Charles didn’t stay in the café for too long. He had nothing more to do now but wait for news from Zachary and Camilla.
If all went well, this bounty task would be completed soon.
Two pieces of rare orange-quality metal materials would definitely elevate the quality of the “black gold long knife” to orange quality, and at that point, Charles’s strength would see a significant boost!
Lost in thought, Charles returned to his dormitory.
He didn’t want to involve Celestine any further in the missing children cases.
In the face of unknown dangers, his best option was to seek help, perhaps from Dean Jamie.
However, there was a prerequisite: Charles needed to present some evidence. Otherwise, without proof, no one would believe him.
Even if he asked Jamie for help, the speed would be about the same as now.
Once Zachary and Camilla sent over the information, Charles would be able to analyze the addresses of each missing person’s case and pinpoint the likely location of the forces behind it on the map!
Since it was an organized and premeditated event, certain characteristics unique to “humans” would inevitably emerge. As long as it wasn’t completely random, there would be patterns to discover and clues to follow!
Charles rubbed his temples, he had done a lot of thinking today, and his brain was starting to feel tired.
Since he didn’t have to go to Colton’s place to study alchemy tonight and there was still plenty of time before bed, Charles wanted to unwind.
He stood up and walked out of the dormitory, finding himself in front of the Trial Tower.
As soon as he appeared, he was surrounded by onlookers. The students stared at Charles while pulling out their phones to make calls: “Hurry, hurry! Don’t meet your girlfriend—Charles is here!”
“Charles is here? Where?”
“At the Trial Tower! It looks like he’s going to challenge it!”
“No way, I can’t miss this! I’m on my way!”
“Are you not on a date?”
“What’s more important, a girlfriend or Charles? That’s a no-brainer! You can find another girlfriend, but missing Charles’s challenge at the Trial Tower would be a real regret!”
The person on the phone was standing a bit too close to Charles, and he could hear their entire conversation.
Not wanting to linger any longer, Charles quickly tried to enter the Trial Tower, only to be stopped by a staff member who said:
“Student Charles, according to the rules of the Trial Tower, you must undergo a test before entering. This is to prevent students with mental fatigue from forcefully attempting the challenge.”
“I hope you understand, Student Charles.”
Charles nodded and, just like last time, placed his palm on the testing crystal.
This action drew another round of gasps: “Here he comes, the legendary person who can make the testing crystal light up halfway is about to perform!”
“I missed it last time and only got to see it on video. It’s amazing to witness it in person this time!”
“But wait, didn’t Charles just challenge it yesterday? Has his mental state recovered?”
“You reminded me! It’s only been a day, and the recovery speed is quite slow. What if Charles can’t challenge the Trial Tower?”
“Exactly! My friend is on his way here. If he can’t do it, he’ll kill me!”
“Shh! Be quiet, the testing crystal is starting to glow.”
No one spoke anymore, everyone fixed their eyes on the crystal under Charles’s palm, afraid that any noise might disrupt him.
Under everyone’s watchful gaze, the testing crystal began to glow slowly, lighting up halfway just like Charles’s first test result!
“Whew! It’s real! I thought the video from yesterday was edited!”
“Awesome! He fully recovered in just one day. How did he do that?”
“Wait, did you all forget? Charles’s alchemy teacher is a master-level alchemist. He must have some miracle drug for mental recovery!”
“Damn, why is there such a huge gap between people! I want a master-level alchemist as my teacher too!”
“The miracle drug for mental recovery is way more precious than an ordinary miracle drug. This Charles is not only a genius, he also has resources!”
Charles ignored the envious voices around him and calmly turned around to enter the Trial Tower.
He didn’t come this time to challenge the fifth level of the Trial Tower, Charles just wanted to gain more insight from the figures on the stone walls to better understand the combat techniques during the battles in the tower.
Moreover, he wanted to try to control the progress of mastering these techniques as much as possible.
After all, Jamie once said that to create the most suitable combat technique, one must control the understanding of existing techniques to a similar level before engaging in a life-and-death battle!
Charles’s current mastery progress of techniques was:
[Unknown Technique (1) in progress, 60%]
[Unknown Technique (2) in progress, 45%]
[Unknown Technique (3) in progress, 25%]
After glancing at the information prompt, he tried to disturb his own mind as much as possible and then focused his gaze on the stone wall to begin his contemplation.
After completing the understanding of one figure.
Charles didn’t get up but continued to sit on the mat, starting to perceive the second figure.
It wasn’t until he finished understanding the third figure that he noticed the speed of his comprehension had slowed down significantly, prompting him to stop.
After resting for a moment, Charles headed straight to the fourth level of the Trial Tower, where he faced a Level 4 Beast Master and a Level 3 Beast Master, beginning his attempt to control the mastery progress of his techniques.
Meanwhile, outside the Trial Tower,
The onlooking students looked at the information on the big screen and began to complain: “What’s going on? After all this time, he’s not even here to challenge the fifth level!”
“This is a waste of my time! I was in the middle of my shower and didn’t even have time to rinse off the soap!”
“Bro, I left my girlfriend on a date to come here. You think your situation is worse than mine?”
“Don’t rush! Have you guys thought about why Charles would challenge the fourth level again if he had already passed it?”
“Are you saying that he has already comprehended the figures on the stone wall? Is he officially starting to master the combat techniques now?”
“Really? That can’t be right. Comprehending the figures on the stone wall usually takes at least three days. How could he finish understanding one figure in just one day?”
“One figure in a day? That’s way too fast! I wouldn’t even dare to dream of that!”
“I don’t believe it. How could anyone be that quick? It took me over a week! I can’t accept this!”
As Charles challenged the fourth level of the Trial Tower, the opinions of the onlooking students varied, with only a few believing that Charles had fully comprehended a figure on the stone wall.
What they didn’t know was that Charles was currently inside the Trial Tower, controlling the mastery progress of his seventh combat technique!
He discovered that as long as he could suppress his body’s instinctive reactions to danger and choose the response he wanted, he could control the progress of mastering the techniques!
However, this process sounded easy but was quite difficult in practice.
Charles had already taken quite a bit of damage, there were several instances where he couldn’t control his instinctive reactions, causing the mastery progress of his top technique, [Unknown Technique (1)], to increase significantly!
Now he was getting better at controlling it, and with a little more time, managing the mastery progress of all his techniques would become a reality!
This would also mean that Charles would have completed half of the creation of his own combat technique!
The rest would require a life-and-death battle, allowing him to create a technique that truly belonged to him!
Ten minutes later, Charles, covered in wounds, resolved the battle.
His mental state was damaged, but not as severely as before, and without the need for a recovery potion, he would be back to normal in a few days.
His current mastery progress of techniques was:
[Unknown Technique (1) in progress, 63%]
[Unknown Technique (2) in progress, 47%]
[Unknown Technique (3) in progress, 30%]
…
[Unknown Technique (6) in progress, 10%]
After glancing at the information prompt, Charles frowned. Indeed, in facing the fourth level of the Trial Tower, the mastery progress of the techniques had slowed down considerably.
If he wanted to quickly increase his progress, he would need to challenge the higher levels of the Trial Tower.
“Maybe I should wait a bit longer. Creating my own techniques is more important. I should fully comprehend enough figures and understand plenty of techniques before controlling their progress and then trying for the fifth level.”
Charles’s mind was still quite clear. He could distinguish what needed to be done in the short term and executed it seriously.
Feeling accomplished, he walked out of the Trial Tower.
Before he could even use his [Darkness Cloak], he was surrounded by students who had been waiting for him.
“Charles, did you finish comprehending the figures on the stone wall?” someone asked.
Charles shook his head and replied, “No, I haven’t finished comprehending the figures on the stone wall.”
The person turned to their companion and said, “See? I told you it wouldn’t be that fast! That speed is just impossible!”
Charles was a bit puzzled, he didn’t know what speed they were referring to.
“Charles, you really didn’t finish comprehending even one figure on the stone wall?” someone asked, unwilling to accept the answer.
Charles thought for a moment. He wanted to keep a low profile, so he directly answered, “Well, I only completed the comprehension of two figures. That shouldn’t be considered fast, right?”
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Everyone went silent. They exchanged glances, then all turned to Charles and asked in unison:
“What did you just say? How many?”
Charles scratched his head. He thought he had already said very little. He replied, “Two figures. Is that a lot?”
“Two figures isn’t a lot?”
“You’re such a freak, it must be fake!”
“Charles, you must be joking. That’s not funny!”
Charles felt a bit regretful. If he had known, he would have just said one. He looked at the growing crowd and pointed behind him, shouting, “Dean! What are you doing here too?”