Chapter 18: The Crimson Thumb Ring

Fortunately, he keenly noticed that Luofulei was looking at him strangely, with the kind of look one gives a very bad person.

When he thought about his “excellent” performance over the past month or so…

He had initially changed his fate, making Luofulei view him somewhat differently and earning a bit of her trust.

He was on the verge of entering the Weierdun Empire Academy.

If he were to make Luofulei wary of him over a small entrance examination, wouldn’t that be losing the big for the small?

He was terrified that all his original efforts would go to waste, which is why he hurried to remedy the situation.

That said, he understood in his heart that this kind of act would only work on a Luofulei who hadn’t yet experienced the world.

If he ever encountered the Luofulei who had gone through several reincarnations and dared to say such mushy words in front of her, she’d probably beat the shit out of him.

The soft bed relaxed his body, which had been stiff all day.

A fresh floral scent came from the potted plant on the bedside table.

The pendulum clock ticked.

Near the academy, in the inns specially provided for students taking the exams, many students had finished their assessments and were returning one after another.

Lights gradually brightened throughout the inns.

Having successfully resolved an unknown risk and once again saved the world from peril, Ailundun was in a very good mood.

He opened the Fate Roulette game to check the settlement cycle.

[Remaining Settlement Time Countdown: 0 days, 1 hour, 14 minutes]

That’s right, today was the final settlement day.

This was also his last source of confidence.

“Give me something normal, something practical, something that can show off my strength…”

Ailundun murmured softly, nervously rubbing his hands together.

This was the final piece of the puzzle for him to complete the practical exam.

If the rewards from the Fate Roulette couldn’t even highlight his strength, he might as well go become a Mother Goddess cultist.

At least when you offer sacrifices to the Mother Goddess, she actually gets things done.

It wasn’t that he looked down on the Fate Roulette.

It was just that the rewards it had given before were too hardcore.

The Capable Glasses, the Cultist Sacrificial Staff…

What kind of stuff was this?

Did it really think he was some kind of evil path speedrun player?

Forget about the Capable Glasses.

Although they had simulation and recording functions, they required him to spend a massive amount of time practicing.

By the time he returned from his studies, the world would probably have been destroyed several times over.

This was a world where magic truly existed, with all sorts of world-ending entities in the later stages.

What speedrun was there to talk about?

Without some strength to rely on, one might just be walking down the street one day and get blasted into cells by some unknown great mage.

Time passed slowly.

The lights in the inn gradually went out, leaving only a few still lit.

Billions of starlights twinkled in the distant night sky, like tiny specks of dust.

Soon, Ailundun couldn’t wait any longer and opened the panel.

[Current Cycle End Countdown: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 3 seconds]

[3]

[2]

[1]

[The current task settlement cycle is now officially closed]

[Assessing Ailundun’s Influence Level]

[Assessing Ailundun’s influence on the world]

“…”

[Comprehensive Assessment Rating: Deep Blue Level]

[Assessment Basis: Your fate seems to have experienced some ripples, which is helpful for you. The fate of the world this cycle remains stagnant. Please continue your efforts]

[Settling Task Rewards]

[Task rewards are being distributed…]

“…”

[Task Reward: Crimson Thumb Ring]

Seeing the reward, Ailundun was slightly stunned for a moment.

At first glance, it looked like another magic engineering tool type of reward.

Was it forcing him further down the path of the magic engineer’s dark arts?

Damn it.

Soon, the reward selection popped up.

[Retrieve?]

[Retrieve]

A ring with a ruby-red circular band appeared in his hand, its luster as bright as meticulously polished mutton-fat jade.

He tried it on; it fit perfectly on his finger.

[Crimson Thumb Ring]

[Grade: Purple Rare]

[Effect: Drains mana based on a percentage of the target’s total mana, capable of briefly causing the target to enter a state of Mana Depletion]

[Mana Depletion State Effect Description: Brief dizziness, brief dehydration, brief muscle spasms, brief vision loss…]

Ailundun carefully counted them.

There were a full dozen negative buff descriptions listed after the effect description bar.

He couldn’t help but sigh.

“Mechanic-based monsters are still too overpowered.”

[Description 1: One of the signature magic engineering tools crafted by early magic engineers]

[Description 2: Situations where it cannot be used are as follows…]

[Description 3: Precautions before use…]

Ailundun read every description carefully.

What slightly disappointed him was that the manufacturing method for the Crimson Thumb Ring was not recorded.

His wish to wear one on all ten fingers would have to be put on hold.

This would make him feel very insecure.

However, this reward overall fit his persona as a magic engineer quite well.

He nodded in satisfaction.

He finally had his own life-saving measure.

He decided to test it out first on the examiner for this practical assessment.

Nothing happened today, so he went to sleep early.

When the first ray of morning sunlight dispelled the chill of the night, the sunlight spilled onto the streets, benches, and every corner of the academy.

This ray of light seemed intent on illuminating the long-slumbering earth.

First, shops selling breakfast gradually opened their doors, and the lively bustle returned to the streets on both sides.

Gradually, the entire Weierdun began to revive, starting to show the vitality befitting the central hub of the Weierdun Empire.

People traversing the city walked along, chatting and laughing, their footsteps creating a soft patter.

What Ailundun didn’t know was that his performance rating from the previous exam was giving Fuke a major headache.

Originally, he had been using the academy’s grading instrument to calculate the exam scores.

According to the recorded evaluation files, many people hadn’t even passed the stage.

They were firmly stuck at the cultist sacrifice part.

Most students ended up being used as sacrifices by the cultists.

For these students, the length of their survival became their only evaluation criterion.

Only a handful of students stood out, finding their own solutions.

Originally, these students’ results were considered quite excellent, even their clearance speeds were fast.

According to the records and the standard clearance methods, what those students did was correct.

They could all get the base score.

In this assessment’s grading scheme, one of the clearance methods was to buy time for others to escape.

In this clearance method, the amount of time bought for the escape carried significant weight in the scoring.

The requirement was to buy escape time for everyone (including the Holy Maiden) without harming a single person present.

The problem lay right here. The person who designed this stage’s evaluation apparently never imagined that someone would just sacrifice all the cultists.

After all, in the setting, they hadn’t anticipated anyone could achieve that.

But someone actually did it.

Since all the cultists were dead, how exactly should the escape time be calculated?

According to the original rules, the time Ailundun bought should be positive infinity.

This resulted in Ailundun’s score also being positive infinity.

In the midst of such calculations, the magic instrument kept running into errors, even sparking.

Seeing it was about to explode, Fuke hurriedly initiated an emergency stop to the calculations.

Compared to exam scores, he had a greater responsibility to ensure the safety of all faculty and staff.

This was written in the employee handbook.

He really didn’t want to get fired over this.

And so.

The magic instrument assisting with the grade assessment.

Successfully developed a bug.

First came a bunch of program errors, then various strange images flashed one after another.

Inside the examination building.

Fuke helplessly massaged his forehead, feeling rather distressed.

“How could this happen…”

Fuke murmured to himself.

He instantly realized he’d most likely get scolded by the dean of the Magitech Institute.

When magic instruments like this broke, they couldn’t be fixed in just a day.

And the progress of grading the students’ exams couldn’t fall behind.

This wasn’t just the Magitech Institute’s own business; it concerned the entire academy’s evaluation situation.

This meant they would have to resort to manual grading.

Just thinking about this made his head ache terribly.

The situation he least wanted to happen had still occurred.

He felt like the events of the past few days had all been rather vexing.