The enormous medical cauldron was finally on the brim of being filled after sixteen barrels of water were poured into it. Following this, Xue Ying once more called the others over before mixing a large pile of medicinal ingredients into the cauldron. Once again, everyone was confused.
She wants to refine medicine? But, do people use so much water when refining medicine? Is she testing out a new method?
Various theories rose in their minds, but none of them were close to what Xue Ying was thinking.
"Mo Ka, it's time for you to show off. Boil the water!" Xue Ying spoke casually, yet Mo Ka's small eyes were shocked to the point of almost jumping out of their sockets.
"Boil? By myself?" Mo Ka seemed to have heard the most absurd request in this world. After all, medicinal cauldron puppets couldn't be heated up with flames. One would have to boil them with origin energy! However, forget boiling, even heating up such a large cauldron would squeeze Mo Ka dry!
"Don't worry, your origin energy will be sufficient." Xue Ying withdrew the Starnet Stones she gathered from the others, before setting up a simple formation in front of the medicinal cauldron.
"An Origin Gathering Formation. Staying within it will aid in the recovery of your origin energy. Moreover, with the Starnet Stones continuously supplying you with origin energy, you need only do one thing: continue supplying origin energy to the medicinal cauldron." Xue Ying's tone was rather relaxed, yet it didn't cause Mo Ka's expression improve in the slightest.
Doing this, he was equivalent to an origin energy transfer station. But even then, there had never been anyone who used the Starnet Stones like batteries. That was because the feeling of circulating origin energy that they provided was rather uncomfortable...
"What? Is there a problem? If there is a problem, then be frank." Xue Ying's tone instantly turned cold. Her attitude made it seem like she would kill him if he dared to say there was a problem...Mo Ka wanted to cry, but didn't have any tears to do so! He didn't dare to refuse and lifted his suddenly heavy feet to walk to the center of the Origin Gathering Formation.
If I die, then so be it!
With a resolution resembling someone facing certain death, Mo Ka started the long process of boiling water…
"Due to our finances being limited, there are some things which all of you must deal with yourselves." After she put Mo Ka aside, Xue Ying called everyone else over before starting to distribute a new assignment.
"First is the problem of food. Due to the demands of your training, your food requirements will be equally great. Unfortunately, we didn't have any extra money to buy ingredients to cook with. On the bright side, this Infinite Mountain Range is full of ingredients." Xue Ying's casual statement caused everyone's hearts to rise to their throats.
So, she wants us to go hunting? Hunting in the Infinite Mountain Range. How exciting…
They now felt the same as Mo Ka, leaving only Lin Li to be confused by their reactions.
"Next is the problem of safety. Even though I've scattered a large amount of beast-repelling medicinal powder, there will always be a few ignorant beasts that disregard it. Coupled with the fact that the place we are currently residing at is slightly special, there must be people on guard while the remainder rest."
Simply speaking, it was a matter of whether they wanted to stay alive or not. In fact, it was clear that Xue Ying did not intend to help, expecting them to rely on themselves to survive.
"The final and most important thing is the content of your training." Xue Ying paused for a moment, causing the group of people to instantly concentrate.
"I'll bring all of you back to the academy to run around the square every single afternoon. The rest of your free time will be dedicated to only one thing: completing the assignments on the Starnet Ranking!" Everyone could only stand there in stunned silence after she spoke.
Even if they weren't running around the square every day, taking assignments on the Starnet Ranking was normally restricted to first years and above. Moreover, assignments taking place in the Infinite Mountain Range were those of mid-difficulty. Only second-year students would choose these assignments, yet they were still all new students...
"Don't worry, I've already notified the principal, and all of you have already been given temporary authority to take assignments. Moreover, the Starnet Stones and points from completing the assignment will be distributed as normal." Xue Ying's explanations did nothing to assuage their concerns. This wasn't what they were worrying about in the first place!
Moreover, teacher, are you sure you didn't decide on this purely for the sake of making us earn Starnet Stones?!
Everyone muttered this phrase in their hearts, yet none of them dared to say it out loud. Presently, they were like dragonflies in Xue Ying's hand, completely under her control.
"But Big Sister Xue, our bodies won't be able to endure this…" Zhu Nuo spoke with a weak tone. Forget about taking assignments, just running around the square was enough to make her collapse.
"Don't worry, with me here, all of your bodies will be fine!" Xue Ying looked at Mo Ka who was boiling water as she spoke, a trace of anticipation flickering in her eyes.
"Big Sister Xue, I have a question." Bai Xiaofei's voice sounded out from the crowd as his hand was raised.
"Speak, but I won't answer useless questions."
"Big Sister Xue has only been a teacher for a short time, right? How did you come up with such a unique training method?" Thinking about everything that she had made them do so far, Bai Xiaofei noticed that Xue Ying had always possessed a very strong purpose. It felt like she had already been using this method for a long time, not at all like she was conducting an experiment.
However, Bai Xiaofei never expected for Xue Ying to suddenly become a different person as soon as this question was asked. She didn't reveal the playful attitude she had when they were alone, nor the formal manner she assumed when in class. Instead, she immediately exuded a terrifyingly dark aura.
"I don't want to answer this question!" An icy cold and bone piercing voice sounded out as Xue Ying turned around and left them all with astounded expressions.
"Big Sister Xue is…." Xu Chen, who sat by Bai Xiaofei's side, asked him with a light voice because she instinctively felt that he would know something.
"I don't know. But, she has surely recalled something…." Bai Xiaofei gave an excuse, but what appeared in his mind was Xue Ying's look of recollection. Such a look was a dime a dozen in the Gorge of Heroes, so it was extremely familiar to Bai Xiaofei.
Everyone could only wait after this incident passed. As for what they were waiting for, Mo Ka had continued to persist while being tormented. He'd underestimated the pain of being a transfer station for origin energy. After the origin energy that originally resided in his body was completely exhausted, he felt as if there were innumerable ants biting his organs. The pain was a constant torment to his mind.
Gradually, Mo Ka's consciousness started to become hazy. He was only able to remain lucid by endlessly repeating a single thought in his head!
I'm the person at the end, and this is the only thing I can do for everyone!
With this sort of thought in his mind, Mo Ka persisted all the way until he fainted from the pain. The moment before he fainted however, he was able to hear the sound of boiling water from within the medicinal cauldron. It was also at this second before he fainted that he revealed a heartfelt smile…