161: Glazed Tiger Soldiers

Chu Shengfan fixed his gaze on the source of the voice; a baby-faced girl was standing in the center of the Void Realm Platform, sizing him up with her eyes.

This was a single Source Beast combat assessment that did not require the participation of the Contract Master. Chu Shengfan cupped his hands toward the girl in charge of the assessment and, without saying much, began to summon his Source Beast.

A massive Spirit Origin Cloud Mother, with an umbrella cap about thirty meters in diameter, slowly rose from behind Chu Shengfan.

When the girl saw that Chu Shengfan, who was only at the Uncommon Rank Lower Level, had summoned such a gargantuan creature, her mouth hung open slightly in shock.

Seeing that the girl made no move and had not summoned any Source Beast, Chu Shengfan frowned slightly. "Senior, how shall we proceed with the battle?"

At Chu Shengfan's reminder, the girl finally withdrew her gaze from the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother.

She lightly raised her hand, and a crystal that had been floating above the Void Realm Platform at some unknown point shot down a pillar of blue and yellow light.

Clack, clack, clack.

Accompanied by the sound of crisp footsteps, a tiger-shaped Source Beast that looked as if it were crafted from glazed glass slowly walked out.

Though its movements were natural and agile, its eyes were hollow and it lacked any aura of life, resembling a simple mechanical creation or perhaps a derivative of a certain Source Beast skill.

"This is your opponent. You may begin now."

After speaking, the girl retreated toward the edge of the platform to make room for the upcoming battle. She looked at the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother with a gaze full of wonder.

Such a massive fellow that could even float in the air... even if the standard-issue Glazed Tiger Soldier was one minor rank higher, it would likely be difficult to defeat.

Chu Shengfan's solemn gaze fell upon the Glazed Tiger Soldier; he could clearly sense the energy fluctuations of the Uncommon Rank Upper Level coming from it.

He watched as it paced toward the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother, each of its steps leaving a glazed-textured footprint on the ground.

Chu Shengfan looked up at the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother and transmitted a single thought: defeat it with all your might.

The signal was successfully received. Several Elemental Spheres of different attributes and colors instantly condensed beside the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother, and a crystal-jade textured membrane spread over its tentacles, with tiny crystal spikes growing out from it.

This series of actions consumed most of the energy stored within the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother. The sphere representing the Fiery Cloud immediately floated above the Glazed Tiger Soldier's head.

A large area of fire rain fell from the cloud. The Glazed Tiger Soldier broke into a fast run, and a glazed-textured shield manifested in the air above it, blocking the falling fire rain.

However, upon closer observation, one could see the glazed shield slowly deforming under the scorching fire rain, as if it were melting.

Just as it rushed out of the fire rain, it was met head-on by five or six spiked tentacles attacking its body from different directions.

The glazed shield beside the Glazed Tiger Soldier instantly shattered, turning into dense, small, sharp needles that rotated and sliced toward the incoming tentacles.

The claw blades on its own limbs also rapidly extended. As it leaped up, it pierced toward one of the tentacles with the sound of breaking air.

Ding, ding, ding.

The sound of clashing crystals rang out. The glazed spikes condensed by the Glazed Tiger Soldier hit the surface of the tentacles, creating only very shallow marks; even those that dealt effective damage only sliced out faint blood marks.

In contrast, the Glazed Tiger Soldier's own claws cut through the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother's skin and even severed the crystal spikes on it, leaving a deep wound.

Although the wound was deep, no blood splattered out; it only revealed a jelly-like gelatinous interior.

The Glazed Tiger Soldier had only damaged one tentacle, while the other tentacles attacking from different directions successfully struck its body.

They whipped it, their spikes digging into its glazed skin, and then pulled violently in different directions.

Gully-like scars of varying depths appeared on the Glazed Tiger Soldier's body, and the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother gave it no room to breathe.

Several tentacles took turns, continuously slicing at its body. Even though glazed crystals were constantly condensing around it, they could not stop the powerful destruction of the tentacles at all.

Finally, several tentacles wrapped around different parts of its body—the head, chest, and waist—and then exerted force in different directions.

Crack.

Under the gaze of the two observers, the Glazed Tiger Soldier's body snapped into three sections.

The entire battle didn't last long; it was over in almost a minute.

The girl in charge of the assessment looked at the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother in the air with a complex expression. She had thought this big fellow would be hard to deal with, but she hadn't expected the battle to end so quickly.

Furthermore, she herself was only at the Uncommon Rank High Level. Even if her own Source Beast could easily handle this Glazed Tiger Soldier in a one-on-one fight, it would definitely not be this easy or this fast.

She took a deep breath, walked to the center of the Void Realm Platform, and looked at Chu Shengfan to announce: "The assessment is over. Based on the combat result, time spent, Realm difference, and damage sustained, your score for this round is 8.9 points."

Only 8.9 points? Chu Shengfan frowned slightly. Was it because the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother had been injured?

With a maximum score of ten, if one wanted to get a perfect score, they would likely need to achieve an instant kill.

Although a score of 8.9 was not low, it wouldn't be the highest in this enrollment assessment. After all, some Spirit Rank Contract Masters had also come to participate, and their scores would likely be infinitely close to perfect.

Chu Shengfan cupped his hands toward the girl. "Thank you, Senior. I have another Source Beast that needs to participate in the assessment."

The girl's expression showed no surprise; it was perfectly normal for someone at the Uncommon Rank to have two Source Beasts take turns in the assessment. She just wondered if this young man's second Source Beast would be just as formidable.

Under the girl's somewhat expectant gaze, Chu Shengfan summoned the dreamlike Myriad Flower Butterfly Spirit.

As soon as it appeared, some faint pollen drifted from its wings and onto the injured tentacle of the Spirit Origin Cloud Mother. The visible gash was rapidly repaired before their eyes.

Seeing that this was a Medicine Beast with healing properties, the girl's gaze relaxed a bit. This time, there shouldn't be any shocking performance, as most Medicine Beasts did not have very strong combat power.

The young man before her likely only wanted to get a base score by having the Medicine Beast participate in the battle.

The Academy's final score was an accumulation of different assessments, meaning the more assessments one participated in, the higher the score would be. Moreover, as long as one participated, even a poor performance would yield one or two participation points.

Therefore, many times, even if examinees knew they had no advantage in a certain area, they would try their best to participate in more assessments, especially in a category like combat that wasn't as objective.

The crystal floating above the Void Realm Platform summoned another pillar of light, and a Glazed Tiger Soldier identical to the previous one slowly paced out from within it.