Xiao Lin paused, asking, “Unstable? Do you mean the potion won’t always work?”
“That’s not exactly true. It will always work, but how effective it is differs with the person.” Fei Yawen had a difficult look on her face, sighing as she shook her head. “Based on our earliest simulations, the potion should be perfect, but once we started clinical trials problems started to pop up. The unreliability of the effects were more than we expected. Some people had very obvious improvements to their training, whereas others barely noticed a difference.”
Xiao Lin was a little disappointed, but barely making a difference was still better than having no effect at all. He seemed to think of something before curiously asking, “Could the effects differ with regard to each person’s potential?”
Fei Yawen subtly frowned. “That was our initial hypothesis, since the effects it had on individuals with talents were better, but it still remained inconclusive.”
It was obvious the potion was not yet complete, or it would have been rolled out for use in the entire academy. However, a way to increase his efficiency was exactly what Xiao Lin had been looking for, and whatever effect the potion had on him would still help out. If the effects on individuals with talents were better, then would it not be perfect for him?
Xiao Lin asked some more questions about the potion’s effect and duration, and the two of them finally finalized the deal. The points were transferred to Xiao Lin’s card via the central computer, and the deal was complete.
Xiao Lin continued to train his Phantom Steps during the day. He only had less than two weeks left until the third monthly exam, so time was of the essence.
He used the potions he just obtained as well. He actually suspected that Fei Yawen was using him as a guinea pig. Before he left, the woman had told him to keep in touch. He had almost thought the woman was interested in him, but then he realized she probably just wanted to gather some data.
The training potions were actually split into a few types: there were intelligence potions, meant to help with spell and meditation type training; the agility potions helped with dexterity-based training; the strength potions helped with melee combat-related training; and the physique potions helped with body strengthening.
According to Fei Yawen, the potions caused the related parts of the brain to temporarily strengthen and experience increased activity, which allowed the drinker to be able to absorb more knowledge in the short period of time. That even included training the body, but Xiao Lin barely understood any of it.
In order to differentiate the potions, Fei Yawen had deliberately made the potions in various colors. Red was strength, blue was intelligence, yellow was agility, and purple was physique. Xiao Lin asked why the colors were categorized that way in suspicion, and the woman answered that they were all just the colors of the fruit juices that were mixed in, which rendered him speechless.
The potions were surprisingly tasty thanks to those juices. After drinking one, Xiao Lin felt his body heat up and his mind began to get dizzy. However, the effects were short-lived, and he quickly felt nothing.
Xiao Lin felt like he had been cheated. Was he too unlucky, or was his potential not enough to properly trigger the effects of the potion?
Even if his heart was unsatisfied, he still had to continue his training for the day. The contents of his training were the same as yesterday, using the virtual combat system to simulate an opponent. He continuously increased the basic swordsmanship of the virtual opponent to train his Phantom Steps.
The training was as difficult as always. Alongside increasing the level of basic swordsmanship, more and more sword skills were being used. Even though there were only eight basic steps in Phantom Steps, there were still a lot of different combinations that could be used, which meant he needed to constantly adapt and train to increase his familiarity with the skill, or he would not be able to react properly in an actual situation.
There were no shortcuts for the process, and Xiao Lin could only rely on time and effort to improve it. That was why an F-rank skill like that had still been pushed back to the second year.
The skill was not hard to learn, but increasing the mastery was about as, if not even harder than an E-rank skill. It could only be more effectively trained with enough mastery over swordsmanship, which the second-years had.
During the evening, Xiao Lin headed back to the dormitories, exhausted, but it was just mental fatigue. He was no longer covered in wounds like the day before. Since he managed to obtain six thousand points that day, the fees for recovering himself were no longer an issue.
During dinner, he once again met Cheng Ming and the other monitors. Cheng Ming enthusiastically called out to Xiao Lin to eat with them. Xiao Lin was actually unwilling, since outside of Cheng Ming, he was not too friendly with any of the other monitors. While he was hesitating, Cheng Ming had already pulled him toward their table.
He had barely been back from New Washington for a few days, so he did not really have any time to properly chat with Cheng Ming. A few of them exchanged some pleasantries, but other than Cheng Ming’s sincerity, the rest of their smiles hid some other intentions.
They were all quite curious about Xiao Lin’s trip to the New World, but that was the extent of it. They probably all felt they would eventually end up in the New World anyway, so it was just a matter of time.
After that, everyone’s topic shifted toward the monthly examination. In truth, it was also the hottest topic on the forums. Someone seemed to have gained information from the student union and learned that the monthly examination was set by the dean himself this time. Usually, the first-year examinations were arranged by the student union.
“The dean seems to have quite big expectations of us!” one of the monitors said proudly.
“The dean even took the time to attend our opening ceremony. I’ve actually heard that the dean has quite the reputation in the New World. Not just among the academies from Earth, his name is even famous among the natives.”
They were no longer new faces that did not understand anything. Everyone had managed to establish various connections and relationships, acquiring all sorts of information over the two months.
The dean was a large figure in the New World, and that large figure was actually paying attention to an examination for new recruits. It was like a minister on Earth invigilating a secondary school examination. Normal folk might feel anxious about it, but they were all acting class monitors. According to Chen Yu, they were all elites of the future.
No matter what, it was good to feel like they were being valued.
The acting class monitors were all laughing as they discussed. As they talked about the future, they deliberately ignored Xiao Lin as usual. Xiao Lin did not mind it, and as he was eating his food silently, his face twitched. He really wanted to tell those people that they were overthinking it–that the dean did not set the monthly examination for any of their sakes.