Early the next morning, the Awakening students of the four Star Apprentice Classes from Guangchuan Fourth Middle School gathered on the school playground, totaling 104 people. Everyone had different emotions; some were anxious, some were excited, some were worried...
All the students carried a backpack issued by the school and held various weapons such as swords, guns, and sticks.
The dean of Guangchuan Fourth Middle School, Zhao Kang, distributed locators with functions like maps and points display to everyone. Su Yuan glanced at his, which was number 388, while Jiang Jun's next to him was number 389.
"It seems all the students participating in the trial from First to Twelfth Middle Schools must have consecutive numbers," Su Yuan thought to himself.
Zhao Kang called out, "If you're ready, get on the bus. Teacher Yang Jun from Class One will take everyone there. This trial focuses on honing your skills, so try to ensure your safety."
Yang Jun took over, "Come on, everyone, get on the bus!"
Under Yang Jun's arrangement, more than a hundred students boarded the three buses parked at the edge of the playground and headed towards the Rainforest Secret Realm in Guangchuan City.
In a certain place in the western suburbs of Guangchuan City, there was a low City Guard base, with City Guards of considerable strength standing guard at the entrance.
Several buses were parked on the open space in front of the base buildings, with each bus labeled according to various schools like "First Middle School," "Second Middle School," and so on.
Indeed, this was the entrance to the Rainforest Secret Realm, and most of the schools' students had already arrived.
It wasn't long before the three buses from Fourth Middle School also arrived one after another. Yang Jun led Su Yuan and over a hundred students off the buses and into the base, following a City Guard.
After walking inside the base for less than ten minutes, the group from Fourth Middle School arrived at a spacious square, which was bustling with activity, already filled with teachers and students from various schools.
"Look, more people have arrived."
"This time, it's the Fourth Middle School."
"I heard someone from Fourth Middle School got specially recruited by Wanzhou Academy. Who is it?"
"Wanzhou Academy? Really?"
"It's true. It's that tall guy over there, see?"
"That one? He looks kind of intimidating."
"Not really. I think he's not as good as Fang Kun from First Middle School."
...
As soon as the group from Fourth Middle School arrived, the students in the square started discussing in low voices, naturally focusing on the conspicuous Wanzhou specially-recruited student, Chen Jiujun, in the team.
Chen Jiujun snorted disdainfully upon hearing the discussions.
Yang Jun lined up the people from Fourth Middle School, "We still have some time. Seventh and Eleventh Middle Schools haven't arrived yet. Wait a bit. Everyone, stay quiet and get adjusted."
Not far away, in the team from First Middle School, Lv Xinghen asked Fang Kun, "Kun, are you confident in defeating this Chen Jiujun?"
Apart from the specially recruited student Fang Kun, First Middle School also had another Star Apprentice Ninth Rank genius, Lv Xinghen, who had previously gone with Fang Kun to participate in the Shuzhou special recruitment selection but wasn't selected.
Fang Kun casually replied, "Hard to say, I haven't seen him in action. But he should have entered the Ninth Stage less than a month ago. In terms of level, I have some advantage."
Lv Xinghen noticed Fang Kun's gaze still wandering around the Fourth Middle School's team, puzzled, "What are you looking for?"
"Nothing."
Fang Kun withdrew his gaze, but secretly frowned.
What is Zhuang Xun doing? Didn't he say there was another expert? In this whole Fourth Middle School, there's only Chen Jiujun at the Ninth Stage. Where's the other expert? Is he trying to trick me?
Fang Kun was puzzled, but he couldn't know that the expert Zhuang Xun mentioned was just an Eighth Stage...
After a long while, the teams from Seventh and Eleventh Middle Schools arrived one after the other.
At that moment, a group of people dressed in the City Guard uniform walked over from the depths of the base. The leader was a burly man with a stern face. His mere presence caused a faint fluctuation of Star Power, making Su Yuan and the other students slightly breathless.
"So strong!"
Not only Su Yuan, but everyone could feel the man's strength.
The teachers from various schools enthusiastically greeted him.
"Captain Xiao!"
"Hello, Captain Xiao, long time no see."
...
Xiao Yong, the captain of Guangchuan City Guard, Gold Middle Stage Star Card Master!
Xiao Yong nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the group, and asked the City Guard responsible for the statistics beside him, "Is everyone here?"
"Yes, Captain."
"Good," Xiao Yong glanced over the teachers and students, "Then let's cut to the chase. Follow me."
Xiao Yong turned and walked towards the depths of the base. The teachers immediately called their students to line up and follow behind.
After walking for nearly twenty minutes, the group of over a thousand teachers and students followed Xiao Yong to the depths of the base, stopping in front of a silver light door made of energy, several meters tall.
Xiao Yong slowly said, "This is the entrance to the Secret Realm. It's now open. According to the rules, teachers will stay outside and wait. Students, line up and pass through one by one.
This trial is under my responsibility. Whether or not you understand the trial rules, I will go over some points here again.
After you enter the Secret Realm, you will appear randomly somewhere inside. Then you will start killing Star Beasts.
Remember to use the locator in your hand to take a snapshot of the Star Beast's corpse after you kill it. It will record your killing points. After the trial, we will rank you based on the points recorded by the locators.
The points for Star Beasts are as follows:
Star Apprentice Sixth Stage: 20 points.
Seventh Stage: 30 points.
Eighth Stage: 50 points.
Ninth Stage: 100 points.
Bronze Early Stage: 1000 points!
Bronze Middle Stage: 2000 points!
Bronze High Stage: 4000 points!
Additionally, the points for Elite Star Beasts are triple those for Ordinary Star Beasts!
Finally, the trial lasts for two days and one night, ending at six o'clock tomorrow afternoon.
If you encounter life-threatening danger during this period, you can press the red button on your locator. Our people will come to your aid immediately.
However, pressing the red button for help means failing this joint trial. Understood?"
The students responded loudly, "Understood!"
The points for killing Star Beasts of different Levels were the same as in previous years, which all the students already knew.
It was noteworthy that Star Beasts at the Ninth Stage were worth 100 points, while Bronze Early Stage Star Beasts jumped to 1000 points, a ninefold increase!
The reason for this point setting, besides the Bronze-level Star Beasts being extremely strong, included two other reasons.
One was to force students aiming for high rankings to actively hunt Bronze-level Star Beasts, better showcasing their abilities.
The other was to create a point disparity among students to avoid some winning by sheer quantity, hunting a large number of Star Apprentice-level Star Beasts to boost their rankings.
Overall, the joint trial encouraged students to challenge stronger Star Beasts.
Xiao Yong saw the students' responses and waved his hand, "Then let's begin."
The silver light door at the Secret Realm entrance was very wide, allowing over a dozen people to pass through at once.
One by one, figures stepped into the silver light door. In just over ten minutes, over a thousand students had disappeared...
"The trial assessment is entrusted to our team. We'll start our work now. Teachers, please wait outside."
Xiao Yong left two team members to guide the teachers to the waiting room while he led the rest into the Secret Realm.