CHAPTER 31: CHAPTER 31: CRUSHING ALL OPPOSITION, SWEEPING THROUGH THE CHALLENGE

"Mission accomplished, time taken: 1 minute 40 seconds, clearance rating: [Perfect]. You have received 3 contribution points as a clearance reward."

"First clearance of [Little Inferior Demon Camp] on normal difficulty, you have received 4 contribution points as a first-clearance reward."

"Congratulations, Junior Sergeant Fang Zhou, you are the first student in this grade to clear [Little Inferior Demon Camp] on normal difficulty. You have received 10 contribution points as a grade-first-clearance ranking reward, and have achieved the blessing: +1% drop rate of simulation battlefield loot (cumulative 3%)."

"Congratulations, Junior Sergeant Fang Zhou, you completed [Little Inferior Demon Camp] on normal difficulty in 1 minute 40 seconds, ranking 1st on the historical speed leaderboard. You are expected to receive 6 contribution points as a monthly ranking reward."

"Loot drop triggered, you have received 3 contribution points."

"After waiting for 5 minutes, you can continue to challenge the hard difficulty."

A familiar string of prompts echoed in Fang Zhou’s ear, making him somewhat aesthetically fatigued.

Fang Zhou counted his rewards; with almost no effort, his net gain was 24 contribution points.

He lay in the simulation pod and, during the cooldown time of the instance, opened the simulation battlefield interface on his personal terminal.

At this point, the first-clearance leaderboard for [Little Inferior Demon Camp] on easy difficulty had been updated.

Fang Zhou browsed through it one by one; those freshmen who managed to rank on the first-clearance leaderboard amidst tens of thousands of competitors all had extraordinary qualities.

1st place: Fang Zhou, Undead Mage, Middle Rank Apprentice (projected strength suppressed to Lower Apprentice), 1 minute 30 seconds

2nd place: Ye Fan, Demon Hunter, Lower Apprentice, 3 minutes 40 seconds

3rd place: Meng Hongzhuang, Natural Summoner, Lower Apprentice, 4 minutes 20 seconds

4th place: Gu Zhiqiu, Storm Mage, Lower Apprentice, 4 minutes 50 seconds

...

100th place: Zhao Yuan, Earth Knight, Lower Apprentice, 8 minutes 10 seconds

Fang Zhou raised an eyebrow, Ye Fan ranking 2nd was within his expectations.

After all, his [Demon Hunter] profession naturally countered the Little Inferior Demon, and under Fang Zhou’s training, his combat ability had also become quite strong, having mastered the big killing skill [Fallen Heaven Strike].

A mere heavily injured Little Inferior Demon was naturally not an obstacle.

However, the 3rd place being a Natural Summoner he was not familiar with surprised him.

Moreover, this female student named Meng Hongzhuang cleared faster than Gu Zhiqiu, the artillery mage, showing that her strength was not to be underestimated.

The leaderboard did not only consist of rare professions, quite a number of ordinary warriors, archers, mages, etc. were also among the forefront.

Zhao Yuan, as an Earth Knight focusing heavily on defense, managing to be 100th was already quite commendable.

Like Bai Xiaochan, a purely support profession, she was still struggling in the simulation battlefield.

Yet [Little Inferior Demon Camp], a solo-mode simulation battlefield, was indeed not very friendly towards support professions.

This was also Sea City Military Academy’s consideration for enhancing the personal self-preservation abilities of support professionals.

In the subsequent simulation battlefields, the majority would be team-based modes.

By then, these support professionals would become valued, never fearing for a lack of team invitations.

On the contrary, many combat professionals, if their combat prowess wasn’t strong, would find it difficult to attract powerful teammates.

Fang Zhou then looked at the historical speed leaderboard for [Little Inferior Demon Camp] on easy difficulty.

1st place: Fang Zhou, Undead Mage, 1 minute 30 seconds

2nd place: Wen Jiu, Flame Dragon Knight, 2 minutes 40 seconds

3rd place: Qin Lie, Shadow Dancer, 2 minutes 45 seconds

...

Seeing the somewhat familiar name in 2nd place, Fang Zhou was slightly surprised in his heart.

Flame Dragon Knight? The clearance time was only 1 minute 10 seconds slower than his?

Wen Jiu, she was actually that formidable?

Out of curiosity, Fang Zhou then looked at the historical speed leaderboard for [Little Inferior Demon Camp] on normal difficulty.

Wen Jiu still ranked closely behind him, in 2nd place.

A few years ago, when Wen Jiu was studying at Sea City Military Academy, she was always busy and only occasionally returned to Cloud Welfare Institute to visit her family.

Whenever she came back, she would only be focused on playing with Fang Zhou, never displaying her prowess to him.

Thus, Fang Zhou thought she was doing quite well during her days in the military academy but didn’t expect her strength to be as imposing as her figure.

Unfortunately, by the time he enrolled, Wen Jiu had already graduated.

Since he couldn’t cling to her coattails, he could only become his own support.

...

In the conference room, watching Fang Zhou’s clean and efficient display of slaughter, Su Xinyan appreciatively said, "This is the flair that an Undead Mage should have!

From Fang Zhou’s performance, there’s absolutely no problem in directly designating him as the number 1 seed."

Lu Hu immediately concurred, "Major Xinyan is absolutely right!

I think Fang Zhou might even clear all difficulties of [Little Inferior Demon Camp] in one go today."

Su Tiankuo lightly snorted, "Fang Zhou’s combat ability is indeed decent, but the combat difficulty in Abyss Difficulty simulation battlefield is a qualitative leap.

Fang Zhou’s projection is still suppressed to Lower Apprentice, so it’s too soon to make that claim."

Shen Hongyu played mediator, "Besides Fang Zhou, the other new students in this batch have performed quite admirably.

Ye Fan, Meng Hongzhuang, and Gu Zhiqiu have all stormed into the top ranks of the historical speed leaderboard.

They still have significant room for improvement. It looks like the ensuing sequence battles will surely be very thrilling."

Su Tiankuo nodded slightly, saying, "Keep an eye on those students who have shown stellar performance.

Over the next month, screen 200 seed list candidates at a 1:2 ratio.

Then, through the sequence battles, determine the final 100 seed candidates.

Sea City Military Academy relies on these seeds to compete for resources against the other nine major military academies, so we must pick the best of the best!"

Upon hearing this, the instructors nodded in agreement.

They no longer focused on the extraordinarily gifted Fang Zhou, instead spreading their attention to the other students.

...

By this time, 5 minutes had already passed, and Fang Zhou was about to directly challenge the [Little Inferior Demon Camp] on hard difficulty.

After paying 3 contribution points for the entry ticket, Fang Zhou controlled the projection and stepped into the Teleportation Gate.

"Mission: Kill the cunning Little Inferior Demons and destroy the Little Inferior Demon Camp."

Fang Zhou looked at the Little Inferior Demon Camp 30 meters away, feeling slightly shocked internally.

Compared to before, the Little Inferior Demon Camp was no longer just a dilapidated setup.

Three hideously featured Little Inferior Demons were cowering behind wooden fences, hollering loudly at Fang Zhou.

Among them, two Little Inferior Demons wielded steel forks, being melee type. Another held a stone throwing rope, being long-range type.

Fang Zhou slightly shook his head, no wonder they were called "cunning Little Inferior Demons."

These three monsters had a well-coordinated mix of melee and long-range types. Despite having a numerical advantage, they remained in hiding, forcing challengers into a frontal assault.

However, this was not an issue for Fang Zhou.

He raised his Magic Staff, "Come forth, my warriors!"

Several black vortices materialized, and 40 skeletons quickly charged out.

With his high level of skill and the bonus from the [Domination Skeleton] skill, these skeletons’ combat ability might not match the Little Inferior Demons, but the difference wasn’t significant.

What followed was Fang Zhou’s forte—the Sea of Skulls tactic.