Chapter 116: Martial Virtue Abundant

Martial Virtue Abundant

Today, a marvel appeared within Alliance University; the Sentinels privately flooded the Star Net with information, but outwardly they all remained silent.

As one of the main figures of the marvel, Fu Guang could, with a sweep of her mental power, see the Sentinels of the academy coming and going; outwardly they seemed to be just passing by, but the flow of people was truly huge.

You should know that after most S-rank and A-rank individuals were conscripted to the battlefield, the academy had only two or three little cats left; the academy's grounds are also large, so even if one strolled around the academy daily, hardly anyone would be seen.

Today, however, there were several times more than usual, and due to the Chief Sentinel's authority, no one dared to approach; they could only gaze from afar.

"Usually you wouldn't notice it, but you're this popular?" Fu Guang said. The golden sun hung on the horizon; on the road paved with huge stones, white currents could be seen rising visibly, and the heat radiating from it scorched her to the point of seeing fish-eye halos.

In one hand Fu Guang held the secretly formulated water-element replenishing potion; in the other she gripped the fur on Lu Wu's back—hard and prickly to say the least—and the heat Lu Wu emitted was comparable to that of the sun.

The girl sitting on Lu Wu's back reached out and released the skill "Fall Rain" toward Ting Zhu beside her; when the skill is cast on oneself, its range and effect are reduced, so Fu Guang had to do this.

As soon as her palm came down, a dark cloud slowly drifted from the clear blue sky and landed directly on Ting Zhu's head, bringing forth fine rain threads that softly fell on his face, carrying some of the Guide's purifying and healing abilities.

The Sentinels lurking in the dark stirred for a moment; Ting Zhu's eyes turned cold and sharp, he blocked the restless Sentinels, and the rain threads flowed down his sharp brow before vanishing midway.

Who would have thought that after walking a circle, he would still receive a "gift"; Ting Zhu's brows lifted slightly, knowing Fu Guang did this just for her own comfort, yet it didn't stop him from being pleased.

The weather was too hot; even the icy rain threads turned lukewarm, and the shade cast by the clouds upon his body brought only a slight coolness.

Moreover, due to the weather, the duration of "Rain Fall" is brief; every twenty minutes Fu Guang must recast it.

After advancing to A-rank, Fu Guang noticed she had gained another skill; fortunately and unfortunately, it was the familiar "Puppet Silk".

Fu Guang had experimented with this on the Star Net; if "Puppet Silk" merely linked the Sentinels, the skill she cast would be evenly divided among them, and because of the water element, the healing and purifying effects would increase somewhat.

If she went deeper, with her current strength facing an S-rank Sentinel, "Puppet Silk" would be hard to avoid detection, and due to the water element it could be used only once.

If the target did not die after being subjected to it, it would grant a large amount of purification and a small amount of healing; this purification could pull an A-rank Sentinel from a dangerous state back to normal, making it a decent attack combined with a single-target purification skill.

Moreover, her "robe" may have undergone a second change because she became a Merperson; golden, like overlapping scales covering it, its defense is lower than that of a pure water-solidified "robe," but its attack power is greatly increased.

An A-rank ought to have other skills as well, but perhaps forming a "Puppet Silk" exhausted her, leaving no other skills to develop.

Fu Guang accepted her peculiarity; after probing her mental landscape and finding no issues, she let it be.

"Skill": the "Small Water Bubble" is, for Guides and Sentinels, a kind of reward, an expansion of talent, much like a human instinct—like a newborn baby who will crawl and walk when the time comes.

Thus some say advancing is the process of unlocking the "gene lock," others say talent is the trunk of the "tech tree," and "skills" are the branches that light up the "tech tree," with many varied opinions, too many to count.

If called a tree, it means the branches cannot be just two or three; besides the skills automatically mastered during evolution, Guides and Sentinels can also develop their own "skills".

As long as one can condense a skill bubble in the mental landscape, using that skill consumes less mental power than usual, even up to half.

Fu Guang understood it her own way: it is roughly the process of fully mastering a grand technique, during which, naturally according to one's ability and habit, the cumbersome gestures and incantations used in casting are eliminated.

When she concocts potions, for the potion's effect she will also reduce some ingredients or seek better substitutes.

However, advancing truly expands one's talent nicely, and it also tells you what your talent is—shouldn't it be said that evolved interstellar beings are no less than that?

Many people accomplish nothing because they cannot find their talent; talent is too elusive, like something visible yet invisible, and many spend their whole lives unaware of what talent they possess, let alone developing according to it.

Speaking of talent, Fu Guang had previously realized one of her talent skills is the "Hymn of the Sea".

For now she calls it that; it is said that upon reaching S-rank the talent skill will further evolve, and as of now she also feels she has not fully developed all the effects of this talent skill.

Besides purification, healing, and positioning, does it have any other use at all? It feels a bit trashy; can one say that?

After all, the other skills already include purification and healing, making the talent skill seem somewhat redundant, even though its range of application is large.

But she still has another talent skill; she knows it exists in her mental landscape, yet she cannot grasp it.

They say knowing oneself and the enemy brings victory in a hundred battles; even without discussing others, she herself cannot know it all.

Fu Guang felt that natural humans evolved such that Guides and Sentinels complement each other, like the intertwining of yin and yang; could the secret on her body be related to the Sentinels?

She would look for an opportunity to try it.

Fu Guang withdrew her gaze from Ting Zhu, looked up, and saw a towering metallic building that could be called magnificent, its cold metal soaring straight into the clouds.

Fu Guang first wondered: if the Executive Office was built this large, it should be able to hold many prisoners, but does Alliance University have so many Sentinels? Or perhaps not going to the Enforcement Unit for a tour would not count as being a student of Alliance University?

Ting Zhu seemed to sense Fu Guang's thought: "The Executive Office does not only take in criminals from within Alliance University, but also some criminals caught by students are detained here."

"Moreover, freshmen will live there for three months to interact with the inmates."

Fu Guang jumped down from Lu Wu, raised her eyebrows, and said "Wow".

No wonder the Sentinels are all madmen; with this kind of brutal education, if they weren't crazy, Fu Guang would respect him as a gentleman.

"Fight each other?" Ting Zhu's first reaction was to think it was a Guide challenging him to battle; his second reaction was that she meant freshmen and criminals.

"Of course." The Chief Sentinel, tempered by Alliance University, naturally nodded.

Fu Guang noticed Ting Zhu's initial meal, lifted her head to look at the three large characters "Executive Office" made of cold, hard white metal; even under the fierce sunlight they only appeared more stern and heavy with killing intent.

She smiled lightly and said, "Alliance University truly lives up to being abundant in martial virtue."

(End of Chapter)