Chapter 81: Platinum-Grade Pet Food, Ground Dragon Flower
On the main platform.
The deans watched the large screen on the sports field, discussing the students’ performances.
Suddenly, Shui Tianluo spoke, “Look at the leaderboard.”
Everyone turned, puzzled, toward the rankings.
Qiao Chao and the others had all dropped one place.
Now, the name at the very top was Xu Han!
231 points!
Qiao Chao, now second, had 189 points.
Zheng Gang’s expression changed. “What’s going on? How did that kid’s score suddenly jump by a hundred points?”
Gao Zhenguo adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. “Could it be that he killed a leader-class beast?”
Zheng Gang retorted, “Impossible!”
“The leader-class beasts in the secret realm are far stronger than the ordinary ones—even a well-coordinated team would have a hard time taking one down.”
“He’s on his own. How could he possibly defeat a leader-class beast?”
Zhong Zhen interjected, “What’s the point of guessing? Let’s just take a look.”
As he spoke, he pressed a switch.
The screen shifted to Xu Han.
Xu Han was handling the corpse of a Diamond Centipede.
He sliced off a large chunk of meat with practiced ease and stuffed it into a spatial ring.
He picked up the equipment on the ground and tossed it in as if it were trash.
Then he continued deeper into the swamp.
Everyone present stared in astonishment at the huge corpse sprawled on the ground.
“That’s... the Diamond Centipede?” Zheng Gang muttered with a frown.
Gao Zhenguo nodded.
Zheng Gang still looked skeptical.
“The Diamond Centipede is a Bronze-tier leader. Its defense is formidable, and its attacks can easily obliterate anything fragile.”
“And that kid isn’t even a heavy armor class. How could he have beaten it?”
Jiang Huixin spoke casually, “Just dodge its attacks.”
Zheng Gang frowned. “Easy to say. There’s a reason it’s called the Millipede King.”
“It’s armored but not slow. Every time it attacks, it’s like a thousand arrows at once.”
“Who could dodge all of that?”
“Even you couldn’t do it, right?”
Jiang Huixin hesitated.
Indeed.
Even with her agility in the thousands, it was impossible to guarantee dodging every strike from the Diamond Centipede.
Huang Zhengtian stroked his chin, his eyes gleaming. “That kid is a real talent.”
“If we could recruit him to our academy, our ranking in this year’s grand tournament would surely soar!”
Just as everyone was deep in discussion, the number beside Xu Han’s name rose again.
It reached 331!
They stared, dumbfounded, at the numbers on the leaderboard.
“Another hundred points?!”
“Did he just bring down another Bronze-tier leader?”
“We really underestimated him. He’s going after these leader-class beasts on purpose.”
Even Zhong Zhen’s eyes flickered with interest. “He’s only hunting leader-class beasts. He’s the first student to do so.”
“Who knows—he might break the points record this year.”
...
Meanwhile, in the forest.
Qiao Chao swung his massive axe, slaying a Steeljaw Crocodile.
He checked the leaderboard.
When he saw Xu Han’s 331 points, his face darkened instantly.
His grip on the axe tightened until his knuckles turned white.
“Xu Han...” he growled.
A ferocious glint flashed in his eyes.
“Trying to take first place from me? Not so easy!”
He hefted his enormous axe and strode swiftly toward the black zone.
Wang Mo stood quietly among the trees, twin blades in hand.
His gaze was fixed on the map—on Xu Han’s location.
“Xu Han is strong...”
“But first place will be mine!”
He closed the map and, like a panther, darted into the forest.
Likewise, many others in the woods were making their way toward Xu Han’s location.
Elsewhere in the forest, a team of five was hunting beasts.
They were the Shui family sisters, along with Xia Ling and Qin Xuanyi.
The fifth member was a priest in a spotless white robe, staff in hand—Su Li.
The five made a perfect team.
Shui Xuelan held the front line, taking the brunt of the damage; Xia Ling and Shui Lingyao unleashed their attacks; Qin Xuanyi and Su Li supported from the back, healing.
Their efficiency in hunting was impressive.
Their points had reached 100.
“Look, Xu Han is first on the leaderboard!” Su Li suddenly exclaimed.
Everyone checked the rankings.
Sure enough!
Xu Han was in first place with a formidable 331 points, far ahead of the rest.
A faint smile tugged at Shui Lingyao’s lips.
As expected of the man she had her eye on.
Even at Dragon Country University, he eclipsed all the other prodigies!
Xia Ling grinned, “Let’s do our best too!”
“With the five of us, we can try challenging a leader-class beast now.”
The others nodded, moving together toward the red zone.
...
At that moment, Xu Han was weaving through the woods.
His gaze swept the surroundings, searching for traces of leader-class beasts.
Even within the black zone, such beasts were not common.
Most of the creatures here were second-tier.
But Xu Han wasn’t interested.
He left those to Little Eagle and Little Tiger for practice.
Together, they could dispatch a second-tier beast in just half a minute.
Xu Han’s points climbed rapidly.
He glanced at the leaderboard.
In half an hour, his score had increased by another sixty points.
He now had 391.
Second place was Wang Mo, with 220.
A gap of 171 points.
Barring any surprises, he would surely take first place.
But as he looked at the map beside him, he noticed several glowing dots moving in his direction.
Qiao Chao, Wang Mo, and the others were coming for him.
Clearly, they intended to take him down and claim a windfall in points.
Xu Han closed the leaderboard with a casual flick, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Let them come—it didn’t matter how many.
It would only mean more points for him.
Just as he was about to head deeper into the forest, his attention was caught by several yellow flowers nearby.
He stopped, eyes fixed on the three yellow blossoms.
Activating the Eye of Insight, their attributes appeared before him.
[Name: Earth Dragon Flower]
[Quality: Platinum]
[Description: Said to bloom where the blood of an Earth Dragon has been spilled. Extremely beneficial for earth-type beasts.]
Platinum-grade pet food?!
There were three of them in this very spot!
Little Tiger needed three more types of platinum-grade food to refine its bloodline.
If it ate these Earth Dragon Flowers, its bloodline would be elevated to an entirely new level.
Its power would grow even greater!
The thought stirred Xu Han’s excitement.
He strode quickly toward the flowers.
The three Earth Dragon Flowers, each the size of a palm, swayed gently, exuding an enchanting fragrance.
Just as Xu Han reached within ten meters of them, the ground began to tremble violently!
Rumbling thundered through the earth.
The ground split open with a deafening crack.
A massive lizard, dozens of meters long, burst out from beneath the earth.
Its scarlet eyes locked onto Xu Han, radiating a chilling aura.