As the instructor overseeing the assessment read out the name "Ning Xiao," the purple-robed youth leaning against the stone railing of the spectator stands finally straightened.
Academy staff dragged the Golden-Armored Berserk Bear's corpse out of the center of the arena. Its chest and abdomen had caved in beyond recognition, dark golden scales lay scattered everywhere, and blood slowly soaked into the sand beneath it.
The shock of Pei Yue's punch clearly had not faded. Many candidates nearby were still discussing it in low voices.
Ning Xiao had also been watching Pei Yue earlier.
But unlike the others' simple astonishment, his eyes held more of an appraising look.
He had grown up in Thunder Marsh City, hearing the word "genius" more than anything else. Over the past dozen years and more, one group of peers after another had come and gone, yet none had ever truly caught up with him. Over time, he had grown accustomed to standing at the very front.
But after arriving in the capital of Yun Prefecture, that feeling had changed for the first time.
Pei Yue, bearer of the heavenly dipper bone, was a youth who had yet to truly enter the Bone-Forging Realm. With nothing more than his inborn extraordinary bones, he had killed a top-tier Mutant Beast renowned for its physique with a single head-on punch.
Ning Xiao had to admit that someone like this already deserved to be taken seriously.
He braced a hand against the stone railing and suddenly vaulted lightly over it.
His purple robes unfurled in midair. A moment later, he had landed in the Beast Arena from the spectator stands.
For a moment, almost every gaze around the Beast Arena converged on him.
"Ning Xiao of the thunder-baleful body."
"Finally, it's his turn."
"Who do you think is