Chapter 463

Among the evaluation indicators, Zhang Sheng had never even heard of ease of use and versatility, let alone understood them. She could understand the literal meaning of array stability and array consumption, but Zhang Sheng had never attached importance to these two aspects.

The arrays she designed were stable from the start, and only arrays that focus on assisting cultivation, such as spirit-gathering arrays and elixir-fire arrays, would pay attention to consumption. Zhang Sheng is skilled in killing and luck arrays; what need do these two types of arrays have for stability and consumption?

But clearly, in the system of this research institute, considerable weight is given to stability and consumption.

What Zhang Sheng is most indignant about is still the array function; if the strength of the array function she designed is only "qualified," then who dares to say that they are above "qualified"?

The angrier she became, the calmer Zhang Sheng grew. These three big words "unqualified" are a supreme humiliation she has never seen in her life.

Zhang Sheng quickly found the instruction document mentioned by the young girl and searched with her spiritual sense, first looking for detailed explanations of the various evaluation standards.

The document was designed to be quite concise and efficient, even better than the retrieval systems of the Grand Void Palace's Task Hall and Merit Hall. Zhang Sheng quickly found the explanations for each indicator.

The first things she looked at were the explanations for ease of use and versatility. So-called ease of use actually refers mainly to array control; generally speaking, the simpler, more direct, faster, and more accurate the response, the better.

This standard is easy to understand, but Zhang Sheng stared at it for a long time before suppressing her anger.

According to ancient legends, an array is not just an array, but a gateway that can glimpse the designer's inner heart.

Therefore, a truly good array must not only be subtle and hidden but also have an ancient feel, the rhyme of the Great Dao, and a sense of vicissitudes; being clever is not as good as being clumsy. Some masters even deliberately add a bit of lag when designing arrays to conform to the Great Dao's meaning of "the one that escapes."

And here, according to the ease-of-use standard, I am afraid that ninety-nine percent of the array masters in this world are unqualified!

Zhang Sheng instinctively felt some disgust for this standard; even a courtesan in a brothel has her pride—what do you call something that falls over at a single push?

If ease of use is just disgusting, then Zhang Sheng really couldn't understand versatility.

So-called versatility refers to the ease with which an array can be connected to other arrays, used in combination, or maintained and modified by other cultivators. From the explanation of versatility, Zhang Sheng also learned the concept of an interface. Tasks here generally require arrays to use universal interfaces as much as possible; even if they are not used for the time being, it is best to reserve space for interfaces.

And the arrays Zhang Sheng designed were never intended for others to use. Not to mention that she didn't know such things as interfaces existed at that time, even if she had known, she would never have left space for such things!

The second requirement for versatility is to use as many standard functional modules as possible, and this is used as an important standard for evaluating the level of versatility.

Functional modules are another thing where Zhang Sheng recognizes every word but does not understand the meaning.

She continued to search the instruction document and quickly found the relevant explanation. So-called functional modules are to separate some common functions in an array—for example, the part that generates wood from water or converts water-based magic power into wood-based magic power—design them as separate micro-arrays, and connect them to other array functional modules with universal interfaces, becoming part of a larger and more complex array.

In the research institute, the vast majority of functional modules are public and available for free use by array designers. Only a few modules are confidential and require a certain level of permission to learn and use.

After reading these two items, Zhang Sheng's anger had subsided quite a bit; this research institute really has something. Arrays designed according to these two standards could likely be easily used even by mediocre cultivators. If this were used in war, the effect would be immeasurable.

But Zhang Sheng was still brooding over the fact that the overall functional strength of the array was only "qualified." So she continued to read on, and sure enough, she made new discoveries.

Array stability does not just refer to operational stability, but also the ability to cope with harsh environments, such as fire, lightning, and so on.

Array consumption is also divided more finely than Zhang Sheng expected. It is not enough for the overall consumption of spiritual energy to be low; a further requirement is to use the surplus spiritual energy in the environment. For example, in the Shaman Domain, one should design arrays based on water and wood, while in the Liao Domain, it should be metal and earth. If using spiritual objects for power, then one should use whichever spiritual object is abundant and cheap.

Seeing this, Zhang Sheng felt that heat was about to erupt from the top of her head again. Are these trivial details so important?

Finally, she reached the item on array functional strength. This item is evaluated with a standard score, and a leaderboard is attached. The score for the array Zhang Sheng designed was seventy points. She clicked on the leaderboard at random, and everything went black before her eyes!

There are ninety-two people on this leaderboard, and Zhang Sheng's seventy points are ranked ninety-first!

Zhang Sheng slowly flipped through the pages one by one, wanting to memorize all these names. Since she was small, she had never taken second place!

While looking, Zhang Sheng's gaze suddenly froze, and she saw Cui Yu's name.

Cui Yu's score was eighty-three points, ranked fourteenth.

Zhang Sheng closed her eyes, calming the surging killing intent. Then her heart became as still as water, without any ripples, and she began to read all the materials she could find carefully.

Soon she saw many books on arrays in the instruction document, including "Principles of Universal Array Interfaces," "Methods for High-Level Array Superposition," "Advanced Array Design," and so on. Zhang Sheng scanned these inexplicable book titles and then chose an article titled "A Preliminary Exploration of Improving the Power of Super-Level Arrays," feeling that it might provide her with some inspiration.

The article opened, and Zhang Sheng scanned it ten lines at a time, then read slower and slower, gradually coming to a stop.

This article seems to have some truth to it... Zhang Sheng silently closed the document, picked another book titled "Optimization Methods for High-Level Arrays," and after a moment, closed it and set it aside.

After changing seven or eight books like this, Zhang Sheng finally found a book titled "Basic Mathematical Principles of Array Design," which she treated like a treasure, studying it carefully and forgetting the time.

At this time in Qingming, the sky was bright. Little Wei Yuan had already met with several city lords and more than a dozen military generals in succession, and had also taken a tour of the medicinal garden.

The immortal soil won from playing chess had already been handed over to Daoist Chuhe, and the old Daoist used this soil to cultivate ice mulberry, greatly increasing efficiency. Less than a month after Little Wei Yuan left, the ice mulberry had evolved and mutated twice more, and now it had reached the standard of a mature body, and large-scale seedling cultivation could begin. By late summer and early autumn, there would be plenty of mulberry seedlings available for replanting and grafting. He returned to the small courtyard where Zhang Sheng lived and saw that Zhang Sheng was still sleeping soundly, only her eyebrows were raised and her face was calm, yet thunderous killing intent was condensed between her brows, and he did not know what she was thinking.

Little Wei Yuan tucked the quilt in for her, then kissed her lips lightly, and pulled the curtains to block the sunlight for her. After leaving the room, Little Wei Yuan closed the door, but he was still a bit worried, so in addition to the original four Dao Foundation warriors, he placed a Dharma Form warrior in the courtyard to stand guard.

Little Wei Yuan checked the time and was about to meet a group of chamber of commerce principals, so he flew into the sky and headed east in an instant.

In the human world, Zhang Sheng was lost in thought, reading a book intently, when suddenly a soft chime sounded in her ears, waking her from the world of mathematics.

Zhang Sheng looked up and saw the young girl holding an exquisite copper chime, having just struck it near her ear. The chime sound had the effect of soothing the spiritual sense and sounded very comfortable.

"The time is up, you should go back." The young girl said.

Zhang Sheng stood up as instructed and left her seat, seeing a man rushing over, heading straight for her seat, clearly intending to occupy it.

Zhang Sheng frowned slightly; she had always disliked sharing things with others, except for Little Wei Yuan and Ji Liuli.

The young girl seemed to know her mind and pointed at Zhang Sheng's seat; this seat was immediately sealed, and no one else could use it. The man was stunned, but he didn't say anything; he looked around and, under the guidance of a blue-clad girl nearby, found a new seat, pulled over a light sphere, and began to work with his head down.

Zhang Sheng was very satisfied, but also felt a bit sorry, saying: "Is this okay? I'm new here, don't break the rules because of me."

!.

The young girl only said: "You are worth it."

With just that one sentence, Zhang Sheng felt a sense of being understood. But she was never good at expressing herself, so she silently followed the young girl out of the research institute.

As soon as she walked out the door, Zhang Sheng suddenly saw a statue standing not far away. The statue was very simple and crudely carved, but one could still see that it was a familiar face, and a long tail was very eye-catching.

Zhang Sheng was stunned for a moment; is this Tianyu?

Hundreds of people stood in line, surrounded the statue under the command of several cultivators, then knelt down in unison and began to kowtow, chanting: "Power of the Nine Desolations—Lord Tianyu, we sincerely thank you for your great kindness and virtue! This kindness and virtue cannot be repaid; we can only thank you constantly, and thank all your family members..."

Zhang Sheng did not understand what these people were doing, but looking at this solemn and organized appearance, it seemed they were doing something very important.

The young girl led the way, moving slowly but quickly, and in the blink of an eye, they returned to the small courtyard where Zhang Sheng lived. The young girl said: "Lie down quietly and fall asleep, and you can leave. If you want to come again, it is the same."

Zhang Sheng nodded, lay down on the bed, and fell into a deep sleep in the blink of an eye.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the room was pitch black and warm, so she knew Little Wei Yuan had been there. She got up, changed her clothes, pulled back the curtains, removed the light-blocking array, and saw the sun filling the sky outside; the weather today was exceptionally good.

Zhang Sheng sat at the table, took a piece of jade paper, and wrote the words "Basic Mathematical Principles of Array Design" on the paper with a brush. But looking at this title, that strange sense of disharmony could not be shaken off. This name was particularly simple and easy to understand, and most people who could read would understand it, but precisely because it was too simple and straightforward, it really had no aesthetic appeal at all.

Just like the "Taiyin Moon Brilliance Myriad Forms Chapter" that Little Wei Yuan practiced, if it were placed in that research institute, the name would likely be changed to "Cultivation System of Yin Moon Phase Magic Power and Ten Thousand Basic Changes."

Zhang Sheng cast aside the inexplicable thoughts, wrote down the book she had read from memory, studied it again twice, and then closed her eyes to ponder. A full hour later, she opened her eyes, and the content of the whole book was already clear in her chest.

After learning the content of the book, Zhang Sheng discovered that much of the content regarding modules and interfaces was based on this book, and only now did she understand the principles behind it.

The content of this book seemed very similar to the world beyond the heavens described by Xu Wenwu. It's just that Xu Wenwu had long since returned all the relevant content to his teacher, at most remembering some descriptions and terms, and even forgetting the basic trigonometric functions completely. But now, this book contained real content, picking up the parts that Xu Wenwu had forgotten.

Zhang Sheng got up and took a Bigu elixir, then took out a Dao book, intending to study it. But after flipping through a few pages, she couldn't read it anymore; the three big words "unqualified" were always floating before her eyes, unable to be shaken off.

Zhang Sheng made a prompt decision, returned to the bed, and closed her eyes to sleep.

When Zhang Sheng opened her eyes again, the furnishings in the room were the same, only there was more data on Qingming on the desk. Zhang Sheng got up, and the young girl appeared again, seemingly not surprised at all by Zhang Sheng's arrival, and took her to the Heaven and Earth Creation Research Institute.

The seat was still the same seat, but Cui Yu was not here now, and a young girl was working in his original position. Zhang Sheng was not in a hurry to complete the design task, but chose another book and began to study it carefully.

(End of chapter)