Chapter 296: Tower Integral
Lin Ye quickly devoured the biscuits and drank an entire bottle of mineral water.
He had originally intended to save some food for emergencies, but halfway through eating, he suddenly realized that without finishing all the food, he simply didn't have the physical strength to move.
'What's going on? Why did I suddenly become so weak? What's causing this instantaneous hunger? And why does eating food restore my energy so quickly?'
Lin Ye pondered these questions while eating. There were no clear answers for now, and this wasn't the time for deep thinking. If this hunger phenomenon would occur again, he needed to find backup food before the next episode triggered.
After finishing the biscuits, Lin Ye quickly moved toward the door, but before he could open it, someone knocked.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!
The frantic pounding on the door sounded - whatever was outside, it wasn't friendly.
Lin Ye looked through the peephole into the corridor. The one knocking was a tall humanoid creature with an animal head on a human body, covered in brown fur.
"You'd better open up now, or don't bother coming out at all."
The beastman revealed sharp, pale white teeth. It had been watching Lin Ye earlier - among the 25 students, Lin Ye was the weakest one. Originally it planned to familiarize itself with the layout first and make its move later, but the food situation forced it to take risks and act sooner.
It didn't plan to eat Lin Ye immediately, but rather intended to first squeeze out all of Lin Ye's usable value before consuming his body.
Lin Ye was adapting to his new body, which belonged to a third-tier spiritual energy user. What surprised Lin Ye was that this body's physical constitution was only slightly inferior to his original body.
This was astonishing, considering Lin Ye's original body had been enhanced by God's Blood.
The knocking grew more urgent. Lin Ye attempted to attack the beastman through the door, but the doors and walls here had the effect of blocking mental energy.
Lin Ye could only open the door, then use a backstab compressed spiritual energy blade against the beastman.
Just as the beastman was about to punch Lin Ye's head, it detected the attack coming from behind. At first it planned to tank the hit, but its sharp intuition warned that this attack couldn't be taken head-on.
So the beastman used spiritual energy protection while sidestepping half a step to the left.
The compressed spiritual energy blade pierced through the beastman's side ribs. The violent spiritual energy tore through the beastman's skin, and blood gushed out.
Lin Ye manipulated the blood to mix with spiritual energy, forming a spiritual energy blood blade that stabbed into the beastman's internal organs. But just as this attack was about to erupt, his control over the spiritual energy blood blade was cut off. The uncontrolled spiritual energy blood blade instantly collapsed, turning back into blood and spiritual energy.
Simultaneously, a line of text appeared before Lin Ye's eyes.
【Students are prohibited from killing each other】
"So as long as I don't kill it, that's fine?"
Lin Ye didn't want to eat humanoid creatures, but he could trade the beastman's limbs and organs with other students for normal food.
He believed many students wouldn't mind nutrient-rich beastman flesh and blood.
【Dismembering and trading students' body parts is prohibited】
"Fine, consider yourself lucky."
Lin Ye closed the door, ignoring the beastman crouching defensively on the ground, and walked along the residential area corridor toward the circular corridor.
The beastman suddenly leaped up and charged at Lin Ye's back. It couldn't accept losing to a weak human.
Lin Ye didn't turn around. A sharp blood blade shredded the beastman's chest. This time the Tower gave no warning, because Lin Ye wasn't the one initiating the attack.
But Lin Ye could sense that some force was controlling the beastman's injuries - it hadn't been killed by Lin Ye's stabbing.
The inability to kill students was one of the Tower's rules.
Lin Ye didn't rob other students like the beastman had attempted. That fourth-tier beastman had actually detected Lin Ye's attack - the students here all had some capabilities.
Of course, even if that weren't the case, Lin Ye wouldn't rob others without reason. He wasn't a beast.
Some students peeked out from their dorm rooms. They had noticed the earlier conflict, but none had emerged from their rooms.
After leaving the residential area, Lin Ye walked briskly along the circular corridor and soon found the rest area.
The rest area included the cafeteria, supermarket, activity room, and other facilities. Lin Ye entered the supermarket and discovered that shopping here required spending a currency called Tower Points.
Not just the supermarket - Tower Points were the Tower's universal currency, required in many places.
There were no staff in the supermarket. Lin Ye tried touching goods on the shelves, but a barrier blocked his touch while a line of text appeared before his eyes.
【Insufficient Tower Points】
"How do I obtain Tower Points?"
【Learn knowledge in the classroom】
"Thanks. Can you tell me all the rules here?"
Lin Ye tried asking, but received no response.
"Fine."
Lin Ye left the rest area and soon found the teaching area along the circular corridor.
The teaching area had many empty classrooms, all completely vacant.
Some students were gathered near the assessment rooms instead.
When Lin Ye tried to open a classroom door, a barrier prevented his action.
【Please go to the assessment room to take the test first】
'Tests before even studying?'
Lin Ye didn't know the purpose of these "assessments." If they were entrance exams for students, then he was at a disadvantage.
After all, he didn't even know what would be tested.
Many students had gathered outside the assessment rooms. Like other areas, the Tower had numerous assessment rooms. They weren't queuing up to take tests, but rather waiting for the first guinea pig to undergo assessment.
After Lin Ye arrived, some students grew restless, wanting the seemingly weak Lin Ye to voluntarily be the first to take the assessment. Other students avoided his gaze.
After all, the commotion caused by that beastman earlier hadn't been small.
Lin Ye certainly wouldn't be the first to go in. It wasn't that he wanted other students to tell him the test questions, but rather he wanted to know what penalties would result from failing the assessment.
So Lin Ye scanned his surroundings and found a student who had been staring at him earlier.
"Why are you looking at me?"
Lin Ye demanded.
"...I want to invite you to eat."
That student took out a bag of biscuits and handed it to Lin Ye.
"Thanks."
Lin Ye continued looking around.
This time, no students were looking at him.
The students present weren't fools. Lin Ye's brazen behavior made them hesitant to make any rash moves.
Lin Ye shook the biscuits in his hand. This amount of biscuits would only last him one meal, and there was no mineral water.
"Waiting like this isn't solving anything. Even if everyone has food reserves, we can't waste time here meaninglessly. After all, time is limited, and the slots to enter this place aren't cheap."
A female student with a single horn on her head spoke up.
"Then you go in first, and after you come out, tell me what was tested. I'll go in second."
A bald old man with wrinkled skin sneered maliciously.
As he spoke, things that looked like insects continuously squirmed beneath his epidermis.