On the old street, the Obsidian Spear, forged from F-grade alloy, moved in Astret's hands as flexibly and swiftly as a black swimming dragon!
Ssh—
When Astret came to a sudden halt, the tip of the Obsidian Spear transitioned from extreme motion to extreme stillness.
Its temperature actually rose due to the intense friction with the air, causing a plume of steam to rise!
"With this spear technique alone, I can kill a Rank 1 Ferocious Beast!"
Astret had originally thought his spear technique wasn't as important as his two basic attributes, Physique and Spirit.
But after truly obtaining High-grade Spear Technique with the help of the deep blue system, he realized he had been dead wrong!
With his spear technique upgraded to High-grade, his thrusting speed was more than twice as fast as before!
Furthermore, he had mastered various techniques for using the long spear, allowing him to find a way to deal with any kind of enemy.
It could be said that even a Rank 1 Ferocious Beast with a Physique several times stronger than his would only be toyed with until death under such spear technique!
Astret then glanced at the system panel.
Upgrading his spear technique to High-grade had cost him 200 ability points, leaving only 13 ability points on the panel.
"It's a pity I don't have enough ability points; otherwise, I'd really like to see just how terrifying Master-grade Spear Technique would be."
Shaking his head, Astret opened the map.
The white dot representing himself was already located at the edge of the green outer zone, not far from the yellow middle zone.
"I should be able to enter the middle zone in about half an hour. The middle zone is full of peak unranked Ferocious Beasts and Rank 1 Ferocious Beasts.
There, my speed of harvesting ability points will be even faster."
Although the predecessor of the ruined town, Weiyuan Town, was built decades ago, it wasn't much different from a modern city.
The buildings were also made of concrete and were similarly divided into urban and suburban areas.
Astret's current location was inside a residential complex in the suburbs of the ruined town.
After experiencing the invasion of Ferocious Beasts and the erosion of time, the entire complex appeared extremely dilapidated.
More than half of the six-story residential buildings had collapsed, and those that hadn't were also severely weathered.
The stone-paved road beneath his feet was overgrown with weeds, presenting a desolate scene.
As Astret put away his Obsidian Spear and prepared to turn and leave,
several other examinees appeared at the end of the road opposite him.
It was a group of five: three girls and two boys.
Leading them was a tall girl wearing a silver-white combat suit.
And this girl was none other than Lin Qingyuan, the class monitor of Class 5, who had invited Astret to join her team before entering the exam grounds.
"Astret?"
Lin Qingyuan on the opposite side also noticed Astret. Surprised and delighted, she took long strides and approached him in a few quick steps.
Most female combat suits were relatively tight-fitting for a slimming effect.
The one Lin Qingyuan wore was no exception; the skin-tight silver-white combat suit outlined her curvaceous figure.
Her legs, encased in the combat suit, appeared especially long and toned as she moved.
"Class Monitor."
On his way here, Astret had encountered other examinees as well.
But those examinees were either from other schools or other classes.
This was his first time meeting a classmate, so a smile couldn't help but appear on his face.
"Whew, I didn't expect to run into you here. Did you get here all by yourself?"
Lin Qingyuan looked around and didn't see anyone else, so she asked curiously.
As for the four team members following behind her, they were also somewhat surprised to see Astret alone.
Generally speaking, E-grade Awakeners would be eliminated within an hour or two after the Martial Arts college entrance exam began.
It was now around 12:00 PM, and more than three hours had passed since the start of the Martial Arts college entrance exam.
How was it that Astret was not only fine but had even ventured this deep?
"It's more convenient alone."
Facing Lin Qingyuan's inquiry, Astret didn't hide it and nodded.
"Impressive!"
Lin Qingyuan's beautiful eyes lit up, and she gave a thumbs up. "We only managed to get here with Xiaoqiao's help."
In the team behind her, a petite girl nodded shyly.
This girl named Xiaoqiao had awakened a D-grade auxiliary ability called 'Haste,' which could increase the movement speed of herself and her teammates to a certain extent.
It was precisely because of Xiaoqiao that Lin Qingyuan's team could travel this far.
"My luck was pretty good; the Ferocious Beasts I met along the way weren't very strong."
In the face of Lin Qingyuan's smile, Astret rarely spoke a few more words.
After all, in this hellish place surrounded by hideous monsters, what could be more pleasant than seeing a beautiful woman?
After chatting with Lin Qingyuan for a few more moments, Astret took his leave:
"Class Monitor, time is tight. Let's talk after the exam."
"Yeah, go ahead. I wish you a good score."
Lin Qingyuan also knew that this was the Martial Arts college entrance exam period where every second counted, so she didn't stop him.
"I really didn't expect Astret to make it this far."
"As expected, he had his own considerations when signing up for the Martial Arts college entrance exam."
In Lin Qingyuan's eyes, Astret, who had lost both parents since childhood, was a pitiful person.
It would be even more unfortunate if he died in the Martial Arts college entrance exam. Seeing that Astret was alive and well now, she felt relieved.
"Captain, come quickly! This One-Horned Rhino seems to have died not long ago!"
An exclamation drew Lin Qingyuan's attention.
She saw the others gathered around the carcass of the One-Horned Rhino, talking all at once.
"The blood from the wound hasn't dried yet, which means the time of death should be within the last few minutes."
"There are many wounds on its body, but the fatal wound is on its head."
"Looking at the shape of the wound, it seems to be a piercing wound caused by a polearm... it looks a bit like a long spear!"
Lin Qingyuan's team had seen this One-Horned Rhino carcass long ago, but they didn't pay much attention to it, thinking it was killed by some other examinee team earlier.
But upon closer inspection, they found that the One-Horned Rhino hadn't been dead for long at all, and the wounds on its body all seemed to be caused by a long spear.
"You don't mean to say that this One-Horned Rhino was killed by Astret, do you?"
One of the boys said with a strange expression.
The One-Horned Rhino was a very difficult Ferocious Beast to deal with.
They only dared to fight a One-Horned Rhino because there were five of them.
If someone said an E-grade Awakener could kill a One-Horned Rhino alone, they absolutely wouldn't believe it.
"Whether Astret killed it or not, won't we know by checking his score ranking?"
A boy opened his smartwatch and quickly found Astret's name in the score rankings:
'46th: Astret, 256 points. (Jiangcheng No. 2 High School)'
"Astret, 46th place?!!!"
"Holy crap?! He broke into the top fifty?! Am I seeing this right?"
Seeing this ranking, the boy was first stunned, then rubbed his eyes vigorously.
After confirming he hadn't misread it, he cried out in alarm, looking as if he had seen a ghost.
"What 46th place?"
"Did you find Astret's ranking?"
The rest of the team members also crowded around.
After seeing Astret's ranking on the virtual screen, their expressions also became incredibly shocked.
Even Lin Qingyuan, as the captain, couldn't help but widen her eyes, her expression dazed.
The same doubt arose in the minds of the others at the same time:
"What the hell, can E-grade Awakeners be this fierce nowadays?!"