Chapter 271: Training Rewards
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
If this were to happen in the past, Lin Huang would not know who Yi Donglai was. However, knowing that the Demon Slayer Legion would be leading the training, he had done his research on the three elite divisions and got to know about Yi Donglai. The Demon Slayer Legion was the first elite division that was founded in Division7 by Yi Donglai himself. Although the other divisions, the Dragon Slayer Legion and Immortal Legion were not founded all by him, he was still one of the co-founders.
He was considered a legend and was now the leader of Division7's army. Once Lin Huang did his research on Yi Donglai, he found out who Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu really were. He finally understood how Yi Yeyu appeared in the Demon Slayer Legion's ranks. Looking at their family's ranks, Yi Donglai was Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu's great grandfather.
"That means Yi Yeyu is a Gold Hunter and is also a member of the Union Government's Demon Slayer Legion…" Lin Huang finally knew about Yi Yeyu's double identities.
Many members of the Union Government, Adventurer Organization and other organizations who had a close relationship with the Hunter Association would have hunter licenses from the association. They would basically receive the license once they passed the assessment. Aside from being strict to their core members, the Hunter Association did not prohibit other organizations from obtaining their hunter license from them. However, the most they could get would be a Gold Hunter license as any license authorization beyond that would not be available to the public.
While Lin Huang was deep in thought, Yi Donglai had finished his introduction and got down to business.
"This training is similar to what we in the Demon Slayer Legion endure yearly. The only difference this training has with the one a few years back is that this time, it'll be an open training with other young members from organizations invited. I hope everyone can encourage each other and fight together in a fair manner to progress further as one unit…"
"The assessment will take 30 days. I won't be revealing the content of assessment now but the location it'll be held at will be at a grade-2 dimensional ruin, the Volcanic Hell." Yi Donglai stopped speaking and looked at the people who were present. Many of the leaders were stunned.
"My dear apprentices, it seems like this is a hard one." Mr. Fu said to Lin Huang after hearing the name of the dimensional ruin chosen.
Before Lin Huang could ask Mr. Fu why he said that, Yi Donglai began speaking again.
"I hope everyone understands what a grade-2 dimensional ruin would entail. The dimensional ruin will be infested with holy fire-level monsters. Perhaps not many people know about this Volcanic Hell."
"The Volcanic Hell is a dimensional ruin with many volcanoes. The environment is harsh, barren and has no resources what-so-ever. The temperature of this particular dimensional ruin goes above 60 degree Celsius all year long. At times, it'll go above 80 degree Celsius at its peak and ordinary people won't be able to survive there. Moreover, the volcanoes around the ruins would go off at any moment. Your feet will be on volcanic rocks that contain molten lava beneath. If you happen to step on soft ground, you may just fall into the lava."
"Fire monsters aside, there are many undead and spirit type monsters. They've adapted to these environments much better than we humans have. Once there's a conflict, they'll have the geological advantage…"
As Lin Huang listened to Yi Donglai speak, he began researching on the Volcanic Hell dimensional ruin on the Hunter Info Network. Soon, he found the map, the monster distribution graphs and documents containing the types of monster. He downloaded all of them as the Emperor's Heart Ring and Heart Network could not be used once he entered the dimensional ruin.
He did not seem to be the only one as many started researching on the Volcanic Hell as well.
"This training will be using the point accumulation system. I won't be revealing how the system works but those who are ranked in the top 10 from whatever organization would receive a reward. Those ranked from No.4 to No.10 will receive a Life Power compression elixir. Those who are ranked No.2 and No.3 will receive a grade-3 defensive or weapon relic. For the top-ranked participant, he or she would receive a pet monster egg that contains a phoenix-type monster…"
Their eyes lit up when they heard the rewards for the top 10 participants. The Life Power compression elixir was a unique elixir that could help compress Life Power in order to accelerate the speed of getting from gold-level rank-3 to complete gold-level. One bottle of elixir could shave off the compression time taken by one month. Such an elixir would cost over 1,000 Life Crystals and nobody would usually spend this kind of money just to compress their Life Power as most would rather spend their time instead.
Meanwhile, a grade-3 relic would cost at least 4,000 Life Crystals and it could be activated after one became transcendent. It was a very practical reward. The phoenix-type pet monster egg was the reward every participant was eyeing. The pet monster egg alone was something rare, let alone one that contained a pheonix-type monster. Not many monsters laid eggs at the moment of death. There were at least 200,000 different monsters in the monster encyclopedia but only around 100 of them could lay eggs. That was less than 0.1% as the probability was extremely low.
Aside from Imperial Censors, most people would have to use monster taming tokens if they wanted to control their summoning monster. Not many people owned a pet monster. Compared to monsters that require a monster taming token, a pet monster was similar to an Imperial Censor's monster. They could come to terms with humans and stay in the human world for longer periods of time. Meanwhile, summoning monsters that require monster summoning tokens are restricted by time and distance. If the monster exceeds the summoning time and distance limit, the monster must be recalled immediately or it would break free from the token's control.
Of course, there are disadvantages to owning a pet monster as well. Compared to an Imperial Censor's summoning monster, every pet monster will be born as a larva when they emerge from the pet monster egg. They required a significant amount of time to reach adulthood and if they were left to grow on their own, they would need anywhere from a couple of years to even hundreds of years to reach adulthood. One way to accelerate their growth was by using massive amounts of resources. However, the thousands of participants here came from rich family and have great abilities. Growing a pet monster larva would not be a problem to them at all. That was the reason why many people were eyeing the pet monster egg.
Lin Huang was not interested in regular pet monster eggs. However, the one that contained a phoenix-type monster was a whole different story.
"Xiao Hei, if I was to come to terms with the pet monster larva, could I turn it into a Monster Card?"
"As long as you have an agreement with it. It can be turned into a Monster Card."
"That means if I do manage to obtain this phoenix-type pet monster, I'd be able to use Advance Cards on it." After clearing his doubts, Lin Huang was determined to get to No.1.
"I've said everything I need to say. There'll be someone to explain the exact rules of the training when you arrive at the dimensional ruins. I'll open the entrance now, please enter in order…"
Yi Donghai took out a palm-sized ruin key and inserted Life Power into it. Soon, the ruin key shot out and transformed itself into a dimensional portal that looked like a black whirlpool.
"Mr. Fu, since you're the most senior one here, your apprentice will go first." Yi Donglai looked at Mr. Fu and Lin Huang.
"Me?" Lin Huang was shocked.
"Go on then." Mr. Fu patted Lin Huang's shoulder and nodded.
Under the gaze of thousands of people, Lin Huang walked fast into the black whirlpool…
Chapter 272: An Old Friend
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As Lin Huang walked out from the crowd, many of them began to check him out. The man that everyone was gawking at was a young man not more than 16 years of age who was about 1.7 meters tall. He had black, fluffy hair and bright eyes. His features were pleasant and he looked harmless.
"Is this Mr. Fu's apprentice? He doesn't look like anyone special and he's only gold-level rank-2…"
People began to discuss among themselves and a group of men was especially puzzled. Most of them came from powerful families and they knew that Mr. Fu used to work for the Union Government - after all, they have heard of his legendary stories.
In the crowd, there were two people who had the biggest surprise of their lives. One of them was the head examiner of the Reserve Hunter assessment, Yi Yeyu who Lin Huang had met 10 months ago. The other was Li Lang who had earlier went to Lin Huang to investigate damages to his house when a vampire invaded his house 11 months ago. Lin Huang was not even iron-level when the both of them had first met him. Within the span of one year, Lin Huang managed to emerge as a gold-level rank-2. His speed shocked the both of them, especially Yi Yeyu because she had practically watched him grow up and she even knew about him killing iron-level and bronze-level Life Seed monsters. She did not expect to see him again at such a place.
However, Lin Huang did not know about all these. While he noticed Yi Yeyu in the Demon Slayer Legion, he was oblivious to Li Lang in the Hunter Association's team. As everyone watched, Lin Huang calmed himself down while walking into the black whirlpool…
The image before him changed as he stepped in. Soon, he was sent to another place. There was a pungent sulfuric stench surrounding the air. He looked at the burnt ground with a couple of volcanoes, smoke twisting out above them.
"Welcome to the Volcanic Hell, young man," a voice nearby greeted him. Lin Huang lifted his head to look at the sky. It was a man in a black Demon Slayer Legion uniform floating in the air who had uttered those words. The man had short golden hair with a pair of gold-framed glasses. His long, narrow eyes looked like they were closed. Although he seemed like a nice man, Lin Huang could sense a dangerous aura coming from him. He put his guard up instinctively.
The man descended from the air and smiled oddly at Lin Huang. "Don't worry, young man. I am your examiner for the first round of training."
"Your ability to sense is extraordinary."
"Thanks for your compliment." Lin Huang did not intend to explain any further.
Just as he claimed, the man standing in front of Lin Huang was the examiner for the training. As the Union Government owned the ruin keys, that meant trespassers were forbidden here. This also meant that the unique aura that emanated from the Demon Slayer Legion uniform could not be fake. Seeing that the man could float in the air, it was clear that he was a Transcendent. Judging from his combat strength, it made sense that he was the examiner.
After coming out with this analysis, Lin Huang was slightly relieved. He did not ask about the rules of the training as all the participants had yet to arrive and the examiner would not bother explaining the rules to him one-on-one. He stepped aside while waiting for the rest to arrive patiently. Seeing that Lin Huang did not bother to talk to him, the examiner with the golden hair rubbed his nose. Soon, the participants started coming in, alleviating the awkward situation.
The second batch of participants that were sent in were members of the Hunter Association. There were a total of 300 of them. As they arrived, the quiet ruins suddenly became crowded. Many of them had not dared to speak when they were at the plaza as there were many seniors there. Without the supervision of seniors now, they started talking to each other. Seeing everyone chatting with each other, someone approached Lin Huang as if he was getting a closer look at someone he recognized.
"Li Lang?!" Lin Huang recognized him immediately as he had not changed one bit.
"Are you really Lin Huang?!" Li Lang was unsure earlier but upon hearing Lin Huang call out his name, he was quite certain now.
"I didn't expect to see you here." Lin Huang smiled. If not for Li Lang giving him the Life Crystals earlier, he might not have been able to pass the Reserve Member assessment.
"I should be the one saying that. You weren't even an iron-level when I met you the last time. You've grown so much in less than a year!" Li Lang exclaimed. He managed to level-up from silver-level rank-3 to complete gold-level in 11 months. His progress considered fast but Lin Huang's speed was even more impressive.
"That's true…" Lin Huang was speechless. It was June when he had arrived in this world and it was now May in his second year; it had not even been a year since his arrival. His improvement was unbelievable.
"We haven't seen each other for almost a year now and you've grown taller!" Li Lang laughed. He remembered Lin Huang being only 1.6 meters when they last met, a whole head shorter than him. Li Lang had only grown two to three centimeters taller within a year but Lin Huang was now 1.73 meters. Lin Huang smiled helplessly when he heard such a comment that was usually made by the old folks. However, he was not concerned about his height because he had just turned 16. His body would hit puberty in a couple of years and with the nutrients in the food provided in this year, it should be an easy feat for him to grow 10 centimeters within two years.
"Although you've made some terrifying improvements, you are only a gold-level rank-2 after all. Your combat strength must be at the bottom of the food chain with these thousands of people here. Let me know if you need help with the training." Li Lang patted his shoulder as though he was speaking to his junior.
"Oh, sure," Lin Huang replied immediately but he was actually speechless. He did not think that Li Lang could even defeat him if they were to fight.
As they chatted, more and more participants entered the ruins. After 10 minutes, the Demon Slayer Legion arrived at the dimensional ruins as the grand finale. All of the participants that had joined the training were in the ruins now. Seeing that the entrance to the dimensional ruin had closed, the examiner with the golden hair floated into the air again, attracting everyone's attention.
"Alright, kids, please be quiet and listen to me," the examiner's voice echoed in the ruins. All of the participants turned silent.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Si Kongjian and I'll be your examiner for the first round of training…"
Chapter 273: The Beginning - Training
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After a short self-introduction, Si Kongjian started talking about the content of the training.
"The objective of the first round of training is to train your stamina and tolerance. It's simple. All I need you to do is to run a couple of rounds with me."
Everybody looked at each other as nobody believed that the training was as simple as what Si Kongjian had just said.
"Don't look at me with such doubt. It's really just running. However, the result of the first round will determine if you can enter the second round of training…" Si Kongjian added when he saw the disbelief on their faces.
Everyone present listened carefully as Si Kongjian was speaking.
"The final destination will be the location of the second round of the training. If you can't catch up with me, then you'll be sent away before the second round starts. Let you give you a friendly reminder that the ground in this ruins isn't solid, so it's possible to fall into the lava if the ground breaks…" Many of them were alert when they heard what Si Kongjian said.
"The rule is simple and there's only one rule. You're not allowed to use any sort of transportation including summoning monsters, flight weapons and relics, dimensional equipment and relics as well as all sorts of transportation. Those who cheat will be disqualified and blacklisted. You'll never be able to participate in any activities in the Union Government!"
Some of them who intended to cheat gave up their tricks when they heard the severity of the punishment.
"In a nutshell, all you have to do is to follow behind me until I say the training is done." Si Kongjian looked seriously at the people there.
"Is everyone clear?"
All of them nodded and replied, "Yes!"
"Please ask any questions you may have now." Si Kongjian looked at them again.
Lin Huang was the first one who raised his hand.
"Go ahead." Si Kongjian nodded at Lin Huang.
"I would like to know how many rounds of training are there. How long round of training is and after the training is done, are we allowed to stay in the ruins?" Lin Huang asked all three questions at once.
"I can only answer a portion of your questions," Si Kongjian said, "There are a total of three rounds in the training. The first round will take three days while the other two will depend on the examiners. About staying in the ruins, I can't answer that question."
Lin Huang nodded. He was not satisfied with the answer but Si Kongjian had already done his best.
"How does the point system work? We heard Mr. Yi saying that this training goes by a point system earlier," somebody asked.
"I thought I would only tell you about that when the assessment started, but since you asked, I shall tell you now then."
Si Kongjian started to explain, "As the assessment ends, those who are late for less than 3 minutes after me will obtain 1000 points.
"Those who are late for 3 to 10 minutes will obtain 500 points.
"After 10 to 30 minutes, you'll obtain 300 points.
"After 30 minutes to an hour, you'll get 200 points.
"Those who are late for one to three hours will obtain 100 points.
"If you're late for three to five hours, you'll obtain 50 points.
"Those who are late for five to 24 hours will not get any points but will still pass this round's assessment.
"And those who are late for more than 24 hours will be considered as having no result and therefore, disqualified."
Hearing the how the point system worked, many of them realized that the points were difficult to get. Otherwise, the highest points for the first round of training would not be merely 1000 points. Some of them asked a couple of questions on the point system while Si Kongjian gave vague answers which made it impossible to determine what the accumulated points could be used for in the next two rounds.
Seeing that nobody was raising their hands anymore, Si Kongjian was ready to start the training. Suddenly, he thought of something else.
"Oh yeah, you guys should already know about this but just in case anybody isn't aware, I shall remind you. The communication and network functions on the Emperor's Heart Ring won't be available in the ruins. Same goes for the maps and coordinates, they are not usable here. The only use of the ring is for you to store things and look at the time.
"That's all I have to say, there should be nothing else. Do any of you have any more questions?" Si Kongjian checked the time on his Emperor's Heart Ring.
Everybody shook their heads as they had basically asked everything that they wanted.
"Alright then, it's 9:12 a.m. now. The cut-off time for the first round of training will be at 9 a.m. three days later." Switching off the time, Si Kongjian descended from the sky.
"The first round of training has officially started!"
After he said that, Si Kongjian turned around and dashed away. Many of them followed him in an instant.
"Quick, don't be left out!" Li Lang waved at Lin Huang.
"You go first, don't bother about me." Lin Huang waved back.
Li Lang thought about it and figured that Lin Huang might have his own strategy of preserving his strength as his combat strength was the lowest among everyone in the training. His body physique was not comparable to gold-level rank-3 and a complete gold-level. He nodded and left without him.
Lin Huang sprinted and headed to where Yi Yeyu was.
"Please excuse me, I would like to talk to my friend. You guys go ahead," Yi Yeyu said to the men and slowed down while waiting for Lin Huang to come to her.
The men did not want to risk anything, so they ran quickly behind Si Kongjian immediately.
"Not bad, you managed to level-up to gold-level in such short period of time. You're now a gold-level rank-2…" she checked him out as he ran towards her.
"My luck was good." Lin Huang smiled.
"Bullsh*t, save it for yourself." Although a portion of Yi Yeyu's memories had been wiped away, she figured that there was something Lin Huang did that he did not tell anyone.
As he managed to level-up from barely an iron-level to his current gold-level rank-2 within 11 months, that was 11 ranks that he surpassed, taking less than a month on average for every rank. Such speed was unusual. However, as his friend, Yi Yeyu knew that she should not ask him about his secret.
"Has Bro Yi Zheng leveled up to Transcendent?" Lin Huang asked since Yi Zheng was already a complete gold-level 10 months ago. It was impossible and unnecessary that he still remained at gold-level.
"He was already a Transcendent half a year ago," Yi Yeyu replied.
"How about you? You should be a complete gold-level as well. Why haven't you leveled up?" Lin Huang thought it was strange as Yi Yeyu was already a gold-level rank-3 10 months ago. No matter how much time the Life Power compression took, three to four months would be sufficient. Even for the less talented, it would not take them more than half a year.
"I have been a complete gold-level since eight months ago. I have been dragging it as there's something wrong with my body. The Transcendent monster that my family wanted me to get doesn't suit me, so they have been looking for a monster that suits me. I heard that there's a Fire Phoenix in this ruins so I decided to join this training," Yi Yeyu explained.
"So, that means we are free to roam around when the training ends?" Lin Huang asked.
"Yes, but my great-grandfather did not tell me the exact content of the training. He only told me to find a partner to kill the Fire Phoenix together whenever there's an opportunity."
"So, the general of Union Government, Yi Donglai, is really your great-grandfather?" Lin Huang's eyes flew wide open.
"Yes, but he's retired a long time ago with the designation of a general. If not for me, he wouldn't have shown himself this time." Yi Yeyu did not hide the fact as she knew that it would be useless to do so.
"I've got so much respect for you." Lin Huang gave her a thumbs up.
"Oh yeah, do you need my help to kill the Fire Phoenix?"
"You? Although your speed of leveling up is fast, forget about helping me. The Fire Phoenix is a double mutated Transcendent monster and it's a phoenix-type monster. Its ability is similar to a sky dragon of the same level. My great-grandfather has arranged a couple of Demon Slayer Legion reserve members to help me, but I'm not sure if we'd be 100% successful. You'd better not mess around with such things," Yi Yeyu shook her head and rejected Lin Huang's offer. She honestly thought that Lin Huang might be a burden to her. It would be already troublesome if she were to bring Lin Huang just for exposure but she did not even have the confidence to complete the task. It was a double mutated monster after all. Moreover, it was a phoenix-type Transcendent monster.
"Alright then…" Lin Huang knew he was being underestimated again.
"Enough about me, let's talk about you. I only knew about you leveling up to bronze-level with Fatty a few months back and I forgot everything else that happened after that. You seemed busy so I didn't contact you." Yi Yeyu was curious about what Lin Huang had been doing for the past couple of months.
"I was captured by the Purple Crow, but it'd be ridiculous if you knew that!" Lin Huang thought to himself.
"Nothing much, I'm training mostly. I spent my time training my Life Skill and killing Life Seed monsters," Lin Huang lied.
"I remember you were trained in Army Attack Tactics until level-6, am I right? You should be level-7 now, I guess?" Yi Yeyu remembered that he asked her about the Army Attack Tactics earlier and that he was already on level-6.
"I'm on level-8 now," Lin Huang told the truth this time. The card pieces for level-9 were too much; he needed 810,000 card pieces. Throughout the six months, Lin Huang allowed his Life Power to rotate by itself and he was hardly working on it at all. Until now, he had only accumulated 150,000 Army Attack Tactics card pieces and he was still far from his target of 810,000 card pieces.
"Level-8?! You have such terrifying abilities!" Yi Yeyu looked at Lin Huang in obvious envy.
"No wonder you could level-up so fast…"
Lin Huang did not explain much about this as Yi Yeyu's misunderstanding would save him the time and effort to. The both of them were the last two people in the training to leave and time passed by as they chatted…
Chapter 274: All Squinty Eyed People Are Monsters
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Si Kongjian looked like he was taking a stroll because every stride he took was more than 10 meters apart. The people behind him trailed him closely. Even Lin Huang and Yi Yeyu who were the last among everyone were less than 500 meters away from Si Kongjian. It was soon time for lunch. However, the examiner Si Kongjian did not seem like he was going to stop anytime soon, so many of them proceeded to follow him.
Most of them had decided not to eat and have something good at night instead when they got to rest while some of them took out snacks from their storage space and started eating as they ran. Lin Huang was one of them who was snacking on the move. He opened a packet of dried meat and passed one to Yi Yeyu. She then waved her hand at him.
"I shall eat at night. It feels weird to eat while I run."
"What's wrong with that? Nobody is going to watch anyway. What if he doesn't stop at night? Are you not going to eat as well?" Lin Huang asked with his eyebrows raised.
"Even if he doesn't stop for dinner, wouldn't he stop for sleep at least? I'll eat something before we sleep since it's just going to be three days on the move," Yi Yeyu said, insisting on not eating.
"What if he doesn't stop for sleep?" Lin Huang mumbled as he stuffed a piece of dried meat into his mouth.
"He wouldn't be this ridiculous... I hope!" Yi Yeyu looked at Lin Huang with her eyes wide open.
Lin Huang shrugged his shoulders and passed her the packet of dried meat again.
"You sure you don't want any?"
"No, maybe I will eat some at night." Yi Yeyu turned her head away.
"There won't be anything left later, let alone at night. Don't you know I'm hitting puberty now? I eat a lot," Lin Huang said in all seriousness.
"Why would I want your snacks? I have my own." Yi Yeyu huffed.
"Alright, then. It's up to you, it's not I who is hungry anyway." Lin Huang put another slice of dried meat into his mouth.
"Go away, I don't need your sympathy!" Yi Yeyu was not mad at what Lin Huang said but at the irritating expression on his face.
Time passed by. Soon, it was past six in the evening and it was almost time for dinner. Finally, some of them realized that something was amiss as the examiner Si Kongjian did not seem to be stopping.
The person who was running in front decided to ask, "Examiner, are we not stopping for a while to rest or to eat something?"
"You can rest whenever you want, I'm not forcing you to follow me," Si Kongjian replied.
The person was shocked when he heard Si Kongjian's reply while people nearby started to mumble among themselves.
"Will he do the same to us at night when we're supposed to sleep?"
"Examiner, do we get to sleep at night?"
"As I said, you can rest whenever you want as long as you manage to keep up with me. However, I will not rest," Si Kongjian replied.
Shock rippled through the crowd when they heard what he said and they finally realized how tough the training was. Soon, the news was passed to the back and Yi Yeyu's jaw dropped when she heard his reply.
She then turned around and said in a deadly tone to Lin Huang, "Look at your big mouth has done!"
"What does that have to do with me? I said there's such a possibility. It's the examiner who decided that." Lin Huang's arms were spread wide open as he feigned innocence.
"Of course, I would want to sleep at night."
"Three days and two nights…It seems like we'll have to put up with two torturous nights," Yi Yeyu said helplessly.
"Would you like to eat now?" Lin Huang took out another packet of dried meat.
"I have my own." Yi Yeyu looked away again.
Seeing Yi Yeyu take out her own snacks, Lin Huang put away the packet in his hand.
"I think the first round of training wouldn't be as simple as not getting to sleep…" Lin Huang mumbled which eating some dried vegetables.
"What do you mean?" Yi Yeyu looked at him.
"We are all at gold-level. Looking at the speed of the squinty-eyed examiner, it doesn't really exhaust much of our strength and Life Power. Even if we don't rest for three days and two nights, our bodies should be able to take it. If that's the only criteria of the training, the passing rate will be 100%. Therefore, I think there'll be some other unknown challenges in this round of training," Lin Huang explained confidently as he munched on the dried vegetables.
"Can you stop saying stuff like that!" Yi Yeyu glared angrily at Lin Huang.
"It's not I who wants to jinx it. Squinty-eyed people are usually difficult." Lin Huang recalled a famous saying in an anime on Earth that went - All squinty-eyed people are monsters, which was the reason he had his guard up when he met the examiner.
"Nonsense!" Yi Yeyu scoffed and did not care about Lin Huang while eating her snacks.
The sun set in the ruins and night finally arrived. Seeing that the sky was dark, Si Kongjian who was leading the participants smirked and turned in another direction out of nowhere. Those who followed behind him turned with him without thinking twice. It was not even 8 p.m. and the sky was completely dark. Although all of them were at gold-level and their visions were not affected much, they still could not see as clearly as during the day.
Si Kongjian proceeded to speed up and he brought all of them to an open flatland. Suddenly, a macho man from the crowd following him stepped into the ground and got half his leg stuck. As he was attempting to pull his leg out, his leg was covered by boiling lava. If not for the gold-level armor that he was wearing with the Life Power covering him, his right leg would have been destroyed. He rolled on the ground while using some of his equipment to get rid of the lava residue on his leg. The hair on his leg was all gone, making his whole limb bald.
Many of the people who knew him saw and teased him, "Wow! Such a smooth leg you've got there!"
"Go away!" the macho man shouted.
Although there was gold-level armor protecting him and he managed to pull it out fast enough, there was a slight burn on his leg. He applied some elixir on it and changed into a new pair of pants as well as fresh shoes before starting to run again.
However, some people ran into the same lava ground that he did later on. They suffered similar injuries like him, some even falling completely into the lava, havingtheir hair and eyebrows burnt off. If not for their gold-level bodies which were stronger than regular people, coupled with the protection of their gold-level armor and Life Power, many people would have died.
Lin Huang and Yi Yeyu saw what was happening from far behind, so they were extra careful. Yi Yeyu accidentally stepped into the fragile ground but she did not step into the lava as she reacted quickly.
"This is all your fault!" Yi Yeyu complained as she almost injured herself.
"How could you blame me? It's the squinty-eyed man's fault." Lin Huang looked innocently at her.
Chapter 275: The High Heel Incident
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang activated Boundless Vision and soon, he discovered the reason that caused the ground to collapse. The surface of the flatland was thinner than the ground that they walked on during the day, it was way thinner.
Because of that, some of them who were heavier would easily cause the ground to collapse as they walked on it. The reason why Yi Yeyu had crushed the ground earlier was because she was wearing a pair of high heeled lady army boots, causing the force exerted on the ground by her heels to be stronger than people who were wearing ordinary footwear.
After seeing Yi Yeyu crushed the ground for twice, Lin Huang then suggested, "I think it'll be better for you to change to another pair of shoes. The heels of your shoes could even kill a person. It's not strange at all that you could crush the ground."
Yi Yeyu then stared at Lin Huang as she felt that Lin Huang had gloated over it.
"The squinty-eyed guy did this on purpose. Bringing us to this place at night where the ground is thinner than where we were walking at earlier. We can't see clearly at night and we'll be easily tricked. Fortunately, the lava underneath the ground does not contain any spiritual power and we're all wearing protective armor. We'll only get burnt if we fall into the pool of lava for extended periods of time. It'll not threaten our lives. Perhaps it'll only consume a small portion of our Life Power…" Lin Huang said as he ignored Yi Yeyu who was staring at him.
"So you're trying to say that he intends to deplete our Life Power?" As Yi Yeyu heard the last sentence, she immediately understood what Lin Huang was trying to say.
"Yes, of course. Their Life Power will be used up if they are tricked several times. Since the Life Power consumption for movement skills is relatively low, if he didn't have any other ways to deplete our Life Power, do you think that any of us will be eliminated just from running the duration of three days and two nights?" Lin Huang looked like he had expected this to happen. "Get changed into another pair of shoes. I'll wait for you and we'll catch up with them later."
After remaining silent for a moment, although Yi Yeyu did not want to agree with Lin Huang, she had chosen to compromise. She stopped walking and took out a pair of running shoes from the storage space before she threw the pair of military boots away.
Lin Huang stopped as well and waited for her to get her shoes changed.
"Who asked you to wait for me? Can't I catch up with you later?" Yi Yeyu scoffed.
Lin Huang shrugged his shoulder and kept quiet.
Soon, after Yi Yeyu had changed her shoes, a woman who wore a pair of high heels crashed into the ground as she ran ahead of them. As soon as she found out that something was wrong, she immediately stomped down hard on the ground with her other leg in an attempt to escape.
Right this moment, Si Kongjian grinned. A hidden energy underneath the ground rose up. Right after the woman stomped on the ground, the entire area collapsed.
The woman and the rest of them all fell into the pool of lava. The people behind them did not manage to escape and fell into the red lava as well.
There were more than 1,800 of them and one-third of them experienced the lava bath. Right when they got up from the lava, their outfits and hair were all burnt by the high-temperature Life Power, creating a "beautiful" scene.
The people who followed after them then laughed at them. They quickly covered their bodies with the protective armor so they would not be showing their naked bodies. However, many of them could not stop laughing at them as all of them had bald heads. They did not even have eyebrows.
As they had to treat their wounds and put on their clothes, people who had fallen into the lava had to stay there, watching helplessly as those who were initially behind them overtook them.
"See, high heels are trouble." Lin Huang raised an eyebrow and told Yi Yeyu. He did not notice that the squinty-eyed guy had secretly done something. He thought that the ground was not strong enough and the woman's high heels had crushed it.
Lin Huang was not the only one who thought that way as many others thought like that as well.
While the bald men were treating their injuries, many of them stared at the woman in high heels with anger in their eyes. She could only take it quietly because like the others, she thought it was her fault as well.
Yi Yeyu felt fortunate that she had changed into another pair of footwear earlier. Otherwise, if she was the one who had troubled the other participants, she would have had to look for a hole to hide in. However, she acted as if she did not hear what Lin Huang had said, turning her head the other way.
They then ran through the rough terrain at night. Among 1,800 of them, at least 1,200 of them were tricked as the conditions of the crushed ground was in were unavoidable.
However, Lin Huang walked like Si Kongjian, seemingly taking a leisurely stroll. It seemed like he did not bother where he should step at all.
Yi Yeyu was curious as she noticed that Lin Huang's steps were light. Neither cracks nor scratches were left on the ground as he stepped on it.
"What kind of movement skill are you using?" Yi Yeyu asked after observing for a long while.
" Spectral Snowsteps. "
"The name of the skill sounded very light. That's why the ground wasn't affected even after you've stepped on it." Yi Yeyu immediately understood the characteristics of the movement skill after listening to its name.
"You can also use a light-weight movement skill. Why do you want to teleport?" Lin Huang found it strange. He could see that many of them had used teleportation instead of a movement like his and a small bunch even used speed-type movement skills. That being said, the light-weight movement skill he used was not used very often by others.
"Of course! I know that it's appropriate to use a light-weight movement skill here but... I don't know how to use the skill." Yi Yeyu then told him the truth. "Light-weight movement skills were not as practical as speed-type movement skills like teleportation. That was why I didn't spend much time practicing the skill."
Lin Huang then understood the reason why there were less people using movement skills similar to his. Perhaps the majority of them had made the same decision as Yi Yeyu.
Since everyone had limited strength and time, they would naturally look for skills that were more practical and powerful. Compared to speed-type movement skills and teleportation which were both rather useful in a battle, light-weight movement skills were less useful. In addition to that, after achieving the Transcendent-level, everyone would be able to fly. The effect of light-weight movement skills would be rendered useless.
However, in this place, Lin Huang had an advantage over the others as he had mastered this form of movement skill.
Soon, the first night passed. After running for more than 20 hours, they were sleep deprived in addition to their depleted Life Power after falling into the pool of lava. Everyone seemed less energetic than they were on the first day.
It seemed like only Lin Huang and a few others remained unaffected.
Lin Huang's Army Attack Tactics was on level-8. Even if he was to use Spectral Snowsteps throughout the run, the Life Power consumed would have been easily replenished. 20 hours had passed and not even 10 columns of his Life Power were used. The people who had fallen into the lava would have used up at least 1,000 columns of their Life Power. In fact, using gold-level armor to defend against the lava would consume a larger amount of Life Power than defending against enemies in a battle.
"Although they're tired, it seems like it's not going to a problem for them to continue for another two days…" Lin Huang noticed their conditions and also knew that the squinty-eyed man would not let them pass the assessment so easily. "I wonder what the squinty-eyed examiner will do next…"
Chapter 276: The Evil Squinty Eyed Guy
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At noon, the scorching sun was hanging high in the air, causing the temperature of Volcano Hell that was already burning hot to skyrocket even further.
As the sun shone, the bald men who did not even have eyebrows became even more obvious and their heads reflected dazzling colors. What made most people speechless was when the group of people was running, their body would bob up and down, resembling waves of bald heads.
The rest of them including Lin Huang could not stop laughing as they saw the bald men.
However, the group of people that got their hair burnt off did not feel happy at all and they glared at them.
After running through the night for more than 20 hours, a large amount of Life Power had been depleted. In addition to the influence of the high temperatures, other than Lin Huang and a few of them that remained unaffected, most of them were fatigued.
"All of you are weaker than I expected. It has only been one day and all of you are already so tired?" Si Kongjian insulted with a smile and his voice rang out clearly.
However, only a small group of people was triggered while most of them did not bother at all.
"I'll bring all of you to a place that'll make you feel excited." As they did not seem to be motivated by the words he uttered, Si Kongjian's eyes turned to crescent-shaped moons. Obviously, he had some bad intentions again.
Right after they heard what he said, they panicked.
"Again?" Lin Huang had expected this to happen.
Yi Yeyu, who was standing beside Lin Huang, then stared at him as she did not expect that what Lin Huang had said to really happen.
Standing in front of the team, Si Kongjian suddenly took out a bottle of green elixir from his storage space, pouring it on himself. He suddenly turned back, heading towards two o'clock. The group of people behind him had no choice but to follow after him as they were afraid that they would be unable to catch up with him.
They then ran for another half an hour. Soon, the group of people saw monsters beginning to appear from afar. They instantly knew Si Kongjian's intentions and their faces turned grave.
"He's trying to make use of the monsters to increase the consumption of our Life Power!" The moment Lin Huang saw the monsters, he knew why Si Kongjian had brought the team to this area. "The squinty-eyed guy is indeed evil."
In fact, as Lin Huang expected, Si Kongjian led the group of people to break into the area where most of the monsters gathered. Many of the monsters started to attack them when the humans entered. However, none of the monsters attacked Si Kongjian. With no obstacles, he kept running forward without even reducing his speed.
The people who followed after Si Kongjian noticed that something was strange. They recalled the green elixir that he had poured on his body earlier.
"Is that a monster repellent elixir?" Lin Huang noticed that as well although he could not recognize what it was previously. However, as he saw that all the monsters were ignoring Si Kongjian, he instantly knew what the green elixir was.
The monster repellent elixir could not actually keep all the monsters away or completely avoid monster attacks but most monsters did not like the smell of the elixir. Therefore, when there was a group of people, the monsters would choose to avoid those who had the elixir and attack those who did not have the scent of the elixir on their body instead. However, without Lin Huang and the team, Si Kongjian would be attacked as well if he broke into the monster crowd.
The situation was similar to having several dishes served on the dining table. The leftovers would probably be the food that tasted bad as no one would go for those. However, if the food that tasted bad was the only dish being served and the diners were hungry, they would still eat it regardless of its taste.
When Si Kongjian led everyone to break into the area, most of the monsters were gold-level rank-3. There were only a small number of gold-level rank-2 monsters. Apparently, he had planned the route in advance.
It was a group of Crimsonblood Boas that first attacked Lin Huang and the rest of them.
The Crimsonblood Boa was categorized as an elemental monster according to the elemental charts. To be more accurate, it was a fire element monster based on the charts.
They lived in lava and they looked like they were completely made of flames. Normally, the length of their body ranged from 10 to 30 meters and their combat abilities varied from gold-level rank-1 to rank-3. If they upgraded to Transcendent, their body would grow beyond 100 meters. Therefore, there was a different name for the Transcendent Crimsonblood Boas – the Gigantic Crimsonblood Boa.
The main form of attack of the Crimsonblood Boa was control of the fire element and long-range attacks.
Right after the Gigantic Crimsonblood Boa discovered Lin Huang and the rest of them, it immediately chased after them. Soon, many of the Crimsonblood Boas spat red fireballs from their mouth at the group of people.
Seeing the team being attacked, they could not ignore it. As Si Kongjian did not run very quickly, they could not get rid of the Crimsonblood Boas directly. If they did not kill the monsters, the monsters would not stop chasing them.
The people who were being attacked had left the main team, pouncing towards the Crimsonblood Boas.
Other than Lin Huang, basically all of them who attended the special training were gold-level rank-3 or were complete gold-level. Despite the fact that the combat abilities of the Crimsonblood Boa were not that weak and that there were quite a number of them, they were still being killed one after the other.
The people who killed the Crimsonblood Boas quickly returned to the team after they had killed the monsters. Although it did not take up much of their time, the consumption of their Life Power had increased.
The monsters did not attack Lin Huang and Yi Yeyu. They were not involved in the slaughter as well. Yi Yeyu then understood the importance of saving her Life Power after Lin Huang reminded her to do so. She would try not to strike if it was not necessary to do so.
Life Power could be used up quickly. However, a long period of time was required to replenish the Life Power.
The Crimsonblood Boas were the first group of monsters that they encountered. After encountering that attack, Lin Huang and the team were attacked by six more groups of monsters in the afternoon once every hour.
The people had become clever after being attacked by the monsters for several times. Before the monsters attacked them, they would not kill the monsters as they were all afraid that they would use up their Life Power.
After having their dinner, the sky turned dark.
Many of them were fatigued as they were supposed to rest at night. After running for more than 30 hours, of course, most of them were exhausted beyond belief. In fact, even Lin Huang started to feel sleepy. Yi Yeyu could not even stop yawning. She seldom stayed up late at night since she was young, which was why she could hardly adapt to life without rest.
Even though they were sleepy and tired, they dared not let their guard down. They were worried that they would be stepping on the wrong place as well as the monsters attacking them.
"Eh, why is there a forest here?" Seeing that Si Kongjian had led them to a forest, Lin Huang started to frown…
Chapter 277: Undying Bloodoak
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At night, many people felt uneasy about the shadows that appeared from afar as it was less likely that there would be plants surviving at such a place with lava underground.
As usual, Si Kongjian was smirking as he approached the forest-like area at a constant speed.
When the people that followed Si Kongjian approached the forest, they panicked.
All the trees in the forest had withered, resembling crystals. The trees did not even have any leaves. Each of the trees looked like they had been burnt by extremely high-temperature flames and become cooked in an instant. However, the tree branches still remained in its original form. The trees looked ferocious and spooky like a haunted forest.
Most of them did not know the name of the forest. Only Lin Huang and a minority of them knew Si Kongjian's intentions.
"It seems like many people will be eliminated this round. The squinty-eyed guy…" Lin Huang did not expect Si Kongjian to bring them to this place.
"What's happening? What's wrong with the forest?" Yi Yeyu asked as she heard Lin Huang mumbling.
"Can't you recognize the Undying Bloodoak?" Lin Huang asked with a strange expression.
"Is that the Undying Bloodoak?!" Yi Yeyu's eyes flew wide. Of course, she had heard about this monster before but she did not know how they actually looked like. "Is that the monster that can directly extract Life Power from bodies of various creatures?"
"Not only that. The Undying Bloodoak will only live in places with an adequate supply of energy. Therefore, I think that the lava underneath the Undying Bloodoak possesses spiritual powers. If anyone happens to fall into the lava, perhaps they shouldn't be so worried about just having burn injuries anymore." Lin Huang shifted his gaze towards the ground beneath the Undying Bloodoak.
Normal lava was merely scorching hot and did not consist of Life Power. Most of the injuries caused could be isolated by the protective layer of Life Power produced by their armors. Therefore, despite having a temperature of more than thousands of Celsius, the effect it had on the gold-level hunters was limited. A burn injury might be all it could cause.
However, lava with spiritual powers was different as it could attack one's Life Power. Moreover, its temperature was even higher than that of the ordinary lava with a temperature of more than 3,000 Celsius. Under such a high temperature, only Transcendents with defensive relics would be capable of defending against it as even gold-level weapons would decay. Therefore, be it at gold-level rank-3 or at complete gold-level, one might die if they fell into the pool of lava associated with spiritual powers.
The first thing that Lin Huang thought of right after he had seen the forest was not about how dangerous the place was; it was about Tyrant's advancement instead. He had now found the lava with spiritual powers and the requirement for Tyrant to level up could be met. However, the forest was a hindrance. He had to clear it. Otherwise, if Tyrant fell into the lava, he would probably become prey in this forest.
Although Tyrant was strong, there were more than ten thousand Undying Bloodoaks in the forest. Moreover, all of them were at gold-level, possessing the ability to extract Life Power, so it was dangerous to place Tyrant in such an environment. Therefore, Lin Huang's main concern was different from the others as he did not think of how he should overcome this difficulty. He was considering how he should clear the forest instead.
"The Undying Bloodoak is not afraid of flames. Other than Life Power, they can absorb most of the fire element energy. Only physical attacks will have a greater impact on them…However, the Undying Bloodoak is an undying species. Most of the undying species and soul species are afraid of pure energy…" Just as he was pondering over this, Si Kongjian disappeared into the forest.
Although many of them had no idea what was wrong with the trees, when they saw that some of them had started to take out their weapons, everyone followed suit and stayed alert.
Even Luo Yuan had taken out a gold saber. Yi Yeyu then took out a gold long sword that had a black sword handle.
A customized weapon would usually have better functions than Lin Huang's weapon besides fitting the user better. Since it was custom-made, the material used to forge it would be of better quality as well. Of course, the price would be at least 10 times higher.
However, to Lin Huang, it was unnecessary to own a customized weapon. His speed of leveling up was too fast. He took less than a year to upgrade from iron-level to his current level. If he was to use a customized weapon, he would only use it for a few months and it would be a complete waste of effort.
Unlike Yi Yeyu, since they were royalty members, they had to be conscious of their image. It was normal for them to own a customized weapon for all intents and purposes of status.
"Be careful, just attack using your physical strength. Don't attack them with your Life Power," Lin Huang reminded Yi Yeyu, "This type of monster is very sensitive to energy. They will bug you if you're using Life Power to attack them."
"I know. Though I didn't pay much attention to the monster guide, I've heard about this monster before." Yi Yeyu nodded.
Right after they had entered the forest, the burnt black withered trees seemed to have been awakened by the people. They could smell the aura of Life Power advancing towards them.
Despite the fact that the Life Power being released during the rotation of the movement skill was weak, the Undying Bloodoaks that were sensitive to energy could still sense it.
When Lin Huang saw that the Undying Bloodoaks surrounding them began to twist its branches, extending towards their legs, he immediately noticed the problem. He then told Yi Yeyu, "Stop using the movement skill…"
Both of them immediately stopped using their movement skill, running simply using their own strength.
Only a small group of people realized that as well so that the Undying Bloodoaks would not be aware of them. However, the majority of them had no idea what the Undying Bloodoak was and they did not know the characteristics of the monster either. They wanted to get out of the forest as soon as possible, so they inserted more Life Power into their body instead.
As that happened, the reaction of the Undying Bloodoaks became more intense.
Initially, the tree branches were just looking for their targets. After they had confirmed their targets, they started to tangle around their legs.
The people who were attacked by the Undying Bloodoaks then wielded their weapons to chop off the tree branches. Consequently, a more severe problem arose. Attacks associated with Life Power attracted more attention.
Furthermore, it seemed like the Undying Bloodoaks possessed incredibly fast regenerating ability. After they were chopped off, they managed to regenerate in less than a second and soon, they twisted around the people's legs again.
Seeing so many of them being attacked, Lin Huang shook his head. He then glanced at Yi Yeyu and said, "That's the consequence of not reading the monster guide carefully. They can actually easily pass through the forest but this is what happens to them."
Yi Yeyu stared at Lin Huang. She did not refute him though as it was a fact. If all of them knew the characteristics of the Undying Bloodoak like the back of their hands, they would have definitely chosen to quietly walk through this area.
She could only watch the people in front of her get entangled by the tree branches of the Undying Bloodoaks. Some of the tree branches had even penetrated through their bodies, extracting their Life Power. Yi Yeyu then asked, "Nothing will happen to them, will it?"
"Yes, they'll be fine. The speed of absorption of Life Power by the Undying Bloodoak is slow. It takes them at least one week to absorb the Life Power of creatures that are on the same level as them. There are only two days remaining until the end of the training. They will be rescued and sent out of this place when the training ends."
Lin Huang shook his head and continued, "Moreover, those who joined the training are elites. There must be people looking after them here."
Although they were running with just their strength, they were not that much slower than those who ran using the movement skill.
In addition to the attacks that they encountered, both of them had overtaken those who got entangled by the Undying Bloodoaks. Also, they were consuming a large amount of Life Power to attack the tree branches that bugged them. He shook his head. "They just can't stop making people worry about them…"
Chapter 278: The Elimination Rate Is Too Low
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang would not have bothered if it happened to the others as the Union Government would rescue them after being tortured by the Undying Bloodoaks for two days.
However, Li Lang was the one who was having an intense battle with the Undying Bloodoak, so Lin Huang could not remain indifferent.
The Undying Bloodoak tangled Li Lang's legs. He brandished his sword, attempting to chop off the tree branches that twisted around his legs. However, the Undying Bloodoak around him could sense his Life Power and it pounced on his arm like black snakes.
He kept waving his sword around. Despite managing to chop off all the tree branches that were attacking him, they quickly regenerated right after that as if it had endless vitality. Even Li Lang who had such incredible abilities was trapped in this difficult situation.
"Do you know that idiot?" Yi Yeyu asked as she heard that Lin Huang was mumbling in a low voice. She then shifted her gaze towards him and saw that Li Lang was fighting the Undying Bloodoak.
"Yes…" Lin Huang nodded his head helplessly.
Soon, both of them appeared beside Li Lang. Lin Huang then immediately chopped off the tree branches that twisted around Li Lang's legs, breaking them apart. Li Lang quickly broke free of the Undying Bloodoak. However, the Undying Bloodoak was intent on chasing after him. His Life Power resembled fragrant grilled meat, attracting countless carnivores to him.
"Retract your Life Power!" Lin Huang frowned and shouted at Li Lang.
Li Lang was stunned as he heard Lin Huang's voice. Right at that moment, his arm got entangled by the Undying Bloodoak again. As he was about to activate his Life Power to perform another cut, Yi Yeyu helped him out and quickly chopped off the Undying Bloodoak.
"Didn't you hear that? Quickly retract your Life Power!" Yi Yeyu yelled angrily.
Although he did not know why he had to do that, he quickly retracted his Life Power after listening to them.
The black tree branches that were originally going after him wandered around the area less than 20 centimeters in front of him for a short moment and soon, they left right after he had retracted his Life Power.
As soon as Li Lang witnessed this, he then understood why Lin Huang had asked him to do so.
"The monster tree…was coming after my Life Power?"
"It's the Undying Bloodoak. It can only sense creatures with Life Power." Lin Huang nodded his head helplessly. "It's time for both of you to study the monster guide."
"Please remember not to use your movement skill later." Yi Yeyu rolled her eyes at LiI Lang.
"This beautiful woman is…" Li Lang had no idea how he had provoked her.
"She's my friend." Lin Huang knew that Yi Yeyu was angry because he had proven that one would suffer a great loss for not reading the monster guide and she was just like Li Lang. Both of them would never read the monster guide.
"Oh, hi, I'm Li Lang," Li Lang then introduced himself.
"Yi Yeyu," Yi Yeyu curtly told him her name in a rude manner, then she turned her head back to Lin Huang and asked, "Can we go now?"
"Yes, let's go." Three of them then ran rapidly so that they could catch up with the team.
Those who got entangled by the Undying Bloodoaks saw how three of them got rid of it and followed their steps. After they had retracted their Life Power and defended themselves with physical attacks, they escaped from the Undying Bloodoaks.
Lin Huang and both of them did not bother about what happened after that. They started running and overtook many of them who were running ahead of them. The majority of them got entangled by the Undying Bloodoaks, so only a few people could lead the run unfazed.
The people were amazed by the three of them as the Undying Bloodoaks completely ignored them.
"It's such a shame. They might have used the monster repellent elixir too," the people guessed.
Soon, a few people who were running behind them caught up with them in the same way. Everyone turned suspicious.
"Why didn't they use the movement skill?"
"They don't look like they have used up their Life Power…"
"Those not using movement skill are ignored by the monster tree. Could it be because of our Life Power that they attacked us?" the people finally concluded.
Soon, they started to retract their Life Power and the result was obvious. The Undying Bloodoaks immediately gave up the targets in front of them as they could not sense their Life Power anymore.
After getting rid of the Undying Bloodoaks, they learned from Lin Huang and the rest of them, so they stopped using their movement skill. They then ran like mad.
There was an increasing number of people that ran without using their Life Power. Even those who were slow to pick up noticed this. Those who had attended the training were elites but they were not foolish.
As a matter of fact, other than Lin Huang who came here alone, most of them had friends and companions in the training program. Of course, they would not want to see their companions getting stuck in the first stage. The secret of the forest was soon being revealed.
After being tortured for the whole night, they had used up a large portion of their Life Power. However, the majority of them still managed to follow after Si Kongjian and they left the forest as the sun rose. Only a few unlucky people had been completely captured by the Undying Bloodoaks and they had no way of escaping.
Once they got caught, the tree branches would penetrate through their prey's body, beginning to extract the Life Power from the prey's body. Under such circumstances, it was useless to retract their Life Power because once the tree branches had penetrated through their body, they would be able to sense the existence of Life Power within the prey and no longer relied on external senses.
They were not bothered to be rescued as the Undying Bloodoaks had injected poison into their bodies the very first moment when they were captured. They would not be able to regain their consciousness in a short period of time. Even after they were rescued, they could no longer continue with the training. Therefore, they would be handled by the officers of the Union Government instead.
Seeing the number of people behind him increasing, Si Kongjian knew that the secret of the forest had been revealed. The next morning, when they left the forest, he frowned as he saw the number of people that followed after him.
Lin Huang could clearly capture his expression as he had activated his Boundless Vision. He knew that the number of people who were eliminated was far beyond the squinty-eyed guy's expectations.
"There are so many of us here. Most likely the squinty-eyed guy will increase the difficulty level on the last day…" Lin Huang knew that Si Kongjian would not let them go so easily.
"We'll probably have a hard day." Yi Yeyu observed as well.
"Why do you say so?" Li Lang wondered and asked.
"I've been an assessment examiner before. The elimination rate is too low. If he allows so many of us to pass the first training, he'll feel ashamed. Therefore, he will definitely raise the difficulty level on the last day," Yi Yeyu confidently explained.
"Yeyu is right. Therefore, we have to be extra alert on the following day," Lin Huang agreed.
Chapter 279: Lin Huang's Steady Steps
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Out of the forest where the Undying Bloodoaks gathered, Si Kongjian suddenly turned back and looked at the people. However, he did not stop running. He continued to take the lead by walking backwards instead.
Many of them felt strange about his movement. However, Lin Huang and some of the people suspected what he was going to do next.
"It's not even seven o'clock in the morning now. There are about 26 hours remaining until the end of the first round of training. Therefore, the warm-up session for the past two days is about to end. I've decided to let all of you show your true abilities on the last day. Let's see how many of you can actually pass my training." Right after he finished his sentence, only a small slit could be seen where Si Kongjian's eyes were. He then turned back and like an arrow flying from a bow, he blasted off.
Everyone was stunned and soon, they quickly activated their movement skill and followed after him.
Even Lin Huang had to switch from Spectral Snowsteps to Thunder Steps , running swiftly like thunder.
However, he did intentionally control his speed. Thunder Step was an epic movement skill. Hunters that were below Transcendent level would rarely practice a movement skill on this level as it was time-consuming and consumed a large amount of Life Power.
Because he controlled his speed, Yi Yeyu and Li Lang did not notice anything peculiar.
"You're quite good in speed-type movement skill as well. How many types of movement skills do you actually have?" Yi Yeyu asked.
"Three," Lin Huang answered with a smile, "Speed, light-weight. and teleportation-type movement skills. I've practiced one skill for each of them."
"You're such a genius!"
Yi Yeyu was speechless. However, she complimented him in such a way because she knew that Lin Huang majored in swords minored in guns. He even practiced three types of movement skills.
She had to admit that Lin Huang's learning ability was incredible. Even if she was given a year to learn all the movement, sword and gun skills without even training her Life Power, she would be unable to finish learning everything. Apparently, Lin Huang spent most of his time upgrading his combat level. However, he could still manage to learn other skills because he had an amazing ability to learn at a fast pace.
"Your leveling speed is terrifying. You're indeed a genius. Since you focus mostly on leveling up, you don't spend much time in actual battle, do you?" Li Lang felt that despite his level-up speed, his actual ability would be incomparable to him.
"Yes, that's true," Lin Huang answered with a smile.
In fact, he had rarely gone through any battle training like the royalty members. He would usually go for actual combat, be it hunting monsters at the wild zones or killing opponents in the arena since these were training that could push him beyond his limits.
"You're now at gold-level rank-2. I'd like to suggest that you practice with actual combat in the arena when you return. Perhaps with your current abilities, you can't even fight Sword Genius who's only at silver-level," Li Lang advised him.
Lin Huang nodded his head with a smile, remaining silent.
Yi Yeyu then continued, "I've watched the battle videos of Sword Genius. He's really strong. His actual combat abilities are incredible. Although he's only a silver-level rank-3, I think that many of the gold-level rank-3 hunters can't even go against him. Perhaps only people like us who're at complete gold-level with a greater amount of Life Power will have an advantage over him, allowing us to defeat him. However, if he upgrades to gold-level, even if he's only at gold-level rank-1, those who are at complete gold-level would only have a 10% chance of defeating him."
"Both of you who are at complete gold-level rate his achievement so highly?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrows and asked. However, he was laughing on the inside.
"Lin Huang, have you never watched his battle?" Li Lang was shocked.
"I've signed up for the arena but I've only tried it several times. I've spent a lot of time on practicing with my Life Power. I don't have time to watch this." Lin Huang shook his head.
"That's right. You're such a training maniac. You won't have much spare time though." Yi Yeyu who was standing beside Lin Huang felt that it was normal that Lin Huang had no idea about the happenings in the arena. "However, I'd suggest that you watch his battle videos when you're free. I've collected all his videos and I only managed to watch his live battle once."
Yi Yeyu had watched his live battle before?! Lin Huang was speechless. However, he would not be able to tell. Ever since he had become popular, the arena was always full with more than 300,000 spectators in the arena during his every battle. Ever since he had achieved an 80-win streak, the audience had grown to a million. Nobody would know when and where Yi Yeyu was sitting at when she went to watch his battle.
While they were chatting, they could obviously feel that Si Kongjian had accelerated.
"It seems like the squinty-eyed guy is going to eliminate a bunch of people…" Lin Huang frowned.
"Who's the squinty-eyed guy?" Right after Li Lang asked the question, he immediately knew who Lin Huang was talking about. "Eh, I know… Squinty-eyed guy eh…? That's so true!"
Three hours had passed. Other than Lin Huang and a few others, those who managed to follow Si Kongjian closely were those who were at complete gold-level. Many of them who were at gold-level rank-3 gave up running after him and they fell far behind him as their Life Power was almost exhausted.
"There are still four of them who are not at complete-gold level. As long as I can get rid of them, it's time to enter the next stage." Si Kongjian grinned as he thought to himself and he continued to accelerate.
Each time his toe touched the ground, he could leap more than 50 meters, so the rest of them could still catch up with him.
However, after half an hour, three of them who were at gold-level rank-3 could no longer follow his speed. They were more than thousands of meters away from him. As a matter of fact, there were two of them who were at complete gold-level and were left behind as well. However, Lin Huang was still running steadily and remained unaffected.
It was almost time to stop. Si Kongjian then looked back and he was speechless. The young man who was only at gold-level rank-2 had managed to follow after those who were at complete gold-level. It seemed like the increase in speed did little to faze him. On the other hand, many of them who were at complete gold-level were drenched in sweat.
"Is it possible that this fellow is talented in speed-type movement skills?" Si Kongjian made a guess as he saw that Lin Huang was not sweating at all. He knew that it was impossible for him to get rid of the little brat. "Fine, since I've managed to get rid of two-thirds of the people, I can enter the next stage."
sThey did not know that they had escaped elimination unintentionally. If Si Kongjian insisted on eliminating Lin Huang and continued accelerating, he would turn out eliminating everyone else…
Si Kongjian stopped accelerating and ran forward at a constant speed. Most of them were relieved.
Chapter 280: The Lava River
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Si Kongjian then ran for another few hours, maintaining his current speed. About 20 to 30 of those who were at complete gold-level were about a kilometer away from him. 1,200 of them who were at gold-level rank-3 straggled far away, not even their shadows could be seen.
However, Yi Yeyu and the rest of them had left footprints on the ground, so as long as they had sufficient Life Power and strength, they would be able to catch up with them.
Li Lang was running out of breath as he followed after Lin Huang, soaked in sweat. Yi Yeyu was faring slightly better than him but her back was all slick with sweat as well.
Both of them then looked at Lin Huang who was running in front of them with a strange expression. Lin Huang was running leisurely. He did not feel tired at all, let alone sweat.
Ahead of them, Si Kongjian had noticed something strange about Lin Huang earlier. He seemed to have confirmed that Lin Huang possessed a talent for speed-type abilities and it was a passive ability within his body. Otherwise, as a gold-level rank-2 hunter, he would not have been able to exceed the speed and stamina of those who were at complete gold-level.
What he did not know was that Lin Huang did indeed possess such a talent but had never used it before.
"What's in front of us?" Li Lang breathed heavily as he shouted. As he raised his head and looked towards the front, he saw something odd.
Lin Huang activated his Boundless Vision and peered out. He then glanced at Si Kongjian who had never intended to change his route. In an instant, he knew his intentions.
"From its color, it looks like it's a lava river…" Yi Yeyu frowned.
Not only had Lin Huang and the two of them noticed that. Even the rest of the team discovered the strange situation that appeared in front of them.
"It looks like lava. Is the examiner not going to change his direction?"
"Is he going to ask us to swim across the river?"
"Hey, keep your big mouth shut!"
…
A few minutes later, the team arrived in front of the lava river.
The lava river was hundreds of kilometers away and it had a width of more than 10 kilometers. Si Kongjian's eyes were so small, leaving only two small lines on his face as he squinted. However, he had no intention to stop at all. He took a leap, stepping lightly on the lava. In just a few breaths, he made it to the other shore of the river.
Upon arriving at the other side of the river, Si Kongjian stopped and shouted to the team, "You can use any method to come over here. However, you're not allowed to go against my rules. You can't use any flying, dimensional or transportation relics. Summoning monsters are prohibited in the assessment as well."
The moment he finished his sentence, Si Kongjian turned around and jogged away.
Seeing that Si Kongjian was getting further away from them, everyone's face turned grave.
"The lava river is so wide. We can't fly, so how is it possible for us to cross the river? Should we swim?" Li Lang said bitterly.
Yi Yeyu frowned, thinking of how to cross the river.
Part of them had chosen to walk along the riverside. Although they had to run hundreds of meters on top of the existing route, it would be better than swimming across the lava river.
Also, there were some of them who had put on their defensive relics and jumped into the lava river, swimming to the other side of the river. Their defensive relic could be used directly by consuming their Life Crystal instead of using their Life Power.
Of course, Yi Yeyu and Li Lang had such relics as well. However, they were unwilling to swim across the lava river. This was because even the defensive relic would not be able to completely isolate them from the high temperature. Although they would not get hurt, they could not avoid getting their hair burned off of them.
"Are there any other methods?" Yi Yeyu looked at Lin Huang hopefully.
Li Lang shifted his gaze to him as well.
"Yes, there is. But the main thing is, do the both of you trust me?" Lin Huang smiled.
"What's that? Tell me!" Li Lang panicked.
"I can't tell you, I can only do it." Lin Huang shook his head. "That's why I asked if you trust me."
"Yes, I do!" Li Lang ground his teeth. He did not want to walk along the riverside and he did not want to become bald either. Therefore, he could only choose to believe Lin Huang.
Lin Huang then looked at Yi Yeyu.
"Fine, I'll have to believe you for once." Yi Yeyu had no idea what Lin Huang was going to do.
"Give me your hand," Lin Huang told the both of them.
Both of them turned suspicious but they still extended their hands. Lin Huang then grasped their wrists.
"What are you going to do?" Li Lang was confused while Yi Yeyu's face blush.
"Don't struggle. I'm not going to bother if you fall into the lava and turn bald."
Then, he activated Seraphic Speed which was one of his abilities. He carried the both of them and soon, he leaped over the lava river.
Yi Yeyu and Li Lang immediately shouted in fear, struggling to get rid of Lin Huang's firm hold on them. However, they realized that Lin Huang's fingers were holding their arms tightly as if his fingers were made of steel.
"Please, can you both not move?" Lin Huang said in a low voice.
Both of them were speechless as Lin Huang dragged them and they were inches from falling into the lava river.
Just before Lin Huang's feet approached the lava, he activated Thunder Steps and stepped lightly on the surface of the lava before springing again like an arrow leaving a bow.
Yi Yeyu and Li Lang, who thought that they were going to fall into the lava river, were startled as they gaped at the lava beneath their feet. "Didn't we fall in?!"
Before the both of them could react to it, Lin Huang had taken the second and third step, stepping on the surface of the lava lightly. Each stride he took was about 100 meters apart, approaching the other side of the river at a speed that was even faster than the examiner. It seemed like the lava beneath his feet was merely decoration as if lava and the regular ground was no different at all to Lin Huang.
Lin Huang continued moving forward with the two of them while those who were standing at the riverside were stunned.
"Damn, that's an incredible skill!" Li Lang finally reacted and whooped in astonishment.
Out of the blue, a gigantic alligator suddenly emerged from the lava. Its huge body jumped up into the air to a height of about 10 meters and it opened its big jaw as it was about to attack the trio.
The body of the giant alligator was blood red in color. The length of its body was about 30 meters and it was a gold-level rank-3 gigantic monster. Its humongous mouth could engulf the three of them at once.
Many of them who were watching this scene from the riverside shouted in fear the moment the giant alligator appeared.
However, when Li Lang and Yi Yeyu were prepared to attack it, Lin Huang stopped them, "Don't move!"
The next moment, Lin Huang accelerated in mid-air and dodged the gigantic alligator's attack. He then stepped on the gigantic alligator's head, jumping over it at a speed that was even faster than before.
Although it was a gold-level rank-3 gigantic alligator, its head exploded abruptly and the rest of its body fell back into the lava after Lin Huang stepped on it. The other bloody gigantic alligators that were in the lava then snapped up its carcass.
"There are Crimsonfire Alligators in the lava river?!"
"The Crimsonfire Alligator which was a monster at gold-level rank-3 is known to have terrifying defense power. Even those who are at complete gold-level have to put in some effort to break its defense down. How could the Crimsonfire Alligator's head get crushed after being stepped by the fellow…?"
Many of them who were watching at the riverside were shocked. They were afraid of the lava river and at the same time, they were terrified by Lin Huang's ability.
After a short moment, three of them had crossed the lava river that was more than 10 kilometers long. They then descended steadily on the other side of the river.