My setting is above yours!

Chapter 72 Opening Ceremony, the Principal's Magical Test! (5k)

"Of course I'll come and get it."

After saying that, Yu An left without looking back and quickly went to sit in a corner seat in the first row of the auditorium.

He made those threats and then ran away, and he ran pretty fast.

However, he has indeed become stronger...

Ron watched Yuan's retreating figure silently, lost in thought.

He no longer paid attention to this extraordinary person, but turned to look at An Hui, who had already concealed her personal reality, with only silver lightning still flashing between the strands of hair at her temples:

"How's it going? You're not hurt, are you?"

An Hui shook her head:

"There are no physical injuries..."

As she spoke, she looked sadly at Ron, "But I'm emotionally wounded."

...This looks so familiar.

Seeing An Hui's attitude, Ron felt a sense of foreboding.

Immediately afterwards, his premonition came true.

An Hui's tone was tinged with sorrow as she muttered to herself:

"He clearly made an appointment with someone to come to the auditorium early, he clearly agreed without hesitation, he clearly..."

...As expected, An Hui's hidden form was triggered!
Although to outsiders she might appear reliable, emotionally stable, and mature, Ron knew this was just an appearance…

In private, if he really encounters something really unpleasant, this guy is a terrifying repeater who can roll around on the bed with a frog plushie and stay in a low mood all day long!

But not bad.

If this situation had happened ten years ago, Ron might have been at a loss, but ten years later, Ron had plenty of options.

Although this guy can be down sometimes, because they've had a lot of hard times in the past, he believes that eating something sweet might make the hard times sweeter. So when An Hui is in a bad mood, she likes to eat some candy.

Although she knew that eating sweets wouldn't actually improve her life, at most it would only lead to weight gain... but over the years, she had long since developed a habit of escaping reality when eating sweets.

Just a bite of something sweet can temporarily and subconsciously make you forget your troubles and feel more at peace.

Incidentally, Ron is the same as An Hui.

With a flick of his wrist, he skillfully emptied An Hui's coat pocket, pulled out a box of spherical hard bubble gum, took one out, and popped it into An Hui's mouth.

"We already agreed on that... um."

An Hui's resentful mutterings were immediately silenced. She habitually started chewing bubble gum and even unconsciously blew a pink bubble.

After a moment, her expression brightened, and she was noticeably less gloomy.

But she quickly realized what was happening and looked at Ron with displeasure:
"Here we go again... and he's using my own candy!"

Well, who told me I didn't have it?
Ron shrugged, indicating that he was also helpless.

He casually grabbed a piece of bubble gum from An Hui and ate it, only returning the rest to her under her death stare.

"This time it was because I wasn't paying attention to the time because of something else..."

After a moment of silence, Ron helped An Hui smooth her hair, which was a bit frizzy from the electric current, and looked into her eyes seriously, saying:
"Not next time."

An Hui trembled, looked away, and muttered, "You'd better really be..."

The two sat back down in a corner of the first row. As Yu An left, many of the students around them also dispersed.

But a large number of people remained, their gazes fixed on Ron, the undisputed top scorer in this year's college entrance exams—with considerable curiosity.

Although Ron is clearly stronger than Ewan, he is also much more emotionally stable and a normal, easy-going person...

These wealthy scions, who have seen much of the world since childhood, are naturally adept at socializing. For someone with exceptional talent like Ron, cultivating a good relationship with him when he's still relatively unknown might bring unimaginable benefits in the future...

But just as these people put on their social smiles and squeezed around Ron, a sharp shout suddenly rang out at the entrance of the Great Hall:
"Stop it, all of you! Go back to your seats and don't interfere with law enforcement!"

The next moment, an extremely strong personal reality unfolded, easily washing away and eliminating Ron's personal reality that he hadn't had time to retract.

In an instant, his personal reality was forced to shrink back into his body, every inch of his skin soaked in the reality of others, and he was no longer able to use his abilities to influence the outside world.

In an instant... he felt as if he had turned back into that powerless person, that ordinary student who was powerless to influence reality and had no superpowers whatsoever.

...What's going on here?
He turned his head in surprise and saw a patrol officer striding towards him.

He wore a police badge on his chest, engraved with a gilded crescent moon, which identified him.

A Level 4 esper who holds authority over Artemis!
Ron could sense the danger emanating from the patrol officer and his aggressive personal realism, which stirred a storm within him.

That almost unshakeable, vast and heavy personal reality... just now belonged to a Lv.4 power?
Ron stared blankly at the patrol officers walking into the entrance of the auditorium, momentarily lost in thought.

At this moment, because of this stern shout, the students who originally wanted to gather together immediately scattered, fearing that they would be caught by this patrol officer and have their already meager credits deducted to a negative number.

You can get to know Ron anytime, but if you get caught and lose points, it's hard to say when you'll be able to turn a negative number of credits back to a positive number!

As the students who had gathered together scattered, the patrol officer strode over, his tone stern:
"They're all fighting...wait?"

As the crowd dispersed, Ron, who was sitting comfortably in his seat, was revealed. He was momentarily stunned before realizing that it seemed no one was fighting at all.

The students all obediently returned to their seats after his stern shout, and the entire auditorium became eerily quiet...

Well, someone actually made a false police report?
Or perhaps their conflict wasn't significant and they've already parted ways?
The patrolling operator looked around but couldn't see anyone who had just been in conflict. Although he could easily request access to Artemis's surveillance records, they were, after all, just a group of freshmen...

Whether it's losing credits or receiving a demerit, it's not a good thing for them.

Since it didn't cause any major impact, let's just let them off the hook.

The patrol officer sighed, muttering, "Students are just so hot-tempered," and suppressed his personal feelings.

He walked to a corner of the auditorium, found a chair, and sat down, intending to stay until the opening ceremony ended, fearing that these ignorant freshmen might cause some trouble.

Meanwhile, as the pressure, as if from an abyss, rapidly receded, Ron looked at the seemingly ordinary patrol officer and couldn't help but feel a little bitter.

He thought that after defeating Ald and facing a Lv.5 opponent, his abilities might be approaching the limit of Lv.4...

But it wasn't until he faced a Level 4 opponent today that he realized just how much of a gap there was between them.

Wait... didn't the Lv.4 I saw in the patrol bureau's promotional video before just smash a building with one punch?

Why is this person's personal reality so powerful, almost enough to encompass the entire auditorium?
In that case, just by arbitrarily distorting reality, one could directly smash buildings and tear streets apart, right?
This is blatant false advertising, exaggerating the minimum capabilities... Does this inspection bureau even have a strategic deception department?

They've already ruled the world, so who are they trying to fool?

Ron felt a wave of helplessness. He had never imagined that the difference between Lv.4 and Lv.3 would be so great...

It's simply the difference between a real human and a non-human... the difference between a human and a god!

Even after Ron completes the ability formula and reaches the peak of Lv.3, there is absolutely no way he can cause any damage to such a powerful opponent!

After all, even the strongest ability model is rooted in computing power and personal reality... Because just by relying on this personal reality that easily covers this grand hall, Ron's ability can be forcibly imprisoned, making him like a powerless person, unable to even use his ability!

It's really hard to understand... why is there such a big difference between Lv.3 and Lv.4?

What kind of gifts did the Central Intelligence grant them to elevate humanity to such a powerful level?
Ron was completely baffled, but suddenly he began to understand what Captain Leonard had said earlier.

No wonder... no wonder he said that some things would be difficult to do without the assistance of the [Central Intelligence], and that Ron would one day need the identity of the Purification Patrol Team!
If you encounter a hostile Level 4 while attempting to complete Prometheus's "Experiment of Knowledge" in the future, how should you deal with it if you don't have Level 4 privileges?
I'm afraid that in a single exchange, I'd be crushed to death by sheer force...

He instinctively gripped the medal of atonement that he always carried with him and which was now lying quietly in his pocket, but after hesitating for a moment, he slowly let go of it.

Although Leonard said that becoming a member of the Purification Patrol and gaining authority over Artemis would not affect his ability to complete Prometheus's Experiment of Knowledge, Ron knew that Leonard was definitely hiding something.

After all, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

This gift is far too heavy, and the price hidden behind it is even more likely to be small.

Unless he's completely desperate, Ron has no intention of entering the B District Chief Inspectorate and joining the Purification Patrol with this medal.

It now seems that Euan, Ron's greatest enemy, is far from being able to threaten Ron's life.

...There's no rush.

He was lost in thought, chatting casually with An Hui beside him, and soon it was almost five o'clock in the afternoon.

The auditorium was already full of new students, waiting for the opening ceremony to begin.

"Click, click..."

Not far from Ron, the old clock hanging on the wall in the center of the stage was ticking. As the second hand struck twelve, marking exactly five o'clock—

"when!"

Like the chimes of a clock tower, a clear bell rang in the ears of all the new students waiting in the auditorium for the opening ceremony.

Ron inexplicably smelled the tart aroma of green apples. The scent appeared abruptly, seemingly out of nowhere, with no discernible source.

Oh, no, the source has been found.

Ron looked up at the large stage in front of him.

A woman in her thirties, with dark circles under her eyes and looking somewhat tired, wearing a loose white lab coat, was leaning against the air, munching on a fist-sized green apple.

Even though there was nothing behind her, she was half-floating in the air, swallowing the bite of apple she had just taken a bite of, stretching as if she had just woken up, and yawning widely.

She seemed much more energetic. She finished the green apple in a few bites, then lazily stood up and stepped barefoot onto the main stage.

She casually made a trumpet shape with one hand in front of her, not even bothering to move her face closer to the "trumpet," and just said perfunctorily:
"Hello, hello, hello... Can you hear me?"

A weary voice, sounding like that of a corporate slave who had been working overtime for a week and a half, echoed through the auditorium. She frowned, adjusted her finger movements, and tested the sound again.

After confirming that the sound was about right, she nodded in satisfaction, then continued to use her hand to make a megaphone gesture, saying:
“I am Researcher 404, and also your principal... You can call me [Pointer].

"Uh, next is... Oh, wait a minute, let me find the manuscript they wrote for me."

As she spoke, as if just remembering something, she pulled a crumpled speech manuscript from the pocket of her lab coat and read it aloud as she looked at it:

"Dear students, good afternoon. With a refreshing autumn breeze and the sweet fragrance of osmanthus blossoms, in this season symbolizing harvest and the taking flight of dreams, we welcome the new semester, and also the start of your new semester at Moen University… wait, what is this?"

404 looked impatient, casually tossed the speech draft aside, and said:
"Don't waste time. If you want to hear these platitudes, go to the municipal government's official website and download the speech transcript. I'm in a hurry and don't have time to waste on these platitudes."

"Now that school has started, according to the Moen University President's Responsibility Regulations, I need to conduct certain tests and trials on you."

"Credits, access privileges, and all sorts of weird and wonderful gadgets... As long as you satisfy me in the test, I can give you any reward within my authority."

She smiled, her tone enigmatic:
"Of course, you have to satisfy me... Ah, satisfy me."

She was silent for a moment, then the old clock hanging on the wall suddenly stopped, and then the hour, minute, and second hands all began to rotate counterclockwise...

Then, it stopped at 4:30 PM.

An inexplicable power enveloped the entire auditorium. Others might not have paid attention to this power, simply attributing it to the principal's abilities...

But the feeling this power brought was extremely familiar to Ron, making him feel somewhat absurd.

How could they look so alike? Could it be...?

He suppressed his urge to change the settings and decided to observe further.

"Thirty minutes, I'll give you thirty minutes to pick someone at random—you, you, come up here!"

[Pointer] The principal randomly pointed to a student sitting in the first row and called him up to the stage.

She glanced at the student she had casually chosen to go on stage and couldn't help but frown:

"Lv.2...tsk, computing power that's even worse than a pig's, probably can't answer any questions."

She shook her head. "Fine, then let's test your abilities—alright, don't waste time, go all out and expand your personal reality."

Upon hearing the principal's order, the little follower who had come with Yu'an immediately put on his own sense of reality, looking rather nervously at the seemingly unkempt woman—

But soon, his vision was filled with all sorts of colorful lights.

In an instant, as if a frame of the world had been removed, various colored lights suddenly appeared around the previously empty 404, shooting rapidly toward the little follower.

Ron strained his eyes to see clearly what those lights were—

Water bullets, ice arrows, fireballs, wind balls, rock spikes...

Various creations of abilities, seemingly condensed from ordinary elemental power users, rained down on the little follower. Not only that, Ron also saw various lights and symbols flashing on the man's body.

Those mysterious, dizzying symbols flashed by, and each one seemed to plunge the person into some kind of negative state, instantly making him feel as if he were plagued by a hundred diseases and left half-dead...

The next moment, he was engulfed by the countless rays of light that 404 casually created.

His fragile personal reality didn't even last half a second; it flickered for a moment before being completely shattered.

"Uh-"

He only managed to utter half a cry of pain before being engulfed by countless rays of light, collapsing to the ground with a bruised and swollen face, leaving only a faint breath.

Seeing everything happening on the stage, Ron immediately made up his mind.

It looks even more like it... No, I have to take a look!
Ron abandoned purely visual observation and, in order to verify his conjecture, directly switched to the [Embers of the Age of Gods] and activated his magical vision—

A chaotic light exploded before his eyes, and Ron could see that the entire auditorium was shrouded in a gray chaos. The little follower who was being tested had various words engraved on his body with mysterious symbols, which shimmered with spiritual light.

The various magical creations that had submerged him were now displaying a clear magical glow, and after seeing this for certain, Ron couldn't help but smile with relief.

No wonder... no wonder she can use so many different abilities.

Because the strength she used to test her students wasn't superpowers at all—

Rather, it is the purest form of "magic," the true magic that cannot be questioned even if we trace it back to the "Potion Age"!
...This guy can use magic freely even in Ideal City, a place imprisoned by the [Anti-Mystic Equation]!

(End of this chapter)