The final results of the annual assessment were finally posted on the first-floor board, where a large number of people rubbed their eyes, looking at them, still not believing what had happened. Mo Fan naturally took first place, followed by Mu Bai, and Xu Zhao Ting was in third place. I took seventh place, and I wasn't too worried about it, as the resources the school could provide were useless to me, thanks to my tooth. Zhou Ming showed an excellent result, taking fourth place, while Xiao Hou entered the top ten. After a couple of days, the holidays began. Mo Fan delved into cultivation at his aunt's house, while I went out into nature, to the border of the city and the safe zone. Yes, it might be dangerous, but only weak servants could be here now, and I had already unleashed wind magic, so I could always escape.
I came here for two reasons. First, for cultivation; in the city, I felt like something was holding me back, but here, I could breathe freely. Second, it was about the wind stars; I felt a strange response from them, as if they wanted to show something, but I, fearing the consequences, didn't give them free rein.
Emerging into an open, quiet clearing, I began to connect the wind element stars. Driven by the energy flows from the stardust, they quickly, even faster than usual, formed a star path. The wind energy flowed through my arm; it was unusual. When I usually cast magic, the wind enveloped me, and I could move faster; this was the wind step. However, now all the power of the spell had gathered in my arm, and after a couple of seconds, all the energy dissipated without any effect.
Deciding to try again, I created the same star path, and energy once again filled my right arm. Only this time, I didn't wait for it to dissipate but swung it towards the nearest tree. An air current shot out from my hand, resembling a sword's trail in the air; it literally cut the tree in half! It was unusual; something told me that this was the effect of my innate spiritual seed, and I couldn't come up with any other explanation.
For the next month and a half, I calmly cultivated every day in that clearing, practicing control over the wind stars, and finally, I subdued all the lightning stars. However, there was no additional lightning effect; perhaps I needed to continue improving my control, and something would happen, or maybe it would just unlock at another stage or level of magic.
About a week before the start of the new semester, I was cultivating in the clearing as usual, expanding my spiritual paths, when a sudden sound broke my concentration: chewing was heard nearby in the bushes! I was very scared, but remembering that I was a mage and possessed two innate seeds, I calmed down a bit, and excitement and curiosity replaced my fear.
Getting up, I carefully approached the spot. Peeking from behind the bushes, I saw a large rat eating a dog. The sight of the dog's guts and the rat's bloody muzzle made me feel sick, but I managed to overcome myself and regain clarity of mind. The rat was an ordinary one-eyed, low-level servant; I couldn't find any others, no matter how hard I tried. It had almost finished the dog but still hadn't noticed me.
Of course, I could have run away, but the desire to test my strength against the rat prevailed. I was curious about what I was capable of now, and a fight against one rat, the weakest of all low-level servants, was a perfect opportunity to do so. First, I created a lightning seal in my hand and launched it at the rat, causing it to jump, and its muscles were practically paralyzed. After all, my initial-level magic of the first stage, amplified by the secondary spiritual seed, was almost equal to second-stage magic. The next spell was the wind blade, which cut off the rat's arm, although I was aiming for its head. I need to practice its application more, but it wasn't bad.
At that moment, the rat, in pain, jumped at me with its last strength, so I barely dodged it, but it left a rather deep scratch on my arm. Quickly using the wind step, I jumped away from it, while simultaneously starting to build the lightning star path. The rat was rushing at me again, limping and almost falling due to the lack of an arm. I, out of fear and realization of the rat's danger, almost faltered on the seventh star, but at the last moment, I unleashed my spell at it. It was paralyzed again, falling a couple of meters away from me.
Seizing the moment, and taking a great risk, instead of retreating with the wind step, I created a wind blade and directed it at the rat's muzzle. I barely made it, as its eye had already begun to glow and prepare to shoot energy, but in the end, it was cut in half by my spell. Sighing, I looked at the rat's corpse; a white spark hovered above it, clearly its soul. It headed towards my chest, where my fang-shaped talisman, with which I had found myself in this world, hung. Right, it was a developing magical item, and I had completely forgotten about it. Good thing I always wear it, or I would have missed the entire soul of this pathetic rat.
Blood was still flowing from the wound on my arm, so I tore my shirt and made a tourniquet, after which I returned to the city and went to the hospital, where I said a dog had injured me. It was clear from the doctor's face that he didn't really believe me, but oh well, as long as it doesn't cause problems, it's fine. At home, I told the same story; it was good that they hadn't seen what the wound actually looked like, or they wouldn't have believed it either.
The remaining time before classes began, I continued to go to that clearing; after all, I cultivated there noticeably faster than in the city. Everyone who was supposed to got into the elite class, and Xu Zhao Ting was appointed as the class advisor, while Tang Yue remained the practical skills teacher; nothing unusual.
After a month of classes, magical instruments were issued. Mo Fan received his for ten days, after which he had to give it to the fourth person, meaning me. However, my tooth already gave me a twenty percent amplification, or thereabouts, so I didn't really need this instrument.
I focused my cultivation on the wind element, as I wanted to reach the second level as quickly as possible, but due to my studies, I could no longer cultivate in nature, and my speed decreased. After ten days, I was given the magical instrument for use. Although I don't know for sure, it seems Tang Yue did save Mo Fan, but I didn't use it, as when I tried to use it, my fang began to try to suck all the energy out of it, and I didn't need that.
Time passed quickly, and soon the semester ended, and with it, the start of the practical trip. There were many rumors about it; many feared encountering a demonic beast, while I was looking forward to how fast my cultivation would be in the mountains. For a week now, I've felt my wind stardust pulsating, preparing for a breakthrough, awaiting a push.
We traveled in designated buses. Of course, I sat with Mo Fan, expecting a breakthrough in the fire element from him. As soon as we left, he and I plunged into cultivation. I focused on the lightning element, planning to make a breakthrough in the wind in the mountains. With every kilometer we drove away from the city, I felt my cultivation accelerating. By the end of the trip, I felt an intensified fire energy emanating from Mo Fan; everything was going according to plan. Although I thought that because he was initially stronger, the breakthrough occurred earlier.
As soon as we arrived, we were accommodated for the night in the local barracks; the main practical activities were to begin tomorrow. When everyone went to sleep, I quietly left the barracks and headed towards the exit of the post. There I met a patrolman, whom I recognized as Zhang Kong; we had seen him as soon as we arrived.
"Oh, what are you doing here? Wasn't there a curfew order?" he asked me as soon as he saw me. Zhang Kong is a good person, but his fate is no better than Xu Zhao Ting's. Maybe I can save him? Although, it's probably too much trouble; I don't need to worry about any minor characters. Even though he is quite strong, there will be much more trouble saving him than benefit from him.
"Excuse me, I wanted to see the mountains," I replied, smiling.
"Be careful, it's more dangerous here than even on the border of the city's safe zone," he replied, patting my head. "So be careful, or better yet, go to sleep."
"Okay, I'll go right now, it's quite cold here. Did the blizzard reach here too?" I said and hurried away. There was no point in arguing with him further, and if I started to tease him with knowledge from the original, he might suspect something.
However, I didn't go to sleep but just climbed over the wall elsewhere. After moving a sufficient distance away, I began to cultivate; the breakthrough in wind magic was closer than ever! By dawn, I was able to do it; a rather strong wind rose around me, and the wind stardust broke through to the second stage. To test my strength, I built the wind blade star path and tried it on the nearest tree. As expected, it fell to pieces. After that, I applied the second-stage wind step. The wind surrounded me, and a second later, I was already twenty meters away from where I was; not bad speed.
But the sensations were such that my strength had not just reached the second stage, but was approximately equal to the third! This was all the effect of my innate seed. With such capabilities, even Mo Fan would have a hard time dealing with me, ha. Using wind magic, I quickly returned to the barracks, but I wasn't allowed to sleep and was dragged to formation.
"Hello, I will be your drill instructor for your practical exercises. My name is Zhang Kong. You are very lucky because you are my first students since I took this post," a strong male voice boomed from somewhere ahead. Honestly, I was too lazy to look there, and it wasn't necessary.
"Don't worry, guys, you are my first students, so I will allow you to pass this exam with honor. If any of you fail this exam, it is quite possible that you will independently close the doors to your bright future. You have a chance to radically change your destiny! I know you can be the best students in Bo City... I believe you have all the abilities for this. So this exam will seem like a trifle to you."
Zhang Kong laughed.
"Yes, hurry up, I'm tired of listening to you, even though you're a good guy, get to the point!"
However, everyone around listened to him as if mesmerized.
"I have a 'gift' for you... The difficulty of such 'generosity' is the lowest. There are a hundred students here. The first group or the first hundred people to pass this trial will automatically receive a five!"
"Very generous, Mr. Instructor, so where is Zhao Kun San? I need money."
"What happens if no one can pass?" Xu Zhao Ting asked.
"Then everyone will get a failing grade," Zhang Kong replied calmly. Everyone began to worry and panic. I calmly found Kun San.
"What's going on here? This whole trip is a planned event, why is this instructor introducing something unclear?" someone shouted from the crowd. I stopped to listen before starting my game.
"Incorrect? There's nothing wrong here. If you are not satisfied with this, you are welcome to go find Deng Kai and present all your complaints to him. I never said it was easy to get a good grade from me. Since you are an elite class, you should not be like the trash that usually comes here to train. If not, then return to your school and look at pictures instead of wasting everyone's time. Idiots don't need to pass this trial," Zhang Kong said in a heavy, low voice.
"Instructor, these kinds of 'gifts' are too difficult for ordinary students. As far as I know, even hunters rarely take on such tasks. Even those who have trained for three to five years..." Zhan Jian Guo said more boldly.
"You have a hundred students in the elite class; if they cannot complete this trial, then I don't know what to say about the teacher who teaches such students," Zhang Kong replied directly.
"Of course, there is an additional reward for the group or person who passes this trial. I will personally give him a defensive magical artifact as a reward," Zhang Kong continued, after which everyone became inspired, and I began to implement my plan for earning money.
"Hey, Kun San, don't you want to make up for your loss on the exam?" I asked, patting Kun San on the shoulder.
"Ah, what are you proposing?" he grumbled, turning around and looking at me.
"Did you hear what the instructor said? Whoever passes the trial gets a magical artifact, right?" I asked him with a feigned smile.
"So, what are you getting at, Jiaxing Yun?" he asked, also puffed up, looking at me suspiciously.
"I propose we make bets on who gets it. How about ten thousand yuan?" I asked, smiling slyly.
"Do you even have that much money?" he asked me with even greater suspicion.
"Of course! I managed that thousand wisely and made even more profit," I lied to him frankly. That thousand was spent on buying new volumes of manhua. Its existence was not significant to me, and the bet on it was only to provoke Kun San into an even larger bet. After all, everyone wants to make up for losses, and it's very easy to take advantage of that.
"Okay, I'm betting on Mu Bai; he's the strongest after using the magical instrument," he declared proudly, barely hiding his renewed irritation after the loss.
"Excellent, I'm betting on Mo Fan, as always. If someone else gets it, then we'll each keep our own, agreed?" I asked, just in case.
"Okay, I agree," he replied, extending his hand to me.
"Excellent, shall we seal our agreement with a written note?" I smiled, shaking his hand. Of course, he agreed! Quickly finishing with him, I returned to Mo Fan's group, and we began to prepare for the task.
We were given some food, a compass, and a map, and told to find a cave and the instructor Bai Yang's bracelets left inside. The first day, I barely trudged along at the end, as the night spent cultivating was taking its toll; until reaching the intermediate level, it is very exhausting. Fortunately, it will be easier later, and during cultivation, one can even recover. But later, things went better; after sleeping, I continued my journey with renewed strength, developing the lightning element at every convenient opportunity. The second-stage lightning seal with the strength of the third is no joke.
However, progress was slower than I would have liked, and time was short, so the chances of making a breakthrough during practice were zero. On the sixth night of the journey, I decided to go out and test my new strength. Of course, we were sent along a safe path and watched, but at night, if you stray, you can find a weak servant, like a rat.
Luck was on my side, and after only a couple of hours of wandering in the forest, I found a couple of these rats. They were gnawing on some beast; I was very lucky. Sneaking up on them and using the wind step, I found myself on a tree branch directly above them, causing them to stir and start attacking me. Fortunately, I was higher than they could jump to reach me.
First, I unleashed a lightning seal on the most active rat, causing it to temper its ardor and wait for its muscles to regain control. Next, I completed the wind blade spell and unleashed it on the second rat. The power was incredible; the rat's head and part of its body were literally smashed, and the remaining parts flew into two pieces. After all, low-level servants cannot cope with second-stage initial-level magic amplified by a secondary spiritual seed.
At this moment, the first rat remembered its laser eye and tried to kill me with it. I was lucky to jump away in time, and I fell into the bushes, getting slightly scratched. It ran towards me with all its might. Fortunately, I managed to finish the lightning seal and stop the rat, after which I moved to a safe distance and finished it off with the wind blade.
From the two rats, I received two fragments of their souls. However, for an initial-level mage, dealing with servant-level creatures, even low-level ones, is very difficult. If it weren't for the effect of my seed, I would never have killed them. Yes, lightning scorches them, but they would have burned me a couple of times before I did, despite my wind element.
I didn't dare to court trouble anymore and returned to the others, very tired, and my whole body ached from the fall. Fortunately, I didn't break anything, only bruised myself badly. The next day, as if nothing had happened, I continued my journey. There were no further complications, and we proceeded without incident. On the tenth day of the journey, we reached a clearing with a lake where the required cave was located. Mu Bai's group arrived before us, and Zhang Kun San approached me.
"Well, are you ready to give me ten thousand yuan?" he asked, smiling.
"Wait, Mu Bai hasn't received anything yet," I replied, smiling.
Not daring to enter the cave ourselves, we began to wait for the others, but after a couple of dozen minutes, no one came, and everyone decided that even with this group, there was nothing to fear. Wind mages were sent ahead to scout. Meanwhile, Mo Fan noticed something strange with the water in the lake, and Zhang Xiao Hou went to warn the others. However, before he could catch up with them, a wolf's howl was heard from the cave, followed by screams. As expected, another point in favor of my theory.
"It's started," I smiled and began to watch from the sidelines as they tried to counter the summoned wolf.
The first to use magic was, of course, Mu Bai; his desire to be first, and perhaps fear, could weaken him. However, his freezing wave had no effect; the wolf easily escaped the ice. Then came spells from Xu Zhao Ting and Zhou Ming, but they also had no effect. The wolf continued to rage and throw students around, trying not to injure them, although it wasn't noticeable, as everyone except me was in a panic. I, meanwhile, pretended to help some students retreat.
"Mo Fan, use your fire magic finally, it's stronger than mine!" Zhou Ming shrieked, dodging the wolf's paw.
"Brother Fan, hurry up, or we'll all die!" I shouted to him, trying to set him on the right track.
"Ah, you. Fine," he growled, then shouted, "Fire Wave – Bone-Burning!"
"Is it necessary to shout the name?" I asked, running up to him. The wolf, encountering the second-stage flame, howled and lunged at the source. How simple, and I had a whole plan ready to lure it there, ah, now everything is much simpler.
"Mo Fan, we need to lure it into the cave so the others don't get hurt," I said, loud enough for Xiao Hou to hear us.
"How do we do that! Maybe you can help with your wind magic!" he roared at me, while the wolf emerged from the lake and looked only at Mo Fan, its eyes filled with rage.
"Careful!" I shouted, pushing Mo Fan towards Xiao Hou and helping him with wind magic. "Xiao Hou, take Mo Fan and go to the cave! Try to hide there!" I shouted my parting words to him. Xiao Hou obeyed me without question, grabbed Mo Fan, and rushed into the cave. How good that he is so understanding, huh?
I tried to stand between the cave and the wolf, but it almost knocked me down, not noticing me, it was so eager to catch Mo Fan! Getting up, I pretended to regret my mistake, namely, that I had sent the guys to their deaths, and rushed after the wolf, using first-stage magic, and when I disappeared into the cave, I switched to second-stage. When I caught up with them, Xiao Hou was lying unconscious, and Mo Fan was fighting off the wolf using a lightning seal, after which he immediately directed a fire wave at a stalactite above the wolf, which fell, piercing the immobilized beast. So my help wasn't needed, ha. At this time, a soul flew out of the wolf; my fang tried to lure it, but I stopped it. Sorry, but this is not yours.
"Mo Fan, you're cool, you took down the wolf like that," I said, emerging from my hiding place.
"You saw everything, why didn't you help, and why did you tell the monkey to drag me into the cave? See what happened to him?" Mo Fan said, looking at me with a reproachful gaze.
"Oh, come on, I didn't know it would turn out like this. And Xiao Hou is alive," I replied, approaching Xiao Hou and lifting him. "So what if I saw you kill him? I arrived at the last moment, let's say you killed him yourself, and I arrived afterward, and that's that. Anyway, you wouldn't have managed the wolf there."
"Okay," Mo Fan replied and helped me carry Xiao Hou. A few seconds later, Zhang Kong arrived on wings of wind.
"Ah, what happened here, where is the wolf?" he asked, flying up to us. "How did you kill him?" he added, noticing the wolf's corpse.
"I don't know. I arrived when he was already dead," I said, with the most surprised voice possible. "I hurried to help, as I myself directed them here, and as a result, my help was not needed."
"I see, so you killed him?" Zhang Kong asked, pointing at Mo Fan. "How did you do it?"
"Isn't it obvious? I dropped a stalactite on him," Mo Fan replied nonchalantly.
"Maybe you can help Xiao Hou, he seems to have hit his head," I said, seeing the instructor's confusion.
"Ah, yes, bring him here," he said, taking Xiao Hou in his arms. "Let's go to the exit of the cave."
On the way, we met Tang Yue and other teachers, who were shocked when they learned that Mo Fan had killed the wolf himself. At the exit of the cave, the remaining students were waiting for us, who immediately began to ask what had happened and rejoice that we had survived.
"Now that we are all safe, I will tell you a few things," Zhang Kong began. "We followed you as you went through this trial. The students who will receive a good grade are: Zhang Hou, Zhou Ming, Mu Bai..."
"Then why didn't you appear when that wolf attacked us? Were you going to wait until it killed us all?" Mu Bai angrily retorted, interrupting the instructor, because he himself had almost died.
"If the dark magical wolf wanted to kill you, you would have been dead long ago, especially you!" Zhang Kong snapped back, after which everyone fell silent.
"Wait a minute, you said: 'Dark magical wolf'?" Zhou Ming seized on the words when she understood the meaning, thus breaking the silence.
"Yes, it's not a one-eyed wolf. It's a summoned beast – a Dark magical wolf," Zhang Kong replied coldly.
This task was arranged for training, the magical beast was summoned by instructor Bai Yan. We needed you to gain the necessary experience when encountering real wild beasts, and then for evaluation. You would not have been killed in this trial. Xue Mu Sheng explained, and immediately everyone started talking about how Mo Fan would never have escaped from an ordinary wolf and only survived because the wolf was summoned.
"You are wrong here. We did not expect that something like this could happen, but the summoned beast went mad and did not obey Bai Yan's orders. We thought he would kill you. However, Mo Fan and Zhang Hou, on Jiaxing Yun's advice, lured him into a cave and saved you," Zhang Jian Guo replied for the instructor.
"So they risked their lives greatly."
After these words, everyone began to grumble about how much danger they were in. Yes, how fickle they are. But as soon as they learned that Mo Fan had killed the wolf, there was even more noise, almost no one believed it, but it was foolish to argue with Tan Yue and Zhang Kong.
"By the way, there is also good news. Since the task is completed, the entire elite class receives a good grade," Zhan Kong added during the conversation, after which everyone began to thank Mo Fan, after all, people are too fickle and it is worth doing at least something useful for them, and they immediately forget how bad you are.
"Well, Kun San, ready to give me my ten thousand?" Smiling, I approached Kun San, who was over the moon that he had survived.
"Ah, you're talking about wh… Ah, you! This is unfair, you arranged everything!" He shouted, trying to justify himself.
"Well, it's not my fault you didn't arrange it for Mu Bai. I didn't do anything! Tell me, what can I do to a wolf with initial wind magic? She simply has no offensive moves!" I explained the whole situation to him.
"Err. Okay, I'll give it, but in parts, I can't give so much at once," He replied, sulking.
"I see, you don't want to bet on a duel between Mo Fan and Yu An right away?" I asked, as if in passing.
"I haven't paid for this bet yet, so leave me alone," He snapped and walked away from me.
"Just tell me honestly, did you really arrange everything?" Zhou Min asked, approaching me.
"You immediately realized that it was a summoned wolf and were not afraid that Mo Fan would die. But by sneaking into the cave, he could easily have completed the task and returned the bracelets."
"Haha… As I said, he could have done the same for Mu Bai, so it's all fair, or do you want to argue, Zhou Min?" I said, with a slight smile.
"No, no… I just decided to clarify," She said, shrugging.
"Considering that you have your wits about you and a talent for cultivation, a bright future awaits you."
"Perhaps, but I still need to train hard," I said, shaking my head.
"Why are you asking?"
"Oh, just observations," She said, slightly embarrassed, quickly moving away from me.
After that, we all returned to the guard post, where Mo Fan received his bone shield, and a couple of days later we returned to the city, thus ending our trip. Another item on the path to becoming the strongest young mage was completed without significant problems, and as a bonus, Kun San gave me all ten thousand he owed me a month later. The third leaf of my notebook was marked as successfully passed.