Chapter 109

"Indeed, I've been wondering about this for a long time too, but nobody's brought it up, haha."

"I think this Mask Squad is really amazing. It's incredible that they can make it to the top four at their age."

"I heard that the Mask Squad is from the Clifford Military Academy?"

Someone glanced tentatively at Shi Lekang.

Shi Lekang, who had just been laughing, immediately became serious. "Don't talk nonsense. Our military academy doesn't have the capability to train such an elite team."

Zhuang Silin deliberately muddied the waters, "You brought this up first, maybe just to confuse the issue. Anyway, you've done this kind of thing more than once or twice."

Shi Lekang's lips twitched. "He's really not from our military academy."

He originally wanted to test other people's attitudes, but now he's gotten himself into trouble.

The people from the other three military academies also began to pass the buck to each other.

"You're all being too modest. Why hide the abilities of students like the Mask Squad? Why not just say it directly?"

"That's not how it works. If you're so capable, then show us what your military academies are really made of."

The meeting room suddenly became lively.

In a corner where no one noticed, Miao Mingzhi slightly raised the corners of her lips.

It's good to click randomly.

After a brief period of confusion, Miao Mingzhi finally stood up to take charge. "Alright, our most important task today is to get down to business," he said.

The crowd then stopped their chatter and turned to look at the light screen in front of them.

"The Military Academy League three years from now is expected to have 108 participating military academies, so next..."

At the same time, the official website of the Ability User Competition began releasing trailers for the semi-finals.

Xu Jintang received a link forwarded by Yan Yuting.

She turned on the communicator's light screen and clicked on the trailer.

A group photo of the five members of the Mask Squad immediately appeared before my eyes.

Xu Jintang stood in the center with his hands in his pockets, Yan Yuting on his left made a peace sign with both hands, and Xue Zhongqi on the right made a smug, cool gesture.

On the other side, Song Tianqi and Jiang Shiyi stood back to back, each with their arms crossed in front of them.

Then, subtitles slowly appeared above the group photo of the five people:

"Team advancing from the upper bracket: Mask Squad"

Chapter 109

Immediately afterwards, the group photo of the next team appeared on the screen.

"Team advancing from the upper bracket: Light and Brightness Team"

The other two teams that advanced came from the lower bracket: Purple Rosy Clouds Pond Flower Team and Dark Horse Team.

Red and black lights flickered within the light screen, accompanied by a catchy background music that stirred the blood involuntarily.

After the entire trailer ended, the doorbell suddenly rang in the living room.

Xu Jintang looked up, turned off the light screen, and got up to open the door.

Standing outside the door was Zhuang Silin.

Xu Jintang quickly stepped aside, smiling, "Please come in, Teacher Zhuang."

Zhuang Silin glanced at her. "Where is everyone else? Wake them up. We'll meet in the conference room in ten minutes."

Xu Jintang immediately replied, "Yes!"

Ten minutes later, all five students in the experimental class gathered in the conference room.

Standing at the conference table, Zhuang Silin adjusted the screen and looked at the five people. "The semifinals are just around the corner after the break week, so I hope you all prepare well. I'm here today to share some information I've gathered about the other three teams."

Xu Jintang looked up at the light screen.

The first team on the page is the Purple Rosy Clouds Pond Flower Team, which poses the greatest threat to them and is also the team with the highest predicted winning rate.

"The captain of the Purple Rosy Clouds Pond Flower Team has reached the Peak Fifth Tier. The opponent's special ability is the Radiant Sun Phoenix, a demonic beast with top-tier bloodline quality. It will greatly enhance his combat power, so you must be especially careful."

Song Tianqi immediately raised his hand, "Teacher Zhuang, between my superpower and his, who is stronger?"

Zhuang Silin looked at him, "At the same level, of course yours is stronger. But the other person's mental strength level is already two levels higher than yours."

After she finished speaking, she continued to introduce the next member.

Xu Jintang rested her chin on her hands, listening patiently.

Since it was still uncertain which team the Mask Squad would be matched against, Zhuang Silin directly introduced the information of all the teams.

The meeting ended half an hour later.

In her concluding remarks, Zhuang Silin said, "The pressure will be immense no matter which team you face in the semifinals, so don't slack off in these last few days. Study your opponents carefully."

Xu Jintang immediately took the lead and answered, "Yes!"

"Also, the five major military academies have started preparing for the Military Academy League these past few days. I'll share any specific rule changes in the group chat. You five should keep a low profile lately; many people are guessing your identities," Zhuang Silin reminded her.

Song Tianqi immediately put his hands on his hips smugly, "That's true, even I have my own fan group now."

Zhuang Silin glanced at him, "Still showing off."

"Keep a low profile, keep a low profile right away!" Song Tianqi's smile vanished, and he quickly regained his composure.

Zhuang Silin withdrew her gaze. "This is all I can do to help you; the rest is up to you."

"Understood!" Xu Jintang and the other four answered in unison.

After seeing Zhuang Silin off, Xu Jintang told everyone to return to the conference room for the meeting.

"Squad leader, is there anything else?" Song Tianqi asked impatiently.

Yan Yuting and the other two also looked up and turned their gazes toward Xu Jintang.

"This matter is neither too big nor too small; it mainly targets Song Tianqi, Sister Shiyi, and the three of us." Xu Jintang turned around and switched the video on the screen.

The screen above quickly switched to an explanatory video.

"Regarding the fact that ability users can Ability Trait Assimilation after reaching the Third Tier," Xu Jintang added.

Yan Yuting and Xue Zhongqi, who were still at the Peak Second Tier, exchanged a glance.

Xue Zhongqi shrugged. "This has nothing to do with us. Shall we go cultivate?"

Xu Jintang: "Go."

As Yan Yuting turned and walked out of the conference room, a fighting spirit rose in his eyes. He clenched his fists tightly, determined to catch up with the class monitor and Song Tianqi's cultivation progress as quickly as possible!

Jiang Shiyi had been mostly silent, became interested and spoke up, "I haven't tried this Ability Trait Assimilation before."

"Neither do I." Song Tianqi sat down obediently beside him, ready to listen to the lecture.

Xu Jintang continued, "This video was sent to me by Teacher Wu. She told us to study it on our own first, and then ask her if we didn't understand anything."

The meeting room fell silent.

Only the audio of the video narration remained.

Ability Trait Assimilation is a special skill that naturally develops after an ability user reaches the Third Tier.

For example, Xu Jintang's special ability is the Domain of Ice. The Ability Trait Assimilation will likely reduce some of the damage from ice-attribute enemies and generate a series of special skill effects related to the ice attribute.

It was half an hour later when the entire video was played.

Song Tianqi scratched his cheek, looking completely bewildered. "I don't understand a thing about how to do it?"

"I think I understand," Jiang Shiyi said calmly, looking at Song Tianqi. "I'll explain it to you later."

Xu Jintang withdrew her gaze from the light screen, pondered for a moment, and said, "I understand now. Sister Shiyi, you told Song Tianqi that I should go back to the cultivation room and try it out first?"

"Okay," Jiang Shiyi replied.

Xu Jintang got up and left the conference room. After returning to his room, he went straight to the cultivation room and sat cross-legged.

Her breathing gradually calmed down. She closed her eyes, slowly raised her hands, and began to circulate her spiritual energy.

After calming down, the explanatory video she had just watched came to mind.

Begin activating your supernatural abilities according to the instructions.

The power of ice gradually spread from the sea of consciousness outwards throughout the body.

In previous battles, she mostly unleashed her ice attributes directly.

However, the method of Ability Trait Assimilation requires gathering ice attributes inward.

More and more ice power fused together within his body, and the chilling air gradually solidified, even beginning to emanate outwards.

A chill emanated from Xu Jintang's body, and the air temperature in the entire training room began to drop.

The illusory image of the ice dragon floating behind her suddenly flickered.

A few seconds later, Xu Jintang opened her eyes and subconsciously looked at her palm.

A ball of icy blue ice-attribute energy condensed in his palm.

Her body was completely filled with ice, making her like an ice statue, with her hands and feet devoid of warmth.

"Try activating your supernatural power." The Ice Soul Dragon suddenly awoke.

Xu Jintang immediately did as it instructed.

The icy power released from her fingertips slowly spread outwards, but she soon realized that it was different from before.

"In this state, the ice attribute I release seems to be stronger?"

Ice Soul Dragon replied, "Not only that, but other abilities you release in this state will also undergo special changes. You can try again."

A sense of curiosity arose in Xu Jintang's heart.

He quickly went outside and went downstairs to the training ground to unleash his supernatural power on the strength testing machine.

--Ice Blade Storm.

A powerful storm hovered in front of Xu Jintang, with several sharp ice blades swirling within it.

However, unlike before, this storm covers a much larger area.

Even the surrounding air temperature was lowered to freezing point.

"Holy crap, what's this?" Song Tianqi happened to come downstairs and saw this scene.

He looked at the storm, which had almost covered half of the arena, with surprise. "This is different from the skills you used before?"

Xu Jintang released his grip and pushed the Ice Blade Storm towards the strength testing device on the opposite side.

"This is the state I'm in when using skills after my Ability Trait Assimilation; it's a bit stronger than usual."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Ice Blade Storm slammed into the strength testing device, making a loud "bang".

Subsequently, the test results for the Peak of the Fourth Tier were displayed on the test dashboard.