Chapter 59: Chapter 57: Dazed Girl
Mo Ning watched Anya suddenly stop and was about to whisper, "What’s wrong?"
Before he could speak, his gaze froze. The words died on his lips.
A strange, faint red blush was spreading across the Noble Lady’s fair neck.
The blush crept up from the edge of her collar, spreading like a drop of crimson ink on rice paper.
A fine mist began to rise from her jade-like skin, visible to the naked eye, as if something was vaporizing within her.
The next moment, a faint current of air flowed from within her blue robes. It was silent, yet it carried an undeniable force.
The formless power swept over two lush Thorny Rong bushes nearby. Their branches trembled slightly, and then, silently, the thorns on their surfaces fell away.
They didn’t break or shatter. They were cleanly severed at the base, as if an invisible razor had shaved them off.
Three words instantly flashed through Mo Ning’s mind: ’Qi and Blood Power.’
Reddened skin was the classic sign of someone activating their Qi and Blood Power.
The Qi and Blood within the body circulated faster, causing capillaries to dilate. As heat and energy were released, the skin would flush red.
A Warrior could only use Qi and Blood to fortify their own body, enhancing their strength and resilience.
A Black Iron Knight’s Qi and Blood Power was on another level. They could project it outward to harm enemies; shattering a stone with a punch from afar was a simple feat.
Yet the thorns had fallen off while the leaves and branches remained completely unharmed.
Such control was a far greater display of skill than simply blasting a bush to pieces. It was a testament to the Noble Lady’s outstanding power.
Anya glanced back with a smile. The blush had not yet faded from her face, making her beautiful eyes seem exceptionally bright.
"There. Now these annoying bushes won’t prick anyone. Come on."
With that, she turned and walked ahead, her steps light, as if what she had just done was nothing at all.
Mo Ning’s lips parted, but he ultimately said nothing.
He was, admittedly, touched.
For the Noble Lady to be so considerate... it would be a lie to say he felt nothing.
But Mo Ning didn’t hesitate. He immediately followed Anya.
The Thorny Rong branches were incredibly resilient and densely interwoven, which should have made progress extremely difficult.
Anya pushed forward resolutely, blocking the troublesome branches and shouldering most of the burden herself.
Following behind her, Mo Ning only had to brush aside the few branches that slipped past, making his passage quite easy.
「Three seconds later.」
The two of them finally broke free from the tangled Thorny Rong.
The instant the last branch slid off Mo Ning’s blue robe, a sudden wave of dizziness seized them both. Their vision went black, as if they had been shoved into a vortex.
When the dizziness faded, the surrounding scenery had changed completely.
The thicket of Thorny Rong was gone, as were the noisy voices from the Secluded Path.
In its place was a wide, open clearing in the woods.
A stream meandered past, babbling softly. The water was so clear you could see the bottom.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the canopy, shattering into shimmering golden flecks on the surface of the stream.
Anya’s eyes widened, her lips parting slightly in astonishment.
Mo Ning, however, looked calm. "It is Space Magic, just as I thought."
The Noble Lady calmed herself and took a moment to sense her surroundings. A look of joy slowly graced her pretty face. "I feel very safe here."
She turned to Mo Ning, her beautiful eyes filled with undisguised admiration. "You’re incredible."
’If it had been me,’ Anya thought, ’I could have walked back and forth along the Secluded Path a hundred times and never found this place.’
Staring at Mo Ning’s profile, she suddenly had a profound realization: talent was not a gap that could be bridged with effort, nor an obstacle that could be surmounted with diligence.
It was an immense, inborn chasm that separated her from people like him.
Just then,
the Demon-Seeking Net Mo Ning had casually cast began to flicker with faint, starlike specks of light.
Before he could react, a slender figure materialized out of thin air beside them.
Anya gave a small jump. "Reina? How did you get here?" she blurted out.
The Noble Lady had spent considerable time studying the files on the new recruits. She remembered every face and could put a name to each.
She recognized her at once—the girl who had just appeared was Reina, serial number 190. Her Spiritual Talent was slightly stronger than both of theirs.
Like them, Reina was also from the Holy Spear Kingdom.
Mo Ning glanced at the girl, a thoughtful expression on his face.
He, too, remembered the name "Reina" and had committed her face to memory.
This was because of a small tuft of hair that stuck up from her head, reminding him at first glance of the "ahoge" trope from the manga of his previous life.
Mo Ning recalled that when they first entered the academy, Reina’s face was covered in freckles and her skin was quite rough. She was the sort of person who would never get a second glance in a crowd.
Anyone could easily tell her status: a commoner.
But the girl before him now had a clear face, without a single freckle in sight. Her skin was smooth and delicate, as if it had been meticulously polished.
Her features were already well-proportioned, and she had a nice oval face shape. The drastic improvement in her skin made it seem as if she had a completely new face, raising her attractiveness by several levels.
Even compared to the Noble Lady, she was only a touch less beautiful, though there was a much larger gap in their overall aura.
Mo Ning instantly had a theory. ’Don’t tell me she spent her precious Black Tower Points on beauty products infused with Spiritual Power?’
Judging by the before-and-after, his theory was clearly correct.
He was, in a way, dumbfounded.
’To spend life-saving Black Tower Points on one’s face—is that really worth it?’
He simply couldn’t understand it.
Mo Ning couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. ’What a crazy woman.’
Beside him, Anya’s pretty face darkened, her voice laced with undisguised hostility.
"Reina, you shouldn’t have followed us without our permission."
In the Noble Lady’s view, Mo Ning had found the key to this trial through his astounding intellect.
She herself had paid a considerable price to board this metaphorical ship captained by a genius.
’And this woman just pops up out of nowhere? She’s done nothing, yet she wants to ride Mo Ning’s coattails? By what right?’
Anya felt as if a prized possession had been snatched from right under her nose, and she was furious.
Reina immediately felt the hostility, which was so palpable it was almost tangible.
The Dazed Girl made a very interesting gesture: she took two steps back, bent slightly at the waist, and slowly raised her hands above her head.
It was a clear sign of surrender.
The Dazed Girl spoke in a rush, as if she’d be hit if she were too slow. "I am willing to pay a price for my actions. I can pay 5 Black Tower Points."
"The stipend I received from the academy was only 94 Black Tower Points. I’ve already spent 52 these past few days, so 5 points is not a small sum."
The corner of Mo Ning’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
’So this is protection money she’s offering,’ he thought, ’or you could call it compensation.’
’And that "spent 52 Black Tower Points" part confirms my theory. How else could she have spent so much unless she was obsessed with her appearance?’
Anya, however, shook her head. Her tone was firm. "Not enough."
Five points was no small sum for an ordinary newcomer, but in the Noble Lady’s eyes, it was nowhere near the price for the privilege of "hitching a ride."
Reina didn’t look at the Noble Lady. Her gaze fell directly on Mo Ning.
"Mr. Mo Ning... your team seems to have found the correct path to victory."
The Dazed Girl found this young man unfathomable, so she had instinctively added the honorific "Mr."
"If I am fortunate enough to follow you and pass this trial, I am willing to hand over sixty percent of the reward in Black Tower Points."
She had already figured it out—the Noble Lady might have a forceful tone, but she wasn’t the one actually calling the shots.
The real reason this proud Noble Lady was willing to follow was the quiet, low-key young man before her, who had barely said a word.
Mo Ning’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
It wasn’t because the offer was so generous, but because of her astuteness.
Despite the Noble Lady’s aggressive stare, she hadn’t been intimidated or flustered. Instead, she had quickly identified the true decision-maker.
He was surprised by her perceptiveness.
’As I thought, there’s no shortage of clever people among the new recruits.’
Mo Ning spoke calmly. "We aren’t far from the end. You haven’t contributed much. I think eighty percent is a more reasonable figure."
Reina’s expression froze for a second.
She quickly did the math in her head. ’If the trial reward is 20 Black Tower Points, giving up 80% leaves me with 4. And I still have to pay the 5 Black Tower Points from before, which means I’d be losing 1 Black Tower Point overall.’
’No way!’
’That’s a terrible deal!’
The Dazed Girl instinctively wanted to refuse.
Mo Ning’s next words struck her like a hammer blow. "By following us, your safety is guaranteed. At the very least, you won’t get injured or die in the Secluded Forest."
Anya took a timely step forward, her voice cold. "I wouldn’t mind throwing you out of here. According to the academy’s rules, as long as I don’t injure you, it doesn’t count as a private fight."
The Noble Lady flashed a malicious, toothy grin. "Believe me, I’m a Black Iron Knight. I can definitely make good on my word."
It had to be said, Miss Anchor’s teamwork was nothing short of perfect.
Reina froze, then reluctantly yielded. "Alright, I agree to eighty percent."
’Losing one Black Tower Point... I’ll just consider it the price for my life.’
’When I think of it that way, it’s not a loss at all.’
The Dazed Girl looked dejected, her voice tinged with the pained resignation of someone who’d just lost a chunk of their own flesh. "Mr. Mo Ning, you bargain like the butcher in my hometown—fast, ruthless, and precise."
Mo Ning remained silent, the expression on his face not changing in the slightest.
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