools throughout the nation and is of extremely high interest to people. Nonetheless, I need someone inside to help me look out for talents…”

Ren Suo was stunned. He pointed at himself and said, “A school medic?”