Organizing a group of profit-hungry students who happen to be the elite of their age group is no easy task. In fact, it is an absolute nightmare.
Informing them that we had to cover thirty kilometers through the wilderness, overcome a barrage of obstacles, and ultimately face a real monster did little to help, though it did knock some of the arrogance out of them.
Leveraging my reputation as the top mage among us, I displayed my hunter's badge and targeted their greed. I assured them that following my lead was the only way to guarantee they would claim the artifact and secure the top marks needed for university admission.
That shut them up for a while. Taking my words to heart, they began sorting through their backpacks, organizing two weeks' worth of rations, maps, and essential supplies.
Next, I assigned standard roles. Earth mages accelerated our pace using ground waves, wind mages scouted ahead along wind paths, while fire and ice mages stood ready to strike at a moment's notice. Water mages were tasked with defense, and the light mages were relegated to acting as flashlights in the evening.
I tried to give them as much practical magic experience as possible. In a true wilderness survival scenario, I would have advised everyone except the scouts to conserve their mana reserves. However, since this exam was merely a realistic simulation where the only real threats were a wolf at the end and some predatory vines beforehand, I focused on training them to cast magic precisely on my command.
I even organized drills in the evenings. The fire mages blasted away at water shields and trees, while the ice mages extinguished the resulting fires. For the wind and earth mages, I devised a simple exercise: the wind mages would charge at us, and the earth mages would push them back with ground waves. As for the light mages, they kept playing flashlights… Don't despair, guys. I feel your pain-I went through the exact same thing in my past life.
Eight days later, we arrived at a ten-meter-wide ravine. Detouring around it would take too long, so I pulled a rope from my pack, held it high above my head, and called out, «Who is the valiant wind mage brave enough to tie this rope around his waist, leap across the chasm, and secure it on the other side so us immobile plebeians can cross?» I was giving whichever brave soul stepped forward a chance to show off for the girls.
«Leave it to me!» several guys shouted, stepping forward, but Zhang Xiaohou beat them all to the punch.
It was no surprise he had pulled so many girls in his past life; the guy knew exactly when to take action. Granted, they all ended up dying right before his eyes, but let's not dwell on depressing thoughts.
Taking a running start and channeling his wind magic, he managed to leap across the gap with some effort. Tying the rope securely around a tree, he opened the path forward. I let the others cross first, intending to bring up the rear.
Honestly, looking at Zhao Kunsan's plump frame or the matchstick-thin bodies of some of the girls, if they were ordinary humans, I never would have allowed them to pull off such a stunt and would have bothered building a temporary bridge instead. But a mage's physique-while nowhere near the level of a monster, matching only the weakest servant-level beast even at high tiers of magic-is still considerably stronger than it appears.
A day later, we reached a dense thicket of demonic vines. I chose not to overcomplicate things, commanding the fire mages to incinerate the vines while the ice mages froze the soil beneath. We passed through without incident.
Another day passed, and we finally reached our objective: the cavern of the one-eyed wolf.
Noticing the young mages starting to tremble in the face of impending danger, I outlined our plan in a firm, confident voice to snap them out of their fear.
«The plan is as simple as a half-yuan coin,» I declared. «For maximum safety, the scouts will stay with us instead of ranging ahead as usual. They'll be responsible for pulling people out of harm's way. Water mages, stay in the rear-your job is to cast shields the moment danger appears. Light mages, stand in the middle and blind the wolf, but hang a few light orbs around us first. Ice mages, join me in freezing the wolf's legs; I repeat, aim for its lower body. Earth mages, if the beast breaks loose, drive it back with ground waves. Fire mages, launch your attacks straight at its face-your goal is to blind it.»
I turned to the only lightning mage among us. «Xu Zhaoting, you team up with the fire mages and aim for its head. Short-circuit its brain and leave it stunned while we put it down.» The boy gave a solemn nod.
«And lastly, you stop firing the moment I give the command. Is everyone clear?» The students nodded vigorously.
After repeating the plan twice more to make sure it was thoroughly drilled into their heads, I led them into the depths of the cave. We moved slowly but steadily, guided by the magical light orbs floating above us.
Sensing the beast beforehand with my spirit magic, I gave the command before panic could set in: «Prepare your spells!» At the same time, I covertly cast a spirit spell to calm them down. Without it, despite all ten days of training, they would have turned tail and run just like in the original timeline.
Three seconds later, it appeared-and it wasn't a one-eyed wolf at all. But we were about to fix that.
«Attack according to plan!» I shouted, leading by example as I cast Ice Lock to freeze the wolf's legs.
Bolstered by the spirit magic that barely held their nerve, the students followed my lead. Not all of them reacted, but three ice mages, four fire mages, and most importantly, the lightning mage were enough. The rest didn't matter much anyway.
«Cease fire!» I called out, closing the distance to the wolf while the barrage was underway. The moment the flurry of spells died down, I charged forward at full speed.
Before the wolf could recover from its stunned state, I leapt into the air, summoned a short sword attack artifact, and plunged it straight into one of its scorched eyes. Then, I quickly retreated to the safety of the group.
Seeing the wolf collapse onto the ground, the students perked up noticeably. But deciding to channel a certain overly cautious hero, I cut their thoughts of victory short.
«Open fire!» I commanded. Though taken aback, the students complied immediately, unleashing another volley.
Turning to Mo Fan's idle friend, I said, «Xiaohou, there should be a blue bracelet at the back of the cave. Be a pal and fetch it, would you?»
«Right away!» Without hesitation, he sped toward the back of the cave on paths of wind. Going into the military had clearly paid off-the guy was remarkably disciplined.
A couple of minutes later, as the students sat exhausted on the cave floor having expended all their mana, Zhang Kong flew into the cavern on wings of wind.
«What on earth happened here?!» he gasped, staring in shock at the half-charred, half-frozen hunk of meat with sparse patches of fur. Once a monster dies, its corpse can no longer withstand such heavy magic assault.
Right behind him, a summoning mage rushed in on foot, nearly fainting. He dropped to his knees before the mangled remains. «My Woofer!»
It was understandable. We had just slaughtered the summoned beast he had invested so many resources into, and the creature's death inflicted a severe backlash on his soul. If he weren't a member of the Black Vatican, I might have actually felt sorry for him.
«I'm back!» the scout called out, finally returning with the blue bracelet in hand.
«I have no idea what's going on here,» I said, taking the bracelet from him and passing the quest item to the military commander. «But I do know that Instructor Zhang Kong will be covering all the damages.»
The look of utter bewilderment on his face was such a priceless mixture of emotions that I almost regretted not bringing a camera.