A booming voice came from the smoke. "Hahahahaha! Nice work, brats! You actually managed to hold out against those Tree Demons for so long!"
Jianping and the others remained in their defensive stances, their eyes fixed on the burly man who had emerged. They had never seen him before, and they didn't know who he was or why he had suddenly descended from the sky.
The burly man smiled at the sight of them, though his smile looked unusually fierce. "Brats, I'm your Sequence Master. No need to look at me like that."
"Huh? A Sequence Master?" Su Zhe looked incredulous. Wasn't Yu Qingnian their instructor? Why did they have another one? Had Teacher Yu retired right after taking the post?
Li Chen raised his eyes and spoke. "Did Teacher Yu send you? You don't look like it."
The burly man smiled. "Then what do you think I look like?"
Li Chen thought carefully and took another look at the aura floating above the burly man's head. After hesitating for a few seconds, he said, "A terrifying monster."
In his eyes, the gray aura above the burly man's head surged like the sea, and a terrifying aura constantly emanated from his body.
"Hahahahaha! A monster? Brat, you're the first person who's ever dared call me that." The burly man seemed to find the boy's words very amusing and laughed. "I'm no monster. My name is Faluo, and I'll be your Sequence Master for ability class from now on."
"From now on, you'll spend every day in the palm of my hand. Naturally, today's game was specially prepared for you too, to make you see reality clearly. If you don't want to come here for this kind of training in the future, you can quit the special class now and go train in an ordinary class. I won't stop you."
His words reached the group's ears at once, but none of them backed down. Only Meng Xi showed a trace of hesitation in her eyes. Perhaps what had happened earlier had shaken her resolve a little.
Luo Lin tugged at her hand and gave a slight nod. Their eyes seemed to be communicating.
Jianping also stroked his case without saying a word, but his eyes were exceptionally resolute. Su Zhe, on the other hand, didn't seem to have listened to Faluo at all. Instead, he was wondering whether his butt would get whipped every day if they had to train like this.
In the end, no one stepped forward. Li Chen merely glanced at Su Zhe, and once he was sure Su Zhe wasn't quitting, he paid him no further attention.
Faluo grinned, looking very excited. "In that case, every day from now on, I'll use everything I've learned in my life to teach you to become outstanding Sequence Users."
"Of course, don't worry. You won't lose any arms or legs. I'll be very gentle with you, hahahaha!!"
Su Zhe looked a little frightened, but mostly doubtful. Was this guy really going to be their Sequence Master? Wouldn't they have to visit the infirmary every day? At the thought, he rubbed his butt, which was still swollen all over.
"Instructor Luo, can we leave now?" Luo Lin asked.
Faluo paused and glanced at the small watch strapped to his thick arm, then nodded slightly. "Class is over."
He then pulled something resembling a teleportation talisman from his clothes. "This is a teleportation talisman ranked 678 among Forbidden Objects. It can take you out of the Secret Realm, but it costs a little mental power."
"A Forbidden Object?" Li Chen casually caught the black, paper-like strip and looked closely at it.
He had only heard about Forbidden Objects on the news. Each Forbidden Object was equivalent to a piece of equipment, but using one came at a cost. Some of the more terrifying Forbidden Objects required human lives to activate. Most of those terrifying Forbidden Objects were under the effective control of the Special Affairs Bureau, though quite a few had also fallen into the hands of cult organizations.
The Forbidden Object in his hand now had a very low cost to use, but its function was extremely powerful. It could teleport them using nothing but mental power.
Seeing how inexperienced Li Chen looked, Faluo said casually, "This is one of the Forbidden Objects the academy mass-produces. Every student in a special class gets one. I'm just letting you get familiar with it now. Once you're out, give it back to me and go get your own from the Sequence Pavilion."
Li Chen curled his lip and squeezed the featherlight teleportation talisman. So it was mass-produced. He immediately lost interest.
Jianping and the others gathered around, all somewhat curious about the black strip of paper in Li Chen's hand.
Su Zhe held the black strip between his crossed index and middle fingers and waved it back and forth like a Daoist priest, but the paper remained as still as a dead thing.
Faluo couldn't bear watching any longer. "Use your mental power. Mental power! Didn't I just tell you?"
"Are you an idiot?"
Luo Lin snatched the paper he was still waving and injected a faint stream of mental power into it. The teleportation talisman instantly bloomed with black light, enveloping the whole group.
Even Faluo was no exception. By the time the light faded, they had arrived at the doorway through which they had entered earlier.
Luo Lin's face was exceptionally pale after using the teleportation talisman. She hadn't expected that simply teleporting a few people would instantly exhaust the mental power she had accumulated during her brief rest.
After all, she was a Telekinesis user, and her mental power was considerably stronger than Su Zhe's and the others'.
Faluo also stepped out of the light, his expression changing slightly. Something seemed off, and he thought, How is this girl's mental power so strong? She even managed to bring me here?
But he didn't show it. A qualified Sequence Master would never feel confused in front of his students!
Li Chen interrupted his thoughts by handing him the teleportation talisman.
"Instructor Luo, if there's nothing else, we'll go back and rest. There's someone here whose butt is already terribly swollen," Li Chen said, deliberately pointing at Su Zhe.
Faluo took the talisman and said sternly, "Meet here tomorrow. I don't want to see you arrive late."
"..."
After Faluo disappeared through the large door, Li Chen and the others prepared to leave.
Today's ability class was now over. Quite a few students from the special classes on the student island in this Secret Realm had already come out some time ago, while Li Chen and his group were among the later ones.
As they walked along the road, Su Zhe was not as lively as usual today, not because he didn't want to be, but because his butt hurt badly.
"Chen-ge, how about I skip the infirmary? I think I can still tough it out." A trace of dejection flickered in Su Zhe's small eyes.
"No," Li Chen refused.
Jianping spoke up in a quiet voice. "Su Baozi, the young ladies in the infirmary still like you. You're just showing your butt, aren't you?"
His words pierced Su Baozi's heart.
"Ah!!!"
"Jianping, I'm going to kill you!!!"