The students quietly packed their things, preparing to leave.
In fact, there wasn't much to pack. Since over fifty years ago, various schools have already promoted paperless teaching, and students don't have many things they can bring into the school.
They all received their diplomas. Once they leave this classroom, they will no longer be classmates.
Li Yiming, however, was different. He quickly packed his things and swiftly left the classroom.
They had all received their diplomas, so if a fight broke out at this point, Yan Luo wouldn't be disciplined.
Yet Yan Luo couldn't even be bothered to glance at Li Yiming. He shouldered his backpack and left the classroom.
When he reached the classroom door, Yan Luo paused, looking into the room. Guo Xu hurried over, and the two walked together.
"Were your physical test results really bad?"
The sparse crowd moved in the stairwell. Guo Xu, grabbing the straps of his backpack, asked Yan Luo.
Yan Luo was silent for a moment and nodded.
Guo Xu sighed. He had already guessed that Yan Luo's physical test results were probably bad. Otherwise, Yan Luo wouldn't have shown such a disappointed expression at the time.
"Is it the engraving compatibility? Or the magic adaptability?" Guo Xu asked in a low voice.
Yan Luo didn't answer. He controlled the image to appear on his glasses' lenses with a thought and sent the picture to Guo Xu.
Guo Xu had a chip implanted in his body, so he wasn't wearing smart devices. The information Yan Luo sent was projected onto his retina. When he could clearly see the information in the image, Guo Xu couldn't help but widen his eyes.
"With these results, you still want to become a Hunter?"
Engraving compatibility was 'none', magic adaptability was 'extremely low'. Even among humans, such a situation was very rare.
"Yes." Yan Luo did not hesitate in the slightest.
Guo Xu furrowed his brows and tried to persuade him, "Maybe you should just forget it. It's not like only Hunters can eliminate Demons..."
"Guo Xu." Yan Luo suddenly spoke, interrupting Guo Xu.
Guo Xu stopped and quietly looked at Yan Luo.
The two of them walked out of the teaching building and arrived on the ground. Yan Luo looked up at the sky, and Guo Xu followed his gaze.
A huge light blue energy shield encompassed the entire city like a bowl turned upside down on the ground. Outside this protective shield was the wilderness already polluted by magic power, where animals mutated by magic wandered everywhere.
"I'm not like you. The reason I'm able to maintain good grades is that I work hard. But actually, my mind is not as smart as yours. Even if I become a researcher, I might spend my life in mediocrity and never invent particularly powerful equipment to help Hunters and soldiers clear the Abyss." Yan Luo shook his head, patted Guo Xu on the shoulder, and then strode forward.
Guo Xu was stunned for a moment, then hurried to keep up with Yan Luo's pace.
"But without engraving compatibility, you can't imprint anything on your body, and with extremely low magic adaptability, it's even worse. Even if you forced an engraving, you wouldn't gain any growth."
Following Yan Luo closely, Guo Xu chattered continuously, "You know, whether it's gunpowder weapons or electromagnetic weapons, they can harm mutated animals, but it's different with Demons. They're hard to damage unless you're up close. To be blunt, going into close combat with Demons when you can't imprint, isn't that courting death?"
Yan Luo suddenly stopped, and Guo Xu nearly bumped into him.
They'd left the school gate and arrived at the bus stop.
Almost at the exact moment they stopped, the bus Yan Luo needed arrived.
"I've made up my mind, don't try to dissuade me further."
Getting on the bus, Yan Luo turned back to the worried Guo Xu and said, "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. I won't die before getting my revenge."
The bus doors closed, separating Yan Luo from Guo Xu.
The bus, hovering five centimeters above the ground, then started and soon moved out of Guo Xu's sight.
"Not worried, yeah right..."
Guo Xu lowered his head and couldn't help muttering.
Watching Guo Xu's fading figure, Yan Luo turned around, leaned back in his seat, his eyes showing a hint of confusion.
Eighty years ago, the Abyss suddenly descended upon Blue Star, causing enormous impacts on the environment from the very start. The mutated animals rampaging outside the cities today were transformed under the Abyss's magic power pollution.
At that time, some even called the Abyss a 'Secret Realm', believing it was a divine gift to Blue Star.
Because just then, the first commercial controlled nuclear fusion reactor was officially completed, and everyone thought Blue Star was on the verge of entering a glorious era. Yet little did they know, the Abyss's advent not only failed to usher in a golden age but instead plunged Blue Star into a dark one.
The magic power spewing from the Abyss could infect not only plants and animals but even humans.
The first batch of animals mutated by magic power seemed terrifying, yet humans at the time couldn't imagine that both gunpowder and electromagnetic weapons would prove ineffective against them, leading to a serious underestimation of the 'Secret Realm's danger.
It wasn't until the first Secret Realm exploration that humankind was shocked to discover that their most proud weaponry struggled even against the weakest Demons.
Subsequently, multiple Secret Realms descended simultaneously all over the globe, causing animals everywhere to mutate.
Only then did humanity realize the so-called 'Secret Realm's perilous nature.
The country with the strongest military power at the time directly bombed the Secret Realm with missiles, but the realms remained unscathed, even after withstanding the explosions, causing no damage.
The president and congress of that nation, overwhelmed by fear, resorted to humanity's mightiest weapon—nuclear bombs—against the Secret Realm.
Nobody realized that they were opening Pandora's box.
Rather than being destroyed, the Secret Realm seemed to absorb the energy of the nuclear explosions and rapidly expanded outward.
Helpless against the Secret Realm, humanity saw more and more mutated animals. Moreover, when the magic power concentration on Blue Star reached a certain limit, Demons, which originally only lived in the Secret Realm, swarmed out to attack human settlements near the Secret Realm.
A massive number of humans were killed, and Blue Star entered the 'Lost Decade'.
During those ten years, humanity engaged in intense resistance, showcasing the strong resilience of the primate kings. Blood and tearful ballads resounded worldwide, playing a majestic symphony of defiance.
After the lost decade, Blue Star transitioned into the 'Abyss Calendar', which has lasted for seventy years until now.
Similarly, this year marks the seventieth anniversary of the Blue Star Federation's founding.
Apart from the founding of the Blue Star Federation, the hallmark of Blue Star humanity's emergence from the 'Lost Decade' was the official birth of the most powerful weapon against the Abyss—[Engraving].
Humans couldn't directly use magic power. Without protection, humans exposed to magic power would get infected and mutate, just like ordinary plants and animals.
But with engravings, humans could harness magic power, drastically enhancing their personal combat abilities.
Seventy years have passed, and the engraving system has matured. The entity known as [Sequence] is a branch of the engraving system, and it's the thickest one.
Yan Luo didn't have engraving compatibility, meaning he couldn't adapt to any engravings. Even if he forced the process, his extremely low magic adaptability would make it hard for the engraving to develop.
—Not to mention the possibility of failure during the engraving process.
Under such circumstances, if he wanted to become a Hunter, he would have to rely on his mortal body to fight Demons.
…Even so, he still wanted to become a Hunter!
Yan Luo took a deep breath, got off the bus, and entered the fiftieth floor of the apartment building.
His residence was on the fifty-sixth floor. Every twenty-five floors of the apartment building had a platform for the bus to stop, and the fiftieth floor was the closest platform to his home.
Entering the elevator, Yan Luo turned to face the transparent side of the carriage, watching the traffic flow between the skyscrapers, as flying cars ascended and descended, crisscrossing in order.
He strived to imprint this scene into his mind because today was probably the last day he would see such a sight. From now on, he would reside permanently in the exploration town adjacent to the Abyss, possibly staying until the Abyss was destroyed or until his own death.