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“Spill it. What is the Stellar-class treasure of heaven and earth you have mentioned just now?”
Alexis stared at Niu Ben. Although his voice was calm, the threat and coldness in his words were not concealed.
This was how Matriculation Camp was like. It was not an ivory tower where the trainees could live in peace, but a box sealed with all venomous creatures competing cruelly with each other1. Killing was not uncommon here!
“What are you talking about?” Niu Ben said in low pitch, “What Stellar-class treasure of heaven and earth? I don’t understand what you are talking about.”
“Niu Ben!” Alexis said, “You have been in Matriculation Camp for ten years, so you should know my Arcana. Any sound within a thousand miles can’t slip through my ears! So, do you still want to play dumb?”
Niu Ben’s facial expression sank. “Brother Alexis—”
“Don’t give me nonsense!” Alexis’ tone was indifferent and sounded intimidating. “My time is precious. If you dare to waste my time, I don’t mind letting you taste another Arcana of mine!”
“Bone Manipulation?” Niu Ben’s expression changed, and a trace of fear rose in his eyes.
At this moment, Ling Jiu’s voice came. “Brother Niu, who is he. So arrogant?”
Hearing Ling Jiu’s voice, Niu Ben was drawn up.
‘With a superb arcanist like Brother Ling by my side, what do I need to be afraid of?’
When Niu Ben thought of this, he quietly let out a sigh of relief, and then said, “He is Alexis Brahman, ranked fourth in the standings, and owns a total of four Arcana: Clairaudience, Bone Manipulation, Audi Blink, and Golden Form!”
“He is very strong, and he definitely has the ultimate combat power!”
“Moreover, although he has only joined Matriculation Camp for 4 years, he has accumulated 920,000 points and is ranked fourth in the standings. In terms of talent and strength alone, he is not less capable than the top three in the standings!”
“I see!” Ling Jiu nodded slightly, glanced at Alexis, and said dully, “I don’t care who you are, what is your rank in the standings, or what kind of strength you have. I now give you a chance to leave my airship immediately!”
“Rookie, your mouth is foul!” Alexis frowned and looked at Ling Jiu. When he entered the airship, he had recognized Ling Jiu once he noticed him. However, Alexis did not take him seriously.
‘He is just a rookie’
‘What makes him worth my attention?’
However, Alexis did not expect the rookie to be this insolent.
‘This rookie dares to chase me out of the airship even after knowing my name!’
‘Is it because he is backed by some forces? Or he is just an insolent fool?’
“Why? Didn’t you hear me clearly? Do you want me to repeat?” Ling Jiu took a bite of the dish and said impatiently while chewing it. “I am in a good mood today so I don’t want to argue with the likes of you, hurry up!”
“What a big mouth you have!” Alexis’ facial expression sank, his eyes colder. “Rookie, you are looking for death by barking in Matriculation Camp with no strength!”
“Listen! I will extract your bones from your body, wash and air-dry it to make it into a specimen display for my collection!”
“Really?” Ling Jiu laughed.
“Rookie, you will pay a heavy price for your stupidity and insolence!” A dazzling golden light suddenly radiated from Alexis’ body. In the next moment, he turned into a golden man. It seemed as if he was made of gold. His whole body was shining like a golden statue.
“Gold Arcana!” Niu Ben whispered, “Ling Jiu, be careful. In Gold Form, his various attributes will skyrocket 1,500 times than before!”
“Therefore, there were very significant changes in terms of speed, strength, defense, etc. You must be careful and stay vigilant!”
“Don’t worry! He won’t be able to cause much ruckus!”
Ling Jiu smiled faintly. “Let’s go out. I will play with you. You can’t afford the cost of damaging my airship!”
Ling Jiu put on the venom suit and disappeared from the airship. Alexis disappeared too after letting out a cold snort.
“Let’s go out and watch!” Niu Ben and the other two followed them.
The surroundings were dark when they came outside. Fortunately, there was light source from the airship. It dispelled the darkness and illuminate the place.
Ling Jiu and Alexis were standing, facing each other from far.
“Your appearance in this form does look really good!” Ling Jiu looked at Alexis who was shining with the golden light. “I heard that the bodies of gods in Egyptian mythology were made of gold. They even had golden blood flow through their veins! Perhaps, the so-called gods of— ”
Ling Jiu could not finish his sentence as Alexis suddenly appeared before him. That was Alexis’ another arcana—Audi Blink.
Although this Arcana was also a type of Blink, it was different than Ling Jiu’s Blink. Ling Jiu’s Blink allowed him to teleport at will. Unlike Ling Jiu, Alexis could only teleport when he heard the target’s voice. One could say that his Audi Blink’s limitation was greater!
However, when used Audi Blink with Clairaudience, Alexis could teleport in longer distance than the regular Blink. For example, before Alexis showed up, he was actually hundred miles away, but he teleported to here once he had picked up voice of Ling Jiu and the three others.
Teleport a hundred miles. This distance is long enough!
*BOOM–*
Alexis’ golden fist tore the air and was about to slam into Ling Jiu’s chin instantly. Its speed was as fast as lightning, its force was brutal and savage. Even a Class-9 Beast would suffer if got hit by this punch.
“Ling Jiu, watch out!” Niu Ben warned Ling Jiu loudly.
Bai Ya clenched her fists tight. Her beautiful pair of eyes were filled with worries and tension. Niu Miao also watched the fight nervously.
The golden fist’s momentum was strong. However, Ling Jiu did not plan to dodge it even though it could tear everything apart brutally. Instead, he stretched out his fist and grabbed the golden fist effortlessly.
CRACK!
The golden fist with brutal momentum which could tear everything somehow fluttered into Ling Jiu’s hand. And all the terrifying aura instantly vanished into the air.
“Come on! I have waited for a long time and this is what you got? This is your strength?” Ling Jiu shook his head and looked disappointed. “It seems that my expectation is too high!”
Ling Jiu flung his hand once he finished his words. Alexis was sent flying to the sky like a cannonball.
“Thunder!” A bright thunder light suddenly emerged from Ling Jiu’s body once he uttered this word without much emotion. In the next moment, a slash of thunder as thick as a bucket shot up straight to the sky from Ling Jiu and hit Alexis brutally.
“Ah— ”
From the sky, a scream of pain was heard. The power of thunder triggered by actual dark bio-energy was much more terrifying than the regular thunder.
But of course, that was all it could do!
After all, Ling Jiu was a Level-7 Arcanist. On top of that, he did not combine the attack with Dimension Arcana. Even if the force of the Arcana was nine times stronger than the regular Arcana, it was still not enough to kill Alexis.
As expected, once the thunder disappeared, there was no injuries on Alexis’ body other than some scorch marks.
“I want you dead!”
Alexis’ face was hideous. A bright golden beam burst out of his golden eyes. The next moment, Ling Jiu felt a continuous bone-cracking sound from his body. His bones began to move restlessly, as though they were going to leave his body.
‘This is Bone Manipulation?’ Ling Jiu was secretly shocked. ‘I thought his arcana was similar to Kimimaro’s ability where he could only manipulate his own bones. Never did I expect him to be capable of manipulating other people’s bones!’
1
Of course, Ling Jiu would not let Alexis to extract his bones. He swiftly blinked and appeared before Alexis, then pointed his finger. A mysterious wave suddenly covered Alexis.
Alexis was surprised to see his body shrinking strangely, and in the blink of an eye, he had shrunk into a three-inch man.
“T-T-This —”
“Alexis had become smaller?”
“What arcana is this?”
Niu Ben, Bai Ya, and Niu Miao were all shocked. They looked at Alexis who was now in the size of a thumb in disbelief. Their hearts were deeply stirred.
“This is Size Reduction!” Ling Jiu replied. “I can shrink any object to millesimal-size of their original state! So, I am considered merciful. Otherwise, he will become even smaller!”
” M-M-M-Millesimal-size?” The three of them took a deep breath.
Like what Ling Jiu said, he was indeed merciful.
Alexis was 1.7-meter tall. A millesimal size of this height was 0. 17 cm, which was shorter than 2 decimeters. It could not even fill in the two squares on a meterstick.
Now, Alexis was at least three or four centimeters tall.
Yes, Ling Jiu was indeed, merciful!
Ling Jiu is really merciful!
“Bast*rd! How dare—how dare you—” Alexis shouted in horror.
From his perspective, everything around him suddenly became very huge, and Ling Jiu was a behemoth.
“Don’t struggle, it’s useless!” Ling Jiu casually grabbed Alexis—who was now a miniscule guy—in his hands. “Size Reduction shrinks everything! Including the Gene Arcana in your body! So, with your current body size, all the strikes you make are just tickles. They will not be destructive at all!”
“Bast*rd! You assh*le!” Alexis almost vomited blood in anger. He never expected that Ling Jiu would have such brutal arcana.
‘To be able to shrink people?’
‘This is not a fair game!’
“Although your arcana are not bad, I don’t like them! So, just go die.” Once Ling Jiu finished speaking, he threw Alexis into his mouth to send Alexis into the inner world of his body.
Of course, Ling Jiu did not forget to restore him to his original size because the bigger the body, the more vitality!
“Okay, done!” Ling Jiu landed on the ground and smiled. He spoke to Bai Ya and the other two, “Let’s continue eating!”
“Okay!” The three nodded while looking at Ling Jiu with mixed feelings, especially Niu Ben and Niu Miao. Their feelings were extremely complex.
‘Be it Alexis Brahman, who was ranked 4th in the standings, or the top three trainees who were officially recognized, all were hammered by Ling Jiu without chance to fight back!’
‘Just how strong is Ling Jiu?’
“My dear, you are amazing!” Compared to Niu Ben and Niu Miao, Bai Ya’s facial expression was much simpler. She blinked her big eyes and looked at Ling Jiu with admiration.
“How can I be your man if I’m not amazing?” Ling Jiu rubbed her nose and smiled. “Let’s continue our meal!”
“Yeah!” The airship hatch opened and the four of them were about to enter.
Suddenly, they heard a series of rustling sound around them. It sounded like there were ten thousand crabs crawling on the beach.
“What is that?” Ling Jiu’s auditory perception was so terrifying. He could hear it from far away. He slightly frowned and then looked around.
His pupils shrank once he saw something.
“Retreat!” Ling Jiu let out a low voice, and immediately pull Bai Ya to his back to protect her.
“What’s wrong, dear?” Bai Ya asked nervously.
Niu Ben and Niu Miao also looked at Ling Jiu.
“Wait for a while!” Ling Jiu asked three of them to stay calm with a gesture. After a long time, he pointed to a distance and said, “Look there!”
The location he pointed at was far away from his airship, where the light barely reached. So, it was very dim.
But under dim light, one could still see dense colonies of bug-like creatures gathering from all directions, surrounding them and the airship.