After witnessing Astret's power, Zhou Mingyang grumbled, but he knew very well in his heart that Astret was indeed stronger than him!
"I don't know what kind of monster popped out of nowhere. From his aura, he doesn't seem to be an Ability User."
"Yet, he kills first-order fierce beasts as easily as slicing melons and dicing vegetables."
After silently complaining a few times, Zhou Mingyang continued on his path of killing fierce beasts.
He might not be as strong as Astret, but he still had to secure that second place.
So, he moved through the Central Area, looking for fierce beasts he could handle and kill.
The first two hours were fine; he would occasionally encounter lone first-order intermediate fierce beasts or small groups of only three or four fierce beasts.
But by the third hour, Zhou Mingyang clearly felt that there were far fewer fierce beasts on the road.
And by the fourth hour, he had been wandering in the Central Area for a long time and couldn't even see a single fierce beast!
"What's going on? Where have all the fierce beasts gone?"
Zhou Mingyang was dumbfounded, kicking a fist-sized pebble by the roadside in frustration.
As an Ability User, his strength was considerable.
The kicked stone shot out, hitting a rusty iron billboard with a loud bang.
If it had been before, he would never have made such a move that would attract the attention of fierce beasts.
But now, he actually hoped that some fierce beasts would be attracted.
However, no fierce beasts were attracted; instead, a few humans were.
This was a group of three—two men and one woman—who were walking this way, waving from afar to greet him:
"Yo, Mingyang."
"How did you all end up together?"
Zhou Mingyang looked at the three people who walked up to him with a puzzled expression.
Like him, they were all students from First High School's Rocket Class, first-order lower-tier Ability User.
They all knew each other; they were old acquaintances.
Besides him, these three occupied the other three spots in the top five of the Martial Arts ranking.
"You'll have to ask Astret about that."
The bald-headed boy on the far right shrugged helplessly.
"Astret killed all the fierce beasts in the Central Area. We couldn't find any fierce beasts, so we had no choice but to team up."
The girl in the middle added in a soft, cute voice.
She was petite but carried a large saber, creating a strong sense of contrast.
"We've been wandering around here for over half an hour. When we heard a sound, we thought it was a fierce beast."
"We excitedly ran over, but it turned out to be you."
The long-haired boy on the left shook his head and sighed.
"Astret killed all the fierce beasts? How is that possible?!"
Zhou Mingyang frowned, instinctively choosing not to believe it.
After all, to prepare for the Martial Arts college entrance exam, there were at least three to four hundred fierce beasts released into the Central Area!
It was simply impossible to kill so many fierce beasts in just a few short hours!
"You clearly haven't checked the rankings in a while. Look, just check Astret's score and you'll know."
The bald-headed boy opened his smartwatch, and with a buzz, the ranking interface was projected into the air.
'First Place, Astret, 3435 points (Jiangcheng Second High School)
Second Place, Zhou Mingyang, 1103 points (Jiangcheng First High School)
Third Place, Wu Hao, 945 points (Jiangcheng First High School)
…'
"Th-three thousand four hundred-plus points?!"
Looking at Astret's terrifying score in first place, the usually elegant Zhou Mingyang almost had his eyes pop out.
"Now you know why we said Astret killed all the fierce beasts, right?"
The bald-headed boy closed the virtual projection with a bitter smile.
"Killing a first-order lower-tier fierce beast earns about 14 to 16 points, and killing a first-order intermediate fierce beast earns about 20 to 22 points."
"3435 points—even if you deduct the 700-plus points he earned in the Central Area, he still has over 2500 points."
"That means Astret alone killed nearly two hundred fierce beasts in the Central Area!
And the few of us also killed quite a few. Adding it all up, didn't he just kill all the fierce beasts in the Central Area?"
Zhou Mingyang was stunned by these words.
After entering the examination hall, he had only thought about killing as many fierce beasts as possible to get a higher score.
But he had never thought that there would be a time when the fierce beasts would all be killed!
"Damn it! No wonder Astret was so afraid of having his kills stolen earlier; he had already thought of this!"
Thinking back to his initial conversation with Astret, Zhou Mingyang felt as if ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through his mind...
"3435 points! This score is too heaven-defying! Astret is at least in the top ten of Jiangnan Province!"
"Top ten! Top ten! When has our Jiangcheng ever achieved such a good result?!"
"A new record! Astret broke our Jiangcheng's record!"
"..."
While Zhou Mingyang in the examination hall was shocked by Astret's score, the principals and teachers outside the examination hall were already overjoyed.
3435 points guaranteed that Astret would make it into the top ten of Jiangnan Province.
And this achievement was Jiangcheng's best result in history!
"I never thought that Astret could achieve such a level with just that long spear!"
Second High School Principal Zhao Yao felt hot all over, unable to control his excitement.
What was the concept of being in the top ten of Jiangnan Province? That was a prodigy whom the top 10 Ability User universities nationwide would scramble to recruit!
"A unicorn emerged from the fields; I never thought our Jiangcheng could have a student like Astret!"
Education Bureau Director Zhang Wenshan was also smiling from ear to ear.
At this point, he no longer cared that Astret only had an E-Class Ability.
After all, with such an achievement, even an F-Class Ability would have schools fighting over him!
"But Astret is truly insane. In just three or four hours, he almost killed all the fierce beasts in the Central Area."
"It seems he might become a battle maniac in the future!"
Zhou Mingyang and the others didn't know how many fierce beasts were released into the Central Area, but as the Director of the Education Bureau, how could Zhang Wenshan not know?
A total of 450 first-order lower-tier fierce beasts and 40 first-order intermediate fierce beasts were released into the Central Area!
Excluding the fierce beasts that died from mutual combat and the number killed by Zhou Mingyang and the other three.
Astret alone killed almost half of the fierce beasts in the entire Central Area!
And this only happened within three or four hours, which indirectly proved Astret's terrifying strength.
"Astret's parents both died in a beast tide when he was young. Perhaps because of this, he hates fierce beasts so much."
Homeroom teacher Chen Fan added.
"So that's how it is."
Zhang Wenshan nodded in sudden understanding, his expression turning cold. "Hmph! One day, we humans will exterminate all fierce beasts!"
"Don't worry, that day will come."
Thinking of the brutality of the fierce beasts, Principal Zhao Yao also added in a cold voice.