Chapter 15: Regret — Strength Rising Once More!

"Hiss, that spear thrust was so fast!"

"What a fast thrust, like a bolt of lightning!"

"His strike speed rivals a wind-element Awakener, but isn't he a lightning-element Awakener?"

"......"

Seeing on the projection screen that black figure who, like a flash of lightning, instantly killed the Shadow Cat beast, many teachers in the audience were shocked.

Fast! Accurate! Ruthless!

That was their first impression of Xu Jingming.

Class 5 homeroom teacher Chen Fan's eyes went wide.

Because the school arranged actual combat sparring courses, he basically knew the combat strength of most students in his class.

But in actual combat class, Xu Jingming's level could only be described as passable — he absolutely couldn't have this kind of standard!

"Good lad, you actually managed to hide it from me for this long!"

"With spear skills like this, why not show them earlier? You just had to wait to amaze everyone at the Wu Ke Gaokao."

"Still, with spear skills like this, even with only an E-rank ability, he really can get a decent result in the Wu Ke Gaokao."

Chen Fan nodded slightly. "Looking at it this way, persuading him back then not to take the Wu Ke Gaokao was unnecessary."

"A powerful physique, and fierce spear technique."

No. 2 High School principal Zhao Yao let out a long breath, then shook his head. "What a pity......"

"Yes, such a pity."

Education Bureau director Zhang Wenshan was also somewhat disappointed.

A powerful physique and weapon-handling skill were indeed quite a fine advantage during the Awakener stage.

But later on, as levels grew higher, the advantage brought by physique and technique would gradually shrink.

After all, an Ability User is an Ability User.

The main thing is still fighting with abilities!

"If only he had a C-rank ability, paired with that physique and spear technique, Jiangcheng's first place would absolutely be his!"

"Too bad he only has an E-rank ability."

Zhang Wenshan couldn't help sighing in regret once more.

Compared with the principal's and the Education Bureau director's regret, Class 5 homeroom teacher Chen Fan was rather easygoing about it.

Top ten in Jiangcheng — as long as he could maintain it until the Wu Ke Gaokao ended, he would definitely get into a decent Ability User university.

Of course, even if Xu Jingming didn't kill any more beasts from here on and ended the Wu Ke Gaokao with this result, he could still get into an Ability User university — just not as good a one.

And compared with the result he had expected — failing the exam, or even death — this was already countless times better......

【Killed one Tier-1 Shadow Cat, Ability Points +9.】

Inside the ruined town, having just slain a Shadow Cat, Xu Jingming listened to the prompt sounding in his mind, his mood very pleasant.

The beasts in the central area of the ruined town were more numerous than he had imagined.

He had only been in here a little over an hour, and had already killed more than twenty Tier-1 lower-rank beasts, plus over a dozen peak unranked beasts.

And the Ability Points accumulated on his system panel had already reached 312!

"Not bad, as expected, killing beasts in the central area is more efficient."

Xu Jingming nodded in satisfaction, then heard the high-speed whirring of a propeller.

A drone flew over from afar, hovering dozens of meters above his head.

"A tracking camera drone? My score is already in the top ten?"

Xu Jingming opened his smart watch to check his ranking:

【9th place: Xu Jingming, 607 points. (Jiangcheng No. 2 High School)】

"As expected, already in the top ten."

A smile appeared on Xu Jingming's face.

The appearance of the camera drone meant that from now on, his combat process would be known to the outside world in its entirety.

Even his subsequent use of abilities — his S-rank Doushen Shenlei — would likewise be exposed because of it.

After all, the S-rank Doushen Shenlei he now summoned was too extraordinary; it was impossible to disguise it as an E-rank weak-electricity ability.

Of course, Xu Jingming had no intention of hiding it.

"The Wu Ke Gaokao is meant to test a candidate's strength and potential. The better the Wu Ke Gaokao result, the more choice one has.

Only a fool would give up earning more points just to hide an ability."

Xu Jingming's gaze sharpened as he opened his system info panel:

【Name】: Xu Jingming

【Level】: Awakener

【Ability】: Doushen Shenlei (S)

【Physique】: 141 Qi-Blood (+)

【Spirit】: 160 Hertz (+)

【Skills】: Spear Technique (Advanced), Lightning Flash Wind Break (Beginner +)

【Ability Points】: 312

"Already over three hundred Ability Points, and the level still can't be raised?"

Xu Jingming frowned, having failed to find a plus sign after his level.

When this happened, there were only two possibilities.

The first possibility was that the Ability Points needed to transform from Awakener into Ability User were too many — even three hundred Ability Points weren't enough.

The second possibility is that there is some condition for an Awakener to become an Esper, and until that condition is met, even the system cannot directly raise the level.

"To transform from an Awakener into an Esper, one must first learn an Esper cultivation method.

It seems that because I haven't learned an Esper cultivation method yet, I still can't level up."

Xu Jingming guessed silently to himself.

An Esper cultivation method is the basic condition for an Awakener to advance into an Esper.

However, even the worst Esper cultivation method costs over a million yuan.

With Xu Jingming's financial means, he naturally couldn't afford to buy one.

He had originally thought that with the system, he could bypass this basic condition, but now it seemed he was wrong.

"But with my current combat power, I'm not that far off from a real Esper."

"Then I'll wait until after the college entrance exam, get into an Esper university, learn an Esper cultivation method, and then become an Esper."

Xu Jingming didn't think much more about it. The most critical thing now was how to use these three hundred-plus ability points.

"Right now the only things I can improve are basic attributes and combat skills. Combat skills aren't needed for now, so I'll just improve my basic attributes directly."

After thinking for a moment, Xu Jingming directly distributed all his ability points between his two major basic attributes.

He put 200 points into Physique and 112 points into Spirit.

【Physique】: 141 → 181 Qi-Blood

【Spirit】: 160 → 182 Hertz

Xu Jingming, whose basic attributes had been enhanced, immediately felt power surging through his entire body, and his consciousness was clearer than ever before.

The fatigue accumulated from traveling and consecutive battles was all swept away in an instant!

"Awesome!"

Xu Jingming laughed out loud, casually twirling a beautiful spear flourish with his Black Glimmer Spear.

The thrusting speed and force were once again much stronger than before!

"With this kind of physique, plus my advanced spear technique, even a mid first-order fierce beast in the core zone — even without using my ability — I can take it down with ease!"

At this moment, Xu Jingming was extremely confident in his own strength.

"The fierce beasts in the core zone are stronger and more numerous!

Since my strength has improved again, there's no need to linger in the central zone — I'll head straight to the core zone!"

The long spear trembled, and the bright red blood staining it was shaken off clean by the inertia.

Then, with the long spear carried on his back, Xu Jingming glanced at the map for his bearings and sprinted toward the core zone.

With his physique strengthened, his sprinting speed at this moment was even a fraction faster than Zhou Mingyang, who had been buffed with a wind-type ability!

And behind him, a photography drone followed closely along, like a little shadow......