Academy.
After Rule Twelve was announced, the student body imdiately erupted into a chorus of wails.
They had grown up with the internet their whole lives; even after the Doomsday Rules era began, except during a few rule periods, most of the ti the network still existed.
Now, being forbidden from using networked devices for an entire month was, without a doubt, a form of torture to them.
In one dorm room, after a few students finished complaining, they helplessly put away their phones, smart rings, and other gadgets.
One of them felt thirsty, picked up a cup to drink, and the mont he took a sip he received a “challenge failed” notification.
Only then did he realize his water cup was one of those internet-enabled smart cups!
"Damn!!!"
Similar incidents happened throughout the academy in a short period.
Because so many everyday devices were internet-connected, a lot of students didn’t even notice and unintentionally violated the rule.
This rattled many students’ ntal states.
After all, those who ca to the academy had so pride and ambition; for them, the reduction of their Mind Power upper limit caused by a single rule failure was a hard-to-accept mistake.
So so students who failed the rule due to slip-ups gave up and started clinging to their phones, defiantly using them in retaliation.
The academy had to use loudspeakers to broadcast across campus, urging students not to use anything imdiately and to make their own “non-smart-item whitelist.” Anything not on the whitelist must not be used.
The ones happiest about this new rule were the ordinary civilians.
Ordinary people had always felt oppressed.
When disaster rules hit, they rarely benefited from them, yet they suffered the disasters just as much as Ascendants did.
Take the previous earthquake rule: this natural-disaster rule didn’t care whether you were an Ascendant, it indiscriminately caused suffering.
Even if everyone survived, Ascendants received rewards like Ascension Coins and items, while ordinary people rely survived with no positive incentives.
Over ti, the resentnt among ordinary people grew, causing many public order incidents.
But when this new rule appeared, ordinary people were delighted.
They didn’t care about the rules and could freely use network devices.
Governnt departnts even approached them with friendly words, persuading them to take on so network-device-related work in various departnts.
That made them feel vindicated, like they’d finally been given a voice. Even if this situation only lasted for the month of the rule, it was still far better than being nearly invisible in public discourse before.
That afternoon after the rule release, the academy posted a handwritten notice: courses that require networked devices are suspended during this rule period, but other classes proceed as normal.
"That handwriting..."
Guan Tong looked at the crooked handwriting on the wall and guessed the writer must also be attached to the internet.
In truth, few people in this era often wrote by hand; even students each had a tablet during class. Only those specifically studying calligraphy deliberately practiced handwriting.
"Lecturer Guan." A student passed by and greeted him, "Is your class still on as usual?"
"Of course." Guan Tong nodded.
If he had a choice he’d like a month off too, but since his class didn’t require networked devices, it would still go on.
When he entered the classroom, there were already quite a few students seated.
Guan Tong scanned the room and, from mory, noticed so students who had attended before were absent.
Perhaps they were too upset after failing the rule and skipped class. Regardless of the reason, whether they attended or not was the students’ business; Guan Tong wouldn’t bother going to dorms to check.
The academy did not practice roll-call attendance; attending class or skipping to sleep and entertain oneself in the dorm was up to the student. Still, most rarely skipped because studying here was not about getting a job but about learning to survive better.
"Today..."
"Vrrr vrrr, vrrr vrrr."
Guan Tong had just opened his mouth when a phone vibration sounded in the classroom.
The students all looked shockingly toward the source of the noise, and saw a boy awkwardly fish out his phone to silence it.
"Are you crazy? Using a phone?" soone challenged.
The boy looked helpless and said, "I accidentally used a smart device this morning and already failed the rule, so..."
"Then don’t bring it into class! What if you make others fail too!"
"Right, that’s dangerous!"
"Take it away!!!"
The students protested vehently. Although as long as you didn’t use it yourself you wouldn’t be judged to have failed so easily, nobody wanted to risk that tiny probability.
Guan Tong pointed to the podium: "Those who have failed the rule and have smart devices, put them here for now. Take them after class."
The boy obediently placed his phone on the podium. Soon three more people took off their smart watches, rings, and placed them there. It seed that on the first day of the rule quite a few had already failed.
Rembering the comnts he had seen on the forum about him, Guan Tong wanted to appear more approachable, so he smiled and comforted them, "One failure is nothing. After the reduced upper limit, you can diligently cultivate and raise it back up."
"...."
Seeing the students fall silent, he felt his forced smile was pointless and imdiately put it away, continuing the usual lesson.
After one class ended, the students left in waves.
Guan Tong deliberately called over Ye Lianka Stacia and said to her, "Stacia, I’ve thought of a way to help you accelerate mastering Mind Power Flow."
Her athyst-colored pupils widened slightly; this was clearly important to her. "May I ask what thod?"
"Real combat."
"Real combat?"
"A soldier training on the practice field for a month still gains less experience than spending a single day on the battlefield. The sa principle applies to Mind Power Flow," Guan Tong said. "If you want to master it quickly, you need to learn through live combat."
Ye Lianka agreed in her heart and nodded, "When can we start?"
Guan Tong thought for a mont and said, "Right after this class. Rest for half an hour. After half an hour you go to the gym; I’ll find a spacious training room first."
Ye Lianka nodded in agreent.
Half an hour later.
When Ye Lianka arrived at the gym, there were already many people.
With network devices unusable, many students returned to traditional forms of entertainnt and gathered to play ball and other sports.
The mont she appeared in the venue, many eyes turned to her. Although she dressed much more plainly today, not as glittering as on the first day, her dazzling blond hair and silver-white eyelashes still stood out, impossible to hide their radiance.
A boy mustered the courage to approach and flirt, inviting her to play badminton, but she refused, saying she had things to do.
Not long after, Guan Tong ca over and spoke to her briefly, then the two walked away together.
Others stopped their gas and gathered to spectate.
"What’s going on?!"
"Wasn’t that the substitute Lecturer for the Mind Power Flow class just now?"
"How shaless! A Lecturer making a move on a student!"
"Don’t spread that, you’ll be in trouble if she finds out..."
"I think this is special treatnt. That’s unfair to the other students."
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