Chapter 71: Drawing the Twin Beasts

Mist shrouded the figures of the seven, cutting off all outside observation.

Luomiu walked at the very front, with Annie following closely behind.

Karenina and Ibuki Mio guarded the flanks.

Kaixiya’s trio was sandwiched in the middle, following along the entire way.

They passed the riverbank and moved through several sections of rainforest.

A turbulent river appeared ahead of the team.

The water crashed against the rocks on the shore, making it difficult to even hear what the person next to you was saying.

“This speed… it feels like we can’t get across,” Kaixiya spoke, her voice tight.

No matter how good of a swimmer someone was, they couldn’t swim through a place like this!

One blink and you’d be swept away!

“Look at you, typical poor man’s thinking.”

As Luomiu spoke, he pulled a card from his breast pocket.

[Tier 2: Water Walking]

A faint light covered the soles of the seven people’s feet.

“Let’s go,” Luomiu’s voice was flat.

He took the first step onto the water’s surface.

The river water beneath him was suppressed by magic, turning into a solid surface like flat ground with every step.

“No wonder he prepared these in advance.”

Ibuki Mio murmured to herself. Without hesitation, she and Karenina followed.

“A Tier 2 card… how many credits does that cost…”

Kaixiya’s trio looked at each other, seeing the bitterness in one another’s eyes.

“It was all your bad idea,” Lyfe complained indifferently.

“How was I supposed to know! The three of us were supposed to be credit-free, okay!” Kaixiya clutched her head.

Buying the Silverbell Pith Liquid in full—that idea really had been hers!

And now look.

While they were still thinking about how to swim across, the other side had already started “swiping cards”!

Having credits really meant being able to do whatever you wanted!

Carefully extending their feet, the trio stepped onto the water. Their bodies swayed slightly, but they soon found their balance.

The seven crossed the river channel.

The deeper they went, the more oppressive the atmosphere in the surrounding forest became.

An invisible pressure radiated from all directions; that was the domain aura belonging to high-tier beasts.

Kaixiya’s face grew paler and paler, her legs trembling.

“Boss Luomiu…” She finally couldn’t help it, her voice carrying a plea, “The monsters here… the aura is too strong.”

“They are at least Tier 3, maybe even Tier 4,” her teammate Fanny added, her body already somewhat stiff.

“Do we… have to keep going?”

What kind of person was this!

He headed straight for the highest-level zone right from the start. Was he planning to go head-to-head with Tier 4 monsters?

If they got surrounded…

Wouldn’t they have to spend credits to respawn immediately?

“Otherwise?”

Luomiu stopped, looking back at her like a rancher who had just bought cheap goods.

“Sixty credits. You think I just picked them up off the ground?”

Kaixiya was choked up by those words.

Ibuki Mio walked over and patted Kaixiya on the shoulder.

She said nothing, yet it felt as if everything had been said.

“High risk brings high rewards.”

Karenina spoke as well, her gaze sweeping over Kaixiya’s trio.

“You are hired hands. All you need to do is trust and execute.”

“Sixty credits…” Kaixiya bit her lip and finally lowered her head. “I understand.”

Damn it!

The wallet replaces the brain, and debt blocks all thought!

Luomiu looked away and continued forward.

After walking for another distance, a steep cliff appeared ahead.

An almost ninety-degree rock wall, smooth as a mirror, with only a few protruding rocks and vines.

Luomiu pulled out another card.

[Tier 1: Rock Climbing]

The card turned into specks of light, and a layer of faint magic covered the palms and soles of the seven.

“Go up.”

Luomiu was the first to start climbing, his movements agile without a single wasted motion.

The group climbed upward in silence, soon surpassing this natural barrier.

Standing at the top of the cliff, the field of vision suddenly opened up.

Below was an open basin, dotted with several massive monster nests.

One nest in particular was exceptionally conspicuous. A huge lizard-like monster was perched at the entrance, its body covered in dark red scales, currently dozing on the ground.

Just looking at it from a distance, that tyrannical aura made one’s heart turn cold.

“Tier 4 Flame Armored Lizard…” Fanny’s voice was shaking. “Boss, our mission isn’t to attack that, is it?”

Luomiu glanced at the giant magic clock hovering over the plaza.

The hand was about to point to twelve o’clock.

“The timing is just right.”

He looked at Kaixiya.

“See that nest?”

“I… I see it.”

“Go. Use your strongest single-target attack on that guard at the entrance.”

Kaixiya’s face instantly lost all color.

“What?!”

“Hit it once, then immediately turn around and run toward me,” Luomiu’s tone brook no argument. “Don’t stop, don’t look back. Understand?”

“But…”

“No buts.”

“I…” Kaixiya looked at her teammates; the two of them were also shaking their heads in terror.

“Kaixiya,” Karenina’s voice rang out, “execute the order.”

Kaixiya took a deep breath, looking as if she had made some kind of ultimate decision.

She was now a gambler who had lost everything, and Luomiu was her only hope.

“I… I’ll go!”

She gripped her magic card, leaned forward, and charged out.

The Flame Armored Lizard in the basin seemed to sense something, and its massive head lifted slightly.

Kaixiya stopped a hundred meters from the nest, a card lighting up in her hand.

An ice bolt whistled out, accurately slamming into the Flame Armored Lizard’s head.

*Clang!*

A crisp sound.

The ice bolt shattered, leaving only a white mark on the Flame Armored Lizard’s scales.

The damage was negligible, but the insult was extreme.

“Roar—!!!”

An earth-shattering roar echoed through the entire basin.

The Flame Armored Lizard lunged from the ground, its crimson giant eyes locking onto Kaixiya as it charged toward her with heaven-turning rage.

The ground shook violently under its sprint.

“Aaaaaah! Holy crap!”

Kaixiya let out a terrified scream, turned, and ran, using every bit of strength she had.

Right at that moment.

*Dong—*

The academy’s magic clock struck the twelve bells of noon.

The Flame Armored Lizard’s pursuit suddenly halted. It seemed to be restricted by some kind of rule; it roared unwillingly, and its body turned into specks of light, disappearing from the spot.

Kaixiya ran back to the cliff’s edge, collapsed on the ground, and panted heavily.

“I… I survived…”

“Look at the nest,” Luomiu’s voice sounded above her head.

Kaixiya subconsciously looked up.

She saw that at the empty nest entrance, a flash of light appeared, and a Flame Armored Lizard—identical to the one from just now—appeared out of thin air.

It had respawned.

Kaixiya’s mind went blank.

“This is…”

Luomiu ignored her and looked to the other side instead.

At the spot where the Flame Armored Lizard had disappeared, light converged once again.

Another identical Flame Armored Lizard re-materialized.

One that had been pulled out of the nest range, and one that had just refreshed in the nest.

Two Tier 4 Flame Armored Lizards.

“Huh?!”

Now, everyone was confused.

“What’s so strange about this?”

Luomiu had a relaxed expression.

“You didn’t think the academy found a place with naturally abundant and perfectly distributed monsters to use as an exam ground, did you?”

“This is nothing more than a super-large-scale field magic used to assess students.”

“That is indeed a logical deduction!”

Karenina took a deep breath, calming her emotions.

“So that’s it…” Ibuki Mio’s voice carried an irrepressible sense of wonder. “By luring the monster out, the rules judge that there is no monster in the nest, and by utilizing the respawn time…”

“A single area-of-effect card can deal double the damage. The magic power saved can then be used to clear the next nest.”

“This kind of efficiency…”

“Correct. That is what we are going to do next.”

Luomiu was very satisfied with her interpretation.

He pulled out that gold-patterned card and looked down at the two Flame Armored Lizards below.

“Time to pull the mobs.”

Let’s try a fire-attribute one first to see just how powerful this thing really is.