March 17, 8:30 AM, inside a standalone building at Harbor City No. 1 High School. Contestants in Combat Suppression Uniforms were gathered before a three-meter-tall, high-tech gate. Every student's Life Strength had been equalized to Level 5.
"Is this… a forest?" Ethan Chen, a longsword on his back, frowned at the futuristic gate. If memory served, this was just a school building. What did any of this have to do with the "forest" on the rule card?
"Ahem."
"Looks like everyone's here!" A middle-aged man stepped to the front, tapped the mic by his cheek, and spoke up. He wasn't old, his presence was sharp and clear—yet his hair was snow-white. Ethan recognized him instantly: Charles Zhou, principal of Harbor City No. 1 High School. His portraits—and even statues—stood in both the school and Harbor City Grand Hotel. This man was clearly more than a mere high-school principal.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Charles Zhou, principal of Harbor City No. 1 High School, and one of the organizers of the Hundred Cities Championship."
Twenty minutes of formalities later—
"The gate in front of you does lead into a forest. Your rule cards are accurate—this is a special environment unique to our school. It originated from a Dimensional Rift created hundreds of years ago when nine planets collided. We call such rifts the Spirit Realm."
"The Spirit Realm is ranked from 1 to 5—Rank 1 lowest, Rank 5 highest. The place you're heading to is a Rank 1 Spirit Realm: the Forest of Direwolves."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. News about martial artists was never casually disclosed—let alone something like the Spirit Realm. For many, this was their first time hearing the term.
Charles raised a hand for quiet. "Rest assured—it's a highly stable pocket dimension. It's been personally certified by Rayne—the world's third-strongest and the founder of the Warrior Alliance. Safety is guaranteed."
Rayne—everyone knew the name. His parents and siblings were killed during a surprise raid by an alien civilization. Away at university, he survived by chance. After graduation he went straight to the front line, fought the aliens, rose through fire and blood to become the world's third-strongest, and founded the Warrior Alliance—a shield over countless households.
"There are one thousand teleport points inside the Forest of Direwolves. You'll be teleported in as a unit—four to a group, including your team leader. We've just pushed the forest map to your smart bracelets. You'll see three hundred star markers—those indicate badges. Fifty badges bear the character 'Gao,' fifty bear Wu,' and the remaining two hundred are smoke bombs—blank badges. All badge locations are safe zones."
"You must, as a squad, secure two badges with different characters and then check in at the location marked with a moon. Do not hoard extras—duplicates must be put back, or it counts as a violation. At check-in, if your squad headcount doesn't match your sign-in headcount, you'll be disqualified even if you have both badges."
He paused, glancing toward a corner. "I'm told one student has neither teammates nor a leader. For fairness, we'll assign two students matched to the strength of his original teammates, and a teacher will shadow him for protection."
Takeshi Musashi snorted, hands in his pockets.
"One more reminder: the Forest of Direwolves has its own native creatures. Your opponents aren't just the students beside you—don't get careless."
So that's the real purpose. Ethan understood now. This wasn't ordinary teamwork; it was a survival-minded collection mission. The star markers were intel points—some true, some false. He even suspected some moon markers might be decoys. The Badge Contest wasn't only testing overall combat strength; it was also a hard lesson for hothouse students.
Ethan's gaze drifted to Musashi. A tentative plan took shape.
Charles checked his bracelet—two and a half minutes until 9:00. He turned and, in sequence, completed fingerprint, iris scan, voice passcode, and a final numeric code. The massive gate unlocked with a hum.
Necks craned for a first look at the Spirit Realm—and found a thousand-square-meter open chamber instead, a vast blue hexagram array etched into the floor.
"Where's the forest?"
"Don't tell me this is the Rank 1 Spirit Realm—Forest of Direwolves?"
Charles smiled and shook his head. "The Spirit Realm's true location is top secret. This is a teleportation array—our predecessors built it as a failsafe. If a Dimensional Rift ever did close on us, we could still pull you out through this array."
Teams stepped onto the array in sign-in order. Ethan's squad had signed in early. While they waited, he glanced at his panel:
Name: Ethan Chen
Life Strength: 5.8
Mental Power: Level 9
Punch Force: 1,350 jin
Speed: 27 m/s
Martial Skills: Flowing Light Sword Technique (Tier 1) 98%, Ruins Immortal Visualization Technique
Defense Waves: 5/5 (completed), 6/10 (incomplete), 6/15 (incomplete), 6/20 (incomplete), 6/25 (incomplete), 6/30 (incomplete), 6/35 (incomplete)
Note: Every 6 levels of Life Strength triggers one "Evolution." Remaining to next Evolution: 0.2 levels.
In just one month, his Life Strength had climbed from 5.3 to 5.8—a full 0.5 jump. Effort mattered, sure, but the bigger reason was… money.
Before, with the same effort, he'd gain about 0.1 a month. No surprise—he used to spend only 6,000 yuan a month, barely enough for Vitality Milk. Now, between school provisions and his own purchases, he was burning through roughly 150,000 yuan in resources each month—twenty-five times more. With most items new to his system, there was no tolerance buildup; the gains were brutal.
As his Life Strength and skills rose, he finally cleared the sixth wave of Greenfire Giants, and his Mental Power was nearing Level 10. But martial-skill progress had slowed to a crawl—after 95%, each percent took days. He'd been stuck at (Tier 1) 98% for a while.
Once every squad stood on the array and headcounts were confirmed, a crimson light pulsed.
Everyone vanished.