Chapter 493
"But that was because it was wartime at the time, and the academy wanted to cultivate students' fighting spirit from a young age, so they used that method."
"Now that the Human-Dragon War has ended, continuing to use black armor for sparring might affect the current peaceful situation between the two races."
"Therefore, the hospital changed the assessment rules."
"Did everyone understand?"
"I understand, teacher!"
The end of the Human-Dragon War was announced within the Dragon Race a long time ago.
Noa heard that the history textbook for the next class of students would be undergoing major revisions.
Oh, my fellow freshmen, you're in a terrible situation!
But Noa still felt a little regretful.
The war is over, so won't she never see the legendary Human's strongest again?
If I can't see them, I won't be able to fight someone so powerful.
It's really a bit of a pity.
"The assessment will begin in fifteen minutes. You can use this time to form teams freely."
Since it's a two-person team, the two best friends will naturally choose each other.
Saving time on team formation, the two Dragon girl took the opportunity to briefly study tactics.
"A C-rank dangerous species is worth 10 points, a Class B dangerous species is worth 30 points, and 100 points is the passing score. That means we only need to defeat 10 C-rank or 4 Class B," Helena said.
Noa nodded, but her expression was somewhat serious.
"What's wrong, Noa-chan? Do you have other ideas?"
"Hmm... I looked up some information about the Nightmare Moon Forest before I came. Although it is said that there are many dangerous species here, most of them are actually C-rank, and they are not as common as we thought."
"The lower the level of a Dangerous Species, the weaker they are, but they are also very good at hiding themselves."
"If we target low-level dangerous species from the beginning, we will likely waste most of our time searching."
"On the contrary, Class A dangerous species are generally large in size, and even though they are few in number, their traces are very obvious."
"So my idea is... to prioritize eliminating A-level dangerous species. If we succeed, we will have a 50-point advantage. Then we only need to eliminate two more B-level species to pass the assessment."
After Noa finished explaining her thoughts, she looked at Helena.
"What do you think? If you think it's too difficult, we can start with the lower levels and start slowly."
Helena's plan is relatively conservative, and it is also the countermeasure that most students would adopt;
Noa's idea, as she said, would be slightly more difficult and would place higher standards on her and Helena's abilities.
That's why she asked that question: if you find it too difficult, you can use a more conservative approach to getting points.
After experiencing the events in the Far North, Little Roll King has grown quite a bit.
In the past, she might have directly led Helena into the area to find the A-level dangerous species, and wouldn't have hesitated here to weigh whether to be conservative or aggressive.
Helena bit her soft lips, hesitated for a moment, and finally said,
"Then let's do as you say, Noa-chan. Let's find the A-rank dangerous species first and gain a score advantage."
Noa's eyes lit up. "I thought you wouldn't agree with my idea."
"How could that be?"
Helena smiled, her eyes narrowing. "I know you've been waiting a long time for this assessment. More than whether you pass or not, you care about the challenges it will bring. So... a little adventure is fine, that's what makes it exciting!"
The luckiest thing about studying is having a friend who understands you.
Helena always knew what Noa truly wanted deep down; her best friend always wanted to pursue higher standards and more challenging experiences.
Helena was also willing to go crazy and have fun with Noa.
"Well... thank you, Helena," Noa said sincerely.
"It's alright, don't be shy. Let's go to the entrance and get ready."
"Good."
The two best friends headed to the entrance of the forest.
While waiting for the exam to begin, Noa was pulled into the consciousness space by her ancestor.
"Such cheesy friendship, I hate it."
The white-haired beauty sat on the water, her long tail slightly curved and naturally placed to the side.
"Um."
Noa's reply was cold and indifferent.
Our ancestors couldn't even understand things like friendship and bonds.
After all, a solitary king doesn't need those things—
Such a childish statement was made by our ancestors, not by Noa.
Therefore, Noa did not expect to make her ancestors understand the relationship between her and Helena in a short period of time.
Well, whatever the old lady says goes, Noa won't argue with her.
"Hmph, why are you getting more and more aloof as you grow up?" the old ancestor complained.
"The price of growing up."
"... Please don't say such seemingly profound things with a child's face, okay?"
Noa shrugged. "You didn't call me just to complain about me, my friends, and my childlike face, did you?"
The ancestor shook his head.
"What I wanted to tell you is that your assessment this time is very similar to the coming-of-age ceremony of the ancient Dragon race."
"Your tactics just now were very good, I liked them. It's too boring to just take small points in a step-by-step, conventional way."
"If you're going to eat, eat the big one. That's what makes us, the descendants of the Dragon Race, worthy of our respect."
"But..."
The old ancestor's tone shifted, and he said seriously.
"Such a close-to-real-world assessment will bring many uncertainties and unexpected situations. You will need to make your own choices and judgments. I cannot help you."
"Although the efficiency of accumulating Primal Power has improved, there is still a long way to go before I reach my complete form."
"Moreover, using Primal Power in a place far from the core territory of the Dragon Race is very likely to be detected by the minions of 'Ultimate Fear'."
"So--"
Noa nodded. "I know. You just need to stay here and watch me quietly."
In fact, the ancestor knew the brat's temperament; even if she didn't say anything, Noa wouldn't let her help.
The old man's words were merely to praise the kid's strategy of taking big points.
But directly praising others wasn't in her Primal Dragon King's nature, so she could only add those random, disjointed comments...
Cough cough—
"Then, go ahead and do it, you current Silver Dragon offspring, face your destiny!"
"... It's just an assessment, don't suddenly say such cringeworthy and overly dramatic things!"
Hey! Guess who's going to activate the Ape God?
It's me!
Master Noa, you're setting a goal too?!
Fifteen minutes later, the promotion assessment officially began.
The young dragons, in pairs, entered the Nightmare Moon Forest one after another.
To ensure student safety and maintain the pace of the exams, the college prepared a simple map for each student.
Although the map does not show clear and detailed routes, it marks the areas where different levels of dangerous species are distributed.
"Green... yellow... red? Does that mean the levels are from low to high?" Helena asked, looking at the colorful blocks on the map with some confusion.
"I think so. There are the most green areas and the fewest red areas."
Based on the teacher's statement before the assessment began that "the quantity is inversely proportional to the difficulty," it can be inferred that the color is indeed used to distinguish different levels of danger.
Noa had no complaints about this way of distinguishing them.
This also reminded her of the time many years ago when her Dad helped her prepare for the college entrance exam.
Back then, my Dad would have her mark the content she 'didn't understand at all,' 'understood a little,' and 'completely understood' on the table of contents of her review materials using red, yellow, and green colored pens.
Noa looked at the three-color markers on the map, recalling the moments she shared with her Dad, and a slight smile crept onto her lips.
But quickly, she gathered her thoughts and pointed to one of the red areas, saying,
"Let's go here first. This is where A-level dangerous species appear, and there are also some yellow zones nearby. If we successfully defeat the A-level species, we can then defeat the B-level species nearby."
"Okay, sure."
Although Noa is young, she always ranks among the top students, both in theory and practice.
Therefore, Helena would naturally follow her arrangements.
However, this doesn't mean that Little Sea Dragon girl is just a freeloader; she and Noa have excellent teamwork in their daily training.
Unlike the Fire Element magic that Dragon Race generally awaken, these two best friends are lightning and water respectively.
Noa's Lightning magic is used for damage output, while Helena's water magic is used for crowd control.
Furthermore, during practical training sessions, Helena had to remind and control Noa's slightly aggressive fighting style.
Moreover, Juanwang only listens to her best friend; she doesn't listen to any of the other classmates she's teamed up with.
The instructor of the practical course wrote the following in their evaluation:
Noa is like an invincible sword, and Helena is the one who wields it.
This is one of the reasons why Noa dared to face the A-level dangerous species directly in the promotion assessment.
She believed in her and Helena's teamwork and was confident they would pass the test smoothly.
Following the map, the two best friends walked through a patch of bushes.
The map marks this area as a habitat for C-rank dangerous species, and many students are searching here.
But by the time Noa and Helena left, they hadn't seen a single dangerous species.
"It seems that what I told you is true, Noa. Even the C-rank dangerous species, which are mentioned in the intelligence as the most numerous, are not so easy to encounter."
Helena crouched down in front of a bush, parted the grass with her hand, and found a footprint in the slightly soft mud.
"You're right that the weaker the Dangerous Species are, the better they are at hiding themselves, and the harder it is for them to be found."
Helena stood up, looked around, and then called out to the two girls in the other group.
"Christina ~ come here for a moment~"
This is a girl who won a prize in the last essay competition. She is very introverted and kind, and she has a pretty good relationship with Noah and Helena.
Upon hearing Helena's shout, Christina and her teammates rushed over.
"What's wrong, Helena?"
"There's a footprint here. Judging from the outline and depth, it should have been left by a barefoot mole. You can follow this footprint to investigate."
Christina blinked her beautiful big eyes. "Aren't you going to chase the barefoot mole?"
Helena smiled and shook her head. "We plan to go straight for Class A dangerous species."
Upon hearing this, the good classmate was slightly startled, "Go straight for the A-rank dangerous species...?"
Before she could finish speaking, Christina saw Noa waiting to the side.
Immediately, she realized, "So you're in a group with Noa, that makes sense."