8: Chapter 8 Harvesting Conversion Values, Zhou Yang's Invitation

The reason beasts are called beasts is that they are inherently filled with malevolence.

Upon seeing human ability users, they become like wolves that haven't eaten for ten days sighting fresh meat.

Ordinary people facing this malevolence might lose the courage to even resist, being scared witless and forgetting to run.

This is also why the appearance of a beast in a city causes significant casualties.

Students who have just started their senior year of high school inevitably face this situation.

Therefore, the Ability College Entrance Examination has an Outer Area where most students hunt a few beasts.

After experiencing a few battles and overcoming this inner fear, they continue toward the Central Area to hunt beasts.

Gradually, they get on the right track.

Su Mu had no such fear, and it wasn't because he was naturally gifted.

Every extraordinary strength must be accompanied by an extraordinary experience.

Indeed, having survived the beast tide three years ago, Su Mu had witnessed countless beasts.

He had long since grown accustomed to the malevolence emanating from beasts.

This even included the experience of witnessing beasts kill his parents with his own eyes.

At this moment, Zhou Yang, who had just entered the Central Area, opened his Scoring Bracelet to check the rankings.

'1st Place: Su Mu, 102 points (Jianglan No. 1 Middle School)'

'2nd Place: Luo Zhenyue, 70 points (Luohan Temple)'

'3rd Place: Zhou Yang, 56 points (Jianglan No. 16 High School)'

'4th Place: Wu Shuang, 54 points (Jianglan No. 16 High School)'

'...'

Zhou Yang: (☉д⊙)

What's going on???

It was fine if he wasn't first; that Luo Zhenyue was indeed powerful.

But how did he drop to third place?

And who exactly is Su Mu? Why have I never heard of him?

Moreover, his score is almost double mine.

Most top students in the same city know each other.

For instance, the titles of 'One Sword,' 'One Blade,' and 'One Punch' were internal nicknames they gave each other.

This made Zhou Yang incredibly curious, especially since Su Mu was a student from Jianglan No. 1 Middle School.

Filled with immense wonder, Zhou Yang also searched for beasts to hunt in the Central Area.

His ability was an A-rank wind attribute ability, Azure Spirit Rhyme Wind.

In terms of travel speed, it could be said that no one in the entire exam hall was faster than him.

Zhou Yang was the fastest when it came to finding beasts.

Zhou Yang swung his heavy sword, letting it float in front of him. With a light leap, he jumped onto the sword and used his ability to fly off at high speed.

Meanwhile, Su Mu was already going on a killing spree in the Central Area.

In just one second, Su Mu, holding his spear with one hand, thrust it out over a dozen times in succession.

His black figure moved like lightning, weaving between three beasts.

Puchi— Puchi— Puchi—

Su Mu stopped his spear movements and stood with the spear held horizontally.

The three beasts collapsed together, the air filled with a pungent smell of blood.

'Ding! Killed a Rank 1 High-level beast, Blood Moon Wolf. conversion points +10'

'Ding! Killed a Rank 1 High-level beast, Hellhound. conversion points +10'

'Ding! Killed a Rank 1 Mid-level beast, Rock-Horned Rhino. conversion points +8'

Su Mu already felt that his current Spear Technique had definitely reached the mastery level of mastery.

Relying solely on his mastery Spear Technique, Su Mu was certain that as long as he didn't encounter a Rank 2 beast, he wouldn't need to use his ability at all.

Opening the map again, he saw that his current location was already deep within the Central Area.

If he headed toward the Core Area at full speed, he could probably enter it in about an hour.

"No rush to enter the Core Area. Based on the current situation, no one should have entered the Core Area to hunt beasts yet."

Of course, he wasn't just guessing blindly; according to the current rankings, he was in first place and led the second place by dozens of points.

Thus, it was reasonable to infer that others hadn't entered the Core Area.

Su Mu now wanted to do his best to hunt beasts in the Central Area and obtain as many conversion pointss as possible.

Having made his decision, Su Mu no longer hesitated and continued searching for beasts to hunt.

Gradually,

The jungle began to vanish, and trees became sparse.

They were replaced by patches of ruins; it was evident that this place used to be a town.

The path under his feet changed from a rural dirt road to a concrete road mixed with broken bricks.

However, the concrete road was also very dilapidated, covered in cracks like spiderwebs.

Cities that had experienced beast tides were basically all like this.

Su Mu shook his head, casting aside the bad memories.

He continued forward along the dilapidated concrete road.

At the end of the concrete road, a person wearing an Azure Battle Suit was fighting several beasts.

It was none other than the Qingfeng Swordsman from Jianglan No. 16 High School, Zhou Yang.

At this moment, Zhou Yang was holding a long sword, constantly weaving and maneuvering among the beasts.

Attacking from both left and right, wind blades continuously erupted from the long sword.

What a pity!

While the wind element was indeed unrivaled in terms of speed, its attack power was clearly slightly lacking.

Several beasts had already surrounded Zhou Yang, leaving him with only one path.

Activating the Protection Barrier.

After all, since they were clashing with beasts with real weapons, it was impossible to ignore the students' safety.

When entering the Ability College Entrance Examination area, the exam staff would provide everyone with a Protection Barrier.

Once activated, the Protection Barrier would form a shield that lasted for 10 minutes.

Within 10 minutes, an ability team patrolling the exam grounds would come to the rescue.

Of course, activating the Protection Barrier meant that the Ability College Entrance Examination had ended prematurely for that student.

Su Mu exerted force with his feet and charged forward with a stride.

It wasn't that he was being a saint; it was mainly because there were four Rank 1 High-level beasts here.

Who could resist killing them?

Just five meters away from the beasts, Su Mu performed a large leap.

He thrust his spear!!!

The first strike directly pierced the head of one of the beasts.

'Bang——'

The beast's head shattered instantly.

'bite！Kill the Tier 1 High-Level Ferocious Beast Hellhound，Conversion value+10.'

Su Mu then landed and turned around.

He followed through with a 'Return Horse Spear' move.

Another thrust pierced the neck of another beast.

'bite！Kill the first-tier high-level ferocious beast Blood Moon Wolf，Conversion value+10.'

In just 3 short seconds, Su Mu had killed two beasts in succession.

Zhou Yang was indeed a top student from Jianglan No. 16 High School; seeing Su Mu kill two beasts,

He immediately raised his sword to counterattack, swinging a wind blade with all his might.

The wind blade struck the Blood Moon Wolf in front of him, instantly knocking it back.

Zhou Yang immediately rushed forward and engaged it in combat.

Su Mu didn't watch for long. His arm muscles bulged as he pulled out the silver-white spear and swung it around, the shaft slamming into the last beast.

He retracted the spear and thrust again, the tip sinking into the beast's head.

'bite！Kill the first-tier high-level ferocious beast Blood Moon Wolf，Conversion value+10 .'

30 conversion pointss were in the bag.

He opened the system panel.

[Name]: Su Mu

[Level]: Entry-Level

[Source Power]: 184

[Soul]: 146

[Ability]: S-rank Thunder-Dark Domain

[Combat Technique]: Thunder Cloud Spear (mastery)

[Weapon]: Spear Technique (mastery)

[conversion points]: 128

With the conversion points at 128, he could perform another draw.

However, he didn't plan to. After his first draw, Su Mu learned that besides single draws, the wheel also had a ten-pull function.

He wanted to go big and save up 1000 conversion pointss for a ten-pull to see what happened.

In the brief moment Su Mu was distracted, Zhou Yang had successfully killed that Rank 1 High-level beast.

It must be said that the Qingfeng Swordsman did have some skill.

"Friend, thank you for your help. If you hadn't stepped in, my exam would probably have ended early."

Moreover, so far, the points Zhou Yang had gained from killing beasts were only a bit over a hundred.

With over a hundred points, he could get into a regular Ability University, but Zhou Yang was clearly not satisfied with that.

"No matter, I also snatched your beasts."

"Friend, you must be Su Mu, who is currently ranked first, right?"

Zhou Yang asked with a slightly respectful expression.

Previously, Zhou Yang certainly wouldn't have been so respectful to Su Mu.

But after witnessing Su Mu's strength, he couldn't be arrogant at all.

Plus, Su Mu had saved him.

"It's me. Judging by your long sword and ability, you must be that 'One Sword,' the Qingfeng Swordsman—Zhou Yang."

High schoolers are always a bit prone to chuunibyou.

So, calling out the nicknames given to the three of them felt a bit embarrassing.

Being called by this nickname by someone stronger than him made Zhou Yang feel quite awkward.

He was so embarrassed he felt like he could dig out a whole apartment with his toes.

"Brother Su, you are very strong. Let's team up and head to the Core Area.

As far as I know, the boss of the Core Area is a Rank 3 Early-stage Explosive Flame Panda.

No one can deal with it, so we can only find a way to clear out the Rank 2 beasts in the Core Area."

Su Mu really didn't know that there was actually a Rank 3 beast in the Core Area.

This year's exam questions are truly ridiculously difficult.

Seeing Su Mu in deep thought, Zhou Yang felt there was a chance and continued.

"You know my ability is wind-attribute, and my movement speed is very fast. I'll go to the Core Area and lure the beasts out.

Then the two of us can team up to kill them.

I'm confident I can lure out and kill half of the Rank 2 beasts in the Core Area."

Ding! Faced with Zhou Yang's team invitation, you have the following choices.

1. A powerful alliance: Accept Zhou Yang's team invitation. Reward: B-rank combat technique, Cloud-Startling Steps.

2. Refuse the alliance: I don't plan to go to the Core Area; the beasts in the Central Area are enough for me to kill. Reward: B-rank combat technique, Thunder Dash.

3. The beasts in the Core Area are all mine: Refuse the alliance. Reward: A-rank combat technique, Chidori.