Chapter 145: Rules Enlightenment, Game Cheating

Meng Yuan Chu altar.

Qi Sheng's consciousness rapidly switched between three scenes—Imperial Tomb Mountain Range, Colorful Mist Coast, and Frosty Snow Plain—as well as the player forum.

Among them, the most obvious difference in player activity was between the Imperial Tomb Mountain Range and the Frosty Snow Plain regions.

Both sides had organized massive war parties to fight against the Terror Black Tide and the Blissful Purple Tide respectively.

On the Imperial Tomb Mountain Range side, the battle scenes were spectacular.

Countless light shields rapidly generated and connected at the front of the battle line, forming a giant golden shield that withstood the fierce pounding of the Black Tide.

Accompanied by the roar of the God King through the voice channel, elemental magic towers sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain from the center of the battle formation.

Each tower's elemental effect could be judged by the energy orb floating at its top, shining like stars lighting up the night sky in the dim environment, bursting with brilliant light.

Eventually converging into a spectacular forest of magic towers.

Under the control of magic-class players, the energy beams released by the towers rained down like arrows into the high sky, then fell toward the rear of the Hei Chao Xie Sui like raindrops.

The earth trembled, elemental floods ravaged, and large numbers of Hei Chao Xie Sui perished in this round of elemental bombardment.

On the other side.

Also players, but the battle style in the Frosty Snow Plain region looked like an entirely different game.

Newbie players and Blissful evil entities wrestled together like thugs brawling.

Choking, locking throats, poking eyes, hitting heads, biting, rolling around in a tangled brawl… all kinds of cursing never ceased throughout, the scene comparable to a village-gate melee, completely unlike the battle style Monster World should have.

But Qi Sheng, secretly observing, still discovered that this round of Purple Tide evil entities had a clearly improved combat strength.

This was clearly the Lord of Bliss granting the experimental base a new round of resource support, the intensity just keeping pace with the players' growth speed.

It could be confirmed that Zhu De Xiang Fa was the same as his—both treating the other as whetstones for training troops.

The difference was that his player army could earn profits from it, but the Lord of Bliss was constantly investing resources.

But Qi Sheng had confidence in the Lord of Bliss.

Last time when he went to the Grand Hall of Bliss, the Guidance roughly calculated the Blissful Power reserves stored by the Lord of Bliss in Zhudian, which converted to Shou Shou Jili was about 130 billion, and this was only the reserves stored in the Grand Hall of Bliss; there were still reserves of energy at other nodes that had not been extracted.

During this period, new Blissful Power was being generated at other node scenes every minute and second.

This was a growth rate the Lord of Bliss only had after coming to Monster World.

If it were a small world, the collection speed of Blissful Power simply couldn't be fast.

Because the output of Blissful Power had little to do with quantity.

The Guidance had analyzed the core logic of Blissful Power output and found that the output of Blissful Power valued the quality of individuals more, related to the intensity of their essence and qi.

The so-called essence and qi referred to spiritual power and qi-blood.

The production process of Blissful Power used these two types of energy within living beings as a foundation, then catalyzed and combined them through rules, ultimately generating Blissful Power.

During the extraction process, living beings would gradually die due to losing excessive essence and qi.

Assuming the Lord of Bliss built the palace node on Earth and used ordinary humans as targets for extracting Blissful Power, the output would become very low.

Because the vast majority of Earth's living beings' qi-blood intensity and spiritual power intensity generally did not meet the minimum standard for extraction.

Unable to last even a few seconds in the Grand Hall of Bliss, they would be drained of essence and qi and die.

But Monster World was different.

The intensity of living beings in Monster World was very high; any ordinary living being casually captured could bring considerable Blissful Power output.

The Blissful Power produced by the fall of a single powerhouse above level 100 in the Grand Hall of Bliss could equal the contribution of several billion living beings in a mundane small world.

So quantity was not the key; quality was the key.

Otherwise the Lord of Bliss could completely build a breeding farm of ordinary living beings like the Ascending Tribe, increasing Blissful Power output through the rapid reproduction of lower-world beings, with no need to create profits through capture like now.

This was precisely the core reason countless external forces descended upon Monster World.

The resource conditions of small worlds were limited and could no longer satisfy the development needs of many powerful forces.

Only a broader world like Monster World could bring them new progress and development.

Qi Sheng's gaze switched at this moment to the Frosty Snow Plain region.

In the picture, several hundred newbie players were advancing in groups toward the direction of Snow Ridge.

Their target was the newly discovered domain node: Kongyuan Peak.

The initiator of this operation was a newbie player on the forum. Upon learning that Kongyuan Peak could produce high-value spatial-system spirit mineral stones, he proposed a theft plan on the forum, with the target aimed directly at Kongyuan Peak.

This post attracted quite a few newbie players to join.

In no time, a force of several hundred was organized, setting out toward the Kongyuan Peak domain node.

This group of players had a simple idea: they felt that digging up even one would be worth it even if they died.

Through asking the Guidance, they learned that the value of a single Kongyuan Stone was about 300 points of Shou Shou Jili. Although the output wasn't high, digging up just one could recoup the cost of death.

Most importantly, it was very thrilling.

This was also one of the biggest differences between newbie players and veteran players.

Newbie players had a shallow understanding of monster strength, even feeling that as long as enough players joined this theft operation, they could change theft into open robbery.

Taking the domain node through the method of ants gnawing an elephant to death.

But veteran players clearly knew that theoretically feasible tactics held no meaning whatsoever.

Under the blessing of infinite resurrection, their players could indeed defeat non-Black Tide, non-Swarm enemies—strong foes that could infinitely spawn troops for war of attrition—through war of attrition, but the time and effort required to pay were not as profitable as finding a target matching their own strength to hunt.

The hunting level of the Snow Ridge Great Wastes was nearly invincible in veteran players' eyes; grinding one down required unimaginable effort and time, let alone a group.

But in newbie players' eyes, there was still a fighting chance.

Confirming a saying: newborn calves are not afraid of tigers.

Newbie players simply didn't care about the cost-effectiveness in veteran players' eyes; as long as there was profit to be gained, they would charge even if the opponent was a deity.

Without paying too much attention, Qi Sheng's gaze turned toward the Colorful Mist Coast direction.

In the dense forest behind the coast, two resource domain nodes were erupting in battle.

There were two player warbands of nearly a thousand each attempting to seize the territory node.

His gaze continued probing past the dense forest.

At the end of the road the exploration-party players had carved out lay a Wicked Moon Domain scene bathed in the light of a waning crescent moon.

But unlike the Wicked Moon Domains encountered before, although an Evil Eye Gao Ta had already spawned inside, only the Evil Eye hovered on the Gao Ta platform — there was no sign of the commanding Evil Spirit Warrior.

He scanned every corner of the Wicked Moon scene and found no trace of an Evil Spirit Warrior.

But strangely, the Black Tide churned beneath the Gao Ta, already forming a scale larger than what the Earth-Reading Evil Spirit's control had produced.

"Where are the Evil Spirits?"

Faced with the question, the Guide thought briefly before answering:

【Based on the player-generated information collected and recorded, it can be basically confirmed that the Evil Spirit Warrior of this Wicked Moon Domain has been beheaded and slain, which is why this special situation has appeared — the Gao Ta still stands, the Evil Eye still remains, the Black Tide still churns, but the Evil Spirit Warrior has vanished.】

【And the one who most likely killed the Evil Spirit Warrior is the master of players Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng — that is, the ascetic who crafted the Tong Ku Lao Yin.】

【According to the information archive, on the eve of his death the ascetic resolved to fulfill his final wish, burning his life's essence to battle the Black Tide with pain tentacles, then flying deep into the dense forest. Judging by his flight direction, it was clearly this Wicked Moon Domain… so, he succeeded.】

Hearing the Guide's analysis, Qi Sheng suddenly recalled that there was indeed such a thing.

Roughly a month ago, the ascetic — whose fire of life was about to burn out — left inheritances for his two disciples Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng, then resolutely chose to burn himself in one last battle against the Black Tide, wanting to test whether the fruits of his lifelong efforts were viable.

The Black Tide had lost its Evil Spirit Warrior; combined with the ascetic's matter, the answer was plain.

So the Evil Spirit Warrior in this Wicked Moon scene hadn't vanished — it had been beheaded by the ascetic.

This was also why the Black Tide below still churned, the Evil Eye still remained, but the Evil Spirit Warrior had disappeared.

What could be confirmed was that this strike had necessarily been borne by both the Evil Spirit Warrior and the Evil Eye together — after all, in combat the Evil Spirit Warrior would link with the Evil Eye; only in this way could command and perception combine into a single system.

But the outcome was that the Evil Spirit failed to endure the endless agony and died, while the Evil Eye endured.

One could see how terrifying the power of that strike had been.

Qi Sheng could even imagine in his mind the exhilaration the ascetic had felt at that moment.

For that day, he had cultivated bitterly through long years, tormenting himself every moment to accumulate the power of pain.

The agony amassed over long years ultimately condensed into a killing blow, unleashed wantonly within this Wicked Moon Domain.

Through the pain transference of the Tentacles of Pain, the endless agony unleashed in that instant caused the Evil Spirit Warrior's consciousness to vanish on the spot, ultimately reducing it to a soulless puppet.

As for where the Evil Spirit Warrior went after death, most likely it was devoured by the Black Tide.

After all, the Black Tide had no tradition of erecting tombstones for the dead; the final destination of a consciousness-less Evil Spirit Warrior was to merge into the Black Tide, becoming nourishment for its growth.

As for the ascetic's remains, the Guide scanned the area and found none — clearly they too had been devoured by the Black Tide.

This was the inevitable fate of any living being that died to the Black Tide, players excepted.

Qi Sheng's consciousness now focused on the Gao Ta, his perceptual perspective extending downward.

The territory node information beneath the Gao Ta surfaced in his mind.

【Territory Node: Ten Thousand Forest】

Territory Type: Rule

Rule Trait: Enlightenment

Trait Description: Follows the world's operational changes, drawing out one kind of natural buff.

Territory Status: Occupied by the Terrifying Black Tide

……

Discovering this was a Rule-type territory, Qi Sheng immediately had an idea.

Every kind of territory rule could grant players a permanent buff, its importance in no way inferior to a Meng Yuan Chu trait.

This territory node currently had no Evil Spirit Warrior to command it; relying on the Evil Eye alone, the Black Tide could not exert the power it should have — they could fully try to take it.

Thinking of this, Qi Sheng decisively shared the territory node's information on the map and issued the corresponding purification quest.

But he also understood that taking this place would not be easy.

The Black Tide's intensity here was higher than at the Imperial Tomb Mountains; players wanting to take it would inevitably have to endure a prolonged battle.

……

Earth, Cloud Hidden City.

The city nestled among encircling mountains, blending ingeniously with nature.

Cloud Hidden City was built in the late period of the Mechanical War.

The city's residents were mostly descendants of Black Light City residents.

The horrific Mechanical War destroyed the entire city; masses of residents migrated, hiding among the mountains, and built a new city amid the Chongshanjunling.

When the war ended, Cloud Hidden City received support from the Human Race Federation and developed rapidly, until now it had nearly 8 million permanent residents.

The entire city was wreathed by winding mountain ranges and gossamer-like clouds and mist.

The city's buildings were constructed along the mountains, preserving the original character of the rock while incorporating modern design concepts; within the city, green trees gave shade, floral fragrance filled the air, intertwining with various native vegetation into a vivid natural tableau.

At this moment, in the South District, in a residential building beside Cloud Creek Plaza.

Meng Yuan sat before his computer desk, staring at the screen, preparing for an exam two days later.

The title of the material on the computer screen was: "Spirit Plant Research — Mock Test"

The main content of the topic was to describe the entire process of a spirit plant from seed to maturity, including germination, growth, flowering, fruiting, and dormancy stages, and to analyze the various factors affecting the spirit plant's growth cycle, such as light, temperature, humidity, and soil quality.

This was a specialty unique to Cloud Hidden City.

Cloud Hidden City was one of the three spirit plant cultivation bases of the Human Race Federation, and each year it issued a batch of jobs in the spirit plant cultivation field to city residents.

The work was related to spirit plant research.

As for the planting and growth of spirit plants, those were handled by robots.

Before each sowing, soil sensors equipped in the planting zone could monitor in real time key parameters such as soil humidity, temperature, pH, and nutrient content.

Based on these data, the planting robots could intelligently adjust sowing strategies — for example, selecting seed varieties suited to current soil conditions, or adjusting fertilization plans to optimize the soil environment.

Secondly, the planting zone also has a Spirit Plant Health Monitoring System.

It can monitor the growth status of plants in real time, including leaf color, morphology, and growth speed; by analyzing this data, it promptly identifies health issues in the Spirit Plants, such as pest and disease infections or malnutrition, and controls robots to take corresponding measures for intervention.

All data is collected and transmitted to the central control system of the planting zone; the system automatically adjusts the environmental parameters of the greenhouse or land based on preset thresholds, activating equipment such as sunshades, ventilation fans, humidifiers, and Spirit Qi transport machines to create the most suitable environment for plant growth.

In this era, manual planting has long ceased to exist.

Meng Yuan's major in Spirit Plant cultivation focuses on improving Spirit Plant breeding methods, understanding the growth mechanisms and physiological needs of Spirit Plant crops, thereby guiding robots to perform more refined operations.

The content of the simulation test made Meng Yuan immediately feel a headache.

He turned his head to glance at a flower pot placed nearby; the Spirit Plant planted in it had already withered.

Originally, he needed to record the detailed changes during the growth process of this Spirit Plant, but the current situation was that for the past two months he had spent all his time grinding the game, causing him to forget to care for the Spirit Plant until it withered.

So he had absolutely no idea what to write.

Sighing, he shouted at this moment:

"Little A!"

"I am here." Light and shadow projected from the ceiling, generating a fist-sized intelligent robot, Little A, on the desk.

Upon appearing, the intelligent Little A bowed deeply to him:

"Master, what are your orders?"

"Help me check the growth cycle changes of the Earth Spring Flower; I need detailed information."

Facing the inquiry, a question mark popped up on Little A's face:

"Master, you are currently taking the Junior Spirit Plant Breeder examination. According to the exam requirements, Little A cannot provide any data assistance; you must record the detailed changes in the Earth Spring Flower's growth process yourself."

"Rigid intelligent AI, can't you make an exception?"

Hearing this, the intelligent Little A immediately displayed a aggrieved expression on its face, placed its hand on its chest, stepped back two paces, and looked as if it were deeply hurt:

"Master, Little A cannot provide any help."

"Get out," Meng Yuan said impatiently.

"Received." The intelligent Little A conjured a sword, stabbed it into its own chest with a "puchi" sound, then staggered a few steps before vomiting blood and collapsing to the ground; the light and shadow subsequently vanished.

Having no choice, Meng Yuan could only open the group chat, attempting to seek help from classmates.

But after asking around, he discovered that every classmate had received a different variety of Spirit Plant seed; among the 48 students in his class, not a single one was repeated.

This meant the possibility of copying homework was also cut off.

"It's over; I'm afraid I won't be able to graduate."

In modern society, the importance of real-world employment positions is linked to social welfare.

Many benefits cannot be bought with money alone.

For example, the medical qualifications distributed annually by the Eclipse Clan to the Human Federation; ordinary people wishing to seek medical treatment in Eclipse City must apply for additional qualifications, but real-world employment positions can share the fixed quotas allocated to the Human Federation.

There are many other priority benefits as well.

This is also the reason why real-world positions are highly valued.

Meng Yuan's future employment position is Spirit Plant Breeder, provided he can pass the graduation exam and complete the Spirit Plant Breeding thesis.

Recently, getting carried away by playing games, he neglected the most important matter.

Glancing at the already withered Earth Spring Flower, Meng Yuan fell into deep thought, feeling that half of his foot had already stepped into the virtual brick-laying industry.

The production and income from the game Dark Lands are very high, so there is no need to worry about livelihood issues.

But passing the hurdle with his parents is probably impossible.

Thinking of his parents' boasting to relatives at every family gathering, with expressions full of pride, Meng Yuan's pressure suddenly surged.

He stood up, picked up a pack of Spirit Liquid, tore it open, and poured it into the flower pot, attempting to treat a dead plant as if it were alive.

After waiting for a long time, he picked up a detection gun, aimed it at the roots of the Earth Spring Flower, and scanned upwards.

Beep! Beep!

Looking at the display screen, the values clearly indicated that the Earth Spring Flower was already dead.

"Excellent, the path of game brick-laying is secure; I am destined to become extremely wealthy."

Meng Yuan's last shred of hope in his heart was extinguished.

Just as he gave up on illusions and prepared to accept reality, a thought suddenly surged in his mind.

The game Dark Lands contains a vast amount of knowledge related to Spirit Plants; is it possible that there is knowledge related to the Earth Spring Flower within the game?

The Spirit Plant seeds used by the Human Federation are all provided by the Eclipse Clan, including the relevant planting techniques which also originate from the Eclipse Clan.

And since Dark Lands was created by the Eclipse Clan, it is entirely possible that Spirit Plant types existing in reality also exist within the game.

"I'll ask Brother Guide."

With this idea formed, Meng Yuan picked up the game server placed on the computer desk, changed it, and walked towards the game pod.

Shortly after, Meng Yuan's figure appeared in the Resurrection Plaza of the Winter Snowfield.

Noisy sounds from nearby assailed him:

"Exploration team needs a powerful player; target is the Kongyuan Peak Domain Node. I have a direct path to the mining area; guaranteed to earn Shou Shou Jili."

"Finally resurrected; this one-hour resurrection cooldown is too unbearable. What a damn setting."

"Who sells Shou Shou Jili? Buying at market price. My Shou Shou Jili has died into negative numbers; I can't even buy items from Shangcheng. Save the child!"

"The Lord of Welfare Great Brawl needs an experienced player to lead; price via private chat. Only want players with Group Magic spells; no experienced players from Qitaliu Sect."

After blocking the regional chat channel, Meng Yuan turned his head to look at the Guide Avatar floating beside him:

"Brother Guide, save me."

A pair of weary eyes appeared on the Guide Water Sphere; the eyes narrowed slightly:

【Speak.】

"Do you know the Earth Spring Flower?"

【Level-0 Spirit Plant, can also be considered a weed, a common plant with no value.】

The Guide's answer made Meng Yuan's eyes light up:

"Guide bro, I need you to tell me the detailed changes of the Earth Spring Flower's different growth cycles."

【Go check the library, the information volume is too large, I'm too lazy to answer.】

A look of disdain appeared on the Guide's face.

"There's knowledge about this in the library?" Meng Yuan was stunned.

【Of course there is, specifically in the library's Third District, Weeds Record Volume 32, which has detailed introductions and records. You can use the search function when you enter the library to obtain it directly.】

With clear relevant knowledge available, Meng Yuan was in a great mood and immediately headed toward the teleportation point.

Not long after, Meng Yuan passed through the teleportation array and arrived at the Imperial Tomb Village space.

Though called a village, the current Imperial Tomb Village is more like a city; every time he arrived, it gave Meng Yuan the immediate sense of entering a bustling otherworldly metropolis.

Summoning the map, Meng Yuan followed the marker guidance into a Gothic-style building west of the main city.

The interior space was divided into 18 districts; he had entered from the east entrance, which was the library's Third District.

The ceiling here was lofty, with rows of bookshelves below reaching all the way up to the dome.

The books on the shelves were dazzling in their variety. Sunlight slanted in through carefully designed windows, intertwining with the indoor lighting to form mottled, varied patterns of light and shadow, adding a touch of vitality to this quiet space. The air was filled with a mingled scent of woody fragrance and ink.

The central area featured a wide, joined reading table, with neatly arranged note-taking supplies on top, convenient for recording reading insights at any time.

Not a single player figure could be seen in the entire library scene.

Evidently, learning is boundless, and players are unwilling to fall into it.

Meng Yuan summoned the book search function unique to the library scene, and a light-shadow interface popped up before his eyes.

Entering "Earth Spring Flower" in the interface's search bar, books with records of the Earth Spring Flower were immediately listed in the interface.

Meng Yuan found the "Weeds Record Volume 32" the Guide had mentioned, and a line of text immediately appeared before his eyes:

【Challenger Tip: Acquiring book…】

Looking up at the bookshelf, he saw a Yi Ben Hou Zhong book fly out from the top of the eighth row of shelves, hover before him, and then suddenly drop.

Meng Yuan hurriedly reached out to catch it.

Bringing the book to the reading area, he placed it on the reading table.

Bang!

The book's cover was engraved with the three large characters "Weeds Record." Placed on the reading table, it occupied one grid of space, and its thickness was astonishing—measured against his finger, it was half a section thicker than his index finger's length.

Opening to the first page, the pages emitted the characteristic fragrance of aged paper, mingling with the ink scent permeating the surrounding air.

The process of searching the table of contents gave Meng Yuan an instant headache; the volume of this table of contents was almost comparable to a specialized textbook on Spirit Plants.

After flipping through three pages of the table of contents, Meng Yuan turned his head to look at the Guide's avatar:

"Guide bro, help the child out."

【Page 595 has the record.】

Getting the Guide's answer, Meng Yuan immediately flipped the book to page 595.

On the page, the first thing that caught the eye was an exquisite, detailed illustration.

Delicate brushstrokes and rich colors depicted a blooming Earth Spring Flower, with petals layered upon layers, each one like a carefully sculpted work of art, its surface emitting a faint blue glow.

The edges of the petals were also adorned with tiny dewdrops, crystal clear, sparkling like pearls, adding a touch of liveliness to the entire flower.

Beside the illustration was a detailed textual description.

Below, each growth cycle of the Earth Spring Flower had textual descriptions and corresponding illustrations beside it, showing the plant's growth state.

"There's hope!"

Seeing such detailed records, Meng Yuan excitedly clenched his fist.

He hadn't expected the game to actually have records on this aspect; the page also detailed the variety types produced by different cultivation methods of the Earth Spring Flower.

He only needed to copy it down to complete the assignment.

But the information in the game couldn't be transmitted to the outside world; he now had to memorize all the content above.

Meng Yuan sat down at this moment, entering a state of study.

Time passed.

The sky outside gradually darkened, the golden wheel above the space turning into a bright moon. Meng Yuan gnawed on the Spirit Fish meat stored in his spatial pouch, still memorizing the content related to the Earth Spring Flower.

During this time, he discovered that the book had an automatic purification function.

When his grease-stained hands touched the book, the stains would be automatically purified, not affecting the next person's reading experience.

A total of two pages of relevant knowledge; Meng Yuan spent 7 hours memorizing all of it.

After reviewing once and confirming nothing was missed, he stood up, summoned the function panel, and exited the game.

The 30-second wait ended, and his vision was shrouded in a layer of pitch black.

Returning to reality, Meng Yuan quickly went to the computer desk and, while it was still fresh in his memory, typed out the memorized material word for word.

After completing all this, Meng Yuan was in a great mood.

For him, the professional position didn't mean much; what mattered was that his parents had face and would give him a pleasant look.

Opening his mailbox, he sent the content he had transcribed to the Spirit Plant Cultivation Center.

All that remained was to handle the exam two days later.

This wasn't difficult; practice was the core of the exam, and the test questions all had standard answers.

As for whether the transcribed and sent content could pass the professional inspection of the Spirit Plant Cultivation Center, he was even less worried.

The Moon Eclipse Tribe provided in the game was all authoritative knowledge; the vast majority of humanity's knowledge in the Spirit Plant field was also provided by the Moon Eclipse Tribe, so there absolutely wouldn't be any problems.

……

Half a day later.

Cloud Veil City, Spirit Plant Cultivation Base.

Tian Bei, wearing a pair of rimless smart glasses, sat before a virtual screen, his brows furrowed tight.

The screen displayed a cultivation observation record for the Earth Spring Flower submitted by a student, which focused on discoveries made during cultivation and improvement plans.

But the more he looked, the more wrong it seemed.

These records were overly detailed, with much of the content not even recorded in the Spirit Plant Information Database.

"This student really knows how to fabricate."

Tian Bei adjusted his smart glasses and decided to read it through again.

【Earth Spring Flower Growth Record】:

Sprouting Stage

The seeds of the Earth Spring Flower are planted in soil rich in spiritual energy and mineral nutrients, soil possessing the traits of being loose, breathable, and slightly moist.

Under suitable temperatures and the nourishment of spiritual energy, the seeds begin to slowly absorb surrounding energy; the seed coat gradually softens and cracks open, from which tender root sprouts emerge.

At this time, the root sprout resembles a small awl, striving to drill deep into the soil to seek more stable and abundant sources of water and nutrients; the cotyledons strive to grow upward, tightly wrapping the yet-unfurled true leaves, their color appearing as a pale yellow-green, slightly curled; at this stage, the overall height of the Earth Spring Flower is merely an inch or so.

Seedling Stage

When the root sprout has initially taken firm hold in the soil, the Earth Spring Flower enters the seedling stage.

Its root system rapidly branches and spreads, like a fine network crisscrossing and weaving within the flower pot, not only enhancing the absorption capacity for water and nutrients but also serving to stabilize the plant; the stem above the soil gradually becomes thick, its color shifting from the initial tender green to a vivid green, the surface covered with a thin layer of fine fuzz, the touch feeling soft.

The leaves begin to unfurl, taking an oval shape with edges slightly serrated; the leaf veins are clearly visible, like the veins of the earth itself, transporting the energy of life to the leaves.

During this period, the Earth Spring Flower's demand for light gradually increases, requiring sufficient yet soft light to promote photosynthesis, and it also needs irrigation with spiritual liquid to aid growth; the supply of nutrients in the soil becomes crucial.

The Earth Spring Flower in the seedling stage can grow to a height of about three feet; although still tender, it already begins to show its unique form and charm.

Growth Stage, Flowering Stage, Fruiting Stage...

The recorded changes in the growth cycle appeared to Tian Bei as content that was overly detailed and contained elements inconsistent with reality.

For instance, it stated that the You Nian Qi of the Earth Spring Flower could grow to three feet, which is one meter in height.

How is this a seedling? Even the Earth Spring Flower in the fruiting stage does not grow to three feet; the content is completely fabricated nonsense.

Yet the growth cycle was recorded with such detail that he could find not a single flaw, showing that the student had indeed put in effort.

Up to this point, the content was still normal, but the subsequent content began to become fantastical and abstract.

【Spirit Plant Habit Tips】:

The Earth Spring Flower prefers dark, damp environments nourished by spiritual energy; its efficiency in absorbing spiritual energy at night is 33.72% higher than during the day; it is extremely sensitive to sunlight and water-attributed spiritual energy; it grows faster in environments with water vapor; if the environment exceeds 53 degrees Celsius, it enters dormancy; when cultivated alongside earth-attributed and water-attributed spirit plants, it often forms a benign spiritual energy growth cycle.

【Practical Improvement Section】:

Through cultivation methods, the Earth Spring Flower can be catalyzed into a special spirit plant: the Earth Spring Star.

Prune the fine branches of the Earth Spring Flower according to the rhythm of spiritual energy infusion to avoid damaging the spirit plant... The use of the Spiritual Energy Irrigation Pot requires precise control of the spiritual energy output volume; for spirit plants in the seedling stage, the spiritual energy value for each irrigation should be maintained between 5 and 7 points, with specific values depending on the spirit plant's growth state.

【Spirit Plant Cultivation Array Reference】: The correct method for constructing a Spirit Gathering Array...

The subsequent content left Tian Bei staring in astonishment.

Beyond cultivation improvements, the student even proposed a Spirit Gathering Array capable of locking the spiritual energy released by the Earth Spring Flower and then feeding it back to aid the plant's growth.

All the proposals were supported by precise data.

But the problem was that this cultivation project only provided the students with simple spirit plant growth soil and a spiritual liquid cultivation kit.

The student was not conducting cultivation in a laboratory; where did all this data and information come from?

His feeling was that the student, in order to obtain an excellent evaluation, had simply fabricated everything in the report.

But this content was obviously fake; he couldn't understand where the student found the courage to write such things.

This was practically slapping him in the face, questioning his intelligence and professionalism.

"Excessive! Too excessive!"

"Little A."

"Master, I am here." A virtual robot projection materialized on the desk, bowing and greeting.

Although he could be certain this report was complete nonsense, Tian Bei still needed to go through the procedure.

"Import this data into the simulation space and simulate the growth."

"Understood, Master. Initiating simulation test immediately."

Shortly after, a light screen image floated before Tian Bei; in the simulation, the Earth Spring Flower seed was implanted into the soil, and growth was simulated according to the content submitted by the student.

Accompanying the growth and pruning of the spirit plant in the image, Tian Bei gradually widened his eyes.

Except for the growth speed and height of the spirit plant, every other aspect matched the content of the submitted report.

"No way!"

The simulation test then moved to the part he considered fantastical.

Simulating a new environment, and even the described cultivation and pruning methods, the spirit plant's growth speed suddenly accelerated.

The parameter changes in the upper right corner left Tian Bei staring in astonishment.

Fantasy had become reality!

Finally, the simulation of the Spirit Gathering Array.

The simulation of the construction process triggered two simulation errors, but ultimately the Spirit Gathering Array was successfully generated.

In this simulation, the Earth Spring Flower truly grew into a completely new, unrecorded plant.

That is, the Earth Spring Star recorded in the report.

At this moment, Tian Bei was dumbfounded.

"What talent!"

Using only ordinary spiritual soil and a spiritual spring kit, to accomplish such a masterpiece; Tian Bei was completely stunned.

But what he couldn't understand was how exactly the student who submitted the data had managed to do it.

Especially the Spirit Gathering Array — how could something like that be researched and produced by a student who hadn't even graduated yet?

Even the materials provided by the Moon Eclipse Clan had no records on this, which truly made his jaw drop.

"Master, based on the simulation test results, the assessment data can be rated S-grade. Do you have any different suggestions?"

Projected intelligence Little A held up a bouquet of fresh flowers, beaming as he spoke.

"Then S it is."

Upon hearing this, intelligence Little A conjured a giant stamp in his hands, took two staggering steps backward clutching it, then leaped high into the air and slammed an "S" onto the bottom-right corner of the holographic data.

"Done." After intelligence Little A landed, the virtual stamp vanished. He wiped a bead of sweat, braced his hands on his knees, and panted heavily.

Tian Bei paid no attention to intelligence Little A; his gaze remained fixed on the data on the light screen.

He felt he had to figure out exactly how this student named Meng Yuan had managed to write this data.

……

"Any war party need a mage? I'm level 32 AoE spells, output efficiency maxed out."

Meng Yuan, who was in the Imperial Tomb Village space, shouted into the regional voice channel, then began waiting for war party teams to contact him.

Just then, a Challenger Alert popped up in his mind.

【Challenger Alert: Attention! There is a real-world connection request. Do you wish to exit the game?】

This was the real-world alert system set by the tutorial.

It would trigger an alert if it detected that the player's real-world body was in an abnormal state, or if there was an outside connection request.

Hearing the alert, Meng Yuan froze for a moment, then decisively chose to exit the game.

Thirty seconds later, darkness enveloped his vision.

As the hatch slowly opened, Meng Yuan, still in his game suit, arrived in front of his computer desk.

He noticed an unknown connection request had popped up on the desktop — this was already the second connection request.

With doubts in mind, he pressed the green connect button on the desktop.

Instantly, a fair-skinned middle-aged man wearing white attire and a pair of frameless smart glasses appeared on the screen.

"Is this Student Meng Yuan?"

"That's me."

Seeing the figure on the screen, as well as the six characters "Spirit Plant Cultivation Center" printed on the man's clothing, Meng Yuan felt he might be in serious trouble.

The thesis data he had submitted probably hadn't passed, and they'd come knocking.

But the problem was, there was no need for a professional scholar from the Spirit Plant Cultivation Center to come reproach him in person — that was excessive.

"Hello, Student Meng Yuan. I am the person in charge of the Spirit Fields in Area A of the Spirit Plant Cultivation Center: Tian Bei."

"Hello, Professor Tian." Meng Yuan sat down at the computer desk, feeling guilty.

"I've reviewed in detail the cultivation records of the Ground Spring Flower you submitted, as well as your improvement plan. I have a few questions I need to ask you next… I hope I'm not interrupting your gaming." Tian Bei on the screen suddenly smiled when he noticed the game suit Meng Yuan was wearing.

"No, I just logged off and didn't have time to change." Meng Yuan nodded, his face slightly flushed.

"May I ask how long your Ground Spring Flower's cultivation cycle is?"

"Sixty-three days."

"Was the cultivation process carried out in a professional spirit plant cultivation laboratory?"

"No."

Hearing this, Tian Bei on the screen slightly furrowed his brow, seemingly quite puzzled by it.

The change in Tian Bei's expression also made Meng Yuan's heart twitch, and he instantly felt that something bad was about to happen.

"Did you purchase other resources online that assist spirit plant growth, such as cultivation props like specially-made spirit liquid packs?"

"No."

"Does anyone in your family work professionally in spirit plant cultivation, has made outstanding contributions in this field, and assisted you in cultivating spirit plants?"

"No."

"Could it be that the cultivation was completed entirely by you alone?"

"Yes."

Hearing this answer, Tian Bei was completely dumbfounded.

He couldn't believe that this student had completed the cultivation observation records alone, and had even personally written the improvement plan.

Taking a deep breath, Tian Bei said in a solemn, low voice:

"Student Meng Yuan, I have a request."

"Please go ahead, I'll definitely agree." The extremely guilty Meng Yuan nodded decisively, but inwardly he was wailing, feeling that the conversation process was like serving a prison sentence.

"I'd like to see the Ground Spring Flower you cultivated… no, I mean the Ground Spring Star."

Hearing these words, Meng Yuan was instantly dumbfounded.

He subconsciously glanced at the already-withered Ground Spring Flower by his feet, and a bitter feeling welled up inside him.

If this were to be shown, both feet would step onto the path of virtual brick-moving, and he'd never see his parents' pleasant faces again.

Taking a deep breath, Meng Yuan forced himself to stay calm and said:

"Professor Tian, the Ground Spring Flower I cultivated isn't with me at the moment. Is there a problem with the thesis data I submitted?"

Facing the question, Tian Bei smiled and shook his head:

"The data you submitted is extremely detailed. I've already given it an S-grade evaluation. You don't even need to take the exam one day from now — you can join the Spirit Plant Cultivation Center directly. I've already submitted your data to my superiors; just wait for the onboarding reply, and it will be delivered within a week at the fastest."

Hearing that he had received an S-grade evaluation, Meng Yuan was ecstatic inside, but the joy lasted only a few seconds before he realized a serious problem.

At this moment, Tian Bei on the video screen said with a smile:

"Student Meng Yuan, I still want to see with my own eyes the Ground Spring Star you cultivated. How about this — may I come over in person?"

Hearing these words, Meng Yuan felt like crying.

How could he not understand what had happened now?

It was not that the data he submitted had problems, but that the data was too excellent.

An S-rank evaluation could only explain one thing: constructive content that promoted the development of spiritual plant cultivation technology had appeared in the thesis data he submitted.

No wonder the Spiritual Plant Cultivation Center had applied to connect with him; Professor Tian on the screen was even coming personally to see the Earth Spring Flower he cultivated... no, the Earth Spring Star.

He wanted to cry but had no tears.

He thought the data in the game was recorded in reality.

He never expected the data in the game to be more detailed than reality.

In other words, the Moon Eclipse Clan had actually recorded the spiritual plant data they did not share with the Human Federation in the game.

The Moon Eclipse Clan has harmed me!

(End of this chapter)