Two students were clearing the forest floor, meticulously collecting every intact corpse amidst the ever-growing graveyard of beasts. Another young man had a rough appearance with messy short blue hair and striking yellow eyes, resembling a prince weathering a challenging day.
"You're nothing but useless scum. Cleaning seems to be the only thing you're competent at. Keep at it, or I'll have to teach you a lesson." he barked, his hand gesturing as blue watery currents slashed through another beast, leaving it in a bloody mess.
'Hmph, why is he so angry? It's not as if we chose to work together.' thought Ma Jia Juan, one of the students, growing increasingly frustrated by the arrogant young man's belittlement. 'If you're so enraged, why not go complain to your elders? Aren't you supposed to be some important genius?' She mused silently, refraining from voicing her thoughts.
"Both of you would have depleted your primeval essence by now. Consider yourselves fortunate that I'm here. Make sure you do a decent job, or once I'm done with these beasts, I'll..." the young man continued his tirade, effortlessly controlling the currents to split yet another beast in half, and then another. However, by the time he targeted the third, the current weakened, merely inflicting a grievous wound that eventually led to the beast's demise. After the fifth, the current became too feeble to cause harm.
'I have to admit, he's quite skilled. Were I in his position, my efficiency would be far lower. He manages the currents with remarkable precision, targeting the stronger beasts first to diminish the group's overall strength without wasting a drop of primeval essence.' Jia Juan begrudgingly acknowledged, despite the ongoing stream of insults from the youth.
"Shui Jun, there's a bigger one approaching." Jia Juan alerted him as she spotted a large beast heading their way from a different direction.
"Hmph, is that what you consider "big" in your tribe? Or are you mocking me? I swear, once I'm done..." Despite his disdainful remark, Shui Jun remained focused on the approaching beast. Injecting his pale green copper primeval essence into the tiny seahorse at the bottom of his primeval essence sea, the seahorse's eyes glowed, and a powerful jet stream of water current surged towards Shui Jun's hands. This current appeared even stronger than before. With a swift gesture, he directed the current at the large pig, effortlessly evading his teammates before encircling the pig's neck and rotating around it for a second before it shrunk the distance instantly, decapitating it in one graceful motion.
"Wow!" Jia Juan exclaimed in amazement. 'This one was likely stronger than the others, possibly even a rank 1 beast, yet he killed it with a single attack, so elegantly and efficiently.' she marveled. Although a rank one wild pig might be among the weakest creatures, it still posed a significant threat. It could easily kill all three of them with a single blow or crush them beneath its powerful jaws.
"Stop daydreaming and get back to work, or I'll make you regret." Shui Jun snapped, jolting her back to reality. 'What a waste, I thought there were no rank ones in this group of pigs, which is why I chose it. Well, it's just a small amount of primeval essence, I still have plenty.' he thought. Their mission, while straightforward, demanded meticulous effort. They had to hunt, dissect, locate precisely, and collect valuable organs such as the heart, kidneys, and brain from these wild pigs.
'The more pigs we hunt, the greater our rewards will be. If this pack doesn't satisfy me, I'll seek out others.' Shui Jun thought to himself as he glanced at Jia Juan and the other student, flashing a smile before resuming his slaughter of the beasts.
"Look at him. He could do it more cleanly, but he chooses to make a mess, giving us extra work and blood on ourselves." the other student whispered to Jia Juan. Uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, Jia Juan shot him a sharp glare, but he persisted.
"Why doesn't he kill them in a more controlled manner? Is he not talented enough?" Jia Juan's heart sank upon hearing his words.
"Shut up! What are you trying to do? Do you want him to punish us? If you want to get beaten up, don't drag me into it." she hissed back, her nerves on edge. She still had a bad feeling, so she continued to be extra safe."Besides, Shui Jun is talented enough, but remember our mission? The more we kill, the greater our rewards. If he wasted primeval essence on these weaklings like he did on the big one, he wouldn't have slain as many. So just shut up!" The tension hung heavy in the air as the battle raged behind them, exacerbating Jia Juan's unease.
But the other student persisted in his grumbling. "Why are you sucking up to him? He's a terrible teammate and friend, if you can even call him that. He doesn't even—"
"Shut up, Min Ming! Are you an idiot? If we're so useless that we can't join the fight, why would anyone praise us? He has every right to be angry with us." Jia Juan interjected, her words coming out in a desperate attempt to deflect attention. 'Damn it, something's off. He's weirdly quiet, why aren't you insulting us anymore. Did that basterd hear everything?' She worried silently.
The other student struggled to speak, but before he could, Shui Jun's voice cut through the tension.
"Are you upset? Should I help you feel better?" Shui Jun's tone was icy, sending a shiver down Min Ming's spine. Suddenly, Min Ming felt a chill on his left arm, and when he looked, he saw a water current wrapped around it, his eyes widening in horror as he began to shout.
"What! Shui Jun... what... what are you... what are you doing..." His words faltered as the cold grip of the water current tightened around him, causing his head to reel.
"It seems you fail to grasp the distinction between us, so allow me to clarify once and for all. Don't worry, it'll be quite enlightening." Shui Jun spoke slowly, a smile playing on his lips as he raised his hand and swiftly brought it down.
"No... please, I'm sorry, Shui Jun, please... ahhhhh!" Min Ming attempted to threaten Shui Jun with the elders or the tribe, but Shui Jun acted too swiftly, severing Min Ming's arm cleanly from his shoulder, blood staining the water current crimson amid Min Ming's screams.
As Min Ming writhed in agony, Jia Juan's face contorted in horror, her stomach churning with nausea. However, Shui Jun's gaze silenced her protests, conveying his unspoken message. Activating her gu worm, she began to heal Min Ming's arm, stopping the bleeding and preparing to reattach the severed limb. But Shui Jun shook his head.
"Are... are you sure, Shui Jun? If I don't do it now, he may never regain use of his arm." she stammered nervously.
"Hmph, so what? Do you think anyone will hold me accountable for this? Perhaps if he died, but as long as he remains alive, just another ordinary student, nothing will come of it. Ah, I see you're concerned about yourself too? Well, whatever. If anyone asks, we were ambushed by a rank 2 beast." Shui Jun replied dismissively.
"And barely managed to survive. Him losing just an arm will now sound like a good thing, isn't it? Hahaha." Shui Jun laughed for a moment before turning somber. "Do you understand?" he said plainly.
"Hahah, of course, Shui Jun. It was an unfortunate accident. We were really lucky to get away from such a dangerous situation, hahahah." Jia Juan started laughing awkwardly and nodding her head.
"Hmph, anyway, I've already taken care of this horde. It's enough for today. When he wakes up, make sure he doesn't do anything reckless, or both of you will be in deep trouble." Shui Jun concluded before leaving without another word.
'What the hell! You stupid bitch, I almost got killed because of you.' Jia Juan started hitting Min Ming, who was already unconscious. 'I thought he was crazy, but to do something like that... I was scared that he was going to beat us up. I never thought that my life was on the line.' She glanced at the severed arm beside her and felt horrified once more.
'Should I... no! I shouldn't. If he sees him with his arm again, I don't know what he will do to me. I should just get rid of it.' She then carried Min Ming to the nearest tribe of the three to ensure he was okay and waited for him to wake up. After informing him about what Shui Jun had said, she left to go home.
The three of them were eventually summoned by the elders and interrogated. Their story remained consistent: on their way back, they were ambushed by a rank 2 wild beast and had to fight for their lives. Unfortunately, Min Ming lost his arm in the process before they could shake the beast off.
The elders didn't fully believe their tale, doubting that three rank one gu master students could fend off a rank 2 wild beast. However, with Min Ming repeatedly insisting it was the truth, they had no choice but to accept it. After a brief discussion, the elders decided to allow them to continue doing missions for the time being while they deliberated on further action.
After that, Min Ming didn't dare to say anything else to Shui Jun and ended up like Jia Juan, doing as they were told without further questioning. Min Ming didn't need his hand to activate his gu worms anyway, and Shui Jun didn't even let them do anything; he was practically handling everything alone.
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'That idiot ended up helping me on his own. I wanted to prove the elders wrong, but what can you do when your own team members are dumbasses?' Shui Jun was feeling good as he emerged from the meeting room in the Lin tribe. The academy elders had already informed him that he would be changing teams soon. 'Hahaha, even though I won't be able to do any missions for a while, it will be fine after I get a new team. Who would have thought that a moment of anger would bring me such a good opportunity? But...' Despite his satisfaction, he couldn't shake off the bad feeling that Elder Xin Xiao had given him in that meeting room.
'That old man looked angry. Well, I don't care even if I disappointed him or whatever. I didn't even plan to do it like he probably thinks I did to anger him, but it was just a moment of anger. Heh.' He shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way, unaware that he would come to regret his actions in the near future.
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Meanwhile, in the green and grand forest on the Lin tribe's border, Rue Bu was a little confused by what Chen Huan said, but he eventually understood her meaning. "Is someone in danger?" he asked her.
"Yes, it's a team of three. They are fighting a wild green bat." she said with a grim face.
"What's wrong? You don't look so excited to rescue them. Aren't they in danger?" he noticed her lack of enthusiasm.
"I think they are." she gritted her teeth and said. "We should hurry, or they might end up dying before we get there." They started moving in the direction of the screeching, but she remembered that she hadn't explained the danger properly to him, so she continued. "Don't underestimate the green bat. Even though it might look weak, it can be formidable. It's one of the strongest rank 1 beasts in our territory."
"It has typically has two main ways of attacking. Unless it has more than its usual wild gu worm on its body, that will be a different disaster altogether. The first is its loud screeches, which you just heard. It didn't feel close because of the distance, but its loud screeches utilise a gu worm to make the surrounding vegetation come to life. It's not deadly, but it mainly uses it to obstruct or even encase its prey. The second method is more deadly. It has dangerously sharp claws, so you should be careful." Chen Huan explained the situation all the way until they finally arrived at the scene.
In the air was an emerald green creature, roughly the same size as them but with a very large pair of wings. It flapped in the air, hovering majestically as if it were the king of the jungle. On the ground were three students: a girl caught in the messy web of plants and trees that the bat had created, a boy in bad shape with numerous wounds on his body, and the girl kept trying to reach him to treat his injuries, but the branches kept her busy. Whenever she treated him, he would get injured again, and she would get stuck once more.
The final student was a beautiful young girl with emerald green short hair and exquisite green eyes. She stood tall, looking at the creature in the air with a grim expression. She wasn't in good condition either; the wounds on her body weren't as severe as the boy's, but they revealed how ruthless and effective the beast's strategy was.
'God damn it, if it just gets down here, I will rip its wings and stuff them in its mouth. That annoying thing, it didn't even have what I was looking for...' her thoughts were interrupted by an unexpected surprise: the beast was descending, but it wasn't attacking. 'Is it... falling?' She then heard a voice she recognized.
"Finish it off!" Chen Huan's loud voice came to her ears. She felt surprised, disdain, and anger, but she didn't waste any moment. Quickly starting to run toward the location where the wild bat was falling, she injected her pale green copper primeval essence into the tiny sword tattoo on her hand. Out of thin air, a wooden sword appeared in her hand. She then thrust the sword at the creature's head. As she saw it falling, a big chunk of its wing was like something penetrated it. The creature wasn't startled however; it saw her coming its way already and didn't fall for the harmless-looking sword, preparing to dodge it.
"God damn it!" She gritted her teeth when she saw the bat move away, but suddenly it fell to the ground like its legs couldn't hold it anymore. The bat appeared scared, looking at the sword that was descending toward its neck. Even though it looked harmless, it still attempted to dodge it, but for some reason, it couldn't. In a desperate attempt to save itself, the beast tried to block the sword with its claw on its unharmed side, but to no avail.
*Screech* *Screech*
It started screeching miserably as the wooden sword struck it. Surprisingly, its claw was unharmed; no blood came out. Instead, the bat's wing started turning into wooden bark, traveling to its head and eventually enveloping its entire body, rendering it immobile. She then started destroying it with her bare hands, killing the beast in the process.
'What the hell happened? Two times? I didn't see it two times?' The first time something hit the bat's wing and destroyed a chunk of it, making it unable to fly and forcing it to the ground. The second time was. 'its leg, one of its legs was struck when it tried to dodge my sword, causing it to lose its balance. I didn't even see what hit it both times. I know I heard Chen Huan's voice, but it can't be her. She isn't that strong and precise.' She was confused.
"Are you alright?" Chen Huan asked her reluctantly.
"Hmm? Why would I be otherwise? But look at you! You look much better than the last time I saw you, Chen Huan." she smiled at her and said.
"Hmph! You look the same, Chen Yan." Chen Huan replied with an unhappy expression.