Divine Beast Creator-Chapter 1986 - 1987: A Little Cheating

As Feng Yuan continued moving forward, more and more lines around him lit up. Although they didn’t completely immobilize him, they still significantly affected his agility.

If he used too much force, he might completely break free from the special power enveloping him.

As they followed the lit lines to the break point, there was a light click, and everyone was surprised to see the wall slowly rising.

There’s actually a secret door here?

Not only Qi Chen, but even Dou Yanlan was quite surprised. They knew a group had just passed through, and surely they would have considered the possibility of a secret door. However, they hadn’t discovered this one at all.

"That special power has disappeared too. Hmm, I get it," Feng Yuan said as he stroked his chin, seemingly guessing why the mechanism was designed this way. He figured that the academy intended to encourage students from different grades to cooperate in exploration. That peculiar power just now might have been manageable by third or fourth-year students, who could be more confident about their safety.

This meant the mechanism was prepared for them, but...

As he looked at the dark passage revealed by the opening secret door, Feng Yuan thought for a moment and said to the Fluffy Fire Wolfhound,

"Go help call the people up ahead to come here."

"Feng Yuan, what are you doing?"

Qi Chen looked at Feng Yuan, puzzled about his orders. The Fluffy Fire Wolfhound didn’t think much and, upon hearing Feng Yuan’s command, dashed forward. Dou Yanlan looked into the dark passage and said,

"You suspect the mechanism inside requires more people to deactivate?"

"Pretty much. After all, this trial isn’t a real ruin. If you think from the academy’s perspective, it makes sense," Feng Yuan laughed. Completely simulating Ancient Ruins isn’t impossible, but as mentioned, this exploration is with mixed grades. Without restrictions, higher grade students would simply bulldoze their way through due to their superior strength.

If the restrictions were set based on the strength of higher-grade students without balancing, it would make little sense for younger students to enter because many times, it’s not enough just to understand a mechanism; without enough strength, knowing its location is useless.

Feng Yuan estimated that the most likely set-up here involves a mechanism that requires both numbers and strength, which is why the teacher deliberately balanced the age distribution of those entering.

"Have you discovered a secret passage?"

Since the Fluffy Fire Wolfhound couldn’t talk, the students were unsure what it wanted to convey. They followed it back and saw the open secret door, stunned as they realized this group had indeed cracked part of the mechanism.

"Sort of. I figured the mechanism inside might be linked to numbers. Opening this secret door without the help of the third-year seniors wouldn’t be easy,"

Arms crossed over his chest, Feng Yuan explained how he discovered this area. After listening, the others understood why Feng Yuan called them over.

In terms of ruins, having a mechanism that inexplicably requires a large group to solve seems illogical since most mechanisms in ruins are for defense and protection of vital secrets. What would be the point of a minimum number of participants?

But if viewed as an academy trial for students, the possibility seems higher.

As for why Feng Yuan believed that finding the secret door required help from third-year students, it was related to the method of opening it.

To unlock the door, one had to move forward slowly with the special power pressing down. It wasn’t about whether freshmen could endure that power for so long; even Feng Yuan couldn’t be sure that this approach would definitely open the secret door.

Allowing an unknown power to press down on oneself is quite dangerous, but Feng Yuan was strong and didn’t have to worry about encountering danger.

"Let’s go, it looks like we have enough people now."

Gazing at the group of students, Feng Yuan led the way through the secret door. The teacher overseeing the entire Ancient Stone Palace trial smiled wryly as he watched.

Feng Yuan’s group wasn’t the first to enter, but no one before them had discovered the true area of the Ancient Stone Palace and had only wandered around the outskirts.

The teachers initially planned to leak access to this hidden area if no one found it by the afternoon, but it seems the third-year students were overly cautious.

Ensuring one’s safety is indeed important, but understanding how to gauge danger and potential benefits is also crucial for them. It appears they were a bit too cautious.

Seeking safety is not wrong, but as they pursue the path to becoming a powerful Beastmaster, excessive caution can limit their growth.

Risk and reward go hand in hand, and sometimes, taking risks can yield great rewards. Missing such opportunities requires more time to make up for.

With this in mind, the teacher started contacting those in charge of the current third-year students to share the situation so they could address it in future courses.

As for whether Feng Yuan was too reckless as a freshman?

The teacher knew who Feng Yuan was and understood that no mechanism inside could pose much of a threat to him. If he was truly reckless, he might not follow their rules but rather start tearing down walls.

If Feng Yuan could hear the other’s thoughts, he would likely feel misunderstood. He truly had no intention of causing destruction because the Ancient Stone Palace wasn’t particularly rewarding for him. If not for wanting Xiao Ji and the Fluffy Fire Wolfhound to gain more combat experience, he wouldn’t have joined the Ancient Stone Palace trial.

Although for now, it seemed like the trial had nothing to do with combat. Feng Yuan wasn’t sure if it was because he hadn’t encountered it yet or if combat wasn’t part of this trial.

"What is this strange place, a different space? But why wasn’t it discovered during prior checks?"

As they walked through the corridor and saw the bizarre space, everyone was stunned. Feng Yuan thought of something and turned to Tamur,

"Is this place a different space or... a Data Domain?"

If a different space could escape the students’ checks, Feng Yuan would truly doubt the academy’s intentions. Such special spaces are used only in significant situations; a student trial shouldn’t require such high standards.

However, since the checks were conducted by other students, Feng Yuan considered another possibility — a Data Domain!

The previous darkness of the passage likely resulted from the obstruction caused by the multi-layered mist ultimate move, affecting their vision. On the other hand, the mist could be concealing something significant, such as the unique features of a data passage?

Data Domain passages typically have a distinct data cube characteristic, yet the group hadn’t seen it before. If this was indeed a Data Domain, the passage’s features might have been deliberately obscured.

"Data Domain? It’s possible, but this place likely doesn’t relate much to Data City," 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Veronia attempted to activate a panel but failed. Feng Yuan wasn’t surprised by this; Data City’s panel function is commonly used to identify a Data Domain presence.

The academy certainly would have addressed this, whether by temporarily disabling the function or placing this within a different data layer of the Data Domain. It’s hard to say.

The crystal-like corridor extended into the light gray void infinitely. After exiting the passage, the group stood on a beautiful round crystal platform, from which six passages extended.

"As expected, it’s related to numbers. Each passage probably has mechanisms at the end. Should we split up and proceed? How about division based on strength?"

Sweeping his gaze around, Feng Yuan proposed to the provisional team leader, who consulted with the students behind him and agreed to Feng Yuan’s suggestion.

Currently, they didn’t know what was in the passages. As for checking each passage one by one? They only had two hours here, and doing that would waste unknown amounts of time.

Besides, according to the academy’s thinking, it’s unlikely they’d encounter formidable enemies at the endpoint. Otherwise, it would be a test of strength, not numbers.