58: Chapter 58 Captain Selection

Over the past two days, Lin Mo had only been killing fierce beasts below the Second-Order. The system would pop up notifications from time to time, suggesting that Lin Mo shouldn't just focus on killing small fry. Looking at the system notification that popped up once again, Lin Mo's face was darker than the bottom of a pot.

Second-Order and above.

He certainly wanted to kill them.

But the problem was, let alone Second-Order Fierce Beasts, even First-Order ones were pitifully rare in this vicinity.

Lin Mo sighed and walked toward the camp.

Forget it, I'll go back and check the situation first.

The camp was very lively at this time.

Because this camp was jointly guarded by the Sixth Battalion and the Seventh Battalion, there were now not only over a thousand veterans but also over three thousand students in the camp.

Although the camp was large, with over three thousand students gathered here, it seemed crowded everywhere.

Students from Jiang City, Qingyun City, Beihe City, Lingwu City, and a small number who had retreated from further away were squeezed together in a massive crowd.

The training ground was even more boisterous.

Lin Mo squeezed inside and saw that a simple arena had been set up in the middle.

On the arena, two people were fighting: one tall and thin, the other short and stocky. Sabers flashed and swords shadowed as they exchanged blows, putting on quite a lively show.

At least a thousand people surrounded the stage, their shouts shaking the sky.

"Hit him! Hit him!"

"Go, Shen Fei!"

"You there, get the hell in there and attack!"

Lin Mo narrowed his eyes and looked at the tall, thin guy on the arena.

He looked a bit familiar.

He thought for a moment and remembered: Shen Fei, that madman from Lingwu University. One of the unlucky bastards who had been assigned to the Bait Post with him at the beginning.

This guy... his strength seems to have grown a lot.

"Lin Mo!"

Wu Feng's voice came from the side.

Lin Mo turned his head and saw Wu Feng squeezing through while leaning on a crutch. His injuries hadn't fully healed yet, but his spirit was good, and he had a smile on his face.

"What, you came to watch the excitement too?"

Lin Mo nodded and pointed to the arena. "What's going on here?"

"Selecting Great Captains."

Wu Feng leaned into his ear and said with a smile, "With over three thousand students, a group without a leader is a mess to manage. The two battalion commanders discussed it and decided to organize the students into ten great battalions, with over three hundred people in each, and select a Great Captain to lead each one."

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow. "How are they selecting?"

"The arena." Wu Feng pointed to the stage.

"They were afraid that those selected wouldn't be able to convince the crowd, so they decided to let strength do the talking!"

"The ten strongest people will be the Great Captains. That way, no one can complain!"

"By the way, why don't you give it a try?"

"Me? Forget it, I'm not interested!" Lin Mo shook his head.

Wu Feng was stunned for a moment. "Not interested? This is a Great Captain position! With your strength, you could just go up and win a couple of matches to become one of the ten Great Captains. How cool would it be to lead over three hundred people out to farm military merits later?"

Lin Mo looked at him.

"I don't have time to manage people, and I certainly don't want to be a babysitter."

"Well, you're interested in military merits, right? Great Captains get extra rewards—a fixed 500 military merits credited every day, regardless of whether you kill fierce beasts or not. Plus the kill commissions from the team, you'd get at least one or two thousand a day."

Wu Feng continued to persuade him.

He actually really hoped Lin Mo would participate in the selection; after all, Lin Mo had been a member of his squad before.

Lin Mo's eyes flickered.

One or two thousand military merits a day?

How could there be so many?

Half of the veterans would only get four or five thousand military merits from a single mission.

And it would have to be a special emergency mission like the last one, with a high danger coefficient that required risking their lives.

Usually, for ordinary missions, one or two thousand military merits would be considered good, and those didn't happen many times a month.

Lin Mo was somewhat tempted, but after hesitating for a moment, he still shook his head.

"I have other things to do. Hacking fierce beasts is more attractive..."

Wu Feng looked at him and suddenly laughed.

"How was your harvest today?"

Lin Mo's face fell.

Wu Feng laughed even harder.

"Didn't kill many, did you?"

Lin Mo didn't say anything.

Wu Feng patted his shoulder and said earnestly:

"Kid, let me tell you, the beast tide has been going on for over half a month. At this stage, Second-Order and higher fierce beasts have already grouped up. You won't find many alone. Even if you do find them, you won't be able to kill many because those beasts hide as soon as they see you from a distance!"

He looked at Lin Mo, a trace of cunning flashing in his eyes.

"But... if you lead three hundred people, it's different!"

Hearing this, Lin Mo's expression suddenly changed.

"Think about it. Three hundred people, one pair of eyes per person—that's six hundred eyes."

"If you spread them out in the mountains like a giant net, you're bound to catch something when you pull it in!"

"Besides, your target is Second-Order Fierce Beasts, and no one is going to compete with you. If you encounter a lone Second-Order, you still kill it alone. If you encounter a pack, you lead the group to surround and kill them. The efficiency is more than ten times higher than being on your own."

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds.

Seeing that Lin Mo was tempted, Wu Feng continued in a low voice, "The higher-ups value your batch of students very much and have specifically adjusted the way military merits are calculated. You probably don't know yet, but now, for every fierce beast you students kill, the military merits are doubled."

Lin Mo's eyes instantly lit up.

"Military merits doubled?"

"That's right. A Second-Order Fierce Beast is now worth about 400 military merits, and a Third-Order one is about 4000."

"Think about it. How many can you kill alone in a day? But if you lead three hundred people, how many can you kill?"

Lin Mo's heart began to race.

Wu Feng continued:

"Also, the military merit exchange system is fully open to you now. Many new good things have been added, even S-rank cultivation techniques."

Lin Mo's gaze finally became burning hot.

Not for the techniques.

But for dragon blood ii and dragon blood iii.

He remembered those three metal tubes: dragon blood type i, dragon blood type ii, and dragon blood type iii.

dragon blood type i had already given him +10 to all attributes and awakened the blue trait [Thunder Armor]. What about dragon blood type ii and dragon blood type iii?

dragon blood i was developed using the essence blood of a Ninth-Order Thunder Dragon.

Then what about dragon blood ii?

What is above the Ninth-Order?

He didn't know.

But he wanted to find out.

"Alright, you're right. I'll give it a try."

Lin Mo grinned.

Wu Feng was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"That's the spirit!"

He pulled Lin Mo toward the arena.

"Come on, let's go sign up."

By the side of the arena, the previous match had already ended.

Shen Fei stood on the stage with a lingering smile of satisfaction, while the short, stocky man opposite him lay on the ground with a look of utter despair.

The referee below the stage raised his hand:

"The winner, Shen Fei! Captain of the Second Battalion!"

...