Gu Qing stood beside him, all smiles.
She held a bamboo cup filled with freshly cooked rice porridge.
The steaming hot porridge brought out the aroma of the bamboo.
The scents of rice and bamboo mingled, creating a very pleasant smell.
Looking at Gu Qing's lovely face and bright smile, Zhao Chi felt his mood lift.
Tang Ruan and the other women also stood to the side, watching Zhao Chi.
Zhao Chi waved his hand. "Don't just stare at me. Go on, eat up. Eat plenty so you can recover your strength quickly."
They didn't have any bowls or chopsticks.
The female villagers used the bamboo cups, one for each person, blowing on the hot porridge before drinking.
Soon, they were all sweating from the hot meal.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads and the tips of their noses.
They ate cup after cup, without stopping.
They finished off the entire large pot of rice porridge completely.
Zhao Chi could tell they still weren't full.
'Might as well cook more porridge, then. Let them keep eating.'
He opened the system and saw that their Attributes hadn't fully recovered yet.
His gaze shifted down, and he noticed the messages in the class group chat were at 99+ again.
So he clicked on it.
He browsed the contents.
The earlier messages were just routine chatter.
But the latest ones were all discussing Cao Feng's video.
Cao Feng had posted another video.
It was like a live stream of a battle, as if he was trying to prove a point.
At the start of the video, his three Shadow Leopards fanned out in a triangular formation to draw the attention of two Giants.
Lu Yi's five Elves and the Elf Hero lined up in a fan formation, drawing their Wooden Bows and aiming at the Giants.
After Cao Feng used a Skill, he issued a command.
The three Shadow Leopards rapidly approached the Giants.
They successfully caught the Giants' attention.
One Shadow Leopard darted in, took a bite, and ran.
The Giant immediately flew into a rage, its speed suddenly increasing.
The other Giant, seeing its companion attacked, also entered a combat state.
"Holy shit, how are they so fast? Are they really the Agile Type?" came Cao Feng's surprised voice.
"Cao Feng, have your Shadow Leopards draw them away! Don't get close to the Giants, it's dangerous!"
That was Lu Yi's voice.
"Fucking impossible! These two Giants have their center of gravity shifted back, and their arm and leg muscles are equally developed. How could they be the Agile Type?"
"Forget about that, just pull back!"
"That son of a bitch Zhao Chi..."
"What does Zhao Chi have to do with this? He was right! Get back here! Everyone, on my command, focus fire on the Giant on the left!"
The Elves loosed their arrows simultaneously.
The Shadow Leopards ran at full speed, with the Giants in hot pursuit.
Against Power-type Giants, the Shadow Leopards could indeed kite them with ease, and with the Elves' Bow and Arrow support, they could have achieved a flawless victory.
But it was a different story with the Agile Type.
Although the Shadow Leopards were still faster than the agile Giants, kiting them was basically impossible.
"Watch out, the Giant is about to throw its Stone Axe!" Lu Yi shouted.
"I know! Dodge, now!" Cao Feng commanded nervously.
The Giant, while running, threw its Stone Axe horizontally.
The Shadow Leopard leaped to dodge it.
But another Stone Axe came hurtling toward it.
"Shit, it can't dodge!" Cao Feng yelled in panic.
THUD!
The Stone Axe shattered the Shadow Leopard's hind leg.
The beast shrieked in pain, trying to flee on three legs.
But its speed plummeted, and the other Giant caught up to it.
It brought its axe down heavily.
SPLAT!
The Shadow Leopard let out one last cry and died.
"You motherf..."
In the end, all that could be heard was Cao Feng's curse.
The video ended there.
It didn't show the final Battle Result.
This made the cadets nervous.
They all started asking about the two of them.
After all, if things went south, even the Lords themselves could be in danger.
Fortunately, Lu Yi posted a message:
[Cao Feng and I are fine, no need to worry. We killed both Giants. Cao Feng lost 2 Shadow Leopards, and I lost 1 Elf. It's an acceptable price to pay.]
'So he really did lose two Shadow Leopards, just about what I said.'
The cadets started discussing again.
Most were consoling Lu Yi, while a few consoled Cao Feng.
Cao Feng couldn't help but defend himself.
[Everyone makes mistakes. Certain people shouldn't get too smug. Don't think being right one time means anything.]
Shi Juan immediately replied, [Brother Cao is amazing, what a great mindset.]
Kong Xiang chimed in, [Exactly. Everyone makes mistakes. I wonder who in our class is always at the bottom, though.]
Zhao Chi also sent a few voice messages:
[Cao Feng, it's alright. Losing 2 Shadow Leopards to learn a lesson is a very small price to pay.]
[Everyone should take a look at "A Compendium of Experience with Common Races," written by the Master Level Lord, Xiang Long. It's all based on real combat experience.]
[Kong Xiang, Shi Juan, Zheng He, Li Ke—you little followers don't need to read it. Focus on learning your coursework first.]
Cao Feng got agitated again.
He spammed the chat furiously.
This time, the system showed no mercy and muted him immediately.
When his followers saw this, none of them dared to say anything too outrageous anymore.
They could only resort to being passive-aggressive.
After all, there were no cell phones in this world.
Getting muted by the system meant you couldn't send any more messages, which would be very inconvenient.
And now, Zhao Chi could speak freely.
Cao Feng couldn't talk back.
But Zhao Chi wasn't going to waste time on him now; there would be plenty of opportunities later.
Among the commoners, Cao Feng's family was considered well-off.
But they only dared to run their mouths, not do anything to Zhao Chi for real.
After all, the Lord Academy was a military academy with fairly strict discipline, which these commoners had to obey.
Zhao Chi shook his head and closed the system.
'Better go help Gu Qing cook more porridge.'
Before long, the second pot of porridge was ready.
Just as Zhao Chi was about to grab the pot, Gu Qing quickly stopped him. "Careful, it's hot. Let me."
Gu Qing, holding some wet cloth scraps, wrapped them around the pot handles and then lifted the pot with one hand.
That was a pot full of rice porridge.
Gu Qing lifted it as easily as if it were empty.
'As expected of someone with 7 Power.'
Tang Ruan was ladling out the porridge. She turned her head and asked, "Lord, would you like another cup?"
Zhao Chi waved his hand. "No, thanks. I'm full. You all eat."
"What about Sister Gu?"
"I'm full too."
"Okay."
In no time, this pot of rice porridge was also eaten clean.
Zhao Chi was almost about to buy more rice.
Fortunately, Tang Ruan and the others were all full.
That was a whole 10 kilograms of rice.
Zhao Chi and Gu Qing had only eaten two bamboo cups each; the rest was all consumed by Tang Ruan and the other women.
That was equivalent to 1 kilogram per person.
'They can really eat.'
After two large pots of porridge, their smooth bellies were all bulging.
As if they were several months pregnant.
Tang Ruan rubbed her belly and explained to Zhao Chi:
"Lord, it's just this first time that we're eating so much. Normally, we eat about as much as Sister Gu. We won't eat this much in the future, so please don't look down on us."
Zhao Chi smiled. "How could I possibly look down on you? Eat your fill. No matter how much you eat, I'll do my best to provide."
Tang Ruan: "Hehe, *hic*~"
Gu Qing laughed. "You're even hiccuping. Looks like you're really full."
"Oops~" Tang Ruan covered her small mouth.
Zhao Chi opened the system again.
He saw that all the women's Attributes had changed.
Each of their four Attributes had reached 6 points.
Their Total Attributes were all 24 points.
They had truly reached the level of having the Power of a Beastman and the agility of an Elf.
Among them, Tang Ruan's Attributes were indeed higher than the others, just as he had speculated.
[Name]Tang Ruan
[Attributes]26 Points (Excellent)
[Constitution]8 (Outstanding)
[Power]7 (Extraordinary)
[Agility]6 (Commendable)
[Intelligence]5 (Adequate)
Tang Ruan was a unique individual.
Her Intelligence was 1 point lower than the other women.
Fortunately, Intelligence didn't represent IQ, and Tang Ruan wasn't stupid.
Her agility was on par with her Racial Attributes.
But her Power was 1 point higher, the same as Gu Qing.
It was hard to imagine that a delicate-looking woman like Tang Ruan could possess the strength of a serious weightlifter or a Second Level Athlete.
If this weren't another world, Zhao Chi would never have believed it.
In most cases, appearance and Attributes were related.
But there were also many times when they weren't, and you couldn't judge by appearances.
Therefore, one should never underestimate any enemy and must treat them with 100% seriousness.
Tang Ruan's Constitution was extremely high.
Even Gu Qing needed her Talent bonus to reach 8 points.
But Tang Ruan had a base of 8 points in Constitution.
If Tang Ruan were to level up and gain Enhancement Points...
...then putting them into Constitution-related Branch Attributes would give a high Bonus, an 8% enhancement each time.
'In that case, Tang Ruan is very well-suited for the tank role.'