53: Chapter 0053 Practical Application

For this kind of final exam, some people found it difficult, but true Geniuses felt it was just so-so.

Their outstanding performance was like a red flower in a patch of weeds, exceptionally dazzling and attracting a great deal of attention.

Li Size was one such person; he successfully refined the first batch of inferior potions in a time so short even the instructors doubted it.

This convinced the invigilating teachers from the Provincial Department that he was the student Gray Mist Mountain had desperately poached at a high price to avoid finishing last.

This was a common tactic employed by these academies to strive for better final evaluations.

However, since this maneuver allowed truly talented individuals to receive more resources, which was one of the Department of Education's goals, it was never explicitly forbidden.

Even the invigilating instructor from Gray Mist Mountain Academy, not recognizing Li Size, assumed he was a secret trump card secretly bought at a high price by the old dean.

He gave a forced, awkward laugh to his colleague from the Provincial Department, but inwardly he was ecstatic:

That old man has finally come to his senses.

This is more like it; my bonus for this year is finally safe!

He was a Potions instructor, and he had heard Mary's miserable story yesterday. He had expected today's practical exam to be a disaster as well.

He had even prayed that the exam topic wouldn't be potion-making, hoping instead for alchemy creation—after all, it was better for a Fellow Daoist to suffer than oneself.

When the exam topic was revealed, he had already prepared himself to have his bonus docked.

But now, Li Size had suddenly appeared...

If the Gray Mist Mountain Potions final exam produced a Genius student, their entire department's instructors would benefit collectively, gaining a higher assessment rating.

Subsequently, Li Size successfully refined six more potions in a row...

The two invigilating teachers were numb; since the potions were successfully refined, a perfect score of 100 was guaranteed.

The third day was actual combat. This year's combat exam was relatively simple yet also quite fair:

The Department of Education prepared a large number of low-level Puppets. Each candidate needed to defeat ten Puppets, and the scoring was based on the overall situation of each battle.

The first was a wooden Puppet with attribute scores of 1.0 for Strength, Agility, and Physique—a free point question to prevent students from scoring zero.

Li Size drew his gun, fired, and the wooden Puppet was eliminated. Time taken: 1 second.

The second was a wooden Puppet with attribute scores of 1.5 for Strength, Agility, and Physique—a warm-up question that very few students failed; success depended only on time.

Drew his gun, fired, and it was eliminated. Time taken: 1 second.

The third was a mud Puppet with Strength reaching 2, and Agility and Physique at 1.5;

Drew his gun, fired, and it was eliminated. Time taken: 1 second.

The fourth was a mud Puppet with Strength and Agility reaching 2, and Physique at 1.5;

Drew his gun, fired, and it was eliminated. Time taken: 1 second.

The fifth was a rock Puppet with Strength/Agility/Physique all at 2 points;

Drew his gun, fired, and it was eliminated. Time taken: 1 second.

The sixth was an iron Puppet of Knight Rank with Strength 3, and Agility and Physique at 2;

Switched to 'Blaze' bullets, fired, and the Puppet's chest melted into iron slag, eliminated. Time taken: 2 seconds.

The seventh was an iron Puppet of Knight Rank with Strength and Physique at 3, and Agility at 2;

Switched to 'Armor Piercing' bullets, fired, and the Puppet's head shattered, eliminated. Time taken: 2 seconds.

The eighth was a veteran Knight Rank steel Puppet with Strength/Agility/Physique all at 3 points;

Switched to 'Stun' bullets, stunned it, then switched to 'Armor Piercing' bullets, fired, eliminated. Time taken: 4 seconds.

It wasn't until the ninth Puppet appeared—a black demonic iron Puppet at the level of an Elementary Wizard Apprentice, with Strength and Agility reaching 4 points.

It could also fire a heat ray equivalent to the basic energy level of a 'Fire Arrow.' Only then did Li Size become slightly vigilant.

He absolutely did not want to be hit first by this bizarre Puppet, so the instant the opponent launched its attack, he swiftly dodged to the side.

Immediately after, he unhesitatingly fired a 'Stun' bullet, accurately hitting the Puppet and causing it to enter a brief state of dizziness.

He then fired two more shots to shatter its eye crystals, completely disabling its visual System.

Afterward, he agilely moved to the side and fired two 'Armor Piercing' rounds consecutively at the same spot on the Puppet's head.

He successfully destroyed the brain control center of this Elementary Wizard Apprentice-level Puppet with ease.

The entire process took him a full ten seconds.

The tenth Puppet possessed the strength of an Intermediate Wizard Apprentice, forged from black demonic iron, with both Physique and Agility reaching 6 points.

Not only could it spew sticky webs to restrain enemies, but the energy level of the scorching ray it fired was increased to 4.0.

This black demonic iron Puppet, which already possessed rudimentary combat intelligence, preemptively shot a scorching ray at Li Size.

The intensely hot beam narrowly grazed past his body.

More chillingly, it predicted Li Size's dodging trajectory and suddenly spat out a sticky web about one meter square, sealing off his escape route.

Li Size rolled desperately to evade, unknowingly falling into the meticulously laid attack rhythm of the Puppet.

In his bosom were the forty gold coins he had just received from Rice, which he had originally planned to give to his father, Pativ, in the next two days to purchase raw materials.

In this life-or-death moment, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and convert all of them into energy points, urgently raising his Agility attribute to 4.0.

At this critical juncture, Agility was far more important than any other ability!

Under the boost of 4.0 Agility, his evasion instantly became effortless, and he even managed to find a sliver of opportunity to counterattack while maneuvering and shifting.

He attempted to seize control of the battle first with a 'Stun' bullet, but the Puppet, with its Agility of 6 points, dodged it with inhuman speed.

Li Size's money pouch actually contained the unknown beast tendon that Felina had secretly slipped him.

This was a natural Wizard Tool reaching the intermediate level of Zero Ring, and it should have been enough to restrain this Puppet.

However, this Puppet's Physique was also 6 points, and he genuinely worried about damaging the precious item gifted by his beloved.

Ultimately, he shook his head and suppressed the thought of using the 'Unknown Beast Tendon'.

A few days later, he would feel deeply fortunate for his decision at this moment.

In a flash of thought, he switched to 'Shotgun' rounds and rapidly fired at the Puppet's legs.

Although the Puppet dodged swiftly, the wide spread of the shotgun shells made evasion completely futile.

The fierce impact finally left several dents on the dark, hard body. Although it didn't cause substantial damage, it successfully caused a momentary stagnation in the Puppet's leg movements.

The opportunity was fleeting!

Li Size precisely captured this instant flaw and followed up with a 'Stun' bullet.

The powerful impact finally made the agile Puppet, with its 6 Agility, stagger and sway like a drunkard.

Li Size did not hesitate. Taking advantage of its stunned state, he aimed at the same spot between the eyebrows and fired two consecutive 'Armor Piercing' rounds.

Instantly, a fist-sized hole, about ten centimeters deep, was blasted into the Puppet's head, vaguely exposing the control core inside.

This time, he abandoned the strategy of first attacking the eye crystals to destroy the visual System.

Instead, he aimed directly for the control core, worried that this Puppet might possess other unknown sensory methods.

He resolved to try continuous heavy attacks to see if he could break the core in one go and completely end this combat Puppet.

Seeing the control core exposed, Li Size did not hesitate; the third 'Armor Piercing' round burst from the barrel.

However, this combat Puppet's Physique was as high as 6 points, and its recovery ability was astonishing!

In just two seconds, it had already forcefully snapped out of the stun.

Not only did the now-conscious Puppet violently jerk its head to dodge that fatal bullet, leaving a scorched black mark along its cheek, but it also simultaneously launched a fierce counterattack against Li Size.

Li Size had no choice but to dodge in an awkward manner again.

After regaining his footing, he decisively switched back to shotgun rounds, repeating the previous tactic, using the shotgun suppression to create a moment of pause, and successfully controlled the Puppet again with a stun bullet.

This time, he unhesitatingly switched to 'Blaze' bullets.

The scorching high temperature instantly reached 1200 degrees, completely melting the exposed control core.

The Puppet finally lost all ability to move and crashed to the ground.

Li Size gasped for breath and looked up at the timer in the training room...

This thrilling battle had consumed nearly five minutes.

Most of that time was spent dodging the bizarre Puppet's stormy attacks while teetering on the edge of life and death.