Chapter 177 - End of the Trial

"Overeating? What do you mean?" Long Tian asked.

Hei didn't reply immediately but swallowed the saliva that had stuck in his throat before replying," spirit beasts can increase their cultivation by eating the spirit cores of other spirit beasts. Even eating the carcasses helps, although the increase is significantly reduced. However, it is not that they can eat any species of spirit beast indiscriminately. After all, they must digest the assimilated energy afterward. For example, a second-level spirit beast will never be able to absorb the energy of a fourth-level spirit beast. However, there is one exception - overeating."

"Are you saying that spirit beasts can assimilate cores and carcasses of other spirit beasts far superior to them?"

"Yes, but the price to pay is one's life. It consists of a temporary instant power-up. However, when that power-up ends, it is also the moment when the spirit beast perishes. The terrifying thing, however, is that overeating is not being carried out by the termite queen. The termite queen's children are the ones devouring the mother from the inside and acquiring her energy. They won't live long, but in the period in which they are alive, they will have the strength of a second-level spirit beast."

At Hei's words, Long Tian bit his lip. Dealing with second-level spirit beasts wasn't so worrying. They did it until recently, after all. The problem was that by now, all the fighters, whether they were humans or spirit beasts, were almost completely drained of spirit power.

"How fast is this overeating? How many children can the termite queen produce? If we are still in time, we can stop it, or we can fight the termites if there are not many."

"A termite queen of that size can produce up to 30,000 specimens at one time. It means 30,000 second-level spirit beasts. The process of overeating is fast; it is now too late. Even if we retire, we will end up being divided and overwhelmed. We have to fight. Even if they are second-level spirit beasts, since the process started a little while ago, they shouldn't have absorbed all the mother's power yet. It is the best solution. But it's up to you to decide Long Tian. You are the commander."

When Hei finished explaining the situation, Long Tian looked back to make his decision. His first-year classmates were exhausted, and even though they were receiving treatment, they weren't in a condition to fight.

"I trust you, Hei. If what you say is true, then we can only resist. Our only hope is that the termites are not really all second-level spirit beasts and that their power hasn't yet developed. Furthermore, if it is a temporary power-up, we just have to resist until the end of that power up."

Long Tian had made his decision. Without panicking, he had analyzed the information provided by Hei, an expert when it came to spirit beasts. As he lacked on the subject, Long Tian judged it wiser to trust the evaluation of an expert instead of blindly giving orders. Soon, the four imperial horns were played once again. The various surviving humans listened with horror to that sound.

"Isn't it over yet? How is that possible?"

"Hadn't the termite king been defeated?"

"No! Stop! I don't want to fight anymore."

"This isn't the time to ask questions. Immediately close the ranks, get into formation. Martial artist musicians, prepare yourselves for the Battle Concert. Medic and chef units, heal those with more serious injuries in the rear and prepare to enter the battle at any time.

Companions of the first year of the Southern Royal War Academy. I ask you one more effort. One last effort and all this will end. Victory is almost at hand. Don't give up now that we have reached this point."

Long Tian's voice rang out across the battlefield. His confident tone infused courage in his companions who had lost the will to fight. One last effort and they could get out of this nightmare. They had survived so far, and they would survive this final clash as well.

As Long Tian rearranged his troops and coordinated with the lords of the forest, thousands and thousands of termites began to emerge from the cave humming a chant of death.

'For our father, for our mother. Kill those who threaten us.'

Looking at that sea of ​​angry termites, everyone trembled but took courage. A shield known as Long Tian stood before them. The prestige and authority of the Imperial Family was a powerful tool, especially in desperate situations like this.

"We men and women of the Sun Empire will not be defeated without fighting! "

"WELL SAID!"

All of a sudden, a voice echoed throughout the forest. The sound was unmistakably that of a human. Unconsciously all the living creatures gathered there, be they the termites, or the coalition of humans and spirit beasts of the forest looked up in the sky.

Standing at a hundred meters above them was suspended a handsome man, like a hero of some ballad. The first-year students of the Southern Royal War Academy recognized him instantly.

"Teacher Song Yazhu! "

"It seems that things have fallen into a bizarre turn. We will have the opportunity to clarify what happened, but first-" Song Yazhu released his spirit power. "Law of Light, Holy Light Fist!"

Song Yazhu moved his arm down in the direction of the army of termites. A white light was emitted from his hand, and it completely enveloped every single termite. This light was so bright that no one was able to see what happened. But only being there, all the spectators could feel the power behind that attack.

A monster. That human is a monster.

It was the thought of many of the first-year students, and the spirit beasts gathered there. It was unusual to witness the power of someone who had attained the rank of spirit king; after all, such individuals showed their power only in battle.

When the light dissipated, there was no trace of termites left. There was only a gigantic crater that stretched hundreds of meters underground. Song Yazhu's fist had utterly obliterated the 30,000 termites in an instant.

"I am not aware of the details, but I sense that you have collaborated with my students. For this reason, I won't do anything against you. However, I invite you to move away now. I wish to have a word in private with them."

After arranging the termites, Song Yazhu then turned to the five lords of the forest and the other native spirit beasts who had gathered to fight the group of termites and the armies under their control.

Until now, the five lords of the forest had shown a confident and cheeky attitude at times. Even in front of Long Tian, ​​one of the Imperial Princes, they hadn't experienced any fear. But now, in front of that man, the five lords of the forest could only obey. Without delay, they ordered their subordinates to gather their fallen comrades and retire to their respective territories. However, they didn't forget the reward promised by Long Tian and also brought five corpses of the eight termite guards.

Long Tian let them do it. In any case, it was part of the established agreements, and they had earned their reward. Even without the blood pact forcing him, he was a person who kept his word. If he retraced his steps, his credibility would have been damaged. In order to have the respect and loyalty of a person, reputation was an important factor.

In that way, the gruesome trial in that forest of horrors ended. With the arrival of Song Yazhu, the situation was brought to a calm. Every single surviving student who hadn't joined Long Tian but had remained hidden in some corner of the forest was recovered. The bodies of the fallen were also collected so as to deliver them to the families. However, many of these had gone missing, probably devoured by the spirit beasts of the forest.

Of the approximately initial 4900 students, only 3400 remained. Three thousand were those who had fought under the orders of Long Tian, while the other 400 were the various martial artists hidden in the maze of the forest. One thousand five hundred victims, this was the final toll.

The War Academies were also known as the Death Academies due to the high mortality during the three years of study. Still, it was the first time that such a high death toll had occurred in a single trial. And this had happened even though it was the Southern Royal War Academy, one of the most prestigious War Academies, where only the best of the best were gathered.

The academy investigated what had happened but ultimately dismissed it as a mere accident. An unfortunate accident but still an accident. To compensate for the lost numbers, the Southern Royal War Academy proclaimed an extraordinary enrollment, going to recruit even many of the most talented geniuses of less prestigious academies. However, the actual transfer would only happen within a month.

Meanwhile, the survivors of the terrible ordeal had returned to the academy. For this month, there would be no lessons so everyone could recover and focus on their cultivation. After all, a great opportunity had occurred in the misfortune - the rewards arranged by the academy and the empire.

The forest incident had taken many young lives, but those who remained alive and fought alongside the Imperial Prince Long Tian had gained an impressive number of spirit cores - 35 spirit cores each.

Although it may have seemed little, it was known that on average, one person managed to hunt two spirit beasts per day, three if they were lucky. It was because the spirit beasts were very shrewd and made the most of the house advantage. Besides, students were forced to act slowly and cautiously to avoid being attacked by whole packs.

This time, however, each of them had gained 35 spirit cores to which were added those they had previously earned, not to mention a higher quantity of first-level spirit cores. If you add up everything, the number of contribution points per person reached an astonishing number.

Hei and Lian had, therefore, gained 35 spirit cores. Of these, five were used as evidence of passing the trial, leaving only 30 spirit cores to them. But that number was more than enough for them to buy resources for them and Ye and Xing as well. It was because Hei and Lian didn't need to purchase weapons because they had those created by Bao Bai. Besides, their fighting style was more or less consolidated, so they didn't need to buy a large number of technique manuals, thus being able to limit their expenses.

In addition to those cores, however, another core shouldn't be forgotten - the third-level spirit core of the termite king. Since the two youths had contributed enormously to achieving the victory, the core value was split into two - one part went to Hei and Lian, the other part to Long Tian. Unfortunately, the third level spirit core of the termite queen had been lost, devoured by its own children. But even if it was a shame, it wasn't such a significant loss considering the total amount.

*

One week after the end of the test, Hei and Lian

Hei's room was sitting on the bed, meditating. On his legs, his little sisters were peacefully sleeping. Lian, on the other hand, was intent on reading a thick book about formations. Since they returned, the young blue-haired woman had immersed herself in books. She wanted to avoid finding herself unprepared against weapons such as talismans in the future and therefore began to study their functioning.

Knock!

There was a knock on their door. Hei opened his eyes and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Leon." it was heard from the other side of the door.

"Leon? Come in, do you need something?" Hei waved his hair with his spirit power, and with them, opened the door handle.

Leon's figure was revealed when the door was opened. The young man unusually looked gloomy, as if there was something that tormented him.

'It's been since we came back that he is like this. I thought it was perhaps due to the stress of everything that happened in the forest. But it seems not to be so.'

"Come in, don't stand still in the doorway." Hei again urged Leon to enter.

Leon nodded and entered the room. Lian quickly handed him an empty chair, and she went to sit next to Hei. In order not to disturb the two young men, she removed Ye and Xing from Hei's legs.

"From your expression, it seems that it is something you want to tell me. Don't hold back. You can talk to me." Hei proclaimed. He wanted to understand what was troubling his companion.

"Hei, Lian, Ye, Xing. I owe you an apology. Because of me, you all took a big risk, it was my job to block that termite, but I couldn't."

Finally, Leon said what he had hidden in his heart for all the week. Of all Hei's companions, he was the one who most felt a sense of helplessness for what had happened. His failure had endangered not only all his classmates but also all the other first-year students. Hei had done a lot for him, and it was only thanks to him if Leon had made so much progress. However, when it came time to pay him back, Leon had failed in his task.

"Is this what torments you? If so, don't worry. Neither I nor Lian or my sisters hold a grudge against you. Instead, we are grateful to you. Without you, Lang, Fenrir, He Fen, Mareo, Haruno, Mia, and Lillian, we would have been really in danger. So don't worry and calm down." Hei said, trying to comfort Leon, who didn't seem relieved at all by Hei's words.

"There is also another thing I have to talk to you about. No, I have to talk to all of you. For now, I will tell you and Lian, but soon I will tell the others as well. I have tried many times to reveal it, but I was ashamed. Maybe you don't realize it, but you have a charisma comparable to that of Long Tian. Maybe for those who don't know you, it's hard to notice. But for us who are near you, it is as clear as the existence of the sun or moon. I didn't want to say anything because I feared that I would no longer have the qualifications to be with you. But I can no longer hide it, not if it puts my companions in danger."

"What are you talking about, Leon? I can't understand your train of thought." Hei stopped sitting on the bed and got up. He could sense that there was something essential that Leon wanted to tell him.

"The truth is that ... the truth ... the truth is that I don't possess an Elemental Law."