Lanchi's Time to Strike Had Come

Inside the Artificial Shadow World.

A powerful wind swept in from the distant grasslands, bringing rolling clouds with it. Thick layers of cloud gradually drifted past, as if a massive white curtain had covered the Sea of Sky.

The wind across the grasslands instantly grew tense. Even the plant life could sense the impending changes in the wind and clouds.

After her failed ambush, Hughberlian landed once more. A strand of Mana seemed to connect her hand to the Scorpion Tail Dagger, which had fallen in the distance, and it instantly pulled the weapon back into her grasp.

This caused Ferrat's expression in the distance to darken slightly once more.

He had small instant-cast spells that required no incantation.

But he did not have many.

And they still had cooldowns.

If he failed to carefully observe Hughberlian and Lanchi's movements and land a fatal blow on them, they might well drag him into a deadlock.

For the examinees,

as long as they could hold out for thirty full minutes,

that was also considered a passing condition.

The wind grew louder and louder, like an invisible giant hand wantonly waving across the grasslands.

The green ocean churned under the wind, forming wave after wave. The wild grass danced in the gale, rustling like the sound of the sea's tide.

Hughberlian's slender figure appeared and disappeared among the grasslands. Her body was taut and her center of gravity lowered. As the wind stirred the grass, she resembled a venomous snake ready to launch another lethal attack at any moment.

At any time, she might also choose to throw the weapon in her hand as a concealed projectile.

Ferrat knew very well that this was an ancestral divine weapon from the Aransal Family.

Now that it had fallen into Hughberlian's hands, it had become her primary weapon.

But he had never imagined that one day this weapon would actually be able to threaten him.

High-quality Magic Cards were indeed troublesome, even when their tier was low.

At the same time,

on the Magic Screen in the center of the Sage Institute's Conference Room, the attributes of this weapon that could be brought into the Shadow World were also displayed—

Purgatory Scorpion Tail

Type: Equipment Card

Quality: Pink Divine

Attributes: Poison/Curse

Tier: 3

Effect: Attacks have a chance to inflict abnormal statuses such as Poisoned, Bleeding, Paralyzed, and Reduced Healing. Mana may be consumed to recall the weapon from a distance. Cooldown: 3 seconds. Can remove the Poisoned status, draw the target's toxins out, and attach them to this weapon. Cooldown: 120 seconds.

Note: The tail of a scorpion from the Demon Realm Purgatory.

"Those who possess Rare-quality or higher Magic Cards without having challenged the Shadow World are almost all members of prestigious noble families."

"A freshman possessing a Pink Divine card—and a divine Magic Card that suits her perfectly—is a rare sight even among the several schools across the Southern Continent."

The teachers in the Conference Room seriously discussed the weapon in Hughberlian's hand.

Magic Cards of this quality had always been priceless.

Even many teachers relied primarily on Purple Rare cards.

Super-high-quality Magic Cards could either be obtained by achieving extraordinary accomplishments in the real Shadow World,

or created by a Card Maker who happened to accomplish a miracle.

Alternatively, they could be ancient cards that had been passed down through the ages without vanishing from history alongside their holders.

"Hughberlian possesses extremely high Strength and Mana, but her Spirit and Stamina are both very poor. In other words, she can't cast many spells and is extremely fragile, so she simply converted all her Mana into physical enhancements and carried out physical attacks."

"Apart from this weapon, her invisibility spell, and her life-saving card, nearly all of Hughberlian's remaining card slots are filled with physical enhancement spells. Essentially, she's an assassin."

"She almost succeeded just now."

"It wasn't merely a near miss. Ferrat's combat experience and awareness meant that she was still far from being able to threaten him."

Teachers from different groups at different round tables had been conducting their research discussion since the earlier exchange.

"Actually, she would be better suited to a support mage who can apply enhancement effects than a White Mage specialized in healing."

Vice Principal Ron, seated before the main lectern in the Conference Room, tapped his fingers lightly on the table and gave his evaluation in a deep voice.

Clearly, a glass cannon like Hughberlian was not a tank and did not need particularly powerful healing.

"Even if Lanchi were a summoner, that would be better. Many summons come with aura buffs that affect the entire team."

Generally speaking, among Magic Cards of the same tier,

Summoning Cards had the highest Mana cost, Spell Cards varied from high to low, and Equipment Cards usually had relatively low Mana costs.

That was also why Equipment Cards were so popular among physical classes at the Knight Institute.

Lanchi's high Mana cap, brought by his high Spirit, was enough to support the use of numerous summons.

Even if the summons he called out had poor overall attributes because of his low Mana intensity, using summons that all carried aura effects to support his teammates was still a good role choice.

Clearly, Hughberlian needed such a support even more at this moment.

"Yes. What a pity."

"Let's see whether any of the remaining card slots in Lanchi's deck contain a key spell or summon that can determine the outcome."

When the teachers in the Conference Room heard Vice Principal Ron's evaluation, they all nodded.

They did not expect Lanchi to possess a single card of such high quality as Hughberlian's, but they believed he must have powerful Spell Cards or Summoning Cards. Otherwise, his high Spirit and high Mana cap would have gone to waste.

Quite a few teachers from the Sage Institute

actually hoped that Hughberlian and Lanchi could enroll.

These two freshmen had already displayed sufficient potential in a practical test with exceptionally harsh conditions.

Under ordinary circumstances, the test should have produced an exciting chase.

However,

they still lacked many pieces of the puzzle needed to defeat the Tier 5 Ferrat head-on.

In fact, quite a few teachers knew Hughberlian's background.

And not only them.

The situation in today's Entrance Examination

had also drawn the attention of powerful figures among the upper echelons of certain kingdoms.

Hughberlian alone had no chance of defeating Ferrat, even with Ferrat's incantation-based spellcasting sealed at the moment.

If they wanted to win,

their only chance lay in the uncertain factor that was Lanchi!

He had to create an opportunity for Hughberlian.

The key was what cards Lanchi had brought in the two or three card slots remaining after all those healing spells—apart from Mute Spell and Friendly Exchange.

Ever since Lanchi had taken out Friendly Exchange,

the teachers in the Conference Room had been waiting for him to reveal his true abilities!

The Ilyavin Great Plains within the Artificial Shadow World.

Ferrat hovered in midair like a god, his expression cold as he surveyed his surroundings.

He needed to devote most of his attention to Hughberlian, who was closer to him and posed the greater danger.

Not only did he have to remain alert for the moment Hughberlian might leave behind another decoy and enter stealth to deliver a fatal blow, he also had to guard against whatever Lanchi might do when he acted again from afar.

What irritated Ferrat was that

Lanchi in the distance remained calm and composed, seemingly lacking any sense of crisis at all.

Lanchi should have been the challenger.

As the examiner and absolute powerhouse, Ferrat should have been the one being challenged.

Yet from the beginning of the examination until now, the shifting state of mind between the two sides had gradually left Ferrat with a question—

Who exactly was challenging whom?