Chapter 43 | Paladin Class: Awakening the Strongest Demon System

【Killed a rank-6 transcendent creature, gained 6 points】

【Killed a rank-5 transcendent creature, gained 5 points】

【Killed a rank-9 transcendent creature, gained 9 points】

【......】

Jiang Lin moved quickly between the high branches.

The 【Seven Star Holy Glow Slash】, which had reached the peak of the superlative level, fell as he moved, precisely striking the shallow water stone crocodiles beneath the water's surface.

Because of Jiang Lin's terrifying mana capacity, he wasn't worried about his consumption at all.

This kind of high-tier skill would definitely be considered an ultimate move for an average rank-0.

But for Jiang Lin, using it was no different from a basic attack.

Moreover, as his breathing technique operated passively, the mental power he consumed was also being rapidly replenished.

If his attack frequency wasn't that high, his mana consumption wouldn't even be as fast as his recovery.

The only pity was that Jiang Lin currently didn't have a spatial storage, otherwise he could have taken the loot from their corpses out to make some extra cash.

......

At the same time, as the scenery he saw increased and more reference points became available, Jiang Lin roughly determined his position within the Phantom Forest.

Following the locations memorized from the map in his mind and the marked biomes, he planned his route of action.

Calling him Big Brother Luo those few times wasn't for nothing—this map is really useful!

Although other students had likely obtained this map through various means, Jiang Lin lacked social resources, so he could only use this method to close the gap between them.

Jiang Lin glanced at his bracelet.

【Points: 91】

【Rank: 1】

【Total Defeats: 15】

"Did I take first place that easily?"

Jiang Lin was somewhat surprised.

Were the other teams that weak?

However, Jiang Lin didn't dare to be careless. He continued to weave through the woods, occasionally firing a sword qi at small animals he spotted to collect points.

And because of the existence of the 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】, he could clearly predict the evasion trajectories of these small animals and follow up with a second sword qi.

Thus, Jiang Lin could basically end a battle within two shots of sword qi.

Jiang Lin stood on a branch with his hands on his hips.

He checked his points again.

【Points: 103】

【Rank: 1】

【Total Defeats: 18】

Jiang Lin couldn't help but frown.

"This secret realm assessment... isn't it a bit too simple?"

Unfortunately, he couldn't see the points and rankings of other examinees; otherwise, he would know roughly how many points he needed to be safe.

......

On the other side, countless ordinary students were struggling.

They had been teleported into this unfamiliar environment. Although their teleportation points weren't particularly dangerous, every single one of them was incredibly nervous, gripping their weapons so tightly that their fingertips turned white.

For many of them, this was their first time working as a team in the wilderness; their understanding of all aspects was a total blank.

Most of them hadn't prepared a map in advance, or if they had, it was one without biome markers.

Consequently, they wandered around the secret realm like headless flies, hoping to stumble upon demonic beasts by luck.

Some lucky ones encountered one or two weaker demonic beasts. They teamed up and threw a mess of skills, beating them to death with a flurry of blows. They happily harvested points and gained a certain amount of combat experience, allowing them to perform better in subsequent battles.

Some unlucky ones directly encountered a demonic beast they couldn't defeat even with all their strength. They subsequently suffered a bitter defeat and used their bracelets to teleport away immediately.

There were also those who, due to a lack of coordination, allowed a demonic beast they should have been able to defeat to pull off a counter-kill.

For example, take these teams:

Warrior: "I'll use a taunt skill in a bit to draw its aggro. Once it's chasing me, healer, you wall it off behind me to block it. Archer, you whittle it down from a distance."

Then...

Warrior:

"Dammit! Healer, why did you wall me in behind it?!

"Archer, you almost freaking shot me!!

"Holy crap, why did you throw your slowing ice orb at my feet?!"

And then there were scenes like this:

Assassin: "Priest! I'm moving in while in stealth, what do you mean by casting a skill on me?! My skill was interrupted and I was spotted!!"

Priest: "Sorry bro, I was too nervous and my hand slipped!"

Assassin: "Crap, front-liner, what are you doing? Why are you running faster than the priest?!"

Warrior: "Damn, that thing is so huge, I'm scared..."

Assassin: "Bullshit! Retreat! Whoever runs slowest is the front-liner!"

Priest: "??? Don't sell me out, brothers! Aaaah!"

And so on. Many students were fighting like this for the first time, so it was difficult for them to adjust their state to the optimum, whether mentally or physically.

......

Of course, there were also more outstanding teams with smooth coordination and rapid movement, systematically clearing demonic beasts from various areas.

For instance, the top two beauties of Boulder Magic Academy.

In the forest, a somewhat bloated black shadow darted rapidly through the bushes. Looking closely, it was Eve and Lina riding on a wild boar with fierce tusks.

The wild boar was large enough to carry both girls and emitted a strong aura of magic essence; clearly, it was no ordinary creature.

This was Eve's summoned beast.

At the same time, a pitch-black crow flew above them in the direction they were heading; this was also one of Eve's summoned beasts.

At this moment, it was high in the sky, scouting for nearby demonic beasts for Eve.

As soon as it spotted some movement in the distant forest, it let out a "Caw!" to transmit the information to Eve.

Upon receiving the signal, Eve immediately turned the boar's head and charged toward the source of the movement.

Lina, sitting on the back of the boar and tightly clutching Eve's slender waist, immediately fired off a strengthening technique upon seeing the demonic beast.

【Strengthening Technique · Heartbeat Expansion】

As Lina's strengthening technique landed, a rank-9 giant stone ape's eyes bulged. The heart in its chest seemed ready to leap out of its body. After several violent thumps, it exploded directly, and the ape died spitting blood.

This scene made both the wild boar on the ground and the crow in the sky tremble involuntarily.

They were deathly afraid that if these two ancestors were in a bad mood, they might get dealt with as well.

The points on their wrists also changed.

【Points: 59】

【Rank: 3】

【Total Defeats: 8】

This priest named Lina, much like Jiang Lin, was surprisingly a toxic healer!

And because she specialized in this path, her toxic healing techniques were arguably far superior to Jiang Lin's!

However, Eve, sitting in front, looked at the points on her wrist and pouted in dissatisfaction:

"Who are the top two? How are they farming points so fast?"

Lina looked at the bracelet on her wrist and sighed:

"Maybe there are social demonic beasts living near their teleportation points. Don't worry, we still have plenty of time. We might run into them after the zone starts shrinking."

Eve nodded:

"Yeah! Once the zone shrinks, with our coordination, we can totally crush any other combination! And as long as I keep you from being picked off, Sister Lina, with your methods, there's basically no opponent at this level who can stop you!

"Plus, for a two-person team like ours, when calculating the final exam ranking, they only divide the score by two. Basically, our current rank will be our final rank! Unlike some other three-person teams, whose scores have to be divided by three..."

......

On the other side of the forest, the blonde Anya emitted a dazzling light.

At this moment, she was locked in a bitter struggle, surrounded by a pack of wolves—at least twenty or thirty of them—slowly closing in on them with predatory eyes.

As Anya cleaved a rank-7 gale demonic wolf to death, burning flames danced in her golden eyes, showing not a hint of fear.

This was the kind of battle she wanted!

Real blades, real spears, swords and blood!!

Battle is fun!!

Demi, on the side, was also at full power. Her bowstring was constantly drawn and released. Within the safe zone created by Anya, she continuously loosed heavy arrows at the wolf pack trying to surround them from other directions.

At this moment, the bracelets on their wrists were also rapidly changing.

【Points: 98】

【Rank: 2】

【Total Defeats: 12】

......

The top-ranked student of Morning Star Magic Academy was a tall, sturdy warrior named Frederick. He was currently running through the forest with his companion Eli, who was a mage.

"Damn it, why can't we find any demonic beasts?"

Frederick bared his teeth as he looked at the map in his hand, which was clearly marked with the biomes of various locations.

"We've been walking for so long, and there should be a large number of phantom deer here? Why haven't we seen a single one?"

As he spoke, he glanced at the bracelet on his wrist:

【Points: 0】

【Rank: 378】

【Total Defeats: 0】

His mage companion, Eli, was also quite puzzled. He took the map to check while running:

"That's right, it should be around here! How can there not be a single creature? Old Fred, is there something wrong with your map?"

"Crap, could it be that the guy who sold me the map is a scammer?"

"It must be. Old Fred, you got scammed!"

The two of them ran on, condemning the scammer who had sold them the map.

Suddenly, the mage Eli stopped in his tracks, looking at the scene before him with confusion.

"Eh? Old Fred, according to the direction we're running, shouldn't there be a lake up ahead? Why is there a cliff here?"

"Holy crap, did he not only get the biomes wrong but also sell me a fake map? That's too dark!!"

"No, Old Fred... it seems like the opposite direction of our planned action is a cliff, and below the cliff is the edge of the Fluorescent Swamp..."

"Hmm?"

Clever as Frederick was, he soon realized something was wrong.

He leaned over to look at the map.

"If we're in this area now, according to this map, there should be many shadow-claw wolf-eagles nearby? Those things are quite a pain to deal with."

Just as he spoke, a massive black shadow dived toward them from the sky—it was a huge shadow-claw wolf-eagle!

"Crap! The map is fine! We just went the wrong way!!"

The black shadow rapidly approached, enveloping the two of them. It looked as if it was about to slam into them and knock them off the cliff to their deaths.

However, a flash of crimson light appeared. A roaring fire burned from the bottom up, smoothly slicing through the middle of the shadow-claw wolf-eagle's body.

Then, blood sprayed as the shadow-claw wolf-eagle was split evenly in two. Its body parts lunged past them and fell off the cliff due to momentum. Frederick now held two battle axes in his hands.

But he had only extended one of them, delivering that axe strike with a single hand. He didn't care about the wolf-eagle he had split in half, instead complaining to his companion:

"Crap, how were you reading the map? How did you not even know we were running in the opposite direction?"

Eli wasn't surprised at all by the axe strike. He simply raised one hand, and a thin water element shield enveloped the two of them, blocking the blood spraying from the halved shadow-claw wolf-eagle.

"You have the nerve to say that? Who looked at the map for so long and didn't notice? Who was it that discussed the initial direction with me?!"

While the two were arguing, another shadow-claw wolf-eagle dived at them. This time, Eli casually pulled a massive staff from his spatial ring and pointed forward. A jet of water with immense impact force pierced through the black shadow in mid-air, leaving a huge hole in its body.

"Can't even understand a map? What use are you?"

Frederick also got angry:

"Crap, didn't you misunderstand it too?! What kind of loser are you then?"

"Let's split up!"

"Split up it is!"

......

Unlike the hostile environment over at Morning Star Academy, the second-ranked team of Radiant Academy seemed quite peaceful.

Zack, who had silver hair and a bit of a rogueishly handsome look, led his teammates against a pack of wild boars with an average level of five or six.

He held a pitch-black shortsword and moved like a ghost among the demonic beasts, killing them before they could even react.

"Wow, Zack, you're so amazing!"

On the same team was a young priest girl named Aili and a warrior who specialized in defense.

The warrior brother held up his shield, ready to block any potential attacks, while Aili, beside him, cast various buffs on Zack, allowing him to slaughter among the demonic beasts.

In just a few blinks of an eye, Zack had dealt with the wild boars on the scene. He was completely unharmed; the boars hadn't even touched the corner of his clothes.

Hearing Aili's praise, Zack pretended to be cool and expressionless, calmly saying:

"Just basic operations. These boars are still too weak. Let's hurry and find the next demonic beast group."

Clearly, Zack was feeling a bit floaty from the praise.

He only had the mindset of a fifteen-year-old boy, so he naturally loved showing off in front of pretty girls.

Moreover, this priest girl usually had a good relationship with him, so he wanted even more to use this joint exam to leave a deep impression on her.

Afterward, he took the lead and walked ahead, following the route planned on the map in advance.

However, Zack showing off like this naturally made the shield warrior responsible for Aili feel a bit unhappy. But he couldn't very well lash out, thinking to himself that he would just be a tool, since he didn't like this priest girl anyway.

However, when Zack was walking ahead and didn't have time to look back, the priest girl deliberately leaned close to the warrior, pulled his hand, and said:

"Let's go, don't just stand there like a dummy."

The sensation of the girl's slender and soft palm came through, and the scent of her hair wafted past his nose. The shield warrior was stunned for a moment, and then his heart uncharacteristically skipped a beat.

For the rest of the journey, the shield warrior's eyes were filled with the girl's flowing long hair, and the faint scent of her hair reached his nose. He kept reminiscing about the sensation in his palm from earlier.

"So... a girl's hand is that soft...?"

Subsequently, he made up his mind—he must protect the priest girl in the upcoming battles!

Even if he were eliminated and lost his exam eligibility, he would protect her to leave a heroic and fearless impression in her heart!

In fact, many young boys of this age have this kind of psychology. If a girl gets a little closer and performs some relatively intimate actions, they will involuntarily start making baseless associations and fantasize about whether the other person is interested in them, then start showing off in front of her.

If it were boys with rich emotional experience, they would soon see through the other party's methods and not let themselves fall into the ambiguity trap. But boys like this shield warrior easily fall into such snares.

The momentary ambiguous behavior of the two wasn't seen by Zack, who was walking ahead. Zack was still thinking about how to display his stunning strength.