Chapter Thirty-Three: Examination Rewards

Two months slipped by in the blink of an eye, fleeting as a white colt dashing past a crack. Even though martial arts in this era had been refined and optimized over countless years, mastery was still not something achievable in a mere two months. Even someone like Feng Xue, who had grasped the essence of devouring, had only managed, by virtue of his formidable physique, to reach the level of Bright Force. Relying on the vibrational secrets of Ripple Energy, he had barely touched the threshold of Dark Force.

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“Xia Mi, where have you been these past two months?” One day, as usual, Feng Xue entered the classroom, only to find Xia Mi, whom he hadn’t seen in ages, sitting at his desk, his face brimming with excitement. Feng Xue couldn’t help but walk over and ask.

“Shh—” Xia Mi raised his index finger to his lips, making a silencing gesture. “I’ve got some inside information.”

“Huh?” Feng Xue paused in surprise. “Isn’t the choice of world for the graduation exam supposed to be top secret?”

“Of course I know that. I’m not talking about the exam questions, but about the exam rewards!” Xia Mi wore the look of someone who’d just stolen a hen—clearly, the reward this time was no small matter.

Anyone who received an excellent evaluation in the graduation exam was awarded a prize, which was typically an entry ticket to a rare world, or the transplantation of special organs such as a magic circuit. Not to mention rewards that couldn’t even be found on the exchange list, even those that could be redeemed for credits were high-tier items worth tens of thousands of credits at the very least.

Now Feng Xue’s interest was piqued. “Let’s hear it!”

“Last month, the teacher of Wang Da Chui’s group captured a batch of Digital World realms!” Xia Mi announced mischievously, but to his dismay, Feng Xue’s expression remained unexcited.

“You’re not thrilled?”

“Why should I be?” Feng Xue was genuinely puzzled. What was so special about the Digital World? Even in the fourth season, where Digi-Armor allowed humans to become Digimon, it was still just an external tool. As for things like the Spirit of the Warrior, Feng Xue really didn’t think they were suitable for just anyone.

“Uh?” This reminded Xia Mi that, like himself, Feng Xue was a special recruit, not some scion of a great family, and therefore wouldn’t be privy to these kinds of secrets. He quickly explained, “First, the Digital World’s flow of time is unique. Since it’s a data world, the ratio between the Digital World and its corresponding real world is 1:1440. That means one minute in the real world is a whole day in the Digital World, and most importantly, time spent there doesn’t consume one’s bone age. In other words, in just one second of real time, we could train for four years in that world, but the cost in bone age is only a single day.”

“Oh, I see!” Feng Xue nodded, though without much enthusiasm. This was excellent news for martial artists and cultivators like Xia Mi, but for Feng Xue, the Digital World had no delicious food to offer; no matter how much time he had, he wouldn’t gain much from it.

Xia Mi could tell Feng Xue wasn’t interested in the time aspect, so he pressed on. “That’s just for ordinary transmigrators. For cultivators like us, who possess avatars or manifestations, there’s an even deeper significance!”

“Oh?” Now Feng Xue was intrigued. So-called avatar-type cultivators included those with Gourmet Demons, Stand Users’ Stands, Avatar Warriors’ avatars, Demihumans’ shadows, even things like Martial Will and the card spirits from Duel Monsters. Not to mention Xia Mi’s own Qiu Niu avatar, cultivated through the Dormant Dragon Technique. The hallmark of these abilities was that the avatar operated independently of the main cultivation system, providing a boost to the user while possessing its own unique power.

“When transmigrators with avatars enter the Digital World, their identity isn’t human, but Digimon. The avatar holder starts from a Digi-Egg and evolves step by step. The avatar’s power gradually manifests, and each Digivolution is like making a choice. Through these choices, avatar holders can familiarize themselves with their avatar’s abilities, preview its evolutionary path, and even avoid many erroneous routes. Most importantly, Digimon typically embody certain concepts, and because the reincarnated Digimon is aligned with the avatar’s nature, these concepts are absorbed by the avatar as well. When the transmigration ends, the conceptual power merges into the avatar, and depending on the grade of the concept, even the weakest could elevate the avatar’s potential by an entire tier.”

“You could have just said that from the start!” Feng Xue gave Xia Mi a hearty slap on the shoulder. “If you’ve got more inside info, spill it. Oh, and what did you mean by ‘a batch’? Worlds can be captured in batches now?”

So-called world capture was achieved through the domain abilities of legendary or higher-level transmigrators, bypassing the world gates to enter subspace and forcibly pull a world—constantly shifting and cycling—into real space. The price: that world becomes a disposable world. Once the story concludes, it continues to develop on its own, just like the real world. But for legendary transmigrators, this is the true goal. When a world’s narrative vanishes and its cyclical nature is lost, it’s no longer subject to forced cycles by the domain, and only then can it be assimilated as a floating continent.

As for using them as rewards, that’s just a side benefit.

But a world is still a world. Usually, capturing one requires several legendary transmigrators working together—hardly something you could mass-produce.

“The Digital World is different from other worlds,” Xia Mi explained. “Except for the first and second seasons, which share a timeline, the others are parallel universes. Yet, these worlds are interconnected. For example, the sixth series links to any other, since all the previous protagonists appear in it. The third series connects to the first through the movie, where Omegamon pursues Mephismon, who was born from residual data of Apocalymon, into the third world. And since Ryo Akiyama appears in the third series, you can trace through almost every novel, manga, and game. In other words, capturing any single Digital World lets you unravel the entire franchise.”

Feng Xue nodded in understanding after Xia Mi’s explanation. It was indeed impressive, but earning an excellent evaluation was no easy feat—so, the problem circled back to the original point.

“Wait, you’ve advanced to the Extraordinary level as well?” Only now did Feng Xue notice that Xia Mi, missing for two months, had also reached the extraordinary tier.

“Of course. I’m counting on this graduation exam for my advancement! If my Dormant Dragon Technique reaches perfection and I still get held back, Old Wang will eat me alive!” Xia Mi shuddered at the thought. Feng Xue nodded in agreement; despite his unimpressive name and honest demeanor, Wang Da Chui could intimidate even the grade director when he lost his temper! Perhaps it was true what they said—beware the fury of a gentle man.