The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

The existence of commissioned tasks can be traced back to the situation in the secret realm.

Although the Great Mystic Trista is named after the headmaster, it is actually quite vast, with the academy located only in the center. The various monsters, gods, and phantoms outside the academy are the majority of the native inhabitants.

Where many races live together, friction is inevitable. Sometimes fairies are snatched away by bird monsters, sometimes dwarves in the mines are tormented by ghosts. Unlike the outside world, there are no neighborhood committees or police in the inner area. Troubled, the residents bring their produce and magic coins to the academy, asking the mages if they can use their magic to help them out. If they can resolve the issue, they'll treat the mages to some delicious meat.

Legendary mages could easily solve these problems, but the faculty and staff were short on time and disliked the hassle. So, the principal created a task system, encouraging students to actively take on tasks, helping others while earning some extra money, euphemistically called "integrating theory with practice to cultivate well-rounded talent." This system was overseen by the "Temple of Contracts," established by a senior professor, and has evolved over a thousand years to its current state…

"It can now be directly received on the jade pendant."

"So convenient, honestly, so convenient."

The Jade Pendant homepage features the Contract Hall application, whose logo is a burning scale. After entering, Lü Wenjun selected descending difficulty to see what level of difficulty the school had assigned to the most challenging task.

The perilous mission at the top has a burning black title.

~Defeat the Night God~

Difficulty: Teacher-assigned

Reward: Negotiable

[Client] Jade Immortal:

The otherworldly god "Nyx" has awakened at Mount Shenmian; please go and deal with him.

[Recipient] Pink Bunny: Okay, Professor Ji~

Client's message (one day after completion):

Please be mindful of environmental protection during your next mission. The conquest of an untamed god should not come at the cost of nearly half a mountain range collapsing.

"..."

It seems that the level of some of the top students in our school is high enough to rival that of the gods, and the reason why a certain top student is particularly feared can be seen from that tragic photo of the mountain explosion.

Lu Wenjun then switched the difficulty to reverse order and found that the first three pages were all "freshman" difficulty, while he could not take on any tasks above "sophomore" level.

"There's a difficulty lock here..."

Linggong explained, "It is said that the head of the Contract Hall is one of the strongest professors in the school. Her magic can dynamically assess the strength of each student, thereby preventing them from accepting overly dangerous commissions."

"You're already doing pretty well; I can't even get a task on the second page," Faris said sullenly. "This crappy app even discriminates based on ability!"

Vilsa looked at the first quest on the second page, "Slay the Evil Antler Spirit," and commented, "I don't think it's wise to use lockpicking magic to slay a ghost."

Faris flexed his muscles: "Are you underestimating my strong physique and unparalleled wrist strength?!"

Versa's lips twitched slightly: "Sorry, I couldn't help laughing."

"Having giant blood is amazing!"

Ignoring their bickering, Lü Wenjun scanned the area for a while, only to discover a rather unfortunate task.

~A Glimpse Through the Woods~

Difficulty: Freshman

Reward: 3000 Magic Coins

[Client] Tavern Owner:

Recently, the path leading to the tavern has become longer, and guests often get lost and have also felt strange gazes.

It would be great if we could find a way to restore the road to its original state. The tavern's location is attached below.

[Responsible parties] Hissing Letter and two others:

It's just a common prank, leave it to us!

This task didn't seem too dangerous, and the reward was the magic coins he desperately needed—it was the ideal choice at the moment. Unfortunately, a classmate had already beaten him to it, so he had to find another one…

Just as Lü Wenjun was about to close the page, he saw that the "In Progress" status in the upper right corner of the taskbar had changed to "Number of Failures 1," and the forum avatars of Hissing and the other two went dark.

"Looks like one of the clever kids has stumbled," Faris commented. "Should we go for it? The top student in the grade?"

Lu Wenjun brushed his bangs aside: "Hey, watch me solo this!"

An hour later, a new message lit up in the small group chat "Express Magic Train Group".

-Lü Wenjun: Heavenly Venerable, help me!

- Faris: What the hell are you doing?

-Linggong: No way, Wenjun failed too?

- Lü Wenjun: No, it's not simply a matter of difficulty, but rather a matter of whether it's safe or not. To put it simply, I think it's far too arrogant of me to attempt campus missions so soon after arriving. Launching planned and purposeful explorations with solid and reliable support is the standard practice for a new generation of magicians.

-Vilsa: Reading is difficult

- Faris: I saw his punctuation mark run off with the train yesterday, even though he bought a standing ticket.

-Linggong: I'll go over there now~

-Lü Wenjun: Don't come.

- Lü Wenjun: Seriously though, don't come over here. This mission is extremely unfriendly to women. Brothers, let's do it!

- Faris: Oh dear, I suddenly feel a bit nauseous...

-Vilsa: I'll go.

Lu Wenjun put away the jade pendant and stared indifferently ahead.

He descended the high mountain where the academy was located and came to the forest path west of the Great Waterfall. He had only walked a few steps when he saw a spectacular sight:

Three women were hanging tragically from an old cedar tree. Their plight was so appalling that even someone as mentally strong as Lü Wenjun couldn't help but turn his gaze away.

"!" (Help me!)

"—!!" (Don't look!)

"..." (I want to die)

Three women made strange noises, which, judging from the amplitude of their leg swings, likely implied the above. They couldn't make a sound for the time being because…

Their dresses billowed up like overturned umbrellas, binding them from bottom to top.

The tree spirit Tia, wearing a long skirt, was relatively presentable; the skirt alone was sufficient to meet her restraint needs. Ariel, wearing a short skirt, fared worse; the short skirt couldn't hold much, so she had to also gather her top to bind her wrists. The most unfortunate was the ghost Momo, wearing a long robe; to lift this thing, you had to lift the whole thing… and once lifted, there was practically nothing left… Seriously, how on earth does this intangible robe even get lifted…?

Even the free-spirited male college students felt that this was indeed unbearable to look at, so Lü Wenjun coughed loudly a few times as a reminder, then used his flying shoes to climb the tree and rescue them one by one, and then quickly turned his back to the three of them to focus on appreciating the sky.

"Waaaa, Wenjun!!" Erlier cried out as soon as she came down.

Tia and Momo chattered: "I, I didn't expose myself, did I?" "How could you not have seen it when it was like that, you idiot?"

Lu Wenjun couldn't hold back any longer and said, "Why do I feel like the three of you are always so unlucky..."

"That explains it! It really is Ariel's problem, an unfortunate curse inherent in the Gorgon race!"

"How could you say that! Didn't we all agree to do the mission together to accumulate good karma and change our luck?!"

"My luck is getting worse and worse..."

Lu Wenjun reassured them, "Tell me briefly what you've all been through."

·

Upon entering the forest, they unknowingly began to lose their way, constantly feeling that someone was watching them, and occasionally hearing eerie laughter. As they walked, they felt their bodies becoming unresponsive, and later discovered that their clothes and shoes had started moving on their own. Eventually, they were bound by their own moving clothes, and that was the end of it—this is a brief account of the unfortunate trio's experience.

"It doesn't feel like a single technique..."

"We haven't even figured out the original body."

"By the way, you didn't take any pictures just now...?"

The unfortunate trio left with disheartened words, their silhouettes against the setting sun appearing particularly desolate. Shortly after, Velsa arrived and, upon hearing the information, remained silent, instead gazing intently into the depths of the forest.

The effects of alternate-level magic are generally small, with most manifestation spells being minor incidents like fireballs and lightning arrows. However, this forest was clearly larger than the dormitory building, and unfortunately, the trio had been walking for at least ten minutes without finding their way out. If it were an alternate-level spell, it would be far too powerful. And if it were a mythical-level spell… could a freshman possibly handle a mythical-level spell?

Lu Wenjun speculated, "Could it be a heretical monster with very high magical power? Like a rare case such as Pershka..."

"Speaking of which, you've only recently started learning magic..." Vilsa thought for a moment, "You're not quite clear on the definition of 'magic power,' are you?"

"Indeed. I'm looking forward to Professor Ji's lecture in the next introductory class."

“Then I’ll just give you some common sense on behalf of the professor.” Velsa tapped his temple. “The situation you’re describing is basically impossible, because so-called ‘magic’ is ‘knowledge,’ and ‘knowledge’ is ‘realm.’”

In the system of ultimate magic, the formal name for magic is "primordial magic," which is the sum of a magician's acquired knowledge, spells, life experiences, and other "self-information." This magic is the foundation of a magician, because both analyzing original texts and constructing spells require the use of primordial magic.

Activating and maintaining a spell does not deplete one's original magic power. The "magic power" used by mages at this time is actually physical energy used with extremely high efficiency under the guidance of their original magic power—in other words, recoverable life force. Magic power that can be restored through rest, food, and other means is this derived magic power. As for various magic supplements, they are simply highly concentrated nutrients that help stimulate the activity of one's original magic power.

Lu Wenjun nodded: "In other words, our mana bar is actually calculated by substituting our health bar and talent points into a formula..."

“Although I didn’t understand your analogy, I feel you should understand,” Vilsa said. “While the upper limit of derived magic power is related to physical strength, it is mainly determined by the amount of primal magic power. Without enough primal magic power, even with the best physical strength, the ‘blue bar’ will only be a little bit.”

"The amount of primordial magic power is closely related to the level of a magician. If the monster in the grove really had that much primordial magic power, it would definitely be a legendary monster, and naturally it wouldn't be assigned to us to deal with."

Vilsa's explanation was clear and logical, enough to serve as an introductory guide to magic even for a layman. But Lü Wenjun couldn't help but argue, "Aren't there also things like Pershka?"

"Therefore, true witches are rare exceptions, because they are born with a powerful innate source. As for you and me, our innate sources are not much different, and we can only increase the upper limit of our innate source through learning. This includes reading ancient texts, going on adventures, or constructing magical formulas..."

Versa added, "This last method is the most efficient. Judging from your situation, after learning 20 or 30 spells, your magical power will at least double."

Lu Wenjun's smile was somewhat forced. This setting—the more academic the magic, the more powerful it becomes—is quite friendly to everyone… but for now, he can only rely on the Eye of the Living Sacrifice for academic magic!

At his current pace, he'd be lucky to learn one spell formula every week or two; learning twenty or thirty would take forever. Considering his limited primal magic power, even if he could learn spell formulas on his own in the future, his progress probably wouldn't be very fast…

Will he have to be a magic hound for a long time...?

Versa comforted her, "There are bound to be some slight differences in this primordial magical power... although it's quite rare to see one like yours..."

"Sigh, I've been frail and sickly since childhood, what can I do?" Lü Wenjun sighed. "So, in your opinion, what's the situation this time?"

After looking around for a while, Versa concluded, "I'm afraid the monsters have turned this place into a 'spirit land'."

"This part hasn't been covered in class yet, please explain in detail."

Vilsa thought for a moment: "Have you heard of the 'Suicide River' or the 'Lost Forest'?"

"I think I get it."

“Forests where it’s easy to get lost, chess games that have lasted for centuries, riverbanks where you see deceased relatives… these kinds of eerie locations are common in stories all over the world, and at their core is the presence of monsters,” Vilsa said. “Areas where monsters are often active are infected by them, thus establishing unique rules. Magicians call such places ‘spirit lands.’”

Lu Wenjun nodded: "It's like using an assimilation spell on this forest?"

“An interesting analogy, but only ancient monsters can create sacred sites; they don't use magic.” Velsa observed the forest. “Each sacred site has its own rules, and as I see it, the rules here are probably…”

—Civilizational artifacts can hinder action.

The monster deep in the forest chuckled quietly.

Forests represent nature, while clothing symbolizes civilization. It is only natural for natural areas to resist the intrusion of man-made objects, which is why tourists from other places often get lost in the mountains and forests, while locals who follow tradition can always move around freely.

This small forest is a typical "Forest of Lost Souls," and to unravel the mysteries of this sacred place, one must follow the rules of the spirits:

Wear your clothes inside out. Not only should your top and bottom be turned inside out, but even your shoes should be worn backwards. A person who enters the forest in this disheveled state is a fool, and naturally, they won't be fooled by their clothes.

All that's left is to figure out how to deal with the monsters' pranks, isn't that simple?

"I love watching smart people make stupid mistakes!" said the third monster happily.

The second child asked curiously, "Do you think they might get worked up about their own pants?"

"Hang them up with your pants, and tie them up back to back!"

The monsters were looking forward to the next farce, but the fourth one, who was in charge of keeping watch, was a little nervous.

"Brother, something feels a bit strange this time."

"what?"

"Honestly, this is so weird. Who is this person? I really don't know what to do!"

The fourth dog couldn't help but feel nervous; what it saw as it approached the entrance was...

Bronze skin! A strong physique! And powerful muscles that have been thoroughly worked out, even the glutes!

"It seems that the rule of this sacred place is that 'those who wear clothes will reveal their ugly side.'"

"Then all we need to do is discard the clothes!"

The two male college students very cleanly abandoned clothing, a symbol of civilization, and returned to nature with a pure and open attitude. Their decisive attitude made even the monsters tremble.

When he took off the last piece of clothing, Lü Wenjun hesitated slightly: "This doesn't seem very respectable..."

"Don't be careless, Lü Wenjun!" Velsa said seriously. "What if the monster twists the underwear spiral? The weak point will be directly fatally attacked, won't it!"

No way! Who would do something so disgusting! Even jungle warfare wouldn't go that far!