Chapter 10: This place, what a great choice.

Chapter 10

The Magic Item Actual Combat Test was a traditional program that had existed in the Ability Academy since its establishment.

The demons in this test were all real, thirty percent were farmed, while the other seventy percent were caught in the wild by people sent by the school, and were dropped into a huge testing ground specially built for this purpose, which was divided into multiple zones to simulate the living environment of a variety of demons, making this confrontation with the demons even more realistic.

Although the test is fully visualized and monitored, uncontrollable accidents often occur.

Therefore, all incoming freshmen are required to sign a waiver before taking the practical test.

But even so, those who wanted to enter the Abilities Academy were still rushing to do so - after all, it was the most authoritative and influential school in the entire continent, and the resources and forces involved behind it were equally strong, making it the highest institution of learning that all Abilities could only dream of.

Shi An lowered her head and scanned the long disclaimer in front of her with feigned seriousness.

Though those lengthy text words were nothing more than curved, meaningless lines to him.

At the end of the disclaimer, Shi An puts his handprint.

He stood back in line.

Behind them were tall, iron-gray walls that took on a cold, metallic texture in the sunlight, revealing a strange sense of intertwining at the top of the walls - where the borders of the magical simulation and the real world overlapped each other.

Having taken the exam only once, Shi An entered in the bottom of the rankings.

He stood drowsily at the end of the line, his head hanging wanly, and listened in a fitful manner to the names of the other freshmen being read to him

Shi An had never missed the snacks and game consoles she had hidden in her dorm room so much.

I don't know how long it took, but finally--

...... "Shi An!"

Shi An woke up in a dream and looked up in the direction of the voice with a slow, bewildered "huh?" A cry escaped.

Why are there still students walking away from this occasion?

"......" the corner of the academy teacher's mouth twitched, "Shi An, it's your turn to choose."

Although the interiors of the various magical zones are connected, the type of zone entered first often affects how easy it is for freshmen to accumulate points in the early stages.

There are only two hundred pass-through slots for each region.

The order of entry was arranged according to the combined scores of the two examinations, and the more advanced the freshmen were, the more initiative they had to choose which magic area they wanted to enter.

So this means that students at the bottom of the rankings will have to choose from the remaining areas -

Shi An blinks and looks at the only two areas in front of her that are lit up.

One is a golden bright yellow color.

One is a dusty iron gray.

That's certainly the first one!

Shi An made his choice almost without hesitation.

This time, the examiner's seat was not set up in the field of the simulation test, but high above it, looking as if it was a command room that coordinated everything.

The oval-shaped room is very open, with one entire curved interior wall complete with a single screen that allows for a full view of the candidates' movements in the real-world simulation.

After hearing Shi An's answer, several examiners simultaneously showed a puzzled expression.

Generally, the areas that can end up staying aren't too good.

Either that or the difficulty is just so high that going straight in with no points is a death sentence.

Either the difficulty was too low, not only was it very barren with a low density of magical creatures, but it was also basically farmed magical creatures that weren't very aggressive and offered a pitifully small amount of points, so even if the entire area was collected, it probably wouldn't even have much of an impact on the rankings.

And the area Shi An chose ......

It is precisely the second one.

A low-risk area with no high-threat magical creatures.

Although it was expected, the examiner felt a little disappointed.

Of course they had long heard of Shi An's reputation as a waste of time, but after all, the other party had actually made it through the additional questions in the written exam, so most of the examiners were still a bit vaguely expectant of him.

...... Maybe it's Towers?

But now, Shi An's choices are beginning to make the examiners unanimously begin to doubt their earlier thoughts.

--It was just luck before, right?

In the examiner's chair, Mu Hang's eyes were slightly narrowed, gazing absently at the screen in front of him.

There was an invisible aura around him, causing people to instinctively hold their breath and retreat, not daring to approach, and even the other examiners, intentionally or unintentionally, moved slightly away and were forced to become restrained.

Mu Hang's gaze fell on the teenager's back as he stepped forward, narrowing his eyes slightly without trace.

One of the examiners approached and, after carefully phrasing his question, spoke, "Well, Mr. Mu, after reading so much, do you have any cadets you're very concerned about this year?"

Mu Hang's tapping of his fingertips on the tabletop paused imperceptibly.

He looked puzzled and replied faintly:

"No."

*

Shi An's eyes widened in some surprise as she looked around at the suddenly changing scene before her.

"Wow."

He craned his head to look behind himself, the door he had walked through had disappeared.

In its place was a sky so shallow as to be almost white, a blazing sun hanging in it, and an endless, rolling golden desert.

"Humans are really good at this."

Shi An pondered for a long time and asked a serious question, "Do you think they can make a Super Mako O like this?"

"......" The corner of the Demon Worm's mouth twitched.

What to do, don't want to answer this question at all yet.

It pokes its head out of Shi An's sleeve and sniffs the air.

After a long period of silence, the magic worm woodenly and slowly spoke, "...... That, this is estimated to be the furthest zone from the abyssal rift."

This place, what a great choice.

Shi An was shocked, "So you didn't just warn me?"

Magic Worm: "I wouldn't dare!"

It was mainly because it wasn't sure if Mu Hang was nearby or not, so it could only maintain the safest state of fake death and hide in Shi An's sleeve, so it couldn't find a chance to alert it at all.

And after entering the actual battle, since the scene was mostly made of magic as well and filled with all sorts of magical creatures, it would not have been noticed even if it was awake - and perhaps because of that, that abyssal rift has remained unnoticed to this day.

Shi An thought for a moment and asked, "Can you see inside from the outside?"

"Of course." The Demon Worm puffed out its chest proudly - during the few days Shi An had indulged in playing the game, it had gone around the school and gathered a good amount of information about the third round of tests:

"But it's impossible for them to keep an eye on every student, the equipment in here automatically monitors areas with frequent magic fluctuations, so as long as we don't act too out of character here, we won't be noticed."

Shi An nodded sweetly, "Okay."

He looked around the room and asked, "So now what, which direction are we heading?"

The Demon Worm felt the air and pointed very assuredly in one direction:

"That way!"

Walking in the desert is very difficult, and the quicksand slides slowly underfoot, which is very exhausting.

Under the sun's exposure, Shi An walks forward one foot in front of the other, leaving a trail of lonely footprints on the golden sand dunes.

Didn't encounter a single demon along the way.

A cold-blooded animal that prefers to sleep in its burrow, Shi An is wilting in the sun and walking slower and slower.

Finally, after a twenty-minute trek on foot, he snapped, face down, his whole body plunging into the sand in a wide berth.

The magic worm was flung out and rolled several times on the sand in a bone-crunching heap.

He shook the sand from his body and crawled back to Shi An's side, "What's wrong?"

"...... I'm so tired." Shi An's voice came muffled from the sand.

Devil Worm Passion encouraged, "My lord! Cheer up, we're almost there!"

"I don't believe it," Shi An said breathlessly, "That's what you said ten minutes ago."

Magic Worm: "......"

"I want to play games." Shi An said sadly, "I want to sleep."

He huffed, "I don't want to walk."

Magic Worm: ".................."

Are you really the legendary sky-destroying abyssal dragon!!!!

*

Inside the examiner's table.

The engagements in several other demonic zones were already in full swing, and many of the freshmen were already vaguely allied, with small dots crisscrossing the map in intricate positions.

Several huge screens interlaced the battle situation, and the intense fluctuation of magic power could almost be conducted to the high command room.

A few potential trainees' points are rising as you fight for them.

"The quality of the freshmen this time around is OK."

"Yes, there are several good prospects to follow up on."

"The first three are good ones."

"That Shi Rui isn't bad either, it's not in the top ten in points, but it looks like it's taking shape."

Several other examiners observed the battle and discussed it with interest.

Mu Hang raised his eyes indifferently and swept them over, with little extra emotion on his face, seemingly not much interested in joining in the discussion of the few other examiners.

He lowered his eyes, his gaze skimming idly over the farthest edge of the desert area.

A lone dot shone brightly in the center, seeming to have not moved from its position in a long, long time.

Shi An's name was at the bottom of the list of all the freshmen, and the point number was still a bright red zero, which looked alarming.

*

The Demon Worm stared, gasping for air, and stood fixed in the desert.

His mouth was already dry from persuasion, but Shi An did not give in to it, and remained motionless on the ground, allowing his body to sink little by little into the quicksand.

With the sun blazing overhead and the wind howling behind it, the trail of footprints left by Shi An was soon buried, leaving only smooth, golden sand dunes.

The Devil Worm racked his brain and suddenly had a flash of insight, "Right, I remember that near that abyssal rift, there seems to be another Gray Crow's nest!"

Gray crows, a species that was half abyssal and half continental, although the attack power of a single one wasn't strong, it was thick-skinned and often still lived in groups, making it very difficult to deal with.

And importantly ......

They are very fond of collecting shiny things.

Shi An's head moved, and a thin layer of sand slid down through his hair, revealing half of a pale ear.

The magic worm paddled its legs, came close to Shi An's ear, and said in a mysterious and seductive tone, "That nest is quite big, I guess it hasn't existed for a short period of time, and I think there should be a lot of good things inside it Oh ......"

"!" Shi An climbed up with a flourish, "I'm rested."

It can be considered a success!

Devil Worm almost wept with joy.

But Shi An looked up at the hot sun overhead and wilted again, "But it s so sunny ...... Why don t we go later."

Devil Worm hated to faint, "This is a man-made desert area! The sun doesn't set!"

Shi An lowered her eyebrows sadly, "...... Okay then."

At this moment, not far behind came a faint cry, at first thought it was a whimpering wind, but as time went by, gradually could hear that it was actually a person shouting at the top of his voice: "--Hey!!!"

Shi An twisted her head and looked in the direction the voice came from.

A small black dot on a distant dune was slowly approaching, and seemed to be waving its arms hard at him.

After realizing that the other party had noticed him, the man then released his magic and performed a short distance instantaneous transfer.

Shi An blinks, recognizing the visitor.

It's actually his roommate, Lin Yanming.

The magic worm giggled and crawled into his sleeve.

The moment he saw Shi An, Lin Yanming breathed a sigh of relief, "Great, I thought I was the only one who picked the desert area."

He scratched his hair, a handful of sand flopping down as he did so, looking extraordinarily distressed, "I've been walking for three hours now, and you're still the first person I've met."

Shi An, who had been walking for twenty minutes and lying down for two hours and forty minutes, nodded her head and agreed without blushing:

"Me too eh."

Lin Yanming sat down beside Shi An with a frustrated look on his face, "I know my level very well lah, I've heard that this side isn't very difficult, so I chose here, but I didn't expect this to be such an almost insurmountable situation."

He sighed and glanced at his wristwatch.

It shows the number of demons you've killed so far: 10

But the points gained were only 5.5, not even a fraction of what it would take to kill a large magical creature.

Lin Yanming turned his head and asked, "What about you, how many points are you up to?"

Shi An shook her head honestly and put her hand up.

The watch is a perfect and complete zero.

Lin Yanming: "......"

I thought I was already a rookie, but I didn't expect to meet an even rookier one.

He glanced down at Shi An with a word.

The teenager was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, unimaginatively, his spine slightly arched, the back of his white neck could see the thin, bulging spine, his hair was disheveled and covered with a thin layer of yellow sand from head to toe, his cheeks were red from the sun, and his clear eyes looked over wordlessly as if they were some kind of pathetic little animal.

Lin Yanming couldn't help but soften his heart.

He sighed and compromised, "Forget it, you follow me next, and we'll split the demons we kill afterward in half."

At least we're housemates, so if we can give you a hand, we can give you a hand.

Shi An thought for a moment and asked, "Where are you going to go next?"

Lin Yanming frowned with a headache and said with a bitter face, "Of course it's wherever there's a demonic creature that you go to, just killing this kind of small demonic creature still won't work, the points won't go up at all."

Shi An recalled the address of the Abyss that the Demon Worm had just described to him.

--seems to be that grayish black area.

It's called something like a Class S Danger Zone or something?

There do seem to be quite a few magical creatures out there.

Shi An stood up, his eyebrows arched happily as he looked at the other man:

"Well then, looks like we're on our way."