"Jiang Lin!"
However, what Jiang Lin didn't expect was that instead of attacking him, the other party shouted his name with excitement.
Jiang Lin looked closely and realized that one of them was a classmate from his school who knew him—apparently, someone from the late-night study group.
Knowing they were no match for Jiang Lin, they had no intention of fighting him.
"Don't give me that nonsense. We're enemies on the battlefield!" Jiang Lin declared with righteous indignation.
"Then just eliminate us. Letting you eliminate us is better than letting those three from the other schools do it."
Jiang Lin stared at the system for a long while, but there was no reaction.
'Damn it! They have no intention of attacking me, so I can't trigger a quest!'
But there were people from other schools?
"Then you guys go first! I'll cover the rear!"
The others were stunned that Jiang Lin was willing to help them and were immediately moved to tears.
"Damn it, don't underestimate us! Everyone, together! There are four of us; at most, we'll go down fighting!!"
Soon, Jiang Lin saw the three people chasing from behind.
The aura of those three was significantly stronger than that of the three from his own school.
However, for Jiang Lin, it was a piece of cake.
Soon, he saw the system prompt.
【Temporary Quest】
【Reward: 3 random skills raised to max level】
Thus, under the shocked gazes of the onlookers, four or five streaks of dazzling holy light sword qi surged toward the three students from the other schools. The trio barely managed a bit of resistance before being defeated.
Not only that, but something seemed hidden within that holy light sword qi. Upon contact, the three immediately stopped running, ceased their resistance, clutched their stomachs, and collapsed to their knees.
"Aaaaah!"
"Holy crap, what kind of degenerate skill is this?!"
"Aaaaah! I'm not clean anymore!!"
Bathed in the holy light, Jiang Lin calmly retracted his palm.
"It's settled. No need to thank me."
He then turned to the three students and said, "Remember my name! Radiant Junior Magic Academy, fourth in the grade, Matthew Hoffman!"
White light flashed, and the three, having lost their will to fight, were quickly teleported away.
At the exit of the secret realm, three more miserable souls appeared.
"Matthew! I'm not done with you!!!"
The other students waiting at the entrance saw the pathetic state of these three, especially the... filth on their bodies, and felt a sudden chill of disgust.
In a literal sense, something had been beaten out of them.
Similarly, the name "Matthew" was burned into their minds.
Jiang Lin looked at his points, which hadn't risen much, and felt some disappointment. He waved at the others and turned to leave, leaving the three behind to stare blankly at the spot where the pursuers had just been kneeling.
'What... what kind of skill was that?'
'Is Jiang Lin... really a paladin?'
'Why does he feel so evil and filthy?'
"Jiang Lin! We're coming with you!!"
The remaining three were excited, feeling like they had found a powerful backer.
Jiang Lin looked back, thought for a moment, and said, "Fine. Whether you can keep up is your business; I won't look after you. Also, don't disturb me."
"Yes!"
Hearing Jiang Lin's permission, the three were thrilled.
They no longer held any hope of getting a high score; they just wanted to stay in the secret realm as long as possible to gain more combat experience.
Time passed quickly.
More and more teams were eliminated. The remaining teams were the best of the best, possessing significant combat ability.
The three following Jiang Lin watched him dominate the forest with utter worship.
The student from the late-night group said to the other two, "See that! That's the benefit of staying up late!!"
This made the other two feel tempted.
'I have to try it after the exam!'
Jiang Lin appeared before them like a dazzling sun, lighting the path ahead.
Along the way, Jiang Lin continuously hunted demonic beasts while eliminating several teams from other schools.
When he encountered classmates from his own school, although Jiang Lin intended to fight them, many chose to simply join his group.
As a result, the crowd behind him grew larger and larger, numbering several dozen people.
Then, the first shrinking zone began.
However, to Jiang Lin's surprise, after all this time, his rank had only risen by one.
【Points: 762】
【Rank: 2】
【Total Eliminations: 132】
【Random Skill Upgrades 7】
'Who is first right now? Where are they farming so many points?'
'Whatever, I'll run into them eventually. I'll just keep farming my own points.'
He continued to lead his army, sweeping through the secret realm.
Seeing such a formation, students from other academies basically fled on sight, while students from his own academy excitedly joined in.
Jiang Lin was starting to regret bringing those first three along.
If he hadn't brought them, he might have been able to harvest a few more system rewards.
...
On the other side, Anya's team had also grown from two members to several dozen.
Among them were members of her own school she had encountered in the secret realm.
Seeing one of the top ten in their grade, they had scurried over to ask if they could form a temporary alliance to face the other schools.
Anya, after frowning and getting confirmation that they wouldn't compete for her points, reluctantly agreed to their request.
As for Morning Star Junior Magic Academy and Boulder Junior Magic Academy, they had also begun to consolidate. The three sides had all coincidentally started forming illegal alliances, sweeping through the secret realm and picking off lone teams.
As time passed and the safe zone continued to shrink, Anya's team first encountered the team from Morning Star Junior Magic Academy.
Although Morning Star didn't have their first or second-ranked students present, they had other high-ranking experts leading the way.
Moreover, they had a clear advantage over Anya's team: they had at least twice as many people.
The Morning Star students' eyes lit up when they saw a group smaller than theirs.
Anya and her team looked solemn, as if facing a great enemy.
The leader of the Morning Star team wanted to say some trash talk before starting, but Anya had no such intention.
Several streaks of holy light sword qi, identical to Jiang Lin's, flew toward them. While they weren't as thick or heavy as Jiang Lin's, the opponents didn't dare be careless and raised defensive skills to resist.
At the same time, following the holy light sword qi were arrows with eerie curves and a massive barrage of powerful magic.
"Brothers, charge!!"
Seeing Anya's group attack directly, the Morning Star students braced themselves and unleashed their best skills.
Anya's eyes flashed with sharp light. Cloaked in a holy light shield, she charged ahead alone, her longsword dancing as she blocked three front-line fighters by herself.
These three were all in the top ten of Morning Star, and one was their leader.
The holy light shield flickered violently under the combined assault of the three Morning Star vanguards, but it remained unbroken.
With her blonde hair flying, her longsword turned into streaks of light, allowing her to hold her own against three opponents. Meanwhile, support from her teammates arrived, as various auxiliary buffing skills were cast upon her.
These weren't Jiang Lin's toxic heals, but normal buffing skills that boosted Anya's combat power further. Combined with her physical stats that far exceeded a normal level 9, she was starting to suppress the three of them.
"Priests! Where are our buffs?!"
The Morning Star leader felt immense pressure. He found it hard to imagine that, despite all being level 9, the opponent could fight three people at once without losing ground.
Soon, their back-line priests also began casting various buffs on them.
For a moment, the front-line battlefield fell into a stalemate. The remaining front-line fighters also charged forward to block skills for their teammates and create a safe combat environment.
Those who had lasted this long were no longer rookies who didn't know how to use skills, so there were no instances of accidental friendly fire.
However, as powerful as Anya was, they were still outnumbered, and soon members of her team began to be hit and eliminated.
The thunderous sound of battle echoed in all directions.
Jiang Lin's team and the team from Boulder Junior Magic Academy both heard the noise and rushed toward the location.
...
"Hey brother, which side is the good side?"
Suddenly, an unfamiliar figure appeared within the Morning Star team, asking a priest in the back line.
"Huh? You are...?"
The priest was startled. Someone had snuck up behind him without him noticing. He thought it was an assassin from the opposing team, but seeing the person wearing a Morning Star uniform, he relaxed.
"I'm a lone priest. Are we fighting this team right now?"
"Exactly! Brother, come help us out!"
"No problem!"
Following that, the priest saw several familiar Low-level Strengthening magic formulas manifest in front of his new companion.
"Whoa, brother, your proficiency with this skill is quite high!"
"Of course!"
Then, the Low-level Strengthening drifted toward the other back-line teammates who were currently outputting full firepower.
However, instead of becoming more powerful, their expressions collectively changed. They simultaneously stopped what they were doing and began clutching their stomachs, twitching on the spot.
'What... what's going on?'
The priest looked at Jiang Lin in shock, only to see Jiang Lin grab his ill-fitting Morning Star uniform and rip it off, revealing a completely different uniform underneath.
He heard him shout at the top of his lungs, "Victory belongs to Boulder Junior Magic Academy!!"
In an instant, the back line's attention focused entirely on him. Even Anya's team on the opposite side noticed.
Seeing that Jiang Lin had somehow stolen a Boulder Junior Magic Academy uniform to wear, everyone's eyes twitched.
Jiang Lin saw the aggro starting to shift and the system beginning to issue several temporary quests, a pleasant curve forming on his lips.
Then, he began a slaughter like a wolf among sheep.
Since most of the back line had been neutralized by him in advance, he wasn't immediately focused by concentrated fire. Relying on his superlative Stone Skin, he swung a holy light longsword wildly, moving as if through an uninhabited land.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Countless sword qi, condensed as if solid, flew with heart-shaking whistles, accurately striking the weak mages and priests.
"Aaaaah!!!"
"Defend! Quick, defend!"
"Where did this back-stabber come from?! Where are the mages and archers?! Why are they all on the ground?!!"
"Boulder Junior Magic Academy! You devious pricks!!"
This sudden turn of events instantly threw the Morning Star team into chaos. White light flashed as at least seven or eight students were judged heavily injured and eliminated, teleported out of the secret realm.
Anya's team took the opportunity to charge and eliminate their opponents.
However, Jiang Lin was getting greedy.
"Stop, leave all the eliminations to me!!"
But his voice was drowned out by the chaotic environment and couldn't reach the other side. Instead, it only made the surrounding Morning Star students see red.
"Damn it, this is too much! We'd rather give the points to the other side than let this guy from Boulder Academy get them!!"
"Exactly!!"
Jiang Lin cursed under his breath while speeding up his harvesting.
And the opponents were indeed stubborn, choosing to actively forfeit and let the identity bracelet teleport them away rather than letting Jiang Lin get the kill.
However, the bracelet's judgment was quite reasonable; most of those who teleported away near Jiang Lin were credited to him, adding to his points.
But the system's judgment was more stingy.
Since Jiang Lin hadn't even touched many of them, those quest progresses were still marked as ongoing.
However, for those Jiang Lin had attacked before they fled, the system gave the judgment "fled in terror from the Demon Lord's might," allowing him to successfully claim the rewards.
At this moment, seeing that Jiang Lin was completely exposed, the rest of the Radiant Junior Magic Academy students charged out from behind him with a roar.
Seeing such a massive force following behind Jiang Lin, the Morning Star students' eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Those who were still hesitating immediately chose to flee the scene to avoid a beating.
In just a few breaths, the remainder of the Morning Star main force was entirely eliminated, basically ending their exam journey.
At the secret realm exit.
White light flashed continuously as a large number of Morning Star students were teleported out.
This scene immediately caught the attention of the students waiting at the exit.
The Morning Star students who had just been teleported out began a round of cursing.
"It's all because of that damn student from Boulder Junior Magic Academy!"
"Despicable Boulder Academy, using such underhanded tactics!"
"Eh? Why are you still kneeling on the ground?"
"Toilet! Help me to the toilet!!"
"That degenerate used some kind of unknown skill..."
...
Meanwhile, the remaining members of Radiant Junior Magic Academy had basically all converged, totaling over thirty people, making them the largest group left on the field.
Jiang Lin checked his points after this battle.
【Points: 996】
【Rank: 1】
【Total Eliminations: 147】
'So many points!!'
'Not bad, a bountiful harvest!'
Similarly, the system rewards were quite generous.
【Random Skill Upgrades 11】
Adding these to his previous accumulation, his total rewards were as follows:
【Designated Skill Upgrade 1】
【Random Skill Upgrades 21】
However, he currently had no new skills to upgrade, and it wasn't the right time to attempt a limit-break.
"I didn't expect to run into you guys."
After the two groups met, they began to catch up. However, just then, a rustling sound came from the nearby woods.
Dozens of demonic beasts suddenly lunged out of the forest, accompanied by several magic spells following behind them.
It was the team from Boulder Junior Magic Academy, arriving after hearing the commotion!
The leaders, Lina and Eve, were hiding behind numerous front-line fighters, unleashing skill after skill toward Jiang Lin and the others.
Rate on N.U.
