Yue Linglong clearly knew what Hu Mingshan was thinking. With Zhou Chen's help, Class Two could indeed achieve excellent results in this assessment.
But so what? Class One's overall quality was clearly much better. Besides, with a wild card like Feng Hao in the mix, there was no guarantee they would lose!
Feng Hao had finished distributing the pills. He then shouted in a snide tone, "Now that you have the pills, go all out in the fight. Don't embarrass our Teacher Yue, got it?"
"Understood," everyone replied in unison. Although they were all annoyed with Feng Hao, they had, after all, accepted his handouts.
Yue Linglong naturally caught the hidden meaning in Feng Hao's words and couldn't help but smile, pursing her lips. "You need to work hard too, Feng Hao. If you achieve outstanding results, I can apply to the dean to have you officially enrolled."
"Tch, who cares!" Feng Hao scoffed, curling his lip in disdain.
To be honest, as long as you had money, being an auditing student wasn't that different from being an official one, and it offered more freedom.
As for whether he was officially enrolled, he couldn't care less. To put it bluntly, even if Zhao Hao himself offered him a spot as an official student now, he would refuse.
Yue Linglong's pretty face showed a moment of astonishment. She frowned and said, "Do you really want to be a freelance Mage? To be ostracized and looked down upon for your entire life?"
"That's my business. You don't need to worry about it," Feng Hao said with a placid expression, changing the subject. "Look, Teacher Yue, the pills have all been handed out. Don't you think it's time we head into the back mountains?"
"Sigh, forget it!" Yue Linglong sighed, then turned back and announced, "Alright everyone, listen up. Prepare to enter the back mountains."
After speaking, she shot Feng Hao an irritated glance. 'I was actually thinking of getting him transferred to be an official student. Maybe in the future, I could have even recommended him to the Advanced Academy I attended. But this guy just has to be so ungrateful.'
Feng Hao, of course, had no idea what Yue Linglong was thinking. All he wanted right now was to get himself a decent set of gear as soon as possible!
A large group of students surged into the back mountains. Yue Linglong and the other teachers followed close behind, responsible for both monitoring the assessment and protecting the students' lives.
"Hurry up, keep up! Your class president is going for first place!" Xi Yueyao shouted, taking the lead and occasionally glancing back to yell a few words.
Feng Hao and the other three walked calmly behind, all of them choosing to ignore the girl.
Perhaps because he'd been beaten up before, the chubby kid, Zhang Meng, kept his head down at the very back of the group, intentionally maintaining a safe distance from Feng Hao.
Li Mufeng and Tu Xiaoshan, on the other hand, were more relaxed. Both were quiet kids who hadn't had any friction with Feng Hao!
"Ahem," Feng Hao cleared his throat and said, "From now on, I'm the captain. As long as you all follow my command, I guarantee you'll return loaded with spoils. Also, if you have any target magical beasts in mind, you can mention them now."
Li Mufeng and Tu Xiaoshan naturally had no objections to Feng Hao's proposal to be captain. As for Zhang Meng, even if he did, he wouldn't dare voice them.
But Xi Yueyao was not happy. "On what grounds are you the captain? I'm the class president, so I should be the captain!"
"..." Feng Hao was speechless. He shot her an exasperated look, but thankfully, he was quite experienced in dealing with this girl's little whims. "Fine, fine, you can be the captain. I'll be the one giving orders, how about that?"
"Hehe, now that's more like it!" Xi Yueyao was instantly satisfied.
Having dealt with the little troublemaker, Xi Yueyao, Feng Hao turned back to Li Mufeng and the other two. "No need to be so formal. We're all teammates, so feel free to voice any opinions you have."
"No objections here. We'll just follow your lead," Tu Xiaoshan said, scratching his head.
Li Mufeng and Zhang Meng also nodded in unison.
Feng Hao didn't waste any more time and stated his plan directly. "I plan to check out the outskirts of Breeze Forest. You guys interested?"
All three of them were stunned. Li Mufeng asked in surprise, "We're going straight to Breeze Forest?"
"What, you have that little confidence in yourselves?" Feng Hao asked with a slight smirk.
Li Mufeng hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's mainly that my current damage is only enough to handle magical beasts around level twelve. Going to Breeze Forest would be a bit of a struggle."
"I don't have much damage either, but I should have no problem holding down a magical beast around level fifteen," said Tu Xiaoshan.
Feng Hao smiled faintly. "With me here, don't worry about damage. Just do your best to create an opening for me when the time comes."
"Can you really do it?" Zhang Meng couldn't help but blurt out.
Feng Hao gave him a surprised look, then smiled. "You'll see soon enough whether I can do it or not. Besides, my target this time is a Tier Two Ghost Wolf. If you're scared, you can back out now."
"Tch, you think I'd be scared?" Zhang Meng sneered. Suddenly, it dawned on him, and his eyes went wide. "What did you say? A Tier Two Ghost Wolf? You want to hunt a Tier Two magical beast?"
It wasn't just him; Li Mufeng and Tu Xiaoshan were also stunned. "Captain, don't joke around! We can't handle a Tier Two magical beast!"
"Is that all the ambition you guys have?" Feng Hao said, annoyed. "It's just a Tier Two magical beast. Is it really that hard for five people to kill one?"
"Do you have any idea how terrifying a Tier Two magical beast is?" Zhang Meng said, exasperated, the fat on his body jiggling.
Feng Hao replied calmly, "Relax. When the time comes, all you need to do is coordinate with each other. Leave the damage dealing to me."
"With an aptitude like yours, how much damage could you possibly deal?" Zhang Meng sneered.
"Why don't you come and feel it for yourself?" Feng Hao's gaze was playful.
Zhang Meng froze. Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he could only bite the bullet and say through gritted teeth, "Fine! If you really have enough damage to kill a Tier Two magical beast, I'll follow you from now on!"
After speaking, Zhang Meng strode in front of Feng Hao, puffed out his chest, and stood there like a lamb to the slaughter.
'I hope you keep your word,' Feng Hao thought with a hidden smile. He walked right up, didn't even use his Dark Moon Dagger, and simply sent a kick flying.
BAM!
Zhang Meng let out a muffled grunt and fell to the ground, his face instantly turning deathly pale.
"How'd that feel?" Feng Hao asked with a smile.
Zhang Meng struggled to his feet, his eyes locked on Feng Hao and filled with utter disbelief. He had a physique-type aptitude himself. Although he was only level thirteen, his Qi Blood was already over ten thousand. But Feng Hao's kick had just wiped out half his health—and that was without even hitting a weak point for bonus damage.
"How is that possible?!" Zhang Meng still couldn't believe it. "Even someone at the Dark Force Fifth Layer shouldn't have that kind of damage!"
"There's a lot you don't know," Feng Hao said with a slight smirk, taking out a Tier Three Blood Recovery Pill and handing it to him. "Here, take this and recover."
Zhang Meng accepted the Blood Recovery Pill with a complicated expression and swallowed it. Then, steeling himself, he said, "A bet's a bet, and I lost. From now on, you're my boss!"
"Hehe, that's more like it! Isn't it much better when we all get along?" Feng Hao laughed.
Nearby, Li Mufeng and Tu Xiaoshan were dumbfounded. Tu Xiaoshan, in particular, as a Defensive Mage, was endlessly curious about Feng Hao's damage. "Hey, why don't I give it a try?"
"Tu Xiaoshan, are you trying to pick a fight too?" Xi Yueyao pouted, displeased.
Tu Xiaoshan awkwardly scratched the back of his head and said, "You've got it wrong, Class President. I just want to experience the captain's damage for myself."
Feng Hao chuckled in amusement. "Alright. This way, I can also find out where your defensive limits are."
"Bring it on, Captain. I'm pretty tough," Tu Xiaoshan said confidently with an honest smile.
Zhang Meng found Tu Xiaoshan's masochistic behavior completely incomprehensible.
"Mm," Feng Hao nodded, then lunged forward and smashed a fist into Tu Xiaoshan's chest.
BAM!
He was a Defensive Mage, after all. Tu Xiaoshan didn't collapse like Zhang Meng had. He just gritted his teeth, let out a muffled grunt, and involuntarily took a few steps back.
Feeling Feng Hao's monstrous damage, Tu Xiaoshan's expression was just as shocked as Zhang Meng's had been. After a moment of stunned silence, he spoke without the slightest hesitation, "Boss, I'll follow you from now on, too!"
"..." Feng Hao was speechless. 'How did a simple team formation turn into a ceremony for recruiting underlings?'