Chapter 172 — Arrival at the Heroic Spirit Ruins

"To protect future generations, the great Emperor Shi branded the traces of countless heroes of the first generation of the Donghuang Dynasty into the Heroic Spirit Ruins before us."

"Every member of the Donghuang human race has hope of earning the recognition of a heroic spirit and activating their deeds!"

"In the millennium of turmoil that followed in the Donghuang Dynasty, many heroes and champions rose to power through the recognition of this Heroic Spirit Ruins and sounded the horns of counterattack."

"And to this day, not all the heroic spirits within the ruins have been unlocked. They await the inheritors of later generations."

"That is to say, if you have sufficient determination, faith, and aptitude, those heroes of old may well step out from the long river of history and, in the form of undead heroic spirits, aid you—continuing, in another form, to guard Donghuang!"

"During these seven days of military training, besides touring the various sites of the ruins reserve and learning the deeds of each hero, you may also take the initiative to try communicating with those ancient heroic spirits who have never been summoned."

After spending over an hour explaining the matters to note, the student body dispersed once again.

Unlike what Shi Jin had imagined, the military training here was vastly different from the so-called military training of his previous life.

There was no strict enforcement of discipline, nor were special instructors assigned to manage any particular class. The students were given a considerable degree of freedom.

It was indeed just as Instructor Ding had said—they were here like tourists.

Those officers' duties afterward were more like those of tour guides introducing the ruins.

The hope was that through this ruins reserve, the students would come to understand history, cultivate a sense of national identity, and truly gain some substantive growth of thought from this military training.

And some of the elite students might even grow in strength through the Heroic Spirit Ruins.

By comparison, using military-style training methods to drill these elites who had already passed the professional assessment was utterly meaningless and unnecessary—it would produce no great effect at all.

Every one of them was an elite among their peers; pulled out one by one, even the instructors might not be able to beat these students at the same level.

After the meeting dispersed.

The various classes gathered together again.

Wang Ling looked at the thirty-two classmates before him, took a deep breath, and said, "You all heard that, right."

"The most valuable part of this military training is the chance to gain the recognition of ancient heroic spirits!"

"With seven days of time essence, you can try countless times. Also, as class monitor, I can share a little trick for communicating with heroic spirits, to raise your success rate."

Wang Ling was quite dutiful as class monitor. The moment he spoke, the students below immediately stirred and looked at him.

Including Shi Jin, who also looked over—what little trick? Why hadn't the beast-eared senior reminded him?

"The monitor's awesome—what little trick?" The other students began asking eagerly as well.

"Really? I heard that over the years, the success rate for candidates communicating with heroic spirits at the Heroic Spirit Ruins training is only about one percent, meaning of our six hundred, maybe only six can succeed..."

That probability wasn't high, nor was it low, but for most ordinary students, it was still a bit despairing.

"Anyway, if I can successfully communicate with one, I'll treat the whole class to a feast," someone said.

Wang Ling looked at his excited classmates and chuckled. "Don't rush, don't rush, hear me out..."

"The little trick is this: sincerity makes it work..."

Shi Jin: "..."

Everyone: "...Shall we swap out our class monitor?"

It felt like he was just saying nonsense.

Who didn't know sincerity made it work?

Were they supposed to stand from the perspective of the alien totems to communicate with the heroic spirits?

Even if they could summon one that way, it probably wouldn't be recognition—it'd be a manifestation to kill the traitor.

"There's more, there's more," Wang Ling added.

"You've all read the textbooks by now, right."

"They record countless heroic deeds, and the power of these heroes must also be branded into the Heroic Spirit Ruins."

"Generally speaking, the stronger your faith in a certain person and the more familiar you are with their deeds, the greater your hope of gaining their recognition."

"So, this week, if your first attempt fails, don't lose heart—try reviewing the heroic deeds more, and with a devout heart, go communicate again."

"Also, you must be single-minded. Don't think about gaining the recognition of many heroic spirits—just aim for one person."

"And do your research. Many heroic spirits have already been summoned. At that point, no matter how well you know them, it's useless—they can't appear again."

Wang Ling shared many little tricks he knew. This time it sounded somewhat reasonable, and the students nodded one after another.

"Shi Jin, do you have any suggestions?"

At this moment, a rather pretty girl in the class looked brightly at Shi Jin, who was slacking off nearby.

Shi Jin was hailed as a rising star in archaeology and a prominent figure among the freshmen, so she very much wanted to hear Shi Jin's suggestions too.

As soon as she spoke, a bunch of Shi Jin's fans in the class—boys and girls alike—turned to look at Cen Yu.

"Uh." Shi Jin was at a loss. Suggestions?

Shi Jin thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll share my view."

"It's said that the Time Emperor branded the power and deeds of all the people, objects, and beasts with merit at the time into the Heroic Spirit Ruins in a special way."

"One purpose was the hope that should later generations face disaster, their power and faith could reappear in another form to protect Donghuang."

"The other purpose was the hope that their achievements could be preserved in one more way."

"That's also why, when someone summons a heroic spirit, not only does its power reappear, but its deeds manifest as well."

"The Time Emperor's records should be complete, but later generations' records of the people, events, and things of that time are likely full of gaps. Precisely because of this, if you can summon a hero not recorded in history, then when its deeds manifest, it should count as an extremely valuable archaeological discovery."

"So perhaps you can also approach the Heroic Spirit Ruins from an archaeologist's perspective..."

"Explore the unknown, restore the truth of history."

In this special place remade by the Time Emperor, theoretically, even without the gift of telepathy, one could make the ruins manifest!

But after Shi Jin finished, he suddenly felt he'd said a pile of nonsense—it was too abstract, far less practical than Wang Ling's little tricks.

Yet Wang Ling nodded at this moment, his face full of realization:

"Shi Jin is right. My little trick is actually more suited to combat-track students. Our identity now is archaeology-track students. If we want to achieve something in this field, rather than gaining the recognition of powerful heroic spirits, it's more valuable to explore those people, events, and things unrecorded in history, or with vague, unclear records that make the historical facts impossible to determine."

"The Heroic Spirits of the Heroic Spirit Ruins have never been fully unlocked. Many archaeologists come here to investigate, mostly out of a desire to explore unknown deeds rather than to gain a Heroic Spirit's acknowledgment."

"Indeed. The legend of the Archaeology Department, Senior Lu Heng, investigated the Heroic Spirit Ruins many times and refused a Heroic Spirit's claim on her, all simply to uncover certain truths." Shi Heng nodded.