At this blunder, the people streaming out of the large hall faltered.
The last trainee in Zhuge An’s team walked through the purple space door, and the door flickered twice before vanishing abruptly amidst the ice-cold silence.
Tsuchimikado’s team, incidentally next to theirs, immediately came over to inquire on the present situation.
Zong Jiu, “Our teams’ space doors were quite close; he might have accidentally wandered through the wrong one in a moment of inattention. It likely isn’t a big deal.”
Tsuchimikado nodded. “I also think so. The number of people in the team is irrelevant considering all the instances are S-class. The difficulty is fixed, so it doesn’t matter which one you enter.”
Switching the scenarios would, indeed, make no difference to the difficulty.
After the reminder, everyone stopped obsessing over the mix-up. They turned around to greet the other trainees in their team, then went through and disappeared into the space door.
However, considering Zhuge An’s careful and calculative nature, was it really possible that he had blundered such a simple matter?
A vague premonition surfaced in Zong Jiu’s mind. However, the tight schedule they were on kept him from pondering about it.
Under the mechanical urging of the system, he led his team through the space door that Zhuge An’s team was supposed to take.
The border of this space door was dark golden. Somehow, the colour easily reminded people of a certain No. 1’s eyes.
The white-haired Magician glanced up and then, without the slightest hesitation, stepped into the darkness of the space door.
[Trainees detected entering the space door. Initiating transfer…]
[Loading plot introduction…]
A pervasive sensation of weightlessness.
He was falling.
It was unlike any spatial transfer in the past; the transfer this time was especially turbulent.
It was more than just turbulence; all around him had turned pitch black, as if all of creation was enveloped in dense darkness. He couldn’t see the road ahead. He could only hear the shearing of wind in his ears as he fell, lifting his shirt hems.
Zong Jiu gazed up at the void above.
Reasonably speaking, when stepping into space like this, there was no doubt that that fellow Xu Su would start shrieking at once.
But now, let alone a shriek, he could hardly hear anything.
It was so silent… It seemed that he was alone.
He wouldn’t just plummet to his death like this, would he?
Zong Jiu swept away the fringe that slapped persistently at his eyes because of the descent, squinting downwards.
All of a sudden, calligraphy ink seemingly dripped from the water surface to the bottom of the vessel, the condensed inky liquid spreading in the medium, blooming like flowers, dispersing the endless darkness and dyeing it with a spectrum of colours.
A scene abruptly appeared before the Magician’s eyes.
Ktf ogbhfc mbibeg yibmxr ugjvejiis rajgafv oibklcu.
Vajcvlcu bc atf fjgat jujlc, tf olcjiis ofia j ojirf rfcrf bo rfmeglas.
Ibcu Ale vlvc’a lwwfvljafis wbnf yea mtfmxfv tlr reggbecvlcur olgra.
Ktfgf kjr cb rluc bo atf gfra bo tlr afjw, jcv fnfc atf ogbhfc mbibeg yibmxr kfgf ralii ribkis yflcu ufcfgjafv.
The system didn’t issue any prompt; so quiet it was, as though it didn’t exist.
What was happening? Weren’t trainees usually forced to watch the plot introduction?
Soon, the inky streaks around him rapidly spread out, forming streets lined with houses and grey utility poles and a dark, dreary sky.
In the distance, a flock of white doves took flight from the square into the sky with a flutter of pristine white wings, flying over the grey clock tower of the church not far off, like they were rushing to make the latest prayer service.
Zong Jiu’s eyes widened.
This scene was a little too familiar to him.
Around him, pedestrians bustled about in trench coats, the same indifference on their features.
Similar to the famous double-slit experiment, everything outside his field of vision was barren. Wherever his gaze touched, the scene would be arranged to become what he remembered it to be.
He looked around on the spot for a while and, not finding anything interesting in his surroundings, finally started to walk towards the drab grey church building in the corner.
After all, the scene was taken directly from his memory, a scene so familiar to Zong Jiu that it was etched in his heart.
Because he had lived here for more than a decade. Until the old nun passed on, the orange tabby passed on—before the magician he apprenticed under took him in, this was the only place he had lived.
Two blocks around the corner was the first school he attended, then past the square was a run-down neighbourhood.
This church stood between the new and old buildings of the city, as though drawing a divisive line.
Whether rich or poor, before God, everyone was equal.
The church doors were wide open.
The iron chain was tied to one side, and the narrow lawn and white walls rivalled in beauty. On the centre spire, a large black cross matched the gloomy weather.
Strangely, none of the devout followers were present today. It seemed that when Zong Jiu stepped into this area, the sound of the streets vanished all of a sudden, leaving only the tolling of the church bell ahead, each knell heavier than the last.
Zong Jiu unflinchingly walked through the large doors.
He stopped in front of the basin of holy water at the door and cast his gaze inside the church.
As expected, at the end of the rows of black pews, a white candle was burning on an altar cloaked in a white cloth, and a hunchbacked silhouette in a black nun’s habit and black veil was before the altar, head bowed in prayer.
The plot introduction of this instance was certainly intriguing.
Zong Jiu narrowed his eyes. He didn’t speak nor move at all.
Sure enough, after chanting “Let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”, the elderly nun slowly looked over her shoulder.
Her features were as kind as Zong Jiu remembered them to be: deeply wrinkled, with eyes deeply sunken in their sockets, shining with a benevolent light.
Even though more than a decade had passed for Zong Jiu since the old nun’s death, when he finally stood in front of her, he felt that time had not left much of a trace.
“You have come.” The old nun spoke, a nostalgic kind smile spreading across her face.
“Yeah, I am here now.” Zong Jiu shrugged. “Where is this? Heaven?”
“Heaven?”
After a brief pause, the old nun slowly said, “Naturally not, this is not heaven.”
As if in response to her words, when she uttered the word heaven, their surroundings abruptly changed.
It was like someone scribbled a different layer of colours over the building and the scene with a colour pencil, breathing life to all the cold, harsh, pallid lines, dyeing everything it touched with a holy, platinum glow.
A large cluster of lilies suddenly bloomed in the long-necked vase on the altar, and hot unleavened bread and crimson grape juice materialised on the empty communion plate.
Beyond the stained glass window, the dreary weather suddenly cleared into blue skies and white clouds, golden sunlight filtering through the window and spilling onto the ground, imprinting patterned light.
Dirt flew up from the black pews and gathered in the air, turning into bright and shiny fine dust.
The distant chanting of hymns, accompanied by the plucking of a seven-stringed lyre, echoed in the small space.
In a flash—and this wasn’t an exaggeration, but a tangible transformation—the spiritual body of a person was cleansed, elevating to a higher state of enlightenment that most people would struggle to reach.
Like some kind of metaphysical higher-dimensional existence which infused the body with a higher consciousness, it was refreshing to the ear.
Anything that was dirty or out of place in heaven quietly faded away.
Even illogicalities became logical; every object’s shadow disappeared into thin air.
At the same moment that all creation was coloured with this filter, the old nun smiled. “This is just an ordinary city.”
“Do you still remember what I taught you?”
“I do.”
Even though he knew deep down that this was just an illusion, Zong Jiu still said calmly, “Respond to the expectations of others and never let desire seize your thoughts.”
“Well done, you still remember.”
The approval on the nun’s face deepened.
She seemed to murmur to herself. “It is seven days away from Judgement Day. You should leave.”
“I will wait here for you. I hope that by that time, you will have returned to earth and made your choice.”
“That reminds me.”
At this, the old nun suddenly turned her head over, clenching her fist like she did when he was a child, gesturing for Zong Jiu to reach out.
The white-haired young man paused before extending his hand.
The wizened hand gently loosened its fist, and an item dropped onto the young man’s hand with unerring precision.
It was icy cold and light, even spinning on the latter’s palm.
[Congratulations to the trainee for obtaining a B-rank prop: Iruka’s Silver Coin.]
[Prop ability: This is the magnum opus of a dwarven legendary master in an instance, known as one of the Seven Impossible Wonders. It is said to bring unparalleled good fortune to the user for the subsequent 10 minutes.]
[Note: This prop is a consumable item. Remaining usage time(s): 1. After the number of uses has been exhausted, it will turn into an ordinary silver coin with only ornamental and collectible value.]
“Praise the seven virtues.”
As soon as Zong Jiu received this silver coin, at long last the voice of the system slowly spoke again.
[The plot introduction has ended. System has finished connecting.]
[The fourth round of Thriller Trainee has commenced, located in the collective instance: Judgement Day.]
Once again, the scene around him spun rapidly.
In a fleeting moment, Zong Jiu was spirited from a church to a chilly room.
The clothes he was wearing had changed into a plain, blue-striped white long-sleeved shirt and pants, and a small number plate was even pinned to his chest.
The other trainees were surrounding him, each looking dazed, like they had not yet recovered their senses.
After the baptism of the unknown golden light, all of them felt relaxed and brimming with complete confidence, the atmosphere so high it didn’t seem like a horror instance.
But it was apparent that everyone had experienced a different plot introduction.
At that exact moment, the system announced the mode of the instance.
[This instance has been split into two main tasks. Completion of either one will be considered a pass.]
[Main task 1: Experience judgement once. After that, you may return to the trainee dormitories at once.]
[Main task 2: Destroy the instance.]
At this blunder, the people streaming out of the large hall faltered.
The last trainee in Zhuge An’s team walked through the purple space door, and the door flickered twice before vanishing abruptly amidst the ice-cold silence.
Tsuchimikado’s team, incidentally next to theirs, immediately came over to inquire on the present situation.
Zong Jiu, “Our teams’ space doors were quite close; he might have accidentally wandered through the wrong one in a moment of inattention. It likely isn’t a big deal.”
Tsuchimikado nodded. “I also think so. The number of people in the team is irrelevant considering all the instances are S-class. The difficulty is fixed, so it doesn’t matter which one you enter.”
Switching the scenarios would, indeed, make no difference to the difficulty.
After the reminder, everyone stopped obsessing over the mix-up. They turned around to greet the other trainees in their team, then went through and disappeared into the space door.
However, considering Zhuge An’s careful and calculative nature, was it really possible that he had blundered such a simple matter?
A vague premonition surfaced in Zong Jiu’s mind. However, the tight schedule they were on kept him from pondering about it.
Under the mechanical urging of the system, he led his team through the space door that Zhuge An’s team was supposed to take.
The border of this space door was dark golden. Somehow, the colour easily reminded people of a certain No. 1’s eyes.
The white-haired Magician glanced up and then, without the slightest hesitation, stepped into the darkness of the space door.
[Trainees detected entering the space door. Initiating transfer…]
[Loading plot introduction…]
A pervasive sensation of weightlessness.
He was falling.
It was unlike any spatial transfer in the past; the transfer this time was especially turbulent.
It was more than just turbulence; all around him had turned pitch black, as if all of creation was enveloped in dense darkness. He couldn’t see the road ahead. He could only hear the shearing of wind in his ears as he fell, lifting his shirt hems.
Zong Jiu gazed up at the void above.
Reasonably speaking, when stepping into space like this, there was no doubt that that fellow Xu Su would start shrieking at once.
But now, let alone a shriek, he could hardly hear anything.
It was so silent… It seemed that he was alone.
He wouldn’t just plummet to his death like this, would he?
Zong Jiu swept away the fringe that slapped persistently at his eyes because of the descent, squinting downwards.
All of a sudden, calligraphy ink seemingly dripped from the water surface to the bottom of the vessel, the condensed inky liquid spreading in the medium, blooming like flowers, dispersing the endless darkness and dyeing it with a spectrum of colours.
A scene abruptly appeared before the Magician’s eyes.
Ktf ogbhfc mbibeg yibmxr ugjvejiis rajgafv oibklcu.
Vajcvlcu bc atf fjgat jujlc, tf olcjiis ofia j ojirf rfcrf bo rfmeglas.
Ibcu Ale vlvc’a lwwfvljafis wbnf yea mtfmxfv tlr reggbecvlcur olgra.
Ktfgf kjr cb rluc bo atf gfra bo tlr afjw, jcv fnfc atf ogbhfc mbibeg yibmxr kfgf ralii ribkis yflcu ufcfgjafv.
The system didn’t issue any prompt; so quiet it was, as though it didn’t exist.
What was happening? Weren’t trainees usually forced to watch the plot introduction?
Soon, the inky streaks around him rapidly spread out, forming streets lined with houses and grey utility poles and a dark, dreary sky.
In the distance, a flock of white doves took flight from the square into the sky with a flutter of pristine white wings, flying over the grey clock tower of the church not far off, like they were rushing to make the latest prayer service.
Zong Jiu’s eyes widened.
This scene was a little too familiar to him.
Around him, pedestrians bustled about in trench coats, the same indifference on their features.
Similar to the famous double-slit experiment, everything outside his field of vision was barren. Wherever his gaze touched, the scene would be arranged to become what he remembered it to be.
He looked around on the spot for a while and, not finding anything interesting in his surroundings, finally started to walk towards the drab grey church building in the corner.
After all, the scene was taken directly from his memory, a scene so familiar to Zong Jiu that it was etched in his heart.
Because he had lived here for more than a decade. Until the old nun passed on, the orange tabby passed on—before the magician he apprenticed under took him in, this was the only place he had lived.
Two blocks around the corner was the first school he attended, then past the square was a run-down neighbourhood.
This church stood between the new and old buildings of the city, as though drawing a divisive line.
Whether rich or poor, before God, everyone was equal.
The church doors were wide open.
The iron chain was tied to one side, and the narrow lawn and white walls rivalled in beauty. On the centre spire, a large black cross matched the gloomy weather.
Strangely, none of the devout followers were present today. It seemed that when Zong Jiu stepped into this area, the sound of the streets vanished all of a sudden, leaving only the tolling of the church bell ahead, each knell heavier than the last.
Zong Jiu unflinchingly walked through the large doors.
He stopped in front of the basin of holy water at the door and cast his gaze inside the church.
As expected, at the end of the rows of black pews, a white candle was burning on an altar cloaked in a white cloth, and a hunchbacked silhouette in a black nun’s habit and black veil was before the altar, head bowed in prayer.
The plot introduction of this instance was certainly intriguing.
Zong Jiu narrowed his eyes. He didn’t speak nor move at all.
Sure enough, after chanting “Let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”, the elderly nun slowly looked over her shoulder.
Her features were as kind as Zong Jiu remembered them to be: deeply wrinkled, with eyes deeply sunken in their sockets, shining with a benevolent light.
Even though more than a decade had passed for Zong Jiu since the old nun’s death, when he finally stood in front of her, he felt that time had not left much of a trace.
“You have come.” The old nun spoke, a nostalgic kind smile spreading across her face.
“Yeah, I am here now.” Zong Jiu shrugged. “Where is this? Heaven?”
“Heaven?”
After a brief pause, the old nun slowly said, “Naturally not, this is not heaven.”
As if in response to her words, when she uttered the word heaven, their surroundings abruptly changed.
It was like someone scribbled a different layer of colours over the building and the scene with a colour pencil, breathing life to all the cold, harsh, pallid lines, dyeing everything it touched with a holy, platinum glow.
A large cluster of lilies suddenly bloomed in the long-necked vase on the altar, and hot unleavened bread and crimson grape juice materialised on the empty communion plate.
Beyond the stained glass window, the dreary weather suddenly cleared into blue skies and white clouds, golden sunlight filtering through the window and spilling onto the ground, imprinting patterned light.
Dirt flew up from the black pews and gathered in the air, turning into bright and shiny fine dust.
The distant chanting of hymns, accompanied by the plucking of a seven-stringed lyre, echoed in the small space.
In a flash—and this wasn’t an exaggeration, but a tangible transformation—the spiritual body of a person was cleansed, elevating to a higher state of enlightenment that most people would struggle to reach.
Like some kind of metaphysical higher-dimensional existence which infused the body with a higher consciousness, it was refreshing to the ear.
Anything that was dirty or out of place in heaven quietly faded away.
Even illogicalities became logical; every object’s shadow disappeared into thin air.
At the same moment that all creation was coloured with this filter, the old nun smiled. “This is just an ordinary city.”
“Do you still remember what I taught you?”
“I do.”
Even though he knew deep down that this was just an illusion, Zong Jiu still said calmly, “Respond to the expectations of others and never let desire seize your thoughts.”
“Well done, you still remember.”
The approval on the nun’s face deepened.
She seemed to murmur to herself. “It is seven days away from Judgement Day. You should leave.”
“I will wait here for you. I hope that by that time, you will have returned to earth and made your choice.”
“That reminds me.”
At this, the old nun suddenly turned her head over, clenching her fist like she did when he was a child, gesturing for Zong Jiu to reach out.
The white-haired young man paused before extending his hand.
The wizened hand gently loosened its fist, and an item dropped onto the young man’s hand with unerring precision.
It was icy cold and light, even spinning on the latter’s palm.
[Congratulations to the trainee for obtaining a B-rank prop: Iruka’s Silver Coin.]
[Prop ability: This is the magnum opus of a dwarven legendary master in an instance, known as one of the Seven Impossible Wonders. It is said to bring unparalleled good fortune to the user for the subsequent 10 minutes.]
[Note: This prop is a consumable item. Remaining usage time(s): 1. After the number of uses has been exhausted, it will turn into an ordinary silver coin with only ornamental and collectible value.]
“Praise the seven virtues.”
As soon as Zong Jiu received this silver coin, at long last the voice of the system slowly spoke again.
[The plot introduction has ended. System has finished connecting.]
[The fourth round of Thriller Trainee has commenced, located in the collective instance: Judgement Day.]
Once again, the scene around him spun rapidly.
In a fleeting moment, Zong Jiu was spirited from a church to a chilly room.
The clothes he was wearing had changed into a plain, blue-striped white long-sleeved shirt and pants, and a small number plate was even pinned to his chest.
The other trainees were surrounding him, each looking dazed, like they had not yet recovered their senses.
After the baptism of the unknown golden light, all of them felt relaxed and brimming with complete confidence, the atmosphere so high it didn’t seem like a horror instance.
But it was apparent that everyone had experienced a different plot introduction.
At that exact moment, the system announced the mode of the instance.
[This instance has been split into two main tasks. Completion of either one will be considered a pass.]
[Main task 1: Experience judgement once. After that, you may return to the trainee dormitories at once.]
[Main task 2: Destroy the instance.]
