Chapter 18

As Song Tianqi's supervising teacher, she was naturally proud of her student.

Dean Wang was also somewhat stirred by what he saw.

He held the highest rank in all of Dawn Academy, but he was only at tier six.

His ability's potential was too low, and he would struggle to make another breakthrough in his lifetime.

With an ability like this, Song Tianqi would be able to cultivate to at least tier seven in the future, perhaps even tier eight or nine.

It all came down to fate.

What immense mental power. Song Duoduo was startled by the power continuously pouring into her from behind.

She knew the class monitor was no ordinary person, but she had never expected her to have so much mental power.

Song Duoduo's expression turned serious. She steadied her mind, focused her attention, and began activating her datura flower ability.

Three datura flowers quietly bloomed, facing the wind as their hallucinogenic pollen slowly drifted toward Liao Qizheng and his two teammates.

At that moment, Zhuang Silin looked toward Xu Jintang from the spectator stand, a hint of surprise rising in her eyes.

This immense mental power was at least twice that of her peers.

No wonder even Jiang Shiyi thought there was something unusual about her.

The battle on the platform was poised to erupt.

While Liao Qizheng and his two teammates struggled against Song Tianqi, the three datura flowers had already reached full bloom.

Song Duoduo shouted, "Song Tianqi!"

Receiving the signal, Song Tianqi smiled faintly, actually stopping right where he was to begin summoning scarlet flames.

Liao Qizheng's eyes lit up. "A perfect chance! Hurry and finish him!"

But he soon began to wonder why Song Tianqi was so bold as to stop outright to summon his ability.

He suddenly realized something. His expression darkened sharply, and he quickly turned to look toward the other side of the arena.

Song Duoduo and Xu Jintang were preparing some unknown powerful move. The fluctuations of mental power over there were so strong that they made him panic.

His gaze froze, and he hurriedly summoned the Green Chant Eagle to attack the two girls. "Green Chant Eagle, dive!"

But he had already unknowingly inhaled a large amount of datura pollen. The next second, his mind began to scatter, followed by weakness in his limbs. His whole body swayed, and he could barely stand.

Without its master's control, the Green Chant Eagle circled in the air, making no further move.

Once Song Duoduo's datura pollen was inhaled, its hallucinogenic effect was certain to take hold.

To defend against this move, one had to prepare in advance and destroy the datura flowers as soon as they bloomed. Only then could the pollen be stopped from spreading.

But Liao Qizheng and his two teammates had clearly taken no precautions.

Half a second later, Song Tianqi sent nine balls of scarlet flame crashing toward the three of them. "Teacher, save them!"

Huang Binhan acted swiftly, stepping forward to block every attack.

Watching this from below the platform, Jiang Zhongtian pressed his lips together and fell into deep thought.

Of course he could tell what Xu Jintang and Song Duoduo had been doing, and he could also sense that immense mental power.

But Liao Qizheng and his teammates had still underestimated their opponents. Assuming Xu Jintang and Song Duoduo had no combat strength, they had paid the two girls no attention during the early stages.

"Sorry about that, Teacher Jiang. Our class took this round again." Jiang Lu walked over from behind, his face full of smiles.

Jiang Zhongtian did not lose his composure as he had last time.

He gave a composed chuckle. "Even with a support ability, Xu Jintang possesses mental power like that. Liao Qizheng and the others really did underestimate them. They deserved to lose."

On the arena platform, Liao Qizheng's face turned thunderous after he recovered from the hallucinations.

How humiliating.

One second, they were about to wipe the other team out; the next, their opponents were calling for the referee to save them.

It could not have been more ironic.

His other two teammates, who had just recovered their senses, also looked somewhat embarrassed.

It truly was a humiliating defeat.

The three of them had never factored Xu Jintang and Song Duoduo into their plans. They had thought they could quickly finish Song Tianqi, then turn around and pick the others off one by one.

Who would have thought Song Tianqi alone would be so difficult to deal with, holding them up for so long? Later, when they wanted to pull back and deal with Xu Jintang and Song Duoduo, Song Tianqi kept the two of them tied down, unable to get away.

In the end, all three had fallen under the hallucinogenic effect.

They could only lose the match.

"Xu Jintang's team wins this elimination match," Huang Binhan quietly announced.

The entire match had seemed intense, but in fact, less than five minutes had passed.

The students below the platform widened their eyes.

"I was watching Song Tianqi fight Liao Qizheng and the others the whole time. I didn't even notice Xu Jintang and Song Duoduo."

"Wasn't Song Duoduo's ability only able to lock onto one enemy target? How did she lock onto three at once this time?"

"Seems like Xu Jintang pulled something."

"See that? That's what happens when you look down on us supports."

Supports had always been looked down on.

Yet in today's match, it was the supports who had turned the battle around, practically slapping everyone in the face.

Xu Bohan and Yao Wenna both frowned deeply, looking as though they were facing a formidable enemy.

After this round, the four remaining teams would compete for two places in the final.

They were bound to face Xu Jintang's team head-on.

But this battle had somewhat overturned their understanding of Xu Jintang.

On the spectator stand, Zhuang Silin turned to look beside her. "Dean Wang, bring Xu Jintang over after the matches end. I'd like to speak with her alone."

Dean Wang quickly nodded. "Of course, no problem."

He turned his head, looking up at Xu Jintang as she walked down from the arena.

A girl with such immense mental power was no ordinary girl.

After the matches ended, Jiang Lu called Xu Jintang away on her own.

Xu Jintang curiously surveyed the VIP lounge before her. "Teacher, this is...?"

Jiang Lu stopped and turned to give her a solemn reminder. "A teacher from Leikdasi Military Academy wants to speak with you alone. Go inside by yourself, and mind what you say. I'll wait for you outside."

Xu Jintang immediately grew serious and straightened up. "Okay!"

Reaching the door, she carefully pushed it open. Through the gap, she soon spotted Zhuang Silin sitting on the sofa inside.

Xu Jintang took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and entered the lounge.

With Zhuang Silin, a peak tier-seven expert, present, her doubled mental power was certain to be discovered. As for how to explain it, she had already thought that through.

"Hello, Teacher." Xu Jintang smiled and greeted Zhuang Silin.

Zhuang Silin set down her cup of water and looked up to study her, a faint smile appearing on her face. "Do you know why I asked to see you?"

"Yes." Xu Jintang answered immediately, "You must have sensed me transferring a large amount of mental power to my teammate during the match, and you're curious about where that mental power came from."

Zhuang Silin stood. "That is indeed the reason. So, where did this mental power come from?"

Her gaze settled on Xu Jintang's face, attempting to discover something from the changes in her expression.

With an entirely serious expression, Xu Jintang gave the explanation she had prepared beforehand. "Teacher, my ability seems to be capable of evolving. I suspect it has something to do with that."

Chapter 18

Zhuang Silin froze for a moment. Something seemed to occur to her, and a peculiar look rose in her eyes. "Evolving?"

Xu Jintang nodded and continued explaining, "After awakening this support ability, I didn't think much of it and just trained normally every day. But starting last month, a faint ice attribute seemed to appear in my ability for no reason. It was only later that I learned my mental sea had been larger than those of others at the same tier all along."

"So I wondered whether my ability might actually have more than just a support effect. But because my current constitution is too weak, or because of some other factor, its true effects haven't been fully brought out yet."

Zhuang Silin fell silent for a while, her expression turning subtle. "Abilities can indeed evolve. If what you say is true, your ability may evolve when you advance to tier two."

A glimmer flashed through Xu Jintang's eyes. "That's what I thought too."

Brother Long had said that once she reached tier two, she would be able to fully control the effects of Domain of Ice.

By laying the groundwork now, once she reached tier two in the future, she could simply tell others that her ability had evolved into Domain of Ice.

She would not need to find other excuses to conceal it.

Zhuang Silin fell into thought.

Previously, a student at their military academy had also experienced an ability evolution, and the circumstances had indeed been somewhat similar to what Xu Jintang described.

But there were not many such cases.

Moreover, no one could be one hundred percent certain that Xu Jintang's ability would evolve after she reached tier two.

"Can you fully control that ice attribute you mentioned now? You could use it and let me take a look," Zhuang Silin asked.

Xu Jintang shook her head. "Not quite yet."

At tier one, forcibly activating the ice attribute sometimes caused the Ice Soul Dragon's aura to leak out accidentally.

She certainly could not use it in front of an expert like Zhuang Silin.

She would have to wait until at least tier two before she could skillfully control the ice attribute while also keeping the Ice Soul Dragon's aura from leaking out.

Zhuang Silin considered for a while before asking, "Do you want to attend Leikedasi?"

Xu Jintang looked up, excitement in her eyes. "Of course!"

"Your current circumstances don't meet the special admission requirements." Zhuang Silin paused before continuing, "But I can use my privileges to help secure you a visiting student place, allowing you to study at Leikedasi temporarily for a year. After that year, if you pass the academy's internal assessment, you'll qualify to become a regular student and stay. If you don't pass, we'll also help transfer you to another military academy to continue your studies."

The excitement on Xu Jintang's face gradually faded.

In a certain sense, being a visiting student at a military academy meant living under someone else's roof. Without official military academy student status, she would not be able to enjoy the benefits afforded to military academy students.

Visiting students were also often shunned by the other military academy students.

Still, Leikedasi was the First Military Academy, after all. Though visiting students were not treated particularly well, these places were highly sought after.

When Xu Jintang did not reply for some time, Zhuang Silin quickly guessed what she was thinking.