Chapter 33: Viper
After Jian Chen introduced Tie Ta to his older brother Changyang Hu and talked for a while before being split up by the vice headmaster Bai En.
After the headmaster Bai En had made a speech, he had the rest of the students clean up a bit before taking away everyone’s Space Ring in order to prevent people from storing their own monster cores within it. He gave them a cheap Space Belt to compensate, a single one of these belts weren’t all that expensive and were actually a very common item so the academy could afford to hand out a thousand of them.
The space within the belt was very small as well, and could only hold up to a meter squared. However, it was sufficient for holding monster cores, for now, each belt held a small amount of medication just in case of an injury.
Once all of the preparations were complete, all 1000 students left the academy in a grand exit. Heading for the forest 20 miles away, a few dozen teachers accompanied them. Their mission was to split up in the forest and rescue any student in a life threatening situation with the vice headmaster Bai En to lead the group.
After exiting from the academy, everyone’s speed gradually picked up. Since the weakest student amongst them was around the 8th Saint Force Layer, the speed could definitely be faster, although they were already traveling at very fast speeds.
After two hours of traveling, everyone finally reached the outskirts of the forest where they could all see a faint white light illuminating from within.
Jian Chen looked strangely at the white light that covered the forest,he had read many books in the library, so he understood the reason behind the white light.
300 years ago, this place had been a grassy wasteland with no forest in sight. Using 1000 people from Kargath, they finally developed the area and after 1 year of work, a forest was created. Although at that time, the area of the forest was only 50 kilometers. After hundreds of years, the forest had developed into what it was today.
After the forest had grown, Kargath Academy’s headmaster Brian personally spent 3 days and 3 nights in the forest and enshrouded it in light before splitting it into 3 regions. Each region had a strong enchantment on it, and in the middle of the forest the headmaster had released weaker magical beasts to breed so that they would create stronger magical beasts for the students from the academy to learn to fight.
Headmaster Brian had created this forest for the geniuses of Gesun Kingdom and expended a great amount of effort creating the forest. However, the headmaster Brian had long since retired, having another person take his role.
At that moment, the headmaster walked on over and said, “Dear students, starting from today, you will have to survive in the forest for 3 days and have to hand over two monster cores at the very least. If you give up halfway or do not obtain two monster cores, then that will be considered as a loss and you will not be rewarded.” His clear voice was transmitted to every student’s ear.
“Right now, everyone will be separated. Those students who aren’t a Saint may partner up with someone in the second region to hunt for monster cores. For those students who are Saints, please make your way towards the 3rd region.”
Afterwards, everyone started to scatter while Jian Chen and Tie Ta naturally walked together. Because the area was enchanted against magical beasts, everyone who entered this area would not be attacked by any magical beast.
As they entered the enchanted area, Jian Chen and Tie Ta were both already in the first region. The first region had beasts with very weak strength, so weak that they would be no match for a Class 1 Magical Beast. When it came to weak beasts like these, the entire Tian Yuan Continent just called them wild beasts, and it was only when they reached the first class that they would be considered a Magical Beast.
All 1000 students entered at the same time, scaring the wild animals into a sense of submission and made the trip relatively peaceful. Quickly the students all made it through the enchantments and into the second region. All of the monsters in this area were Class 1 Magical Beasts, so for those who weren’t a Saint, even a Class 1 Magical Beast could pose a threat to them.
Entering the 2nd region, Tie Ta and Jian Chen broke away from the rest of the students and headed for the dense parts of the forests. All around them were weeds that were as tall as a person and majorly impacted their vision. Not able to see see the road, they could only look down and track the footprints left behind by the magical beasts.
“Changyang Xiang Tian, from here on out magical beasts will be appearing often, we definitely can’t be careless.” Tie Ta said with a solemn face. He had been hunting in forests for magical beasts since he was young, so it could be said that he had a rich experience about them. He also understood the dangers that lived within the forests, and if one wasn’t careful, then they would lose their life easily.
Jian Chen’s face contained a look of conviction, “Don’t worry, even if you run into trouble, it doesn’t mean that I’ll run into trouble.” With the memories from his previous world, he did not take this forest lightly. In his previous life, he had often traveled through forests, and his experience was even more extensive when it came to forests when compared to Tie Ta. Combined with the fact that Jian Chen had read up on magical beasts in a book, he learned a great deal about the magical beasts in the forest.
Tie Ta held onto his giant battleaxe as he watched around himself with no small amount of vigilance. “Although I’ve killed many beasts in the past, I’ve never killed a Magical Beast. They have the same strength of a Saint, so even if one was a Saint, it wouldn’t be a definite kill. I’m not sure if we would be able to kill a Class 1 Magical Beast if we come across one, and if by chance one runs away, we won’t be able to catch up.”
Jian Chen smiled and said, “Tie Ta, could it be you don’t have that much faith in your own strength?”
Tie Ta’s face started to redden as he scratched his head. With a honest answer, he said, “It’s not that, I have faith in my own strength. My teacher even said that my strength was strong enough to defeat the regular Saint. But I’ve never killed a Class 1 Magical Beast, let alone seen one…”
While Tie Ta was speaking, Jian Chen’s face went rigid before bringing his hand up to stop him from talking. His eyes narrowed slightly as he started to look around.
Noticing how Jian Chen suddenly became serious, Tie Ta realized that danger was approaching. Holding his battleaxe in front of him, he cautiously looked around at the surrounding grass.
Jian Chen stared around himself for the most potential spot of danger, but the grass had been growing unhindered and healthy for years and obstructed his view; so Jian Chen wasn’t able to see anything.
Jian Chen’s right hand clenched onto the iron rod in his hand as he blinked once. His ears started to shake as he strained to listen to his surroundings.
A few deep breaths later, Jian Chen suddenly opened his eyes to reveal a bright glow to them. Straight away, Jian Chen stamped forwards with the corroded iron rod in his right hand starting to exude a bright yellow glow. Just like lightning, the rod shot forward with a whooshing sound.
At the same time, a green stick suddenly flew forward from the grass like a bullet and quickly approached Jian Chen with frightening speeds.
In midair, Jian Chen’s rod and the green stick collided with each other, causing the green branch to stop moving. As it slowly stopped, Jian Chen saw that the iron point of the rod had pierced straight through the body of it.
At that moment, the two of them suddenly realized that the stick was actually a green viper. It was as thick as an adult’s arm, and the part of it that was currently visible was 2 meters long.
A powerful wind rushed past Jian Chen’s ear, as he saw Tie Ta swipe his large battleaxe towards the viper with an ear-splitting noise.
The large battleaxe slashed at the viper’s body, and its power was so strong that the viper was flung almost 10 meters backwards before it fell to the ground with a soft noise. However, the weeds around their current location grew so lush that, putting aside 10 meters, Jian Chen and Tie Ta could barely see 5 meters ahead of them.
“Hurry up and chase after it. We cannot let it hide itself.” Jian Chen clearly understood how unfavorable the situation was for them. His body flashed as he chased after the viper at high speeds. Under these circumstances, if the viper managed to carefully hide away from sight, then the two of them would be in huge trouble. After all, every step in front of them was covered with weeds, and it was difficult to see anything on the ground. It would be extremely difficult to defend against the viper if it prepared to lie in wait.
Without any hesitation, Tie Ta ran towards the direction that Jian Chen had raced in. Once Tie Ta caught up with Jian Chen, Jian Chen had already stopped moving. About 3 meters away, that viper had lifted its head up high, its ice-cold eyes looking at them, its forked tongue flicking in and out.
When the viper lifted its body, it was 1.5 meters tall. Its body, which was as thick as an adult’s arm, had two wounds on it. One of them was the bloody hole that Jian Chen had left; it was so deep that the viper’s bone could be seen. The other was the long wound that Tie Ta had left; it stretched down the viper’s thick body. The outside of the wound was a mess of flesh, with fresh, red blood pouring down ceaselessly from it.
Jian Chen’s eyes cautiously followed the viper’s movements. Although the viper in front of them was a species with relatively weak attack, it was still a Class 1 Magical Beast. Its power would not be any weaker than a Saint that had already condensed his Saint Weapon.
Tie Ta looked at the viper with a serious expression. The veins on his hands popped out as he gripped his battleaxe tightly, prepared to attack with all his strength at any moment.
While both parties were in a deadlock, Jian Chen finally acted. The short 3 meter distance was nothing to him, and with a sway of his body, Jian Chen had already covered 2 meters of distance. In an instant, he appeared in front of the viper. The iron rod in his hand made an ear-piercing cry as it was thrust forward faster than the naked eye could see, headed straight for the viper that was currently seven inches away.
The viper gave a rough cry as it nimbly darted its body to the side to evade the fatal blow.
Despite this, that corroded iron rod still managed to deeply pierce a hole through its body, the sharp tip poking out through its other side.
“Si!” The strong pain made the green viper cry out hoarsely, its mouth open wide.
“Yahei!” Tie Ta’s movements were quick, as he used all his strength to slash his battleaxe down hard towards the viper’s head.
The battleaxe passed through the fist-sized viper’s head, sending it flying high up into the air. A rain of blood fell down, and fresh blood crazily spurted out from the wound on its green body. In an instant, the surrounding weeds were covered in red.