224: Report immediately

"Go and take your assessment properly; don't let pointless socializing drain your energy."

At the same time, a faint voice echoed in Zhang Huaiyuan's ear.

"This student understands."

He bowed toward the passage and apologized to the crowd that had been swept aside.

After a brief thought, he walked toward the passage marked "Tower of All Things."

Zhang Huaiyuan was very clear-headed.

If not for True Sight, given his actual level, he would have earned 37-38 credits at most, even in his strongest subject, Virtual Technology.

As for other subjects, even the ones he excelled at had only just reached the threshold of level 3 rules.

Of course, this was due to a lack of resources.

Once he joined the Association, he was confident he would live up to the reputation of a peerless genius in a very short time.

For now, however, he still had to choose assessments he was certain of passing.

Soon, his figure disappeared into the passage.

The woman in plain clothes nearby thought for a moment and followed him.

"Seventh Sister, where are you going?"

The Fifth Prince hurriedly called out to stop her.

He had just seen a big shot from the Virtual Tower speak personally; it would be disastrous if they took their anger out on his sister and kicked her out.

"I'm going for my assessment, Brother."

The woman blinked and said in surprise.

"Uh... right. Then go ahead. Good luck, and don't forget... ahem, you know."

The Fifth Prince then realized his sister was also a top genius, so it was perfectly normal for her to take the assessment, and the big shots of the Virtual Tower had no reason to stop her. He gave a sheepish laugh and winked at her.

On the other side.

Zhang Huaiyuan cautiously emerged from the passage.

This time, however, everything was normal.

An examiner wearing an Intermediate Scholar badge stood not far away at the entrance of a tower fifty stories high.

"Zhang... Zhang Huaiyuan?"

Just as he was about to step forward, a crisp voice came from behind.

Looking back, he saw a woman in plain clothes walking toward him gracefully. Her long hair fluttered, revealing a pair of exceptionally bright eyes.

"Are you calling for me, Miss? May I ask what you wish to discuss?"

Zhang Huaiyuan spoke with some surprise.

He recognized her as the only genius who had reached level 39 during the test. Excluding the help of True Sight and his abilities, her actual level should be significantly higher than his own.

"My name is Fang Qingran, the Seventh Princess of the Silver Splendor Empire. Did you really pass the 45th-floor assessment of the Virtual Tower?"

The woman asked with a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

"So it is Her Highness the Seventh Princess."

Zhang Huaiyuan returned the bow and shook his head.

"I'm not sure if it counts. It seems the assessment I encountered was somewhat different from usual. Besides, I was just lucky to encounter something I'm relatively good at."

"I see..."

The Seventh Princess's eyes shifted slightly as she reached out and took out a palm-sized square box.

"This is a virtual cage I made myself, but for some reason, it starts to become unstable after at most an hour. Would you mind taking a look at it, Mr. Zhang Huaiyuan?"

"Hmm?"

Zhang Huaiyuan's gaze instinctively swept over it, and his brows furrowed slightly.

This was an artifact involving level 4 rules.

However, under the scan of True Sight, the overall structure was intact; only the connection programs in a few places had issues after being modified. It wasn't a complex problem.

Since they were both humans and she was someone with status and potential, he didn't mind helping with such a small favor.

Having made up his mind, he took out a storage disk, silently uploaded several modified programs, and said calmly:

"Just change the data in a few connection zones. I've marked them all inside, Seventh Princess."

"So fast?"

The Seventh Princess was stunned. She took the storage disk and gave it a cursory glance.

She wasn't very skilled in Virtual Technology and couldn't understand much of it, but from its composition, she could tell it definitely wasn't a random modification.

It seemed he truly was capable.

The corners of the Seventh Princess's mouth curled up slightly, and her somewhat skeptical gaze softened. She gave a light chuckle and said:

"Thank you, Mr. Zhang Huaiyuan. You can just call me by my name or Qingran. In the academic world, we don't care much for such titles."

"You're welcome, it was no trouble. I'm going to take my assessment."

Zhang Huaiyuan waved his hand and walked straight to the examiner in front of the tower.

"Mr. Scholar, this student is here for the assessment."

The examiner seemed to be researching something, staring intently at a piece of liquid metal in his hand. Without looking back, he simply pointed to a notice nearby.

The assessment rules for the Tower of All Things were written on it:

"Enter the replica Tower of All Things. On each floor, there will be a material with a special structure. Observe it and successfully replicate more than 90% of it to proceed to the next floor."

"Each floor passed grants one credit."

"Just as I thought."

Zhang Huaiyuan took a look and felt relieved.

The Tower of All Things mainly tested Material Science, and with the help of True Sight, he could easily analyze those complex materials.

Unlike the crowded setting he had imagined, upon entering the tower, he was automatically teleported to a well-equipped, independent laboratory.

"Makes sense... the research process requires a sufficiently quiet environment."

After briefly familiarizing himself with the equipment, Zhang Huaiyuan looked toward the center.

A fist-sized, pale red stone was placed there, clearly the material that needed to be analyzed and replicated.

True Sight was activated simultaneously.

Instantly, the entire structure of the stone was manifested clearly in his eyes.

"It always feels like cheating."

Zhang Huaiyuan chuckled and began to replicate it synchronously according to the structure of every microscopic particle.

Just two hours later, a stone identical in every way except for its size appeared before him.

"Done."

With a thought, he placed the replicated stone on the nearby testing platform.

A mechanized voice rang out:

"Similarity 99.99%. Assessment passed. To leave, enter the left teleportation array; to proceed to the next floor, enter the right teleportation array."

"The next floor, of course."

Zhang Huaiyuan walked toward the right without hesitation.

Under the effect of True Sight, these Material Science assessments were even simpler than those of the Virtual Tower.

Second floor... third floor... tenth floor... he broke through at an astonishing speed all the way, quickly reaching above the 40th floor.

At this moment, an alarm suddenly sounded in the ear of the examiner who was engrossed in research at the entrance. His expression changed instantly, and he hurriedly looked up at the tower.

"A notification triggered automatically at the 40th floor? Another peerless genius has appeared? Let me see who it is..."

"Hmm... Zhang Huaiyuan... Looking at the records, hasn't this kid been in there for less than a month..."

The examiner rubbed his eyes in disbelief, then rubbed them again.

"This won't do! I must report this immediately!"

...