Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1825 - 1823: Daihasei Festival

"Space-Time Manipulation" Hainara Kuon rose to the top LV5 position, which indeed surprised everyone in Academy City. While some had doubts about this, there weren’t many. The majority believed in the official fairness of Academy City, and the term "space-time" sounded quite grand, seemingly comparable to vector manipulation in the eyes of the average person.

In truth, Fang Zheng played a word game here. The term "space-time" refers to "time" and "space," and with Hainara Kuon’s powers, she could barely use them, but she was far from being able to wield them freely like Fang Zheng. Hence, it’s "manipulation" rather than "control" of space-time.

From the perspective of power dominance, Hainara Kuon falls short compared to Shihou Souki. Currently, she can only "go with the flow" in manipulating space-time and cannot freely dominate it. So relatively speaking, Hainara Kuon’s ability isn’t particularly strong.

But in terms of LV5, being able to manipulate time and space is already a terrifying existence. Regardless of what ability you possess, I could simply use Time Stop and drop down a steamroller, ora ora ora ora ora... then there’s nothing more.

Unlike other LV5s, Fang Zheng made a big effort to publicize Hainara Kuon’s upgrade to LV5, not only promoting it throughout Academy City but also publishing a special issue and PV, detailing Hainara Kuon’s background and resume. Plus, Fang Zheng outlined the latest rules for ranking in Academy City—aside from the development and application of ability strength, theoretical research by ability users will also be considered a judging criterion.

The reason for the original LV5 ranking changes was mainly because those LV5s previously did not excel in theoretical research and learning, hence their rankings dropped—of course, that’s just an excuse.

To some extent, this can also be seen as an official announcement of Academy City’s policy change, no longer focusing solely on ability strength as the main evaluation target, but from both ability and theory perspectives for a comprehensive assessment. Moreover, Fang Zheng announced increased investment in theoretical and foundational scientific research, and starting next year, a ranking list similar to LV5 will be released, specifically for evaluating talents who have made discoveries and innovations in scientific theory, not limited to ability users.

The introduction of this policy was immediately welcomed by most students in Academy City. In fact, many original LV5 members were looked down upon, considered merely strong due to their abilities, nothing else but brutes who couldn’t do anything well. Much like many top students view those recruited for sports—perhaps you run fast, can play football, and dunk, but if your education is poor, you’d still struggle in the NBA when it comes to calculus.

But now, the first place got the respect of many. To ability users, just seeing the "Space-Time Manipulation" code name might make them kneel. To academic achievers, Hainara Kuon’s resume filled with author identities in top journals like "Mathematics Annual," "Nature," "Science,"... only made them feel down—if not that, at least you need the qualifications to submit to these top journals!

This is also Academy City’s Achilles’ heel. Why does Academy City block the research externally? A significant part of the reason is the research itself cannot withstand academic integrity scrutiny. You could say Academy City is an "Outlaw Land," secretly condoning and even harboring mad scientists to conduct their inhumane experiments, which naturally cannot be disclosed.

Consider something like Mokuhara Genki’s AIM burst experiment, how would you write the paper? To verify the AIM forcefield burst experiment, we selected twenty children around 10 years old for human explosion induction?

You dare publish it, the whole world would flip tables!

Never seen anyone blatantly conducting human experiments and daring to publish papers.

So Fang Zheng chose to completely destroy those inhumane research facilities to avoid potential trouble.

However, from another perspective, students in Academy City find it much easier to conduct research than elsewhere.

Consider people like Hainara Kuon and Misaka Mikoto, if they wish to verify their theory, a regular person outside Academy City might need to apply for a lot of instruments and supercomputer time, even potentially mobilize advanced equipment like particle colliders based on the situation.

But in Academy City, as ability users, they only need to use their ability to validate their theory.

Therefore, in terms of theory validation, ability users are more convenient and faster than ordinary people; once on the right path, developing Academy City’s theoretical foundation and resources is no difficulty.

After all, ability users can’t be mass-produced, but theories validated by ability users can benefit humanity—damn, it seems that Arestar really is illiterate, Academy City in his hands is utterly wasted.

Oh well, mages haven’t read many books anyway; having middle school level education is quite remarkable.

Maybe elementary school?

Considering mages still need to learn magic, Fang Zheng didn’t make them attend literacy classes.

At least they can understand written characters.

The policy adjustment in Academy City, and the LV5 ranking changes, stirred considerable reactions within Academy City. Fang Zheng seized the moment and had Hainara Kuon act as the champion at the Daihasei Festival.

Incidentally, after resolving the event, Shihou Souki once again modified the memories of Shirai Kuroko and others, though...

"I never thought Classmate Misaka would miss the ceremony due to an upset stomach, truly unexpected."

"And she even ate something from the roadside, that’s totally not like Classmate Misaka."

"Ahahaha..."

Listening to the chatter from Hatsuharu and Saten Reiko beside her, Misaka Mikoto’s face wore a smile, heart full of MMP. Although Shihou Souki restored their memories, she also modified them. Back then, Misaka Mikoto discovered that Shihou Souki had erased Shirai Kuroko’s memories between them, so she stormed off, skipping Endymion’s opening ceremony to cause trouble.

Of course, she ended up being caught up in Mokuhara Genki’s incident and, due to her lack of battle experience, was defeated. Ultimately, Fang Zheng rescued her on his way.

Incidentally, the one who defeated Misaka Mikoto was none other than Dolly’s friend "Little Mi," Kakudori Misora. She was released by Mokuhara Genki from the Juvenile Reformatory under the pretext of "seeking revenge on the Coordinating Council" and participated in Mokuhara Genki’s plans. Having been in the Juvenile Reformatory all along, Kakudori Misora had no idea that Academy City had changed so much. Thus, she was used by Mokuhara Genki, becoming his accomplice.

Afterward, Shihou Souki found Kakudori Misora, explained the situation to her, and together they rescued the "Dolly" backup hidden in a research institute. As for Misaka Mikoto, naturally, she was returned to Fang Zheng.

As a result, to conceal the conflicts that night, Shihou Souki once again altered the memories of Shirai Kuroko and others, so in their recollection, Misaka Mikoto missed the ceremony because she ate a lollipop picked up by the roadside, got an upset stomach, and spent half a day in the restroom at Tokiwadai...

Misaka Mikoto now feels like killing Shihou Souki.

"Ah, Classmate Misaka, we need to attend the upcoming match, see you later."

"Ah, okay."

Watching Saten Reiko and Hatsuharu leave, Misaka Mikoto also breathed a sigh of relief, then she turned around, looking in all directions. During the Daihasei Festival, there were many vendors, with a variety of food readily available.

"There hasn’t been any contact from Classmate Hainara’s end, there’s still some time until the next event."

Thinking of this, Misaka Mikoto also breathed a sigh of relief and then proceeded forward.

"But speaking of which, where did Kuroko go, Classmate Hatsuharu said she’s gone to assist the Discipline Committee’s work... ah."

While speaking, Misaka Mikoto saw Shirai Kuroko emerge from the small alley on the other side, then cautiously glanced around.

"Hey, Kuroko—!"

Seeing Kuroko, Misaka Mikoto also smiled and greeted her, and upon hearing Misaka Mikoto’s voice, Shirai Kuroko trembled slightly before quickly turning around.

"Ah, Sister Dear! Congrats on getting first place in the three-legged race, I watched the whole broadcast, Sister Dear and Classmate Hainara really worked flawlessly together."

"Hahaha, it’s not a big deal... Hmm?"

Walking to Shirai Kuroko’s side, Misaka Mikoto then noticed something seemed a bit different about Shirai Kuroko, the person looked radiant, her skin glowed, and not only that, there was a hint of blush on her face, occasionally gasping while speaking... It was a bit strangely alluring, but more importantly...

"What’s wrong with your skirt?"

Looking at the faint, strange-smelling stains on Kuroko’s skirt and uniform, Misaka Mikoto couldn’t help but curiously ask, and upon hearing Misaka Mikoto’s inquiry, Kuroko blushed and awkwardly stepped back two steps.

"Well... um... it’s embarrassing to say, but while doing some work just now, I accidentally got squid sauce on myself..."

"Ah, I see, that’s why it smells that way."

"Yes, exactly."

While talking, Kuroko seemed a bit restless, rubbing her legs and pulling down her skirt.

"So I plan to take this chance to go back, take a shower and change clothes..."

"Oh, sorry, hurry and go change clothes then."

Misaka Mikoto didn’t mind, just waved her hand with a smile, and Kuroko nodded, then turned and left in a flash, blushing.

"Phew..."

At the same time, Fang Zheng was walking among the crowd, stretching lazily.

Indeed, it’s nice to exercise after a meal, although I didn’t expect Kuroko would be so bold, dragging me into a deserted alley on a day like this... Well, considering Kuroko’s attribute level, it’s not that surprising? But she kept saying "Sister Dear, I’m sorry..." Hmm, indeed, this kind of play is more thrilling.

"So, what shall we do next?"

While saying this, Fang Zheng looked around at the screens, this morning Emilia and the others also participated in the competitive games, although they were eliminated because they weren’t familiar with the rules. But nothing can be done about that, since in the object relay race, the items listed were unfamiliar to Emilia and the others, and some spent too much time searching, only to end up last...

As for the balloon contest, Ais and Felt showcased their talents, defeating Nagatenjouki Academy, avenging Shaketani Middle School.

It’s unknown what the afternoon will hold.

As Fang Zheng was walking around bored, suddenly, an unexpected voice was heard not far away.

"Nice to meet you, I am Classmate Misaka’s friend, called Shihou Souki."

"Hmm?"

Hearing the voice, Fang Zheng lifted his head to look forward and saw Shihou Souki laughingly holding Misaka Mikoto’s arm, greeting the person opposite—a spiky-haired guy—oh, Kamijou Touma.

Speaking of which, you’ve embarrassed Misaka Mikoto so badly, now you dare come out to show off in front of her? Is your LV5 out to dance on graves?

"Who’s your friend!"

Misaka Mikoto obviously wasn’t going to let it go, directly throwing off Shihou Souki, who then gleefully ran over to Kamijou Touma and grabbed him.

"Classmate Misaka is scary, always zapping me with lightning all the time..."

"Ah, well..."

At present, Kamijou Touma clearly didn’t know what to do.

"She’s always zapping me with lightning too..."

"Oh, so she’s a lightning alien from the lightning star..."

"You two..."

Listening to Shihou Souki and Kamijou Touma’s conversation, Misaka Mikoto was growing more furious, while Fang Zheng was beside them, laughing at the commotion. However, unexpectedly, at this moment, Shihou Souki suddenly turned around and ran over to Fang Zheng, grabbing his arm.

"Oh, isn’t this Mr. Fang Zheng? Did you come specifically to find me? I’m thrilled."

"...Hmm? What’s going on?"

"Let’s go, I discovered a shop over there with delicious food, let’s have some treats. Come on, I know Mr. Fang Zheng will treat us."

After saying this, Shihou Souki completely ignored Misaka Mikoto, who was hopping mad and Kamijou Touma, who was puzzled, turning and pulling Fang Zheng away from the scene.

"..."

Fang Zheng looked at the two behind him, then looked at Shihou Souki with her head down by his side, and glanced at the sky.

The sky was clear, with the sun shining brightly.

It’s not white album season yet?