Chapter 267 True Wealth
Rong Yuan smiled, then he shook his head.
"No?" Jin Yang was stunned. He was still very confident in his conclusion! He took out another book about flower planting and read it. He still didn't find any fake elements in it. He couldn't help but cast a doubtful look at Rong Yuan.
Rong Yuan also stood up, walked to his side, looked at the countless books and said, "It's not wrong, but it's not just that."
Jin Yang thought about it and suddenly realized: "Could it be that... the courses taught in the academy are also real courses?"
"That's right, come with me." Rong Yuan pulled the book out of Jin Yang's hand and threw it casually, then dropped the book into the bottomless hole in the middle of the bookshelf. Suddenly, the NPC administrator who had been holding the book for a long time waved his hand, and the falling book flew back to the bookshelf with a "whoosh" and was steadily inserted into its original position.
Although he knew that these were just data, Jin Yang was still amazed. The next second, Rong Yuan pulled him to another place.
It is the legendary New Town College which is about to start recruiting students.
The NPCs and players here are clearly distinguishable. The NPC students all wear the same white-bottomed, blue-edged Hanfu, while the teachers wear similar-style clothes in pure white, with rubies as embellishments in the subtle places, which is very different from the players who wear different clothes.
The academy is very large. Some students are reading, while others are debating in groups of three or five. From a distance, you might think they are explaining scriptures, but when you get closer, you can hear that they are arguing about which of the two different engine designs would be faster and safer when installed on a mecha.
The picture is filled with a faint sense of absurdity.
Rong Yuan touched his nose and said a little embarrassedly: "It's my selfish desire... The earth is designed according to the regions based on the four ancient civilizations - does it look a bit strange?"
Jin Yang shook his head and said, "You'll get used to it." In fact, compared with the real experience it brings to people, everything else is just details.
The two walked all the way to the martial arts arena behind the academy, and most of the teachers and students they saw were dressed in shorts. This place is larger than two hundred football fields combined, and is divided into many areas, with various functions such as martial arts training, horse racing, football, rock climbing, shooting, etc. All the training items that can be seen in the military on Earth are there, and there are also training items that are not in the military. So large that the huge martial arts arena seems crowded. But the most eye-catching and the most watched is in the outermost large area of completely blank space, where two mechas are fighting fiercely.
Jin Yang: ...Isn’t the style of painting a little bit wrong?
When they walked over, the battle between the mechas had stopped, and the person who came down from the winning mecha seemed to be a teacher, who was instructing the losing student. At the same time, a player was pulling an NPC teacher and yelling, "Why can't I go up?"
The NPC teacher said gently: "If you don't have a mecha driving license above the junior level, you can't drive a mecha at will."
"Fuck! I have to get a driver's license in the real world, but I have to get a license in the virtual game world?" The player widened his eyes in disbelief. He looked at the teacher with a smiling but determined attitude, so he didn't argue and asked, "How can I get the license?"
"To obtain a mecha pilot license, you need to study theoretical knowledge for at least one year. If you can successfully pass the theoretical test, you will need to practice operating in a virtual cockpit for more than three months. Only after your virtual operating level reaches level two can you practice actual operation."
Player: “…” Thousands of horses are galloping through my mind.
——Shouldn't you just pay a few bucks to a teacher and then instantly master the skills? At least one year and three months of study? Are you serious? Which game has such a stupid design?
Jin Yang suddenly burst out laughing: "The virtual cockpit of the virtual game?"
"This is the formal process." Rong Yuan knew that Jin Yang understood what he meant. This was the process that must be followed to train real mecha pilots on alien planets. He then added, "And... in [Ark], the penalty for player death is much heavier than in online games." What he wanted to train were not players who habitually treated death as a game, but wise men who took [Ark] seriously and could dig out the treasures in it.
“No one would be willing to learn this. Who can spend more than a year on a skill in the game? And they may not even be able to learn it,” Jin Yang said objectively.
"In fact, one year and three months is just the most optimistic estimate. With the average IQ of humans, it should take three years and seven months to pass the theoretical assessment, and the practice in the virtual cockpit usually lasts about a year." Rong Yuan said: "However, when designing [Ark], we took into account the stimulation of the brain's subconscious mind. Players will be more focused when learning than in reality, and the memory effect will be more obvious, so the learning time will be compressed to less than one-third."
"Then if all classes in school are to be held in the Ark in the future, wouldn't the efficiency of teaching be greatly improved?" Jin Yang asked with a smile.
It was just a sudden thought, but Rong Yuan nodded seriously and said, "Yes, that's right. And in a specific building like the [school], once the class starts, all students in the classroom will be forced to enter the [learning mode] - they cannot leave their seats, whisper to each other, talk casually, or doze off. When their consciousness is blurred, they will suddenly feel like they were electrocuted or a basin of ice water poured over their heads. In addition, the levels of all students are indiscriminately locked at level 1, and the teacher level is level 100, which has a crushing advantage, but the two sides cannot have direct physical contact."
"On behalf of all the students, I despise you! Have you forgotten what you were like in the classroom when you were in school?" In fact, apart from his grades, the one who least looks like a good student is the one standing next to him.
Rong Yuan shrugged and said, "This was Zhou Yuan's design. Go find her!"
Jin Yang was speechless, and asked, "So there is such a thing as levels in your game?" Forget level, strength, HP/MP and other attributes that are usually displayed in games, he couldn't even find a button to exit the game.
"Of course there are. After all, there are still the most fools in this world. Even if you tell him there is a mountain of gold ahead, he will not be willing to go unless you sprinkle some gold sand on the way so that he can see the direct benefits. So although I think that the basic and intuitive reward method of level actually destroys the overall beauty of [Ark], it still exists."
Rong Yuan rarely said such difficult words, so as soon as he heard it, Jin Yang knew how much he hated this design, and couldn't help laughing. He put his fist to his lips and coughed twice, and in order to avoid Rong Yuan getting angry, he changed the subject and asked: "Where is it? Why can't I see it?"
Rong Yuan raised his left hand, with an ink-colored ring on his thumb. Players would change into different equipment when entering the game. In addition to ancient costumes, they would inevitably have some accessories such as jade pendants, headbands, and hairpins. Jin Yang thought that this ring was the same, but when he saw Rong Yuan turning it around, a virtual attribute panel immediately appeared in front of him. It had all the attributes that you would see in a normal game, and he could also see the option of [Exit the Ark].
Jin Yang was silent for a while, then asked, "You even want the players to discover this by themselves?" What if someone suddenly needs to pee but can't exit the game? This guy is really bad.
Rong Yuan was surprised: "Didn't you see the notice board when you entered the game? There should be basic operation instructions on it!"
Jin Yang thought: ...I'm sorry, I really didn't see the notice board, and I believe that most people are cursing your bad taste like I am now, do you know that?
Rong Yuan also looked down on him: "You don't even know how to collect basic information. Yangyang, you are really going backwards as you grow older."
Jin Yang was still secretly complaining that Rong Yuan was asking each of them to have the qualities of a special forces soldier, but when he heard the familiar yet unfamiliar title at the end, he was suddenly stunned.
Rong Yuan didn't pay attention to what he blurted out. The two of them had already walked out of the academy and came to a street behind Xincheng College. There is always such a place near the school, which is small but complete, as if it contains everything you need. He pointed to the shops on the street with a little pride and said reservedly: "It's not just mecha teaching. Look, there are repair shops, snacks, various fruits, pets, household robots, electronic products, solar hovercrafts... Everything here has a prototype in reality and can also be completely replicated in reality."
He casually picked up a screw placed outside a small shop that repaired optical computers on the street and handed it to Jin Yang. "Even if it is an inconspicuous tool, like this screw, its specifications, size, shape, and curvature have all been refined to the most suitable shape. Even if it is only changed a little, the overall design will become inconsistent. Either all other parts will be changed, or the product will be scrapped directly. In this world, every corner hides unimaginable wealth."
Jin Yang was playing with the screws in his hands, but his eyes were not on them. When he raised his head, he saw that although Rong Yuan's expression was still indifferent, his eyes were full of light, just like... just like a child sharing his most beloved toy with his friends... No, it should be said that he was showing off the sand castle that he had spent a lot of time building with his own hands.
"And there are those alien planets." Rong Yuan paused, and said in a more cautious tone: "In [Ark], there are a total of 10 billion planets in the Hengxing Satellite Comet, and 10 million of them are designed to be inhabited by intelligent creatures. Except for the Earth under our feet, all the others... have exactly the same prototypes in the universe."
"Ten...million?" Jin Yang's tone was a little bitter. He had thought about the existence of aliens, but never thought there were so many.
"In fact, there are more than one billion such planets in the Milky Way alone. There is not enough time, so I just chose the most representative ones." Rong Yuan's tone was regretful, as if he wanted to say that if he had time, he would simulate all ten billion planets in the Ark.
"I see." Jin Yang looked at the people strolling and laughing in the street, surprised at how real all their senses felt, but completely ignoring the truly amazing places in the Ark, and asked: "But you see, most people don't know how much wealth is hidden in your Ark, and just waste their time on having fun. So... have you ever thought about making this public?"
