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Time passed, and the next morning came in the blink of an eye.
Su Yuan pushed aside the vegetation and emerged from a rather concealed cave, unfolding Wind Walking as he continued toward the red zone he was targeting.
The day before, after slaying the Shadow Leopard, Su Yuan hunted Star Beasts along the way while rushing to his destination.
Not only was he nearing the target red zone, but the rewards from his day's efforts were substantial, having killed a large number of Star Beasts.
Now, Su Yuan's points and killing tally were as follows:
Sixth Stage Star Beasts: 5, 100 points;
Seventh Stage Star Beasts: 18, 540 points;
Eighth Stage Star Beasts: 14, 700 points;
Ninth Stage Star Beasts: 6, 600 points;
Bronze Level Early Stage Star Beast: 1, 1000 points!
Total: 2940 points.
The reason for such high efficiency was twofold: one was because the Star Beasts were more densely distributed in the Rainforest Secret Realm, and second was that Su Yuan's strength had truly improved, allowing him to easily take down even Ninth Rank Star Apprentices' Star Beasts.
Also, last night, Su Yuan had extracted all the Star Apprentice Level Star Cores, except for the Shadow Leopard's, into Star Cards, totaling 43 white Star Cards!
The Star Core is the nucleus of a Star Beast's energy, containing highly compressed Star Power. Apart from extracting Star Cards, it can also be used for refining elixirs, serving as a high-level energy source, setting up barriers, and as refining material, among other uses.
The Star Power contained in a Bronze-level Star Beast's Star Core is several times that of a Star Apprentice Level, and the value is much higher than that of a Star Apprentice Level Star Core. However, the extraction into a Star Card only depends on the grade of the Star Beast, not the level.
This leads to the fact that extracting a Star Card from a common Bronze-level Star Beast will still result in a white card, which has limited value—less than that of the Star Core itself.
Therefore, unless it has a particularly good skill, it's more of a loss to extract a Bronze-level Star Core into a Star Card; it would be more profitable to sell it directly.
After traveling at full speed for over two hours, Su Yuan finally stepped into the red zone near the center of the Secret Realm.
Not long after he entered, Su Yuan found the corpse of an Armored Rhinoceros in the forest.
He quickly approached and bent down to inspect it: "Judging by its size, it should be a Ninth Stage Armored Rhinoceros. From the wound, it seems a sword was used, piercing through the rhinoceros' neck from the side."
The physical defense of an Armored Rhinoceros is extremely high, stronger than an Iron-Backed Ape in areas covered by its scales.
"It seems someone has already passed by here ahead of me. I have to hurry..."
Su Yuan continued toward the center of the red zone, encountering a few scattered Star Beast corpses along the way, all killed by a sword, most likely by the same person.
Following the direction this person had traveled, it wasn't long before Su Yuan gradually felt stronger and clearer Star Power fluctuations deep in the forest!
"These fluctuations... Bronze Middle Stage!"
Su Yuan's eyes flickered slightly. This wave of fluctuations was much stronger than the Wind Running Weasel and the Shadow Leopard he had encountered before, definitely a Bronze Middle Stage Star Beast.
"A Bronze Middle Stage Star Beast, worth 2000 points... Killing it should secure me a spot in the top three," Su Yuan thought, his eyes reflecting a hint of cold silver light...
Meanwhile, deep in the forest, four people were assaulting an intimidatingly large snake, nearly eight meters long.
Among the four, one was a girl with a red ponytail, none other than Jiang Jun, Su Yuan's desk neighbor who sat across the aisle from him in class.
The second person was a handsome young man wielding a longsword, wearing the school uniform of the First Middle School, Lv Xinghen, the Ninth Stage prodigy who had gone to the Shuzhou special recruitment with Fang Kun. The Star Beast corpses Su Yuan had encountered all along his way had been slain by him.
The last two were at Bronze Eighth Stage, both wearing the uniform of the Seventh Middle School, and seemed to be allied.
As for the large snake they were besieging, it had red and green triangular heads and was named the Poison Fire Two-headed Python, a notoriously tricky Bronze-level Star Beast even among its peers.
[Poison Fire Two-headed Python]
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[Grade: Common]
[Type: Snake]
[Element: Poison, Fire]
[Talent: Double Head]
[Six Dimensions: Strength F, Agility E, Defense E, Constitution E, Spirit F, Star Power E]
[Skill: Flame Snake Breath (Common), Poison Mist (Common)]
Apart from its strength and the usually unnecessary spirit, the Poison Fire Two-headed Python's other four attributes were all E, its exceptional talent making it even stronger than some Star Beasts of the same level but of Elite Grade.
Moreover, its talent "Double Head" was quite special, meaning it wouldn't die completely until both snake heads were cut off.
And, it was also at Bronze Middle Stage!
Such a Poison Fire Two-headed Python wasn't something even an ordinary Bronze-level Star Card Master could easily handle.
At this moment, the situation where Jiang Jun and his three companions were ganging up on the Poison Fire Two-headed Python was indeed not very optimistic.
In the field, a pale green poison mist spread by the Poison Fire Two-headed Python enveloped an area with a radius of over twenty meters from the snake. The poison mist was highly corrosive and difficult for flesh to resist.
Lv Xinghen, Jiang Jun, and the others were continuously releasing Star Power, enveloping their bodies with it to resist the corrosion of the poison mist.
But doing so came at a price, which was a consumption of Star Power far greater than usual!
In contrast, the Poison Fire Two-headed Python, with its robust constitution and defense, appeared unaffected by the slashes of the four combatants' swords and knives, moving agilely through the poison mist and handling the one-against-four battle with ease.
"Kill!"
Jiang Jun shouted loudly, slashing a wound one and a half feet long on the neck of the fire snake head. Before he could pull back, the Poison Fire Two-headed Python shuddered, and its thick tail swept over.
Jiang Jun, though startled, did not panic and leaped backward, then continued to retreat several steps, narrowly avoiding the strike.
"Huff, huff..."
After gasping for breath, Jiang Jun didn't stay put. He tightened his grip on the longsword and charged forward again.
"This doesn't look good, the poison mist is too oppressive for us. Even with the four of us joining forces, we might not be a match for it..."
Previously, Lv Xinghen, Jiang Jun, and two others from School No. 7 had arrived here and tested the mettle of this Poison Fire Two-headed Python.
They quickly realized that they were no match for the Two-headed Python on their own, so they decisively decided to join forces.
As for who would get the points for the kill, that would be determined by who would land the final blow on the Two-headed Python.
In the beginning, all four had held back, hoping to "steal the kill" with a final blow.
But the strength of the Poison Fire Two-headed Python was stronger than they had expected, and soon they were forced to fight with all their might, still being suppressed despite their best efforts.
The main reason for this was that area-effect skills like "Poison Mist" were just too effective against players who hadn't reached Bronze level, such as Jiang Jun and his companions.
However, compared to Lv Xinghen and Jiang Jun, the two from School No. 7, who were only at the Eighth Stage, were in an even worse state.
They stumbled, drenched in sweat, with both their physical energy and Star Power nearly depleted. If it weren't for Jiang Jun and Lv Xinghen drawing the Two-headed Python's attention, they probably would have been unable to hold on any longer.
"Old Deng... I, I can't hold on much longer!" one of the brown-haired boys from School No. 7 gasped.
"Me neither..."
"Bang!"
The boy called Old Deng was half a beat too slow. Before he could finish his sentence, he was struck by the Two-headed Python's tail and sent flying, smashing into a tree in the distance and vomiting a large mouthful of blood.