Chapter 268: Chapter 219: Explosive Growth in Battle Merit
“Teacher Yu, is this your student?” Teacher Yao from Qing Province Academy asked next to Yu Hui.
Yu Hui took a deep breath and nodded: “That’s right.”
Initially, Yu Hui didn’t have any sophomores among the students he was supervising this year. He wasn’t too familiar with the current sophomore students.
However, within just one day, Yu Hui learned that there was a sophomore student exhibiting outstanding performance among the students who came to B-3 Island. Upon asking Liu Congyun, Yu Hui found out that this student was indeed a sophomore. He was very surprised at the time.
Starting sophomore year at the Silver High Stage.
Even though Yu Hui was not well-versed with the faculty situation over the past twenty or thirty years at Demon Capital Academy, he was sure that in the past ten years, only this student could achieve such progress!
Such a prodigy must be under the wing of a Burning Sun level master at the academy.
Although Yu Hui was also a tutor at Demon Capital Academy, being at the Shining Star level meant that the Burning Sun level teachers were still quite superior to him. The gap was even larger than the difference between a teaching assistant and a professor at an ordinary university!
Yu Hui had been planning to communicate with other teachers when he had time to find out under which Burning Sun level master’s tutelage this Su Yuan was. But he didn’t expect Su Yuan to demonstrate such extraordinary strength today.
Suppressing his surprise, Yu Hui said: “We’ve killed enough Sea Beasts. Let’s go back and take care of the students.”
“Alright!”
Teachers Yao and Zhang faintly took Yu Hui as the leader. This also reflected the status of Demon Capital Academy as one of the Three Capitals Academies.
…
High in the sky, after using Hellfire to kill the Deep Sea Fishman Warrior, Su Yuan’s figure flickered and he landed on the ground cleared by the Hellfire.
The Sea Beast’s thick skin and high fire resistance were indeed impressive.
Despite the Hellfire’s attack, the Deep Sea Fishman Warrior’s body was not completely reduced to ashes, leaving some blackened, reddish remains.
Su Yuan skillfully extracted a deep blue Star Core from the charred body and stored it in his ring.
Although this was just a regular Star Core, it was a Gold Level Master Grade Star Core. Keeping it with him was safer to avoid causing any disputes.
Even though Su Yuan had killed the Gold Master-level Deep Sea Fishman Warrior, the endless swarm of Sea Beasts would not be deterred. They quickly surged from all directions, trying to engulf Su Yuan.
At this moment, countless prismatic ice crystals rained down like a storm.
Su Yuan’s eyes flashed with silver light. He instantly teleported back to the sky, leaving behind the large number of approaching Star Beasts.
“Boom, boom, boom…”
The ice crystals exploded continuously. Within moments, a large area below was cleared again.
“AOE spells are really useful, especially against Water Element Star Beasts. The Ice Element’s Frost Giant Dragon is even more powerful.”
Fire melts ice. Ice freezes water. Water extinguishes fire. There was still some inherent counteraction among ice, fire, and water elements.
Su Yuan returned to the dragon’s back, nodding slightly, feeling very satisfied with the Frost Giant Dragon’s performance.
“Let’s go to the next one.”
The Frost Giant Dragon let out a supportive roar and headed towards the next sensed Gold Level Master Star Beast.
…
B-3 Island, camp.
“Huh?”
The military female warrior in charge of monitoring the data from all the warriors’ and students’ detection communication devices suddenly let out a light exclamation.
The Shining Star level commander Zhou Chao, who was pacing nearby, asked: “What’s wrong, Xiao Han? Are the casualty numbers too high in the south?”
The detection communication device could collect and record Sea Beasts’ auras and also had the function to monitor the basic physical conditions of the wearer.
This point was, of course, conveyed to the students from each academy.
Monitoring the wearer’s condition helped the military quickly assess battle damage and dispatch support as needed.
“Reporting, Captain Zhou, no major casualties! It’s just… there’s a student’s battle merit increase that’s very strange… or rather, it’s too exaggerated…”
“Exaggerated? Let me see.” Zhou Chao’s expression changed slightly as he walked over to the monitoring display.
[Detection Device ID: No.****214]
[Personnel: Su Yuan]
[Personnel Type: Temporary]
[Realm: Silver High Stage]
[…]
Most students’ battle merits increased gradually, by dozens or one or two hundred.
The battle merit growth rate for the dozen or so Gold Level students was noticeably several times higher than that of the Silver Level students. Occasionally, there would be a surge of two or three thousand points due to killing a Gold Level Sea Beast.
Most Silver Level students did not have this capability.
However, this student named Su Yuan had a battle merit growth rate that was much more exaggerated than that of the Gold Level students.
If the Gold Level students were like riding planes, then Su Yuan was like riding a rocket. His battle merits were skyrocketing continuously, increasing by several hundred points every minute, occasionally jumping by thousands!
Seeing Zhou Chao also frowning at this student’s data, Xiao Han asked: “Captain Zhou, could the detection device be malfunctioning?”
Zhou Chao shook his head: “Impossible. You haven’t been in the military district long. The battle merit recording function of the detection communication device is almost foolproof.
It’s not just a simple aura detection and capture tool; it’s a Star Power device that incorporates some ‘causality’ rules.
It can automatically distribute battle merits to the wearers based on causality and algorithms, even for targets killed by multiple people together. How could there be such a basic error?”
Xiao Han hesitated: “Then this person…”
“Bring up his battle merit acquisition record.”
“Understood!”
Xiao Han operated the controls slightly, bringing up the record of “battle merit acquisition” changes with “time.”
The dense growth data left Xiao Han stunned.
“This, this… It’s my first time seeing such dense data! And here, there’s a jump of 9000 battle merits, just a few minutes ago!”
“It seems, this person is likely a Beast Tamer or a Summoner.”
Zhou Chao understood at a glance. This kind of data looked like it had been compounded by several people. Barring some unusual methods, this situation typically involved Beast Tamers or Summoners.
Despite this, Zhou Chao was still very surprised.
Even for a Silver Level Beast Tamer with four top species such as dragons or phoenixes, it was probably impossible to achieve this level of battle merit growth.
The battle merit for Gold Level Star Beasts ranged from 2000 to 4000. A jump of 9000 battle merits clearly indicated the slaying of a Gold Middle Stage Master Sea Beast!
At this moment, the rapidly rising battle merit data suddenly jumped again, increasing by 6000!
“Another 6000!” Xiao Han cried out.
“So fast, another Gold Early Stage Master Sea Beast slain? It’s been such a short time, and he’s almost at 20,000 battle merits already!”
Zhou Chao was equally shocked. He turned and walked to another person nearby and asked: “Taozi, can you activate the Photon Projection Barrier?”
“Almost, Captain Zhou… just in time!”
Xu Tao initiated the holographic projection. Numerous segmented images were then reflected through the Light Mirror and appeared in the command center.
Zhou Chao glanced briefly and immediately spotted Su Yuan riding the Frost Giant Dragon flying in the sky.
“That’s him, magnify! And the other Frost Giant Dragon and those two Hellfires beside him!”
Soon, Zhou Chao understood why Su Yuan could obtain battle merits so quickly.
The two projected images, one showing Su Yuan riding the Frost Giant Dragon, killing everything along his path towards another Gold Level Star Beast, and the other showing a Frost Giant Dragon and two Hellfires combining air and ground attacks, ruthlessly slaughtering Gold Level and Silver Level creatures.
“Hiss…”
The sound of gasps filled the command center.
Not just Xiao Han, Xu Tao, and other Silver Level warriors, but even some Gold Level captains were left speechless.
“This kid… is fierce!” Zhou Chao nodded and, after a brief pause, told Xu Tao: “After the battle ends, bring me a separate recording of his projection video.”
Xu Tao snapped back to reality, quickly responding: “Got it, Captain Zhou!”
…
South of the island.
“The teachers are back!”
Yu Hui and the other two Shining Star level tutors had already killed many Sea Beasts in the sea.
The three of them returned to the island. Many students saw this and felt much more at ease.
In Team 28-3, a rather disheveled looking girl slashed a nearby charging Bronze Sea Beast and looked at the three tutors in the sky. She couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief: “Thank goodness, the teachers are back!”
The captain of Team 28-3, however, had a solemn expression: “He Ting, be more careful. The teachers may not always step in to save us.”
“Huh?” He Ting’s face fell. “Captain Lin, what do you mean?”
One of the team members seemed aware of this, but another junior student was as puzzled as He Ting.
Captain Lin, while dealing with the Sea Beasts in front of him, explained seriously:
“Shining Star level tutors aren’t omniscient gods. In a chaotic battle, life and death are often decided in an instant. Amid the chaos, it’s hard even for teachers to keep an eye on everyone.
Remember, this operation is both a task and a trial. It carries a certain death rate.
For the teachers, the main concern is the overall situation. They guide us to complete the trial successfully rather than focusing on each student.
And what does ‘success’ mean? It means ensuring students complete the mission and gain experience, resources, and rewards while keeping deaths below a certain level. That’s their goal.
Teachers aren’t nannies or bodyguards who protect us in every aspect.”
He Ting and the other junior student, after a moment’s thought, understood.
Though many Lower Third Level Star Card Masters were needed for this operation, the military wasn’t unable to dispatch enough personnel. Instead, it was an opportunity for students to gain experience.
Last year’s Evil Punishment operation was similar to this one, also organized by the academy as both a mission and a trial.
It addressed issues in Great Flame Country, trained students, and provided an opportunity for senior students to earn considerable resources!
However, with such opportunities came high risks.
This was voluntary. Those who chose to come had to bear the consequences themselves.
He Ting strengthened her slightly relaxed mindset, working with the team to cautiously confront the Star Beasts ahead…