From afar came a mighty roar, and the powerful aura that followed immediately caused Ellie and Karinya’s faces to pale.
They had just survived an assassination attempt—what could possibly come next?
Before Li Xian could even consider whether this was his target, the roar from that advanced magical beast sent the trees ahead crashing down one by one.
Then, a massive bear with an arrogant, ruthless gait strode out.
There was still a magical beast dangling from its mouth—something that looked a bit like a… Fireball Rat?
No, not a Fireball Rat.
Li Xian shook his head.
If it really were a Fireball Rat, he would have recognized it instantly.
He knew the Fireball Rat too well—just like Old Wang next door always had plenty to say about the neighbor’s wife.
The Fireball Rat was a low-level magical beast, but this one clearly was his target—an advanced magical beast.
However, judging from the beast in its mouth, it did indeed look somewhat like a Fireball Rat…
Ah, right—now that he thought about it, when Li Xian had been taking quests at the Adventurers’ Guild, he had always coveted one mission in particular—the hunt for the Blazing Mouse.
This Blazing Mouse apparently resembled an advanced magical beast…
It was a pity that his adventurer rank was too low to accept the quest.
At this moment, only Li Xian seemed concerned about this, while Ellie and Karinya’s attention was completely elsewhere.
They stared at the massive bear before them, their faces pale as death.
“That is… an Earth Bear. Even among transcendent-class magical beasts, it’s one of the hardest to deal with! Hurry and call the Academy Instructor…”
“It’s too late,” Karinya’s voice was tinged with sorrow.
“Before the Instructor arrives, this Earth Bear will have killed us several times over.”
In this crisis, she instinctively glanced at Li Xian, only to find him standing there dumbfounded, staring blankly at the Earth Bear as if he’d been petrified.
Well, it made sense—after all, this was a genuine transcendent-class magical beast.
No matter how talented or powerful he was, what could he possibly do against a beast so far beyond his level?
What Li Xian didn’t realize was that after scrutinizing the barely alive Blazing Mouse, he had begun to study the Earth Bear before him more closely.
Somehow, the bear seemed oddly familiar to him…
Originally, the Earth Bear had looked fierce and violent, but after noticing Li Xian, it froze mid-motion.
Then it stared at Li Xian with a vacant expression, as if trying to recall something.
The more it tried to remember, the more blank its expression became.
Gradually, it shifted to one of innocence.
Its mouth opened slowly, and the Blazing Mouse it had just caught fell from its jaws.
Bit by bit, the bear lost all its ferocity, no longer showing an ounce of menace.
This bear was the same one that had suddenly burst out from the forest the day Li Xian had fought the Fierce Blade.
At the time, Li Xian hadn’t paid much attention, and the Earth Bear had only passed by in a hurry.
But the key was—it remembered Li Xian’s aura.
It remembered the aura of the monster that had battled that terrifying opponent and defeated it in two moves.
Karinya and Ellie also finally sensed something was off.
Shouldn’t they be the ones afraid of the bear?
Why did it seem like the bear was the one scared of them?
Li Xian kept staring at the bear, and the bear kept staring at Li Xian.
At last, Li Xian dug out a faint detail from the depths of his memory that explained why the bear seemed so familiar.
But the excited look on Li Xian’s face looked to the Earth Bear like a signal to attack.
The bear shuddered all over and without a moment’s hesitation, turned and ran.
On its way, it even knocked down a few trees…
Li Xian looked speechless at the bear’s hasty retreat.
‘So bears these days, huh? Bears are supposed to protect the forest and the trees, yet here you are, destroying them without a shred of civility. Truly lacking in manners.’
But…
Seeing the barely alive advanced magical beast—the Blazing Mouse—before him, Li Xian quickly dismissed any further thoughts about the bear.
This was a gift of twenty points just lying there to be picked up!
After collecting the Blazing Mouse’s points and, as usual, cutting off its tail, Li Xian and the others began their journey back.
It would take some time to return from here, and they still had to spend another night in this forest.
Before having any achievements, they hadn’t minded much, but now that they had earned points, they were all the more eager to leave.
Compared to the soft beds in the Imperial Capital, sleeping on a pile of grass simply wasn’t comfortable.
Time ticked by little by little.
One day later, at the agreed meeting point, Li Xian and the others arrived punctually.
Looking around, every face showed exhaustion; some even had bloodshot eyes—clearly pushed to their limits.
While physical exhaustion was part of it, most of it was due to not being able to rest properly at night.
If it weren’t for their superior constitutions, things would have been even worse.
At this time, the Instructors were counting heads.
“In three days, over five hundred students chose to give up continuing the assessment. Additionally, more than a dozen students died unexpectedly. The remaining students have mostly arrived by now…”
When mentioning casualties, the Instructor’s tone and expression remained calm.
They had mentally prepared for this kind of assessment.
Although students could call for help if in danger, it wasn’t guaranteed that help would arrive in time.
Casualties were not unexpected, and they would naturally handle the aftermath.
It was a normal part of things—this was an Academy, but at the end of the day, they were cultivating the Empire’s future warriors.
As warriors, they must experience battle, bleeding, and sacrifice.
It was perfectly natural.
The Instructor seemed to have no intention of elaborating further on this matter.
“First, congratulations to the remaining two thousand plus students who successfully completed the challenge. No matter your individual results, at least you finished the challenge and survived three days in the Northern Wildwood. For all of you, this has already been a worthwhile experience.Next, as mentioned before, we will begin to tally your results.”
The tally was actually not troublesome at all.
After all, the Magic Amulets already stored all the scores; it was just a matter of collating and organizing the data.
Another Instructor, accompanied by several Assistant Mentors, stepped forward and began collecting the data one by one.
The process was naturally long and tedious.
While waiting, Li Xian’s eyes wandered, soon settling on a despondent figure slumped against a tree ahead.
Herbert—he always seemed so listless.
Even when the other two Instructors busied themselves, he showed no intention of helping.
Strangely, the other Instructors didn’t seem to mind.
‘An interesting fellow…’ Li Xian smiled.
Rigid and predictable people were the dullest; characters like this one were much more intriguing.