On the old street, the black spear, crafted from an F-level alloy, moved in Xu Jingming's hands like a black dragon—agile and swift!
Whoosh!
When Xu Jingming abruptly ceased swinging the spear, its head, instantly transitioning from extreme motion to complete stillness, became so hot from air friction that steam rose around it!
"With spear mastery like this, I can even slay First-Stage ferocious beasts!" Xu Jingming thought.
He used to believe that spear mastery wasn't as important as the basic stats of physical strength and spirit. But when he truly mastered a high-level technique with the aid of the Abyssal Azure System, he realized how wrong he had been!
By raising his Spear Mastery to High Level, his strikes became at least twice as fast as before! Furthermore, he had perfectly mastered various long spear techniques and could now find an approach against any opponent. It could be said that even a First-Stage ferocious beast, superior to him in physical strength by several times, would be utterly torn apart by such spear mastery!
Xu Jingming glanced at the system panel. Upgrading Spear Mastery to High Level had cost him 200 ability points, and now he only had 13 points remaining.
"It's a pity I don't have enough ability points; otherwise, it would be interesting to see how terrifying Master-level spear mastery can be," he thought, shaking his head, and opened the map.
The white dot indicating his location was already at the edge of the green Peripheral Zone, not far from the yellow Middle Zone.
"In about half an hour, I'll enter the Middle Zone. That's where High-Level unranked ferocious beasts and First-Stage beasts live. I'll be able to accumulate ability points even faster there," Xu Jingming mused.
Although the town of Weiyuan, now abandoned, was built several decades ago, it was not much different from modern cities. The buildings were concrete, and the town was also divided into a central part and suburbs.
Xu Jingming was currently in the residential area of the abandoned town's suburbs. After the invasion of ferocious beasts and the passage of time, the entire area looked extremely dilapidated. Most of the six-story residential buildings had collapsed, and those that still stood were heavily weathered. The stone slabs underfoot were overgrown with weeds, creating a scene of desolation.
Just as Xu Jingming put away his black spear and was about to leave, a group of other examinees appeared at the end of the opposite street.
This was a group of five people: three girls and two guys. Leading the way was a tall girl in a silver-white combat suit. This girl turned out to be the Class 5 monitor, Lin Qingyuan, who had invited Xu Jingming to join their team before the exam began.
"Xu Jingming?" Lin Qingyuan noticed him too and, pleasantly surprised, quickly strode towards him.
Most female combat suits were quite tight-fitting, emphasizing the figure. Lin Qingyuan's suit was no exception—the silver-white fabric clinging tightly to her skin highlighted her slender physique to advantage. Her legs, encased in the suit, looked especially long and toned with every step.
"Monitor," Xu Jingming greeted her.
Up until this moment, he had encountered other examinees on his path, but they were either from other schools or other classes. This was his first meeting with a classmate, so a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.
"Phew, I didn't expect to meet you here. Did you get here alone?" Lin Qingyuan looked around and, seeing no one else, asked curiously.
The four members of her team, standing behind, also looked at the solitary Xu Jingming with surprise. Usually, Awakened with E-level abilities were eliminated from the exam within the first one or two hours. It was now around noon, more than three hours since the exam started. How had Xu Jingming not only remained unharmed but also penetrated this deep?
"It's more convenient alone," Xu Jingming replied to Lin Qingyuan's question, nodding his head.
"That's impressive!" Lin Qingyuan's eyes sparkled, and she gave a thumbs-up. "We only managed to get here thanks to Xiao Qiao's help."
Behind her, a small girl nodded shyly. This girl, named Xiao Qiao, possessed a D-level auxiliary ability called "Swiftness," which allowed her to increase the movement speed of herself and her teammates to a certain extent. It was thanks to Xiao Qiao that Lin Qingyuan's team managed to get this far.
"I just got lucky; I didn't encounter any overly powerful ferocious beasts on the way," Xu Jingming replied, unusually talkative in the presence of Lin Qingyuan's smile. After all, what could be more pleasant than seeing a beautiful girl in this eerie place full of savage monsters?
After exchanging a few more sentences with Lin Qingyuan, Xu Jingming said his goodbyes:
"Monitor, time is pressing. Let's talk after the exam."
"Alright, good luck. I hope you get a good result," Lin Qingyuan understood that every minute counted during the intense martial arts exam, so she didn't delay him.
"It's truly astonishing that Xu Jingming managed to get this far," she thought.
"It looks like he really prepared well for the martial arts exam."
Xu Jingming, having lost his parents at an early age, had always seemed pitiable to Lin Qingyuan. Death in the martial arts exam would be an even greater tragedy, so seeing him alive and well brought her a sense of relief.
"Captain, look quickly, it seems this One-Horned Rhino died very recently!" a sudden exclamation drew Lin Qingyuan's attention.
She saw the other team members clustered around the body of the One-Horned Rhino, discussing something animatedly.
"The blood on the wounds hasn't dried yet, meaning it died just a few minutes ago."
"It has many wounds on its body, but the fatal wound is on the head."
"Judging by the shape of the wounds, they look like puncture wounds from a long-handled weapon... possibly a spear!"
Lin Qingyuan's team had noticed the body of the One-Horned Rhino earlier but hadn't paid much attention, assuming some other team of examinees had killed it. However, upon closer inspection, they discovered that the rhino had died very recently, and all the wounds on its body resembled those made by a spear.
"You're not trying to say that Xu Jingming killed this One-Horned Rhino?" one of the guys asked in a strange tone.
The One-Horned Rhino was a very dangerous ferocious beast. They only dared to fight it because there were five of them. It was impossible to believe that an Awakened with an E-level ability could kill a One-Horned Rhino alone.
"If you want to know if Xu Jingming killed it, let's just check his ranking," another guy suggested, opening his smartwatch. He quickly found Xu Jingming's name on the ranking list:
『46th Place: Xu Jingming, 256 points. (Jiangcheng Second Middle School)』"Xu Jingming is in 46th place?!!! What the hell?! He broke into the top fifty?! Am I mistaken?"
Upon seeing the ranking, the guy first froze in astonishment, then vigorously rubbed his eyes. After confirming he wasn't mistaken, he yelled with an expression as if he had seen a ghost.
"What 46th place?"
"You found Xu Jingming's ranking?"
The rest of the team also crowded around. Upon seeing Xu Jingming's ranking on the virtual screen, they too were stunned.
Even Lin Qingyuan, the team captain, widened her eyes, her face taking on a look of bewilderment.
The same question arose simultaneously in everyone's minds:
"What the hell, can E-level Awakened really be that strong nowadays?!"