He successfully managed to freeload a recovery potion from Zhong Honglian.
Jiang He gulped it down with a few gulps while returning to the crowd.
When he felt the envious and reverent gazes of the other students, his heart secretly rejoiced.
No wonder Yunyang had just pretended to act tough… this feeling was indeed quite enjoyable.
Of course, unlike Yunyang's "barely hanging on," Jiang He had truly run out of energy.
He was only an E-rank Transcendent. Even though under Old Jiang's guidance the efficiency of his Word-Spirit usage had greatly improved, eliminating a lot of wasted, useless Word-Spirits, in the end his numbers were still too low and his endurance too poor.
After just a short battle, he had already reached his limit.
Even so, Jiang He had gained tremendously from this battle.
Old Jiang's predictions of the Metal Knight's movements, his application of abilities, his use of martial arts techniques… even if Jiang He could not completely digest it all, just absorbing ten percent would be enough for his combat ability to soar!
This was true martial god-level skill!
Old Jiang smiled and said: "I can stay for one week. In this week, I will do my best to pass on my battle experience to you."
"Before I became the [Savior], when I fought enemies, I relied more on professional construction and combat experience."
"As long as you can digest my experience, even if you don't later draw some supreme talent, you can still become a strong one."
"I understand."
Gaining power from the World Destroyer, and gaining technique from the Savior…
So this was what cheating felt like?
He loved it, he loved it.
On the other side.
All the student tests had ended, and the Metal Knights were all retrieved.
Zhong Honglian, Chi Zhenshan, and the other A-rank Transcendents looked at the nearly three hundred talented students before them and nodded slightly.
Earlier, when Yunyang had appeared, many students realized the gap between themselves and a true genius, and the atmosphere had grown colder.
However, the battle just now between Du Lingwei and Jiang He had reignited the atmosphere.
As an A-rank talent, Du Lingwei had demonstrated combat efficiency surpassing even an S-rank talent, showing that even if one's starting talent was slightly weaker, one could still turn the tables through training!
As for Jiang He…
When the gap reached a certain level, others would completely ignore it.
He was a true monster, outside the scope of discussion.
At this moment, looking at the restless crowd, Zhong Honglian spoke.
"The test is over. You should all be clear about your own performance."
"I will say only one thing here."
"The first test does not decide everything. Understanding your shortcomings, making up for them, and striving to become stronger—that is the goal of this training."
"If anyone has lost the courage to become stronger, believing they will always be inferior, you can withdraw from training now. There's no need to stay here and waste resources."
This was clearly reverse psychology, and young people just happened to fall for it.
Zhong Honglian paused for a few seconds. Seeing no one speak, she continued.
"Additionally, as I said before, the test results determine your initial resources."
"Jiang He, in this test, your performance was the most outstanding."
"Next, I will announce your resource rewards."
"First, one portion of the S-rank resource [True Spirit of Phoenix Egg]."
Zhong Honglian raised her right hand. A thumb-sized jade vial appeared in her palm, floated through the air, and landed in Jiang He's hand.
All the students froze, staring blankly at the jade vial in his hand.
What??!
[True Spirit of Phoenix Egg]?!
An S-rank supreme resource that could enhance talent strength?!
When they joined the training, these students had already heard their teachers speak of such resources and had made it their goal.
In their minds, this kind of supreme resource would surely require an extremely brutal competition and harsh tests before it could finally be obtained…
And yet it was handed out so casually?
In the very first test?
Forget them.
Even Jiang He himself, holding the jade vial, felt as if he were dreaming.
"[True Spirit of Phoenix Egg] can enhance talent strength. Each person may use it only once." In Zhong Honglian's eyes reflected the students' shocked expressions.
Her lips curved slightly as she said: "In the training ahead, [True Spirit of Phoenix Egg] will be awarded irregularly. Those who perform outstandingly may all obtain it."
As her words fell, every student's heart pounded faster.
Even the calmest students now had red eyes.
"Buying bones with a thousand gold." Old Jiang's face was full of smiles.
The easier the Council handed out such precious resources, the more it stirred the students' hearts, making each of them feel that they too had a chance.
One could imagine how desperately they would train from here on out.
Even Jiang He's sense of expectation was raised.
To give something so good at the start, the rewards to motivate them later would only grow more and more abundant!
Aside from the True Spirit of Phoenix Egg, what other treasures did the Council have?
In the next moment, Zhong Honglian spoke the answer.
"Secondly, ten days of usage rights for the [Twisted Time Domain]."
"Twisted Time Domain, what is that?"
The students looked confused.
Just like with the [True Spirit of Phoenix Egg], they had never heard of such a thing before.
Zhong Honglian explained: "Blue Star once had some regions of temporal turbulence, such as 'Mount Lanke,' 'Dragon Palace City'…"
"The Prophet used the power of time to cut out these regions and transformed them into Twisted Time Domains."
"Spending ten days inside, only ten minutes would pass outside."
Got it, a time house!
Jiang He suddenly understood.
The end was approaching, and humanity's time was running out.
In such circumstances, the value of treasures like the Twisted Time Domain, which altered time itself, went without saying.
If one could stay inside indefinitely, one minute would become a day, and one day would equal nearly four years!
Of course, if people really could stay that long, the Council would never give only a few days of access. They would directly send people in batches, mass-producing high-rank Transcendents at lightspeed.
Clearly, the Twisted Time Domain also had certain limitations.
"Speaking of which, my talent refreshes once every seven days."
"If I stayed inside the Twisted Time Domain, wouldn't that mean it refreshed every seven minutes?"
Jiang He's heart sped up.
Old Jiang noticed his thoughts and poured a bucket of cold water on him: "I don't think so."
"…Why?"
"The Twisted Time Domain is, at its core, merely a special field born of unique forces and temporal talents."
"It's hard enough for it to carry even high-rank Transcendents, let alone the [Ferryman of Time]."
"For rule-type talents like yours with such exaggerated status, forget the Twisted Time Domain—even an Ultimate Beast with the ability to steal talents probably wouldn't be able to affect you at all…"
"You have already become a 'root,' possessing 'absoluteness.'"
Old Jiang smiled and said: "However, even though the Twisted Time Domain can't refresh your talent, it can give you a lot of extra leveling time… aren't you just troubled by not having enough time to raise your profession?"
"I used this thing plenty in the past to train my profession levels."
What Old Jiang said made sense.
For a supreme time talent that could reveal infinite futures, to be affected by other temporal powers… it didn't really add up.
Jiang He felt a bit regretful, but then noticed something else.
"You said, in the future there are Ultimate Beasts that steal talents?!"
That was way too terrifying!!
Old Jiang grinned happily: "Yes, it killed quite a few S-ranks. Fortunately, I was an eraser."
Jiang He: "..."
A perfect match.
That creature was lucky to have run into you.