Chapter 4

Jie Ming was startled by the conclusion he had reached.

"No, it shouldn't be..."

Jie Ming subconsciously wanted to deny the conclusion he had just reached; after all, Plane Nuolun Academy would conduct a recruitment across the entire plane every five years, and even if the requirements were harsh, there were thousands of students entering each batch.

If only a hundred or so people were left in a batch of students, how high would the front-line death rate be?!

But this thought was like a dark cloud covering his heart, unable to be dispelled.

He glanced at the combat department area's promotion, which had already entered the Q&A session; a group of high-spirited returning wizards answered questions raised by apprentices one by one or imparted battlefield experience, appearing exceptionally lively.

"... It's simply like an idol fan meeting."

Muttering a sentence, Jie Ming decisively turned and walked to the other side, where several wizards with tired expressions and a hint of vicissitudes were gathered together.

They wore standard robes of the Logistics Department, with crucibles representing alchemy, beakers for potions, or runes for arrays embroidered on their chests.

These people looked exceptionally simple, and some of their robes even appeared a bit old.

Their levels were not high, mostly just Tier 1 official wizards, and two of them were even just Tier 3 wizard apprentices.

Their eyes were not as sharp and confident as those combat wizards, but more of a calmness after experiencing the world.

In contrast, the combat wizards of the same batch as them were not only completely different in momentum, but each had achieved remarkable results.

From this aspect, the school sending this batch of wizards back should be for comparative promotion.

Almost as soon as Jie Ming turned, several wizards cast their gazes on him together.

Jie Ming walked forward calmly and asked politely in a low voice: "Excuse me, seniors, I am a new apprentice this year, and I am considering the major direction. I wonder if I could ask some questions."

Hearing Jie Ming's question, several wizards looked at each other, playful expressions revealing in their eyes.

An alchemy wizard spoke first: "Newcomer? Want to ask about the Logistics Department... Why, don't you plan to go to the combat department to seek a future? The welfare there is genuinely better than the Logistics Department."

Being watched by a group of wizards whose strength was far greater than his own, even if the other party didn't deliberately release their aura, it made people feel great pressure; fortunately, years of cultivation had greatly exercised Jie Ming's willpower.

He shook his head sincerely: "I don't have much interest in fighting and killing, and... to be honest, I have some fear of those battlefields."

"Fear of the battlefield is normal, after all, you are a newcomer." A potion wizard said, "But logistics... how should I put it, promotion is indeed not as fast as the combat department, and resources have to be fought for by yourself."

"I'm curious, why do you think we will answer your questions?" Another wizard interrupted him and looked at Jie Ming curiously.

"Wizards advocate the equivalent exchange of knowledge; you don't seem to have the price that can make us answer questions, right?"

"Because..."

Jie Ming didn't make it clear, but just turned his gaze to the combat department wizards who were still interacting with new apprentices on the stage on the other side.

The Logistics Department wizards also looked in that direction tacitly, and then they all laughed.

"You guessed it right, we all received the task of cooperating with the academy's promotion." The alchemy wizard looked at Jie Ming with eyes full of appreciation.

"In the task, there is indeed an obligation to cooperate with freshmen's questions. However, due to contract restrictions, each freshman only has one opportunity to ask questions, and I can only answer some facts that you already know or are about to know and are not restricted by the contract; if your question exceeds this limit, then I also have the right not to answer."

"Now... what do you want to ask?"

Jie Ming didn't hesitate: "I want to ask, why are there only ninety-seven returning wizards cooperating with the promotion on the combat department side?"

Hearing Jie Ming's question, the Logistics Department wizards present fell silent for a while.

They stared at Jie Ming with different expressions until he felt a bit uncomfortable, and a construct wizard couldn't help but laugh: "Hahahaha... this kid is much smarter than I was back then!"

Some wizards even directly solicited Jie Ming: "Kid, come to the Rune Department, with your brain, you can definitely become a big shot!"

"Go, go, go, aren't you afraid of violating the contract by soliciting directly? And you guys are so loud, be careful of being heard by other students!" The alchemy wizard waved his hand at the other wizards.

The wizards didn't care about the alchemy wizard's words, and a construct wizard even pointed upward triumphantly:

"Don't worry, Jack, this kid can ask this question, he must have already seen through the trap of this promotion. As for those apprentices outside... I have already set up an illusion barrier, those little guys outside won't notice here."

Jie Ming looked up and was startled in his heart.

Because around him and this group of wizards, an illusion barrier like frosted glass appeared at some point, covering everyone inside.

This should be the illusion barrier the wizard mentioned, but he had been in a state of high mental tension since just now, yet he still hadn't discovered when this wizard set up the barrier.

If it weren't for the other party's reminder, he wouldn't even have noticed the changes around him.

"Don't be too surprised, when you go to the battlefield, you will gradually learn these things in order to survive."

Jack saw Jie Ming's surprise, but he didn't think much about it.

After all, looking at Jie Ming's attire, he was just a commoner before, and it was normal to feel surprised when encountering such things.

Jack ignored the teasing of the few bad friends behind him and turned to look at Jie Ming, appearing quite satisfied with him:

"I didn't expect you to discover the problem from this angle, which is a bit beyond our expectations. That's right! It's just as you thought, or rather, the front-line battlefield is even more dangerous than you imagine!"

Speaking of this, Mentor Jack also restrained the smile at the corners of his mouth, and his expression became serious: "I can tell you clearly, whether it is the combat department or the Logistics Department, what you can see now is the only remaining students of our batch."

"Wha..." Jie Ming couldn't help but widen his eyes.

He subconsciously searched in the venue; the returning wizards of the combat department were easy to find, all on the stage.

And although the returning wizards of the Logistics Department were not gathered together, they were also scattered in twos and threes nearby, and with Jie Ming's ability, he almost instantly obtained the specific data:

"One hundred fifty-three..."

"The number of students in our batch was over five thousand, the ratio of students in the combat department and the Logistics Department was fifty to one, and now the remaining 153 people are all here."