The tenth day.
Early morning.
Ethan sat cross-legged on the canopy of an old banyan tree, his eyes closed and his breathing as steady as if he were asleep.
But in the next second, his eyes snapped open.
Deep within his pupils, a flash of emerald light flickered and vanished.
"Hunting time."
He stood up from the canopy. His movements weren't fast, but they carried a restlessness that had been suppressed for ten days.
Nine days.
For nine whole days, he had searched every corner of this secret realm that could be searched. His vines had probed every suspicious hollow in the trees, his roots had swept through every crack in the ground where someone might hide, and his Nature's Alert had been set and dismantled over and over again.
He hadn't found a single soul.
The Spider Girl had turned out to be the only person he had encountered.
"I don't believe this." A curve touched the corner of Ethan's mouth, a smile tinged with a hint of ferocity. "With luck this bad, I really can't find a single one?"
He raised his right hand, and a pale green light surged from his palm.
...
Ethan stood at the edge of a dense thicket, his face so dark it looked like it could drip ink.
From the first day, he had used his vines and roots to scour every place imaginable. Every tree hollow, every fissure, every corner where a person could hide—he hadn't missed a single one.
And the result?
Not a single shadow of a person was found.
"Damn it, they really know how to hide."
Over these ten days, he had turned the secret realm upside down.
But he hadn't run into a single one of those apprentices since that Spider Girl on the first day.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, a faint blue light suddenly shimmered across the ground beneath his feet.
The light seeped out from the soil like a rising tide, quickly covering his ankles, knees, waist, and chest.
Ethan looked down, a helpless curve pulling at his lips.
Time was up.
The sensation of weightlessness lasted only for a moment.
When the light dissipated, Ethan was standing on the ground along with five other apprentices.
The first thing he saw was the Spider Girl's corpse.
Her eyes were half-open, her pupils dilated, and a dried trail of blood hung from the corner of her mouth.
Four dark purple spider legs hung limply from beneath her shoulder blades, their tips touching the ground. The fine fuzz at the joints was matted with dirt and leaf litter.
Ethan could even catch the faint, lingering scent of rotting flesh.
Withdrawing his gaze, Ethan had a general idea of what had happened.
Because she was the first to be eliminated, she was destined to lose, bringing shame to her academy.
Naturally, there was no longer any need for her to remain alive.
Death was perhaps her best final destination.
"Alright, everyone is out," Wizard Blood Fury spoke first. "Let's see the harvest. After all, this concerns the allocation of shares for twenty-three secret realms."
He paused, his gaze scanning the five apprentices one by one. "Who wants to go first?"
The ponytail girl from White Bird Academy was the first to step forward.
She removed a grayish-white ring from her finger, placed it in her palm, and probed it with her mental power.
In the next instant, materials poured out from the ring, spreading across a large area of the clearing.
At a rough glance, it occupied at least fifty or sixty cubic meters of space.
The Wizard from White Bird Academy curled his lips into a satisfied smile.
The round-faced boy from Canglan Academy was the second to step forward.
The items he brought out were fewer than those from White Bird Academy, about forty cubic meters, but the quality wasn't bad.
The bald brute from Ashen Academy was third.
He produced even fewer materials, only about thirty cubic meters, but several items among them caught the eyes of the Wizards present. There was a pitch-black magical beast horn with fine golden patterns flowing over its surface, and a complete silver-white beast hide as smooth as silk.
The stocky youth from Iron Front Academy was fourth.
His materials were average, about forty cubic meters, with nothing particularly outstanding but no dregs either.
The tall girl from Violet Academy was the last of the five.
She produced slightly more materials than White Bird Academy, nearly sixty-five cubic meters. There was even half a root that looked like a supernatural plant, with pale blue sap still seeping from the cut.
With the five apprentices finished, White Bird Academy was temporarily in the lead with over sixty cubic meters of materials.
Wizard Siyan turned to look at Blood Fury, his lips curving into a smile that carried a hint of undisguised mockery.
"Oh, you old dog, why isn't your academy's little apprentice moving? Could it be that his haul is so small he's afraid to show it?"
Blood Fury's crimson eyes narrowed slightly. His expression didn't change, but he turned his head to look at Ethan.
"Heh, you old bastard, you sure have a foul mouth." His voice was indifferent, tinged with a sneer. "Ethan, show them what you've got."
"Yes, Dean."
Ethan lightly crooked his right index finger.
The soft soil beneath his feet suddenly bulged, and a woody vine as thick as a wrist burst from the ground, wrapping around his waist and lifting him up.
The vine continued to grow upward, slowly carrying him to a height of three or four meters above the ground.
"Hey, you brat..."
Wizard Siyan's words got stuck in his throat.
Because Ethan had made his move.
Crash!
Materials poured from the ring like a bursting dam, surging out in a frenzy.
Very quickly, the materials piled into a small mountain on the ground.
The valley fell silent.
Blood Fury stared at the pile of materials for two breaths, his mouth slowly splitting into a wide grin.
Wizard Siyan finally snapped out of it, his expression becoming quite a sight.
His face flushed red then turned pale, his lips trembling as he tried to speak but swallowed his words.
Finally, he squeezed out a sentence: "You... you people from Blood Bone Tower..."
"What about us from Blood Bone Tower?" Blood Fury turned his head, his crimson eyes fixed on Wizard Siyan, that grin still on his face. "Old bastard, what did you say just now? My hearing isn't great; I didn't catch that."
Wizard Siyan's face was so dark it looked like it could drip ink.
Blood Fury ignored him and looked up at Ethan, who was still standing on the vine, his voice filled with satisfaction.
"Alright, come down."
"Yes, Dean."
Ethan leaped down from the giant wood.
When he was less than two meters from the ground, a vibrant green vine burst from the earth, rapidly growing, branching, and interweaving. In the blink of an eye, it wove into a soft cushion two meters square, steadily catching his falling body.
The vine cushion dipped slightly, absorbing all the impact, and then gave a gentle sway to set Ethan down on the ground.
The entire process was seamless and incredibly smooth.
The valley remained silent for a moment.
Blood Fury stared at that vine cushion for two breaths, his grin widening even further.
The Wizards from the other academies twitched their lips, shifting their gazes away from Ethan to look into the distance.
"Damn, I really want to hit someone."
"Hahaha! Good, good, good!"
Blood Fury's laughter echoed through the valley, carrying an undisguised sense of triumph.
He strode over to Ethan and slapped him on the shoulder with enough force to nearly bury him in the ground.
"Ethan, your rewards will be calculated and given to you once we're back at the academy. I've decided—this ring is yours; the academy won't take it back."
Ethan bowed slightly, placing his right hand over his chest.
"Thank you, Dean."
"Mhm. Pack the things up. These are your spoils of war, and you get ten percent of them."
"Yes, Dean."
With a wave of Ethan's hand, countless vines emerged from the ground, dragging the materials toward him. Beast hides, scales, spirit cores, and herbs were tucked into the storage ring one after another.
Soon, not even a hair was left on the ground.
Blood Fury fished out Ethan's original small ring from his sleeve and tossed it over.
Ethan caught it.
"Hahaha! Well then, since that's settled, I'm leaving. All shares will be allocated according to the usual regulations. Hahaha, let's go!"
Blood Fury's laughter continued to ring out as he turned and strode toward the teleportation array, looking for all the world like a gambler who had just won big.
Ethan followed behind him.
After a few steps, he caught a glimpse of Wizard Siyan's face, which was still dark with rage.
The wrinkles on the old man's face were bunched together, and his lips were trembling as if he were muttering something, but not a single word came out.
Once the two from Blood Bone Tower had teleported away, Wizard Siyan took a deep breath. "Let's go. Our own apprentices weren't as strong as theirs; what is there to be dissatisfied about? If anything, we'll win it back in five years."
With a flick of his sleeve, Wizard Siyan turned and walked toward the teleportation array.
The other Wizards exchanged looks and led their respective apprentices to follow suit.
The sound of footsteps gradually faded, and silence returned to the valley.
Only the soil soaked in blood remained as a trace of the stakes of this gamble.
Oh, and the Spider Girl's corpse.
Rate on N.U.
