Chapter 21: 2413 Ability Points, Bloodthirsty Rampage Bear!

"Oh? You've met Xu Jingming? Tell me, 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 ones have only about 100 blood points.

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

180 blood points is a goal far beyond our reach.

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

"Even with an enhanced physique after awakening, having this much blood 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 one."

Zhou Mingyang shook his head again.

He did not deny the long-haired boy's guess that Xu Jingming possessed a 强化系 ability.

After all, he thought the same.

"An awakened one?"

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

Her words instantly silenced everyone present.

After a long pause, Zhou Mingyang spoke slowly, "I have to say, Meng Di, you're still as sharp as ever at cutting to the chase."

Meng Di was the only girl among these ability users; she had awakened a B-grade 强化系 ability and currently ranked fourth.

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

Meng Di stuck out her tongue.

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

"Xu Jingming is really a monster—he's still just an awakened one 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 Gaokao ends."

The core zone's beasts have all been killed—do we have to go back to the central zone?"

In the Wu Ke Gaokao, everyone scrambles to kill as many 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—we'd waste too much time on the road."

"Besides, the central zone mostly has peak non-tier beasts; killing them doesn't yield many points."

After a moment's thought, Zhou Mingyang said, "Rather than going back to the central zone, let's head straight to the core zone."

"The core zone?"

At these words, everyone's hearts skipped a beat.

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

With such a beast lineup, even as first-rank lower-tier ability users, entering 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 for a moment, the bald boy finally nodded.

The Wu Ke Gaokao decides your entire future!

Though for us ability users, failing the Wu Ke Gaokao isn't quite that catastrophic.

But if we can get into a better university, we won't pass up the chance.

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

"It seems like that's the only option left," the long-haired boy also nodded.

"Alright, let's move out quickly."

Zhou Mingyang was a decisive man; once the plan was set, he immediately led the three others away swiftly.

Ruined town, core zone, one location.

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

This had once been a city street, but now the concrete was cracked, weeds had regrown, and everything looked desolate.

The buildings and shops on both sides were utterly ruined.

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

【Level】: Awakened One

【Ability】: Doushen Shenlei (S)

【Physique】: 181 Blood (+)

【Spirit】: 182 He (+)

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

【Ability Points】: 2413

2413 Ability Points!

Xu Jingming's eyes gleamed.

These were all his gains since entering the core zone,

So many ability points—unbelievable!

Yet even so, no plus sign appeared after the level.

This confirmed to him that it was indeed because he had not yet cultivated an ability cultivation method that he could not transform into an Ability User.

"With this, I've killed off most of the ferocious beasts in the core zone."

"To keep gaining ability points, I must go to the innermost core zone."

"But there are second-tier ferocious beasts there—I need to strengthen my strength before going."

Xu Jingming clicked the plus sign next to the combat technique '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, directly upgrading the combat technique to Advanced.

Instantly, the technique felt as familiar to him as if he had practiced it thousands upon thousands of times.

"Now, I'm more confident I can handle that second-tier ferocious beast."

Although he had many ability points left, Xu Jingming did not extravagantly use them to boost his basic attributes.

He had only raised his bloodline to 180 points at the start, and now upgraded his combat technique.

It was extremely frugal.

On one hand, ability points were precious; after the Wu Ke Gaokao ended, there would be no more such opportunities to harvest them.

On the other hand, once he entered an Ability User university, these ability points would have other major uses.

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

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

Xu Jingming glanced at the map, then strode toward the innermost core zone.

Compared to the entire Wu Ke Gaokao map, the innermost core zone was pitifully small—barely a dot.

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

This was a residential complex named Jinsè Yuán, where dozens of ferocious beasts dwelled on the open ground.

Unlike ordinary ferocious beast groups, these beasts were of different species: Shadow Cats, Iron-Haired Boars, and even Rhinoceroses.

Keep in mind that

Ferocious beasts were inherently brutal, and different clans regarded each other as prey.

For so many different kinds of ferocious beasts to coexist peacefully in one group, there must be a Beast King suppressing them all.

And that Beast King was a grizzly bear crouching at the deepest part of the open ground!

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

Its eyes were blood-red, as if holding mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Merely by resting there, this ferocious beast radiated a terrifying aura.

At this moment, Zhou Mingyang and his group had already arrived nearby.

Standing on the rooftop of a building, they looked down.

When they saw the grizzly bear below, everyone's faces changed.

"It's a Bloodthirsty Rampage Bear."

Zhou Mingyang's face darkened.

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

For example, a Shadow Cat could never defeat a Rhinoceros, even if both were first-tier.

This was racial suppression.

The Bloodthirsty Rampage Bear was also a famously rare species among ferocious beasts—extremely hard to deal with.

Not to mention its absurdly terrifying strength—just its thick, knotted fur was tougher than E-grade alloy!

Even missiles couldn't easily shatter it!