36: Chapter 36 Teacher, I want to learn this

Teacher Qin Lin snapped out of her daze and took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in her heart.

"Yes, you passed."

It had to count. Without help from comrades, or if Gu Han's Black Armored Ants had continued their pursuit, her Tier 1 Spearmen, no matter how strong their constitution, would have been worn down to death.

This kid's Black Armored Ants were probably the trump card that had defeated the Large Honey Badgers several times before, and likely the reason he had taken first place in the exam.

"Holy crap! Is the Zerg race really this fierce?" an exclamation suddenly burst from the crowd.

This sentence completely shattered the silence, and the twenty-odd students instantly erupted into a clamor.

"Ten Black Armored Ants managed to drive off a Tier 1 Believer?"

"Damn, raising the Zerg isn't such a bad idea after all."

A few quick-fingered students had already connected to their handhelds and opened the Divine Kingdom Mall to search.

"Found it, found it! A nest of Black Armored Ants is only three thousand credits! That's way too cheap. I usually pay ten thousand just for a normal Saber-Toothed Tiger! I'm going to order a nest right now to try it out!"

"I'm buying some too! This cost-performance ratio is simply unbeatable!"

"You all had better not be foolish," Teacher Qin Lin's voice drifted over, interrupting the eager students.

Her tone was serious. "Black Armored Ants are indeed cheap, but don't forget their traits. They are massive, have an astonishing appetite, and reproduce extremely quickly. An adult Black Armored Ant eats half its body weight in food every day, and a nest easily contains tens of thousands. Have you calculated how many units of meat that would consume daily?"

"Once introduced into your Divine Kingdom, without a large enough ecological chain to support them, they will quickly eat through all your resources. Have you thought this through?"

The students who had been clamoring to buy them moments ago instantly quieted down and silently put away their handhelds.

"The teacher is right. This thing is a money pit. We can afford to buy them, but we can't afford to raise them."

Teacher Qin Lin turned to look at Gu Han, her expression complex.

Others couldn't afford to raise them, yet Gu Han's were so well-trained. How on earth did he manage it?

"It seems Gu Han didn't get first place in the theory class for nothing," a boy who usually hung around Zhao Xu whispered. "He probably knows the habits of the Black Armored Ants inside out, otherwise there's no way he could command these brainless bugs."

"True. I used to think the theory class was useless, but now it seems that with solid theoretical knowledge, you can perform miracles even with the lowest-tier Zerg."

Several nearby classmates nodded in agreement. They couldn't help but feel a shift in their attitude toward theory class grades. Gu Han didn't bother to explain; let them think what they wanted anyway.

The subsequent tests continued.

With Gu Han's battle as a comparison, the matches of the others seemed rather plain and unremarkable.

In truth, the Spearmen arranged by Teacher Qin Lin hadn't gone all out, and the testing system itself wasn't that harsh.

Aside from Gu Han's match drawing blood, most of the other students' Believers had only sustained minor injuries.

Even so, seeing their painstakingly nurtured Believers get hurt, a few students felt too pained and chose to give up directly.

After one round of testing, a total of eighteen people passed.

"Next is the elimination round," Teacher Qin Lin brought up the matchup list. "The rules are very simple: 1v1 battles, and you can concede at any time. However, there's one thing I must clarify beforehand."

She swiped the screen and listed five names separately.

"Zhao Xu, Chu Yue, Wang Meng..." Teacher Qin Lin read out five names. "The Believers of these five students belong to intelligent races. The city's War God League includes team events, which require a high level of communication and coordination among the Believers. Therefore, these five will directly receive slots for the tournament and advance with priority."

A commotion rippled through the crowd, but no one raised any objections. The innate advantage of intelligent races in terms of coordination was indeed irreplaceable; this was universally acknowledged common sense.

Zhao Xu raised his chin smugly and cast a sidelong glance at Gu Han.

Chu Yue stood quietly to the side, looking in Gu Han's direction, her thoughts unknown.

"The remaining thirteen students will compete for the final five slots. In other words, eight of you will be eliminated." After announcing the rules, Teacher Qin Lin pressed the random matchmaking button.

The names on the large screen scrolled rapidly before finally coming to a halt.

First match: Gu Han versus Liu Qiang.

Liu Qiang was a burly boy, and he took a deep breath.

"Gu Han, your bugs are indeed powerful, but my Iron-Armored Rhinos are no pushovers either," Liu Qiang said, immediately summoning sixteen robust Iron-Armored Rhinos.

These rhinos were covered in thick, leathery armor, their four hooves thick and sturdy. They let out low, muffled growls, each of them several times larger than a Black Armored Ant.

Gu Han had the Ant-men carry their injured comrade back to the Divine Kingdom.

Immediately after, sixteen flashes of white light burst forth in succession.

Sixteen Black-Armored Ant-men, each a full size sturdier than the previous batch, appeared.

Seeing that Gu Han had also dispatched the same number of Black Armored Ants, Liu Qiang sneered, "You'll regret this."

"Cut the chatter, let's begin," Gu Han replied casually.

"Charge! Crush them!" Liu Qiang activated the skill [Fearless Charge], which could control the creatures of his Divine Kingdom to launch a Fearless Charge in a single direction.

The sixteen Iron-Armored Rhinos charged in unison toward the Black Armored Ants, kicking up a massive cloud of dust behind them.

The momentum of this charge was something even those Tier 1 Spearmen from earlier wouldn't dare take head-on; they would have had to dodge its brunt.

Instead of retreating, the sixteen Black-Armored Ant-men advanced, charging straight toward the stampeding herd of rhinos.

The foremost Black Armored Ant-Man collided head-on with the leading Iron-Armored Rhino.

A dull thud of impact rang out.

The scene Liu Qiang had envisioned—of the bugs being trampled into mush—did not happen.

The charge of the rhino herd was actually forced to a grinding halt.

"How is this possible?!" Liu Qiang cried out in shock.

The innate strength of the Black-Armored Ant-men was fully unleashed at this moment; they were capable of lifting objects several times their own body weight.

The Black Armored Ant-Man let out a screech, and its mandibles suddenly exerted tremendous force.

The massive Iron-Armored Rhino was actually lifted clean over its head and then slammed violently into the rest of the herd.

The rhinos scattered in a panic. The leading rhino crashed heavily to the ground, landing flat on its back, completely dazed and struggling desperately to roll over and stand.

The charging formation was instantly disrupted, and the other Black-Armored Ant-men each dealt with a rhino of their own.

In just half a minute.

All sixteen Iron-Armored Rhinos were flipped onto their backs, letting out helpless whimpers.

The Black-Armored Ant-men did not deliver any killing blows, holding back until all the rhinos had been lifted and captured by them.

Liu Qiang stood frozen in place, his face turning flushed red.

"I... I concede," he squeezed out the words with great difficulty, quickly recalling his Believers back to his Divine Kingdom.

Once again, the entire field fell dead silent.

If fighting the Spearmen earlier relied on tactics, then defeating the Iron-Armored Rhinos now was pure, unadulterated combat power domination.

Teacher Qin Lin looked at Gu Han, her expression filled with shock.

"Teacher, I want to learn this!" a student couldn't help but shout.