The next day, after gulping down a vial of nutrient solution each, they were all ready for their first catch, well first proper catch.
Wen Yu had chosen their first target to be the spined moles. These spirit beasts resembled moles but were 4 ft tall, had extremely sharp spines protruding from their backs and, unlike the moles of his former life, these ones could see clearly. They might be one of the low leveled spirit beasts but they had skin that was as tough as gamma concrete.
They resided underground in swamps and because of their spiky skin and sharp claws, it was easier for these spirit beasts to dig up the muddy swamp and create homes in the sticky interior with branches, leaves and tree barks.
Spined moles were also awfully territorial and If one was not careful enough, they might get caught in one of their traps used against intruders. These traps were similar to quick sand but was muddy and smelly. Once stuck, it would take an insane amount of spirit energy to get out of, that is if the beasts don't pierce you full of holes before you succeed.
Wen Lin and Duyi had discovered this place on their scout the day before. After careful observation from afar, they discovered the residing spined moles were just four males.
Surprisingly there were no females around. Wen Yu was sceptical about this though. Female spined moles were generally more aggressive and usually called the shots. Male spined moles living without a female wasn't unheard of, but it was quite rare.
So Wen Yu was sure, the female was either away for now, which would be a good thing, or did not appear in their line of sight, which could be quite dangerous. He made preparations for both instances just to be safe.
On their way to the spined mole niche, they ran into a different team. A team of familiar faces. Wen Yu internally groaned.
"Ah, if it isn't the oh-so-wonderful peerless genius." Fu Ting called out with a mocking smile. He had reddish spots on his skin and his hair was sticking out every which way. His teammates were not much better either.
Fu Beiyong observed Wen Yu's group with eyes red with jealousy. They looked so fair and rosy, like they were not part of the cadets taking part in the competition at all! How could they look so clean? He'd tried his best to protect himself with his spirit energy but when his team encountered spirit beasts, he had no choice but to give up on himself and attack with his teammates.
If it were anywhere else, he would have been able to handle a low leveled spirit beast alongside protecting himself but now, the spirit energy he used for protection was easily siphoned off by the dead cores and there was barely any time to resist the spirit energy drain, protect himself and fight off a spirit beast at the same time!
Once he gave up on protecting himself, he was prone to bites and attacks from all sorts of spirit bugs. When his team managed to escape and return to their camp, they were all too drained to produce anymore spirit energy so they slept off like that.
This morning, they all resembled people with activated allergies. Swellings and bumps everywhere as the fierce spirit bugs had made food out of their skins all through the night. It was so painful they hardly even slept! They couldn't even activate their bracelets function to enhance their healing process!
By this time, the trains of thought of Fu Ting, Fu Beiyong an the rest of their teammates were the same. Wen Yu and his group looked fine because they all accepted the academy packs, meaning there must be some good stuff within!
If they had the packs, they also wouldn't be bothered about trivial things and could solely focus on catching spirit beasts.
Slowly, they started to surround Wen Yu's group. Even if they looked neat and tidy, they were probably not strong. If they were, they wouldn't only have 1.6 points. The talk about Wen Yu being a peerless genius was probably be wrong.
"Why don't you hand over those packs hmm?" Fu Beiyong started out slowly.
"Fu Beiyong what is the meaning of this? Why should we give you our packs?" Qi San held his pack tighter as he spoke.
Fu Ting scoffed. "Tsk. You're all weak anyways. You'd be doing the Academy a good deed by giving those packs to stronger teams so we would be able to catch more spirit beasts and win the challenge."
Huo Lan stepped forward and pointed at Fu Ting. "Fu Ting, don't go too far. You all had the chance but you refused it why are you bugging us now?"
"Well it's not my fault you're all a bunch of-"
Fu Ting didn't get to finish before he was smacked onto a tree and slid to the ground coughing violently. After dealing with Fu Ting, Wen Lin blasted the rest of his teammates away with her spirit energy.
Just who did they think they were? Going about stealing from others under the righteous banner of 'doing it for the Academy.'
She was about to continue but Qi San had already burst forth smacking the living daylights out of Fu Ting. He was so infuriated, he'd almost been angered to death by this kid and today he was going to teach him an unforgettable lesson.
After he was done smacking the screaming Fu Ting he walked over to grab Fu Beiyong, who turned his little butt and ran, leaving his teammates behind.
Wen Yu looked at the ones left behind and turned to Qi San. "Tie them up." If these kids were not properly taught a lesson, then they would keep coming back thinking him and his teammates were easy targets.
Amidst their wailing, Qi San, Huo Lan and Wen Lin tied up Fu Ting and his group to various trees with sturdy spirit vines, making sure they could easily send out the emergency signal with their bracelets on their own in the face of danger. That was the only mercy the troublemakers were given.
Wen Yu inspected the snotty kids one last time before walking off with his teammates.
"Wen Yu, Wen Yu! Come back here this instant! How could you leave us behind?! Are you trying to kill us?! My family will never let you off you stupid bastard!"
Fu Ting shouted at the top of his lungs but Wen Yu was already gone. He struggled desperately but the more he tried, the tighter the spirit vines became.
Wen Yu's team finally arrived at the spined mole den and observed it from atop a tree. The entire swamp was full of traps so there was no way they could get to the spirit beasts on ground.
They could solidify the entire swamp with their spirit energies but that would drain them too much and they would have nothing left to attack the spined moles with.
So first, they needed to lure the moles out of their burrows before taking any other action. Wen Yu decided to set the swamp on fire, not normal fire though. Normal fire would have no effect but spirit fire was different.
It could easily be controlled and directed to attack a particular spot without affecting other areas and it was guaranteed to annoy the spined moles enough to make them come out.
Wen Lin and Qi San were the strongest, so Wen Yu instructed them to condense their spirit energy into spirit fires and wait for his signal.