Era of Mist

’No, this can’t be an illusion.’ Shi Tiexin carefully sensed it. His energy restoration, stamina recovery, and even the natural healing speed of minor injuries had indeed increased. If he were to quantify it, the increase was about a quarter. If his previous rate was 1.0, it was now 1.25—a direct increase of twenty-five percent!

This was a huge increase. He remembered all the supplementary secret manuals he had obtained; aside from their additional attributes, the amplification speed for their basic effects were all capped at twenty percent. Not a single one had gone higher. Twenty-five percent was an astonishing speed.

’What is going on?!’

’Such a huge surprise first thing in the morning?’

But the surprise wasn’t over. It had only just begun.

Shi Tiexin was still reeling from the pleasant surprise of his increased recovery rate when his vision suddenly, without any warning, lit up with a familiar interface. Aside from the already perfected "Basic Mathematics: Tier I" and the nearly perfect "Basic Rhetoric: Tier I," the progress bars for the other four subjects appeared simultaneously for the first time ever.

From top to bottom, four progress bars lined up neatly, their layout and format perfectly uniform. But their lengths varied, which irked his perfectionist-OCD tendencies. He really wanted to make them all even. The shortest was Basic Chemistry, with only a pitiful twelve notches. The longest was Natural History with ninety-six notches—but it was at the "Excellent" rank.

’Damn, an ’Excellent’ mixed in with a whole bunch of ’Profound’ ones! This lineup is so unbalanced, so jarring to look at!’

’Nope, I have to find a way to save Natural History and let it catch up with the other kids!’

Just as Shi Tiexin was scowling at Natural History’s "Excellent" rank, he saw a familiar star suddenly fly over. SMACK! It slammed into the Natural History progress bar, causing it to rise by a sliver.

’Huh?’

Before Shi Tiexin could even react, he realized that the shooting star was just the vanguard; the main army was right behind it. From the right side of his vision, a torrent of stars suddenly flew out—WHOOSH! CRACKLE! POP!—and slammed into the progress bars on the left.

The stars were like a machine gun turret, strafing up and down. RAT-TAT-TAT! All four progress bars on the left were hit; not a single one was spared. Natural History took the most hits. The strafing had barely begun when its progress bar lit up—SHING!—and the word "Profound" instantly shattered "Excellent."

’See, all of them ’Profound’ from top to bottom. Now that looks good. A family should always be neat and tidy. So satisfying, so satisfying.’

After they all uniformly turned "Profound," the progress of each subject began to change differently. This time, Natural History was in last place, while Biology was leading the pack.

’Wait... why is Biology in the lead? I thought my talent for Physics was supposed to be higher!’

’Perhaps interest really is the best teacher...’

The machine gun strafing lasted for quite a while before finally stopping. In total, about seventy stars had burst forth this time. After they all ascended to the Profound Realm, every single star was golden, and each one’s impact on a progress bar was earth-shaking. It was as if the machine-gun-like fire rate was launching actual cannonballs. The sight was truly breathtaking.

When the smoke cleared, the four progress bars stabilized. Each had risen by about a dozen or so notches—Natural History was still the shortest, and Biology was still the longest. ’Uh, wait a minute, wait a minute. Looking closer, Biology hasn’t just maintained its lead, it’s extending it!’

’Look, the gap between the length of Biology’s bar and second-place Physics hasn’t just not shrunk, it’s gotten bigger! It’s past the halfway point now, pushing past sixty. It’s truly in a league of its own!’

While watching this stream of stars, Shi Tiexin hadn’t been idle; he figured it out in a flash. This string of stars hadn’t appeared for no reason. The dream he had last night hadn’t faded upon waking but was instead imprinted with perfect clarity in his mind.

A single night’s dream felt as if he had already gone through a long period of arduous study and training. Every practice problem, every discussion, every piece of guidance had settled deep within his brain. These stars were the manifestation of that special, dream-based training, and they truly reflected the extent of the improvement in Shi Tiexin’s cultivation level.

"It’s the Champion Scholar Stone!"

Shi Tiexin was absolutely certain. The content of his dreams was incredibly familiar; it couldn’t be anything else but the Champion Scholar Stone! Shi Tiexin truly hadn’t expected that even after crossing possibilities and being separated by world lines, the Champion Scholar Stone could still remotely boost his score!

And the speed of this boost was even faster than before.

’Speaking of which, the Champion Scholar Stone is also leveling up Biology the fastest. Should I say, "as expected of myself"...?’

Before, he would study diligently from six in the morning to twelve at night. Excluding meals and practicing force arts, he spent nearly fourteen or fifteen hours a day buried in his books. Back then, the progress for Profound-level Mathematics was only about thirty stars. Now, after just about eight hours of sleep, he had gained around seventy stars of progress. The difference in efficiency was earth-shattering.

’Why didn’t something this good ever happen before?’

’Why is it that now, separated on opposite sides of a world line, my enlightenment is even faster?’

Shi Tiexin thought it over and over, and suddenly the most likely answer popped into his head—because of the Mandate Mission.

The first time he was carried by an expert was after beating up "Piss-Soaked Chicken Feet." At that time, a string of wind chime sounds had made him feel exceptionally comfortable, but he couldn’t pinpoint any specific effect, so he hadn’t paid it much mind. Thinking back now, it was precisely because he had completed stage one of the mission that his learning had taken off like a race car.

After seeing that diagram and understanding his relationship with the Champion Scholar Stone, his cultivation speed had increased slightly again.

And after completing stage two of the mission, which was achieving joint first place in the school-wide unified math exam, his cultivation speed had indeed improved further. It was just that at the time, Shi Tiexin’s cultivation focus was on Rhetoric, and the Champion Scholar Stone itself wasn’t particularly skilled in Rhetoric, so the effect wasn’t very obvious.

But thinking back on it now, he had only used spare moments to study other subjects at that time, yet he had already achieved three Profound ranks and one near-Profound. Based on his initial speed, progressing that quickly would have been impossible. This proved that the completion of the Mandate Mission was indeed directly related to his cultivation speed.

To be precise, it was related to the speed at which the Champion Scholar Stone "dissolved" and transferred its knowledge to Shi Tiexin. If the Champion Scholar Stone’s level wasn’t high enough to carry him, then this kind of "infusion" wouldn’t work, as was the case with Rhetoric. But in reality, the Champion Scholar Stone crushed Old Tie in practically every subject, so the carrying effect was remarkably significant.

’The benefits of completing the Mandate Mission are just too great! If I’d known how good it was, I never would have let Teng Chaobiao off so easily. I’d have beaten him until he was on his knees calling me Daddy on the very first day!’

It wasn’t too late now. Mandate Mission One was now completely finished.

Looking at the skyrocketing progress bars, Shi Tiexin suddenly broke into a smile. ’The qualification for the lesser provincial exam... this time, it’s in the bag.’

’No, it’s not just about securing a spot. This time, I’m going to make a huge splash at the lesser provincial exam!’