Everything was ready.
With a thought, he selected the Fearless Zone as his teleportation destination.
Light and shadow shifted. The next moment, he reappeared in the familiar, grim atmosphere of Assessment Area Seven.
Zou Yun, Shanyang He, and Pang Chen were already waiting for him. All three had changed into form-fitting black Combat Suits and were conversing in low voices.
Not far from their squad, four other four-person squads had also finished assembling.
The twenty elites of the Fearless Warband were scattered about—some standing, some sitting, some resting with their eyes closed, and others polishing their weapons.
Although they belonged to different squads, every one of them exuded a fierce and confident aura.
The air in the entire assessment area seemed to grow heavy, weighed down by their twenty powerful presences.
Clearly, all the squads assigned to the mission had arrived.
Just as Qin Feng’s gaze swept over the other squads, a familiar pair of eyes, tinged with surprise, landed on him.
In another squad, a woman with a straight posture and a cool, aloof expression was staring at him. The moment she saw Qin Feng, a flash of utter disbelief crossed her beautiful eyes.
"It’s him!"
She whispered almost subconsciously.
This woman was none other than Yin Jing, his teammate from the "Stardust Walker-7" purification mission.
Qin Feng, of course, recognized her as well. He was slightly surprised, then gave a polite smile in Yin Jing’s direction as a greeting.
"What is it, Xiaojing? Do you know him?"
Beside Yin Jing, a tall, stunningly beautiful senior with an aura of mature, confident charm followed her gaze to Qin Feng’s squad.
The senior’s gaze paused briefly on Shanyang He and Pang Chen, easily identifying them as older students. Her eyes then moved past Zou Yun, finally settling on Qin Feng.
’Two older students, Zou Yun, who’s been enrolled for nine years... and the last one must be a new student, too.’
The senior’s tone was casual.
"Senior Sister Qin Lan, he... he’s the one I told you about. That ’monster’ of a captain I met during the emergency rescue mission last year."
Yin Jing’s tone held a hint of gravity and wonder that she herself hadn’t even noticed.
"Oh?"
The senior, Qin Lan, raised an eyebrow, her interest clearly piqued. "So that’s the one? The new student you mentioned with terrifying battlefield control, preternaturally precise command, and unparalleled personal strength?"
"Yes."
Yin Jing nodded. She glanced at her senior and gave a serious warning. "His strength is unfathomable. Senior Sister, we need to be careful of their squad on this mission. We can’t let them take too many of the control zones."
Hearing such a grave assessment from Yin Jing, Qin Lan couldn’t help but chuckle.
She patted Yin Jing’s shoulder, her voice laced with a lazy, nonchalant confidence.
"Alright, alright, I get it. Based on what you said, with a Control Realm killing style and physical potential comparable to the young of a Starry Sky Giant Beast... he does sound like a bit of a monster."
Then her tone shifted, her eyes revealing the pride of a top-tier expert.
"However, Xiaojing, you need to understand something. When it comes to fighting over the mission rewards, the ones with the real power are experts like us, with a life force index over 100. He’s only a third-year student. No matter how much of a genius he is, his life force index can’t be at 100 yet, can it?"
"...Fine."
Seeing her senior’s dismissive attitude, Yin Jing opened her mouth to speak, but ultimately decided against it.
She knew that her senior, Qin Lan, had a terrifyingly high life force index of 120. Her strength was in a league of its own.
Among the other four squads present, the life force indices of the older male students were only just over 100. No one could compare to Qin Lan.
She had every right to be confident.
Just then, an overwhelmingly powerful and suffocating presence—far surpassing anyone present—descended without warning, blanketing the entire Assessment Area Seven!
The faces of the crowd changed in unison as they jerked their heads up to look.
They saw a young man with shoulder-length black hair, dressed in a silver, standard-issue Warband uniform. He hovered in mid-air, hands clasped behind his back, his indifferent gaze sweeping over the twenty people below.
He floated there without the aid of any flight equipment, standing on the air as if on an invisible platform.
"A Level Six... Sky Soaring Martial Artist!"
Qin Feng’s pupils contracted sharply.
He felt a terrifying pressure from this senior, one that was completely different from the elite disciple Baze—it was far grander and more immense.
"It’s Senior Brother Qianhe!"
Zou Yun lowered his voice and quickly explained to Qin Feng, "He’s the one who grabbed this mission from the mission hall. He then assigned it to us junior Warband members as a sort of perk. It’s an unwritten tradition in our Fearless Warband for cultivating newcomers."
"I see."
Qin Feng nodded slightly.
In mid-air, the senior named Qianhe slowly began to speak.
His voice wasn’t loud, yet it carried clearly to everyone’s ears.
"It seems everyone is here. The fact that you managed to snatch these twenty spots from over ten thousand applicants shows that your luck isn’t half bad."
His gaze swept over the five distinct squads below.
"I am handing this mission over to you. The final distribution of rewards will be determined by internal competition. But remember, the prerequisite for any competition is that you can complete the mission to Perfection."