Chapter 352 - 250: Former Companions, Current Situation; Lu Mei’s Reaction, Missions of Increased Difficulty
Chapter 352: Chapter 250: Former Companions, Current Situation; Lu Mei’s Reaction, Missions of Increased Difficulty
"And even if I gave them time to catch up, they could never keep up with my pace!"
"So, what you just said doesn’t hold up at all!"
Hearing Zhang Yi’s words,
Hong Tianyi immediately swallowed the words of comfort he had been about to offer.
Then, Hong Tianyi was lost in thought.
"What’s wrong?"
Zhang Yi asked curiously, seeing Hong Tianyi suddenly fall into a contemplative state.
"It’s nothing."
"I just suddenly felt that your flex just now was too good,
so good that I want to memorize what you said and use it myself later!"
Hearing Hong Tianyi’s sudden cheeky remark,
even Zhang Yi was taken aback for a moment.
Then he laughed.
Hong Tianyi started laughing along with him.
Only after the two of them finished laughing heartily did the conversation return to normal.
However, when Hong Tianyi spoke again, his tone was tinged with a bit of emotion.
"Speaking of which, a few days ago, Wan Hua and Huang Yingtian contacted me through their personal terminals."
"Oh?"
Zhang Yi played along with a questioning sound.
However, Zhang Yi was wise enough not to ask why Wan Hua and Huang Yingtian had contacted Hong Tianyi instead of him.
Zhang Yi asked, "How are those two doing now?"
Hong Tianyi sighed.
"Sigh, the gap between the two of them and the two of us is just getting wider and wider!"
"Huang Yingtian is doing a bit better."
"Before he was selected by an instructor to join a team, he had already fought for and won a seat on the Silver Throne,
and was later scouted by an instructor from the Ocean Academy, which he then joined."
"And thanks to his Amphibian Crocodile-man Clan and his own strength, he’s considered upper-middle tier among the members who joined the Ocean Academy’s team, so he became a formal member."
"But Wan Hua’s situation is miserable."
"Even though Wan Hua’s Clan is the Minotaur Clan, he only managed to secure a seat on the Bronze Throne before."
"He was later scouted by an instructor from the War Academy and chosen for their team."
"But on the War Academy’s team, there are just too many people whose strength is close to his, or even greater!"
"After joining the War Academy’s team, Wan Hua is still struggling to become a formal member!"
After hearing what Hong Tianyi said, Zhang Yi fell silent.
Back in the day at Golden City No.1 Middle School, Wan Hua and Huang Yingtian were also prominent figures.
Though their flair was a notch below Zhang Yi’s,
they were by no means at the bottom of the school’s hierarchy.
But now...
And all these changes made it clear to Zhang Yi once again that strength was the only thing that truly belonged to him!
"Everyone has their own path to walk."
"We can’t help them!"
"Yeah!"
Hong Tianyi nodded in deep agreement.
"So, they just came to me to chat and vent their frustrations."
"As for anything more, they didn’t say."
"..."
What Zhang Yi and Hong Tianyi didn’t know was that as they were talking,
another member of the Tianya Academy team had been watching them out of the corner of their eye.
To be more precise, they had been watching Zhang Yi.
And just as Zhang Yi and Hong Tianyi were talking freely,
the time silently crept up to eight o’clock in the morning.
An oppressive aura, one that the members of the Tianya Academy team were all too familiar with, instantly enveloped the hall of the small training camp.
All conversation ceased in an instant.
Then, the figure of Instructor Li Qiongtian appeared before them!
"It’s time for the University Alliance Training Camp, the Yanhuang Federation’s second round of assessment, the second internal team assessment!"
"Since everyone is here, and your captain, Zhang Yi, has already reported the attendance to me."
"Then we will begin the assessment now!"
"I hope you’ve heeded my previous words and haven’t forgotten the necessity of hard work."
Instructor Li Qiongtian cut straight to the chase. After finishing his speech, he added one final sentence:
"Now, begin selecting your missions of varying difficulty!"
Zhang Yi opened his personal terminal.
[Mission 1]: Hundred Beasts Plane. (Simple Difficulty)
Mission Introduction: The situation in this plane is unique. Preliminary exploration has only revealed wild beasts and evolved Magical Beasts. No other intelligent Clans have been discovered, including goblins, kobolds, etc. Your task is to eliminate all threatening Magical Beasts in the area, establish a stable foothold, and capture the designated Magical Beasts (Current capture progress: 0/50 Magical Beasts).
Mission Reward: One random Rare Quality Five-star Divine Domain Card and 500 Points.
[Mission 2]: Establish Relations with the Jade Forest. (Medium Difficulty)
Mission Introduction: A young Green Dragon has been discovered in the Jade Forest. This Green Dragon appears to possess a special bloodline, and its Kobold and Lizardman Clan members show a high degree of draconic transformation. Travel to the Jade Forest and establish relations with the young Green Dragon. Of course, this young Green Dragon has her pride; you likely won’t even get to meet her unless you defeat all of her Clan members first.
Mission Reward: One random Exceptional Quality Five-star Divine Domain Card and 1,000 Points.
[Mission 3]: Other Plane Exploration. (Hard Difficulty)
Mission Introduction: The legion has discovered an Other Plane covered in yellow sand. Although the plane is covered in sand and appears uninhabited, the discovery of a large, pyramid-shaped magical structure indicates that there are still Clans active beneath the sand. Cadets are to explore and conduct a preliminary investigation to find out why the Other Plane became this way.
Mission Reward: One random Precious Quality Five-star Divine Domain Card and 1,500 Points.
[Mission 4]: Stop the Expansion of the Abyss Fissure! (Hell Difficulty)
Mission Introduction: A fissure leading to the Abyss has been unexpectedly discovered in a High Magic Plane. A large number of Middle Level Power Demons have already emerged through this fissure. It is projected that in another thirty-two hours, Demons with High Level Power will also begin to emerge. Establish at least two defensive lines outside the fissure and hold for seven days, or until the native inhabitants of the plane send reinforcements.
Note: This mission is extremely difficult and has a high probability of causing mass casualties to your Clan!
Mission Reward: One random Unrivaled Quality Divine Domain Card and 2,000 Points.
After reading through the four missions sent to his personal terminal,
Zhang Yi keenly noticed that,
although the difficulty ratings corresponding to the four missions hadn’t changed,
the danger and uncertainty described in the missions of the same Level had clearly increased!
Among the four missions, aside from the Medium Difficulty [Mission 2], Establish Relations with the Jade Forest, which was slightly better,
both [Mission 3] and [Mission 4]
had seen their difficulty increase by half a tier, if not a full one.
And Zhang Yi’s suspicion was soon confirmed!
"Instructor!"
"The missions given out this time... missions of the same difficulty feel like they’re harder than last time, don’t they?"
Wan Zhixuan, the member of the Tianya Academy team who had been demoted from a formal to a reserve member last time,
also sensed something was off with the mission descriptions and couldn’t help but ask Instructor Li Qiongtian.
Obviously, although the missions they saw were different from the ones Zhang Yi saw,
they had all keenly noticed the change in mission difficulty!
Wan Zhixuan had originally thought that if he asked this question, Instructor Li Qiongtian either wouldn’t answer or would just give him a perfunctory reply,
but Instructor Li Qiongtian unexpectedly gave an affirmative response.
"You’re not wrong!"
"It’s exactly as you think!"
Instructor Li Qiongtian’s expression was icy as he said coldly,
"You think the missions are hard?"
"That the difficulty has increased?"
"But have you ever considered that it’s your own fault?!"
"This past month has gone by. Have you been putting in the effort?"
"Didn’t I tell you before to work hard and improve yourselves this month!"
"I told you long ago that every internal assessment is both a true evaluation of your potential and a way to push you to your absolute limits!"
"But did you listen?!"
"As your strength increases, the difficulty of missions at the same Level will increase accordingly!"
"If you can’t even adapt to this, then quitting early would be a good thing."
Instructor Li Qiongtian’s words sent a chill through the other cadets’ hearts,
and just like that, no other cadet dared to question Instructor Li Qiongtian further.