Chapter 76: Test

As that halo of light was thrown into his body, Lei Kedun felt that many pieces of knowledge related to extraordinary abilities had appeared in his mind, and he also obtained the Sequence Six Scholar's "Imitation" ability, which allowed him to imitate parsed abilities to a certain extent.

Lei Kedun instinctively believed he had become an all‑round caster, the only limit to his performance being the ceiling of his own spirituality.

Lei Kedun immediately tried out the temporarily acquired "Imitation" ability; a faint blue glow covered his eyes, and then a crimson fireball appeared in his hand.

This is the ability of the Hunter Path Sequence Seven Arsonist; using it through the scholar's imitation makes it somewhat weaker than the original, but since it is originally a Sequence Seven ability, Lei Kedun's imitation is not much weaker.

Tu Ba Ge, who had originally been clinging to Lei Kedun's thigh and refusing to let go, saw a fireball suddenly appear on his boss's hand and reflexively jumped back a little.

Lei Kedun glanced at his cowardly rabbit he kept, felt a bit speechless, but said nothing.

Mister Huang nodded at Lei Kedun, then walked over to Tu Ba Ge's side, extended the hand holding his cane, and lightly tapped the hat on Tu Ba Ge's head.

Lei Kedun also didn't know when Tu Ba Ge had put on this hat; clearly when sleeping, Tu Ba Ge would stuff a book into the hat and set it aside. After being brought to the Spirit Realm by Mister Huang, Lei Kedun discovered that Tu Ba Ge had already put the hat on his head.

"What's up? Grandpa, do you have something?" Tu Ba Ge turned his head, touching the hat that Mister Huang had lightly tapped, and asked.

Tu Ba Ge had not yet realized that this old gentleman was the true form of that crow, nor had he heard Mister Huang's initial self‑introduction.

"I don't know whether it's Mister Huang doing it on purpose, or the fat rabbit really didn't notice—well, it's probably Mister Huang doing it on purpose." Lei Kedun muttered to himself two sentences.

He immediately gathered his thoughts; this Mister Huang, when using his crow incarnation, could already see his inner complaints, and now that his true form had appeared, there was no need to say more.

"The test has begun." Mister Huang did not answer Tu Ba Ge's question.

After saying that the test had begun, his figure faded and vanished on the spot. Subsequently, Lei Kedun saw the space before him twist, and a group of extremely abstract figures, resembling children's toy poker soldier models, appeared.

"Wah!" Tu Ba Ge exclaimed, retreating to Lei Kedun's side, nervously staring at the sudden appearance of those poker soldiers.

"Boss, they seem to have ill intentions!" Tu Ba Ge said somewhat timidly.

"You can drop the 'seem'; they definitely have ill intentions. You can use the hat on your head however you like—get ready to deal with them." After saying that, Lei Kedun kicked the fat rabbit clinging to his foot away with one foot.

Tu Ba Ge was kicked by Lei Kedun right in front of the poker soldiers; Tu Ba Ge timidly raised and lowered his head, making eye contact with the poker soldiers.

"Wah!" Tu Ba Ge shouted loudly.

He pushed off the ground with both legs and instantly shot away from the poker soldiers. On the spot where Tu Ba Ge had been standing, a black spear was driven into the ground.

"Boss, save me! I'm about to die as a rabbit!" Tu Ba Ge yelled and ran back to Lei Kedun's side.

The poker soldiers also followed, closing in, with all their spears pointed at Lei Kedun and Tu Ba Ge.

Lei Kedun's mouth twitched; he had originally thought this rabbit would step forward to test the poker soldiers, but instead it ran back so timidly.

He shook his head, no longer wondering why his rabbit was so cowardly. Lei Kedun quickly meditated in his mind, outlining a huge ring; as his spirituality trembled, the brass-colored ring made of many gears reappeared behind him.

He didn't know whether it was because he was in the Spirit Realm, but Lei Kedun felt the ring's enhancement of him had increased a bit, while his spirituality consumption had dropped considerably.

Lei Kedun's eyes were covered with a layer of faint blue fluorescence; at the same time, the ring behind him began to rotate, producing more mist and sparks. The fireball rising from his outstretched palm became even more blazing than before.

"With the boost from the ring behind me, can I already reach the power of an Arsonist using their extraordinary ability?" Lei Kedun made an estimate in his heart.

After condensing and compressing the fireball in his hand for a while, Lei Kedun threw it out; under the pull of his spirituality, the fireball shot straight toward the poker soldiers ahead.

The poker soldier at the very front jabbed the incoming fireball straight on with his spear; the fireball exploded directly, and the blast's aftershock slightly blocked the soldiers' advance.

"Use tricks to interfere with them and buy some time." Lei Kedun immediately gave the order to the timid Tu Ba Ge crouching at his feet.

"What trick can I use to stop them?!" Tu Ba Ge said in a somewhat panicked tone.

"Figure it out yourself; if you can't stop them, I'll just kick you away and use rabbit meat to buy time." Lei Kedun threatened Tu Ba Ge a little.

"Wah! No! No!" Upon hearing that, Tu Ba Ge jumped up at once and firmly objected.

Tu Ba Ge reached up and patted the hat on his head; the hat seemed to respond by swaying slightly, and a patch of mist appeared around the poker soldiers ahead.

"Intimidate!" A draconic word burst from Lei Kedun's mouth.

The psychologist's intimidation ability instantly surged toward the poker soldiers enveloped in mist; the soldiers who had maintained formation scattered in panic, some even bumping into each other.

Then, within the area shrouded by mist, shadows twisted and condensed into illusory yet solid black shackles, restraining most of the poker soldiers together. This is the dark‑type spell ability "Abyssal Shackles" mastered by the vampire of the Moon Path.

After Lei Kedun had restrained most of the poker soldiers, he again extended his hand to condense a crimson fireball, continually compressing it.

The temperature of the surrounding air rose with the time Lei Kedun spent condensing the fireball; Tu Ba Ge also couldn't help but retreat a bit, feeling his fur begin to curl from the heat.

After moving away from the hot zone near Lei Kedun, Tu Ba Ge extended his claws again, touched the hat on his head, and produced more mist ahead.

While producing mist, Tu Ba Ge also darted quickly around the mist‑shrouded area, continually using freezing to create a layer of ice on the ground within the mist.

The effect of this ice layer was even better than expected, perhaps because the mist blocked their sight; when they sensed the great danger ahead, the poker soldiers not restrained by the Abyssal Shackles began to flee in all directions, only to tumble one after another onto the ice.

Tu Ba Ge kept wandering around the mist, replenishing the consumed ice, lowering the poker soldiers' escape speed to a minimum.

After a dozen or so seconds, the duration of the Abyssal Shackles had expired, but even the fastest poker soldiers had only just managed to leave the mist‑shrouded range.

Seeing this, Lei Kedun also stopped condensing a huge fireball; lacking the Arsonist's fire resistance, while gathering the huge fireball he felt he was about to be roasted. Although it wasn't yet the limit of his fireball‑condensing ability, it had already reached the limit of his endurance.

Lei Kedun pulled the huge fireball with his spirituality and hurled it toward the center of the mist‑shrouded area; the already much‑thinned mist instantly evaporated in the fireball's intense heat.

"Boom!" A tremendous explosion rang out; scorching air waves swept the surroundings, and the poker soldiers were directly shattered, blasted apart, and ignited.

The scorching airflow spread outward; Lei Kedun felt his hair becoming somewhat singed, yellowed, and curled.

Tu Ba Ge, with his fur blown back by the air waves, his ears flapping up and down, his blood‑red eyes staring wide‑eyed at his boss watching this scene. Its fire‑starting trick could only light a spark, but the boss's fireball could actually be used as a bomb!

After the air waves subsided a little, Tu Ba Ge hopped over to Lei Kedun: "Boss! Boss! Can I learn this big fireball?"

"You can try later; for now, let's finish off these wounded poker soldiers!" Lei Kedun, to keep Tu Ba Ge motivated, did not discourage him by saying farmers couldn't learn such maneuvers.

"Me too! I'm strong!" Tu Ba Ge volunteered and came over to help.

(End of chapter)