In the corridor with flickering light, three figures stood silently in one spot, their bodies wrapped in light and shadow, making their images appear even more eerie and evil.
"Difficulty 3 classrooms are generally not for normal students to challenge. They're only open on a limited basis, often for special course activities or high-difficulty assessments."
"But legend has it that there's a hidden difficulty 4 classroom in some corridor, though I've never heard of any living student experiencing it firsthand..."
After listening to Bachel for a while longer, Lanqi handed the credit coin in his hand to Bachel.
Bachel immediately took it, as if he had received a golden ticket for survival.
Lanqi also brought up the Shadow World task information before his eyes again.
[Time remaining: 11 hours 42 minutes]
[Task Objective 1: Academy exploration rate exceeds 60%, current progress 4%]
[Task Objective 2: Investigate the source of tonight's danger]
[Task Objective 3: At least 1 person survives until the time limit ends, currently 6/6 surviving]
[Challenger Lanqi & Huberrian are in Corridor G21, haven't participated in any classroom]
The "progress 3%" at the beginning of [Task Objective 1] had changed to "progress 4%".
This meant that after clearing the demon exam room earlier, it increased by 1%.
According to the discussion between Lanqi and Huberrian on the way, the total of 6 challengers shown in the Shadow World were likely divided into 3 groups of two.
So the data change indicated that entering a difficulty 1 demon classroom would probably yield 1% exploration rate, and clearing it would also increase the exploration rate by 1%.
By extension, difficulty 2 and difficulty 3 classrooms would likely yield higher exploration rates.
If they had 3 teams, clearing 5 difficulty 1 classrooms each within 12 hours would only yield 2% × 5 × 3 = 30% exploration rate at most.
So they had to consider splitting up into individuals to challenge more difficulty 1 classrooms simultaneously, or try to challenge difficulty 2 and 3 classrooms, to have a chance of reaching the 60% exploration rate of [Task Objective 1] within the 12-hour mission time limit.
Lanqi looked at Huberrian, and Huberrian nodded.
Her arithmetic was good, and she had clearly figured out the mechanism of this Shadow World.
So the strategy going forward was very clear - they needed to challenge high-difficulty classrooms as much as possible, and in the process investigate what the "potential threat in the demon academy tonight" referred to in [Task Objective 2] was.
"Bachel, do you know of any recent anomalies in the academy? Or is there anything dangerous that scares you tonight?"
"..."
Bachel looked at Lanqi, remaining silent for a long time without being able to speak.
He didn't understand what Lanqi meant, nor did he know if there was anything more dangerous than Lanqi tonight.
"Alright."
Lanqi nodded helplessly, realizing that the intelligence a student like Bachel possessed was still limited. He clearly didn't know about any secret internal affairs of the school. Regarding [Task Objective 2], they would still need to ask teachers or even high-level staff like the principal.
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Unfortunately, they couldn't ask the two invigilators from the exam room anymore.
However, no matter what, Lanqi was confident that his progress was ahead of schedule.
Because if he had finished the exam normally, he would have had to wait for over an hour to learn about these rule-related intelligence, and he might not have encountered a friendly and sincere classmate like Bachel who was willing to disclose all information in detail.
Now it was time for some serious studying - without studying, there was no survival!
Compared to the courses at Icerite Academy that made him want to skip, Lanqi honestly didn't dislike studying in this extraordinary fantasy demon realm academy at all. He even felt a bit excited!
Huberrian: "..."
She felt that Lanqi seemed eager to go to the next classroom.
Yet the Lanqi she saw in the Sage Academy classroom during the day was not at all this knowledge-hungry...
Huberrian was very worried that after finishing his studies at this school, Lanqi would awaken some irreversible qualities... becoming even less human...
But she couldn't say anything, after all, she wasn't exactly human either.
Just as Huberrian was thinking this.
"Classmate Bachel, there's an old saying in my hometown: 'The wise adapt to circumstances.' I believe you certainly won't refuse to cooperate with us, right?"
Lanqi said while patting Bachel's shoulder.
"Of, of course not."
"If you do well, we won't treat you badly. Please take me to an art classroom."
Lanqi needed a sincere and clever demon to guide him, which would save a lot of time.
"This way, please."
Bachel hurriedly extended his left hand like a waiter, instinctively using elegant noble etiquette to indicate, and began to lead the way for the two.
Although the school's complex and changing corridor structure meant there was no fixed map, Bachel, with his maxed-out survival instinct, naturally knew what most of the classrooms on the corridors were.
Lanqi and Huberrian followed Bachel, moving swiftly through the corridors.
Their footsteps were steady and quick.
A few minutes later, a wide door appeared before them, standing like a silent giant, screening the secrets within.
Bachel stopped and turned to face Lanqi.
"This door is said to lead to a music classroom, which seems to be the nearest art classroom for now. If you're not satisfied, I can take you to find others."
Lanqi's gaze followed Bachel's gesture, looking at the artistic door, which had two peculiar demon marks on it, clearly indicating difficulty 2.
Then, Lanqi nodded, seemingly satisfied with this classroom.
He reached out and placed his palm on that ancient and solid door, "This one will do."
Searching further would waste who knows how much time.
"Are, are you really going to challenge a difficulty 2 classroom?"
Bachel, who clearly hadn't been to such a classroom before, asked Lanqi with some concern.
"It's fine, there's no art subject I'm afraid of."
With that, Lanqi confidently pushed open the door.
The moment he stepped into the classroom the next second, the interior scene flooded his vision. Compared to the giant lecture hall, this place was more like a spacious grand theater! Lavishly decorated lighting fixtures, red velvet seats, and that solemn stage - everything exuded luxury and nobility.
On the stage, a student was engrossed in performing music, their movements coordinated and passionate, constantly stirring echoes like waves in the large classroom.
At the edge of the stage, a formally dressed teacher could be vaguely seen, like the manager of the entire classroom. He stood by the curtain, immediately noticing the appearance of Lanqi and his two companions, and then raised his hand to gesture them towards the back row seats, his gesture containing only impeccable command.
Lanqi and the others nodded, slowly moving along the steps towards the highest point of the classroom, finally able to better observe the full view of the theater classroom—
Apart from the demon students sitting in the back row tiered seats like an audience watching a performance, four demon teachers were seated in four large chairs directly facing the stage below, listening to the student's musical performance like judges.
Lanqi stared at this extremely bizarre structure, and although he still didn't know the rules of this classroom, a strong sense of déjà vu had already inexplicably risen in his heart.
"Huh? Demon's Got Talent?!"
Lanqi felt that this classroom was a bit over the top!