Chapter 21: 2413 Ability Points, Bloodthirsty Rampage Bear!

"Oh? You've met Xu Jingming? Tell us, what's his ability?"

Inside the exam hall, when the others heard Zhou Mingyang had encountered Xu Jingming, they immediately became interested.

"I can't confirm the type of ability, but his physique is extremely strong—his blood value is at least 180 points."

Zhou Mingyang shook his head, voicing his speculation.

"180 blood points? No wonder he's so fierce."

The bald boy muttered in amazement.

Ordinary awakened individuals have only about 100 blood points.

Even we, first-rank lower-tier ability users, only have around 130 blood points.

"With such a robust physique, he's almost certainly a Qianghuaxi ability user."

"Even if his ability enhanced his physique, reaching this level of blood value is still impressive."

The long-haired boy feigned indifference, but his tone carried a hint of bitterness.

"No, Xu Jingming is still just an awakened individual."

Zhou Mingyang shook his head again.

He did not deny the long-haired boy’s guess that Xu Jingming possessed a Qianghuaxi ability.

After all, he thought the same.

"An awakened individual?"

The petite girl with the great sword gasped, "So we, actual ability users, can't even match an awakened?"

Her words instantly silenced everyone present.

After a long pause, Zhou Mingyang sighed, "I have to say, Meng Di, you still have the same uncanny knack for hitting the nail on the head."

Meng Di was the only girl among them, an awakened with a B-grade Qianghuaxi ability, currently ranked fourth.

"I just got startled, that's all."

Meng Di stuck out her tongue.

Her adorable appearance clashed sharply with the great sword she carried, but Zhou Mingyang and the others were already used to it.

"Xu Jingming is truly a monster—still just an awakened and already this strong..."

The bald boy’s expression was complex; after a pause, he added:

"But what should we do now? There’s still about an hour and a half left until the Wu Ke exam ends."

The core zone’s ferocious beasts have been wiped out—do we have to go back to the central zone?"

During the Wu Ke exam, everyone scrambles to kill as many ferocious beasts as possible to earn more points.

They certainly couldn’t afford to idle away the remaining hour and a half.

"It’ll take at least half an hour just to reach the central zone—too much time wasted on the way."

"Besides, the central zone mostly has peak non-tier ferocious beasts, and the points from killing them aren’t high."

After a moment’s thought, Zhou Mingyang said, "Rather than returning to the central zone, let’s head straight for the core zone."

"The core zone?"

At this, everyone’s hearts skipped a beat.

The ferocious beasts in the core zone are all at least first-rank upper-tier, some even second-rank beast kings.

Even as first-rank lower-tier ability users, entering such a zone would put their lives at great risk.

"Entering the core zone alone is suicide, but if all four of us combine forces, we might stand a chance."

After hesitating, the bald boy finally nodded.

The Wu Ke exam decides your entire future!

Granted, for us ability users, failing the Wu Ke exam isn’t catastrophic.

But if we can get into a better university, why not try?

"I’m fine with it," the petite girl Meng Di grinned.

"It seems this is our only option," the long-haired boy also nodded.

"Alright, let’s move out then."

Zhou Mingyang was decisive; once the plan was set, he led the three off at once.

In a ruined town, somewhere in the core zone.

Xu Jingming walked down the road, his long spear slung across his back.

This had once been an urban street, but now the concrete was cracked, weeds had reclaimed it, and everything looked desolate.

The buildings and shops on either side were equally dilapidated.

Yet Xu Jingming paid no attention to his surroundings—his focus was entirely on his system panel:

【Level】: Awakened

【Ability】: Purple Thunder Divine Lightning (S)

【Physique】: 181 Blood (++)

【Spirit】: 182 He (++)

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

【Ability Points】: 2413

Xu Jingming’s eyes gleamed.

These were all his gains since entering the core zone.

Such a massive amount of ability points was nothing short of astonishing!

Yet the plus sign still hadn’t appeared after his level.

This confirmed his suspicion: he hadn’t yet learned an ability cultivation method, so he couldn’t transform into an ability user.

"But now, I’ve killed off most of the ferocious beasts in the core zone."

"To earn more ability points, I must go to the core zone."

"But there are second-rank beasts there—I need to strengthen myself first."

Xu Jingming clicked the plus sign next to the skill 'Lightning Wind Break.'

Ability Points -100.

Lightning Wind Break: Beginner → Intermediate.

Ability Points -200.

Lightning Wind Break: Intermediate → Advanced.

Xu Jingming spent 300 ability points in one go, instantly upgrading the skill to Advanced.

Instantly, the technique felt as familiar as if he’d practiced it thousands of times.

"Now I’m more confident I can handle that second-rank beast."

Though he had many ability points, Xu Jingming hadn’t extravagantly spent them to boost his base stats.

He’d only raised his blood value to 180 at the start, and now upgraded this skill.

He’d been extremely frugal.

On one hand, ability points were precious—after the Wu Ke exam, such opportunities to harvest them would vanish.

On the other, once he entered an ability user university, these points would have far greater uses.

Most importantly, his current strength was already sufficient to handle the second-rank beasts in the core zone—no further upgrades were needed.

After finishing his point allocation, he downed the last two energy bars in his backpack to restore his stamina.

Xu Jingming checked his map, then strode resolutely toward the core zone.

Compared to the entire Wu Ke exam map, the core zone was tiny—barely a dot.

But in reality, it wasn’t just a dot—it was an entire residential complex!

This was the Jinse Garden complex, where dozens of ferocious beasts now dwelled on the open grounds.

Unlike ordinary beast groups, these creatures were of different species: Shadow Cats, Iron-Haired Boars, even a Unicorn Rhino.

Keep in mind,

Ferocious beasts were inherently violent, and different tribes often saw each other as prey.

For so many different species to coexist peacefully in one group, there must be a supreme beast king dominating them all.

And that beast king was a massive gray bear crouched deep in the center of the open ground!

Unlike ordinary gray bears, this one was enormous, like a tank.

Its eyes glowed crimson as blood, as if holding mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Merely by resting there, it radiated a terrifying aura.

At this moment, Zhou Mingyang’s group had arrived nearby.

Standing atop a building, they looked down.

When they saw the gray bear below, their faces all changed.

"It’s a Bloodthirsty Rampage Bear."

Zhou Mingyang’s expression darkened.

There were differences in strength even among ferocious beasts of the same rank.

For example, a Shadow Cat could never defeat a Unicorn Rhino, even if both were first-rank.

This is racial suppression.

The Bloodthirsty Rampage Bear is also a famously rare lineage among ferocious beasts, extremely difficult to deal with.

Leaving aside its absurdly terrifying strength, even its thick, matted fur, knotted together across its entire body, is tougher than E-grade alloy!

Even missiles cannot easily shatter it!