For the annual assessment trials, the academy always designated a crafting area on campus to attract Artifact Refiners from all over.
This practice was mutually beneficial. It helped the students get their armor and equipment made, and it also allowed the Artifact Refiners to hone their skills while earning a good amount of Magic Crystals.
The higher an Artifact Refiner's skill, the higher their fee. Of course, for common materials, the level of skill didn't make much of a difference. The gap in craftsmanship only became apparent when processing rare materials!
Rongcheng Academy was, at the end of the day, just a junior academy. Most students were below the third rank, so the materials they could obtain were limited. As a result, there wouldn't be a huge disparity in armor quality.
On Feng Hao's team, only the Violent Bear materials from that Yao Girl, Xi Yueyao, could be considered rare. Entrusting them to an Advanced Refiner could provide a significant advantage.
Now, on the second day of the assessment, most students had already gathered their materials, making the crafting area exceptionally lively.
"This way, Boss! I know a really skilled Artifact Refiner." Zhang Meng volunteered, leading the group forward.
Feng Hao and the others naturally had no objections. It was better to have a personal connection with an Artifact Refiner; it would save a lot of time searching.
Low-rank equipment was crafted quickly. Many students in the bustling crowd were already wearing their new armor, all of them grinning from ear to ear, brimming with confidence.
Led by Zhang Meng, the group arrived at a simple Artifact Refining Workshop. Inside, a burly man was hammering a piece of armor. When he saw Zhang Meng, he broke into a grin, revealing two rows of pearly white teeth on his dark, swarthy face.
"Little fatty, you got all your materials?" the burly Artifact Refiner asked, his gaze warm.
"Of course." Zhang Meng shook the chubby flesh on his face and said, "Uncle Tie Niu, these are my teammates. We're counting on you for our armor."
Tie Niu glanced up at Feng Hao and the others, saying confidently, "Don't worry. I can handle a few more, no problem."
"This is Uncle Tie Niu, a Level 4 Refiner. You can definitely trust his skills!" Zhang Meng turned to introduce him to the group. "Everyone, take out your materials. If you have any special requests, you can tell him."
"Then we'll be in your hands, Uncle Tie Niu." The group didn't waste any time and laid out their materials.
Tie Niu stopped his work and came over to look through the five sets of materials, a confident expression on his face the whole time. "Huh, Violent Bear hide? Not bad, not bad. Leave it to me; I won't let it go to waste."
"Mm, I've taken a quick look. Aside from the Violent Bear hide and the Ghost Wolf hide, I'll charge the normal price for the rest. For the Violent Bear and Ghost Wolf sets, I'll charge the rate for Rank 2 armor. Since you're the little fatty's teammates, I'll give you a twenty-percent discount," Tie Niu mused.
"The cost isn't an issue. Just try to make mine as form-fitting as possible," Feng Hao said with a light chuckle.
Tie Niu couldn't help but give Feng Hao a few extra glances. "Alright. Write down your measurements and requests. I'll have the little fatty pick them up for you tomorrow."
"Sounds good," Feng Hao nodded in understanding and asked, "How many Magic Crystals will that be in total?"
"The little guy's got some money, huh!" Tie Niu sized Feng Hao up and down. "Let's call it fifty thousand Magic Crystals for all of you."
"Here you go." Feng Hao paid readily, then wrote down his measurements and requests along with the others.
...
After leaving the Artifact Refining Workshop and exchanging a few pleasantries, the five of them went their separate ways. The next step was to seize the time to cultivate, wait for their armor to be completed, and prepare for the combat assessment in two days.
Xi Yueyao wasn't as diligent as the other three. She clamored to hang out with Feng Hao, to which he could only react with a sense of helplessness.
Feng Hao didn't leave in a hurry. Instead, he started wandering around the crafting area, and Xi Yueyao tagged along, fooling around.
The reason Feng Hao was wandering was mainly to learn more about Artifact Refining. As for Yao Girl, she was completely idle and pestered him to relieve her boredom.
Perhaps because the girl was too conspicuous, they ran into her older sister, Xiyue Frost, after only a short while.
"Yaoyao, why are you with this guy again?!" Xiyue Frost had a huge problem with Feng Hao. She immediately pulled Xi Yueyao to her side, staring at Feng Hao defensively.
"Sister! Feng Hao isn't as sleazy as you think!" Xi Yueyao pouted, displeased.
"You're still young. You can't just judge things by their surface," Xiyue Frost pleaded earnestly.
Feng Hao's face darkened when he heard this. 'Looks like I'll never be able to shake off this "sleazy" label.'
"Come on, come back and cultivate with me." Xiyue Frost clearly had no desire to speak with Feng Hao. She started pulling Xi Yueyao away. "The combat assessment is just around the corner, how can you not be the least bit anxious?"
"It's only two days. How much can I possibly cultivate?" Xi Yueyao muttered with a pout.
"Yaoyao! You're not like him. With his low gene activity, it doesn't matter how much he cultivates; he'll only get so far. But you're different. If you train hard for two days, you might even go up a level."
...
Watching the two sisters' retreating figures, Feng Hao opened his mouth, then just shook his head with a wry smile.
At this point, Feng Hao was in no mood to wander around anymore. He turned right around and headed for the Enhanced Cultivation Pod facility. 'Damn it, I can't let this woman look down on me forever, can I?'
Arriving at the facility, Feng Hao dove straight into a cultivation pod and began to train.
'So what if you have high gene activity? Is that so amazing? I've got plenty of Magic Crystals. I refuse to believe that with the double boost from the Enhanced Cultivation Pod and Magic Crystals, I still can't catch up to you guys.'
As it turned out, the effect of training with this double boost was incredibly significant. In just two days, Feng Hao successfully broke through to Level 17.
Perhaps for those geniuses with a gene activity of over one hundred, this was their normal cultivation speed, but Feng Hao wasn't discouraged.
In his view, a gap that could be closed with external aid wasn't a real gap at all. Only things like one's magic foundation aptitude and branch talent were irreparable innate disparities.
His own magic foundation aptitude was poor, but he possessed a heaven-defying racial talent like [Black Pupils]. As long as he was given time to grow, all those so-called geniuses would be nothing but trash!
'Level 17. One step closer to Level 20.'
After expertly allocating his [Gene Essences], Feng Hao could clearly feel the improvement in all aspects of his body. Although the boost wasn't huge, every little bit counted!
"Boss, Boss, come out and get your gear!" Zhang Meng's voice shouted from outside the pod.
Feng Hao hurriedly exited the cultivation pod, his eyes locking onto the dark-colored armor in Zhang Meng's hands. "It's finally done!" he said, pleasantly surprised.
"It was actually ready yesterday, but I didn't want to disturb your cultivation, so I waited until today," Zhang Meng said with a smile. "The combat assessment is about to start. Boss, hurry up and try it on."
"Yeah." Feng Hao nodded and eagerly slipped back into the cultivation pod.
Before putting it on, he naturally had to check the equipment's stats. For convenience, he didn't use his Divine Sense to perceive them, but directly checked his game-like panel. In an instant, the data for the four pieces of Ghost Wolf Hide Armor appeared before his eyes:
[Ghost Wolf Hide Tunic] (Rank 2)
Protection: 16
Resilience: 22
Weight: 31
Breath Concealment: 25
[Ghost Wolf Hide Pants] (Rank 2)
Protection: 16
Resilience: 22
Weight: 28
Breath Concealment: 18
[Ghost Wolf Hide Boots] (Rank 2)
Protection: 16
Resilience: 22
Weight: 25
Breath Concealment: 20
Speed Bonus: 5%
[Ghost Wolf Wrist Guard] (Rank 2)
Protection: 16
Resilience: 22
Weight: 12
Breath Concealment: 15
It was Rank 2 armor, after all. The overall stats were much better than he had expected, but hide armor ultimately had its limitations, namely its relatively low Protection and Resilience.
The reason Feng Hao had chosen Rank 2 equipment was, for one, because he wasn't far from Level 20, and for another, because he had an aptitude for agility, his Speed stat could handle the weight penalty.
If he really wanted to, he could even wear Rank 3 armor, but that would inflict a massive penalty on his Speed, causing him to completely lose his advantage in that area. The loss clearly outweighed the gain!
Snapping back to his senses, he changed into the Ghost Wolf Hide Armor. It felt reasonably form-fitting. He moved around, satisfied, and directly opened his attribute panel to check his stats:
Gene Level: 17
Qi Blood: 7200 (2100)
Vitality: 32 (15)
Magic Power Value: 170
Strength: 227 (108)
Hidden Power: 884
Magic Damage: 119
Defense: 208 (21)
Gang Qi: 510
Speed: 438 (105)
Attack Speed: 219 (117)
Divine Sense: 204
Breath Concealment: 248
Divine Sense Strength: 34
Weak Point Enhancement: 34
Because of the weight penalty, his Speed stat had dropped from 513 to 417. Fortunately, the [Ghost Wolf Hide Boots] provided a 5% speed bonus, so his current Speed was 438.
Meanwhile, his Breath Concealment stat had risen from 170 to 248—a very noticeable increase!
To be honest, Breath Concealment was one of Feng Hao's weaker stats. The main reason he chose materials that boosted it for his armor was because of [Black Pupils].
The effect of [Black Pupils] that doubled his concealment ability could maximize the returns from his Breath Concealment stat. One had to understand that for every point his Breath Concealment was higher than his opponent's, the damage he dealt would increase by 1%. Moreover, it could also effectively weaken an opponent's Divine Sense lock-on and detection.
All in all, Breath Concealment was an excellent damage-boosting stat. Many sniper-type ranged Mages chose it as their primary attribute. It not only increased their damage but also allowed them to hide themselves effectively.
Furthermore, Feng Hao's other weak stats were also very obvious, especially Divine Sense, Defense, and Magic Power Value.
Defense could be compensated for with speed and skill, and Magic Power could be replenished with pills, but his Divine Sense was a real headache.
Fortunately, melee Mages didn't rely heavily on Divine Sense. If he were a ranged Mage, it would be difficult to hit enemies from a distance with such a low stat, let alone hit their weak points.
"First place comes with a reward of one million Magic Crystals. If I can win it, I'll earn back all the money I spent on my sponsorship," Feng Hao mused with a wicked grin.
When he stepped out of the cultivation pod, he looked like a whole new person.
"The Boss is the Boss, you look sharp in anything!" Zhang Meng jiggled his fat and immediately started sucking up.
"Alright, cut the flattery," Feng Hao said with a smirk. "Just put in some effort during the assessment. Don't embarrass me."
"Don't worry, Boss, I've got some skills!" Zhang Meng patted his chest confidently.
"Mm, let's go together!"
With that, the two of them hurriedly left the facility and rushed toward the location for the combat assessment.
The assessment was being held in the academy's largest venue, the Central Square, where the combat trials would take place under the watchful eyes of statues of outstanding alumni from past generations.
By the time Feng Hao and Zhang Meng arrived, the square was already a sea of people. The three school years were divided into three areas, and the two quickly found the gathering point for Year 1, Class 1.
Yue Linglong stood quietly in front of the class. Seeing Feng Hao approach, she couldn't help but ask, "Feng Hao, were you hurt in that incident last time?"
"It was nothing, it's all resolved now," Feng Hao said with a nod. "And thank you for stepping in back then, Teacher Yue."
"It was what I should have done. Besides, I wasn't much help anyway," Yue Linglong said, shaking her head with a wry smile.
"I'm already very grateful that you were willing to intervene, Teacher!" Feng Hao's gaze was sincere.
To be honest, back then, facing an expert of Steward Zhang's caliber, the fact that Yue Linglong dared to stand up for him despite the risk already made her worthy of the title "Teacher."
Yue Linglong nodded, her expression complicated. "Go rejoin the group and get ready for the assessment," she said softly.
Feng Hao didn't waste any more words and turned to join the Class 1 ranks. Perhaps because of the pills he had sponsored before the trial, the gazes of the Class 1 students were noticeably warmer.
"Pill-peddling boy, over here~!" Xi Yueyao chirped, happily pulling Feng Hao over to her side.
"Yao Girl, what's got you so happy?" Feng Hao asked, his curiosity piqued by her cheerful demeanor.
Xi Yueyao smugly lifted her chin and huffed, "Your class president is already Level 15. Impressive, right?"
"Impressive, very impressive!"
Feng Hao couldn't help but give her a thumbs-up, though he felt a bit helpless inside. He had used all sorts of methods to speed up his cultivation, yet this girl was still hot on his heels in terms of level. 'It's a joke! This girl barely even trains normally!'
'What can you do? Her gene activity is just that high.'