Chapter 59: The Demon Lord

"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 Gaokao exam grounds, there is no strict hierarchical classification of beast levels.

You might step into the wilderness zone for barely a moment and encounter a random fifth-rank ferocious beast, then be devoured on the spot.

The randomness is high, and the danger is extreme.

"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 month and a half!

The dangers involved were obvious.

Yang Zhentian had intended to dissuade him, but seeing the determination in Xu Jingming's eyes, he held his tongue.

"Forget it, if you want to go, then go."

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

With Lei Shan, as long as you don't encounter a fourth-rank beast, you won't be in mortal danger."

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

Although he believed Xu Jingming could still train longer 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 had feared most that the teacher would refuse, but luckily, Teacher Yang Zhentian was understanding.

Of course,

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

After all, Ability Points are 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 not bad," Yang Zhentian nodded slightly.

Yuan Shui City sits right next to Mo Du, a prefecture-level city with relatively decent economic development.

Moreover, the highest-ranked beasts in the Yuan Shui wilderness zone are only fourth- and fifth-rank, making it comparatively 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 fought their way through the wilderness zones.

Under their explanations, Xu Jingming, who had never been to a wilderness zone before, gained considerable relevant experience.

More than an hour later, Xu Jingming bid farewell to his teacher and senior brother, then respectfully departed.

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

Watching Xu Jingming's figure vanish from view, Liu Ming spoke up.

"So soon?" Yang Zhentian frowned.

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

The Guild is short-staffed and has urged me multiple times."

Liu Ming said slowly.

"The southwestern front..."

Yang Zhentian murmured.

Nowadays, although humans and ferocious beasts maintain a rough balance, localized small-scale wars erupt every year.

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-rank peak probationary member, was naturally within the call-up range.

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

If you encounter high-rank beasts, try to avoid them—high-rank beasts will be handled by high-rank 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 ferocious beasts.

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

"Teacher, don't worry—I've participated in battles of this scale before.

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

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

Liu Ming waved his hand, slung his rifle over his shoulder, and strode out of the villa with ease.

On the other side.

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

"Auntie, are you busy?"

"I'm not busy—I'm out shopping with Qi-jie. What's up?"

"Auntie, I'll be participating in a special training organized by the school soon."

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

"Really? Good, good, Auntie understands. By the way, little—"

"..."

There are no signal towers in the Wild Zone; calls can't get through.

That's why Xu Jingming called his aunt ahead of time to notify her.

Of course, he couldn't tell her the real reason, to avoid worrying her.

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

recently called to say she wanted to stay longer in Jiangcheng, and would report normally when school started in September.

As for Lei Zhou's outstanding debt to his aunt's family, it had already been repaid over ten days ago.

"It's still early. Finish preparing the rest of the supplies, and we can depart for Yuan Shui City this afternoon."

After hanging up, Xu Jingming checked the time on his phone—it was still under half past ten in the morning.

Based on his own research into Wild Zone survival guides, as well as the experience just shared by Teacher Yang and his senior,

two things are essential for entering the Wild Zone: supplies and equipment.

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

As for equipment, the E-grade gear he currently wears is barely usable at school.

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

"I just leveled up—my physical stats improved a lot. Perfect time to replace all my gear."

You can order equipment through the school's official website, but delivery takes until the next day.

Xu Jingming plans to depart this afternoon, so ordering online won't work.

So he intends to go directly to the Equipment Department of Magu City Institute of Esoteric Abilities.

"I've heard our school's Equipment Department has plenty of good stuff. This is a perfect chance to take a look."

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

Magu City Institute of Esoteric Abilities has a vast campus—over forty thousand mu.

If you walked slowly, you might not finish touring the entire campus in a full day.

Therefore, the school provides dedicated campus shuttles.

The Equipment Department is located in the southwest of the campus, quite far from the faculty villa area.

Taking the campus shuttle is ideal.

"Dingdong~~~, Magu Equipment Department stop."

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

Before Xu Jingming 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 swirling strokes: "Magu Equipment Department."

Below the building, numerous couriers in Magu Institute uniforms handed packed weapons and gear into vehicles.

These items would be delivered to students today.

Of course, these couriers weren't ordinary people—they appeared to be at the Lower or Mid First Tier.

Otherwise, they couldn't even lift weapons and gear weighing over a hundred kilograms.

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

With a sigh of amazement, Xu Jingming entered the Equipment Department building.

"Student, hello! What equipment are you looking to purchase?"

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

I have to say, Magu City Institute of Esoteric Abilities excels in service.

Wherever you go, staff always greet you with smiles.

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

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

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

"Let me see the customized spears first."

After a moment's thought, Xu Jingming replied.

Standard-issue spears are mass-produced weapons with fixed designs—like his current Black Obsidian Spear.

Customized spears are forged by weapon masters according to their own vision; each is unique.

The former's advantage is that every model's design is rigidly fixed.

Even when upgrading, only the alloy grade changes—no major alterations.

The drawback is the fixed design may not suit everyone.

The latter allows selection based on the user's handling feel, but costs significantly more.

Until now, Xu Jingming had always used the standard Black Obsidian Spear.

Now, heading into the dangerous Wild Zone, he wanted to choose a weapon that suited him well.

"Alright, please follow me."

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

Whoosh—

The elevator doors slowly slid open, revealing a great hall.

Inside the hall stood row upon row of transparent display cases, each over two meters tall.

Each display case held a long spear!

These spears were all of different styles — some heavy, some light and nimble.

Xu Jingming even spotted one jet-black spear over three meters long among them!

At the sight of this, Xu Jingming's eyes lit up.

As a lover of spear-type weapons, this place was simply heaven!

"Hello, I'm Zou Hai, the manager of spear-type weapons on this floor. What kind of spear are you looking for, student?"

A middle-aged man in a sharp suit stepped forward and asked warmly.

The staff member beside Xu Jingming also tactfully withdrew.

"I want a spear that's heavy, but with a fast thrusting speed," Xu Jingming said.

Heavy, yet fast on the thrust — these were conditions no standard-issue spear could possibly satisfy at once.

Still, he believed that here, he should be able to find the weapon he wanted.

Sure enough, after a moment's thought the manager led Xu Jingming to a display case:

"The only one that can satisfy both your requirements is probably this Dark Cloud Swift Wind Spear."