Level Seven

"You have been eliminated."

Xiong Haikuo crashed heavily to the ground. He tried to struggle back to his feet, only to discover that his battle armor had already taken control of his movements.

Clad in Mysterious Armor, Chu Kuang stood in the center of the battlefield with a halberd in hand, like an ancient overlord reborn. His blazing gaze swept across the crowd as he coldly barked, "Who else?"

Boom—

In an instant, everyone retreated several steps, their faces filled with shock. Clearly, they had all been stunned by how he had broken through the formation alone and instantly defeated Xiong Haikuo with a single move.

Lin Ya, the vice class monitor of Class Five, hurriedly backed far away and bowed to Chu Kuang. "We overestimated ourselves. Sorry to have disturbed you."

As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately turned and left. The other Class Five students also withdrew like a receding tide.

Chu Kuang did not pursue them. Instead, he returned to the nest and continued refining the Source Energy Treasure Liquid.

By this point, the Source Energy Spring Eyes in the outer regions had basically been stripped clean. There was little point in continuing the search, so he planned to digest his gains as quickly as possible before making a trip to the core of the Dark Domain.

After sweeping through Class Five this time, Chu Kuang felt completely unburdened, as though every pore in his body had become clear and unobstructed. Even his cultivation speed felt much faster when he trained again.

"So this is the benefit of having a clear mind?"

With this unexpected gain, Chu Kuang began continuously refining Source Energy Treasure Liquid and Nutrient Solution, accelerating the improvement of his Life Level and cultivation.

Chu Kuang cultivated like this for an entire day and night. After using up all the Source Energy Treasure Liquid and refining more than a hundred bottles of Nutrient Solution, his cultivation finally underwent what could be called a qualitative breakthrough.

Name: Chu Kuang

Race: Human

Life Level: 6.8 → Level 7

Iron Armor Technique (Mastery 57 → 90%)

Gold-Splitting Spear (Mastery 37 → 74%)

Blood Battle in All Directions (Mastery 29%)

Thousand Jun Formation Breaker (Mastery 27%)

Iron Bell Shield (Mastery 2%)

"His Life Level had reached Level Seven, the Iron Bell Shield had reached mastery, and the Iron Armor Technique was not far from completion either."

Chu Kuang took a deep breath. "With sufficient source energy, one day of cultivation is even more effective than half a month of training outside."

"No wonder every high school student tries to seize the chance to qualify for entry into a Dark Domain."

Chu Kuang murmured inwardly, unable to help feeling enlightened.

Although Nutrient Solution was cheap and cost-effective, its quality was simply too low. For martial artists whose Life Levels exceeded Level Eight, it could only replenish energy and could barely continue raising their Life Levels.

Without the opportunity to cultivate in a Dark Domain, the vast majority of ordinary students in school would, at most, be able to cultivate Basic External and Internal Martial Arts to completion in their entire lives.

Only by entering a Dark Domain and cultivating long-term with the source energy within could they have a chance of breaking through to the Mortal Transformation Realm.

Unfortunately, most of the resources in Safe Dark Domains already had owners. Ordinary people who wanted the right to enter and cultivate there generally had to pay a hefty Source Energy Tax.

There was no helping it. After all, Safe Dark Domains had been pioneered at enormous cost by others, with countless Federal soldiers and civilian martial artists dead or wounded. Naturally, there was no reason to let others cultivate there for free.

Pioneer Dark Domains did not require a Source Energy Tax, but one had to complete pioneering missions on schedule.

Otherwise, while others fought and bled at the front to pioneer the Dark Domain, you hid in the rear, absorbing source energy to cultivate without doing anything. That was not something the Federation would permit.

Moreover, Pioneer Dark Domain missions were often quite dangerous. The mortality rate in some dangerous Dark Domains was even extremely high.

Therefore, for the overwhelming majority of people, the Dark Domain opportunities they received during high school were the most precious. After all, schools could provide Safe Dark Domains for free, and even if they arranged trials, major safety incidents would not occur.

However, the Federation's support for high school students was selective. Only students with greater potential could receive backing from their schools.

"Even a single abandoned Dark Domain held so many opportunities."

"The Dark Domain opportunity after the Final Exam will probably be far more abundant than this one."

Chu Kuang murmured inwardly. Then he calmly rose to his feet, looked toward the deepest part of the Dark Domain, and strode toward its center.

The Special Training arranged by the school this time was not meant to let the majority of students advance together. It was meant to truly select elite seeds from the forty-eight Key Classes.

Every trial in the Special Training, whether the wolf-lizard beasts or the Sabertooth Tigers, was meant to allow students with potential to stand out.

Anyone who captured a Source Energy Spring Eye would be able to take their strength another step further.

Yet the greatest test was actually located in the core region of the Dark Domain, and it was also the greatest opportunity of this Dark Domain Expedition.

Chu Kuang continued forward. He encountered quite a few Source Energy Spring Eyes along the way, but all of them had already been claimed by someone else.

It was not until he had walked for two hours, crossed the vast Dark Domain, and arrived before a mountain range that he finally slowed to a stop.

Between the mountains ahead lay a valley shaped like a Crouching Dragon. Outside the valley, several hundred students had gathered, each wearing a grave expression.

Chu Kuang spotted Lin Shuyao from his class among the crowd, as well as quite a few students he knew.

The average Life Level of these students was above Level Five, including more than a hundred elite martial artists whose Beginner External Martial Arts had reached mastery.

"Chu Kuang, you're here."

Seeing Chu Kuang arrive, several Top Students from the upper ranks of his class approached him.

Lin Shuyao walked among them and looked at Chu Kuang. "You were delayed for so long. I thought something had happened to you."

"Training delayed me for a while."

Chu Kuang spoke calmly, then looked at the students gathered ahead. "You're gathered here because of that Source Energy Spring Eye?"

"There's a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the valley."

A trace of lingering fear appeared in Lin Shuyao's eyes as she said, "We organized two attacks in succession, but over a thousand students were eliminated."

"A Tyrannosaurus Rex?"

Chu Kuang frowned slightly. As an apex ferocious beast species, an adult Tyrannosaurus Rex was a top-tier Beast Soldier, with combat power sufficient to contend with geniuses who had cultivated Advanced External and Internal Martial Arts to completion.

Even among the Key Classes of the senior year, only a handful of people could contend with one.

Of course, a cloned Bio-Beast definitely could not compare to a real Tyrannosaurus Rex, but its strength was certainly not to be underestimated.

Understanding this, Chu Kuang said, "So you're waiting for everyone to gather before making a move?"

"Mm." Lin Shuyao nodded, then said, "The elites from Class One and Class Two haven't arrived yet. We'll have a better chance once everyone is here and we attack together."

"With your strength, I think you can definitely serve as one of the main forces then."

Chu Kuang said nothing, merely replying calmly, "We'll see."

Just as they spoke, waves of footsteps came from the distance. Two groups of figures could be seen strolling toward them.

The group on the left had more than seventy people, nine of whom had clearly reached mastery in external martial arts. Leading them was a young man holding a long spear.

The group on the right had only a dozen or so people, but every one of them possessed an exceptionally powerful aura. Their leader was a young man in White Armor—someone Chu Kuang knew, Ye Shuanghen.