A year and a half had passed since our training began, and the time for field experience had finally arrived.
I sat in the back of the bus, watching my nervous classmates. It was understandable-after all, this would be their first time seeing real monsters.
And that was with them still assuming they would merely see them. They had asked the upperclassmen about their practical training, and those seniors had told them stories of being taught how to navigate the forest. Then, under military supervision, they would be shown how to kill monsters, and finally, they would catch a maimed one to practice spells on, helping them overcome their fear. That was indeed how most ordinary schools operated.
Naive fools. They were going to undergo training under a man who, upon becoming a mid-tier Undead Emperor and realizing his consciousness was gradually fading, didn't go off to fight the most powerful monsters to reduce the threats to humanity-or even to permanently lay to rest the hordes of undead belonging to the ancient necromancer.
No, his first priority had been to go rescue his beloved from an icy mountain. And then, leaving her without protection or even the oversight of ghosts-when she would undoubtedly be hunted down by the Holy City once more after her release-he went off to sit on a throne in the realm of the dead, slowly losing his sanity.
If Pharaoh Khufu hadn't attacked China first, and if the Holy City hadn't taken his beloved hostage afterward, he would have just sat there until humanity faced a new threat in the form of the resurrected ancient necromancer. So, fat chance they were getting a normal field exercise.
When the bus bounced over a bump, my thoughts returned to what mattered-my cultivation. With my pendant's cultivation speed boost increased to thirty percent through the continuous absorption of souls, supplemented by resources from parallel worlds and constant fights in the sewers, I needed just over two months to advance an element from the second tier to the third.
Currently, my Ice, Healing, and Space elements were at the second tier, while Light, Mind, and Time had broken through to the third. In half a year, all my elements would reach the third tier. For nearly a year leading up to the battle for the Sacred Spring, I would saturate them with magic to achieve a breakthrough at the Spring as quickly as possible.
That way, before the catastrophe hit, I would have time to master the star alignment for the Ice element, especially considering the star-control assistance bracelet I had traded for using resources from a parallel world. It was originally designed to reduce spell casting time, but it would serve this purpose just as well.
Ah, if I didn't need legitimate confirmation that I had been to the Sacred Spring for my plans, I would have broken through much earlier. But for the sake of disguise and my larger goals, I had to endure it.
Lost in these thoughts, I spent the journey until we reached Mount Xuefeng Station, where the military was stationed.
Since our class was considered the elite, we were the first to go out for practical training.
To pass, one needed to get at least a grade of «C.» But naturally, everyone wanted a higher grade, as this practical evaluation would play a significant role in determining which university we could get into.
Only a handful of exceptionally gifted geniuses could bypass the standard process through special admissions. For normal admissions, anyone with a grade lower than an «A» had no business applying to places like Imperial University or Pearl University.
Our crowd finally walked down the main road, passing shops and stalls where hunters unloaded their spoils after missions beyond the city walls, saving themselves the hassle of dragging everything into the city proper. Because of this, you could buy harvested resources here ten to fifteen percent cheaper, but without official market authentication, you could easily get scammed.
«Gather in the square!» called out Lu Yongbo, one of the practical training supervisors, just as everyone was looking around. Lu Yongbo was the instructor leading the team this time-a middle-aged man with slightly dark skin who clearly took good care of his appearance.
Assisting him was an adjutant instructor, a woman named Pan Lijun. She was above average in height, appeared to be about twenty-seven years old, and had dark skin.
Hearing the teacher's command, the students quickly assembled in the central square.
The hundred students of the elite class were divided into five groups of twenty, each standing before two instructors and one practicing teacher.
Once we lined up, we quickly drew the attention of the onlookers.
Idle mages watched us with interest, wearing strange smirks. In their eyes, kids like us who had only ever attended classes in a magic school would be terrified the moment we saw a real monster, probably even fainting from shock.
Though they weren't entirely wrong-during these practical exercises, someone usually did pass out from a monster's aura.
As we finished forming up, a group of soldiers approached us, led by a scruffy-looking man named Zhang Kong.
Despite his unkempt appearance, he was only twenty-seven years old. That's what a lost love with a member of one of China's great clans does to a man-he had completely let himself go.
«You are the first students I've supervised since taking up my post here,» Zhang Kong announced to us with a warm, harmless smile. «So to ensure you can pass successfully, I'm going to offer you a special privilege.»
The students beamed with joy, anticipating an easy assignment, but the teachers tensed up. It wasn't because they wanted to fail us, but quite the opposite-knowing the big guy's personality, they had immediately begun to worry for our sakes.
«I will assign you a task,» Zhang Kong continued, his smile still gentle as he instructed his assistant to hand task sheets to our supervisors. «If even one of your five groups completes it, I'll give every single one of you a top grade.»
Reading the task, our supervisors turned pale.
«And if they don't complete it?» Lu Yongbo asked, swallowing hard.
«I will disqualify all of them,» Zhang Kong replied, his expression unchanging.
When the supervisors explained the task to us-that we were required to trek through the wilderness without any instructor supervision, enter a magical beast's cave, and retrieve a blue bracelet-a mutiny began to brew among the students.
«To give you some motivation,» Zhang Kong added, sweetening the pill as he sensed the unrest brewing among us, «whoever completes the task will be rewarded with a magical weapon.»
That silenced most of the complaints. Such an item was worth at least several hundred thousand Yuan. Most of the students here weren't from legacy mage families, but children of middle-class households; it would take them years to save up for an artifact like that on their own.
«Instructor Zhang,» I spoke up, aiming to strip this tragic soul down to his shorts, «do I understand correctly that if we all team up and complete the task together, every single one of us will receive a magical artifact?»
The eyes of the poor students immediately lit up with greed.
Maybe with such a massive hole in his budget, he would finally get off his ass and recover some of his combat skills before fighting the Winged Wolf.
«Well, naturally!» he replied, seizing the opportunity to settle our restless mood once and for all. Of course, he had no intention of buying anything for us, having zero faith in our abilities. And from a logical standpoint, he wasn't wrong.
If it weren't for me or Mo Fan, only a handful of these students would be capable of releasing magic under the pressure of a Servant-class beast, making it impossible for them to pass the trial.
Well, I wasn't about to disabuse this naive Chinese fellow of his illusions. Let him keep thinking his money was safe and that he had outsmarted a bunch of naive students. A subtle, cunning smile crept onto my face.