Everyone's attention was fixed on Quan Taibin, waiting to hear the answer.
After a brief silence, Quan Taibin revealed it, "That's because a god's score is related to the number of times it has been hunted and killed by sequence ability users."
"The more times a particular type of god has been killed by sequence ability users, the lower the score on its disc armor becomes."
Quan Taibin's explanation immediately caused an uproar in the classroom.
"Huh? How... how is that possible?"
"The score is connected to how many times it's been hunted? I've never heard anything like that."
Every student stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what they had just heard.
Some instinctively shook their heads, wanting to argue, but couldn't come up with a reason.
Without realizing it, everyone had already begun to accept Quan Taibin's theory.
Quan Taibin was very satisfied with the students' shocked reactions.
"You don't need to doubt it. The theory I just presented is one of the results of my research over the past few years. I believe that once my paper is published, I will replace Florence as South Glory University's youngest homegrown associate professor, perhaps even become a full professor."
This time, Qin Siyang didn't laugh at him.
Regardless of Florence's actual ability, the papers that earned him his associate professorship on the Doom Octopus model were basically just a few pieces of sponge, squeeze them and water poured out.
Quan Taibin's research on disc armor was far more substantial than Florence's.
Claiming he could become an associate professor definitely wasn't empty boasting.
"Based on current research, I can roughly conclude that when the gods first descended, all small gods had disc armor worth 200 points. But some were easy to kill while others were difficult, so their scores declined at different rates. As time passed, some small gods' disc armor scores dropped all the way to 1 point, while others still remain close to 200..."
"That's not right!"
Liu Changsheng, ranked eighth in the tournament, stood up to challenge Quan Taibin.
"Blood Moon Tarantula and Abyss Hounds are among the most sought-after secondary sacrifices on the Path of the Believer. They've definitely been killed a lot. So why are their scores still around 180 or 190?"
"The Path of the Believer?"
"Secondary sacrifices?"
Some of the students from the regular class immediately looked confused when they heard those two terms and began whispering.
"What's the Path of the Believer? And what's a secondary sacrifice?"
"No idea. It's probably something they teach in those special classes for top students. Sounds impressive."
"Man, that's what makes top students different. They've already pulled ahead of us the moment school started. I'm so jealous."
"If only I were as amazing as Liu Changsheng and knew everything..."
In the front row, Fu Wanli glanced at the smug-looking Liu Changsheng, slowly clenched his fists, and silently blamed himself.
"Brother Zhao Wu told me about all this too! Why didn't I think of standing up and showing off first?"
Quan Taibin looked at Liu Changsheng and smiled unconcernedly.
"You probably just heard about secondary sacrifices on the Path of the Believer from some professor not long ago, didn't you? At the very least, you've definitely never seen the Abyss Hounds or Blood Moon Tarantula you mentioned."
"Th-That has nothing to do with my question."
Quan Taibin remained calm, "Haven't you heard the saying? Without making sure you know about it, you shouldn't speak about it."
"Although Blood Moon Tarantula and Abyss Hounds are both small gods, they live in colonies underground. And neither of them is weak. The Blood Moon Tarantula's armor and the Abyss Hound's speed are both among the best of all small gods. A whole colony together is comparable to an ordinary medium-sized god."
"Under those circumstances, how could they possibly have been hunted in large numbers?"
Liu Changsheng stubbornly argued, "But they're both extremely rare! Doesn't that just mean people hunted them to near extinction?"
Quan Taibin answered calmly, "Then what about Lava Crocodiles and Ice Crystal Giant Moths? They're also rare medium-sized gods. Were they hunted to extinction too?"
"Uh..."
Liu Changsheng froze. His mouth opened, but no answer came out.
"The truth is that sequence ability users have killed very few Abyss Hounds and Blood Moon Tarantula. That's why they've maintained relatively high scores and thus become the best choices as secondary sacrifices on the Path of the Believer. They aren't the best secondary sacrifices because they have high scores. You've reversed cause and effect."
Although the students didn't know what the Path of the Believer was, it sounded impressive.
Somehow, Quan Taibin had convinced them.
Liu Changsheng's face flushed red. He still refused to give in.
"Everything you're saying is just your own speculation. You have no evidence."
Quan Taibin replied, "Since I call this a research result, then naturally it's supported by both theory and experiments. Otherwise, how could it be called research?"
"Let's use the Abyss Hound as an example. Right now, Abyss Hound disc armor scores range from 188 to 192, and they're distributed fairly evenly. Correct?"
Qin Siyang nodded. That was indeed the current public data, and he had personally verified it.
"Two years ago, I wiped out an entire Abyss Hound nest. Among the spoils, the highest-scoring Abyss Hound disc armor was worth 193 points. The lowest was worth 190."
'What?'
Qin Siyang was stunned.
'Something like that really happened?'
But judging from how certain Quan Taibin sounded, it didn't seem like he was making it up.
Quan Taibin continued, "So even though Abyss Hound disc armor has a high score, it's actually declining slowly."
Hu Chan thought for a moment before raising his hand.
"If a god's disc armor score decreases after it's killed, then does that mean every god of the same species across the entire Blue Planet shares information about those deaths?"
"Excellent," Quan Taibin was startled by Hu Chan's question, "You're just a freshman, yet you were able to understand what I was about to explain next from what I'd already said. Impressive!"
"That's right. I believe that while gods appear to be individuals, they actually share information about being killed with others of their own kind to a certain extent."
Qin Siyang's eyes widened, as if a door to a new world had opened before him.
The more he listened to this professor from Bang Country, the more likable he seemed.
The man was teaching real substance.
———
"Whose student was this Quan Taibin when he was in school?"
"Has the pressure from doing research driven him completely insane?"
Zhao Longfei crushed his cigarette in the ashtray. His fingers tightened slightly, and the ashtray cracked apart with a snap.
"His research results are somewhat interesting, but his brain... it's as stiff as a moldy piece of wood. He has absolutely no sense of priorities."
Zhao Longfei had thought this guy had mysteriously taken over Wu Yu's course because he planned to present some groundbreaking theory that would shock everyone.
"He's actually teaching disc armor knowledge publicly in class? Does he think he's the only one who's ever researched this field?"
"Isn't he asking to die?"
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