Chapter 279

Blood was, of course, something completely different from meteorite dust. But on careful consideration, collecting a large quantity of blood without a container and collecting and destroying meteorite dust were somewhat similar in principle. Both tasks involved gathering things that were rather difficult to collect.

Although one was stone and the other was liquid, the ones needing to complete this task were not of the elemental type, after all. They were of the special type. If they could truly find a method to complete the task, it was very likely that one solution could lead to another.

However, that probably had nothing to do with the three of them. It was clear that with their abilities, just passing the exam would be an achievement; there was no way they could provide any inspiration for clearing the meteorite dust.

So, he stopped overthinking it and honestly began to consider how to pass the exam.

“Let’s ask other people,” Ai Baozhu said, giving up decisively after failing to come up with a good method. “Cooperating as a group of three is still cooperation, and so is cooperating as a group of ten. If we ask enough people, we’re bound to find someone with a container-type ability. Worst case, I’ll just spend some money to hire them to help.”

Having money made her bold. Ai Baozhu was a woman of action. Taking advantage of the time before the exam officially began, she quickly started weaving through the crowd, looking for someone who could help.

Su Bei didn’t pay attention to what she was doing. He silently scanned his surroundings, observing the situation. At the same time, his Mental Energy was released without a sound, slowly expanding outward.

He was aware that there were likely many people with Advanced Mental Energy here, so he released his own very slowly to show that he had no hostile intent and was simply exploring the environment.

As his Mental Energy spread, it indeed bumped into someone else’s. The other party made contact with him very cautiously. Su Bei only felt it at the moment their Mental Energies intersected; afterward, he no longer sensed the other’s presence.

He knew why. It was obviously because the other person had better control over their Mental Energy than he did, able to subtly integrate their own into his mental foundation. He estimated that the other person had probably already located him by following his Mental Energy.

Su Bei understood these concepts, but it was all just theoretical knowledge. With his current strength, he couldn’t replicate what the other person did. Such masterful use of Mental Energy required time and experience.

Just as Su Bei thought, the owner of that Mental Energy had indeed located him. She raised a surprised eyebrow and looked at the Dean of Students beside her. “The quality of students at your academy is very high. I just found a student with Advanced Mental Energy in the special type exam area.”

The Dean of Students immediately guessed who she was talking about. Pushing up her glasses, she replied with a calm smile, “You must be referring to a first-year S-Class student from this year’s cohort. She is indeed outstanding.”

“First-year?” The woman with red and black hair showed a surprised expression. “That’s truly remarkable. I feel like I’m falling behind the times.”

“You’re still in your prime, Yulia.” The Dean of Students was helpless against her old friend’s self-deprecation. “If others heard the user of [Death Graveyard] talk about herself like that, they’d probably die of shame.”

Having been praised, Yulia’s eyes curved into crescents, clearly pleased. “Alright, I’m all charged up. I’ll continue patching up any holes. Don’t forget our promise. After this final exam is over, you have to tell me about your discoveries regarding the Nightmare Beasts.”

“Don’t worry,” the Dean of Students nodded with a serious expression. “You’ll find out sooner or later.”

On the other side, before Ai Baozhu could find a partner, the supervising teacher for the special type exam had already arrived at the venue. He first directed everyone to line up properly, then announced in a loud voice, “The location for this exam is restricted to the area within the isolation barrier. Anyone who steps outside the barrier will have their exam qualification immediately revoked and will be escorted from the site by a teacher. A device that attracts Nightmare Beasts has been placed in the center of the venue. Please be careful not to damage the device while eliminating the Nightmare Beasts. Once you have met the exam requirements, you can come directly to me here to submit your ‘exam paper’. You may leave the Nightmare Beast World after submitting it.”

After explaining the exam rules, he dismissed the line, activated the machine in the center of the venue, and waited for the Nightmare Beasts to arrive. The students scattered, positioning themselves in places best suited for their abilities.

Some were rubbing their hands together, clearly looking forward to the arrival of the Nightmare Beasts. Others, however, had knitted brows, either worried they couldn’t kill a hundred Nightmare Beasts or unsure how to collect the blood from a hundred of them.

Ai Baozhu very cleverly approached those who looked confident and, after a short while, returned with a purple-haired male upperclassman.

“This is Senior Hu Qin. His ability is [Storage Grid]. He should be able to hold enough blood,” Ai Baozhu introduced him with a beaming smile, very satisfied with herself for finding such a suitable partner.

Senior Hu Qin’s face was slightly red as he nodded shyly. “Hello, you can just call me Hu Qin.”

“Can [Storage Grid] hold liquids?” Su Bei asked in surprise. He himself had a Storage Ring, and it was precisely because it couldn’t properly hold liquids without making them difficult to retrieve that he was at a loss right now.

Hearing his question, Hu Qin explained, “My [Storage Grid] isn’t a grid in the physical sense, but rather… in a data sense. You can think of it as an inventory backpack in a game, where each item can be stored in its own separate slot.”

So that’s how it was. Su Bei was instantly relieved. As long as the [Storage Grid] itself had enough space, the other person’s ability could indeed hold that much blood. However, Ling You quickly raised another question: “How do we get it out?”

She was asking how to retrieve the blood from the [Storage Grid]. Getting it in was one thing, but getting it out would require a new container. The academy wouldn’t prepare one for them. If they didn’t have a container, they couldn’t just pour the blood on the ground, could they? That would definitely result in a poor grade.

“We can take it out bit by bit.” However, this was actually a silly question. Before Hu Qin could speak, Su Bei said with an amused tone, “We’ll just take it out slowly. Since it’s stored slot by slot, we can pour it out cup by cup. I do have small containers like that.”

A look of realization dawned on Ling You’s face. She had actually forgotten they could do that; her thinking had been constrained by conventional storage items.

Seeing that the two of them understood the use of [Storage Grid] without needing further explanation, a smile appeared on Hu Qin’s face. Then, as if remembering something, he pursed his lips and showed an embarrassed expression. “But my ability has no offensive power, so…”

“I promised him we’d take care of his hundred Nightmare Beasts,” Ai Baozhu said, patting her chest. “But if you guys don’t want to eliminate an extra hundred, we can all pitch in to pay him.”

She had no offensive ability herself and couldn’t fulfill the promise on her own; eliminating a hundred Nightmare Beasts relied entirely on her teammates. So, although she had made a promise to Hu Qin, she had no intention of forcing Su Bei and the others, smartly leaving herself a way out.

Neither Su Bei nor the others had any objection to her arrangement. “No problem.”

It was only four hundred Nightmare Beasts. Ling You alone could easily handle that.

Now, there was only one last problem remaining. Su Bei tilted his head. “So, how are we going to collect the blood from these four hundred Nightmare Beasts?”

That was a good question. All four of them fell silent. After a moment, Hu Qin asked cautiously, “Should I… bring someone else over? I have a friend who should be able to do it.”

At these words, the other three instantly looked at him with shining eyes. Ai Baozhu cleared her throat and nodded reservedly. “Alright, you can go then. If needed, we can take care of that person’s Nightmare Beasts as well.”

Hu Qin nodded immediately. It was precisely because he felt his friend would have a hard time killing a hundred Nightmare Beasts alone that he was trying so hard to bring him in.

After he left to find his friend, Su Bei asked with great interest, “Which class is this senior from?”

A storage ability, and another that could let out blood… it was all quite amazing. He didn’t know about anything else, but Su Bei was certain these two weren’t from B-Class or above.

The class division at Endless Ability Academy was actually very clear. B-Class and above were basically filled with Ability users who could eliminate Nightmare Beasts. Unless an ability was exceptionally powerful, like Feng Lan’s [Prophecy], those without combat capabilities were assigned to lower classes. And Hu Qin was clearly one of them.

“He’s from D-Class,” Ai Baozhu replied while looking into the distance. Dust was billowing up far away, and a large group of Nightmare Beasts was rapidly approaching. The device placed by the academy was working.

So many Nightmare Beasts… the sight was truly a bit terrifying.

Although their special type group had many people, making it the second-largest exam venue after the elemental type, the vast majority of special type Ability users had little to no offensive power. In fact, more than half of them were C-Class or below. Summoning so many Nightmare Beasts at once, Ai Baozhu was already starting to worry that her [Glorious Domain] couldn’t guarantee her safety.

Following her gaze, Su Bei had the same thought.

Ai Baozhu looked at Ling You and asked expectantly, “Youyou, do you have a way to wipe out all these Nightmare Beasts at once with [Plague]?”

With such a large number of Nightmare Beasts, Ling You’s ability could be incredibly effective.

“Difficult.” Ling You shook her head, knowing her ability very well. “These Nightmare Beasts are not of the same species.”

A single type of [Plague] targets a single species; she couldn’t create several types of [Plague] at once. It wasn’t that Ling You didn’t have a way to eliminate all animal-type Nightmare Beasts in one go—the bubonic plague, for example, was an excellent virus. But such viruses often affected humans as well. With so many students in the exam area, she couldn’t use a virus that was too ‘effective’.

“Even if she could, we shouldn’t,” Su Bei said, hands in his pockets, lazily raising a very practical problem. “If [Plague] kills someone else’s prey, does it count as their kill or ours?”

That was also true. Ai Baozhu sighed in deflation. “Then forget it. Let’s just fight them honestly.”

Su Bei couldn’t be bothered to wait for Hu Qin to return with his friend. After all, five hundred Nightmare Beasts was a huge project. If he wanted to leave as soon as possible, he had to get started early.

Fortunately, Ling You thought the same way. So, leaving Ai Baozhu alone to wait with her [Glorious Domain] active, the two of them joined the battlefield.

For now, the ones being attracted were all Low-tier Nightmare Beasts, which was why Su Bei was eager to join the fray. Low-tier Nightmare Beasts were much easier to eliminate than Intermediate ones. Most importantly, almost all Low-tier Nightmare Beasts had blood, which wasn’t necessarily the case for Intermediate and Advanced Nightmare Beasts.

So, if they didn’t want to waste time later, the sooner they got started, the better.

Eliminating Low-tier Nightmare Beasts was easy for Su Bei and Ling You. Every time they killed a few, they had to transport the ones that wouldn’t fit, along with those already in the Storage Ring, to Ai Baozhu’s [Glorious Domain].

Thankfully, [Glorious Domain] didn’t judge the Nightmare Beasts as ‘inglorious’ things, otherwise, even storing them would have been a problem.

Leaving them out in the open, unguarded, was definitely not an option. As Su Bei was leisurely killing Nightmare Beasts, he could clearly perceive the subtle movements of some people because his Advanced Mental Energy was active.

Those people all had abilities that allowed them to steal things. Some used telekinesis, some tunneled through the ground, and some were probably invisible… Nightmare Beasts left on the ground would inadvertently disappear. Since only a few vanished at a time, not many people noticed.

Ai Baozhu was not only responsible for protecting the Nightmare Beast corpses but also for counting them, while Hu Qin and his friend, who had arrived, were in charge of letting out the blood and storing it.

Just as the five of them were getting into a good rhythm, the danger Su Bei had anticipated occurred—in the distance, countless black Giant Nightmare Beasts the size of small mountains formed a solid line, like an iron bucket, and began to close in on Endless Ability Academy’s station.

As they advanced, Su Bei could almost feel the ground trembling. Even the meteorite dust in the air was floating up and down, a testament to the imposing power of these Nightmare Beasts.

Everyone simultaneously stopped what they were doing, first staring blankly at the distant Nightmare Beasts, then with looks of terror filling their eyes. Even during the last major battle, they had never seen such a horrifying scene.

It was very difficult for Nightmare Beasts of this enormous size to emerge from the interdimensional space. The size of the entrance was fixed; unless they could shrink themselves, they simply couldn’t get out. And even if they did, the gravity of the human world would make them extremely uncomfortable, preventing them from using even half of their strength.

But in the Nightmare Beast World, it was different. Here, they could unleash their full power without needing to shrink. Most importantly, although Giant Nightmare Beasts were difficult to create, they had accumulated over so many years. Coupled with the fact that they couldn’t go to the human world and thus suffered few losses, their total number was very large. This time, they had all been deployed, completely surrounding the Endless Ability Academy’s station.

Below these Giant Nightmare Beasts were countless other bizarrely shaped Nightmare Beasts. Just by their forms, one could tell that they were at least Intermediate Nightmare Beasts, with no shortage of Advanced ones among them.

Clearly, these Advanced Nightmare Beasts were very displeased and very covetous of Endless Ability Academy holding their final exams in the Nightmare Beast World. After all, with so many Ability users, if they could devour them all, the overall strength of the entire Nightmare Beast World would rise.

Speaking of which, there was a historical incident where an entire ability academy was wiped out. It happened many years ago when such schools were just starting to emerge. In short, it was an incredibly tragic piece of history.

Upon learning that Endless Ability Academy was bringing a large group of students to the Nightmare Beast World for their final exams, the Advanced Nightmare Beasts had coincidentally collaborated to hunt them. With their shared vision ability, they didn’t even need to waste time discussing it; they could form a partnership from their own homes.

As the students simultaneously paused, the Low-tier Nightmare Beasts inside the [Death Graveyard], as if guided by some command, became excited and began to attack everyone frantically.

With no other choice, the students had to ignore the distant crisis for now. Dealing with the Nightmare Beasts right in front of them was the priority.

Ai Baozhu also tore her gaze away from the Giant Nightmare Beasts, her expression uncharacteristically grave. She was about to say something when she suddenly noticed a problem: “Where’s Su Bei!”

At this moment, Su Bei had, of course, already stealthily turned invisible. Although he hadn’t seen any problems with the Destiny Compasses above everyone’s heads, it was better to be early than late when it came to running away. Who knew if the Minor Destiny Pointer would suddenly ‘change its face’? By turning invisible now, it would be much more convenient to do anything later. But if he waited until those Nightmare Beasts arrived to turn invisible, there was a chance he’d be noticed beforehand.

After turning invisible, Su Bei looked around but couldn’t find any safe place here. Forget about watching the show. He silently moved to a corner and leaned against the wall to wait for things to unfold.

This was definitely not the time to look for Jiang Tianming, Wu Mingbai, and the others; who knew what dangers they would encounter over there. Nor could he go to the Dean of Students, Yulia, and other powerful Ability users. They were certainly the primary targets of the Advanced Nightmare Beasts. Going over with his current strength would absolutely result in him getting caught in the crossfire. In comparison, hiding in a corner like this was much safer.

He could only hope the academy would be strong enough. This defense couldn’t be breached. Once the defense was gone, all the students here would be doomed.

[Death Graveyard] itself didn’t actually have much defensive capability; it could only resurrect people. The only defense was within the graveyard generated by the ability, where a newly resurrected person would have five seconds of invincibility.

However, those five seconds were clearly not enough to withstand the army of Nightmare Beasts outside, so there still needed to be a defense around the entire [Death Graveyard].

Since Endless Ability Academy dared to hold final exams in the Nightmare Beast World, they had naturally made ample preparations. In an instant, a multicolored barrier rose up around the perimeter of the [Death Graveyard]. At the same time, several Ability users moved to the edge of the barrier, ready to deal with any Nightmare Beasts that broke through.

The Dean of Students’ voice echoed from within the barrier, likely using a sound-amplifying tool so everyone could hear: “Students, do not worry. Continue with your exams. This is also part of the test. Under extreme psychological stress, can you still fully utilize your strength? From now on, we will periodically let in a batch of Nightmare Beasts. There may be Advanced Nightmare Beasts mixed in. Whether you can defeat them will depend entirely on your strength.”

As soon as her voice fell, the horde of Nightmare Beasts outside finally arrived. It had to be said, even though Su Bei himself had seen quite a few grand scenes, this sight was still genuinely shocking.

Outside the barrier, except for a tiny patch of sky visible at the very top, the rest of the view was completely filled with a dense mass of Nightmare Beasts. And these weren’t the small, insect-like types that relied on numbers; they were genuinely powerful Advanced Nightmare Beasts.

Take the Giant Nightmare Beasts, for example. Seeing just one was enough to make one’s scalp tingle, let alone seeing so many at once.

As Su Bei observed these Nightmare Beasts, he mentally assessed the severity of the crisis the author had set up. If Endless Ability Academy couldn’t hold out, the vast majority of the students present would be doomed. That would be too great a crisis, the kind that would only be triggered near the finale.

But ‘King of Abilities’ was clearly not yet at its final stage, so the event wouldn’t be that major. This meant that Endless Ability Academy would most likely withstand the Nightmare Beasts’ attack, and only the protagonist’s group would be affected.

As long as they remained within the range of the [Death Graveyard] ability, the Nightmare Beasts could do nothing to them. The subsequent plot could then be inferred: Jiang Tianming and the others must have left the safe zone for some reason and encountered danger.

But what could be the reason?

Regardless of the reason, he couldn’t just keep hiding here. Since Endless Ability Academy still had the strength to protect them, he had to continue with his final exam.

If he were taking the exam alone, it would be fine to give up. But now he had four teammates. Su Bei wasn’t one to disregard his teammates, which was why he usually didn’t team up. No team, no need to worry about others. But since he had teamed up this time, he naturally had to bear some responsibility.

“Yo~ Look who’s back! Our busy man finally decided to return!” The moment Su Bei reappeared, Ai Baozhu covered her mouth in feigned surprise, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

Ling You also stared at Su Bei silently. In this case, silence spoke louder than words.

Only Hu Qin and his friend looked confused. They didn’t know Su Bei and had no idea what he had been doing when he disappeared, so they naturally didn’t dare to blame him outright.

Su Bei, shamelessly confident despite being in the wrong, retorted, “I just went to scout for information. What are you thinking?”

“I’ve thought of everything.” Ai Baozhu gave him no face at all. Having been his companion for so long, she knew Su Bei all too well. “I’m warning you, you…”

She wanted to make a harsh threat, but after thinking for a long time, she couldn’t come up with anything good. In the end, she could only say through gritted teeth, “You have to warn us before you run off, or you’ll be finished when we get back!”

Hearing this soft warning, Su Bei almost burst out laughing. But he knew Ai Baozhu could indeed make things difficult for him when they got back, so he didn’t want to provoke her. He managed to suppress his laughter and nodded seriously. “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely warn you this time.”

After saying that, he glanced at the Destiny Compasses above their heads. They were all at a normal level for encountering a crisis—the Minor Destiny Pointer was slightly to the right but mostly in the middle. The Major Destiny Pointer was in the upper half of the compass.

However, luck, unlike destiny, could change at any moment. Since he had promised to warn them, Su Bei kept his ability active at all times. The moment their Minor Destiny Pointers changed, he would flee immediately. Although escaping at that point would be a bit slower, the current situation didn’t allow him to flee earlier. It was better to just honestly take the exam.

Soon, all the Nightmare Beasts inside the protective barrier were eliminated. Endless Ability Academy had indeed held strong, not letting a single Advanced Nightmare Beast in, which calmed everyone’s nerves considerably.

The next two batches of Nightmare Beasts also posed no problem. However, when the third batch was let in, an accident occurred, just as expected—among the Nightmare Beasts that were let in, one possessed a spatial movement ability.