Opening Ceremony

The rest of them mostly had average strength, so Chen Guan didn't pay them much mind.

Before long, several hovercrafts landed one after another.

"Everyone is here."

Black Crow's voice, devoid of any fluctuation, rang out without warning. His heavy words were so oppressive they made it hard to breathe.

"Welcome to the Crucible."

He looked around, his gaze scraping over every young and rebellious face.

"I don't want to waste breath on nonsense. Your first assignment, which is also your initial grading test, begins now. The ten weakest will be sent back immediately."

He raised his arm, pointing to the giant steel structure behind him.

A harsh screech of metal scraping against metal echoed as the heavy gates slowly rose.

Behind the gates lay a vast arena.

The floor and walls were covered in scratches of varying depths and dark brown, long-dried bloodstains.

"Rules?"

Black Crow scoffed, "In the Crucible, the only rule is that there are no rules."

His voice pierced through the cold wind and drilled into everyone's ears. "Hundreds of low-level demonic beast corpses have been randomly scattered across the arena. Touching any one of them for over five seconds counts as one point. The time limit is thirty minutes."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the red-haired girl's giant axe and the silver-haired boy's fingertips, before adding one final sentence.

"In the end, we will determine your initial rankings based on your points, and whether you are standing or lying down."

As his voice fell, the crowd instantly broke into a commotion, tearing the facade of peace to shreds.

Hostile glares began to cross and clash among them.

Classmates who had nothing to do with each other a second ago became enemies ready to pounce and tear each other apart the next.

Black Crow greatly enjoyed this transformation and cruelly added, "Remember, here, your only companion is yourself."

Buzz!

Before anyone could ask questions, a dull buzzing sound echoed throughout the arena, announcing the start of this baptism.

The closest burly youth was the first to roar and charge out.

His body was quickly covered in a layer of jagged chitin as he bellowed, "The one in the center is mine!"

Carrying a thunderous momentum, he aimed straight for the largest demonic beast corpse in the center of the arena.

"Yours?" an incredibly arrogant female voice rang out.

A red blur flashed by; it was the red-haired girl holding the giant axe.

She didn't even bother to look at the rock-armored youth, simply swinging the giant battle axe that completely mismatched her figure with one hand.

Whoosh!

"Are you worthy?"

With undisguised contempt, the axe wind howled, slicing a sharp rift through the air.

The confidence on the rock youth's face was replaced by terror.

He only had time to let out a muffled grunt before he and his armor were tossed into the air by a massive force. His body crashed against a distant wall, slid to the ground, and stopped moving.

The red-haired girl hoisted the battle axe onto her shoulder and stepped on the demonic beast corpse with one foot.

She swept her crimson eyes across the arena; wherever her gaze fell, it was filled with unyielding provocation.

"Who's next?"

On the other side, the silver-haired boy chuckled lightly, his figure becoming erratic and elusive.

"A bunch of brute bulls."

He evaluated them in a low voice, gracefully weaving through the gaps in the crowd.

Every time he raised his hand, a condensed ice cone or wind blade flew out.

"Ah!"

"My leg!"

He never lingered in a fight.

The ice cones and wind blades flying from his fingertips always hit his opponents' joints with perfect precision.

The moment his opponents lost their mobility, he would nimbly bypass them, clearing a path for himself to the next point.

The entire colosseum was instantly divided into several high-risk zones by these two people.

Most of the students were forced to the edges, warily guarding against each other over a single point in a corner.

Long Ao's blood was already boiling with excitement.

He thumped his chest and roared at An Changqing, "An Changqing! I'm going to grab points, you guys follow closely!"

With that, his fists wrapped in endless battle intent, he charged straight at a small group of four.

An Changqing, on the other hand, flashed his sword and stood in front of Su Yuehe and Liu Feiyu.

He lowered his voice and said, "Don't panic, stay behind me. Let's make sure we don't get eliminated first."

They came from the same school and were natural allies.

Amidst the chaos, only one figure seemed completely out of place.

Chen Guan, carrying his black coffin on his back, activated a combination of breath-concealment and illusionist techniques the moment the buzzer sounded.

He silently retreated into a corner.

His presence was reduced to an absolute minimum. The light around his body slightly distorted, making his entire person fade into an illusion.

[Holy crap, they're fighting already? Not even an opening speech?]

[That red-haired chick is so fierce, one-shotting kids with her axe, I love it.]

[The silver-haired handsome guy is also so strong. Elegant, too elegant.]

[Wait, where is my Guan? Can the director switch the camera angle?]

[In the corner, Chen Guan is making a fortune in silence.]

I've been spotted.

Chen Guan looked at the two rapidly jumping top scores in the arena and gently shook his head.

Being too high-profile wouldn't do. He'd be made an example of, and he'd definitely receive extra attention later on. To balance the teams, they might even separate him from the child of destiny, An Changqing, which would be bad.

His gaze swept over the students at the edges who were quickly cleared out of the arena. An initial ranking that was too low wouldn't work either. They seemed to be implementing an elimination system for those at the bottom, and he didn't want to accidentally get himself eliminated.

"Therefore... the middle of the pack, around twentieth to fortieth place. I need to show some strength, but also make it seem like everything happened purely by luck."

He moved slowly along the edge of the colosseum, his footsteps silent, avoiding all the core combat zones.

The standoff in the arena was broken.

An Changqing's swordsmanship was exquisite; fighting one against three, he still didn't lose ground.

However, a youth who had been lurking on the side seized the gap when An Changqing's move was exhausted. The short dagger in his hand brought up a dark gleam as he viciously shouted, "Go down!"

The dagger thrust straight at his back.

An Changqing also sensed the killing intent behind him.

But his old strength was spent, and his new strength hadn't yet been generated. It was too late to change his move.

Just as the dagger was about to touch his back, the passing Chen Guan didn't even bat an eyelid and casually tossed out an illusion.

In the eyes of the sneak attacker, a ferocious beast suddenly jumped out from behind An Changqing.

"What?!"

The attacker had focused all his attention on the assassination. Seeing this anomaly, a chill shot straight to the top of his head.

His footsteps instantly fell into disarray.

"Ah!"

He let out a short yelp, his body stumbling, and his forward thrusting motion instantly deformed.

An Changqing seized the opportunity, forcing the opponent in front of him back with a backhanded sword strike, and snatched the point first.

Having done his deed, Chen Guan brushed off his clothes and left. Taking advantage of the gap when everyone's attention was drawn away, his figure flashed, and he arrived at a corner.

Two people had just fought a losing battle here over a demonic beast corpse, and both had been carried out by medical staff.

Chen Guan crouched down and patted his palm on the corpse that had already lost its warmth.

[Points +1]

He repeated the process.

On the chaotic battlefield, Chen Guan used various illusions and always managed to luckily appear at point spots where battles had just ended.

While others were fighting to the death, he easily picked up the forgotten bargains.