Looking at the small blue bottle in his hand, a complex expression flashed across Ryan's face.
Silver Deer Blood, as the name suggests, is the blood of the rare beast known as the Silver Deer, and this blood is rich in Essence Qi, which can directly improve the physical qualities of those below Rank 1 Blood Warrior, so it is a precious medicine.
However, its price was extremely high, and it was often out of stock on the market, so he had never expected Elias to go to such lengths for him.
Of course, he didn't need this bottle of Silver Deer Blood to save him right now, but Elias's actions still weighed heavily on his heart, because although he knew that this "affection" had not originally been directed at him, there was no doubt that he was now the one receiving it.
"I must find a chance to return it!" Ryan said to himself.
Although Ryan didn't know what Elias had sacrificed to obtain this Silver Deer Blood, his intuition told him that Elias must have paid a heavy price for it, so this bottle had to be returned no matter what, but that would have to wait until after the assessment.
By then, he would have passed the test and would naturally no longer need it, and as for now, even if he returned it, Elias definitely wouldn't accept it.
At dawn, just as the sun was rising, a group of young men and women dressed in brigandine armor appeared in the testing hall of Aegis Martial Academy, and they were the students of Ryan's year.
Students in the other grades also had mid-year and year-end assessments, but theirs were scheduled separately, after all, Aegis Martial Academy had a six-year program with more than two hundred students in each grade, totaling over 1,200 students, and it would be far too crowded for all of them to take the assessment together.
"Look, that guy is here."
When Ryan entered the testing facility, he immediately noticed that many eyes were fixed on him.
Ever since he had received guidance from Aurelia Voss, he had become something of a celebrity in his grade, and some looked at him with curiosity, but most of the gazes were filled with jealousy.
Because of their own hesitation, they had missed the opportunity to receive one-on-one guidance from Aurelia, yet they felt both envy and jealousy toward Ryan, who had seized it.
This is the psychology of ordinary people, if they can't have something, they don't want anyone else to have it either, and if someone does obtain it, that person naturally becomes the target of their jealousy.
"All of Lady Aurelia's guidance was wasted on him, he still can't pass the test, if I were him, I wouldn't even have the face to show up."
"It's a pity, if only I had gotten that opportunity, my saber technique would have improved a lot."
These past few days, Ryan had already grown accustomed to people pointing at him and whispering behind his back, after all, mouths grow on other people's faces, and there was little he could do about it.
As for fighting them, Ryan knew he couldn't bring himself to fight a group of young people over a few words, so his strategy these days had simply been to ignore them.
"Hmph, just wait until you get expelled!"
Suddenly, Ryan felt a cold gaze fixed on him, and when he turned his head, he saw Derek Holt staring at him with a sneer.
"This guy is really persistent!" Ryan raised an eyebrow.
He could tolerate the others, but he truly wanted to teach this guy a lesson, because he could see a wolf-like ruthlessness in Derek's eyes.
He was certain that, given the chance, Derek would kill him without hesitation, and he even suspected that the incident that had led to the original Ryan's death and his own unexpected transmigration had not been an accident, in other words, the other party had probably acted with the intention of killing Ryan.
"Ryan."
At this moment, a figure suddenly appeared and stood between Ryan and Derek, it was Elias, and his intention was obvious, he was afraid that Ryan and Derek would start fighting again.
"Yeah, you're here."
Seeing Elias blocking his view, Ryan didn't mind and greeted him naturally.
Although he did want to teach Derek a lesson, he wouldn't act impulsively in a place like this, after all, today's assessment was the main event, and he would truly regret it if he missed it.
"Huh? What happened to your face?" Suddenly, Ryan frowned.
He had noticed a large bruise on Elias's left cheek, one that definitely hadn't been there when they met yesterday afternoon.
"Yeah, it's nothing, I just tripped and fell." Elias looked away, avoiding Ryan's gaze as he spoke in a calm tone.
"..."
Ryan didn't speak, but simply stared at Elias for a long moment.
If they had been ordinary people, that explanation might have made sense, but as students of Aegis Martial Academy, their physical qualities were far superior to those of ordinary people.
To put it bluntly, they could fall from a height of two or three meters without necessarily being injured, so how could someone with such physical qualities get a bruise like that simply from tripping?
Obviously, Elias was hiding something, but Ryan didn't press him further, because he knew that even if he did, Elias probably wouldn't tell him anything.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
As the bell rang, the more than two hundred students lined up in six groups, and their respective teachers appeared in front of them.
"Class One, follow me."
The year head, who was also the teacher of Class One, nodded toward the other five teachers and then led all the students of Class One into the testing area.
"Class One... I wonder if anyone will fail the test?"
"How could that happen? They'll definitely all pass again!"
"That's true, after all, it's the Elite Class."
Watching Class One enter the testing area, the students from the other classes couldn't help speaking enviously.
Aegis Martial Academy had six classes in each grade, and the first class of every grade was personally led by the year head, and this class had a special title, the Elite Class.
In fact, not everyone in Class One had originally belonged to it, many students had been selected from the other classes, and because its members were the elite chosen from the entire year, Class One became known as the Elite Class.
Half an hour later, as expected, every member of Class One passed the assessment, and almost all of them far exceeded the required standard, so although the students from the other classes had expected something like this, they were still somewhat taken aback upon hearing the results.
Following the class order, the students of Class Two, Class Three, Class Four and Class Five entered the testing area one after another, and when they came out, some were full of excitement, some were dejected, and others looked ashen-faced.
Those who were excited had passed the test, those who were dejected had failed but had not yet reached their third failure, and as for those who looked ashen-faced, they had failed the test for the third time.
Many students looked at those ashen-faced students with gloating expressions, while others cast meaningful glances toward Ryan, who had yet to take the test, obviously, in their eyes, Ryan would soon be joining the group being expelled.
"Class Six, come in with me."
The teacher of Class Six, which was also Ryan's class, was a square-faced man named Chaucer Joyce, and he glanced over the students before leading them toward the testing area.
Soon, Class Six entered the testing grounds, which were almost as large as the waiting area outside.
Inside, there were two particularly prominent locations, one was a straight track marked with white lines, and the other contained a row of square iron blocks arranged from smallest to largest, and academy staff were already waiting at both places.
As usual, the academy's assessment was divided into two parts, speed and strength, which was the simplest method, but also the most difficult to deceive, because strength and speed were the most basic manifestations of a Blood Warrior Apprentice's physical qualities, and neither could be faked.
The first test was speed, and Teacher Chaucer took out a roster and began calling students forward one by one.
The testing method was simple, the student stood at the starting point of the track while an academy staff member waited at the finish line, holding an hourglass designed to let grains of sand fall one at a time, timing began the moment the student started running, and the result was determined by the number of grains that had fallen by the time they crossed the finish line.
"Jennock."
The first person called forward was a tall boy, much more robust than most of his peers, but he didn't look fat, on the contrary, his build gave off a powerful impression.
"Start."
Whoosh!
The moment the teacher finished speaking, the boy burst forward, his running movements were filled with explosive power, his strides were long, and with every step, the ground seemed to tremble slightly beneath him, and backed by such strength, his speed was naturally extraordinary, far surpassing that of the sprint champions of Ryan's previous life.
"Thirty-seven seconds."
By the time he reached the finish line, a total of thirty-seven grains of sand had fallen from the hourglass, and Teacher Chaucer quickly recorded the number and placed a checkmark beside Jennock's name, indicating that he had passed the speed test.