The students stared and pointed at the fearsome beasts locked up in the cages without a hint of fear. These were just like the animals locked up in zoos, they were no threat to them. 

Some students even casually joked as they pointed, not taking it seriously at all. 

Lei Zhongyuan remembered them, the corners of his lips curling up. 

As a person who had fought these beasts before, Xiang Ning felt intimidated. 

What’re these people thinking? Xiang Ning privately exclaimed to himself. At a minimum, these beasts were at least the equivalent of tier one, four-star martial artists. At least half the students here hadn’t attained that tier yet. 

He recognized the beasts there, including the Savage Sand Rat, Boulder Boar, and Night Cat. They might not look dangerous now, but he knew that when a human entered the cage to fight them, the beasts would soon reveal their violent sides. 

Lei Zhongyuan took a look at the students and asked in his booming voice, “Who’ll be the first?” 

“Me!” Everyone turned to the source of the voice. A student who had blonde-dyed hair walked up, shaking his head with an air of confidence. He held an MX39 Pulse Assault Rifle capable of holding forty rounds of 5.56mm armor-piercing bullets. It had a range of four hundred meters and a cyclic firing rate of nine hundred rounds per second. It could do great damage to the average beast. 

Lei Zhongyuan nodded, gesturing for a soldier to approach. The soldier jogged up to the student and gave him something that looked like a button. This was the gadget Dong Qianyi had mentioned. 

The student was brought into the cage. It was gigantic, enough to fit two brawling beasts. However, that was a limiting factor to a spiritual cultivator, because hot weaponry excelled with range. 

His opponent was a Savage Sand Rat, slightly smaller than the one Xiang Ning had encountered and not as wild. It merely cautiously eyed the student. 

While Xiang Ning wondered why, Fang Rou explained from next to him, “If I’m right, these beasts were raised in pens for training purposes. They aren’t as wild as the beasts outside, but they’re still just as powerful.” That was her deduction based on the rat’s behavior. As a child of a martial family, she was more knowledgeable in the field than students who had lived a life of ease. Just as she finished speaking, the Savage Sand Rat charged at the student.

Tut-tut-tut. 

The spiritual cultivator student fired his rifle. Admittedly, he was a sharpshooter and most of his bullets hit the rat. Yet, the cage was too small. After barely twenty rounds had been fired, the rat had closed in on him. 

Squeak squeak squeak! 

The Savage Sand Rat, covered in bloody holes, glared with its bloodshot eyes and swiped its sharp claws at the student’s neck. 

Whoosh! 

A dagger flew from the student’s pant leg and lodged itself in the rat’s eye, causing the paw to change direction and slam the student to the ground. The crowd then heard dense firing sounds. The male students furrowed their brows, and some girls covered their eyes. 

After some time, the student shoved the rat, whose belly had been chewed to a bloody pulp by the gunfire, off of him. There were some splatters of blood on his face as he calmly stood up. 

Xiang Ning couldn’t help but nod. 

“What do you think of the spiritual cultivator’s fighting technique?” Fang Rou smiled at him. 

After some thought, he replied, “It’s impressive indeed.” 

Fang Rou smiled. “Although they’re powerful, a martial artist can already dodge bullets at tier three. In reality, a spiritual cultivator heavily relies on their spiritual armor. If his dagger hadn’t hit the rat’s eye, he would’ve been forced to activate his armor.” 

Xiang Ning didn’t know much about spiritual armor, so he gave her a quizzical look. 

She gathered her words and explained, “In short, if he activated his armor, it would’ve been difficult for the rat to do any damage in melee range.” 

“So why not train more spiritual cultivators?” Xiang Ning looked around. There were only five spiritual cultivators. 

“The Federation wishes it can, but there are many factors involved. First, there are naturally few spiritual cultivators. Second, spiritual armor is extremely expensive and difficult to produce, so they’re unable to bring the price down, meaning that few people can afford to venture down the path.” Fang Rou was exasperated, too—even the rich had to think twice before becoming a spiritual cultivator. 

“Alright.” He nodded. 

Lei Zhongyuan nodded with satisfaction. This outcome had surprised him. 

“Alright, next!” his voice boomed. It was time to turn up the heat. 

The students who had initially hesitated stepped forward one by one. That was when the nightmares started. The battles were a far cry from what they had imagined; a student’s neck was almost mauled by the Night Cat before Dong Qianyi’s gadget activated and a translucent, light blue shield shot out, causing the Night Cat to bounce off while soldiers rushed into the cage and brought the student out. The student was ghostly pale.

That caused many students to hesitate once more.

Xiang Ning was itching to try for himself. He had been worried about earning more Fury Points, wasn’t this a great opportunity for that? 

Zhao Huatai, who was standing aside, smirked and said, “Don’t pee your pants in there.” 

“You’re weird.” 

Fury Points +66 

Many students stepped forward with Xiang Ning, as there were many more cages. 

Xiang Ning’s opponent was the Night Cat that had almost bitten the other student’s neck in half. He had experience with this animal on the Battle Network; it was quick, but its attacking abilities were only average. Previously, he had terribly lost against it, but he had leveled up since then and he wondered how he would fare now. 

Licking his lips, he felt his adrenaline pumping. This was reality, and he couldn’t restart if he died. 

Initially, he had been arranged to fight the Boulder Boar, but he’d chosen the Night Cat instead. That caught Lei Zhongyuan’s attention and caused him to praise today’s youth for being curious and courageous. 

In the face of the Night Cat, everything else melted away from Xiang Ning’s vision. He gripped his iridium sword tight. The Night Cat seemed to sense that this human was different from the last and grew cautious. 

Xiang Ning didn’t hold back, because if the Night Cat took the lead, he would have to play defense for the rest of the fight. Thus, he used his Fury Points to upgrade his Triple Slash to the Assimilation stage. 

“Triple Slash!” Xiang Ning exploded with energy, moving much faster than he ever had before. That surprised the cat, but it was a characteristically quick animal after all, so it easily dodged his attack. 

“Hiss!” 

Fury Points +155 

The cat powerfully sprang at him, but he prepared for it and his energy levels surged as he swung his sword with the force of an avalanche. “Mountain-Splitting Slash!” 

Whoosh! 

The cat’s head flew high in the air, catching much attention from the crowd and causing Lei Zhongyuan’s eyes to slightly widen.