Chapter 292: Necromantic Meditation (2)
Chapter 292: Necromantic Meditation (2)
Xiao Lin spent two days in distress. Had he not stayed in the room while resting and waiting for Song Junlang to deal with things, Xiao Lin might have given up on the necromantic meditation technique.
He also understood why the course was not offered in the entire four years of study. Instead, it was only placed in the library for interested students to borrow, and even then, there were few who actually borrowed it to study.
Since Xiao Lin's mindset was to pass the time, he felt that he should continue trying harder. The first thing he did was search for anything relevant on the forum. Since he had a pass to attend whatever class he wanted, he could read the curriculum schedules of other grades as he pleased. It was a pity that his search came up empty.
He then went off to the library again, but rather than look for books, he hunted down notes. Like the example of the improved Flame Bomb, he knew very well that many a learner's own notes for spells were much more important.
Unfortunately, there were relatively few books on necromancy in the library, while similar notebooks were entirely absent. The relevant books were almost all translations. Perhaps the relevant learning materials could be found in other colleges, but for the time being, he had hit a dead end.
What annoyed him even more was the fact that his Academic Genius talent had no effect if he could not even get past the threshold to get started. As for Replication, he did not know anyone in Dawn Academy who could use necromancy.
He even asked Lu Renjia, the third-year who made the Holy Soul Sword for him, to no avail. The Holy Soul Sword did have the essence of necromancy-type weapons to some extent, but it was still an ordinary weapon. Lu Renjia had simply gotten lucky when he obtained the item containing the swordsman's soul. In fact, he knew very little about the undead.
After racking his brain and trying various methods, Xiao Lin had no choice but to go back to square one. However, an unorthodox idea suddenly popped up in his mind.
He directly entered his meditation world as he did previously, but rather than slowly cut off each element one by one, he attempted to make all the stars disappear in a short time without leaving the meditation world. The end result would simply be an empty universe.
His means of achieving that were also very simple, which was to meditate in his Miracle state. Xiao Lin was actually a bit hesitant because the Miracle state lasted for a limited time while the meditation time was relatively long, though he eventually decided to at least give it a try.
In his Miracle state, he converted all attributes into intelligence so his mental strength could increase markedly. His control over the elements would be enhanced as well, although he had some misgivings over whether that enhanced control would allow him to sever his connection with the stars in one fell swoop.
Xiao Lin's perception had once again turned clear inside that galactic world. He could even vaguely distinguish the temperature of the tumbling flames on the surface of the stars, though it was still not very clear to him.
In addition to improving his perception, mediating in the Miracle state brought about a clear enhancement of control. He could easily control the movement trajectory of more than a dozen stars. Being unaccustomed to everything made things a little laborious, but he was barely able to completely disconnect himself from the meditation world.
"Progress!"
Xiao Lin was quite satisfied with that result. After exiting the meditation world, he felt hungry and went straight to the cafeteria on the top floor. Although there was still some time to go before class ended at noon, he was surprised to meet a few acquaintances there.
Cheng Ming was quite happy to see Xiao Lin. He waved and came over at once, and although the other monitors did not seem too keen on doing so, they came out of their own will after giving it a little thought. The group then directly sat together on a table.
Everyone was officially appointed monitor after the third monthly exam, though the group became much closer instead of breaking apart. Problems in command were glaring during the monthly exam, and after the subsequent assessment, many people had actually gotten a low rating for their commanding ability. As a result, everyone felt that it was good to get together and strike up good relationships with each other. At the very least, chaos stemming from command issues could be prevented should there be another joint operation in the future.
As everyone gradually warmed up to each other, their conversation topics gradually expanded and were no longer limited to daily courses. For example, they talked about how the Sichuan dishes served that day did not taste authentic at all. Xiao Lin actually knew why that was the case: although Song Junlang's diet therapy experiments were banned, it was the job of the logistics department to provide food for the cafeteria. Based on that guy's character, the dish could have tasted strange simply because some special meat had been added into it.
Xiao Lin did not have to explain that reason to everyone else though. After all, he had experienced everything thoroughly, or rather, he had endured so many poisons that his body had built up an immunity and he had gotten used to it.
"I heard that someone placed a huge bet on Xiao Lin two days ago," Sheng Guo, Class Eight's monitor, said. He probably brought that up on purpose since Xiao Lin happened to be there.
"I saw that too. Someone betted thousands of redemption points."
They watched as Xiao Lin ate with relish and seemed as though they wanted to say something. A few of them had witnessed the freakish incident in the training hall some days ago, though they were later told that Xiao Lin had suffered from sudden physical discomfort and could only rest in the dormitory for the next couple of days.
Nevertheless, they were not idiots, and it was inevitable that they would still remain puzzled even after mulling over the odd occurrence. The betting pool on the forum was also increasing day by day, and it had accumulated a considerable number up until then. Even so, few would bet on the monitors who ranked last, and those who really wanted to bet big would often choose the more promising mid-range candidates.
A couple thousand points was not that big a sum, but it was hard not to be curious if those bets were placed on Xiao Lin. Sheng Guo seemed to be as simple and straightforward as Cheng Ming, but the third exam showed everyone that he was actually a very shrewd man.
Sheng Guo was the first to question. Although he did not expect any reply and Xiao Lin looked absolutely surprised, Sheng Guo finished his food and said half-jokingly, "Maybe Xiao Lin is the real big boss and he's just hiding his strength. I'm going to have to think long and hard about how I'm going to bet once I head back."
Sheng Guo's strength was considered mid-tier among the monitors, as he was neither in the upper half of the lower half of the rankings. He was shrewd enough not to plan on betting anything in the beginning, but instead, inquired from other people in order to try and find the most profitable candidate to place his bets on.
Xiao Lin smiled and said, "Sure, I just so happen to have some redemption points, so I think I'll go back and just bet on myself. Self-consolation, I guess. "
The rest all smiled. Redemption points were precious to them, and Xiao Lin actually left everyone feeling skeptical because of how readily he made that statement.
Xiao Lin was a little worried after returning to the dormitory. He was unpopular, but if the odds dropped due to an increased number of people betting on him, the money he and Song Junlang could make would also decrease.
"I hope Department Head Song comes back soon!" Xiao Lin sighed. Taking into account the casinos in the New World, Xiao Lin was forced to temporarily conceal his strength and delay the student union's verification until Song Junlang came back.