Forming a Team

Aside from a Mecha Belt, the Mecha Master specialty consisted of a huge stack of Mecha Master books. Back in high school, Fu Junlin had already been exposed to the basic knowledge of other professions.

Since entering an Arena Zone usually required teamwork, one had to understand one's teammates' abilities in order to cooperate better.

But these books were no longer introductory material. They were advanced texts.

And they would become increasingly specialized in the future.

They would also become increasingly difficult.

After collecting his books, Fu Junlin headed to the rear training field.

Nearly a thousand people had gathered there by then.

Almost all the freshmen from the second semester of their first year were here, while some who had yet to collect their things were still on their way.

There were four Teleportation Arrays at the rear training field.

These arrays could teleport them to Teleportation Arrays established within Arena Zones.

Within the Arena Zones beyond the city's towering walls, there were no fixed rules regarding their size, type, terrain, or landscape.

They might be vast Arena Zones stretching as far as the eye could see, or cramped spaces too small to even fit inside.

But there was an old saying: every Arena Zone had an end.

It meant that no matter how large an Arena Zone was, it would inevitably be blocked by high walls. Since Arena Zones first appeared, humanity had never discovered an infinitely large one.

However, Arena Zones were divided into Death-Cycle Enclosures and Life-Cycle Enclosures.

A Life-Cycle Enclosure meant that after you killed a group of monsters inside it, another wave of monsters would inevitably appear the next day, delivered by some mysterious force.

Day after day.

Because of the Electromagnetic Interference Clouds in the sky, humanity could not monitor Arena Zones, so some people had stayed overnight in them to observe this phenomenon.

But the terrifying part was that when those monsters appeared, there would be no light whatsoever. All equipment, human eyes, and even animal eyes would suffer temporary blindness.

Then a mysterious fluctuation would emerge. By the time you could see again, the monsters would already be standing before you.

Thus, it remained an unsolved mystery to this day.

But Death-Cycle Enclosures were the hope the Enclosure World had left for humanity.

Once the monsters in a Death-Cycle Enclosure were killed, they would not revive.

In other words, once an Arena Zone had been cleared, it would remain cleared forever.

So over the years, humanity had been searching for Death-Cycle Arenas within Arena Zones as if sweeping for mines.

This was humanity's most important task at present.

It could expand humanity's living space and make coordinated defense operations easier.

Smaller Arena Zones could be fitted with Teleportation Arrays to facilitate exploration.

Slightly larger ones could be used to build human strongholds.

Larger ones could develop into transit stations, with trade and supplies emerging there.

And the largest ones would develop into cities.

At that moment, Shi Hongyu stood before one of the Teleportation Arrays.

Before long, everyone from Class Three had arrived.

The students from the other classes looked over with sympathy.

The supposed bonuses for conquering an Arena Zone were merely consolation prizes.

Whenever a new type of Arena Zone appeared, after it was assessed, the Subspecies generally took the lead—and schools were no exception. The Subspecies classes went in first.

Only after they had figured out what was inside could the others prescribe the right remedy.

To put it bluntly, they were cannon fodder.

But Fu Junlin and the others had long grown accustomed to it. This was the norm of society, and no one would even complain.

"I need two Mecha Masters—one for melee combat and one for targeted kills—one Blade-and-Sword Enchanter, preferably one who can use both large and small weapons, and two War Banner Masters. The mission is arduous, so act within your abilities. Raise your hands if you're going!"

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Shi Hongyu clasped her hands behind her back. Her beautiful eyes flashed sharply as she called out.

The field remained silent for four seconds before someone slowly raised a hand. Those who went would certainly receive more bonus money, but the risks were just as real.

New Arena Zones generally had low Teleportation Levels, especially Death-Cycle Enclosures, whose Teleportation Levels were often below 50%.

Teleportation Level represented the degree to which one could be restored to the city after death or severe injury.

If the Teleportation Level was high, the restoration level would be high as well. Even if you died, you could be reborn, suffering only minor injuries at most.

The lower the Teleportation Level, the higher the death rate—and it was a real death rate. Once it dropped below 30%, what returned after death would be a corpse. At that point, even severely injured people could not teleport, because doing so would result in immediate death.

They had to be treated in the Arena Zone before teleporting. Even then, their injuries would generally worsen upon returning, and they would need treatment as soon as possible.

Seven people raised their hands.

These seven were indeed the top students in the class, their strength ranking within the top ten.

Fu Junlin did not raise his hand.

"You, you, you, and you..."

Shi Hongyu picked several people, then realized she was still short one War Banner Master.

When she looked toward Fu Junlin, he had his head lowered, keeping his eyes on his nose and his nose aligned with his mouth.

Shi Hongyu was somewhat helpless. The current War Banner Master was also a Level One Master, and Fu Junlin was likewise a Level One Master, but among the War Banner Masters, Fu Junlin was indeed the best in the class.

It would be too much of a waste if he did not go.

The Blade-and-Sword Enchanter was only a newly advanced Level Two Initiate.

All the others were Level-One Masters.

But just as Shi Hongyu was feeling helpless, Fu Junlin suddenly raised both hands high, only to lower them again almost immediately.

Fu Junlin looked at Shi Hongyu with extreme embarrassment, hoping she had not seen it. He did not want to go. He really did not want to go. Wouldn't it be better to stay home and study properly?

He still had his mother and younger brother to take care of. He could not die young.

But Big Black wanted to go. He really wanted to go.

Shi Hongyu had naturally seen it. She pursed her lips in a smile and was just about to call him over when he lowered his hands again, instantly making her displeased.

Then she saw Fu Junlin raise both hands again, lower them again, raise them again, lower them again...

In the end, he forced himself not to raise his hands anymore, but he bounced twice on the spot, each jump a full meter high.

"Junlin, come here!"

Shi Hongyu glared at him irritably. Were you performing an imaginary trampoline act for me here?

Fu Junlin was instantly speechless and could only walk over resignedly.

Meanwhile, the triumphant Big Black burst into wild laughter inside Fu Junlin's body.