Chapter 59: Magic University Equipment Department! Dark Cloud Gale Spear!

"To the wilderness zone?"

Yang Zhentian frowned slightly.

The so-called wilderness zone refers to areas outside the protection of human military forces.

Those places are often ravaged by ferocious beasts.

And unlike the Wu Ke college entrance exam grounds, there are no strict tiered classifications of beast levels.

You might step into the wilderness zone for barely a moment before encountering a random five-tier beast and being devoured on the spot.

The randomness is high, and so is the danger.

"How long do you plan to stay?"

"I’ll return before the Freshman Competition."

"That long?"

Yang Zhentian’s eyelid twitched.

It was only mid-July now; the Freshman Competition wouldn’t be until early September.

That meant Xu Jingming would have to stay in the wilderness zone for a week and a half!

The dangers involved were obvious.

Yang Zhentian had been about to persuade him, but seeing the determination in Xu Jingming’s eyes, he stayed silent.

"Fine, if you want to go, then go."

Yang Zhentian sighed, but still warned: "Remember, if things turn bad, run immediately.

With Lei Shan, as long as you don’t encounter a fourth-tier beast, you’re basically safe from death."

Every strong person’s rise requires trials by blood and fire; the crisis of life and death is the most efficient catalyst for becoming strong.

Although he believed Xu Jingming could benefit from more training at school.

But since Xu Jingming had voluntarily requested to go, he wouldn’t stop him.

"Thank you, teacher." Xu Jingming exhaled in relief.

He’d feared most that the teacher would refuse, but luckily, Teacher Yang was understanding.

Of course,

even if the teacher had refused, he would still go.

After all, Ability Points were the core of the Deep Blue System and the key to his rapid power growth.

"By the way, which wilderness zone are you planning to go to?" Yang Zhentian asked again.

"The wilderness zone near Yuan Shui City," Xu Jingming replied.

"Yuan Shui City... that’s good," Yang Zhentian nodded slightly.

Yuan Shui City bordered Magic City and was a prefecture-level city with relatively decent economic development.

Moreover, the highest-tier beasts in the Yuan Shui wilderness zone were only fourth- and fifth-tier, making it relatively less dangerous.

"Before you head to the wilderness zone, I’ll pass on some experience to you..."

Whether Yang Zhentian or Liu Ming, both were experienced Ability Users who had survived the wilderness.

Through their explanations, Xu Jingming, who had never been to the wilderness zone before, gained considerable practical knowledge.

Over an hour later, Xu Jingming bowed respectfully and departed from his teacher and senior.

"Teacher, since my junior brother is going to the wilderness zone, I might return to the Guild in a few days."

Watching Xu Jingming’s figure vanish from sight, Liu Ming spoke up.

"So soon?" Yang Zhentian frowned.

"The southwestern front is intense; beast waves have already breached several prefecture-level cities.

The Guild is short on manpower and has urged me repeatedly."

Liu Ming said slowly.

"The southwestern front..."

Yang Zhentian murmured.

Nowadays, although humans and beasts largely maintained balance, minor wars erupted annually in local regions.

Liu Ming had joined an Adventurer Guild as a probationary member even before graduating.

He occasionally participated in the Guild’s campaigns.

Now that the Guild urgently needed combat strength, Liu Ming, a third-tier peak probationary member, naturally fell within the call-up range.

"Then go. This time, the Guild and the Battle Squad are acting together.

If you encounter high-tier beasts, avoid them if you can; high-tier beasts are handled by high-tier Ability Users."

Yang Zhentian said gravely.

Including Xu Jingming, he had thirty-two disciples.

Yet nearly half of them had all died at the hands of beasts.

He certainly didn’t wish for Liu Ming to meet the same fate.

"Teacher, don’t worry. I’m not new to battles of this scale.

Besides, I heard this time Master Wang Linyang, an eighth-tier Grandmaster, is leading the team personally.

Dealing with a beast group whose highest tier is only seventh-tier won’t be a problem."

Liu Ming waved his hand, slung his spear over his shoulder, and walked out of the villa with a carefree stride.

On the other side.

After leaving the villa, Xu Jingming called his aunt Xu Qingwan.

"Auntie, busy?"

"Not busy—I’m out shopping with your Qi sister. What’s up?"

"Auntie, I’ll be joining a special training program organized by the school.

My phone will be off for a while, so don’t worry if you can’t reach me."

"Really? Okay, okay, Auntie understands. By the way, little..."

"..."

There were no signal towers in the wilderness zone; calls couldn’t get through.

That’s why Xu Jingming had called ahead to notify his aunt.

Of course, he couldn’t tell her the truth, to avoid worrying her.

Also, his cousin Tang Qi, who had originally planned to report early,

had recently called to say she wanted to stay longer in Jiangcheng and would report normally at the start of September.

As for the debt Lei Zhou owed his aunt’s family, it had been fully repaid over ten days ago.

"It’s still early. I’ll finish preparing the rest of the gear, and I can head to Yuan Shui City this afternoon."

After hanging up, Xu Jingming checked his phone—the time was still before 10:30 a.m.

Based on his own research on wilderness survival guides and the experience just imparted by Teacher Yang and Senior Liu,

two things were essential for entering the wilderness: supplies and equipment.

Supplies were easy—buy a tactical backpack, stock up on fresh water and energy bars.

As for equipment, the E-rank gear he currently wore was barely adequate for school.

But for the dangerous wilderness, equipment should be as refined as possible.

"I just leveled up; my physical stats improved significantly. Perfect time to replace all my gear."

Equipment could be ordered via the school’s website, but delivery wouldn’t arrive until the next day.

Xu Jingming planned to depart this afternoon; ordering online wouldn’t work.

So he decided to go directly to the Equipment Department of Magic City Ability University.

"I’ve heard our school’s Equipment Department has some great items. Perfect chance to take a look."

Xu Jingming stepped out of the faculty villa area and waited by the roadside.

Magic City Ability University’s campus was enormous, covering forty thousand mu.

Even if you wandered slowly, you couldn’t finish touring the entire campus in a single day.

Thus, the school provided dedicated campus shuttles.

The Equipment Department was located in the southwest of the campus, far from the faculty villas.

Taking the campus shuttle was ideal.

"Dingdong~~~, Magic University Equipment Department stop."

Over ten minutes later, with the arrival announcement, Xu Jingming stepped off the bus.

Before him stood a building over twenty stories tall!

The building was exquisitely decorated, its exterior walls made of expensive floor-to-ceiling glass.

On the building’s side, five bold characters were painted in flowing script: "Magic University Equipment Department."

Below the building, numerous delivery personnel in Magic University uniforms were loading packaged weapons and gear onto vehicles.

These items would be delivered to students today.

Of course, these delivery workers weren’t ordinary people—they appeared to be first-tier low- and mid-rank Ability Users.

Otherwise, they couldn’t lift the students’ weapons and gear, which often weighed over a hundred kilograms.

"Damn, even the Equipment Department is built this lavishly."

With a murmur of awe, Xu Jingming entered the Equipment Department building.

"Hello, classmate! Do you need to purchase any equipment?"

As soon as he stepped inside, a female staff member warmly approached him.

It must be said that the Magic Capital Institute of Superpowers excels in service.

No matter where you go, the staff always greet you with a smile.

"I'd like to look at spear-type weapons," Xu Jingming said thoughtfully.

Both weapons and battle armor need to be purchased, but weapons are clearly more important.

"Do you prefer a standard-issue spear, or something more customized?"

"Let me first see the customized spears."

After a moment’s thought, Xu Jingming replied.

Standard-issue spears are weapons mass-produced in fixed designs, like the Black Glare Spear he currently carries.

Customized spears are forged by weapon masters according to their own vision, each one unique.

The advantage of the former is that each model’s design is highly consistent.

Even when upgrading equipment, only the alloy grade is improved, with no major changes.

The drawback is that the fixed design may not suit everyone.

The latter allows selection based on the user’s handling feel, but is significantly more expensive.

Until now, Xu Jingming had always used the standard-issue Black Glare Spear.

This time, heading into the dangerous wilderness, he naturally wanted to choose a weapon suited to his style.

"Very well, please follow me."

Under the staff member’s guidance, Xu Jingming arrived on the 13th floor of the building.

Whoosh—

The elevator doors slowly opened, revealing a grand hall.

Inside the hall stood numerous transparent display cases, each over two meters tall.

Each case displayed a spear!

These spears varied in style—some heavy, others light and agile.

In fact, Xu Jingming even spotted one spear over three meters long, pitch black!

Seeing this, Xu Jingming’s eyes lit up.

As a lover of spear-type weapons, this place was pure paradise!

"Hello, I’m Zou Hai, the spear weapons manager for this floor. What kind of spear are you looking for, classmate?"

A middle-aged man in a suit stepped forward, warmly asking.

The staff member beside Xu Jingming promptly withdrew.

"I want a spear that’s heavy but fast to thrust," Xu Jingming said.

A spear that is both heavy and fast to thrust is a condition standard-issue spears can never satisfy.

Yet he believed he could find what he wanted here.

True to form, after a moment’s thought, the manager led Xu Jingming to a display case:

"The only spear that meets both your conditions is the Dark Cloud Wind Thrust Spear."