My name is Chinming and today was supposed to completely change my life. The class awakening ceremony in Yinhai City. All eyes were on me. I had the highest mental aptitude rate our school had ever seen. 19% way above the old record of 12. Everyone expected me to land an S-rank class or maybe even higher. But when I stepped onto the platform and the magic array lit up, everything just stopped. The light died mid-process. The teacher looked at me with pity and said I got a C-rank shield guard class. Not the absolute worst, but nowhere near what people expected. Then the whisper started. Some laughed. Others just felt pretty sorry for me. Getting a C rank meant my very first skill would be C rank two. Securing better resources or stronger skills later on would be insanely hard. But honestly, I was not upset at all. I had a secret. Down at the bottom of my status panel, a loading bar read 99.99%. Whatever it was giving me, it was almost ready. My buddy Sunyong came over to comfort me and lift my spirits. He snagged a B-rank Shadowblade class, which is pretty solid. He offered to party up and help me level. I told him I was good and would think on it. I wanted to wait and see what my hidden ability actually was. Suddenly, the whole hall went crazy. The girl named Chen Shiua stepped onto the platform and the magic array exploded with light. She awakened an SS rank class holy radiant angel. Nobody in our entire district had pulled an SS rank in 10 years. She was already a genius who had shattered almost every possible record. And now she held the rarest class anyone had ever seen. People started talking about how we were technically in the same squad, Team Morning Light. The school grouped us together for a tournament before any of us awakened. I was registered as team captain, but with her SS rank and my C rank, everyone assumed she would just quit immediately. I did not care about that. I just kept my eyes glued to that loading bar, waiting for 100%. I looked at my squad info and seriously considered disbanding team Morning Light. The school forced us together, and we never actually chose each other. The other three members were Chen Shuyu as an SS rank holy angel, Suan as an S-rank battle vanguard, and Jangi as an A-rank tide mage. We were the top four students in aptitude, but now I was the weakest link, a C-rank captain leading an elite squad. But you know what? I decided against disbanding. I built this team. I chose the name. Why should I be the one to shut it down? If they want to leave the doors wide open. Plus, creating a team cost 40,000 gold coins. Even though the school paid for it, I earned that perk by topping the mental aptitude charts. I quickly checked my stats. Level one, most stats sitting at 10, but my constitution was 600 thanks to the 20% shield guard bonus. My only skill was battle resilience, a C- rank passive that regenerates health in combat. Not bad at all, but nothing special either. Then I heard it. A bell chimed inside my head. The charge hit 100%. My heart raced. 3 years of waiting, finally over. The prompt told me I unlocked a special talent. I would get one guaranteed SSS rank skill every 10 levels. No extra resources needed. Even people with SSS ranked classes cannot guarantee every skill they unlock will match their rank, but mine always would. On top of that, I got an activation bonus, a random SSS rank skill already maxed out. I asked Sunyong if skills even had a level cap. That no, nobody had ever maxed a skill before. That meant I was about to be the first person in the world with a maxle ability. I claimed the reward. The skill I got was called absolute defense. And when I read what it did, my jaw nearly dropped. Is a passive. If an enemy has lower stats than me, their attack deals zero damage. If their stats are higher, no matter how high, every single strike only deals one point of damage. That is it. One point. With my constitution at 600, even the strongest living creature would have to hit me 600 consecutive times just to drop me. That does not even factor in my battle resilience, which keeps healing me midfight. I was speechless. This skill was insanely broken. It took a second to process what absolute defense really meant. It basically canceled out all the normal expected rules of combat. instead of defense simply reducing damage like it does for everyone else. Damage I take now is just two numbers, a zero or a one. Nothing in between. It felt like a system glitch. Sunyong kept trying to get my attention. He thought I was upset about my C rank class and seemed pretty worried about me. When I finally snapped out of it, he carefully patted my shoulder and said he would help me level. He meant well, but I politely declined. I told him I was grinding alone. My real plan was fighting monsters way above my current level. Absolute defense. I could take hits from literally anything and only lose a single health point at most. I could slowly wear down powerful monsters that no other level one would even dare approach. But if Sunyong tagged along, he would be in serious danger. He did not have my protection. One wrong move and he could die. So for now, going solo was the only real option. Sunyong thought I was crazy. Everyone knows you need a team before level five. Fellow combat right now is pure suicide, even for Sranks. He walked off shaking his head, figuring I was just traumatized by my C rank result. Then the head instructor gave her final speech. She told us this awakening was only the very beginning. The massive month-long graduation exam was waiting for us. Run by the alliance nationwide. Every fresh grad had to participate. Our scores decided our official rating which meant everything for joining guilds, companies, or alliance branches. The giant magic array flared to life, yanking us all into the exam zone. 30 days starting right now, right here in Yinhai City. The crowd hyped up and rushed the monster forest outside town to grind levels. I walked out totally alone. Then two guys blocked my path. Taiwan and Jang Yi, my other teammates from the morning light squad. The glasses wearing Siwan stepped right up and told me straight to my face to drop my captain title and leave the squad instantly. I just stared. Was he actually serious? He really expected me to hand over the team I built from scratch, then just fire myself. I looked at both of them like total idiots. Do you guys not have hands? Can't you just leave the squad yourselves? Siwan snapped back that the team wasn't just mine and Jangi offered me a single gold coin to walk away like I was some beggar they could just pay off. Suddenly it clicked. Didn't just want me out. They wanted the morning light name so they could use it to recruit Chen Jiwa. Scoring an SS rank would set them up for life. But a C-rank captain like me would only drag her down and ruin the pitch. They needed me to drop my spot and fade out quietly. I didn't even bother arguing. I pulled up my system panel and instantly kicked them both from the team. Siwan stood there stunned. A direct boot is a massive insult. People usually just leave on their own when things go sour. But these guys actually got in my face and demanded my own team. The smile told them I was helping them leave faster. The crowd around us started buzzing. A few thought I was brave, but most figured I had a death wish. Picking fights with an S-rank and an A rank meant serious trouble. The wan warned me to watch my back in the wild, then stormed off with Jang Yi. Then everything shifted and Jiwa appeared. Siwan's eyes completely lit up. He bolted over, introduced himself, flexed his S-rank class, and begged her to join his team. He didn't even look at him, walked right past him, heading straight for me. She stopped and asked if I wanted to join her squad. Dead silence, an SS rank asking a C rank for a team up. No one could process it. I was pretty confused, too, so I asked why. She said I helped her before and she hated owing debts. It meant that time I taught her some mental training techniques back when the school forced us to pair up. I barely thought about it at the time, but I guess it meant a lot to her. She offered to carry me to level 10 during the exam. I thought it over for a second. Grabbing an SS rank partner for dungeon runs was a golden ticket. Plus, hitting level 10 meant my unique talent would unlock another SSS rank skill. Maybe something to make up for my current trash attack power. So, I agreed, but told her I was running solo for the time being. We could group up when it was time to hit the dungeons. He gave a nod and walked off without another word. The whole crowd was left completely stunned. Most absurd duo in history, an SS rank teaming with a C-rank. People just stared, whispering in total confusion and pure jealousy. And Siwan, the guy who just tried to boot me, standing there completely frozen, looking like he wanted the earth to swallow him. Made my way to the camps on the edge of Yinhai city. It was packed with fresh awakeners, buying gear, forming up and getting combat ready. I stepped into the Abyss Guild shop and blew five grand on a long blade with a strength boost that burned half my savings. I wanted a shield, too, but ran out of cash. The second I stepped outside, people started pitching me. four low-level fighters. Having a shield guard on the team was a massive plus. Someone to eat the damage while they attacked. Even a C-rank mage tried to recruit me, but I turned them all down. They thought I was insane. A shield guard running solo, buying strength gear instead of defense items. Figured I was still pretending to be some fallen genius. They had zero clue. I left the city alone and popped open my map. Years of scouting marked all the safe zones where the monster spawns were predictable. I chose a spot called Breezewood Forest. The view was honestly stunning. Massive open planes with tall green grass rolling in the wind. Doggy valleys fading into the distance. Then I heard a nasty screech. An oval spike covered thing burst from the grass. A spike roller. Level one mob. It attacks by curling into a ball and charging at top speed. Very hard to dodge, but absolute garbage defense. I wasn't planning on dodging anyway. It launched itself at me, spinning like a spiked cannonball. I just raised my blade to take the hit. The monster slammed into me, sending tiny spikes straight my body. The damage number hovering above zero. I felt absolutely nothing, just a light tickle. The spikes tore right through my clothes, but could not even leave a scratch. My absolute defense was working perfectly because its strength was lower than mine. It literally could not hurt me at all. I relaxed and just started swinging. Every strike dealt 21 damage. Finding its weak spot netted me a solid 42. The beast went completely berserk, its eyes glowing red, its spikes trembling. It unleashed its special move, whirlwind roll, spinning wildly, to strike me from my blind spot. The spikes crashed hard against my waist. Zero damage again. I actually could not stop laughing. This skill was completely broken. The creature threw absolutely everything at me and my health bar did not move an inch. Only one of us was actually bleeding out and it definitely was not me. I finished the spiky roller off with one final slash. It dropped a monster core, a small stone packed with wind energy, perfect for crafting or selling to guilds. This is exactly how adventurers make cash here. I checked my health. 600 out of 600. Not one single scratch. I did the math. Every level one monster gives roughly six experience points, and I needed exactly 100 to hit level two. That meant killing 15 to 20 of them, roughly half a day of grinding. Normally, hitting level two on your first day is considered a rank speed. Doing it in half a day, that is Srank pace, and I was pulling it off with a C rank class and zero attack skills. All because I never once had to stop and heal. Here's what people miss. Fighters spend half their time just recovering. They take damage every fight, forcing them to retreat when low. Some back out at 200 health. The cautious ones run way earlier. I never had that problem. My health bar stayed full, but level one monsters were just too slow. I needed stronger monsters for faster experience. I headed deeper into the forest. Other fighters were there, too. All in pairs, fighting super carefully and keeping their distance from the monsters. Then, three spiky rollers leaped from the bushes, completely surrounding me. Most parties would run from three at once. I just smiled and charged right in. Two level ones attacked first, zero damage. I slashed them both, then felt a sting on my back. Exactly one damage point. I turned around to face a larger beast. Level two. It stats actually beat mine in at least one area, letting it hurt me, but only for one damage per hit. I totally ignored the smaller mobs, turned my back on them, and focused entirely on the level two monster. My strikes dealt way less damage against its high defense, but I had all the time in the world. This thing would need hundreds of hits to actually threaten me. I tore it apart way before then. Nearby, a duo saw me and absolutely panicked. Thinking I was getting shredded, they rushed over to help. But as they got close, they just stopped and stared. One guy fighting three monsters at once, not even dodging, calmly swinging his blade like basic training. They checked my class and stood there stunned. A simple C-rank shieldguard doing the impossible. Those two melee fighters kept watching me the whole time. They just could not process how a C-rank shield guard tanked three monsters without dropping dead. I noticed them staring as they nervously asked if I needed backup. I told them I was totally fine, casually swinging my blade mid-con conversation. They stayed right there to watch. I just kept hitting the level two spiky beast with basic attacks while the level ones kept scratching my back. No flashy moves. I possessed zero active skills. Just swing and swing and swing. Hitting the level two monsters weak point finally drove it insane, charging at me like a blur. It struck twice, dealing one damage per hit. I did not even flinch. I hit back two more times and completely finished it off. 15 experience points more than double a level one. It also dropped something special, a strength rune. Runes are what really supercharge your gear. The weapons are just empty shells for them. My blade already held four strength runes, giving it plus four. I slotted the new stone immediately, pushing that number to five. I did all this while two level one mobs kept desperately attacking me. I did not even bother looking at them. Checked my health. 573 out of 600. Killing a level two monster cost roughly a tenth of my health and I recovered 55 points an hour. So I decided to completely ditch level ones and purely hunt level twos. I walked deeper into the woods leaving the two little monsters behind. Those two watching fighters just stood there in total silence. I heard later they started calling me an SSS rank human juggernaut. Kind of funny coming from guys who needed a full party just for a level one mob. I kept grinding for three straight hours. Biky rollers, leaf rats, whatever crossed my path. Then I heard that perfect notification level two. My stats skyrocketed. Constitution shot from 600 to,200. My recovery stat reached 112. My battle resilience skill leveled up too. Now boosting recovery by 12%. I felt completely refreshed like all my fatigue had suddenly vanished. Reaching level two in under half a day. Nobody in all of Yinhai city could ever match a pace like that except someone like Chen Shiao. This is just the beginning. Level two was my main goal today, but I changed my mind. Now I want level three. I pushed deeper into the trees of Breezewood Forest, finally reaching the outer edge of the safe zone. A pack of level one and two monsters trail behind me, attacking endlessly. Zero damage, not a single scratch. Stop bothering to look at them. Beyond the safe zone lies the royal monster forest. Ancient giant trees, thick fog, and absolutely zero rules, though anything could be hiding in there. The exam guide warned new fighters to stay away, but I was not worried at all. So, even the strongest monster can only deal a single point of damage per hit. And if things get too ugly, I can just run away. I crossed the boundary line and stepped into the valley. The monsters trailing me froze, then scattered in total terror. Whatever lived inside, they wanted absolutely no part of it. Valley was dark and silent. Cold, damp air, no birds, no bugs. Then something massive smashed right through the trees. The red tus wild boar. Level three. The beast was the size of a small hill with glowing red fur and halfmeter tusks. It glared, snorted, and I swear it looked disappointed, like I was not even worth its time. The stupid pig looking down on me. Fine. I drew my blade as it charged. Its tusk grazed my arm. One damage point. I hit back with 20 points instantly. After that first clash, it did not attack right away. It started circling me very slowly like a cat playing with a mouse. That attitude really annoyed me. I put my left hand behind my back, held the sword right-handed, and waved it to provoke a charge. Come on then, show me. The boar went crazy. It used its special skill, Crimson Charge, suddenly transforming into a fast red blur. Its tusk slammed my chest with terrifying force, shaking the ground. One damage point. The boar bounced off my body like hitting a solid wall. While it was still dizzy, I hit it three times. It charged again in blind rage. One damage point again. It found its weak spot on the hind legs, landing 40 point hits every time. The fight dragged on like this. It kept rushing me with everything it had. I kept taking one damage point and countering. Finally, it dropped dead. 26 experience points, a level three monster core, and a physique run stone. I could not use the runest stone yet since I didn't have any gear that actually boosts physique. Selling today's monster cores will give me enough cash to buy some. I did the math. Seven or eight more level three beasts, and I reached level three. At this rate, I will definitely get there today. I pushed even deeper into the monster forest, hunting down level three beasts one by one. Spirit stone monkeys, triangle lizards, earth rats. They all went down the same way. They hit me, do almost nothing. Then I grind them to death with endless blade strikes. I noticed that monsters deeper in the forest drop runstones way more often. I got another strength run stone and slotted it into my blade, bumping my damage up to six. I checked my stats. I needed about 90 more experience points to hit level three, which meant roughly four more monsters. Best part of my combat style is how perfectly it scales. No matter my opponent's strength, the maximum damage I take is just a single point. Though, as my physique keeps growing with every level, fights are going to get noticeably easier. By level 10 or 20, my health points will reach the tens of thousands, I will barely lose any health in each battle. And with the battle resilience ability constantly healing me, I might actually become unkillable one day. It is a C-rank passive skill that most people totally ignore. In my hands, it functioned like an S-rank skill. Absolute defense combined with battle resilience was just the perfect mix. Then, I heard a cold, sharp hiss coming from above me. My instincts screamed danger dodged sideways just in time as a twisting shadow dropped from the trees right where I was standing. A two-headed rattlesnake level four 2 meters long blue green scales and two heads with pale yellow eyes staring right at me. Its special ability was cross fangs carrying deadly poison. The poison is supposed to be the one thing defense cannot block. It does not hit you with physical force. Instead, it seeps inside and eats you away from the core. Every single tank class fighter in this world fears poison more than anything else. It had already grazed my arm during its sudden ambush. One damage point. I watched the tiny wound very carefully, waiting to see if the venom would spread. The snake watched me too. Its whole strategy relies on ambushing, poisoning, and waiting. It expected me to start weakening at any second, though. We stood there in dead silence for about a minute. Nothing happened. No spreading venom, zero extra damage, and my natural recovery completely sealed the wound. The poison never even breached my system. Absolute defense did not just protect my outer surface. It blocked absolutely everything, including the venom. I was totally immune to all negative status effects. If the poison cannot pierce my defense in the first place, it simply does not exist. I smirked. Even this ugly two-headed snake in front of me felt way less annoying now, but it still had to die. I rushed the twin-headed rattlesnake, swinging my blade. Fighting a monster two levels above meant low damage, just 15 points per hit. But that did not matter. The snake kept biting my body, trying to inject deadly venom, one damage point every time it hit me. The struck then backed off to watch, waiting for the fatal venom to kick in. It never did. Eventually, the snake just ran completely dry. But once that happened, its combat power absolutely tanked. It could only sit there and eat my attacks. By the end of the fight, I was in much better shape than when I started. All thanks to my recovery stat. Two clean hits ended at 30 damage points each. The snake dropped a level four monster core, plus something completely unexpected, a dungeon token. My eyes went wide. These things are incredibly rare. Some hunters grind for an entire year and still never see one. Not just any normal token, either. It was a comprehensive token. Popping it would instantly pin a wild dungeon right on my map. The wild dungeons are strictly one-time challenges offering way better loot than the massive permanent ones. They also come in different types. Treasure hunt, comprehensive, and mystery. Every single one offers a real shot at scoring some insane loot. I burned the token immediately, zero hesitation. The location popped up on my map right away, but it was miles from here. I decided to save it until I hit level five. Back to the grind. I kept farming level three monsters, red tailed foxes, and stuff like that. I was exactly one kill away from level three with an hour of daylight left. Then I ran into a black armored rhino. Level five. Built like a literal tank thick black armor covering its entire body. I launched a heavy strike. Eight damage. It hit me right back. One damage point. Technically, I could wear it down, but that would take forever and totally tank my health pool. Not worth the risk. So, for the very first time today, I made the smart play. I turned and bolted. Smack down a blue striped weasel on my way out and heard the chime. Level three finally. My hands were numb from swinging a sword all day, but I did it. Two level ups on day one. I was quite confident this secured a top three spot. My stats look solid. Constitution maxed out at 1,800, recovery at 169, and battle resilience bumped up to 13% efficiency. Time to head back. On my way into the city, I ran into Chinuir and another girl beside her. They had just finished grinding for the day, too. Chin Shuer was decked out in gleaming armor carrying a long sword. They looked like a real warrior. Then they both stared at me with weird expressions. I looked down understanding why. My clothes were completely shredded. I had been brawling with monsters all day with zero armor, just face tanking every single hit. My gear was just tattered rags. A breeze blew past making me look like an actual beggar. Super embarrassing. And actually laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. Then she did something totally unexpected. She cast Angel's blessing on me. soft golden light wrapped around me like a feathered cloak. Glowing wings suddenly sprouted from my back. It gives all party members a 20% stat boost. Plus, honestly, the spell totally hid my shredded clothes and made me look incredible. Double Srank classes really are on another level. On the walk back, Chinuer asked if I had been fighting solo. I said, "Yeah." He stayed quiet for a second, then dropped some major info. Mental stats can awaken skills, too, not just leveling up your class. It hit 20% on your latent mental stat and you might unlock a mental skill. Mine was sitting at 19%. I was so close, but hitting 20% doesn't guarantee anything. You also need rare mental resources and the only way to get those is through grad exam rankings, level leaderboards, dungeon scores, and overall standing. Top spots hand out rare resources as rewards. That was exactly why she said this month could completely change my fate. If I grind hard enough to rank high, I might score the resources to awaken a mental skill. And apparently mental skills are never weak. I thanked her. That info was crucial. My insane push to hit level three on day one was absolutely the right move. Top three on the leaderboard meant the best prizes. Back at the city outskirts, everyone was slumped around the guild camps, totally exhausted. Most teams hadn't even reached level two. People were muttering about how brutal the monsters were, and some fighters had already gotten hurt or worse. Nearby, Siwan and Jang were surrounded by a crowd of fans. People were hyping Siwan up as the strongest guy in the city, asking why he hadn't joined Chinshuer's team. His face instantly went stiff at that. I could definitely guess why. Siwan was awkwardly dodging questions about teaming up with Chin Shuer just as we strolled through the city gates. Me, Chinshuer, and her friend. I still had the angel's blessing buff on making me look like I was wearing glowing feathered robes. The whispers started instantly. They could see us walking and chatting together. Those morning rumors suddenly looked incredibly real. a double S-rank player and a C-rank guy actually teaming up. I spotted Sunyong at the guild entrance grinning ear to ear. He hit level two and was so proud of himself. He asked what level I was. I said three. His face actually twitched. He just stared completely convinced I had lost my mind. Then the day one leaderboards went live and absolute chaos broke out. Out of all the rookies in Yinhai City, 191 hit level two on their first day, but only two reached level three. The crowd just couldn't believe their eyes. Last year, nobody hit level three on day one. Sunyang barely scraped by at 99th place and absolutely lost his mind. He jumped around like a monkey. I told him to chill, but he swore I just wouldn't get it. For a regular guy like him, making the top 100 was bragging rights for a whole year. I patted his shoulder and promised to help him rank later. The rewards rolled in rank by rank. Jangai took 11th place, just barely missing the top 10. Looked totally crushed. Siwan, that Srank who tried to poach my team, landed in sixth place. He turned completely pale. Everyone expected him to easily hit the top three. Then the top five names flashed. The fourth and fifth went to S-rank fighters from other schools who teamed up Abyss Mage and Light Priest. A pretty solid duo, but still not enough for the top. Third place went to Lin Wei, a level two A rank contract master. Then the final two names popped up on screen. First place went to Chen Shishua, a level three SS rank holy light angel. Second place went to Dawn Team's Chumming, a level three C rank shield guard. Dawn team, yeah, that is me, a C-rank sitting comfortably in second place, beating out every single S-rank in the city. Dead silence fell over the crowd. Nobody saw this coming at all. The whole plaza was completely speechless. Nearly a thousand people stared at the board, unable to process it. Chen Shishuah taking first made sense with her SS rank, but a C-rank shield guard grabbing second place. The whispers broke out about who the hell I was and how a C-rank could possibly jump two full levels on day one. The crowd instantly decided that Chen Shiishu must have totally hard carried me. They assumed she just dragged me through fights for completely free experience points. A few people who saw me enter Breezewood Forest alone tried to clear things up but got drowned out. Chen Shiua herself looked absolutely stunned. Actual partner, Lin Wei, the third place A-rank contract master, knew the truth. She was the one partying up with Chenishua all day, not me. Both of them knew I hit level three completely solo, and neither could figure out how I actually pulled it off. Dunyang stood right next to me, his jaw completely on the floor. He was so ready to give me a motivational speech about accepting reality, but now he needed the reality check. I just shrugged and said I told him so and my rewards dropped and they were insane. 10 gold coins, two high tier gear pieces, 15 stat stones, two enhancement books, plus some rare resources. I grabbed a shield for endurance and boots for agility. The shadow guard shield granted 750 constitution, and the feathered boots added 15 agility. This gear changes everything. Then I checked the enhancement books. Armor penetration, precision aim, increased firing range. They all look pretty credible. I honestly wanted every single one, but I could only pick two. I had to chill. Keep dominating the ranks, and I would just get more tomorrow. I applied the books to my new gear. The boots gained sprint, doubling my agility for 1 minute with a 1-hour cool down. The shield got stealth, rendering me completely invisible. Combining sprint with stealth meant I could easily ambush enemies or escape if things got too rough. Not bad at all. After equipping everything, my overall stats shot up beautifully. Constitution hit 2550 and agility rose to 45. I was scaling up fast. Then came the real prize rare resources. Danyong hovered over my shoulder, dying to see the loot. I quickly scanned through the list. Earth spirit stones for physical stats, spirit mushrooms for recovery, and jade cloud fruits for raw strength. Most lacked clear descriptions, making it pretty hard to gauge their value. Then I spotted it. The mind crystal, mental energy material. Exactly what I needed to push my mind toward 20% and maybe awaken a new mental skill. I grabbed it without hesitation. It instantly materialized in my palm. A tiny white crystal barely the size of a fingernail. Dunyang leaned in, looking totally disappointed. He fully expected rare drops to glow like legendary treasures. This just looked like a pebble. I told him, "Real value rarely looks flashy." Afterwards, I headed into the guild to sell off my monster cores. I tossed 17 cores onto the counter. The clerk barely glanced at them and offered 1,700, assuming they were all level one. I told her to look closer. Her expression completely shifted. The corores from level two, level three, and a level four two-headed rattlesnake. She was stunned. A first day rookie actually took down a level four beast. He apologized and recounted, bringing my total to 4,500. I blew four grand buying four strength runstones. The guild buys them at 600, but resells at 1,000. Almost a double profit margin. Absolute daylight robbery, but I needed the power boost. I walked out with my runestones and just 500 gold left. Cash evaporates crazy fast in this world. I returned to my tiny home, lived alone since my family died in a monster wave 10 years ago. I scrubbed off the monster blood, ate dinner, and finally crashed. Physically, I was fine. My health never dipped below 10%. And was basically full now. But mentally, I was totally drained. Grinding for hours takes a heavy toll on your mind, even if your bot feels perfectly fine. I pulled out my phone. The big exam was trending everywhere online. Checking the Yinh High City feed, the top three trends were all about me. Number one, a C-rank player somehow taking second place. Number two, Chen Shu and I forming a team. And the third was just wild rumors about us secretly dating. My group chats were absolutely blowing up with people begging to join Team Morning Light. I ignored the spam and clicked straight over to the national trends. The biggest headline wasn't about the test at all. It was a prophecy. An SS ranked prophet named Master Pay just dropped his once in a decade prediction. He claimed two things. First, an era of heroes is coming, bringing stronger awakened classes than ever before. The second thing, absolute total insanity. Blue Star will soon make contact with alien civilizations. I was highly skeptical. You can barely handle the monsters crawling on Earth, let alone deep space exploration. The sky is already full of high-risisk dungeons anyway, and we haven't even fully mapped our own planet yet. But then I kept scrolling. Two SSS rank fighters just awakened for the first time in 30 years. Plus, a massive star dungeon was discovered. Rank awakeners were popping up everywhere at crazy rates, and the Lighthouse Alliance claimed they had already made alien contact. It all matched the prophecy perfectly. I shook my head. This stuff was way above my current pay grade anyway. I locked my phone and pulled out the mine crystal from my rank rewards. It sat right on my fingertip, glowing faintly. I tried scanning it with mental energy, but got absolutely nothing back. Even with my potential sitting at 19%. But whatever is locked inside, I definitely need 20% to open it. Chen Shu told mental skills could completely change my fate. An SS rank awakener thinks it is that powerful. It has to be pretty incredible. I sat up to start meditating. The boosting mental potential takes constant training. The grind never stops. Higher potential means more mana, better active skills, and maybe even a brand new ability. Time to work. I spent the entire night meditating. But once your mental potential passes 10%, meditating actually restores you much better than sleep. I could feel myself getting closer to that 20% wall. A warm current washed through my mind, completely erasing all my mental fatigue from earlier today. I lost track of time completely. By morning, day two of the exam had already started. Fighters were marching right out of the city again. I had already caused a massive uproar. A C-rank player snatching second place was totally unheard of in this exam's history. But what I did not know yet was just how much was happening behind the scenes. Was up in a building overlooking the city limits. A highle provincial inspector was holding a serious meeting with all the school principles. The robotic raven perched on his shoulder, literally speaking for him. He only came to Yinhai city for one reason. The alliance was hosting a special assessment at stake. The highly coveted group team slots. Only two team slots were available for the entire Jang province. The third and fifth high principles were already scheming. Both of their grandsons were S-rank fighters on Team Abyss, and they desperately wanted Chen Shu to join them. Pairing an SS rank with their S-rank fighters would create an unstoppable team. They pressured my principal, principal Xiao, to just hand her over, put my principal, principal Xiao, in a terrible spot. The other principles openly mocked him, claiming that chaining an SS rank to a C-rank was a total waste. They argued Yinhai City had to unite its best fighters, otherwise they would get crushed by rival cities bringing full S-rank squads. They kept pushing, insisting Chen Shu would obviously prefer S-rank fighters over some C-rank kid like me. But Principal Xiao stayed completely silent. They refused to agree, but did not defend me either. I think he still believed in me, even if he could not explain why. I meditated all night long when my eyes snapped open 20% mental potential. I finally broke through. Two things unlocked instantly. First, mental space. A tiny pocket dimension inside my head, exactly the size of a room. I can store things there just by thinking. No more dragging gear bags and monster cores everywhere. I tested it out with my sword. Vanished from my hand and appeared inside the space. Second, mental scan got a massive upgrade. Before 20%, it was just basic radar. Now it felt like full bird's eye vision. I could literally watch the dust particles floating in the air. Every tiny flutter of the curtains was perfectly clear. Then the huge surprise. The system prompt popped up asking if I wanted to awaken a mental skill right now. No special items needed, no crazy ritual, just yes or no. Everyone always said unlocking mental skills was practically impossible, even at 20% it. But for me, it was completely automatic. I almost burst out laughing, but barely held it back. I grabbed yesterday's reward crystal and absorbed all its energy. The rush felt absolutely incredible. Your energy flooded my body, yet it was barely a drop in a massive empty pool. If rare resources dictate the tier of my awakened skill, and I know they do, then I need way more before making my move. I wanted the highest rating possible, so I stayed patient. But I got so completely absorbed in training that I lost track of time. When I checked my phone, it was already 11:00 a.m. Half the day wasted. I immediately bolted toward the city outskirts. Whispers broke out instantly. Everyone else had been grinding monsters since dawn. And here I was just casually strolling in at noon. They assumed Chen Xiaou dumped me and I gave up. Some laughed, others just shook their heads mockingly. But what I didn't know was that up in a massive high-rise, the school principals were watching me, too. alongside a provincial inspector sent specifically to pick candidates for a special alliance assessment. The entire Jong province only had two team slots and the other principles were openly mocking principal Xiao for letting a C rank tag along with an SS rank. But when I looked at that building, I felt a powerful presence watching me. The feeling vanished instantly. The inspector clearly noticed something the principles missed. I had already unlocked 20% of my mental capacity. That alone caught his attention. Meanwhile, I headed straight for Breezewood Forest entirely solo. People sideighed, assuming I would just hunt weak level one mobs. Nobody imagined I would bypass the safe zone and enter the real monster forest. My blade now holds 10 strength points, the absolute cap for basic gear. I'll need much higher quality equipment to slot in any more runstones. High tier holds 20 stones. Epic takes 30. Legendary or mythic gear holds even more, but finding those is absurdly difficult. I had lost time to recover. My target was hitting level five tonight and grabbing a top three spot in today's rankings. The rare resources were on the line. I needed to grab everything possible. I quickly checked my stats before heading out. Thanks to the shadow armor and winged boots from the exam rewards, plus all those runstones I slotted in, my numbers finally looked somewhat respectable. Constitution 2550, agility 45, strength 40, mental power hit 360. Thanks to my new 20% capacity, the shadow armor stealth effect let me blend into the forest. absolutely perfect here. My only real weakness was still attack power. I desperately needed some active combat skills. I had three upcoming chances. One mental skill awakening and two class skills right at level 10. At least one had to be an offensive ability. Suddenly, I spotted a storm mantis. Level five. Dark green shell and arm shaped just like butterfly knives. Before hitting 20%, monsters used to ambush me first. Not anymore. I sensed it before it even noticed me. dropping from a tree trunk, totally silent as a shadow, I plunged my blade straight into its eye. 76 damage, a weak point strike on the very first hit. The mantis shrieked and swiped, but thanks to my upgraded mental tracking, its movements felt painfully slow. My body couldn't quite keep up with what my mind was seeing, but that hardly mattered. When its razor- sharp arms hit my neck, I took just one damage. Metal striking metal. The mantis simply stared in total confusion. I attacked hard, targeting its eyes over and over. When it couldn't take anymore, it tried to flee. I cut its head off cleanly. 71 experience points plus a monster core. Not bad. I decided to move on to level six monsters. The gap between level five and six barely mattered to me anymore. With my mental tracking and better gear, I realized I could handle enemies four or five levels higher. Then I found exactly what I wanted. Four silverback apes, all level six, surrounding me on a hillside 2 m tall with giant silver fists the size of my head. I didn't run. I didn't hide. I targeted one and unleashed everything while their fists pounded into me like hammers on an anvil. The one damage, one damage, one damage. I just kept hitting weak points. One of the apes finally went down. 90 experience points. The other three went entirely berserk, attacking from all directions at once. One leaped into the air, crashing down with both fists. The ground shook. Dirt flew absolutely everywhere. One damage. Before the dust even settled, my blade was already tearing through the next ape. I dropped them all one after another, bagging around 360 experience points from the pack. I checked my health. 2400 out of 2600. I lost less than a tenth fighting four level six monsters at once. I kept pushing toward the dungeon, clearly marked on my map. Just two more solid fights, and I'd finally hit level five. At this rate, I'd arrived before evening and easily locked down another top three spot. Then I stumbled onto something really interesting. Two bizarre creatures were fighting fiercely. A giant frog half the size of a human was tangled with some kind of creeping plant monster. It was covered in vines and red spots sporting a flower-shaped head packed with razor-sharp teeth. Saw two vicious monsters fighting. A giant frog and a terrifying plant beast with a tooth filled flower head. The frog was already dying. This was absolutely perfect timing. I pulled my sword from my mental space, dashed in, and severed the frog's head in one clean strike. 88 experience points. Too easy. It felt absolutely incredible. one of those perfectly executed strikes where everything just flows smoothly. The plant monster, however, was not happy. I stole its meal. It lunged, thrashing its tentacles wildly, spewing a nasty dark red gas that instantly killed nearby plants. Definitely poison, but I am immune to all this. I breathed it in and felt absolutely nothing. I kept swinging my sword until I cleaved its flower head in two. 90 bonus experience points. Level four reached. My stats are skyrocketing now. Constitution 3,100. Recovery 230 an hour. combat agility hit level five. Fighting a level six monster one-on-one, I can win and walk away with full health without a single scratch. The only thing that could theoretically threaten me is a monster with higher stats attacking at insane speeds. But with my constitution rising, even that weakness will completely vanish. So, I decided to go on the offensive. Instead of hunting monsters, I started making noise on purpose to draw them in. The plan worked perfectly. The level seven ice foxes, the wild bull and black scaled lizards came running and I tore them all apart. They each gave me over a 100 experience points. My experience bar filled like a rocket. Fighting beasts three levels above me brings in massive experience. Nobody else could pull this off. Normal parties stick to monsters at their own level because anything higher risks certain death. For me, a level seven monster only deals one point of damage per hit. I casually slipped another agility run stone into my shoe, then suddenly realized I was starving. is I had eaten nothing since morning. Level four is not high enough to skip meals. I learned yesterday that hunger completely drains mental energy by the end of the day. So, I pulled a lighter from my mental space and started roasting a bull thigh right there in the forest. Exotic monster meat is truly incredible. Needs zero seasoning. Better than anything from a normal kitchen. I was just enjoying my meal when two more beasts showed up. Probably drawn by the smell. The one was a golden rat. The other was a bull from the exact same species I was currently eating. I expected it to charge in absolute fury. Instead, it just stared at the roasted meat in my hand and gulped hard. Even monsters wanted my cooking. Both beasts completely ignored me like I was not even there. The level four human wasn't even worth their attention. They faced off against each other, ready to fight over territory, food, or whatever monsters fight over. So, I sat quietly, grabbed my roasted bullseye, and enjoyed the free show. Just a level four guy eating lunch while two level seven monsters tear each other apart a few meters away. Anyone watching would think I was totally insane. Then minutes later, I finished my food, burped. I grabbed my sword, and decided to settle their dispute. The golden rat dropped first, 108 experience points, then the bull with 112 points. They were both exhausted from fighting each other, so they fell fast. Level five. Finally, I can enter the dungeons now. I checked my map and saw the comprehensive tower location was not too far from here. I was hoping for something really good. treasure hunts, puzzles, or literally anything with rare rewards. Open wild towers give first clear rewards that permanent big towers do not offer. The loot is usually way better. 15 minutes later, I reached the site. My jaw dropped. The ground had completely caved in, forming a massive crater. The long rift stretched across the landscape like someone carved out a huge chunk of earth. Thick fog completely hid the bottom. I couldn't see how deep it was. I didn't hesitate. With 3,800 health and the power to crush anything under level 10, I jumped right off the edge. I fell through howling cold fog that felt completely endless. Then I finally slammed into solid ground. At one point of damage, I found the dungeon entrance, a glowing light curtain between large rocks. My token glowed. It wrapped around me. Suddenly, I was inside the Union Mountain Stream dungeon meant for treasure hunting and challenges. I had to collect at least 10 rare energy materials and defeat five guardian monsters within 24 hours. Then I used my mental detection to scan the area and almost choked in shock. Just 10 meters away from me sat three rare resource plants. The green wood bud for recovery, a red fire element fruit, and a thick earth flower for constitution. All radiating pure energy. I absorbed the green wood bud. My recovery stat jumped by five points. And the earth flower boosted my constitution by 50 points. Excellent quality. I saved the red fruit. It is a fire element resource. Absorbing elemental materials will heavily impact the type of skill I awaken at level 10. I wasn't ready to commit to the fire element yet, so I stored it in my mental space. I can always sell it later if I don't need it. I collected three out of 10, and I barely took a single step inside this valley. The place was massive, stretching ahead with cliffs on both sides and weird plants everywhere. I had found an absolute treasure trove. I kept exploring the valley and found more rare plants. The tons grass restores stats, but I noticed something very strange about it. There was impure energy mixed into it. Poison, highly toxic, actually. I just shrugged and ate it anyway. plus 10 to my recovery stat. Poison means absolutely nothing to me. After that, I found a wind whisper orchid, a wind element plant that significantly boosts agility. The second I reached out, something lunged from the fog. Fast, cunning, almost totally invisible. I struck first. That is just my instinct now. Do not think, do not block, just hit. It was a wind spirit. The level seven, but way deadlier than normal level seven mobs. People call them variant monsters. It is a special tier for freakishly strong creatures. This thing wielded the wind like a blade. The wind slashes, invisible needles, sonic screams that tear at your brain. It speed was absolute madness. Fighting more like a level 9 boss. Those wind blades battered me relentlessly, taking one damage per hit over and over. The real nightmare was trying to counterattack. The thing danced through the air like a shredded rag, constantly shifting, completely impossible to pin down. My base agility just could not keep up. I triggered my wing boot sprint skill. My agility shot past 130 for a single minute. It blasted forward like a rocket and finally landed clean hits 55 damage a pop, bouncing off walls, shifting midair, hunting it down ruthlessly. Half a minute later, it dropped dead. I scored 150 experience points, way more than an average level seven mob. The loot drops were actually insane. A monster core, an agility runest, even a tier one crystal. The crystals upgrade gear from tier 1 to tier 2. You usually only get them for clearing a dungeon, never from farming regular mobs. This dungeon was definitely special. I could not use the crystal yet. Tier 2 gear needs level 10, but I tossed it in my inventory for later. I smashed the agility runestone right into my boots. My base agility spiked to 18. I grabbed the wind whisper lizard and stashed it away, too. The wind element was not something I needed to worry about right now. The one guardian down. Plenty more to go. If every mob drops loot like this, I am in for one hell of a night. With my spirit stat at 20%, I could go days without sleeping. Leaving was not an option. I planned to fully clear this dungeon tonight. Back in the city, people were barely hitting level two on their second day and feeling pretty smug about it, too. Meanwhile, I was already sitting at level five, pushing deep into a wild dungeon, hunting variant bosses, raking in rare drops by the truckload. For average awakeners, dungeon rewards are the ultimate prize. The major dungeons, enemy intel is totally public. Zero surprises. It makes grinding levels a whole lot safer. Plus, anyone with enough cash can just buy gear and materials straight from those dungeons. Some drop incredibly rare items. The rumor had it the Srank transfers from third and fifth high already snagged runeststones from the field dungeons. They are just waiting for level five to challenge them. Field dungeons. Someone suddenly shouted. Yeah, apparently some B rank killed a boss and sold the runestone to the Abyss Guild for 200,000. Man, I totally would have kept it. Field dungeon rewards are seriously insane. Maybe even rare artifacts. A massive wave of jealousy rippled right through the crowd. For regular people, field dungeons were the ultimate double-edged sword, a golden ticket, or a total death trap. But right then, a massive commotion broke out near the city gates. It was Chin Shiwa, the undisputed rank one player of Day One, had returned. Chinshiwa was easily the strongest awakened student in Yinhai City. Every single place she went, eyes just followed her. Seeing Chini Hua walking back alongside a young girl, the crowd immediately started buzzing with excitement. Hold on. Chini is not with Chinming today. Dude, you are so far behind on the news. and Shiua already completely dropped Chin Ming. No way. Seriously? Yeah. Chin Ming dragged himself back to town around noon. He looked completely wrecked. The guys who spotted Chinming earlier were practically vibrating with excitement to spill the tea. Whispers swept through the crowd like wildfire. Most people were thrilled to see Chin Shiwa and Chin Ming finally split. We are all just normal awakeners. Hell, half of us outle Chin Ming. So why does he get hard carried by an SS ranked player for free loot? How is that remotely fair? If you awaken a trash class, just accept your place at the bottom. Luckily, it looks like Chin Xiwa only carried that dead weight for a single day. Through the gates, Chin Xiwa walked back in from the wastelands. My lady today went flawlessly. Our objective was secured without a hitch. The Lin Wei followed behind, crossing her arms with a bright smile. Chin Shiwa paused her steps as her dark hair caught the light perfectly. She looked almost angelic, radiating a pure glow that brightened the entire street. Though we only hit the baseline objective where do not get so complacent. Lin Wei stuck her tongue out and pouted, "Fine, I get it, though. But my lady, you cannot put so much pressure on yourself. You awakened an SS rank class. In the future," Chini Hua said, "Absolutely nothing. Just kept walking straight ahead." Lin Wei just let out a helpless sigh and quietly followed her. The moment they entered the city, two guys approached. The leader wore a long robe traced with faded gold, looking incredibly arrogant. "Miss Chin, your reputation definitely precedes you. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Wu Ching, and this right here is Wong Yan." He pointed at the tall guy standing behind him. Both were S-rank awakeners on Team Abyss. Lynway gave them a quick glance and calmly asked, "Do you need something?" But we are all elite awakeners in this batch. Our paths will definitely cross again in the future, so I will just get straight to the point. Duchong smiled smoothly, trying to build some friendly rapport between them. Then he directly asked Chinua to join Team Abyss. He also brought up the rules for this year's major exam. This test is strictly for small teams, and Jang Province only gets two slots. The difficulty is obvious. Wu Chingong just wanted to remind Chin Shu that she needed a strong squad. Yinh High City only has three S-rank awakeners. Teaming up with Team Abyss clearly looks like her best option right now. Before he could finish, a cold and firm voice cut him off. I already have a team. Go look somewhere else. But once she knew their goal, Chinua rejected them flat out. She didn't even wait for Team Abyss to reply. She just walked away. Wu Ching Gong was still processing it, but a quiet Wong Yan suddenly stepped up and blocked her path. From the start, Wong Yan had his eyes completely locked on Chinua. He had heard of Chin Shua from the first middle school, but never really cared. After all, before the awakening phase, fame was just an empty title. Being her in person now, he was totally stunned. Hearing Chinshua flat out refused to join Team Abyss made Wong Yan incredibly anxious. Is this all because of Chuing? He recalled what Chin Shu just said and immediately thought of him. On yesterday's leaderboard, only Chuing<unk>s squad carried that specific name. There's a C-rank loser who will only drag you down. Wu Ching Gong agreed, "This competition is extremely fierce. Bringing along a C-rank awakener means you can never compete against the pure S-rank teams from other cities." Everyone thought Chin Shao had already dumped Chu Ming and left the Mingchen team. Then, a totally unexpected twist happened. At that exact moment, a pop-up notification flashed before everyone. The day two exam results were officially out for all of Yinhai City. 762 level two awakeners, 15 level three awakeners, six level four awakeners, only two level five awakeners. The official rankings were finally released. Today's stats are totally shocking. Someone yelled in surprise. Of course, the first day is always the most confusing. Average awakeners almost hit level two. The elite ones nearly reached level three, making day two a massive leap forward. The craziest part was having two people hit level five. The second that was pointed out, a brief silence fell over the crowd. The people exchanged looks, all thinking of the exact same name because the same scenario happened yesterday. Yesterday's top tier only had two people and one of them was Chu Ming. Could Chumu Ming really pull it off again today? No way. Absolutely impossible. Wow, this feels incredible though. Bagging massive rewards two days in a row. The real changes are probably hidden inside the top 15. Soon the new rankings were revealed one by one. Sixth place to level four rank marshall spirit pioneer. Seventh place to Wong Tong level four A rank of earth. 15th place. Impossible. Seuan is still sixth. Wow. A level four yet still sixth. Is that even possible? In past years, hitting level four on day two would easily guarantee first place. But this year, it only secured sixth. This year must be packed with monsters. Everyone here is insanely talented. How are they leveling up so fast? An S-rank awakener. I should be getting the best rewards. Yet, I am stuck in sixth place for two whole days. Absolute injustice. I could never accept this. Many gave Seuan sympathetic looks as he walked out of the instance portal. At that exact moment, Seuan checked his rank. His face immediately scowlled. He grinded incredibly hard to level up today, thinking level four would lock him into the top five. Instead, he just stagnated. Wait, this scenario felt way too familiar. Finally, someone realized something was wrong. Why hadn't the top rankings changed since yesterday? Before anyone could think about it too much, the ranking boards suddenly flashed and updated. First placeing level five D rank shield guard dawn team. Second place Chinua the level five thus rank holy light angel dawn team. Third place the Linway level four a rank contract master. In fourth place the Wong Yan level four shrank abyss mage abyss. Fifth place Duching Gong the level four the shrank light priest name Abyss. The right at the city limits above the major guilds and camp hubs. Massive screens displayed those exact rankings. Alongside this year's newly awakened students, plenty of others were watching this major exam with intense interest. But with all rankings revealed, total silence fell, not just over the students, but over absolutely everyone. Everyone stared wideeyed at the first place slot where the massive letters of Chuing<unk>s name were displayed. Right behind it sat rank shieldguard, completely inmissible. First place, who? Chuing. Wow. Am I just imagining this? No way, man. And they noticed Siwan was still stuck in sixth place today. Lots of people guess Chumming might actually stay in the top five. He reached level three yesterday. If he was already close to level four, bumping it up one more rank totally makes sense. After all, the rankings depend on time. But nobody expected this result. Completely unbelievable. Just absolutely impossible. A class C shield guard outperforming all awakened in Yinhai City, even crushing double S tiers to take first place. Who would ever believe that? My god, Miss Chumming is beating you. Behind Sheni, Linwi<unk>s eyes widened in sheer shock. She knew very well today. The young lady fought countless monsters to reach level five, even risking the monster forest to hunt highle targets. Chumming ranked way higher. This meant he was leveling up even faster than Chinua. Did he actually awaken a mental type skill? Chinua stared at the ranking, lost in thought. Suddenly, an idea flashed in Lynwi<unk>s mind. It looked at Wong Yin and Wuing with a weird expression. Seeing her mocking gaze, both Wong Yin and Wu Ching completely froze. It felt incredibly uncomfortable all over. Just a moment ago, they called Chumming trash. Now that the board is updated, the guy they called trash took first place. Does that make them even bigger failures? Just humiliated themselves. Is this real? Finally, someone broke and asked the question out loud. I think so, too. How is this even possible? Is the system bugged? That sparked a massive uproar. The rankings definitely cannot be wrong. The problem lies with Chunming. Wow. Maybe he teamed up with highlevel awakened students and cheated to boost his rank, right? Hearing this, Wong Yin seemed to realize something important. His eyes lighting up. Exactly. Chumming must have cheated. It is just a class C nobody. How could he get these results? I bet he used some trick to avoid detection during the major exam. Cheating during the big exam actually happens in a few cases every year. like teaming up with unassigned awakened students to power level or having a higher tier weaken a monster just so he can steal the easy kill for points that in every single case they get expelled instantly from the test and banned for life from alliance rankings. There is zero tolerance for cheating here. The Wong Yian stirred things up and doubts grew louder. Everyone felt reassured. Do not worry. I will report this and investigate it thoroughly. Cheaters will be punished. We have to do our duty. The Wong Yian<unk>s grandfather runs the third school, holding enough power to contact the alliance leaders directly. Hearing that, the crowd felt massive relief. Some people even started looking for Chunming, hoping he would show up to explain everything. But nobody could find Chuning anywhere near the border. So where is he? He hasn't come back since entering the monster forest at noon. I have been at the border all afternoon, said one awakened student covered in heavy bandages. He got hurt fighting monsters this morning and spent the entire afternoon resting at the camp. Chumming never came back. Is he still outside the city? Doesn't that make the suspicion of cheating way stronger? The waken students above level 10 wouldn't dare stay in the monster forest at night, let alone a level five nobody. Meanwhile, on a high building nearby, someone snorted what a bunch of ignorant fools. The mechanical crow on the patrol officer's shoulder snorted coldly, daring to question the credibility of the big exam. Just how stupid can they get? Behind him, several principles looked completely mortified. The third school's principal looked especially grim. his face full of total disgrace because the loudest voice down there belonged to his grandson, Wong Yin. As a principal, he naturally knew a lot of details about the Grand Test. The test instance isn't just for evaluating newly awakened students every single year. In fact, the big exam is just one of many functions in the alliance's massive mega instance. This thing was personally created by the strongest person in China. Main purpose is actually defending against any invasions from outside the alliance. to building a complete regional instance covering the entire alliance takes immense power, totally beyond what normal people could ever imagine. Cheating. Saying that word is practically questioning the entire alliance's authority. And the craziest part is this is happening right before the inspector's eyes. While some principles debated what to say or if they should even intervene, they suddenly noticed the crow on the inspector's shoulder take flight. It landed on the windowsill, metallic eyes flashing a dark light, then projected a glowing screen. You wish to activate access permissions to verify the big exam data. Inspector identity confirmed. Target is Chumming. Down at the city border, more and more people were genuinely starting to doubt Chumming's results. Even started shouting insults and criticizing him. At that exact moment, a strange humming sound dropped from the sky above. That instantly caught everyone's attention. Looking up, they saw a massive light screen projected right over the entire border area. To what was happening? What did this glowing screen mean? Was it about to reveal something? Then text began scrolling across the screen, retrieving class changer data. Shinhai city, Shinhai First Middle School, Shunming, accessing grand exam details, loading Shunming<unk>s specific exam data. His results were terrifying enough to force the light screen to trigger. Did he actually cheat? Right then, the entire crowd erupted into chaos. Everyone had the exact same thought. Shanming definitely cheated. Otherwise, the exam system would never verify his data directly. But as the information slowly loaded in, people started noticing something really weird. Location Breeze Forest Safe zone outside Yinhai City defeated Spike Rolling Monster. Level one, earn six experience points. Time 1 9:59 a.m. Location Breeze Forest Safe zone outside Yin High City defeated Spike Rolling Monster. Level two gained 15 experience points. Time 1:20 p.m. Class changer Shunming reached level 2. Time 2:45 p.m. Location level 1 monster forest. Defeated a level three Crimson Halibore, gaining 26 experience points. Time 5:32 p.m. Shanming reached level three. Maps flashed onto the glowing screen, mapping out his exact route. Right beside it, text started popping up. Detailed logs of Shunming leveling up and every monster he defeated, locations, times, and the exact experience gained. As this heavy data kept rolling in, everyone went dead silent. The people doubting Shanming suddenly swallowed their pride. In the crowd, Wong Yin, who started the witch hunt, looked absolutely furious. His face turned bright red and twisted like he had just swallowed a live bug. The glowing screen clearly was not just verifying Shunming<unk>s exam run. It was a brutal slap in the face to every single hater. Displayed his entire combat log. Absolutely insane. Aside from that very first level one monster. Everything else was level two. Just look at Shunming<unk>s route. He entered the monster forest on day one. Level three. Holy crap. He fought level three monsters on his very first day. Did he actually kill level fours, too? Is that even humanly possible? Now the entire crowd locked back onto Shunming<unk>s leveling data. The second they saw his day one stats, nobody could keep it together. He was solo hunting every single beast for all the experience to finally someone pointed out the craziest detail. Looking at the experience drops, Shunming was fighting completely solo. He took down every target himself. Even without seeing the actual fights, the map proved Shunming stormed the monster forest, dropping high tier beasts one after another. It was absolutely mind-blowing. All those doubts about Shunming instantly vanished. Instead, the crowd felt raw anticipation. Yeah, pure hype. They were dying for his day two stats to load. They needed to see what this kid was truly capable of. Out at the city border, everyone froze to watch. Soon enough, Shanming<unk>s day 2 data lit up the screen. Day 2, 11:35 a.m., level one monster forest killed a level five wind mantis, gained 71 experience. Day 2, 10:03 p.m., level one monster forest killed four level six silverback apes harvested 358 experience. Time 2:9 p.m., Shanming hit level 4. Time 4:42 p.m. On day 2, Shunming reached level 5. Time 5:29 p.m. Level 1 monster forest killed a level 7 wind spirit for 150 experience. The data feed suddenly stopped right there. Shanming's final update was at 5:29 p.m. Meaning just half an hour ago, Shanming was still out there grinding in the monster forest. Level seven, a level five class changer executing a level seven monster. And that was not all. I saw him take down a level seven flying beast while he was only at level four. After dropping Shenming's second day data, the glowing screen suddenly vanished without any warning. It appeared fast and vanished even faster. But the absolute shock it left behind was massive. The entire border zone fell into this weird heavy silence for minutes. Was he really a C-rank shield guard? Could he possibly have a hidden class? Was posing as a C rank or maybe a legendary dual class user. And just like that, people started doubting Shunming all over again. But this time, it was not about his combat skills. They were questioning if Shanming actually had a hidden or dual class. Tucked in a corner, Sunyong quietly grabbed his phone. He shot a quick message to Shun Ming. Brother Shan, where are you? People are talking crazy about you out here. Of course, Shan Ming had zero clue what was happening back at the border. Meanwhile, deep inside the Union Mountain Stream dungeon. Time flew by. The twin stone giants were finally defeated. Level seven, 125 experience. Looted a level seven twin stone giant monster core. He grabbed a vitality run stone near a massive broken wall. The brutal fight was finally over. Shanming crunched over the rubble, yanking a stone heart flower right out of the rock. He dropped his sword and slumped to the dirt, barely catching his breath. Even with chumming and his insane stamina, the endless brawl was finally making him crash. Almost at the end of the valley, he stared at a narrow opening cloaked in pale blue mist. A tiny winding path stretched past that gap straight into the valley core. Taking a quick breather, Chumming pulled up his current quest, Progress, to see where he stood. First quest, treasure hunting. Collect 10 attribute energy materials. Progress is 17 out of 10. Second, the challenge. Defeat at least five guardian monsters. Progress is five out of five. He had already bagged 17 rare resources and were raw materials with zero elemental power which Chumming already absorbed. The rest were just sitting in his inventory for now. And Mming used his mental energy to scan his spiritual space. Red fruit fire element strength attribute. Breeze orchid the wind element agility attribute. Nourishing yuan fruit wood element constitution attribute. Flowing light the wood core light element strength attribute. He smirked. An absolute jackpot. A deep wave of satisfaction hit him like a miser counting his gold. These rare materials were insanely valuable. If Chumming sold them all right now, he would easily make an absolute fortune. So far, he had crushed the special treasure guardian monster five times in a row. Sadly, everything that spawned after was just basic mob trash with zero special traits. And the loot they dropped was beyond pathetic. Just a strength runstone and a recovery one. Both requirements were fully cleared, but this dungeon was not over yet. It looked like there was way more waiting for him up ahead. Chumming decided to rest up before pushing into the deepest zone. Right then, a notification flashed right in his face. Day two of the Grand Exam rankings. First place reward, 10 gold coins, two tier one highquality equipment attribute runestones with 15 power. You choose the type. Two equipment enhancement books of your choice, plus two rare resources of your choice. The wo, the grand exam reward just dropped, and I am sitting pretty at number one. Chumming grinned, opening the system panel to check. Hitting first place proved his leveling speed had finally left Chinshu in the dust. Plus, today's prize came with two rare resources. This was insanely good. Chumming was absolutely thrilled. He had gathered 17 materials down in the valley, but you could never have too many rare resources. The more rare items he absorbed now, the stronger his skills would be at level 10. Sure, he already had a triple S rank preset skill. The awakening skill tied to his Seale shield guardian class still desperately needed rare resources to upgrade. Most importantly, Chumming desperately wanted spiritual type rare resources. He had not found a single one down here yet. Huh? Completely gone. Chumming stared at the glowing panel in total shock. He had just selected the mine crystal, but right as he was about to grab a second one, the mine crystal icon grayed out. Wait, did someone just snipe it? Only explanation was that someone instantly snatched that spiritual item. After all, the Grand Exam rewards were open to the entire alliance. Millions of transfer students were fighting like dogs. Even if only three kids per city got to pick rare items, that was still a massive crowd. And the biggest problem was that out of everything offered, only the mind crystal fell into the spiritual category. Clearly, everyone else realized how insanely valuable spiritual materials were, and they all wanted that specific drop. Honestly, that made perfect sense. Anyone pulling top three ranks in their city was obviously a total genius. Geniuses had serious egos and wanted to awaken the absolute strongest abilities, and mental skills were just way too tempting to pass up. Most players could never even awaken that power. But if you actually pulled it off, you would be unstoppable. Even so, Chumming was still pretty disappointed. The amount of mine crystal he managed to grab was small, but at least he got a piece. He desperately needed those rare mental items right now. Guess he had no choice but to wait and see what dropped later. As the tournament went on, the loot pool would only get better, especially once they hit the final reward tier. Hamming shook his head and just picked a different rare resource, a palms-sized metal chunk giving off a bright red glow. It was a raw strength type item with zero elemental energy. Scanning it with his mind, Chumming found its quality was identical to the rare materials from the valley, a level one strength boost. After absorbing that rare item, Chumming started scrolling through the gear and enhancement books. But right now, he was rocking a standard long sword to high tier shield and agility boots. Time to boost strength and recovery stats. Thinking it over, Chumming locked in high-quality gear for both strength and recovery. The bonus from his standard long sword runstone was already maxed out at 10. To push his damage any higher, he had to upgrade to premium gear. Recovery was also a crucial stat. The recovery bracelet gave a 75% boost. The passive rapid heal on that gear was insane. Dropping below 50% health. Triggers a 50% recovery rate. Lasts an hour, 1 hour cool down. Gear on. Chumming started picking out his strength items. Rock shattering blade. Strength 15. Huh. While browsing strength enhancement books, he found something seriously good. Active blood lust for strength gear. It boosts attack by 50% but cuts defense by 50%. Lasts 1 hour with a 1 hour cool down. Class changers are advised to be careful. Chumming's eyes lit up. This buff was clearly a massive double-edged sword for risktakers. Physical stats are a massive deal for class changers they directly tie into actual life force. Some players might tank their defense and take extra damage just for more attack. Most normal class changers would never dare. That is exactly why the item description highlights the minus 50% defense penalty in bright red. The harsh warning to be careful, but Chuning is built completely different. Minus 50% defense. Ding this. He just smiled innocently. Sorry, but his defense stat is already a glitch. Actually, he has zero defense to begin with. What a beautiful ability. This buff suits me perfectly. Dunming instantly grabbed the enhancement book. A prompt appeared. Do you wish to proceed? The warning. This buff carries a penalty. He hit confirm. A penalty that literally does not exist. I have zero defense anyway, so what could drop? Take away 100% and nothing happens. Items are secured. Chumming applied the buff straight onto the rock shattering blade. Bing. The exact second the buff took hold, the heavy blade vibrated. The bright blood red pattern started creeping up from the tip of the blade. Slowly, inch by inch, it covered the entire weapon. Looks like some kind of dark magic. Chumming muttered to himself, grabbing the rocks shattering blade and inspecting every single angle. It didn't feel anything special yet. The real effect probably only kicks in during combat when blood lust activates. He wanted to test it right there, but held off. A full hour cooldown was pretty long, but it also lasted an entire hour, so that balanced out perfectly. After testing the weapon's weight, Chumming tossed it back into his storage space. Then he pulled out his reward, the soul crystal. Still just fingernail sized, totally pathetic compared to other rare resources. Tming shut his eyes, focused his mental energy pulling it in. Crack. Less than a minute later, the crystal shattered into grayish brown dust in his palm, and still absolutely zero increase to his mental stats. Ning frowned, counting the soul crystal from yesterday. He had already absorbed two mental resources, but his mental strength had not gone up by a single point. Other rare drops from exams or valley loot usually boost stats after just one use. It was not like Chumming was completely desperate for a mental strength boost. It just felt like he was hitting a total brick wall. Zero sense of actual progression. Consuming two resources felt entirely useless, like dropping a single pebble into a massive lake. He honestly could not tell if his energy was just pathetic or if mental stats were naturally this stubborn. And this was two full days of work. Even if he gathered mental resources for a full month of exams, it probably wouldn't upgrade his awakening skills much. He told himself, "No, I have to find another way. Exam rewards alone are not going to cut it." And Ming really wanted to fill that mental energy pool he started. But looking at things now, a whole month of exams might not even fill a puddle. No wonder it is so incredibly hard for normal people to awaken any mental skills. It's not just about farming resources. The progress is just painfully slow. Compared to other skills, this was a massive hurdle. After a quick break, Chumming set off again, heading straight into the final zone of the valley. He stepped into a narrow, foggy canyon where visibility was practically zero. Mist was so thick, he could taste the dampness with every breath. He realized something fighting in here on site alone would be a huge disadvantage. This heavy fog made it near impossible to spot danger, and it wouldn't fade away easily. If Chumming did not have a mental strength stat over 20, it boosted his sensory range heavily. He would have easily gotten lost out here. Wait, he noticed something ahead. Staring forward, the mist looked distorted. His mental pulse picked up a huge spike of energy. Following that signal, he quickly closed in on the zone. It was just a small dirt mound. To the naked eye, it literally looked like a completely normal pile of soil. But scanning it with his mental energy, totally different story. Right above the dirt slope, the air itself was visibly twisting. It looked like heat distortion on a scorching day. And as Chumming stepped closer, he felt the burn. A wave of blistering hot air blasted his face. He rushed up the slope and peered inside. Right at the top edge, a tiny hole. The inner walls were smooth and glossy, perfectly polished, and floating right in the dead center. A thick cloud of raw energy wrapped around something hidden. Definitely something strange here. Chuming's spirit burned with pure hype. One look told him this was completely off the charts. He quickly pushed his mental energy through the thick mist, probing for whatever hid inside. The next second, Chumming<unk>s eyes went wide, a rare mental resource. Floating right in the middle of the cloud was a bizarre little flame. It burned pale white with a blue tail dancing at the tip. It wasn't exactly physical, but he could feel the massive power throbbing inside. It felt a lot like a mind crystal, just on a totally different level. That tiny blue fire packed an insane amount of pure raw energy. He figured it held at least 10 times the power of a mind crystal. Chumming grinned. He never expected this dungeon to drop such crazy loot. But right as he reached out, a crushing wave of danger washed over him. A split second later, a faint flutter hit his chest. Then it vanished. Minus one mental damage. What the hell was that? Mming was stunned. This was his first time taking a mental hit. He quickly locked onto the exact location of his attacker. A ghost fire floated in the mist. It was a level eight flame spirit packing both fire manipulation and mental piercing attacks. The terrifying monster born from fire and completely gifted with insane mental skills. Hit 20% mental power and you can awaken mind skills. This freaky monster had clearly already triggered its own. Amazing. A dual practitioner using magic and physical strikes in the monster world. That makes it an incredibly rare and dangerous threat. And Ming drew his broken rock dagger, eyes flashing. Perfect. He really wanted to test his new bloodthirsty buff on this exact thing. Up in the air, the flame spirit was already rushing forward. Insanely fast. Its fiery tail sliced wildly through the fog, diving at chumming with crushing force. Meanwhile, multiple fireballs formed around it. Massive flames lit up the valley. It relied completely on its main fire attacks. That kind of strike is terrifying and powerful. It easily makes enemies way too scared to ever fight up close. Too bad its opponent was Chuning. He didn't even flinch at the flames, practically swallowing his entire body. Eyes locked straight ahead. He swung his blade at the incoming flame spirit in one brutal strike. Minus 60. His swing was terrifyingly clean. In a flash, his blade sliced straight through the roaring fire, smashing directly into the flame spirit. What? A scorching energy wave blasted out. The enraged flame spirit backed off fast, burning even more violently. This human definitely didn't fight by the usual rules, and his defense stats seemed completely stacked. After landing the hit, Chumming frowned. If this were just a normal level eight monster, his current strength would wipe it out instantly. This flame spirit was way tougher than your average mob. Those dual skills, its power felt closer to a level 10 boss. This wasn't just a fivelevel gap. It was a whole new tier. More importantly, the flame spirit could launch mental attacks, and compared to basic physical stats, mental defenses are always way lower. But without hesitating, Chuning tightened his grip on the broken rock dagger. A faint red markings on the blade suddenly glowed. Bloodthirsty buff activated at 50%. That massive boost sent a crazy rush of energy right through him. But a second later, a strange new power leaked from his blade. A faint bloody energy poured from the weapon and slowly wrapped around his palm. Instinct told him this aura was meant to debuff the enemy. But after that, nothing really happened. The debuffing blood energy just sort of swirled around his arm, looking completely lost. Finally, the bloody aura sank straight into his body like a drop of water hitting the ocean. It didn't even cause a ripple. Debuff effect was useless. Suddenly, a nasty heat wave slammed him. The flame spirit launched another attack. A huge fireball crashed down, blazing so bright it practically lit up the dark fog. The whole valley lit up right above its blazing fiery body. A pair of freaky glowing eyes flashed. A dark beam shot straight at Chunming. It was launching a physical and mental strike at once. The terrifying double combo. That massive fireball crashed down from above, looking like a whole sea of flames rushing to swallow him. At the exact same time that creeping terror came back. Heming charged straight into the blast zone. He only had one goal. get to the flame spirit's real body and tear it down to minus one mental damage. The giant fireball exploded with a deafening roar, completely burying chumming inside. The blast bloomed outward like a flower of fire, scorching the nearby rocks until they glowed red. Watching its flame swallow the human, the spirit shrieked. The nasty echo of its creepy laughter bounced all over the valley walls. The foolish human daring to face its skill like this. But the next second, the flame spirit froze. Because once the flames died down, the guy holding the long sword was still standing right there, completely unharmed. Surrounded by a faint bloody aura, he walked straight through the firewall, completely ignoring the flames, licking his face. The fire that melts rock left absolutely no mark. Minus 90. While the flame spirit froze, Zunming<unk>s attack was already crushing it. Entering bloodthirst triggered a savage aura. He lunged forward without a single drop of hesitation. Minus 90. The crimson sword glare ripped through the flame spirit, shattering its fiery body as thick sparks scattered everywhere. This skill is incredibly practical. Zuning smiled, totally satisfied when he realized the damage output had actually surged by over half. And from now on, he needs to focus heavily on upgrading bloodthirst. This is just level one of bloodthirst. Higher levels are definitely going to unlock some insanely broken power multipliers. Sure, that extra power might hit Sunming with a nasty backlash later, but right now it feels absolutely amazing. the low buzz. Right then, a weird vibration echoed through the air. Duning felt his mind blur in his vision cloud for a second, but he quickly shook it off, snapping his focus back. He stared hard. Looks like the flame spirit is firing off some kind of mental skill. Its burning flames turned dark and eerie, looking exactly like a real ghost. Ding Zuning snap out of its control so fast, the monster completely froze. Minus 90. Before it could even react, a brutal sword strike landed. Furious, the flame spirit didn't hesitate. It unleashed its ultimate attack, a piercing mental spear. A sharp dark spear formed from an eerie glow flashing right in front of Zunming<unk>s face. It completely ignored the distance between them, piercing straight through Zuning<unk>s forehead without any resistance. Minus one mental damage, a direct hit. The flame spirit was thrilled this puny human would soon suffer a total mental breakdown and turn into useless garbage. Minus 180. But a simple direct sword slash answered it. Clang, the flame spirit howled furiously. But what the hell was wrong with this human? Physical attacks were completely useless and mental strikes did absolutely nothing. Aren't human mutants supposed to be fragile? Breaking at the slightest touch? Wait a second. Why did his damage suddenly double? The doubled damage. Zunming was pretty confused. Did he somehow manage to hit this weird monster's weak point by pure luck? He stared at the flame spirit. Its fiery body wasn't burning strong anymore. It actually looked pretty dim and withered away. That mental attack just now must have consumed a massive chunk of its energy. It was completely drained. Realizing this, Zunming quickly ramped up his assault. Minus 180 minus one mental damage slash killed flame spirit level eight. 200 experience points. Obtained flame spirit monster core level eight. Got two strength tokens plus one mental token. Found a level one crystal, another crystal, and an extra mental token. Dumming's face completely lit up with joy. Now he had two level one crystals. But once he hit level 10, he could instantly upgrade his current gear to level two. No need to buy new stuff. This flame spirit core had to be pretty special, right? Zuning fell into deep thought, staring at the monster core resting in his palm. It was a weird monster with mental skills, so its core was definitely exceptional. Crafting mental energy gear required exactly this kind of rare core. Dumbing muttered to himself he couldn't just sell this off for cheap. Or maybe he'd hand it to the guild and pay them to forge custom mental energy gear. So out in the regular market, mental energy gear was considered incredibly rare. Mental tokens were almost impossible to find. If Zunming wanted the guild to craft mental gear, he'd have to drop an absolute fortune on those tokens. The hunting weird monsters just for mental tokens was never a practical idea anyway. Not to mention, monsters with mental abilities were practically non-existent. Even if he killed one, it might not drop a token. Gathering them slowly would take forever. After stashing the core, Zunming added two strength tokens straight into his broken rock knife. strength hit 17. Zuming took a deep breath, turning his gaze toward the small hill. He hadn't forgotten his main mission, grabbing those rare mental resources. Zuning climbed the hill quickly, his eyes searching for that smooth middle wall. That sky blue flame was still burning quietly inside the gas cloud, giving off a faint oil lamp glow. Flowing fire, a mental attribute type, flowing fire. The name sounded really cool, but he wondered if the actual effects even lived up to the hype. Dunming stared at the Tong Yin floating in his palm, his expression shifting slightly. As he inspected the bizarre flame up close, he finally started noticing some weird clues. The blue tail of the flowing Tong Yin fire was burning incredibly strong, blazing fiercely. Meanwhile, the main body's white flame was totally different. It looked like it carried absolutely zero heat. Dumming felt a slight chill seeping straight from his palm. Right then, the entire scene inside the valley suddenly began to shift. Congratulations, you just cleared the Union Mountain Valley dungeon. You collected over 10 energy materials. Progress stands at 18 out of 10. Second, you defeated over five guardian monsters. Progress six out of five. Total time 5 hours. Perfect rating. You earned 20 points. Dungeon cleared. The perfect score. Exactly as he expected. He pushed himself to the absolute limit. Anything less just wouldn't make sense. 20 whole dungeon points. These basically act as grades for that massive upcoming exam. 7 days from now, the dungeon rankings drop. That entire leaderboard depends completely on the points these class changers could score. 20 points equals clearing three or four massive dungeons. Meanwhile, other class changers are still out there struggling to hit level five. Denming was already racking up those dungeon points. A perfect clear for Union Mountain Valley hands out 500 experience points. One epic mental gear. Oh wow, an actual epic drop. Sheming's eyes instantly lit up. He never expected such a rare reward. Buying mental gear from the guild would cost way more than he could ever imagine. Finding epic mental gear is almost impossible. The dust heart ring a tier one piece of epic mental equipment. Just as he was about to check the ring, his aura drastically shifted. Congratulations, you have officially reached level six. 1,200 experience points required to level up. Shenming was only a few hundred points shy of hitting level six anyway. The 500 bonus experience points pushed him straight into level six. A flat 100 point boost to mental strength from this dust heart ring. Shenming checked the item stats and was instantly blown away. It came pre-enhanced with 10 whole mental runstones. Thinking about that, Shenming pulled out the mental runstones he got from beating the flame spirit earlier and added them straight to the dust heart ring. Mental strength 110. Incredible. That boost almost equals a level up, and it's nowhere near the max limit. A piece of tier 1 epic gear can hold a maximum of 30 runstones. Still, mental stones are pretty tough to track down. He figured he'd ask around the guilds once he got back to see if anyone had spares. Then Ming equipped the dust heart ring. Then he quickly checked his current stats. Shield guardian level six, strength 80, constitution 3,500, recovery 20%, agility 79, and mental strength sitting at 820, skills fighting spirit C-class at level 9. Absolute defense S's class at max level. This outer dungeon was totally worth the grind. Shenming felt absolutely thrilled. It's the beauty of outer dungeons. Get lucky and you can harvest massive rewards. Of course, bigger rewards bring greater risks. Hit a terrifying dungeon and you might never make it out alive. Done. Checking his gear, Shenming looked back down at the blue flame in his hand. I definitely won't fail this time, right? This item is way stronger than that soul crystal. The difference is obvious to the naked eye. Shenming didn't hesitate, starting the absorption right away. He wrapped his mental strength completely around the flame, slowly siphoning out all that pure energy. Compared to quickly absorbing that soul crystal, drawing in this blue flame was noticeably slower. In the valley, Shenming sat grounded while pale blue flames hovered near his forehead, casting a faint, eerie glow around him. Slowly, the flame shrank until they completely vanished. Shenming opened his eyes. His mental strength had just jumped by 10 points. Just as I expected, they aren't even on the same level. He absorbed two soul crystals earlier with zero boost to his mental strength, leaving him pretty disappointed. Yet, this tiny spark added 10 points instantly. Difference was painfully obvious, even if the numbers just looked like another mental runstone bonus. The meaning behind them is completely different. The true purpose of rare resources is awakening brand new skills. Plus, after absorbing that blue flame, Fenming finally felt some actual tangible progress. If absorbing attribute energy to awaken skills was like filling up an empty pool, he could finally see the water rising. Wait, what is that? Suddenly, Shenming felt something shift. He glanced down at his hands with a surprised look. Then came a bright flash. A faint flicker of fire sparked for just a second. Then a sudden shower of sparks erupted right at his fingertips. Pale fire swayed, topped with little blue flames. It was the exact same energy he had just absorbed. Enming's mouth dropped open, completely speechless. Armor break. Every single attack now includes a 20% armor break effect. Staring at the message, it took Shenming half a minute to process everything. Honestly, he was genuinely shocked. Absorbing a rare resource directly gave him an effect just like a skill. He'd heard about this before, but it only happens with ridiculously powerful treasure level resources. Absorbing those kinds of resources lets a class changer lock in certain abilities before they fully awaken later on. In other words, right after Shenming absorbed his blue flame, the mental skill he was about to awaken focused entirely on armor breaking and somehow he had already managed to tap into a fraction of that power. Was this thing really that powerful? It had already hit the tier of a legendary treasure. Seeing that effect made Shenming crack a smile. This was a total bonus, a massive unexpected win. Because what actually matters most when fighting higher level enemies? First is your attack method. Second is the sheer defense of those alien monsters, making your damage practically useless. But now he had a 20% armor break. That was way better than just boosting his raw attack by 20%. Shenming felt his blood start to pump. He really wondered just how insane his newly awakened mental skills were going to be. Shenming grabbed his broken stone dagger and took a few practice swings. A rapid swish, the sharp blade sliced right through the air with a faint hum. The exact same time, a pale flame sparked in the void. Then a wave of intense heat instantly exploded into the surrounding air. It quickly turned to ash and vanished without a trace. Finally, his strikes were no longer just basic attacks. So, the change was pretty minor, just adding a flame effect, but it was a solid start. Progress was progress. Still, it was a shame. He really wished those flowing blue flames would trigger a bit more often. This skill was ultra rare, dozens of times stronger than any mental crystal. But the road to his ultimate goal was still insanely long. Absorbing pure attribute energy to awaken mental abilities was a brutal, incredibly complex grind. Right now, hitting that final maximum level seemed pretty much impossible. Honestly, finding a rare resource like this in an outer dungeon was insane luck. Yet, Shenming had only managed to build up a tiny sliver of power. If it were anyone else, they probably would not even hit level 20, let alone level 10. The second I claimed that huge exam reward, I am awakening my skills. Shenming locked in his decision right then and there. It wasn't that he did not care about perfection. and the grind was just never ending. Shenming sheathed his broken stone dagger and took a good look around. The heavy fog had lifted a bit, so his vision wasn't totally blocked anymore. Once he cleared the Yun Mountain Stream dungeon, the entire area visibly shifted. The grassy plains completely vanished, leaving nothing but dry brown dirt behind. The mountain stream reverted into a gloomy valley wrapped in thin mist. Dungeons were special zones that actually bled straight into reality. They clear out a minor dungeon, and the whole zone simply resets back to normal. So, if a summoner grew strong enough to warp reality, they could literally spawn dungeons at will. Should he just head back now? Enming pulled out his phone. Midnight already. There was zero signal out here in the wilds, so it was basically just an overpriced clock. He still had plenty of energy, though, completely wide awake. Honestly, staying in the beast forest to grind a few more levels felt like the smart play. As Shenming debated whether to head for the city or wait for sunrise, the vibe completely shifted. Something was horribly wrong. valley suddenly dropped dead quiet. Every little ambient sound just vanished. This was not your normal midnight quiet. It was a suffocating silence like the world had hit pause. No breeze, no rustling leaves, nothing. Right then, Shenming noticed the thick fog across the massive valley was clearing out. Actually, the mist covering the zone wasn't just fading. Some invisible force was aggressively ripping it away. Within seconds, every trace of fog was wiped from the sky. Faint moonlight washed over the dark valley once more. What the hell was going on? Seriously, what was happening? The whole scene felt completely surreal. Shenming glanced at the sky and caught a flash of bright light blooming above. A glow surged into the night, starting faint, then blindingly bright. It literally looked like a second radiant moon hanging high up in the sky. The valley had just been drowning in pitch black shadows. Now it was like the clouds had been torn apart to expose the world all over again. How was that even possible? Suddenly, a long piercing wolf howl echoed out. Shenming immediately snapped his gaze toward the far horizon. This valley did not have massive canopy trees blocking the sky. Bathed in that intense moonlight, he had a clear view for miles. The way out on a distant peak, a colossal wolf was howling at the sky. Silhouetted against the moon, Shenming could actually make out its terrifying shape. It stood right beneath the moon. Its body was huge like a small hill, but it still looked impossibly agile, pure lethal muscle. Its fur was a blend of white and blue, shimmering with tiny, brilliant lights. Now it threw its head back and unleashed a deafening roar at the moon. Then Shenming watched the beast suddenly leap, literally stepping on thin air. This was completely insane. Then Ming narrowed his eyes at the site. It was actually flying. Walking on air was a skill strictly locked to level 40 and above. Was clearly a terrifying high tier monster. It was leagues above the weak trash mob Shenming had been farming earlier. But he was totally confused. Why would a highle boss spawn out here? Sure, Shenming had pushed deep, but he was technically still on the outer edges of the beast forest. Disaster level monsters usually stayed hidden in the extreme depths. They almost never wandered close to human settlements. They honestly shouldn't even spawn in a level one beast forest at all. Suddenly, before he could process it, the giant wolf's howl echoed out again. It stood completely solid against the sky, its massive body radiating under the intense moonlight like a beacon. So, why are you howling so late? Shenming muttered quietly. He really wasn't in the mood to watch wolves howling in the dead of night. Was about to leave the valley. Then a strange sensation hit him and he stopped dead in his tracks. Is this even possible? Shenming looked up at the night sky. A giant wolf was opening its massive jaws, slowly swallowing the moonlight itself. Its thick fur whipped around wildly, releasing heavy streams of pure white air. A scorching aura began rising from the valley, growing stronger by the second. The night sky shimmered with heat waves, twisting into pale, swirling flames, blue flames. Shenming stared in total shock. Then he quickly snapped his head upward. Those pale flames were forming a massive sea of fire high above. It was a breathtaking sight. Right in the middle of it all spun a massive vortex. Giant wolf stood right there. Above the blaze, streaks of fire rain down from the sky like a violent burning shower. But one of those flames was heading straight for him. Watching it fall, Shenming felt a strange realization taking shape in his mind. The pale flame crashed into a small dirt mound. A scorching heatwave blasted him instantly. So this is exactly how the blue flame currents are born. Then Ming was completely stunned. He quickly walked over to inspect the scorched mound. The once empty dirt patch was now flickering with fire again, but these flames were way smaller than before. Nowhere near enough to be considered a real resource. It obviously needs a lot more time to accumulate before fully forming. This explains everything perfectly. A rare resource like this is actually renewable. If word gets out, it will definitely drag in a massive crowd. Then Ming couldn't care less about that right now. His breathing grew incredibly heavy as he slowly turned his head, staring straight at the giant wolf. Just a single beam of light falling from that fiery sky created a blue flame current. And right behind that giant beast lay a massive expanse packed with moonlight and concentrated blue fire. But what if he could grab it all? Shenming felt his heart race and he swallowed hard to forced himself to stay calm. This giant wolf is at least a level 40 super monster. He definitely cannot fight it head-on. Sneaking in is the only option. There was also someone else here he did not recognize yet. That man was standing right at the front. Chenming was shocked. Every single director of Yinhai City had shown up. All this noise probably dragged them out here. It made perfect sense. A level 40 exotic monster showing up right outside the city was incredibly dangerous. The one wrong move could destroy the entire city and cost countless lives. As the top mutants in Yinhai, the directors had a strict duty to protect it. Meanwhile, high up on the distant mountain peaks, the group standing on the metal crow stared up at the sky. They watched the great wolf devour the moon with highly mixed expressions. The rough voice filled with suspicion called out, "Were all of you inside Yinhai City?" Without noticing a single thing, the three directors looked down in total silence. They never expected a level 49 moonlight wolf king to be lurking just outside their borders. It wasn't their fault. None of them had reached level 49, so missing it was completely natural. But they also felt a wave of relief. If the inspector hadn't randomly visited Yinh High City and spotted this anomaly tonight, they never would have known. The high tier beast king was right outside. Humans, get out of here right now. An angry voice suddenly echoed through the valley. The giant wolf, still swallowing moonlight in the sky above, froze completely. Its bright eyes glared straight at the inspector's group like moonlight. The giant wolf was actually speaking human words. "Leave this land. I have zero interest in human territory." It clearly understood the inspector's intent. and I don't care about your business either. That cold mechanical voice came straight from the metal crow's beak. Metallic eyes locked onto the giant wolf, speaking slowly. Moonlight wolf king of the level two exotic beast forest in the northern abyss and leader of the moonlight pack. This beast was clearly not a local. The level two monster king from a distant forest traveled all this way just to reach the edge of a human city. The whole situation feels wrong and highly suspicious. No matter how you slice it, this has to be why the inspector showed up today. Up in the sky, realizing its true identity was completely exposed, the giant wolf furiously bared its razor-sharp fangs. It spat out the humans are pure scum. Matching its energy, the metal crow stared right back without flinching. The air suddenly grew incredibly tense. High above, those pale flames seemed to boil, swirling wildly into a massive storm of moonlight. But what is up with those flames in that moonlight? The directors were finally noticing the bizarre fiery glow up in the sky. Such raw power radiating from those elements. At first, they assumed it was just a special skill the wolf possessed, but feeling it more closely now, they realized it held a massive amount of energy. The white fire and moonlight were actually rare resources. The three of them exchanged looks, totally unable to hide their shock. The fifth school director sprang into action, dragging a trail of flame in front of him. His eyes lit up. This is truly incredible stuff. The sheer volume of pure energy in those flames and moonlight totally lured him in. Do you really have a death wish? That move instantly set off the Moonwolf King. A split second later, his already massive body started swelling up again. 50 m, then 100. In a flash, he morphed into a 500 meter giant. This was his true form, an actual giant wolf king. Scream and die, the Moonwolf King howled at the sky while white flames and blazing moonlight violently erupted all around him. The energy quickly condensed into countless flowing blades. Those flaming moonlight blades rained down like a storm, bringing a scorching heat that swept the valley. The burning blades tore right through the night sky, locking on to the four inspectors. Seeing this, the directors swallowed hard in pure fear. They quickly scrambled back, desperate to dodge this deadly clash. Even though they were all level 40 experts, fighting the Moonwolf King was never going to be easy. The power gap past 40 is massive. Plus, this king was an incredibly fierce, fully grown beast. You couldn't even compare him to your average mutated monster. Only the inspector could actually settle this fight. Their job was strictly backup. The battle was on. Suddenly, the mechanical crow spread its dark gold wings and shot into the sky. As its wings flapped, a massive gale erupted, backed by the booming sound of thunder. The lightning tangled with the wind, ripping apart the incoming flaming blade. The sheer force of the aftershock shook the whole valley hard. Meanwhile, right beneath that mind-blowing battle in the night sky. A lone stalker had already slipped into another part of the valley. It was standing right behind the moonwolf king. "Wow, this is straight out of a legend," Chunming muttered, watching from afar. Let them tear each other apart. Perfect, he whispered to himself. This makes my main objective a whole lot easier. The spot was right at the back of the valley. Chunming looked up. The sea of flames and weird moonlight had slowly faded away. Now only the terrifying shock waves were left rattling the air. The giant beast was completely locked onto that mechanical warrior. Chunming knew the flames and moonlight hadn't actually vanished. He already picked up on it using his mental energy earlier. Up in the night sky, the pale flame swallowed by the giant wolf, tangled with the faint blue moonlight, forming a river that poured down from above. It landed somewhere ahead. Dun Ming figured that had to be the beast's treasure. So amid the chaos, he decided to take the risk, slipping past a level 40 monster and class changer. His only goal was theft. Right then, Chunming pushed his shadow armor stealth ability to its absolute limit. His body became a total blur. Thanks to his feather boots, he dashed through the valley at crazy speed. He moved incredibly fast, making absolutely sure he stayed totally hidden. He couldn't afford a single mistake. Getting caught would literally ruin everything. That crowd was full of high-ranking officials from Yinhai City. One of them was actually the director of Yinhai first school, Chunming School. If they spotted him, he probably wouldn't get killed. Hell, they might even protect him. But there was zero chance they'd let him take those resources. But when Chunming spotted the giant wolf, the directors, and that mechanical guy, he didn't dare use his mental energy to scan them. The highle mutants and boss monsters have massive mental awareness. Scanning them carelessly would instantly blow his cover. And Ming quickly followed the path where Seong Yin and Yuwa had dropped down, arriving at a distinct spot. The area was wrapped in a strange vortex of swirling chaotic energy. An invisible shield was guarding the space up ahead. And Ming stepped closer to check it out. The barrier's energy felt incredibly chaotic and unstable. He frowned, totally unsure how to handle this. If it was just a hostile trap, he could have smashed straight through. This shield was purely defensive. And that was the one problem really bothering him. Never feared a strong attack, but a tough shield was tricky since he was practically a walking tank himself. Just as he was feeling helpless, mental energy suddenly spiked. He whipped his head around. A split second later, a flash streaked past. A blinding beam of light moving way too fast to track hit the ground nearby. It was a person. Dun Ming instinctively thought he was busted. But looking closer, he realized it was a completely unfamiliar mutant. Was there another master here, too? The guy had pure white hair, looked pretty old, and sported a pair of massive white wings right on his back. An angelic class mutant. The second he landed, the old man stared straight in Chunming<unk>s direction. Next second, Chunming felt a massive mental force sweep over him. A level six shield guard. Old man quickly scanned Chenm<unk>s level, his face showing obvious confusion and shock. How could a complete newbie end up here? Seeing Chenming standing right in front of the chaotic vortex shield, it suddenly made sense. You have a lot of guts, kid. The old angelic classm gave a half smile, then waved his hand at Chenming. How dare you try stealing these resources. Leave quickly. You don't belong here. The old angelic classm talking and completely ignored Chenming after that. To him, Chenming was just a tiny rookie who recently changed his class. Where were they right now? The beast forest. The sonnu wolf king's massive hideout. A fierce battle was raging nearby. Could a level six kid really get involved? He figured his warning was just a simple act of kindness. Then he turned his focus to the shield and slowly reached out to inspect it. Suddenly, the chaotic vortexes on the shield stopped spinning and began flowing in reverse. As more vortexes reversed, the shield silently faded away until it completely vanished. The entire process made absolutely no noise. In the back, Chenming watched silently. He didn't leave. if he just took a few steps back. Enming understood the situation immediately. They must have bumped into another adventurer. Then a massive explosion. But right then, a deafening, furious roar echoed through the air. The sound shattered eardrums and made the whole area shake. And Ming looked over. With the shield gone, the area's true form was revealed a hollowed crater. Down below sat a small pool where two very distinct liquids flowed together. Strange things were happening above the crater. Pure white flames erupted out of nowhere, surrounded by falling moonlight. However, a giant wolf shadow stood guard right behind the crater. It was a mere illusion resembling the distant Wolf King in the night sky. This was clearly the Wolf King's lair guardian designed to block any intruders. In that exact moment, the Wolf King illusion erupted with overwhelming presence, radiating a terrifying pressure. The old man reacted at lightning speed, moving the exact second the illusion appeared. He cast a hazy energy barrier over the whole zone. This stopped the noise from spreading outward. Then the old man tried stepping into the crater, but the second he got close, the wolf illusion lunged fiercely. The one swipe of its giant claw, several crescent-shaped slashes wrapped in blue flames flew out. The old man didn't fight back and quickly retreated. This was tricky. He frowned, watching the Wolf King's shadow settle right back into the crater. This was a skill clone formed by the Moonlight Wolf King. It was a brutal and powerful attack. He could destroy this clone easily, but doing so would definitely alert the real Moonlight Wolf King. and then he might lose the chance to get what he actually wanted. Inking this over, the old man looked at the pool down in the crater. It held two types of liquid. One was pale and fiery, while the other sat clear and sparkling. Eyes locked onto the ladder. Are you seeking the moonlight resource? While the old man hesitated, a very calm voice suddenly spoke from behind. He spun around and saw the exact same rookie standing right there. You'll haven't left. The old man frowned again. This kid truly wasn't afraid of danger. Chenming looked up, glancing at the barrier covering the area. He asked calmly, "Can we work together? Work together?" The old man was completely caught off guard, giving Chenming a very weird look. A level six shield guard, and he wonders how they could possibly cooperate. Are kids really this confident nowadays? Right now, I can grab the resources from that pool. You just help hide what happens here. And Ming spoke completely honestly. I want that Tongyan flame resource, and you want the moonlight one. They were already stuck in a dead end. Suddenly, a highlevel class changer appeared and helped handle the barrier. As for the other guy's current problem, Chenming understood it perfectly well. To get those resources, the shadow guarding the pool had to be defeated first, but doing so would definitely alert the giant wolf to what was happening here. The old angelic master stood stunned. What the hell was this kid saying? Did he completely ignore his own weakness? This wolf king shadow could kill a level 10 class changer with one breath, let alone a level six rookie. Where do you get this bravery? The old man was losing patience, not wanting to bother with Chenming anymore. Things were already tense, and now a reckless newcomer was causing trouble. "Have you really thought this through? Don't waste time. Hesitation leads to failure," Chenming urged him. Distant shock waves gradually faded, and it wasn't clear if the fight was actually over. "If they delayed any longer, they might get completely exposed." Hearing Chenming's words, the old angelic master got so angry, he just laughed. He was shocked this little punk was actually rushing him. Let's go. I want to see how you survive this. The old man was so furious, he just puffed his cheeks and glared. He agreed to the crazy plan right away, mostly because he just wanted to see if a single claw strike or the wolf king's shadow tail would kill this kid first. Being the angel-like old guy finally agree, Chunming just nodded. He strolled straight toward the pit with total confidence. Was this kid asking to die? Completely reckless. From behind, the old man watched chumming and frowned hard. The boy wasn't joking around, but he quickly looked away. Whatever he decided not to step in if the kid died, he brought it on himself. Zero situational awareness. Up ahead, the second Chumming stepped into that pit, the giant wolf shadow lunged in a flash. The massive shape lunged a deafening boom. The Wolf King Phantom slammed its claw down hard. Right then, the crushing pressure felt like it was ripping space apart. Without the barrier blocking it, the whole zone would have quicked violently. But Chunming stood there, calm, unshaken. This was his first time facing a monster strike this absurdly strong. He could only look up, totally curious. Terrifying flames poured down from the sky like a burning storm. What exactly was this kid trying to pull, though? Even though he was positive this naive newbie would die horribly, the old man just had to peek. But when he saw Chumming strolling casually like it was nothing, his face completely dropped. He figured the guy was way too confident in his speed, trying to cheese the trial and snatch the pool resources fast. Yet here he was walking straight in. He even tilted his head up just watching the Wolf King Phantom close the gap. The old man fully expected the wolf claw to rip chumming to shreds. But what happened next made him question his own eyes. A massive boom. The monstrous claw slammed into the boy with a deafening blast. But the bloody splatter never happened. That giant phantom claw just froze right in front of Chunming. Stopped completely dead in its tracks. How was this possible? The skill shadow had zero consciousness. It was only programmed to attack anything nearing the pit. It stood perfectly still before a total rookie. It made zero sense. Then the old man's eyes went wide with pure shock. Saw the claw tip resting firmly on the guy's shoulder. The phantom hadn't stopped attacking. The strike was actually blocked by brute force. Even the shock wave vanished weirdly. The high tier advanced fighter, the old man, could read the attribute energy perfectly. That phantom strike looked like it hit pure empty space. And not just the physical hit, even the raging flames and explosive force totally failed to trigger properly. But what on earth was happening? The old guy entirely lost his cool. He had never seen anything like this in his entire life. So, he actually rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Then, Chumming took a step and the Wolf King phantom moved, too. Boom, boom, boom. A relentless barrage of terrifying strikes rain down on him. The whole pitch shook endlessly. The old man watched, his heart hammering in his chest, facing that kind of non-stop combo, even he would struggle to survive it. That was the real issue here. Despite his high level, if he didn't instantly wipe out that phantom, he wouldn't tank the damage and make it out alive. But destroying the shadow would definitely drag the real moonlight wolf king straight to him. Yet somehow someone had just tanked the phantom strikes and walked right into the pit. The craziest part, the guy was only a level six fighter. Minus one. Minus one. Minus one. Chumming just kept walking. The sky above was full of giant claws crashing down like heavy rain. Each hit carried raw, terrifying power, totally designed to flatten anything standing underneath. Dense flames and moonlight fused into sweeping attacks, creating a horrific display of absolute power. The ground just kept shaking. Finally, he reached the center pool. Chumming leaned down, studying the liquid inside. Two totally different liquids flowed there, separated by a hard line. Liquid heavenly flame, a pure fire attribute, and moonlike glass, a solid light attribute. Chumming's eyes lit up. It wasn't the regular flowing flame he had seen earlier. This was molten fire. The heavenly flame had liquefied, which proved how crazy dense it actually was. A single drop of this stuff probably took countless streams of heavenly flame to form. He swallowed his excitement, ready to harvest some. Wait, what is that? His gaze sharpened, locking onto the exact spot where the molten fire and moonlight met. Right there, a totally normal looking little orb caught his eye. It floated quietly between the two resources resting right on the ice and fire border. Gumming mentally scanned the heavenly flame core. It completely bypassed his current level. He paused his breathing, suddenly picking up. He pulled two containers from his mind space and calmly began gathering the precious resources. The heavenly molten flame and moonlight glass were nothing too crazy. Together, they barely filled a normal water bottle. With the job done, Chumming climbed right out of the pit. But once outside, he realized he had completely brushed off the strike from the phantom moonwolf king. He just strolled out with total confidence. Carrying the heavenly molten flame in one hand and the moonlight glass in the other. The old man was absolutely stunned. He honestly started to question reality itself. He would never dare to tank a hit from the moonwolf king. Yet that attack did absolutely nothing to a level six transfer student. It was like he had total immunity to the beast. After all that, his clothes just got a little dusty. Honestly, the old man had been around for decades. But this was the first time he had ever witnessed something so completely insane and impossible. Was it really possible that this kid had somehow awakened the legendary stealth skill? Maybe some kind of temporary SSS rank immunity, but he is only at the C tier. Since when do shieldguards get stealth or immunity skills? Completely unbelievable. Then another wild theory popped right into the old man's head. Meanwhile, Chumming had already pulled out the Azure molt and flame and the moonlight glass. Here are your moonlight resources. Chumming kept things simple, immediately handing over the moonlight glass just like they agreed. He knew full well that moonlight glass was an incredibly rare item, easily on the same tier as the Azure molten flame. Still, he kept his word without a second thought. Grabbing the molten flame was already a huge unexpected win. Plus, the properties of the moonlight gear completely clashed with the Azure flame, and he had already absorbed every drop of the flame anyway. So, holding on to the moonlight glass was basically pointless, unless he hoarded it for future breakthroughs and a 40% mental power skill awakening. The old man grabbed the bottle Chuning held out to him, but watching the clear moonlight glass shimmer with that flowing silver energy inside, the old man felt like he was trapped in a crazy dream. He instinctively glanced back down at the azure molten flame in Chuming<unk>s hand. A second later, Chumming casually raised the bottle, tilted his head, and chugged the entire azure molten flame. You are insane. The old man was in pure shock. What the hell was this reckless kid doing? The azure molten flame was a resource meant to be absorbed, sure, but nobody ever drank the stuff like an absolute maniac. Forget about the massive energy it held. This was condensed, pure liquid fire. So, what was the difference between drinking that and swallowing literal lava? And he downed the whole thing in a single gulp. Wasn't he afraid his internal organs would instantly burn to ash? The only answer to the old man's panic was a very loud burp. The wave of scorching heat washed over them. Talk about a crazy move. Chumming just rubbed his stomach, feeling a nice warmth spreading inside. He chose to chug the azure molten flame right then and there. And he had a pretty solid reason for it. First off, the item was finally his. And while the old man with the angel class seemed like a decent guy, Chumming had to stay guarded. He wasn't really scared of a sudden sneak attack from the old man. He just didn't want his precious new resources getting snatched away. If this guy suddenly decided to rob him, there was no way to stop it anyway. So, he made the call to drink it right to his face and shut down any funny business. He didn't overthink it. He just felt that raw connection. Kid, you really are something else. The old man finally caught on to what Chunming was doing. He turned to look up at the quiet night sky. Well, it was all over now, but we need to leave fast. Without hesitating, he grabbed chumming tight by the shoulder. A blinding white glow wrapped around them, forming a clear shield to block any incoming danger. and massive white wings materialized, glowing with a brilliant light. In a flash of blinding light, the two of them shot out of the valley, speeding straight toward the beast forest. To far below that pitch black sky, the clash between the Moonwolf King and the Iron Crow was over. Normally, battles at this tier drag on for a while. Most of the time, they just test each other's raw power. At the end of the day, there was no bad blood between the Moonwolf King and the Inspector. They just fought until they hit a stalemate. If either side pushed too hard, it would spark a devastating all-out war that nobody could stop. The inspector called out, "Moonwolf King, are you finally ready to have a serious conversation?" The inspector stood with his hands locked behind his back, staring up into the dark sky. He let out a heavy sigh. Moonwolf King was absolutely massive. Its shadow blanketed the night, radiating an overwhelming crushing aura. "Human, we have absolutely nothing to discuss." Suddenly, the Moonwolf King's glowing eyes flashed. The beast whipped its massive head around to check the valley. A split second later, that colossal body launched forward. It crossed the entire valley at a terrifying speed, suddenly hovering directly above the mysterious hollow pit. The Wolf King locked its deadly gaze straight down into the pit. Being the cover destroyed, a blindingly bright light erupted from its eyes. But then it relaxed just a fraction, sensing the phantom of its skill, was still standing guard. At the moment it stepped down into the hollow to actually check the beast completely froze. Nothing. The pool was completely totally empty. A howl and angry roar echoed straight across the valley. The moonwolf king was absolutely furious. Gone. Everything was just gone. Not a single drop left. Who did this? A massive voice exploded right across the entire area. Meanwhile, watching the beast suddenly leave, a few groups breathed a huge sigh of relief. The Wolf King's true power might actually exceed level 50. But without that patrol officer escorting them, the directors of Yinhai City would not have been able to handle this situation at all. So, we have to take this incredibly seriously. A massive beast like that showing up near our city borders is just extremely dangerous. Director Jiong from the first high school spoke up. He aimed those heavy words directly at the patrol officer. Considering Yinh High City's overall strength, fighting the Moonwolf King would be brutal. They could only rely on higher command now. Those directors from the third and fifth high schools also glanced over, anxiously waiting for his response. He promised to report straight back to the Alliance and request some urgent backup for Yinhai City. The patrol officer quickly reassured everyone he would stay in Yinhai city for now to stop the beast from causing absolute chaos. Then he asked, "By the way, how much do you actually know about this hollow zone?" Just like that, the officer totally flipped the subject, tossing his sudden question right at the three directors. He knew something was totally wrong the second he arrived. This area was incredibly far from normal. Plus, the Moonwolf King showing up here basically proved it. Hearing the officers question, those three directors finally realized the true scale of the problem. This place. But before they could even finish their sentence, an incredibly angry roar violently cut them off. They stared up at the night sky and saw the moonwolf king coming back. But its conditions seemed kind of bizarre. Its glowing body had practically doubled in size. Its blood red eyes were throwing off a fiercely violent aura. The monster was heading straight for them, pressing a crushing weight against the night sky. Why did the wolf king suddenly go totally crazy? The night was fading, bringing in a brand new dawn. Faint light touched the sky. High above the vast monster forest. A bright streak of energy tore right through the darkness. That bright light headed straight toward Yinhai city. The beam only finally dropped down into the outskirts near the borders. The glow completely vanished, clearly revealing two figures, a young guy and an old man. Jiming was experiencing flight for the very first time, completely fascinated. Honestly, this old guy was pretty incredible. He actually made sure to grab the kid and take him along during that high-speed escape. The old man checked in on him. Kid, are you really all right? Then he set Chumming down and started quickly inspecting his body. The right then, Chumming looked incredibly weird. Every inch of his exposed skin was glowing bright red. After drinking that molten sunfire, he felt a massive surge of energy expanding inside. His internal organs practically felt like they were burning up. It was definitely taking damage. If not for his ridiculous physical toughness, Chumming would have literally exploded by now. Yet, he wasn't panicking at all. To Chumming, it honestly just felt like his body was running a little hot. It is no big deal. I am totally fine. Thanks so much for helping me out of there, senior. As Chumming spoke, visible hot air puffed from his mouth like an open furnace. The old man just stared. You call this fine? You figured if he struck a match, this kid would start spitting actual flames. He might even just violently detonate. Well, whatever. He told the kid he had to get going. He originally wanted to chat longer, hoping to figure out which powerful family this guy belonged to. He completely dropped the idea after seeing how dangerously close the boy was to exploding. Unlike monsters, human bodies are extremely fragile. They just cannot easily digest raw attribute energy materials. Only through a very slow absorption process can that power become a solid foundation for a mutant's awakening. As right now, this kid's only option was to successfully absorb those scorching lava flames before taking lethal damage. Otherwise, things would definitely turn extremely ugly. He could hardly imagine the grim fallout if things went wrong. The boy's whole body might melt away. The old man just looked at Chunming with deep complex confusion. He guessed the boy might have some hidden specialty. Or maybe he was a dualclass mutant. Otherwise, how could he possibly have a skill that granted temporary immunity to any damage? He once met a top tier double Sranked Chinese mutant whose skill gave them 99% damage immunity for five straight minutes. and he honestly believed this young guy had a top tier skill exactly like that one. The old man snapped out of it, pulling a glowing blue bottle right from his jacket. He stared down at the moonlight glass in his hand, smiling with massive relief. Thanks to this, Juir would absolutely awaken a mental skill in the very near future. On the other side, Chuming was already walking back to the city. It was creeping up on 7 in the morning. Was out in the suburbs, a few mutant groups were heading for the safe zone outside the city limits. They were eagerly gearing up for their third straight day of leveling. Along the way, quite a few people noticed Chinming, ignoring him was not an option. He was just impossible to miss. He was strolling straight through the outskirts glowing bright red, making him incredibly eye-catching to everyone around. The people were whispering, "Wow, is that Chuning? Did he just get back? Was he grinding in the wilderness all night long? That is insane. No wonder he holds the number one rank. But what is up with his condition?" Chumming realized he was suddenly totally famous. Practically everyone who saw him rushed over to say hi. Dingdong was right near the city limits. His phone chimed. The signal was finally back. Chumming checked his screen and saw two new messages. The one friend request plus a text from Sunyang Brochun. Where are you? Everyone out here is talking about your crazy run. Chumming just sent back a question mark. Then he checked that friend request. Chinshi. The note was just two words. Let us team up. Chin Shiu must have hit level five too, unlocking her access to party dungeons. But once a party leader hits level five, the whole squad can enter dungeons together. Dungeon experience and loot are split evenly. So playing solo and running with a group feel pretty similar. The only real difference is your final clearance grade. For hardcore dungeons, teaming up absolutely beats going in totally alone. The solid team clearing dungeons gets way faster. Plus, teaming up with an SS class talent like Chin Shishu is a massive bonus. Chumming instantly accepted her request. He thought for a second before replying. Something just came up, so we will have to put this party on hold. Right now, Chumming<unk>s biggest priority was absorbing the internal energy from the Xiangyan molten fire. In Shishu shot back a quick reply, "All right, brother Chun." Suddenly, someone yelled out from nearby. It was Sunyang. He spotted Chumming and came sprinting over, "Wo, bro, Chun, why is your skin glowing bright red?" Dunyang stared at his friend's completely flushed body in total shock. He circled him curiously, inspecting the guy from head to toe. Finally, he poked Chumming<unk>s arm, which honestly looked like a glowing iron rod. Ouch! Burning hot. Dunyang blew on his scorched fingers and backed away. "Broch" Chun, are you mutating or something? The guy literally looked like a walking human furnace. Chumming ignored the joke and just asked about his current level. What level are you at? Level two, nowhere near as awesome as you, bro. Chun Sunyang scratched his head awkwardly. Compared to other newly awakened class holders this year, his leveling speed was decent. just hit level three today, keeping him firmly in Yinhai City's top 100. But next to Chumming, he felt painfully slow. By day two of the Grand Exam, his best buddy was already Yinhai City's top player. His leveling speed easily crushed even the SS class talents. Yet, Sunyang kept his mouth shut about wanting a free carry. He found out yesterday that Chunming rejected a party with Chini Shu to grind solo, so he figured his friend had a solid reason to play alone. Mming simply nodded and opened up his status panel to send an invite. Accept it. Wait, what invite? Dunyang checked his own interface. Mingchin party leader Chunming has invited you to join the team. Except Ming spoke up. I have business right now. Once I am done, I will carry you through a dungeon. Before his combat style basically forced him to run solo. Now that he could run party dungeons, he definitely wanted to bring his buddy along. Does Chun, you are basically my sugar daddy. Seeing that notification pop up, Sunyang was practically shaking with excitement. Sure, Chumming had promised earlier to carry him through a few dungeon runs, but now that it was really happening, he was absolutely thrilled. You scan the party roster leader Chunming, C-class shield guardian, member Chin Shiua, SS-class holy light angel, member Sunyang, B-class stealth assassin, unbelievably stacked. Yinhai city's number one and number two players. He could not even imagine how fast they would absolutely tear through those dungeons. Even if they just goofed off, their run speed would completely crush his solo grinding. Was it finally Sunyang<unk>s turn to strike it lucky, but one detail still bugged him? Hey, Brochin, when did you and Chin Shishua actually hook up? You really kept your boys in the dark? Thing raised an eyebrow, giving Sunyang a weird look. We are just friendly teammates. Where do you even get this stuff? Dunyang was clearly not buying it. He just shook his head. I get it, man. Look at you playing dumb. Keep it up. He flashed a knowing smirk. Bro, Chun, you do not have to hide it from me. I totally understand. Just then, two familiar figures approach from the city gates. Inshue, followed closely by Lin Wei, the boss lady, has arrived. Dunyang blurted out, "Chini is in the Mingchun squad, too. Since Chuming was carrying her levels, they were basically a package deal now." Danyang always messed things up. He figured he should at least try being useful for once. Maybe he could help his brother and sister-in-law get along better. He also wanted to impress Chin Shiu just so she wouldn't misjudge their entire team because of his mistakes. He really did not want his own personal screw-ups to ruin Chumming<unk>s important love life. Tumming shot him a mildly annoyed look. Hurry up and leave if you're not busy. I get it. I know. I will leave you two alone. Sunyang immediately got up and left. Right before walking away, he made sure to shoot Chuming an encouraging thumbs up. Then Chinshi quietly walked over with Lin Wei. Sunyang had been pretty loud just now, so she definitely heard him. Chuming figured Chin Xiu might get embarrassed or stop Sunyang to clear up the rumors, but she did not. Chini just walked up confidently, looking perfectly calm as always. That the wide-eyed girl behind her glared at him with some hostility. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Is your body holding up all right?" Chin Shiui asked, studying Chuning. From a distance, she could see him practically glowing red. Up close, she realized his body felt like an intensely burning furnace, as if he might melt at any second. Chumming calmly waved his hand. "No problem at all. I just took a rare resource. I will absorb the energy later." Chin Sheiwi frowned slightly, repeating his words. Rare resource. entire body turned red, looking like a blazing human furnace. Despite her vast experience, this strange situation made no sense. Swallowing resources directly was a massive taboo for anyone going through a class change. Most people who tried that met a pretty bad end, but since it was Chuning, somehow the whole thing suddenly made perfect sense to her. Your team still has an open spot, right? Chin Shiua asked about joining. Of course, we actually have two spots left. Chuning gave a nod. The team limit was five people. that included himself, Chin Shiwi, the newcomer Sunyang, leaving two open spots. All right, then let Lin Wei join, too. Lin Wei was the wide-eyed girl standing right behind Chin Shiua, an A-rank contract master, and Ming had definitely heard of this class before. It was a highly specialized support role. Unlike normal support classes, a contract master could only buff one single person at a time, but that lucky person received an absolutely massive boost. It was a highly dependent, but wildly powerful support role, especially with the right partner. No wonder her leveling speed crushed Yinh High City's three S-rank classes. By sticking with Chin Shiwi, an SS rank class and A- rank contract master could easily match the power of an S-rank support. I invited Lin Wei, the A- rank contract master, to join us. Chaming sent the team invite. The Linwe always worked alongside Chinji, so naturally he was not going to refuse her request. The A-rank contract master now in the Dawn team, Chin Shiua asked, "By the way, when are you free? I have a special dungeon talisman." And Ming perked up a special dungeon talisman. He instantly thought of the Union Mountain Valley dungeon which had given him so much incredible loot. But right now, Chumming was extremely interested in that dungeon talisman since those things were incredibly rare and hard to find. He clearly understood Chin Shiua was inviting him to co-op a dungeon run. He smiled calmly. It will be soon. He was not totally sure how fast he could absorb rare resources now that his sun in molten fire leveled up, but it definitely would not take very long. He could probably finish absorbing the whole thing this morning. All right, I will be waiting. After passing the city gates, Chumming headed straight to the guild building. He urgently needed to sell his collected beast cores and finally sort out his personal gear. Ultimately, it was just a simple matter of buying and selling. Since it was still early morning, the guild hall was almost completely deserted. 5 minutes later, Chuming walked right out of the building. This time, selling the beast cores netted him 10 gold coins. That was dozens of times more than what he made yesterday. Most of that money came from two mysterious beast cores. The level seven wind spirit beast core alone was worth two gold coins. That equaled every single beast core chumming farmed while leveling up from level three all the way to six. The cores extracted from mysterious beasts were incredibly valuable, acting as the ultimate crafting materials for top tier gear. They even had a rare chance to forge epic tier gear. Meanwhile, a level eight flame spirit beast core was worth six gold coins. The beast cores packed with spiritual energy were absolutely essential for crafting spiritual gear. Initially, Chumming planned on having the guild blacksmith forge him a spiritual item, but after scoring the epic dust heart ring that was unnecessary. The shattered rock knife granted 20 strength, and the dust heart ring gave 300 spirit. Meanwhile, Chumming used the guild blacksmith system to reforge his ordinary long sword that had 10 strength, stripping out 10 strength runstones. He also dropped nearly 10 gold coins to buy 19 spirit runstones at a steep markup. Damn, this stuff was wildly expensive. The one single spirit runstone cost five times the normal price. After a full day of trading, he did not even profit a single gold coin. He had no choice. Grinding monsters to fully boost the dust heart ring stats would take way too long. Eming might cross level 10 soon. Checking current stats. Level six, strength 83. Constitution 3500 of 4550 at 20%. The recovery 435 19%. Agility 79. Spiritual energy, 120 20%. Not bad at all. spiritual energy broke a thousand afterwards. Chumming headed straight back home. Time to get serious. How far will I evolve today? Chumming was incredibly hyped. Just using that blue flame gave him a massive boost. And that was merely a single thread falling from the night sky, creating a raging firestorm. The molten flame he swallowed had already condensed into liquid blue fire. The giant wolf past level 40 produced it by devouring mysterious moonlight. It took countless cycles of this process just to form one rare resource. The gap between them is absolutely massive. If I fill this deep pool absorbing attribute energy, I can awaken my mental skills right away. Ming eagerly anticipated this moment. He had already reached this advanced tier. If he still failed to master absorbing attribute energy before hitting 21%, he would truly have no way out. Chumming took a deep breath. The room felt incredibly hot. Energy expanded violently inside him. His body became a pressure cooker, frantically compressing all that explosive power. Luckily, his pressure cooker held up. Otherwise, that brutal cleansing would have shredded his internal organs. Jimming slowly closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down. Soon, a hidden force pulled him inward. His consciousness dived deep. A decent-sized space appeared, completely surrounded by a thick, heavy fog. Is this my mental space? Chumming looked around. He created this area after breaking the 20% mental barrier. His gathered resources were here, but a strange floating sphere caught his eye immediately. The true core, that mysterious item he stole from the cavern pool. He could not examine it, meaning it completely outclassed his current mental capacity. It was like his 20% mind could not process data past level 40. Chumming guessed this was extremely rare, too. Just hearing the titles flowing flame, molten flame, true core. But looking at it, was this simply the sublimation of gas, liquid, and solid states? That was exactly why he felt confident about a perfect result. And he focused on absorbing the sand and molten flame. Entering that mental space, it felt like his physical senses shut down completely. Yet he perceived the attribute energy pooling in his body with absolute clarity. The back in the room, Chumming began changing visibly. Glowing red skin cooled down like forged iron, and that intense fiery aura faded away. Meanwhile, a soft external glow wrapped around him like a swirling breeze and amazing sight. And inside the mental space, and Ming absorbed some attribute energy and regained his focus, mental power 50, ha looks incredibly promising. He felt real excitement spark inside. The sun and molten flame easily surpassed his wildest expectations. Just taking in a tiny fraction granted 50 mental points. Absorbing it completely would surely add hundreds. It was like leveling up multiple times. Absolute madness. The rare resources primarily awaken skills stat boosts are just a bonus. Gaining hundreds in mental power is great, but the core effect is vastly better. Eming also felt his progress jumped significantly by roughly 10%. I have to keep going. Completely thrilled by the result, he calmed his mind and focused entirely on absorbing the sand and molten flame energy. to mental power 50 progress at 22%. While Chuming was fully immersed in absorbing mental resources far away at the city border, a massive metallic crow carried four people right through the clouds. Approaching the border, these four riders were the patrol officer and the three managers having just returned from deep inside the monster forest. However, their condition looked somewhat rough, especially the three managers. Ragged breathing and bloodstained clothes, they had clearly taken heavy damage, coughing violently without stopping. Manager Wu coughed violently, clutching his chest through torn clothes. What exactly went wrong with that damn wolf king? It was like someone suddenly chopped off its vital parts. Back in that valley, they had actually prepared to retreat entirely. But then the Sanwa Wolf King just went absolutely raid, rushing forward to tear them apart. It threw everything at them, launching insanely violent and brutal strikes, almost like it harbored some deep, fatal grudge against them personally. It was obviously ready to fight them to the bitter end. Worse still, they desperately wanted to escape, but the Sanwa Wolf King refused to let them go. If they tried running away directly, that wolf king would head straight for Yinhai city to massacre everyone. The inspector clocked the threat, ordering them to team up for a quick response and take down the wolf king. So, they had no choice but to fight. A few older folks were forced into a tense, brutal battle. Luckily, with the inspector there, they managed to badly wound the wolf king, forcing it to retreat. Without him, those seniors would have been toast. Director Wong coughed, spitting black blood. His face looked grim. That fight messed him up big time. It felt like the Tong Yu Wolf King had a personal grudge, focusing its attacks on him. Damn it all. This all happened because he took just one wisp of Tong Yin's flame, a super rare one, too. But for a level 49 Tong Yu Wolf King, it wasn't even worth a toothpick. Still, it bit him savagely, like he'd broken in and stolen its most. In High City's defenses need heavy reinforcement over the next few days. The Wolf King might actually strike again. The inspector warned that high command had already responded. Reinforcements will hit Yinhai city very soon. He stared toward the beast forest completely dead pan. Not a single extra emotion showing. Also about that Yinhai city assessment we talked about last time. We can set it up right now. Hearing that, the director's face shifted. Director Wong glanced at the inspector hesitantly, then asked with extreme caution. There any idea what method this special assessment uses? Up ahead, the inspector stood at top a metal crow, his cloak snapping fiercely. the selection. Until now, he only gained mental strength by absorbing Tong Yan's flame. He reached 490 points. That is a truly terrifying stat calculated through level ups. A normal class changer needs five levels for that kind of boost. Always remember that mental strength is a highly unique attribute. Its importance isn't just limited to mages and sorcerers. It completely affects long-term combat endurance, skill consumption, and massive burst damage. At the exact same time, there is one thing nobody can ignore that also relies on mental strength. Lifespan. Just a little more hoping for perfection. Chumming felt his attribute absorption nearing its absolute limit. Meaning at the 20% mental strength awakening stage, he was basically about to master it completely. Class changers also have a hard cap when absorbing rare resources, and that limit varies wildly from person to person. But most people never need to worry about this simply because they never hit that cap. He wondered what skill would awaken at max capacity, a mental attack or maybe an advanced class changer domain. But Chuming knew one thing. It wouldn't be weak, likely bringing a noble armor-breaking trait. First mental strength progress 91%. First mental strength progress 92%. And finally, it reached 100%. The moment he absorbed that final drop of attribute energy, pure clarity swept through Chunming. An incredibly pleasant sensation completely flooded his mind. His consciousness returned, eyes snapping open. Before he could even check his specific class panel, a sudden system prompt flashed right in front of him. Mental potential reaches 20%, absorption of mental resources has hit its maximum limit. The wish to awaken mental skills immediately. seeing the eager prompt flash right before him and Ming didn't hesitate at all.