"Meet directly in front of the experiment building tomorrow morning after breakfast, remember that the meeting time is 7:30."
After the Spiritual Energy Technique had been imparted, Zhao Jingzhong reminded them, then had them put away their crystal bodies, and led them out of the experiment building.
The other trainees also filed out, visibly excited, with some even attempting to use "Cloth" and "Lock", though they often ended up just turning their faces red with the effort.
"You all got it, right?" Yuan Dang asked.
"Of course, we got it." Xie Qiansi said, "Direct understanding, no need for verbal instruction, awesome! This is the learning method of cultivators!"
Another trainee from Squad Eight said, "I initially thought we'd be learning some metaphysical methodologies, like the divine treasury or the mysterious female's gate or something. My classical Chinese is not so good... I didn't expect it to be direct knowledge transfer."
"If we had this method back when we were in school, we wouldn't have needed to waste so much time in class; we could have had a lot more fun."
"This way of teaching will definitely lead to a major change in the education industry. It seems like the teacher's job won't last long."
"Maybe soon we'll be able to master all sorts of knowledge, not to mention at least the knowledge equivalent of a bachelor's degree in every subject."
Qiao Muyi alone threw a damper on things, "Did any of you notice that your qi cyclone is almost exhausted?"
Everyone was taken aback momentarily. Their qi cyclones hadn't reached the stage of essence transformation, so normally they couldn't feel much of their status. But now, when they used the Breathing Technique, they found that only a strand or two of airflow was left in their qi cyclones. It only formed a vortex when they drew in Spiritual Energy.
"This Spiritual Energy Technique download probably requires the use of one's own spiritual energy, which is why a qi cyclone is needed for the transfer," Li Qingxuan explained. "The consumed spiritual energy can't be much; it must be the amount a common person has when they first unlock their qi cyclone."
"The Spiritual Energy Recognition Class mentioned before that the qi cyclones in the formation stage and essence transformation stage are not much different. These past few days of cultivating have just accelerated the conversion of the cyclones, but the quantity of inner spiritual qi hasn't actually increased. So if the government has precise control over the spiritual energy expended during the transfer, they can indeed target the 'intended audience' for the technology transfer," she added.
After learning this information, the trainees were somewhat astonished, but soon someone reacted, "So, this download consumes one's own spiritual energy? Then, if it's downloading other knowledge..."
"It would likely need it as well. And, speaking of Cloth and Lock, these two techniques... well, they are just about sensation, which seems to have a small amount of information. If you were to transmit them over a network, it might only be a few bits. But if you're looking to download textbook knowledge, you wouldn't be able to bear it without several Mb, and much of the knowledge requires imagery and practice; it could reach several Gb," someone analyzed.
Yuan Dang nodded and added, "So, downloading knowledge is feasible, but first, you need someone willing to upload it, and second, you need enough spiritual energy to sustain such a fearsome consumption."
"To put it simply, we're still in the dial-up era, so don't expect content from the fiber optic age just yet."
The trainees took this in stride. After all, as the country's first batch of cultivator civil servants, they would enjoy whatever was coming their way eventually. For the moment, they were among the top 1% of cultivators globally and had just learned two Spiritual Energy Techniques that could turn them into supermen. What more could they want?
At that moment, Ren Suo walked up to Qiao Muyi, tapped her shoulder, and said in a low voice, "Muyi, I have something I want to discuss with you privately."
However, Qiao Muyi first glanced at Li Qingxuan and the others before replying, "Mm."
The two silently dispersed with the crowd, but attentive observers naturally noticed their actions. Xie Qiansi and her roommates all saw their friend's movements and kept silent. After a while, Li Qingxuan and the others also noticed Qiao Muyi and Ren Suo were gone, but being adults, naturally...
Well, everybody understood the implications.
The two in question were now heading in the direction of the base's supermarket, but Ren Suo had no intention of going somewhere crowded. He pointed to a small grove not far away, an area of greenery that had not been completely cleared in the base, and suggested, "Let's talk over there."
Qiao Muyi nodded and followed Ren Suo towards the grove, but before Ren Suo could enter, she stopped and said, "Here is fine."
"Here?" Ren Suo looked around. There was no one else nearby, which seemed okay, "Alright."
Just now, when Ren Suo patted Qiao Muyi on the shoulder, he discovered that he only needed to spend 3000 seconds to obtain the key from the awake Qiao Muyi.
An hour consists of only 3600 seconds, and now he could get the key in less than an hour of continuous contact with Qiao Muyi, which showed that their relationship had greatly improved from the previous nine thousand plus seconds.
Tomorrow would be the fifth day, and they were going to take a ride back to the city at noon. Ren Suo didn't know what kind of work the National Security Bureau would assign them after they returned, or whether they would be sent to other cities for business trips or even long-term appointments—they had learned cultivation techniques, learned spiritual energy techniques, so could they really say 'no' to the nation's orders?
Today was Ren Suo's best chance to obtain Qiao Muyi's key.
After all, once they returned, everyone would have cell phones, and these few days of collective living wouldn't count for much. Ren Suo also didn't know if Qiao Muyi would be very busy after returning. If Ren Suo didn't act now, this matter could be indefinitely delayed.
Ren Suo had never been a procrastinator. He always believed in doing the hard work first and enjoying later, the typical student who got everything done ahead of time—if he didn't do his homework on the first day of summer vacation, then he definitely wouldn't do it at all; he quickly calculated his purchasing power upon seeing something he wanted, and bought it immediately, never wasting time.
Ren Suo looked at Qiao Muyi with a somewhat complex expression. Just as he was fabricating a reason for Qiao Muyi to willingly fall asleep in front of him, Qiao Muyi suddenly said, "I'm not one to dilly-dally, so... we can only be friends."
"Mhm, mhm... huh?" Ren Suo made a questioning sound with his nose.
"I'm sorry, although you're a nice person, I'm currently not planning on dating," Qiao Muyi said. "Moreover, your gender doesn't quite meet my requirements."
What the what? Ren Suo was dumbfounded and tried to reach out his hand to pull Qiao Muyi back and explain, but Qiao Muyi deftly avoided his salty pig hand and said, "I'm going back first, see you tomorrow."
Then Qiao Muyi seemed to flash a satisfied smile and scurried away, leaving Ren Suo standing alone at the edge of the grove, like a petrified piece of large trash—commonly known as a fool.
At this moment, Ren Suo recalled his behavior over the past few days:
Chatting with Qiao Muyi and the others;
Going to the girls' dormitory to play cards;
Insisting on eating with them;
Butting in on their discussions whenever he could...
Could it be that he was mistaken for flirting and hitting on them?!
As a reservist otaku who already had a gaming console as a 'wife,' Ren Suo for the first time realized what he had done over these days. Although he didn't have the virgin disease of 'feeling shy when talking to girls,' he normally wouldn't chat with girls either... well, okay, he was just a bit shy as a single dog, which is very normal for single dogs.
However, these days, Ren Suo regarded 'obtaining the key' as a game mission, treating Qiao Muyi as an NPC and knowing that there was such a design as indirect favorability, so he tried his best to 'conquer' Qiao Muyi.
Now in hindsight, Ren Suo realized that his actions were very much in line with the culture of today's Mysterious Country for deepening favorability.
Ren Suo thought of the 'admiring' looks from Xie Qiansi and the others, the strange smiles from the girls, and understood that he had been misunderstood by them, by the girls!
He really wanted to catch up to Qiao Muyi and shout, "I just wanted you to sleep, I never thought about dating you!"
"Pfft... hahaha."
Ren Suo turned around and saw that there was actually someone in the grassy area of the grove.