Chapter 119 | The Otherworld Journey That Starts From a Slime

After five rounds of route Blinking, Lina's speed had clearly improved significantly.

Initially, it might have taken her three seconds to complete an entire route, but by the end, she only needed a little over one second!

This improvement was undoubtedly massive.

Of course, this was also because Zhang Ye had pointed out the key reasons for her slow Blinking. Once she overcame those, her speed experienced a qualitative leap.

However, further increasing her speed would require long-term practice.

After Blinking over a hundred times, Lina’s mana hit rock bottom.

“Brother Ye, I’m almost out of mana,” Lina said, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

Zhang Ye nodded. “I’ll replenish it for you.”

With that, he took her small hand and injected mana into her.

“Ah ha~”

Zhang Ye: “...”

Just get used to it, just get used to it...

After replenishing her mana, Lina and Zhang Ye began another round of practice.

A route with twenty light points, then thirty, forty...

The light points increased, and the route planning became more and more winding.

Lina felt the training becoming increasingly difficult, but she gritted her teeth and persevered.

Whenever her mana was exhausted, Zhang Ye would replenish it for her.

In this way, the two practiced over and over again.

By the end, Lina was able to complete a route of a hundred light points in under ten seconds.

The improvement was monumental!

It was clear that Lina simply hadn't found a training method that suited her before. With Zhang Ye’s help, her progress was incredibly rapid.

“Not bad!” Zhang Ye praised. “This speed is enough to ensure an average opponent can't react in time.”

Upon hearing this, a brilliant smile broke out on Lina’s sweat-covered face.

“But it’s not enough. If you encounter an opponent whose reactions are as fast as yours—like Nan, whose instantaneous burst is so fast even I might not be able to dodge—you still need to strengthen your practice.”

“I’ve planned a series of training programs for you.”

“First, we’ll strengthen the route Blinking. The routes will no longer be straight lines or simple zigzags; they’ll be like mazes, becoming increasingly complex. There will be Light Rays intersecting them, and you’ll need to judge as quickly as possible among the many paths to find the correct route!”

“Second, short-distance rapid Blinking. This is simple and crude; it requires you to Blink back and forth between two nearby light points as fast as possible!”

“Third, Arc Blink. Since the process of Blinking is displacement rather than instantaneous teleportation, it has a collision volume and a trajectory. While straight-line Blinking is fast, it isn’t flexible enough. You need to control yourself to perform Arc Blinks. This way, you can even dodge various attacks during the Blink itself. In other words, you’ll be dodging at the speed of light!”

“Of course, achieving this is extremely difficult because it’s still just a theory of mine; even I haven't mastered it yet.”

“But I’ll practice with you!”

“Okay!” Lina nodded vigorously, her heart surging. Her desire to become stronger had never been so intense!

In the past, she had tried various methods but never found one that suited her. Now that Zhang Ye had pointed the way, she had no reason not to work hard, especially since Zhang Ye would be right there with her.

Brother Ye, I won't let you down!

She swore this to herself.

“Let's start with short-distance rapid Blinking. This will let you familiarize yourself with the feeling of high-speed Blinking the fastest. You need to find your own rhythm and frequency within it.”

“Two points, five meters apart. What you need to do is Blink back and forth twenty-four times in one second!”

“This is because of the human eye's persistence of vision. It’s the phenomenon where the visual perception produced by light on the retina remains for a period after the light stops acting. That’s where the afterimages you see come from. It’s caused by the reaction speed of the optic neurons, which is about one-twenty-fourth of a second.”

“Half a breath is one second.”

“Naturally, if you can Blink back and forth more than twenty-four times in a second, the human eye won't be able to keep up with your speed!”

“Of course, I believe the reaction speed of the human eye goes beyond that, so you need to be even faster. A hundred times a second, a thousand times, ten thousand times!”

“If you can do that, I believe even a Saint-tier wouldn't be able to keep up with you!”

“I'll use mana to form a chain connecting us first. This way, you can maintain a constant mana supply. Don't worry about running out; just Blink with everything you've got!”

“Okay!” Lina nodded, took a deep breath, and her figure began Blinking rapidly between the two light points.

“Go, faster! You can go even faster!”

“Break through your limits right here!”

“Come on, faster!”

Zhang Ye encouraged Lina over and over, cheering her on, while Lina gritted her teeth and desperately increased her Blinking frequency.

Ten times a second!

Twelve times a second!

Fifteen times a second!

As time passed, her speed grew faster and faster!

The mana consumption also became increasingly intense.

If it weren't for the fact that short-distance Blinking consumed very little mana, Zhang Ye’s replenishment speed might not have been able to keep up with her consumption.

Fortunately, for now, it seemed Zhang Ye’s natural mana regeneration could support her at a frequency of fifty Blinks per second.

If she exceeded that, Zhang Ye would need to rely on meditation to recover mana for her supply.

Not far away, Leona watched this scene, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“This guy is more suited to being a mentor than I am.”

The entire morning was spent in combat tests and training. Lina’s improvement was very obvious; she could now reach twenty-five Blinks in a single second.

“Well done. As a reward, I’ll make dumplings for you all tonight!” Zhang Ye said with a laugh.

Although she didn't know what dumplings were, Lina knew Zhang Ye’s cooking was excellent, so she immediately nodded excitedly. “Okay! Thank you, Brother Ye!”

When the morning class concluded, everyone gathered.

Upon gathering, Zhang Ye nearly burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! Brother-in-law, where did you get that look? It’s exceptionally unique!” Zhang Ye asked with a loud laugh.

At this moment, Renomon was covered in bumps and bruises. He looked utterly wretched, and one of his eyes seemed to have been clipped, swelling up like a toad’s.

Renomon scratched his head and glanced at Nan, smiling sheepishly. “Nan is very strong. I couldn't beat him.”

Zhang Ye looked at Nan, who simply turned his face away.

Man, Nan really doesn't hold back!

Luckily he didn't use a blade, or Renomon would have looked even worse.

“That’s it for today’s class. Dismissed,” Leona said. Then, with a wave of her hand, she gave everyone a wave of healing.

The group of students was also full of excitement.

Even though they were covered in injuries from the duels, Leona had pointed out their deficiencies during the process, which had benefited them immensely.

It was clear that Leona was indeed a good mentor; everyone could feel their own improvement.

“You guys head back first. I need to go to the research institute,” Zhang Ye said, glancing at his badge. It displayed a message from Ke Ling. He then ran toward the institute with anticipation.

Upon arriving at the research institute, Ke Ling was there to greet him as usual.

“Mentor.”

“I’m here.” Zhang Ye nodded, then asked excitedly, “Did the approval come through?”

“It did. We can use it now,” Ke Ling said.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to it!” Zhang Ye said. Then he remembered something. “Oh right, I need to find a forging master to precision-forge and fuse the materials first.”

“Precision forging and fusion can be done using the smelting machine that accompanies the precision engraver.”

“The materials are all ready, but the Void Meteorite needs to be sent to Master Barton for precision forging.”

“The academy has already reached an agreement with Master Barton. We just need to deliver the Void Meteorite to him.”

Zhang Ye was surprised. “Such high efficiency?”

The approval had just come through, yet the materials were already prepared?

Even the issue of the forging master had been resolved?

As expected of Ke Ling!

So efficient!

“Then let’s go!”

“Okay.”

Then, with a wave of Ke Ling’s hand, a miniature spatial gate appeared.

Zhang Ye was stunned.

Wasn't Ke Ling a lightning mage? She knew space magic too?

As expected of a genius!

Passing through the spatial gate, Zhang Ye felt a wave of heat hit him.

Looking around, the place resembled a steel foundry. Huge furnaces and molten iron were everywhere, with many sturdy Dwarves working there.

He observed the surroundings curiously before following Ke Ling to a Dwarf.

This Dwarf was about 1.5 meters tall, which was considered large among Dwarves.

His muscles were incredibly robust, his arms thicker than Zhang Ye’s thighs. His thick beard was tied into several braids, and he even had a small braid on his head. Surprisingly, he had a bit of a gap-moe charm.

Seeing Ke Ling and Zhang Ye, the Dwarf walked over carrying a heavy hammer. He looked fierce; anyone who didn't know better would think he was about to hit someone.

“Where’s the meteorite?” the Dwarf asked in a booming, muffled voice.

Zhang Ye asked, “Are you Master Barton?”

The Dwarf glanced at Zhang Ye. “Who else would be Master Barton? You?”

Zhang Ye was choked up by the retort. He smiled sheepishly and took out the meteorite.

Zhang Ye trusted Ke Ling’s choice of personnel. Furthermore, in novels, Dwarves were a race passionate about forging. Zhang Ye was looking forward to seeing the forging techniques Barton would display.

Barton took the Void Meteorite. The meteorite, weighing over a hundred jin, felt like cotton in his hands as he handled it with ease.

A smile appeared on his face, but it quickly faded.

“It’s a good piece of iron. It’s a pity it’s going to be used for some magic device rubbish. Hmph, what a waste!”

Zhang Ye asked, “How is it a waste?”

“Magic devices are just toys for little kids playing house. Can they even be compared to Treasures?” Barton said gruffly. “Isn't it a waste to use such good iron to make toys?”

Zhang Ye shook his head. “You can't say that. Although Treasures are more powerful than magic devices, magic devices win out by having no usage requirements. They only need mana, which brings great convenience.”