Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon
Bang!
With the combined forces of Vigor Divine Fist and the Vigor boxing glove, the Skeleton General’s eye sockets cracked as Zhou Wen’s fist plunged straight in. The sanguine flame scattered immediately like splattering blood.
The Skeleton General, who had been retracting the spear with all his might, came to an abrupt halt. The next moment the bone spear fell to the ground, as all his bones scattered around him. Even the skeleton horse crumbled to a pile of rotting bones.
And inside the skull which Zhou Wen had collapsed, there was a slight red glow.
Zhou Wen flipped the skull around and saw the red Companion Egg. It was the size of a goose egg, its entire body crystalline, like jade. Blood flames seemed to burn in it.
“A Companion Egg? Your luck ain’t bad. Unfortunately, you don’t have enough Primordial Energy to incubate a Legendary Companion Egg. Besides, that Skeleton General was a little odd. It’s best you don’t incubate it randomly.” Li Xuan was covered with wounds, but regardless of their sizes, they were beginning to close up and stop bleeding. It was clearly thanks to the Invincible Connate Divine Art.
“Don’t you want it?” Zhou Wen asked Li Xuan.
Li Xuan shook his head. “If it wasn’t for you, Miantu and I would be dead. Also, what use is a Companion Egg? Besides, I don’t really take a mere Legendary Companion Egg to heart. You should take it for yourself.”
Zhou Wen nodded without any intention of standing on ceremony. He directly stuffed the Skeleton General’s Companion Egg into his pocket before looking at Jiang Hao, whose head had ruptured. “Jiang Hao deserved this, but his death will definitely affect our results. It will probably be difficult for us to get into a reputable school.”
Li Xuan laughed when he heard that. “Rest easy. Once we leave, apply to any reputable school you like. I guarantee you your admission..”
Xu Miantu suffered grievous injuries and, although Li Xuan’s wounds didn’t worsen, they weren’t trivial either. He was also in need of medical attention. The trio stopped hunting Skeleton Soldiers and left Guide Ancient City directly after gathering all the bone beads.
After the invigilator inspected the number of bone beads and dimensional crystals, he sent Li Xuan and Xu Miantu for treatment. As for Zhou Wen, he headed home alone on public transport.
On the way back, he used his phone to enter the Ancient Imperial City dungeon once more. He wanted to confirm that the Skeleton General in-game was weaker than the one in real life.
As expected. It’s not an illusion of mine. The Skeleton General in-game is much weaker. It’s no wonder I suspected that he wasn’t a Legendary creature.
But even so, without Li Xuan to divert the Skeleton General’s attention, Zhou Wen was only capable of circling around the Skeleton General in-game. Killing him by his strength alone was almost impossible. The blood-colored avatar that Zhou Wen controlled had zero chance of getting close enough to smash through the Skeleton General’s eye sockets.
However, Zhou Wen didn’t mind. He continued circling around the Skeleton General with the blood-colored avatar. Since Zhou Wen knew the Skeleton General’s weakness, a solo-kill was just a matter of time. He just needed to do the best he could.
Back home, Zhou Wen continued his daily lifestyle. Apart from sleeping, he would be gaming even while eating or using the bathroom.
After repeated attempts, he finally relied on a perfect positioning to kill the Skeleton General.
Although the Skeleton General in-game didn’t drop a Companion Egg, it gave Zhou Wen a pleasant surprise—a Speed Crystal valued at 13.
Zhou Wen absorbed the Speed Crystal and immediately felt a jolt run through his body. It made him feel as if he was on cloud nine.
After a while, the feeling gradually dissipated. When Zhou Wen looked at his in-game stats, he was stunned.
He had absorbed a Speed Crystal valued at 13, so logically speaking, his Speed should have risen to 13. However, his Speed had only increased to 9, much lower than he expected.
After some thought, Zhou Wen roughly understood why this was happening.
I was taught that although the effects of absorbing Legendary stage crystals are good at the Mortal stage, that doesn’t allow one’s body to rise to the level of a Legendary stage. Only by raising one’s Primordial Energy Art to a new realm would the absorption of a Legendary stage dimensional crystal raise one’s stats. From the looks of it, this is the reason. Zhou Wen couldn’t help but frown when he thought of this.
He originally intended on relying on Ascetic Meditation to advance to the Legendary stage, but after witnessing how formidable the Invincible Connate Divine Art was, it was apparent to him that advancing to the Legendary stage with Ascetic Meditation wasn’t the best choice.
But if I don’t use Ascetic Meditation to advance to the Legendary stage, how am I to obtain an Epic stage Primordial Energy Art? Zhou Wen was at a loss.
...
A few days later, the examination results were announced. Zhou Wen’s results in his various subjects put him amongst the top. He got second on the combat test, one spot below Li Xuan. He was ranked even higher than Xu Miantu, so it did seem that Jiang Hao’s death hadn’t affected his results.
While pondering over the matter, his phone suddenly rang. It was an unknown number.
Picking up the call, Li Xuan’s voice sounded over the phone. “Zhou Wen, have you seen the results? I should have given you first place, but I have some special use for being first place. So please forgive my shamelessness in taking first. I’ll make sure to compensate you in the future.”
“We agreed on being fourth, so getting second is good enough. I don’t really care for my placing as long as it doesn’t affect my university enrollment.”
“Let’s not talk about that. I owe you one, so I have to repay you one day.” Li Xuan paused before continuing, “I’ll be studying at Sunset College in the future. Are you interested in joining me there? We can take care of one another as friends.”
“Sunset College?” Zhou Wen revealed a pensive look.
Sunset College was one of the top schools in the East District of the League. At the very least, it was ranked within the top ten. And there were dimensional zones inside Sunset College; therefore, students of Sunset College could enter them during their college years for actual combat. This was a boon compared to the typical university.
Entering Sunset College wasn’t a bad choice. The only thing that held Zhou Wen back was that Sunset College was located in Luoyang City and the An family was in Luoyang as well.
Zhou Wen didn’t wish to have close ties with the An family; thus, leaving him hesitant about choosing Sunset College.
Li Xuan did his best to persuade Zhou Wen to attend Sunset College, but all Zhou Wen said was that he would consider it.
After hanging up, Zhou Wen recalled something. An Jing had given him a USB drive, claiming that it was given to him by Zhou Lingfeng. Zhou Wen had been spending the past few days trying to take down the Skeleton General, so he had forgotten all about it. He had no idea what was on it.
After finding the USB drive, he inserted it into his computer and opened it. There was only one folder in it, labeled—Sun Strafe Art.