Chapter 30: Chaos Begins!

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Chaos Begins!

What was even more terrifying was that during this meteorite incident, a considerable number of pending apprentices had survived using their own methods. They had forcefully withstood an attack exceeding one thousand degrees of power!

For example, in Baal’s small circle, not only did some survive, but they also quickly discovered the truth behind the meteorite’s fall.

Chen Shang stood on the scorched earth, looking at the towering pillar of smoke in the distance. He remained silent for a long time.

"Where are those three now?"

Baal shook his head. "I don’t know. The message didn’t say, but they are definitely still alive."

Chen Shang nodded. "Let’s rest for a bit, then go find them!"

Grinding his teeth, Baal agreed, "Fine! All my devices are completely wrecked. I’m going to kill those bastards and vent my anger!"

"It’s not just about venting your anger. If they could summon one, do you think they can summon a second one?"

Baal’s footsteps paused, his expression turning ugly. They absolutely could not withstand a second meteorite right now.

Chen Shang casually kicked aside a piece of glazed glass beneath his feet and clapped his hands. "Let’s go. We need to find a safe place to rest first. Can your Protective Shield Device still be repaired?"

Baal took out the azure blue device and examined the cracks on it. "Yes, but it will take time."

"Alright, then let’s not waste any time!"

He strode in the opposite direction of the smoke pillar. The seven Ben Bo’Erba followed closely behind, their footsteps so light they made almost no sound.

Baal caught up to him. "Man, do you think what those three did counts as breaking the rules?"

After pondering for a moment, Chen Shang shook his head. "It shouldn’t. Since the goal is to showcase our capabilities, summoning a meteorite counts as theirs. Besides, this world doesn’t have any large-scale intelligent life."

The two walked for most of the day before finding a place to rest on the fault line of a mountain range.

With a mass extinction event underway, continuous aftershocks, and an extremely harsh environment, conditions were grim. However, these were all acceptable to Chen Shang and Baal. The most critical issue was the extreme scarcity of materials!

Fortunately, Baal had some stock in his storage device, and Chen Shang’s Metal Manipulation trait played a huge role. Working together, the seven Ben Bo’Erba extracted a substantial amount of metal on the spot.

As time passed, the combat power of the two gradually recovered.

***

Somewhere in the examination world, three pending apprentices trekked through a ravine.

They were the Meteorite Trio, but at this moment, their expressions were incredibly grim.

They originally thought that strike would wipe out the vast majority of the participants. They hadn’t expected so many to survive—and each survivor was more ruthless than the last!

As the saying goes, for every scheme, there is a countermeasure. They could summon a meteorite, but the other apprentices hadn’t just been idling their time away at the academy either. Everyone had their own unique skills.

Now that these ruthless characters had suffered such a massive loss, it would be a miracle if they didn’t come looking for revenge.

Over just the past few days, the Meteorite Trio had been hit by dozens of waves of long-range attacks. They were completely overwhelmed. Fortunately, most of these were Curse attacks, and no one had yet locked onto their exact location.

"We miscalculated. There are a lot of capable people in this batch."

"It can’t be helped. The competition is getting fiercer. If we want to pass the examination, we have to use some unconventional methods."

"Right. We did it, so there’s no point regretting it. However, for now, we should lay low..."

One of them stood up, intending to fetch some water, but suddenly froze.

In an instant, all three felt their eyelids become as heavy as lead. Their consciousness felt as if it was being yanked away by something, and their bodies were entirely paralyzed, as if trapped in sleep paralysis.

Then, a figure materialized from the Void. It was a petite, skinny girl with short hair and dark circles under her eyes, carrying a tattered, palm-sized teddy bear on her body.

She stood before the three of them, tilting her head as she looked at them. "Finally... I found you."

The short-haired girl’s voice was soft, sounding as if she hadn’t fully woken up. The three simultaneously felt a chill rise from the base of their spines, like an icy hand pressing down on the crowns of their heads.

Then, their Protective Talismans lit up. All three talismans glowed at the same time and erupted in a burst of white light, sweeping the trio away.

The short-haired girl stood where she was and yawned, looking down at the tattered teddy bear on her chest.

"Let’s go. Back to looking for mushrooms." Her figure slowly faded into the air.

***

Outside the examination world.

Several First Level Wizards sat around a massive screen of light, which displayed a real-time broadcast of the examination world.

"The quality of the apprentices this year is quite good."

"Indeed. A few of these little guys are quite ruthless."

"The three who summoned the meteorite weren’t bad either. Combining their powers, they used their Spiritual Power to pull across Space, dragging down a seven-kilometer rock. Fifty years ago, an idea like that would have immediately earned them a First Level evaluation."

"It’s a pity they got eliminated."

The group fell silent for a moment. Then, someone chuckled.

"Then... how about we spice things up for them?"

One Wizard thought for a moment before swiping a few times across the light screen.

"I’ll adjust the quantity of Hallucinogenic Mushrooms. I’m leaving only a small patch in the Southwest Mountain Range, and I’ll increase their Level slightly."

"Increase it? What if they all get wiped out completely?"

"Heh, then we’ll just have to see how they perform."

***

Chen Shang and Baal rested and reorganized for a week. The Ben Bo’Erba looked brand new, though their numbers had drastically decreased; only ten remained.

From the seven surviving ones, Chen Shang had patched up another three using other severed limbs and broken parts.

Ten were enough. The base stats of the Ben Bo’Erba were much stronger than those of ordinary apprentices. Even Senior Leia highly approved of this type of Mechanical Armor. It was just unfortunate that they had encountered the meteorite incident, suffering heavy losses without any room to show their worth.

Baal also fixed his Protective Shield Device. He repaired the cracks on the outer shell and re-engraved two Rune Plates inside. When he turned the device on, a blue light diffused outward.

"The power output is about thirty percent lower than before, but it can hold up at least once."

Chen Shang nodded. "Once is enough." The quality of the item Baal had bought was quite good; even a single use could withstand hundreds of degrees of destructive power.

Suddenly, Baal’s Celestial Net Access Device lit up with a message. After reading it, he gasped. "Man, the Meteorite Trio... they’ve been eliminated."

Chen Shang was stunned. "Who acted so fast?"

Swallowing hard, Baal said, "An apprentice from the Nightmare Laboratory. She locked onto their location using their Spiritual Power fluctuations, then ambushed them, taking all three out at once..."

Chen Shang sighed. It was another ruthless character.

Just as the saying goes, there is always a bigger fish. The Meteorite Trio, who had caused such a massive commotion, were found, ambushed, and directly taken out by someone else.

Senior Leia had told him that he could pass the examination just by drinking tea and chatting. She was definitely tricking him like a child...

Right at that moment, everyone’s Crystal Plate received a new mission prompt.

[Mission Updated. Due to drastic ecological transformations, the number of Hallucinogenic Mushrooms has drastically decreased. They now only exist in the Southwest Mountain Range area in limited quantities. Please proceed to collect them as soon as possible.] A map was attached along with the message.

After reading the prompt, Baal frowned. "This is too evil. Aren’t they just forcing all the apprentices into a massive free-for-all?"

"Stop dwelling on it. This place isn’t far from us, so let’s set out first!"

The two hurried toward their destination. After walking for a while, Chen Shang suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Say, do you think we could also build a device to blow them all sky-high?"