novelraw Chapter 310: Are There Even Instructors Participating in This Academy Grand Competition?
Chapter 310: Are There Even Instructors Participating in This Academy Grand Competition?
"Dragon-blooded Griffin?"
"Y-yes, teacher... That's a magical creature close to the Epic Level, so I..."
"Silence!"
In the dimly lit room, a middle-aged man sitting on a throne forged from white bones snorted coldly.
The next moment, he raised his hand. The black-robed sorcerer before him instantly showed a terrified expression: "Teacher, spare me, I... uh..."
His pleas for mercy were quickly stifled. In the next moment, his entire body was lifted up by a large hand formed from black mist.
Beneath the bone mask, the pair of eyes that seemed about to pop out were filled with fear.
"Pop—"
A sound like something being punctured rang out. In the next moment, his body directly exploded, bursting into a pile of fragments on the ground.
Only a head remained, rolling a few times on the floor with a *gulugulu* sound. The bone mask also shattered, revealing a gaunt face. His eyes were still wide open, his features twisted."Useless trash!"
On the throne, Vega Richie snorted coldly. The next moment, he casually waved his hand. Black mist enveloped the remains before him. A few seconds later, a skeleton slowly stood up from the ground.
He didn't look at the newly born undead before him. Instead, he tapped the armrest of the throne with his fingers, pondering in his heart.
Actually, he had heard before that members of the Oxivis Family were currently active in the Royal Capital of the Doria Kingdom, and he also knew of the existence of the Dragon-blooded Griffin.
It's just that in the original plan, this would not affect his operation.
Using the opportunity of this Hunting Competition to harvest a large batch of kingdom geniuses as materials would allow him to create many undead with considerable strength and great potential. Then, just as the outside world was beginning to react, he would have this batch of newly born high-quality materials lead a large number of undead, quickly transfer through the Silent Forest as a natural barrier, and launch a surprise attack on the many small towns around the Royal Capital. Sacrificing the living beings in these areas would help the new materials grow rapidly while also continuing to expand the scope of the undead disaster.
By that time, the Undead Cataclysm would have gained momentum. A single Dragon-blooded Griffin would already be difficult to change the overall situation. Even that little girl from the Oxivis Family might not dare to intervene, and might simply give up and leave, returning to the Empire.
If everything proceeded smoothly, the Doria Kingdom would undoubtedly become his possession.
Devouring an entire kingdom would greatly increase his strength. By then, he would also have the capital to scheme for more.
But now, the first link of the plan had encountered a problem.
The number of geniuses successfully ambushed and killed by the undead wasn't high. The most important target hadn't been captured either, and for some reason, they had even obtained that detestable Holy Light Power!
What's more troublesome is that the news had also been leaked. The old folks at the academy had started to act. Even that little girl from the Oxivis Family had come to the Silent Forest with that Dragon-blooded Griffin.
Even with the backup plans he had prepared, it would be difficult to resist so many Transcendent Levels. So, in fact, the choice made by his foolish disciple wasn't wrong. Abandoning this plan and leaving in time would preserve their strength instead.
But... performing one's duties poorly, how could there be no punishment?
After all, whether human or undead, for him, there wasn't that much difference.
"Lin Mo."
Vega Richie heavily recited that name: "A lackey of the Holy Light... Very good, I've remembered you!"
The sudden incident during the Hunting Competition shocked all the surrounding kingdoms.
The participants of the Hunting Competition suffered heavy losses. According to statistics, the number of geniuses who died at the hands of the undead reached over a hundred!
Those who lost their lives couldn't even have their bones recovered, having become "materials" for the Necromancer to summon undead.
Because of this, the Doria Kingdom had faced immense pressure these past two days.
After all, among the deceased contestants, there were also people from several other kingdoms.
And while the root cause of this accident was the Necromancer, the reason the Necromancer had an opportunity to exploit was ultimately inseparable from the betrayal of the City Lord of Fargard City and Duke Morin.
Over these past few days, the high-level officials of the Doria Kingdom had been running around like headless chickens. A series of apologies and compensations made the already financially strained Doria Kingdom's situation even worse.
As for Duke Morin, the mastermind, he was personally arrested by the Kingdom's Guardian State Preceptor while fleeing. Together with the City Lord of Fargard City, they were thrown into prison, awaiting execution on a chosen day.
The vast Morin Family collapsed overnight. All existing assets were confiscated by the state, which at least gave the nearly driven-mad King some breathing room. At least there was money to pay compensation now.
And the Noren Trading Company also became one of the biggest beneficiaries. From now on, they would have no rivals. Furthermore, due to their intervention in the Silent Forest, the Doria Kingdom had to "show some appreciation."
However, all of this had little to do with Lin Mo.
After leaving the forest, he brought everyone back to the academy and rested for two days.
During this time, Lin Mo also checked the gains from the previous battle.
In that earlier battle, the newly learned Paladin skill [Holy Light Strike] was indispensable. The 3x damage effect was exceptionally powerful. Both Level 20 undead were slain using this move.
And the proficiency gained was naturally also astonishing.
Killing Level 20 at Level 16 meant surpassing 4 levels to kill monsters, granting an additional 150% proficiency increase.
[Holy Light Strike] proficiency +180 (+270)
The two monsters combined gave a full 900 points of proficiency, exceeding the total 650 points required for an Exceptional-Grade Skill, with quite a bit wasted due to overflow.
The [Holy Light Strike] skill directly leveled up to max and completed its evolution.
"Skill [Holy Light Strike] Lv1 (10/10) has leveled up!"
...
"Gained basic attribute points: Mana +1, Constitution +2!"
"Current skill [Holy Light Strike] Lv7 (Max)!"
"Gained basic attribute points: Mana +2, Constitution +3!"
"Has automatically evolved into a new skill—Holy Light Judgment!"
"Comprehended skill [Holy Light Judgment]! Gained basic attribute points: Constitution +2, Mana +3!"
[Holy Light Judgment]: Use the power of Holy Light, transform it into a sword of Holy Light, and deliver judgment! (Deals an additional 50% damage to dark attribute targets, and an additional 200% damage to undead creatures!)
The new Epic Level skill was named [Holy Light Judgment], also a pure offensive skill, possessing the same special attack effects against dark attributes and undead creatures as [Holy Light Strike].
Apart from that, earlier when Lin Mo used [Shadow Split] to create a clone to help reduce pressure on those students, he also killed some monsters. This skill's progress also received a significant boost, accumulating several hundred proficiency points in total, rising to Level 7.
There was also [Attribute Enhancement]. This skill was applied on a large scale to allies earlier, also brushing up a lot of proficiency, directly increasing to Level 4.
"Skill [Attribute Enhancement] Lv1 (10/10) has leveled up!"
...
"Gained basic attribute points: Mana +3!" *3
"Current skill [Attribute Enhancement] Lv4 (4/100)"
This skill was rather special because it was a three-in-one skill, essentially Strength Enhancement plus Agility Enhancement plus Constitution Enhancement. So the gains were also threefold, directly increasing a total of 9 points of basic Mana attribute.
At this point, Lin Mo's basic Mana attribute had reached 254 points, unquestionably triggering another level up.
"Promotion conditions met. Profession Mage (lv16) promoted—Current profession Mage (lv17)"
"Gained profession attribute increase: Constitution +2, Agility +2, Spirit +7, Mana +11!"
This leveling speed was simply like riding a rocket.
Because of this, Lin Mo had also been dedicated to helping those around him improve their strength over these two days.
The [Shared Cultivation] skill had also increased to Level 5.
And the results were quite good. It seemed that because the difference in strength had grown larger, the effect was particularly excellent.
Ellie reached Level 9. Finnie was even more exaggerated. Perhaps because Lin Mo's Mage level was higher and his Mana attribute stronger, her progress had completely caught up with Ellie's, even surpassing it a bit. She wasn't far from Level 10 either.
Then there were Sherfilia and Lena...
Sherfilia seemed to have been stimulated. She had been exceptionally diligent these past few days. Apart from cultivating, she was cultivating with Lin Mo, rarely even neglecting her primary duties.
However, Lin Mo could also understand because he had heard from the others about their previous encounter with Nolan and Shirleyas. He clearly understood that it was probably Shirleyas's words that had dealt Sherfilia quite a blow.
Of course, diligence bore fruit. Sherfilia successfully broke through to Level 10 and was striding towards the Elite Level.
As for Lena, she had been studying diligently at the academy these past few days. Combined with Lin Mo's earlier help in obtaining Mana for her, her progress in the Planter profession had been very significant. She was just hampered by insufficient Mana quantity, which was still somewhat limiting. So over these two days, Lin Mo helped her directly raise her Mana attribute to a level equivalent to a Level 4 Mage.
This airplane-like speed of improvement would probably shock her classmates.
The reason for such rapid improvement, besides Lin Mo's strength increasing again and the attribute gap widening, was also related to the effect of that "skill transmission."
Lin Mo had numerous skills. Just randomly acquiring one or two during the process could add some attributes. Moreover, in subsequent cultivation, already acquired skills could also quickly increase in proficiency.
Not only did this make attribute improvement faster, but actual combat power also grew stronger.
"Master, it's time for the meal."
Lin Mo lay comfortably on the lounge chair, leisurely basking in the sun.
Recently, the Silent Forest had been unstable, so it wasn't suitable to take on missions and venture out. Other regions could be considered, but for safety's sake, it was better to wait until the situation had completely settled down.
Also, Lin Mo was still waiting for the rewards... waiting for the Hunting Competition rewards.
Although the Hunting Competition ended halfway due to the Necromancer, the rewards still had to be distributed. They were still distributed based on the rankings on the points leaderboard. Lin Mo was unsurprisingly ranked first, and it was an ultimate, gaping first place. The scores of those ranked 2nd to 10th combined weren't as high as his, barely reaching a fraction of his score.
Eve ranked second. If not counting Lin Mo as an anomaly, she was essentially the actual first place. Her score was also not much different from Flora's from the previous competition.
If it were before, Eve might have been somewhat dissatisfied with this result. But now... it didn't matter anymore. She had come to terms with it.
Over these two days, she had come to find Lin Mo twice, saying she wanted to seek advice on some cultivation-related questions.
However, Lin Mo felt he didn't really have much to teach. After talking about it, it was better to simply exchange a few moves, which also served as some exercise.
Every time Eve came, she would bring some gifts. Nothing precious, just things like fruits, snacks, but all prepared quite meticulously.
Lin Mo slowly sat up from the lounge chair. When he arrived in the living room, he found Eve was also there.
"You've come at just the right time, let's eat together."
Lin Mo said as he went to sit at the dining table.
"..."
Eve nodded, made a sound of acknowledgment, and then didn't speak further. She wasn't the eloquent type, usually quiet most of the time. When she had nothing to do, she would sit alone in a corner reading.
Ellie's gaze shifted back and forth between Eve and Lin Mo. To be reasonable, she wasn't a particularly sharp girl. But even so, after a few days, she could tell that there was definitely something going on between these two.
However, apart from her, Lena and Finnie were both the kind of naive and unaware children. Sherfilia was clear-headed about it but didn't care, so no one had said anything.
"There's about a week left until the Academy Grand Competition."
At the dining table, Eve suddenly said.
Lin Mo had heard about the Academy Grand Competition before. Currently, there were three great empires on the continent, each with its corresponding sphere of influence. In a sense, it was almost like the world was divided into three.
The kingdoms within an empire's sphere of influence, although nominally not vassals of the empire but independent kingdoms, actually more or less had various connections with the empire, just a matter of how deep the relationship was.
For small kingdoms like the Doria Kingdom, their connection with the empire hadn't been close before... because the empire's nobles and powers looked down on such small kingdoms.
But now they had the cooperation of the top-tier Oxivis Family.
The reasons were, on one hand, because of Lady Bessie and Finnie, and on the other hand, to help the young Nolan gain experience.
And this kind of experience wouldn't last long. Soon, Nolan would complete the integration of the Doria Kingdom's alchemy market and then go to a larger kingdom or simply return to the empire.
Back to the main topic. The so-called Academy Grand Competition was a martial arts competition for the young, organized by the Violet Empire and held throughout its sphere of influence.
You could call it a dueling ring version of the Hunting Competition, super plus edition.
All kingdoms within the Violet Empire's sphere of influence, including geniuses from the empire itself, would participate in this grand competition.
"Yes, our instructor mentioned this the past two days and even asked me to participate..."
Ellie chimed in.
Eve's gaze remained fixed on Lin Mo: "Are you going to participate?"
"Of course."
Lin Mo nodded: "Doesn't it sound quite interesting?"
Moreover, regarding this matter, he had already promised Flora before.
Anyway, the grand competition wouldn't last long, ending in three days. If one performed well, there were rewards. For an empire-level competition, the rewards definitely wouldn't be poor.
"By the way, Miss Eve, I heard that for the Academy Grand Competition, it's not just students who participate?"
Finnie, who had been silent all along, suddenly inquired from the side.
"Ah?"
Lin Mo was instantly stunned and looked at Eve.
What did she mean? Could it be that there were even instructors competing?