Chapter 303: Metallic Biology
Lin Ye had a dream, a very long dream.
In the dream, he transformed into a red fish, swimming in the crimson depths of the sea.
The deep sea was extremely quiet, as if the entire world contained no life except for him.
At the end of the dream, he gradually merged into that deep sea, becoming part of it.
Only then did he realize that this deep sea was actually a living creature.
"Damn! What the hell is that!"
Lin Ye jolted awake abruptly. If not for his connection to the divine seat, his consciousness would have completely vanished just now.
"Are all the textbooks here this dangerous? Is anyone responsible if something happens? Doesn't the education bureau regulate this?"
Lin Ye couldn't help but exclaim loudly.
"This is exactly why I told you to learn techniques for suppressing God's Blood, rather than techniques for controlling it. Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't even be able to ask questions of this difficulty level. Who told you to get excellent evaluations every time?" The young girl's voice echoed in Lin Ye's ears.
"Thanks, was it you who pulled me back just now?"
The divine seat could only maintain his consciousness from completely disappearing, but the force that pulled him back was another power entirely.
"This place is quite special, which is why I could interfere with your dream. If it were any other dream realm, you'd better not place your hopes on me."
The young girl spoke seriously.
"I understand... So you don't need excellent evaluations to gain questioning privileges either, there are just restrictions on the tier of questions."
Lin Ye had thought there were only two evaluations here: excellent and garbage.
"Correct. When you ask questions of this difficulty level, the Tower can only provide these dangerous answers. If your previous question had been approved, even I couldn't have saved you then."
At that time, the young girl had considered forcibly ending the dream.
"Alright, it's my fault for being too outstanding."
Lin Ye couldn't blame the Tower—it had merely provided the answers he requested.
"Since you've already made contact with that textbook, I can help you move it back to the Shelter. Researching it there won't be as dangerous... Now that you've achieved your objective, this dream can end."
The young girl quickened her speech pace, attempting to conclude the dream.
"Wait a moment, I haven't used up all my Tower Points yet."
Lin Ye didn't want to return just like that.
"There's no hurry to use Tower Points. This is just the Tower's basic floors. You've already completed basic education. Next time, you can directly access deeper floors—that's where you should use your points."
The young girl seemed very familiar with this place.
"...You seem reluctant to let me complete the basic combat level. Is there something wrong with that stage?"
Lin Ye had thought the level was just poorly designed by someone with issues, but it appeared the problems extended beyond that.
"...I won't stop you from doing anything, because my judgment isn't necessarily correct. For instance, regarding the Gray World relic incident earlier, I thought it was too risky. So whether you go or not is your decision. All I can say is that level is extremely troublesome, even more so now than before."
After saying this, the young girl's voice vanished.
"Fine, I'll try one more time. If I fail, I'll give up."
Lin Ye picked up the textbook and headed toward the Combat Guidance Classroom.
When he left his seat, the textbook didn't disappear.
Before entering the simulation pod, Lin Ye rested for a while, waiting until his mental energy fully recovered before entering the pod and putting on the helmet.
A few seconds later, Lin Ye found himself back in that metal room. This time, he quickly climbed into the interstitial space and began sprinting madly in a specific direction.
While running, Lin Ye carved runes on his lower body—these runes could slow down the Alienation speed inflicted by the rune array.
Last time, the rune array had affected his Alienation speed. This influence was mutual, though the rune array was more stable and thus less affected.
But Lin Ye could quickly carve numerous different runes to amplify this effect.
Lin Ye would also return to the metal corridor through damaged sections, which helped reduce his body's Alienation level.
Yet both sides were dangerous—either getting impaled by Spikes or having his body Alienated, becoming part of the interstitial layer.
Unless Lin Ye could pinpoint the Spikes' locations.
'They should be arriving soon.'
Lin Ye climbed into the interstitial space just as a Spike approached from the distance, passing through the corridor below.
Only now did Lin Ye have time to observe the Spike's full appearance—it was a smooth metal spike, connected behind to a metal cable that extended to who-knows-where.
'It seems my guess was correct. These gaps were created by the Spikes. The rune array in the interstitial layer has Alienated both the metal interlayer and something related to the Red Sea into some kind of Alien Creature that grows numerous Spikes. So as long as I remember the gap locations and combine them with the Spike movement data from the previous two simulations, I can roughly deduce the Spikes' movement patterns.'
These movement patterns weren't precise, but Lin Ye could use probability to select remote locations to reduce his Alienation level.
During this mitigation process, Lin Ye also used the red pigment from the stagnant water to modify his Alienated bodily structures. This not only slowed the Alienation speed but also gradually adapted his body to the rune array's Alienation effects.
Lin Ye continued advancing by constantly switching between upper and lower layers. He had decent luck, never encountering any wandering Spikes.
'So how exactly do I clear this basic combat level? Do I need to escape? Or deal with the interstitial monster?'
Lin Ye ran through the interstitial space for a long time without finding any clear clearance clues. This space was filled everywhere with metal corridors, ridiculously large.
'If I can't find clearance clues, I'll have to check out where that interstitial monster was born.'
Lin Ye could deduce the interstitial monster's birthplace based on the Spike distribution patterns. He sensed that place should contain clearance information.
'I hope that monster has already left.'
Lin Ye moved toward a specific location at the center of the interstitial space. Before long, he found the spot, where a half-dead small metal creature lay motionless.
The metal creature clearly noticed Lin Ye approaching, but it didn't move or attack him.
'What does this mean? Does it want me to go over and deal with it?'
Lin Ye felt this metal creature before him was more dangerous than the Spikes—this was something he absolutely couldn't handle.
'Huh, there's a gap over there.'
Lin Ye discovered a gap near the metal creature. Below the gap wasn't a metal corridor.
'Does it want me to jump in?'
Seeing the metal creature showed no intention of moving, Lin Ye quickly walked to the gap's edge. The interior was pitch black, completely obscuring what lay inside. Mental energy couldn't probe the gap's interior either.
The rune array covered the area above the gap—this seemed to be the rune array's core section.
Lin Ye sensed the rune array's structure and tentatively extended a finger into the gap.
As his finger passed through the rune array, that finger rapidly Alienated into a tiny finger person, which instantly scurried deep into the gap in the blink of an eye.