Under the disbelieving eyes of the red-eyed man's team, Kora turned around and left the room. The other team members of his sighed in relief. They knew if the instructor didn't stop Kora, then he would not have hesitated to murder them all. Luckily, the red-eyed man in front of them was an Ace-level talent and too valuable for the Kingdom to lose in a mere test. In fact, even if the red-eyed man came last in the tests, either the Academy or some factions would approach him, if Arcene's faction didn't want to horde him, that is, of course.
The red-eyed man gritted his teeth but soon took a deep breath and relaxed his mind as he had a 'mission' to accomplish.
Kora turned around and briefly glanced at the red-eyed man before leaving the room with Erisna as his lips curved up in amusement.
'Holding back? No wonder his abnormal cultivation even though he appears to be a commoner and his confidence from before in his talents during the Grand Celestial Steps, awakening event.'
'Definitely has an ulterior motive...' Kora thought with a smirk.
'As long as he doesn't get in my way...I wouldn't care even if he sucks on his own cock.' Kora held Erisna's little wrist and led her to the next tower.
Kora didn't need to kill anyone, but he knew it would be very difficult to fight a Rank-5, while his cultivation was suppressed to only Rank-4, without revealing any of his secrets. And working with Two Rank-3's, who wouldn't hesitate to backstab, was not an ideal situation he wanted to be in. Thus Kora killed them from the start and bet on the moment of surprise and shock to defeat all the opponents in one single sweep. Luckily, it still worked out.
....
"WHAT?!"
"..." Jadyn Ceiy turned his face away and looked outside the windows nervously.
"You are telling me that not only you didn't find that man, but these green men's robes were hidden in the mansions of ALL THE FEMALE PROFESSORS?" Arcene's strident voice reverberated inside Jadyn's head.
"Y-Yes." Jadyn had no choice but to report everything truthfully.
Arcene was pissed off as she thought Kora had relationships with all the female professors. It would be too difficult to control such a man who had so many powerful connections. Arcene closed her eyes as she thought about everything she knew about Kora.
After a good minute of thinking, she opened her eyes as realization dawned upon her. Her lips curved up in admiration.
"So smart..." She muttered as Jadyn had a puzzled look.
"You can go...Take this." Arcene looked towards Jadyn and tossed him a storage ring with spirit stones. As a smart individual, she knew how to put a leash on each dog. If she doesn't pay Jadyn for his services he would not be loyal. Thus she didn't mind spending a few dimes on Jadyn to make him a loyal puppy. With a greedy smile, Jadyn bowed a few times and thanked her from the bottom of his heart as he left hurriedly, not intending to disturb the magnanimous Princess.
'I see...You don't want to reveal the true helper so you faked all of them as your helpers...So that it would take me a lot of time to find who the real one is...'
'With this, I am sure sister Scarlet definitely has something to do with Kora...Otherwise, why contact such a sly person. Hmmm...'
'Thinking about it...Is she planning to make use of Kora to seduce all the powerful women to escape her predicament that she has been facing for almost 18 years?' Arcene smiled slyly. She thought she finally solved the puzzle that has been bothering her. Kora was too cunning and had a natural talent for seducing women. With his help, Scarlet could try to pressurize Arcene just like Arcene's birth brought a ton of suppression on Scarlet.
Before the spirit stones were sent to her mansion by servants, that King offers to all his children, Scarlet's maids and servants would vanish for a few days, magically, after receiving the spirit stones from King's servants. Scarlet has tried multiple times to plant her own loyal subordinates, but they all seemed to turn their face away after a few days as if someone was pulling their strings from the shadows. Thus her cultivation halted. And now, Arcene thought Scarlet wanted to play a reverse card on her by making use of Kora.
"Fufufu...You cannot hide in the Academy forever and neither your harlot can sneak you past the Academy Gates because I have already informed my Ralvuzeth to keep an eye open for all the people entering and leaving the Academy..."Arcene muttered while chuckling to herself. She found it amusing to hunt down a rat with intelligence. It gave her a sense of thrill she has never experienced before. Battle of wits was exciting her to no limits. She was thinking how fun it would be if he really escapes...and as soon as she thought this her sacred region began to leak wet shiny liquid.
"Aahh!" She moaned as her breathing turned erratic.
"Please be smart enough...to escape from my eyes...Give me the shock that I have never found in these mongrels who are too easy to control." The stimulation from the possibility of being outsmarted pushed her to the peak as her sacred dam erupted with a volcanic stream of liquids. Arcene was too bored to control these simple-minded people. She never thought hunting someone smart could be so exhilarating.
After a few minutes when she regained her clarity of mind, she immediately got up, cleaned herself, as her wings sprouted from her back, fluttering aggressively, like a predator, getting ready to hunt down its prey with a determined look to make this game of cat and mouse as difficult as possible for Kora. Although she wanted to get outsmarted, she wanted to fight a fair game. She knew Kora didn't have money and he could only rely on his wits and meat between his legs. On the other hand, Arcene had the power of money on her side.
"This will be interesting..."She took out messaging talismans to contact a few people, to further improve her networking inside the Academy.
...
*Clap* *Clap*
Felecia appeared in the main hall of the second building with a mischievous smile on her face. she briefly glanced at Kora who was sitting in a corner with Erisna on his lap, as he stroked her milky white hair. Dejected, when Kora didn't glance in her direction, she raised her palm in the air and a Mukod centipede appeared from motes of lights that formed on her palm.
"Most of you have recognized this...Right?"
"Anyways, those who haven't, Let me introduce you to this little fellow here. Its name is Mukod Centipede and it loves to devour the eardrums of all the living beings..." The centipede struggled in her dainty palm and wiggled furiously as soon it sensed a living being with eardrums in perfect condition. As the cultivation of a person rises, so does their body mold itself to perfection. Kora was a bit different. He devised his own cultivation path of Kama Sutra and his body was already reaching its peak form, compared to his previous self, before his dantian was formed, which was quite thin earlier, he became muscular as his height increased by a few centimeters.
"Its speed is comparable to a Rank-2 Elementary Profound Realm Practitioner..." A sly glint flashed through Felecia's eyes as she prepared to introduce over 100000 cultivators to the rules of the next test.
"You have to kill 5 beings and you will get 250 points. Each kill will grant you 50 points! You have 30 minutes...Simple right?" It was not a secret that the number of Mukod centipedes was quite high in the areas near the Academy and Kora didn't find anything out of the ordinary as he knew how easy it was for Arcene to find those centipedes to add spice to the torturing session, as she brought a few of them within a few minutes when he didn't show any reaction.
He thought about how many centipedes the Academy will have to find in order to prepare for this test and soon...
*Ting!*
Everyone's talismans glowed with a countdown.
*Thud!*
Doors of the entrance to the hall closed on their own,
*Thud!* *Thud!* *Thud!* *Thud!*
Sounds of all the doors inside the building closing could be heard inside the hall.
All the youngsters exchanged glances and knew it was a treasure hunt kind of game and whoever finds and kills their quotas will be the winner, before all the centipedes are eliminated from the building or the timer ends.
"Good luck!" Felecia waved her hand and destroyed the Mukod centipede to ashes as she gave a foxy smile to Kora who deviously smiled in response.
Murmurs filled the entire hall. People immediately started forming groups to hunt down the centipedes as they were strong enough to trouble even Rank-2 practitioners. Thus chasing them in groups was the most efficient method they could think of as most of them were only Rank-1's.
The red-eyed man, snorted in disdain as he leaped towards the staircase alone searching for the centipedes to hunt down.
"We have to hurry as well..." Someone exclaimed as they saw the fleeting figure of the Ace.
"Yes yes yes!" Many nodded and started searching for centipedes in groups.
"Interesting..." Kora muttered as an ambiguous light flashed through his eyes, he turned towards Erisna and said, "Let's go." Erisna nodded and followed along like a good girl.
Step~
Step~
On his way to search the Mukod centipedes, he heard many whispers coming from different rooms of the building. He could now sense everything in a radius of over 20 meters. Kora walked through the corridors of a modern-looking building with an eerie smile plastered on his face.
*Screech!* A Mukod centipede dashed in the air to enter Kora's ears but Kora already knew about its arrival as he slightly tilted his head and grabbed it in between his palm. The centipede with a speed of Rank-2 was nothing in Kora's eyes.
"Here you go..." Kora gave it to Erisna as Erisna squashed the centipede to pieces.
"This is your fourth one right?" Kora asked with a benign smile.
"Yes!" Erisna nodded.
"I see..." Kora replied in a relaxed tone, completely unbothered by the timer that had barely 15 minutes left.
"I FOUND IT! YES!" The red-eyed Ace jumped in a corner of the corridor as he grasped his opportunity to enter the Academy with a gleeful smile.
He turned the centipede to pulp and his talisman glowed brightly with a '5/5: 250points!'. Motes of light covered his body. For a second he was stunned by this sudden phenomenon, but then he felt the familiar sensation of teleportation as he nudged his nose proudly while looking at Kora's talisman that was still glowing with '0/5: 0points!' He relaxed as he knew he was being teleported outside as he had passed the test with flying colors as his body vanished into thin air while giving a disdainful smile to Kora.
Kora indifferently opened another door only to find several youngsters squabbling amongst themselves.
"Heh~" He smiled like a hound.
"This is mine...I found it first!" yelled a young practitioner with Rank-1 talent.
"I will help you find another brother James..." Replied another Rank-1 practitioner as he tightened his grip around the Mukod centipede in his hand.
"You won't Lucas! You only need 2 more and I am sure you would kill the last one, only to get teleported outside!" He pointed towards his talisman that was glowing with '3/5: 150 points!'. He knew Lucas was only bullshitting and wouldn't miss the opportunity to backstab him and make him, his stepping stone. He glanced at his own talisman that was glowing with '2/5: 100 points!' as he reminded Lucas, "We already discussed this Lucas. We will share everything till we both kill four of them and the last one will be decided by fate...but now not only you snatched my kill and even going back on your words?" James snarled furiously!
Step~
Step~
A black-haired man with azure eyes passed by James with a dastardly smile as he unleashed his cultivation of Mid-stage Elementary Profound Realm. Both of them pursed their lips as they knew they were not a match for this Ace-level talent.
"Ahem...Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me introduce you to a process called 'Selective Hearing'" With a light cough Kora smiled benevolently as he put a mountain-like pressure on Lucas, stopping his movements to a large extent. Poor Lucas could only breathe and had no strength to move even a finger as he dropped on his knees.
*Screech!* The centipede struggled and escaped from Lucas's grasp only to be snatched by Kora as he appeared like a blur in front of it, picking up from the ground and placing it in Erisna's hand.
"Here you go..." Kora gave a kind smile while he thought inwardly, 'With this, I must have cemented my position in this Vorka's Good Books...' He was always planning ahead. He needed partners for his Kama Sutra and this Vorka girl was easy to manipulate. He could fulfill his sensual desires and at the same time advance his cultivation. Thus he tried his best to grab on to every opportunity that arrives in front of him, as he had many big goals to accomplish, he could not afford to slack off!
Erisna killed her last centipede as her talisman flickered with a projection saying, '5/5: 250 points!'. Motes of light covered her figure as she vanished while smiling gratefully to Kora.
'Brownie points earned successfully! Now time to educate these fools!' He looked at James gasping for air with a smile that was not a smile. It was sinisterly creepy, thought James and Lucas at the same time.
"Selective hearing is characterized as the action in which people focus their attention intentionally on a specific source of a sound or spoken words...In general, you could say...sometimes we only hear what we want to hear!" Kora retracted his cultivation and grabbed Lucas by his neck and lifted him up in the air.
"Now...now...Mr. James, care to remind us the rules that the instructor told us or I'll snap his neck! Choose carefully." Kora glanced at James from the corner of his eyes.
James saw his 'friend' gasping for air as he stuttered without delay, " W-We have to k-kill five of those Mukod centipedes and we will pass?" he was unsure of what this Ace-level talent wanted to tell him.
"Wrong!" Kora smiled as a devilish glint flashed through his eyes.
*Crack!* Kora snapped Lucas's neck and threw him to the corner like a sack of bones.
"..." A deathly silence filled the room.
*Ting!*
Kora lifted his wrist as the numbers on his talisman changed to '1/5: 50points!' and showed it to James.
James felt a chill passing down his spine as he shivered in horror upon meeting Kora's icy-cold eyes. He gulped audibly as his instincts screamed to run away, and that's what he did. He turned around and,
"AHHHH! HELP!!" With a loud shriek, he ran away!
"Sigh~ I didn't mean to kill humans but from the murmurs of people on all the floors, I know the amount of Mukod centipedes is not enough for everyone to get even 3 of them," Kora muttered as he looked through the halls, searching for centipedes inside the rooms, but he couldn't find any. With a slight headshake, he decided to complete his quota by killing humans, indifferently. Plus he knew, the Academy purposefully placed such loopholes for people to exploit and Kora expected someone among the 100000 to realize this in the moment of desperation. Thus hitting two birds with one stone, finding a ruthless, smart cultivator, and thinning out the herd. In this dog-eat-dog world, such instances were common.
"You are quite ruthless..." Kora heard a whisper from one of the rooms as his lips curved up in a wolfish grin.
"I hope you didn't forget about my compensation, Felecia?" Kora opened the door and entered inside with a profane smile.