Combat Practice

For a final exam like this, some found it difficult, but true geniuses felt it was just average.

Their outstanding performance was like a red flower in a patch of grass, looking exceptionally eye-catching and attracting a massive amount of attention.

At this moment, Lizer was exactly that. He successfully completed the brewing of his first inferior-grade potion in a time so short that even the instructors questioned it.

This made the invigilator from the provincial department certain that this was a student Grey Fog Mountain had poached at a high price, unwilling to remain at the bottom of the rankings.

This was something these academies often did to fight for a better final evaluation.

However, since this kind of operation could provide true geniuses with more resources—which was originally one of the Department of Education's goals—it was not explicitly prohibited.

Even the invigilating instructor from Grey Fog Mountain Academy, not knowing Lizer, assumed he was a secret trump card the old headmaster had poached at a high price.

He gave an awkward chuckle to his colleague from the provincial department, but in his heart, he was laughing wildly:

That old man has finally seen the light.

This is more like it! My bonus for this year is finally safe!

He was a potion instructor. Having heard Mary's tragic story yesterday, he originally thought today's practical exam would also be a disaster.

He had even prayed that the exam topic absolutely wouldn't be on potions, preferably alchemy crafting—better them than me, after all.

When the exam topic was revealed, he had already prepared himself to have his bonus deducted.

But now, Lizer had appeared out of nowhere...

If a genius student emerged from Grey Fog Mountain's potion final exam, all the instructors in their department would share the glory and receive higher appraisal ratings.

Following that, Lizer successfully brewed six consecutive potions...

The two invigilators were already numb. With all these potions successfully brewed, a perfect score of 100 was guaranteed.

The third day was actual combat. This year's practical combat exam was relatively simple but also quite fair:

The Department of Education had prepared a large number of low-level golems. Each candidate needed to defeat ten golems, and they would be graded based on their overall performance in each battle.

The first was a wooden golem with 1.0 in each attribute of strength, agility, and constitution. It was a freebie to prevent students from scoring a zero.

Lizer drew his gun and fired. The wooden golem died. Time elapsed: 1s.

The second was a wooden golem with 1.5 in strength, agility, and constitution. A warm-up question; it was rare for a student to fail, it was just a matter of time.

Drew gun, fired, died. Time elapsed: 1s.

The third was a mud golem with a strength of 2, and agility and constitution of 1.5;

Drew gun, fired, died. Time elapsed: 1s.

The fourth was a mud golem with strength and agility of 2, and constitution of 1.5;

Drew gun, fired, died. Time elapsed: 1s.

The fifth was a rock golem with 2 points each in strength, agility, and constitution;

Drew gun, fired, died. Time elapsed: 1s.

The sixth was a knight-level iron golem with 3 strength, and 2 agility and constitution;

Switched to "Flame" bullets, fired. The golem's chest melted into molten iron and died. Time elapsed: 2s.

The seventh was a knight-level iron golem with 3 strength and constitution, and 2 agility;

Switched to "Armor-Piercing" bullets, fired. The golem's head shattered and died. Time elapsed: 2s.

The eighth was a veteran knight-level steel golem with 3 points each in strength, agility, and constitution;

Switched to "Stun" bullets, stunned it. Switched to "Armor-Piercing" bullets, fired, died. Time elapsed: 4s.

It wasn't until the ninth one appeared that it was an elementary wizard-level dark magic iron golem, with stamina and agility as high as 4 points.

It could also fire heat rays equivalent to the basic energy level of a "Fire Arrow." Only then did Lizer slightly raise his guard.

He absolutely did not want to be hit first by this bizarre golem, so the moment the opponent launched its attack, he quickly dodged sideways.

Immediately after, he fired a "Stun" bullet without hesitation, landing a precise hit that sent the golem into a brief stun.

He followed up with two consecutive shots that shattered its ocular crystals, completely destroying its visual system.

Then, he agilely dodged to the side and landed two consecutive "Armor-Piercing" bullets in the exact same spot on the golem's head.

He easily succeeded in destroying the brain control center of this elementary wizard apprentice-level golem.

The entire process took him exactly ten seconds.

The tenth golem possessed the strength of an intermediate wizard apprentice. Forged from dark magic iron, its constitution and agility were both as high as 6 points.

Not only could it spew spider webs to bind its enemies, but the energy level of the scorching rays it fired was also increased to 4.0.

This dark magic iron golem, which had begun to develop combat intelligence, took the initiative to fire a scorching ray at Lizer.

The blistering beam almost grazed his body as it swept past.

Even more terrifying was that it predicted Lizer's dodging trajectory and abruptly spewed a sticky spider web about one square meter in size, sealing off his escape route.

Lizer rolled away in a panic to dodge, unwittingly falling into the attack rhythm meticulously set by the golem.

In his pocket, he still had the forty gold coins for the goods that Rice had just handed over, which he originally planned to give to his father Patiff in the next couple of days to purchase raw materials.

In this life-or-death moment, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and convert them all into energy points, urgently upgrading his agility attribute to 4.0.

At this very moment, the agility attribute was far more important than any other ability!

Bolstered by his 4.0 agility, his dodging instantly became effortless, and he even managed to find a slight opening for a counterattack amidst his shifting and maneuvering.

He attempted to seize control of the battle with a "Stun" bullet, but the golem, with its agility of 6, dodged it with inhuman speed.

In Lizer's waist pouch, there was actually a mysterious beast tendon that Felina had quietly slipped to him.

This was a natural witchcraft item that had reached the intermediate level of Rank Zero, and logically, it should be enough to bind this golem.

However, this golem's constitution was also 6, and he was truly worried about damaging the treasure gifted by his lover.

Ultimately, he shook his head and suppressed the thought of using the "unknown beast tendon."

And a few days later, he would feel deeply thankful for the decision he made at this moment.

As his thoughts raced like lightning, he switched to "Shotgun" shells and fired fiercely at the golem's legs.

Although the golem dodged rapidly, the shotgun shells had an extremely wide coverage area, making evasion completely futile.

The fierce impact finally left several dents on the dark and hard body. Although it failed to cause substantial damage, it successfully caused the golem's leg movements to stagnate for a split second.

The opportunity for battle was fleeting!

Lizer accurately captured this momentary flaw and followed up with a "Stun" bullet.

The powerful impact finally caused this combat golem, with its high agility of 6, to stagger and sway like a drunkard.

Without any hesitation, Lizer took advantage of its stunned state, aimed at the exact same spot between its eyebrows, and blasted out two consecutive "Armor-Piercing" bullets.

In an instant, a fist-sized hole about ten centimeters deep was blown open in the golem's head, faintly exposing the control core inside.

This time, he abandoned the strategy of attacking the ocular crystals first to destroy its visual system.

Instead, he went straight for the control core, worried that this golem might still possess other unknown means of perception.

He resolved to try a continuous fierce assault to see if he could shatter the core in one fell swoop and completely put an end to this combat golem.

Seeing that the control core was already exposed, Lizer did not hesitate as a third "Armor-Piercing" bullet burst from the barrel.

However, this combat golem had a constitution of 6 points, granting it astonishing recovery!

In just two short seconds, it had forcefully awakened from its stun.

Now fully alert, it not only jerked its head to dodge the fatal bullet, allowing the projectile to scrape across its cheek and leave a scorched black trail, but it also seized the momentum to launch a fierce counterattack against Lizer.

Lizer had no choice but to desperately dodge once again.

After regaining his footing, he decisively reloaded with buckshot. Repeating his previous tactic, he used the suppressing fire of the shotgun shells to create a momentary pause, successfully locking down the puppet once more with a stun bullet.

This time, he did not hesitate to load a Flame round.

The scorching heat instantly reached 1,200 degrees, completely melting the exposed control core.

The puppet finally lost all mobility and crashed heavily to the ground.

Panting heavily, Lizer looked up at the timer in the training room...

This heart-pounding battle had actually taken nearly five minutes.

For the vast majority of that time, he had been hovering on the thin line between life and death, frantically evading the bizarre puppet's torrential storm of attacks.