Chapter 455

The Art of War says, in the use of troops: if ten times the enemy's strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, divide them; if equal, be able to fight; if fewer, be able to flee; if inferior, be able to avoid.

Basically, it's only natural for the many to bully the few, and it's only right for the few to fear the many; now nothing works, the way of survival is strength!

So Ji Ming certainly won't set up an encirclement this time; instead, he has the students line up, facing the wolves' direction, taking position on an easy-to-defend, hard-to-attack high ground, waiting for these beasts to launch an attack.

The five-man cavalry unit led by Meizi Shu has flanked to the wolves' side, becoming a sharp dagger hidden in the dark, waiting for the enemy to reveal a weakness to deliver a fatal blow.

At this point someone might ask: even wolves on Earth can pull a "feigning sleep before the wolf" trick to lure the enemy, letting companions sneak around to dig a hole; could the magic wolves of Yangyue World not do the same?

The answer is yes; in fact, Ji Ming can now see a few especially crafty fellows already heading toward the nearby woods—who knows how bad the situation will get when they reappear.

But since Ji Ming has seen them, he naturally took this into account when designing the formation, and to avoid unsettling the troops, he didn't tell the students; instead, he openly pretended not to notice.

Well, at worst a few get hurt; anyway, I'm a doctor, and even if they're down to their last breath, I can rely on SpiritGathering Liquid to forcibly pull them back.

As for those who can't even hold onto a breath, having their hearts and entrails ripped out and dying on the spot…

Saying this may sound cruel, but even Saint Valentine's Magic Academy has a "death quota".

As long as the deaths aren't too horrific or hard to explain, the school can help smooth things over; otherwise, no teacher would dare lead a squad in practical drills.

After a brief spell of agitation, the magic wolves didn't rush to attack; instead, under the lead wolf they began a rising and falling howl.

That shrill, piercing sound is like ghosts wailing, echoing across the empty valley; even in broad daylight it can make one feel immersed in the netherworld.

Actually, this is an innate ability of the wolf king as the monarch of magic beasts; through collective howling, it can impose a fear effect on all enemies on the battlefield.

This bloodless skill targets the mind directly, so the students all turned pale; however brave they were in the Royal Capital, they now look cowardly.

——Wuu wuu wuu, that's a whole pack of magic wolves; if they slash my little face, what am I to do?

But no fear—isn't that just attacking the heart? Ji Ming had prepared for this.

He stepped forward and released a 【Voice Amplification Technique】 that, being truly bizarre, can actually be learned.

"Come on, everyone—being brave is part of the exam; you'll surely face even tougher challenges later, so never give up!"

"By the way, if anyone shamelessly flees on their own, the teacher will give them a zero."

This classic carrot-and-stick trick works wonders; having already tasted the benefits of good grades, the students hardly want to earn another zero, and their morale bounced right back.

Moreover, not everyone present is a fool; someone quickly realized the wolf howl was probably the wolf king's doing, and they all began casting various kinds of mind‑protection magic.

So, if the mind is protected, shouldn't the body be protected too? If the head is guarded, shouldn't the body be as well?

Thus, in an instant the human side burst forth with a riot of colors, stacking chaotic buffs high like a basketful.

Meanwhile, the wolf pack is like a Western game company that got a warning letter from sweetbaby—after seeing it, they're genuinely terrified, their knees going weak.

Wolf King: "I test."

It shook its gray fur, pacing in place for two circles, then quickly let out a long howl to cow its subordinates.

Then, the second difference between it and Cloi, the false wolf king, appeared.

Right, although it isn't as big as the black wolf king, it still leads from the front, actively directing the pack in a charge.

"Uh‑uh, that's scary."

The ferocious predators closed in at breakneck speed, their sharp teeth and claws flashing cold light; the students who had just gotten excited were knocked back to their original state.

But now that it's come to this, aside from hardening their resolve and matching wits with these magic wolves, they seem to have no other choice.

"Forget it—let them get hurt if they must; be brave, maybe it won't even hurt."

However, when the wolf pack rushed forward and slammed into the shield‑bearers at the front line, the students discovered with surprise…

Eh, is that it?

There was none of the instant collapse they imagined; not even a major disruption of their formation—the wolves were simply held back by the front‑rank unit.

Even those few youths stared at each other.

"Huh? What happened?"

"Did it just hit me? I feel my shield shudder."

"Of course it did! Hey, you lot in the back, what are you just standing there for—counterattack!"

"Oh……"

Thus, before the wolves could even mourn their broken teeth, the rear‑rank players who had caught on smeared their faces with magic and arrows.

So why did those "top students" who used to break a sweat taking down a few bulls suddenly become so sharp all at once?

——Because this is merely their true ability.

Understand that these youths, who can learn magic and afford a high‑level academy, must come from either rich or noble families.

At least someone like Meizi Shu, who can definitely serve as a mid‑level officer capable of commanding a regiment when posted locally, would already be considered poor‑struggling among the Saint Valentine's parent corps.

Thus these students look innocent and naive, but they likely have all sorts of lethal survival tricks up their sleeves—only their comfortable lives have deprived them of a bit of reckless courage.

Moreover, even the landlord's dimwitted son knows how to grind monsters for levels, so it's just a matter of spending a little money; getting these rich kids to level ten or above is no trouble at all.

Most importantly, Ji Ming earlier just wanted to test their depths, so he went in with no tactics, simply letting them mindlessly charge the bull herd.

The result of that is that he now knows the students' situation, and with full intelligence he can prepare a complete command and arrangement against the magic wolves, naturally achieving twice the result with half the effort.

For example, those previously honest, rule‑following kids, Ji Ming placed them in the more important spots of the formation, essentially using stones to barely prop up a qualified framework.

And those who like to show off their talents and peacock in front of the opposite sex, he paired them off and scattered them along the contact line, to avoid too many numbers dulling the competitive effect.

As for those who only want to survive by the "survival way", he sent them all to the front to fill the line, after first priming their mental pressure so they are in a state where they must employ self‑preservation tactics but won't outright flee on the spot.

Of course, a good‑looking arrangement alone isn't enough; the actual execution certainly won't be that perfect.

There are plenty of eager students trying to raise Teacher Ji's blood pressure, enough to make him almost want to step in himself.

But the magic wolf pack isn't a monolithic unit that obeys orders blindly; being a bunch of beasts, their intelligence is limited, and when they feel pain they act heedlessly—there are plenty of wolves that will blindly charge head‑first.

Thus the battle quickly shifted from comparing bravery and professionalism to comparing who made fewer mistakes and who kept more wits, becoming practically a pot of unjudgeable rotten‑pus soup.

The gray wolf king, half its fur burned and one eye shot blind, was also driven to fury, raising its neck and letting out a hurried howl.

The wolf pack instantly went berserk, eyes reddened, accelerating its attack.

Yet at this critical juncture, the ambush it had placed nearby hadn't even entered the fray, while a few human cavalrymen instead charged straight for its head.

Aoo!

After the cavalry spear pierces through the chest, one can only say that even the Wolf King's dying wail is just as embarrassing.

As for the demon wolves that had been moved early to set up an ambush nearby—where did they go…

Those involved are confused, while onlookers see clearly; they're not fools, seeing our side in such a disadvantage, if they don't flee, do they want to be boiled together?

In short, with the waxing and waning of forces, humans completed the encirclement of those demon wolves in another way.

Soon, the battle's sounds turned into the silence of death; the previously lively big dogs all became corpses lying on the ground.

On the students' side, although there were still no fatalities, under the Wolf Fang several suffered fractured and torn serious injuries.

Fortunately, the skilled trauma doctor Divine Doctor Ji's miraculous healing hands stopped the bleeding, cleaned the wounds, applied splints, sutured, and medicated in a smooth flow, and they quickly escaped mortal danger.

Moreover, with this battle's victory as confidence, the students who previously were carefree and timid also gained a sense of being reborn.

Although they were still far from being a qualified kingdom heir—off by a hundred and eighty thousand miles—they were no longer neurotics who got super excited or super fearful at everything.

Moreover, comparing people makes people angry; when they happened to encounter another class on the road, seeing the sorrow on their faces and the few people carrying things, they realized they were already super lucky.

"Good heavens, that's really unfortunate."

Now even the last bit of complaint has disappeared, and Ji Ming's class's practical drill has thus entered the proper track.

The outer regions are ultimately just a low-level map; as long as they detour around those special elite monsters, the rest is mere child's play for those who can already hunt wolf packs.

Thus they directly became the strongest street ruffians in history, plundering and ravaging, committing misdeeds on this plain for three full days, and only then, rushing to meet the final deadline for assembly, they arrived at the rest stop located at the border between the plain and the mountains.

At this point, the students had each increased by two levels on average; those with higher aspirations, who ran faster, wanted to make a big splash, in short were relatively more daring and willing to work hard, even increased by four levels in one go.

Ji Ming originally thought that at this pace, among all the training squads he should already be considered slow, after all, the monsters they encountered along the way were really too few, not enough to earn points.

However, upon entering the rest stop, he discovered that in other classes, students who could gain a level in three days were already considered extraordinarily talented combined with hard work.

Many students could only scrape together a bit of experience, and even when added together it might not be enough for a single level-up.

There were even worse ones who, after finally managing to come, spent the whole time slacking off, not even touching half a monster, strictly adhering to the no-kill principle.

Therefore, upon hearing that Ji Ming's group cleared monsters by a straight push—killing everything not on the protection list and with individual level under twenty—the entire protection zone fell silent.

"How did you manage that? We… we usually just detour when we see a wolf pack."

"Yeah, these are all the family's precious little gems; if something goes wrong, we'd be responsible."

"Ah, maybe that's why they can become the chosen ones while we can only grind experience here—something we can't envy."

Now look at that—Ji Ming, who felt he'd done nothing, has become a teaching model for all the major academies, being pulled back and forth by various chancellors, muttering complaints.

Finally, he was dragged back by the old-timer from Saint Valentine Academy, looking nervous, afraid his signature long legs would run away on their own.

"How about… I give you a raise?"

If it were the Ji Ming who first arrived, he'd surely agree on the surface while secretly aiming higher, renaming this book to 《Damn, This Teacher Really Has No Proper Skills》.

But now Ji Ming's career is on track; taking a part-time job is merely to crave the school's resources and knowledge, and he doesn't intend to continue developing along this path.

So he just laughed it off, indicating his life is fine now, with no intention to switch jobs, and let the matter pass.

But while some rejoice and others lament, the excellent teacher Ji Ming enjoys the good life, while Berry Uncle's side is miserable.

There's no way around it; when the leader teacher makes a mistaken command, like trying to lead the students on a big adventure, he as the training squad's second-in-command should slam the brakes hard.

As a result, that big-bearded fellow not only didn't brake, but happily followed Ji Ming in going crazy; if not for the ranger stopping them, they might even dare to take on a boss.

This is wrong, this is not allowed, this is not permitted.

Especially after Ji Ming became famous, this class already had more than just one duke's daughter.

Thanks to various connections, among the transfer students and even transfer pupils, there are at least eight relatives of dukes and about ten descendants of marquises.

Good grief, if you bump into something, you'd be messing with a guard knight commander—could your head take that?

At this point someone might ask, since Ji Ming clearly did it too—and even led the charge—why not go after him? Isn't that bullying honest people?

Exactly, isn't that just bullying honest people?

How big is Professor Ren Ji's social circle? Not mentioning those princes and princesses, dukes and marquises, the current version can already reach the heavens and receive divine words—what's this little thing?

Persimmons—you still have to pick the soft ones to pinch!