Within the combat zone, the sword-wielding youth at the center of it all was naturally the most shocked.
His surefire Secret Technique had been easily dodged, and his composure completely shattered. "Impossible! How is that possible?!"
"Rookies can't believe their own eyes!"
Feng Hao landed, his eyes filled with contempt. He let out a cold snort and, giving the youth no chance to react, lunged forward with a slash. His dark energy attack, amplified by his dual dark energy talent, unleashed terrifying damage straight into the swordsman's chest.
Thanks to his armor, the dagger didn't pierce his chest, so there was no fatal injury.
The swordsman felt as if a rampaging army was tearing through his body. His internal organs suffered unprecedented torment, his Qi Blood was instantly depleted, and even his life force began to wane.
He collapsed to the ground, the color draining from his face as a debilitating dizziness overwhelmed his consciousness.
Fortunately, the real world wasn't like a game. Having one's Qi Blood depleted didn't result in immediate death; only when one's life force was exhausted would true death occur.
Of course, after one's Qi Blood was depleted, they would enter a state of absolute weakness. If they didn't receive treatment in time, they would still die—it just wasn't as immediate as having one's life force exhausted.
The higher one's life force, the longer they could hold on. A Mage with an exceptionally strong life force could even recover quickly on their own.
The swordsman was currently in this weakened state of depleted Qi Blood. As someone who only cultivated strength, he didn't have much Divine Sense, making it difficult for him to remain conscious while so weak.
"Captain!" the twin youths and the Defense Mage cried out as they rushed forward. They quickly fed him a Healing Elixir, and only then did the swordsman's condition improve slightly, his Qi Blood beginning to slowly recover.
Feng Hao swept his cold gaze over the four of them and asked with a smirk, "You thought you could teach me a lesson with just this?"
"You win. We're leaving!" The Defense Mage's expression was grim. Knowing he was no match for Feng Hao, he grit his teeth and helped the swordsman away.
Feng Hao didn't stop them. He'd taught them enough of a lesson.
"Boss, Boss, you were totally insane just now!" Zhang Meng and the others immediately gathered around, looking at Feng Hao with worship in their eyes. Li Mufeng, who had been monitoring the fight with a detector, was especially stunned by Feng Hao's power.
Xi Yueyao scurried over, her eyes shining. "Well done! You didn't embarrass me."
"..." Feng Hao couldn't help but roll his eyes at her. With a calm expression, he said, "Enough nonsense. Hurry up and process the Fire Spirit Python's corpse. Don't waste time."
"Yes, sir!" Zhang Meng gave a fawning smile and took the lead in starting to break down the materials from the Fire Spirit Python.
A Fire Spirit Python's Scale Armor provided a significant boost to magic damage abilities and also had decent fire-attribute properties. Moreover, among magic damage materials of the same level, it was relatively light, making it a rather excellent armor material overall.
In addition, the Fire Spirit Python's blood and snake gall were both good medicinal ingredients, and its venom sac was a high-quality material for poison.
All in all, this level-nineteen Fire Spirit Python was worth a considerable amount, which was why the swordsman had resorted to robbery.
The only ones on the team who cultivated magic damage were Zhang Meng and Li Mufeng. However, Li Mufeng specialized in the Magic Energy Gun and was an Ambush-type Mage, so the Fire Spirit Python's materials were more suitable for Zhang Meng, the portly Mage.
Of course, Feng Hao pocketed the venom sac and other alchemy ingredients for himself.
With the Fire Spirit Python's venom, Feng Hao could concoct powerful poisons. After all, his greatest strength wasn't alchemy, but toxicology!
After dealing with the Fire Spirit Python, the five of them continued on their way.
Not long after the group of five had left, a graceful figure appeared silently. It was none other than the homeroom teacher of Class One, Yue Linglong.
Yue Linglong stared in the direction Feng Hao's group had gone, her eyes filled with shock and doubt. As her gaze swept over the traces of the recent battle, she couldn't help but sigh. 'Such strong combat awareness, and his damage is absurdly high. That's definitely not the kind of damage a level-sixteen Mage should have, especially since he only has a dual-gene aptitude.'
'Based on the strength he just displayed, he could probably go head-to-head with Xiyue Frost!' Yue Linglong's eyes gleamed.
'I really don't know what Dean Zhao was thinking. How could such a promising talent be just an auditor?' Yue Linglong gave a helpless smile and thought to herself, 'Once my internship at the lower-level academy is over, I can go back to teaching at the main campus. When that happens, I have to recruit him no matter what. Oh, and those two sisters from the Xiyue Family, too.'
...
The trial assessment lasted for a total of six days. The first three days were a hunting trial, allowing the students to acquire materials to craft or enhance their own equipment. The last three days were a combat assessment, which truly tested the students' individual strength.
During the hunting trial, in order to increase efficiency, previous classes of students had developed a tradition of forming teams. The academy's upper management was also happy to see this, as Mages would often have to fight in teams after entering society. Getting some early experience was no bad thing.
As night approached on the first day, Feng Hao's squad had already found several traces of Ghost Wolf activity.
What left Feng Hao speechless was that before they could find any Ghost Wolves, they once again ran into the robbery squad from before.
Unlike last time, the robbery squad was now in a sorry state. They looked as if they had been the ones who were robbed, each of them covered in dust and utterly dejected.
"Well, well, if it isn't our dear upperclassmen from before?" Zhang Meng said with a sly grin.
Faced with the sudden appearance of Feng Hao's group, the swordsman's expression was uglier than if he were crying. He wailed, "Big brothers, we were in the wrong before. Could you please let us go?"
Xi Yueyao clearly hadn't vented all her anger yet. She stepped forward and shouted, "So now you know how to beg for mercy? Hmph! Just wait until this trial is over. We'll see how my sister deals with you!"
"Oh, dear lady, we're miserable enough as it is! You can't kick us while we're down!" the Defense Mage said, his face a mask of sorrow.
"Yao Girl, stop messing around. Let's ask them what happened first." Feng Hao stepped forward to stop Xi Yueyao, then looked at the robbery squad in confusion. "It's only been half a day. How did you end up like this?"
Seeing Feng Hao speak up for them, the group was moved to tears. The leading swordsman sobbed, "After you guys taught us a lesson, we were feeling really frustrated and wanted to vent on someone else. We happened to run into another first-year team and thought it would be a piece of cake. We never expected it to be led by that freak, Zhou Chen. And then... we got crushed."
"Zhou Chen is in Breeze Forest too?" Feng Hao asked in surprise.
The swordsman nodded with a bitter smile. "That's right. That kid is truly worthy of being Elder Gu's disciple. His strength is just monstrous."
"Is that damn girl Beixing Ran there too?" Xi Yueyao asked fiercely.
"I think so," the swordsman answered weakly, afraid that the girl would bring up her sister at the slightest provocation.
Hearing this, Xi Yueyao's animosity immediately shifted to Beixing Ran. She clamored at Feng Hao, "Medicine boy, come with me and let's go teach that girl a lesson! See if she still dares to be so smug with me!"
"Class Rep, don't cause trouble! Didn't you hear Zhou Chen is there too?" Zhang Meng advised, a look of terror on his face.
"Coward!" Xi Yueyao shot him a disdainful look, then turned to Feng Hao. "Medicine boy, don't tell me you're scared too?"
Feng Hao couldn't be bothered with her and continued questioning the swordsman, "Did they get any good materials?"
"Yes, of course!" the swordsman immediately nodded. "They just killed a Violent Bear. They probably haven't had time to break it down yet. A Violent Bear's hide is a rare material that can protect against dark energy."
"A Violent Bear?" Feng Hao's eyes lit up. "Where are they?"
"Just in the direction we came from." The swordsman pointed behind him, then asked dubiously, "Are you really going to rob them?"
"Why can't I?" Feng Hao asked with a smile.
The swordsman hesitated. "To be honest, Zhou Chen is really strong. I couldn't even block a single one of his moves."
"Boss, think twice! Zhou Chen is not someone to be trifled with!" Zhang Meng urged repeatedly, while Li Mufeng and Tu Xiaoshan nodded in deep agreement.
"A bunch of wimps!" Xi Yueyao crossed her arms, huffing indignantly.
Feng Hao was unconcerned. He smirked and said, "You're scared like this before we've even fought? You guys are a real disgrace! If you have the guts, come with me and we'll hit them hard. Otherwise, just stay here obediently and wait for us to get back."
After speaking, he directly led Xi Yueyao in the direction the robbery squad had come from.
The three of them looked at each other, then grit their teeth and followed, leaving only the robbery squad behind, their expressions strange.
"Captain, why don't we follow them and watch?" the Defense Mage suggested.
"Good idea," the swordsman said, his eyes glinting.
And so, the group of four furtively trailed after them...