"Student Ryan, do you really want to sign up for the trial?"
Gareth Nolan, one of the instructors of Aegis Martial Academy, looked at Ryan in front of him and frowned slightly.
"Although any Blood Warrior Apprentice can participate, it's best not to participate unless you have at least around 100 kilograms of strength. Otherwise, it's very easy to die during the trial."
He had seen several students like Ryan before.
They always thought they might get lucky and obtain beast blood without properly considering the danger.
Although the truly dangerous beasts had already been cleared from the trial area, some of the remaining wild beasts were still more than capable of killing weaker Blood Warrior Apprentices.
Students who had only recently reached the Blood Warrior Apprentice level were especially vulnerable unless they relied on numbers or powerful equipment.
"Teacher, I've already reached Blood Warrior Apprentice Upper Stage."
Ryan said calmly.
Gareth looked at him with some surprise.
Ryan continued,
"I have already formed a group. With enough people working together, we should have a good chance of getting something from the trial."
Ryan deliberately said this.
He naturally had no intention of telling Gareth that he planned to act alone.
"Blood Warrior Apprentice Upper Stage?"
Gareth looked at Ryan again.
He clearly hadn't expected Ryan's strength to have improved so quickly.
After a short pause, he nodded.
"Alright. It's your own decision anyway."
"But if you sign up, you need to sign a life-and-death waiver. Once you've signed it, even if you die inside the trial area, Aegis Martial Academy will not provide compensation."
"I know."
Ryan signed the document calmly.
"Ten days from now, come to the academy's No. 5 Training Ground before eight in the morning. An instructor will take you there."
"Yes, Teacher."
After successfully registering, Ryan breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn't intend to waste the next ten days.
Although he was confident in himself, his strength was still limited, and he needed to make some preparations.
For example, buying weapons and equipment.
In this era, there were few restrictions on carrying weapons, and weapons themselves were divided into several categories.
Weapons forged from ordinary metals were simply considered normal weapons.
Above them were Essence Weapons, forged using special materials that could conduct Original Essence far more efficiently.
Ryan couldn't afford an Essence Weapon, nor did he particularly need one at his current level.
The quality of a low-grade Essence Weapon was not necessarily much greater than that of a well-made ordinary weapon.
Its true advantage was its compatibility with Original Essence.
After visiting a weapon shop, Ryan bought a fine-steel monster-slaying saber, a bow, and a bundle of arrows.
The equipment cost him 8,500 denari.
That was a significant amount of money.
Ryan originally had around 34,000 denari available to him, and after this purchase, only 25,500 remained.
But these preparations were necessary.
In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.
...
Aegis Martial Academy, No. 5 Training Ground.
When Ryan arrived, he saw nearly a hundred students already gathered there, and it was obvious that not everyone had arrived yet.
He estimated that at least another few dozen students would participate.
"It seems the attraction of beast blood is really strong."
Ryan thought to himself.
For students without exceptional cultivation talent, beast blood represented an opportunity to increase their cultivation speed.
After waiting for about half an hour, the students were basically all present.
There were roughly one hundred and sixty in total.
Many were older students.
There were even several in their early twenties.
There were relatively few younger Blood Warrior Apprentices like Ryan.
After all, being young usually meant having had less time to cultivate.
With so many students entering the trial, some might never return.
But in this world, lacking strength could mean dying at any time.
Only strength could provide real security.
"Everyone's here. Get on the buses!"
An instructor shouted.
Soon, several large vehicles appeared in front of the students.
Many of them immediately stared.
For most of them, it was the first time they had seen such vehicles outside of textbooks and old records.
"Teacher, I thought vehicles from before the catastrophe couldn't be used anymore?"
One student asked.
"These aren't old vehicles."
The instructor smiled.
"They're newly developed buses powered by Original Essence. Greyhaven obtained the technology from a much larger survival city."
"They've only recently entered service. At the moment, private vehicles using this technology are still extremely expensive, and generally only Blood Warriors or wealthy families can afford them."
"Original Essence-powered vehicles..."
The students immediately understood.
Some of them had heard about similar Essence-powered equipment before, but they hadn't expected Greyhaven to already possess it.
The students boarded the buses, and the convoy headed toward the outskirts of Greyhaven City.
About an hour later, the buses passed through one of the enormous city gates and entered the wilderness beyond.
The moment they left the protection of the city walls, many students became visibly nervous.
Dangerous beasts inhabited the wilderness.
Against truly powerful beasts, Blood Warrior Apprentices had almost no ability to resist.
"Don't worry."
The leading instructor noticed their expressions and smiled.
"Greyhaven's Blood Warriors cleared this route recently. There shouldn't be any dangerous beasts within roughly five kilometers of us."
"Our destination is a controlled wilderness zone less than two kilometers farther ahead."
Hearing this, the students visibly relaxed.
There were also more than ten academy instructors traveling with the convoy, and each of them was at least a Rank 1 Blood Warrior.
Their safety on the journey was well protected.
It didn't take long before a valley appeared in the distance.
"This valley is our destination."
The instructor introduced it.
Several buses were already parked near the entrance.
They belonged to students from the other martial academies participating in the joint trial.
"It's Aegis Martial Academy."
"Hah, they actually sent this many people?"
"How many of them have even fought real beasts before? First Martial Academy regularly gives us practical combat experience. Their students probably haven't even seen real blood."
Several students near the First Martial Academy buses laughed.
"Keep your voices down. Aegis is backed by the Windsor family. Mock their students all you want, but don't take things too far."
The students doing most of the taunting were from First Martial Academy.
The students from the other academies were not much stronger than those from Aegis and naturally had little reason to mock them.
"Damn it, those First Academy students are too arrogant."
Several Aegis students muttered angrily.
But they only complained among themselves.
None of them actually walked over to confront the First Martial Academy students.
They knew there was a genuine gap between the two sides.
First Martial Academy had access to better resources and provided its students with far more practical combat experience against beasts.
After getting off the bus, Ryan's gaze settled on the students of First Martial Academy.
His copying ability was available again.
"The students of First Martial Academy should have much better talents."
A faint light flashed in Ryan's eyes.
"There might even be someone with a High or Advanced Martial Art Talent, or another talent worth copying."
"This time, I might be able to find another worthwhile talent to copy."