Bai Xing, standing nearby, saw what Ziyan was doing. The ripples of her Energy Magnetic Field seemed to merge with her frenzied emotions, and Bai Xing's expression changed.
"Be careful of the female student with glasses behind her. She's extremely good at using Wind Blade Technique to launch sneak attacks!"
After warning Reilo and the others, Bai Xing watched Ziyan charge forward without hesitation. The Energy Magnetic Field flowed across Bai Xing's body, and white feathers gradually appeared, circling around her. Her body seemed to grow lighter and more agile, like a floating feather.
The feathers drifted around Bai Xing, flickering in and out of sight with an eerie, lively quality.
"Feathering Technique!"
The white feathers flickered and shifted unpredictably. No one could tell what abilities they possessed.
A fight was inevitable. Seeing that this female student from the Xilan Duchy was so powerful that she hardly seemed like a first-year who had just enrolled, Reilo wasn't about to foolishly charge into close combat with her using an iron sword and his puny frame.
With a flash, Reilo took the Magic Folding Fan from the Space Box and put away his sword.
This was the Magic Folding Fan Wushuang had given him when they first met. Later, because the strange bird on its surface was a mutated wind kite, Reilo had named it the Wind Kite Fan.
Feeling the powerful magical properties of the Wind Kite Fan, Reilo sighed.
Although he still couldn't activate the Magic Folding Fan properly, holding it at least showed Bai Xing that he had long-range academic attack methods, so she wouldn't mistake him for someone who was refusing to fight despite carrying a sword.
Whoosh!
Luo Ji, a veteran mercenary, drew on his wealth of experience and quietly flung a throwing knife. But with a clang, a nearly transparent blue-green wind blade arrived first, perfectly intercepting the knife aimed at Ziyan.
"What?!"
Reilo looked in the direction of the Wind Kite Fan in his hand. The wind blade had come from the mushroom-haired female student with black-framed glasses, hiding beneath the Burning Totem in the distance.
Seeing Ziyan charge so fiercely, Reilo had never intended to confront the powerful female student head-on. He'd planned to pick one of the other two—or simply use Bubble Technique from a distance and stay out of the way. Once the other side got tired of fighting, they ought to realize they were outmatched and retreat.
He'd been planning to choose the girl with glasses, but seeing her accurately deflect the throwing knife with a wind blade left Reilo looking utterly incredulous.
"Impossible!"
Reilo couldn't believe that a first-year who had only just enrolled could have such combat instincts and such precise control over her academic abilities.
If that was the case, the girl with glasses might be even stronger than Ziyan, who was charging at them. Were students at the Xilan Natural Sciences Academy really that powerful?
Unless she had some kind of strange auxiliary technique?
"Peasant, get out of my way!"
Ziyan abruptly unleashed a powerful burst of explosive firelight, knocking Uncle Luo Ji aside like a fly. Her words were full of contempt for mercenaries.
And no wonder.
In the slave-owning Xilan Duchy, an unbridgeable gulf separated the nobles from the commoners. In the eyes of Xilan's nobles, the lowly mercenaries of the Mercenary Association were little better than household slaves. If they dared to offend a noble, killing them in public was no more than a matter of spending a few coins.
Luo Ji was agile, and after several quick leaps, he retreated more than ten meters. The veteran mercenary looked at the little girl with surprise on the one good side of his face.
That level of magic was clearly no parlor trick like Reilo's Bubble Technique.
As a veteran mercenary, Luo Ji recognized the danger and wasn't foolish enough to charge back in and fight these hotheaded young brats who didn't know their own limits to the death. But he'd already taken their money, and they were from an enemy nation...
Luo Ji looked at the mushroom-haired female student with black glasses and frowned.
Her wind blades were incredibly fast. She'd accurately deflected his throwing knife, and she was standing beneath a stone pillar filled with the power of fire. The pillar clearly provided extremely powerful protection.
Luo Ji looked toward the last male student from the Xilan Natural Sciences Academy.
But when he saw that the student had easily trapped Qiu Hei, who had been charging at him furiously, with a Chain magical device, Luo Ji frowned again.
The Black Flame Wolf was still a cub, and its breath lacked smoke, which clearly meant it hadn't formed a magic core. But its physical strength already surpassed that of an ordinary beast, and every muscle seemed to hold explosive power!
If even the wolf couldn't break free, then if he got trapped by that strange magical device, he wouldn't fare any better.
What should he do?
After Bai Xing used Feathering Technique, her body seemed to grow as light as a feather. As Ziyan charged toward her, Bai Xing silently sent a feather flying back at her at incredible speed.
The Flying Feather was far faster than the throwing knife had been!
Ziyan quietly swung her staff. A blazing fireball roared toward Bai Xing, flying straight at the feather!
But the strange feather turned semi-transparent and passed through the fireball unharmed. Ziyan stared in astonishment as it flashed past like an arrow and appeared in front of her chest.
Clang!
Once again, a wind blade from the mushroom-haired female student blocked the Flying Feather!
The control was impossibly precise!
Beneath the Burning Totem, the mushroom-haired female student adjusted her glasses again and calmly said, "Her feathers have a delayed hallucinatory effect. Your Fireball Technique didn't fail. The feather you saw with your naked eye was only an afterimage of its flight path."
The lenses of her black-framed glasses caught a faint glint, revealing her eyes. Her pupils were vertical slits!
With the mushroom-haired girl's warning, and remembering how Bai Xing had escaped earlier, Ziyan had plenty of insight into Bai Xing's abilities. She had abundant combat experience.
Ziyan had absolute confidence in her own abilities!
Or rather, she had absolute confidence in the history and culture of the Xilan Natural Sciences Academy!
In past graduation examinations, the Xilan Natural Sciences Academy had taken first place in nearly three-quarters of all contests among the six natural sciences academies!
Ziyan was just as confident in the two companions who had accompanied her on this trial. To strengthen her firepower, she had entrusted her defense to Xiao Nan, which also let Xiao Nan make full use of her strengths and compensated for some of her weaknesses.
And Beck?
Ziyan glanced sideways. Seeing that the Black Demon Wolf cub had been completely restrained, a cold smile touched her lips. She looked at Bai Xing, who had once again escaped with Feathering Technique's light, hallucinatory quality, as though she were a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Whoosh!
Another feather shot toward her. This time, Ziyan released a fireball in advance. With a soft pop, it burned the feather—capable of producing hallucinatory sneak attacks—to ashes in midair. The fireball's force remained undiminished as it continued hurtling toward Bai Xing.
Seeing this, Bai Xing gritted her teeth. The necklace at her throat flashed silver, and a ripple passed across the semi-transparent protective barrier as magical energy surged.
The flames scattered.
But the purple fireball seemed to have some exceptionally unusual property. After scattering across the energy barrier, its flames didn't go out. Instead, tongues of fire reignited, as though the protective barrier itself were fueling them.
"What kind of fire is this?"
Bai Xing was about to use an academic counterattack, but she was startled and hurriedly stopped. She poured more energy into the magical necklace while activating a magical ring, firing a Water Arrow Technique.
"Heh, heh..."
Ziyan's sneer grew even colder.
She seemed to have already claimed the magical necklace as part of her collection. She murmured an incantation, and with a shrill cry, numerous purple flames converged into a fireball many times larger than the previous one—about the size of an infant's head. It shot toward Bai Xing, who was frantically trying to extinguish the purple flames on her protective barrier.
By comparison, the water arrow activated by Bai Xing's magical ring was pitifully weak. If Ziyan's attack hit her, Bai Xing would truly be in danger!
At the edge of the battlefield, Reilo's eyelids twitched.
When Ziyan gathered that blazing fireball, Reilo could clearly feel the cells in his body trembling with fear. What would he do if that fireball were aimed at him?
He'd thought this was just an ordinary exchange of academic abilities between first-year students. Even if it got out of hand and turned into a fight, nobody's life would be in danger.
But now, Reilo understood just how wrong he was!
His mind focused with unprecedented intensity, Reilo instinctively warned himself that he had to stay far away from this female student from the Xilan Duchy, who wielded the bizarre purple flames. Even if he got clipped by a wind blade from the mushroom-haired girl, it would only leave a bleeding wound. But if he were hit by the advanced purple-flame technique, he would really die, given that he was in worse shape than an ordinary adult!
After all, he had neither a powerful physique nor any strong defensive methods.
And judging by the situation, with Ziyan carefully protected by the mushroom-haired girl, nobody on his side could stop...
"Frost Strike!"
Suddenly!
Just as Bai Xing's face filled with despair and she pulled out a beast-skin scroll to unfurl it, Lulu—who, like Reilo, had almost never taken part in a real battle—finally overcame her nervousness when she saw Bai Xing facing imminent mortal danger.
She leaped into the air with unbelievable explosive power. Pale white frost rose from the long sword in her hand as she thrust it straight at the blazing purple fireball.
With a pop, the fireball exploded in midair.
Luo Ji had been weighing whether to ambush the only male student from the Xilan Natural Sciences Academy or find a way to protect Reilo as they retreated. Seeing this, his pupils abruptly contracted. He murmured in disbelief, "Dout Qi Mind Technique!"
The Dout Qi Mind Technique was a rare, specialized inheritance among Fighters.
Fighters who mastered this inheritance were even rarer than mages. They needed not only a special method of cultivation but also the right bloodline.
The benefits of mastering the Dout Qi Mind Technique went without saying.
An ordinary Fighter only learned to use Battle Qi through instinct after advancing to Charge Fighter. But a Fighter who mastered the Dout Qi Mind Technique could learn some special abilities while still at a low level. After advancing to Charge Fighter, they could infuse Battle Qi with those abilities, giving them extraordinary combat strength.
Of course, that was just the sort of story that passed among a few warriors. To the scholars—or mages—present, it looked as though the young female Fighter who had suddenly burst into action simply had a magical sword with frost properties.