Chapter 58: Chapter 56: Mo Ning’s Amazing Performance
Their silent communication began.
Mo Ning got straight to the point: [Do you have the Crisis Sensing trait?]
Anya’s reply carried a hint of well-placed flattery: [I do. Your eyes are always so sharp.]
Mo Ning quickly ran through the calculations in his head and came to an initial conclusion: [The last random assessment was before our Meditation Class. The second class is about to start, so it looks like the academy has arranged another random assessment.]
Anya agreed: [It’s highly likely.]
Mo Ning asked again: [Can you sense what specific danger exists in the Secluded Forest?]
Anya shook her head slightly, giving a negative answer: [That’s beyond my abilities.]
Mo Ning was tempted to say, ’Perhaps I can study it and help you improve your sensitivity, allowing you to determine the specific type of crisis.’
But he swallowed the words before they could escape. ’After all, my research subject would be a woman, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to use a woman for that.’
Anya sent another message, her tone more serious this time:
[I’m a Black Iron Knight. If there’s danger in the forest, you stand behind me. Don’t go anywhere.]
With those words, Miss Anchor was undoubtedly fulfilling her earlier promise—"I can protect you."
Mo Ning turned his head, his gaze sweeping over Anya’s silky, satin-like brown hair before settling on her tense profile.
Judging from the Noble Lady’s performance so far, she was more than qualified to be called a competent teammate.
In terms of "willingness to take responsibility," one could even call her "excellent."
He silently gave her another point in his mind.
Mo Ning didn’t speak, just nodded lightly.
He wasn’t one for false bravado.
If there was real danger, he would obediently hide behind the Noble Lady.
Anya would be responsible for fighting, and he’d be responsible for cheering her on.
Mo Ning followed the flow of people forward, his thoughts racing freely.
He soon came to a hypothesis. Tapping the face of his ring, he transmitted his thoughts:
[The second all-hands assessment in three days is wilderness survival, which will definitely involve monster attacks. The academy always does things systematically. Perhaps they’re using this random assessment to remind the new students to prepare in advance.]
’If I were an academy administrator, just throwing the new students into a perilous wilderness without any warning would be a real dick move.’
’Arranging a small event to "benevolently" remind the new students would seem more "humane."’.
Anya understood his meaning, her shoulders visibly tensing for a moment: [You mean there might be monsters in the forest?]
Mo Ning nodded again.
「Half a minute later.」
The two of them walked side-by-side across the Boundary Line between the path and the square.
The path’s surface was paved with gnarled tree roots. It was about two meters wide, just enough for two people to walk abreast.
The moment Mo Ning’s Sheepskin Boots stepped onto the roots, a familiar chill emanated from his Guiding Ring.
A stream of information silently flowed into his mind:
[Safety Alert: Serial Number 7-118-256, Mo Ning.]
[Last night, an escape incident occurred at Biological Taming Center No. 43. A small number of creatures have escaped into the Secluded Forest and may attack those passing through. Please be extremely careful.]
His earlier speculation was confirmed.
Anya shot him a look of undisguised admiration.
Mo Ning’s mouth twitched slightly.
’To set up an assessment, they just fabricate a baseless "escape incident"—Lord Wizard who came up with this test, could you at least put a little effort into it?’
The number "43" also sparked more questions in his mind. ’How many taming centers does the academy have? Just how many creatures have they tamed?’
The new students who had entered the path ahead had all received the notification from their Guiding Rings.
A clamor rippled down the path.
"What the hell kind of things do they keep at Taming Center No. 43?"
"No idea, but it can’t be anything good."
"This must be a random assessment. Since only a small number of creatures escaped, I guess some unlucky bastards are going to get attacked."
"If we get attacked and injured, will we miss the mandatory class later?"
"It might be more than just getting injured. I heard that in previous years’ new student assessments, whenever monsters showed up, people dying was pretty normal."
The sudden random assessment was like a bucket of cold water, making all the new students realize the gravity of the situation.
Mo Ning’s eyes flickered as he quickly pulled up several "photographs."
These were pictures of the path’s condition he had taken over the past few days.
The [Eye of Truth] instantly completed its data comparison and provided a conclusion:
[Compared to yesterday’s path surface, detail variance is 3.57%. Confirmed: the path has changed.]
Mo Ning had a very good habit: he often used his "camera" to record his surroundings.
This "camera" was, of course, the [Insightful Secret Eye], which didn’t consume much Spiritual Power anyway.
Mo Ning suspected that a Witchcraft of at least the Second Level was at play in the Secluded Forest. Consequently, he had made it a daily habit to thoroughly "photograph" the Secluded Path.
On previous days, the roots paving the path were almost identical—their shapes, textures, and spacing were like a copy-pasted pattern.
But today was different.
The changes were hidden so deeply that they were impossible to discern with the naked eye.
The orientation of a piece of bark, the angle of a slender twig, the gap where a rootlet met the soil.
To an ordinary person, it still looked like the same Secluded Path they had walked down countless times.
But under the gaze of the [Eye of Truth], these minute differences had nowhere to hide.
Mo Ning’s expression changed slightly. His fingertip flew across the face of his ring, sending a message:
[Based on my observations, the path has changed. It might be dangerous to stay here. We should leave the path and enter the woods to find a way out.]
「At the same time.」
More clamoring voices drifted over.
"People up front, hurry up!"
"We’ll be safe once we’re through the path! As long as we get to the Secret Hall, we should be safe."
The urging shouts rose and fell, laced with anxiety and unease.
Some people had already begun to quicken their pace, hurrying forward over the gnarled roots.
Anya glanced at the surging crowd, then turned back to Mo Ning. A flash of confusion crossed her beautiful eyes—’Leave the path?’
Then, suddenly, the Noble Lady understood everything.
A clear chain of logic formed in her mind:
First, this was an assessment arranged by the academy. Would the academy let the new students pass through the forest so easily?
Absolutely not!
Otherwise, the assessment would be meaningless.
Since the academy set up the "escape incident," they would never let it be just an empty threat.
Second, to prevent the new students from leaving the "testing grounds," the academy would surely tamper with the path.
If they continued along this path, they would likely just end up walking in circles within the forest.
They wouldn’t be able to get out until the assessment was over.
Third, the academy released monsters into the Secluded Forest, so they would definitely direct them to attack the new students who were bunched together.
The key phrase was "bunched together."
If that wasn’t the case, wouldn’t the new students be able to pass safely by grouping up and looking out for each other?
The academy wouldn’t let that happen.
Therefore, the more crowded a place was, the higher the probability of being attacked. The people jostling to get to the front were the most obvious targets.
Fourth, the academy wouldn’t leave them with no way out.
Since staying on the path was dangerous, leaving it might actually be safer.
There might even be another path hidden nearby—one that didn’t lead in circles, but would allow them to successfully exit this forest that had been temporarily turned into an assessment ground.
Fifth, a few days ago, that new student named Gavin had died at the entrance of the path while trying to explore the secrets of the Secluded Forest.
All the new students had been terrified, and no one dared to leave the path anymore.
This was, in fact, a mental trap.
The academy had released monsters into the Secluded Forest, which meant the Witchcraft blanketing the forest had some of its restrictions lifted.
This was very likely a path to survival.
As Anya processed this logic, her admiration for him grew even stronger.
She had only reacted after his prompt, but Mo Ning had seen everything clearly within two seconds of entering.
She couldn’t help but steal another glance at him.
His face, which couldn’t be called handsome, still wore a calm and unruffled expression, as if that intricate deduction was just a trivial matter.
The Noble Lady lamented silently in her heart: ’As expected of the Divination genius favored by the Rose Council!’
’No wonder he was capable of applying for two research projects and receiving a huge sum of 900 Black Tower Points from the academy.’
In the second Anya was lost in thought,
Mo Ning had already taken several actions in secret to "crack" this random assessment.
First, he controlled the [Insightful Secret Eye] and tried to fly it above the forest.
Unfortunately, just like before, the attempt failed.
The space above and to the sides of the path seemed to be covered by an invisible barrier that the illusory eyeball simply couldn’t cross.
This phenomenon wasn’t hard to understand—the [Insightful Secret Eye] was a manifestation of Spiritual Power, and the Witchcraft covering the path could block Spiritual Power.
Second, Mo Ning thought of another method—he controlled the [Insightful Secret Eye] to perform a quick scan of both sides of the path.
The result was a pleasant surprise.
He had successfully discovered an anomaly.
Mo Ning glanced at Anya, pointed to a thicket of bushes on the left, and silently mouthed one word:
"Here."
Based on his long-term observations, it was highly likely that the area around the Secluded Path was enveloped in the power of Space Magic.
If they just charged in randomly, God knows where in the Secluded Forest they would end up.
According to his comparative analysis, the thicket Mo Ning was pointing at had a variance of 5.72% compared to yesterday’s image.
This was not a small number, so he believed they might be able to find a way out here.
This type of bush was called a Thorny Rong, its branches densely covered with fine thorns.
Anyone who saw that dense patch of thorns would instinctively hesitate.
Pushing through a thicket like that was tantamount to asking for trouble.
But this was the only way.
Anya, however, didn’t show the slightest hint of hesitation.
The Noble Lady mouthed back a single, crisp word: "Okay!"
She had witnessed Mo Ning’s various miraculous feats firsthand and had long since developed one hundred percent trust in him.
Anya made a "follow me" gesture to Mo Ning and, without the slightest hesitation, took the lead.
The Noble Lady struck a "let me clear the way" pose and strode toward the gap between two Thorny Rong bushes.
Mo Ning immediately followed.
Gazing at her slender back, he thought that having a teammate who was always willing to take the front line was definitely not a bad thing.
Anya took two steps and came into contact with the Thorny Rong.
The thorns on the branches caught her blue robe, making a soft *SHHHH* of scraping sounds.
Half of her body was squeezed into the gap when her steps suddenly faltered.
Seeing this, Mo Ning couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
’What’s wrong?’
’Is there danger inside?’
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