"Uh..." - I hesitated slightly from surprise, trying to remember who was standing in front of me. - "Yes, that's me."
"And what are you doing here? Did Mo Fan come too?" - The girl asked, and I still couldn't remember who she was and where she knew me from.
"No, I'm here alone." - I answered, hesitating slightly, still trying to remember her. After a little more time, I recognized her as Zhou Ming, which was a small shock to me, so I hurried to clarify. - "You're Zhou Ming, right?"
"Yes, and you, didn't you recognize me?" - She laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Zhou Ming, let's go faster, or Teacher Li will scold us." - Another female voice called from the side. Turning my head there, I saw a group of people dressed in similar clothes to Zhou Ming.
"Ah, this is..." - I couldn't quite grasp everything immediately, as I was abruptly pulled out of my thoughts and still hadn't put my thoughts in order.
"These are my classmates; I've enrolled in the university, and now it's our turn to guard the wall." - She said, slightly upset and lowering her eyes.
"I see, can I join you?" - I asked, remembering a similar situation in the original. Firstly, it should be damn fun; I could practically hear Asura dying of laughter at my decision. And secondly, it's a good opportunity to fight the local undead, even if I'm limited in my powers, it's even better.
"Huh? Do you really want to?" - She asked, regaining her spirits.
"Yes, if your classmates don't mind, and after that, we can gather with old friends." - I said, wanting to talk to Mu Bai and the others. If I manage to influence them and make them stronger, it will be a success. And if I sow seeds of doubt in Mu Bai regarding Mu He, it will be even better.
"Okay, let's go ask." - She said, heading towards the group, I slowly followed her. - "Jiang Li, Teacher Li, may my friend join the guard duty on the wall?"
"If your friend is strong enough to stand up for himself, then I don't mind." - Said the old man in a white Chinese robe; he had shoulder-length gray hair and kind facial features. With his appearance and aura, he resembled a good and kind teacher who could influence a student with words, without shouting. - "The more people, the better for the city's defense."
"That's right, let him wear the university badge he studies at, or the mage association badge." - Said the young man standing next to him confidently. A university badge could only be obtained by enrolling in it, and an association badge could be ordered at any branch, but I was too lazy to do it, so I didn't have one.
"I don't have them. I haven't enrolled in the university yet, and I rarely visit the association. I'm preparing for admission." - I shrugged, but before I could finish, I was interrupted.
"Haven't enrolled yet? Then what kind of power can you possess?" - The guy asked, disdainfully raising his chin. - "Sorry, Zhou Ming, but he's not going with us." - After these words, I looked at Zhou Ming; she looked at me as if asking: "You really haven't enrolled?"
"But I have a hunter's card, so I can show it." - I replied, taking out the card. Perhaps after the entrance exams, I should complete some missions and raise my rank to a master hunter of one star. I have an obsession, to meet Lin Lin on equal footing, and there's only a little left until it's fulfilled, so why not?
"A hunter?" - The guy asked, looking at the card along with the old man. - "You're a high-ranking hunter!" - He shouted at the top of his lungs, so everyone turned to him. - "And a mid-level wind mage of the first stage!"
"Yes, so what?" - I asked him, not understanding, constantly monitoring Zhou Ming's reaction. She was, to put it mildly, in a state of mild shock.
"Good, we will be glad for such help." - Said the old man, then turned and walked further, towards the nearest tower. - "Let's go, we need to hurry, sunset is soon." - Only hearing him, I realized that the sun was indeed setting.
I spent too long on the wall, plus I was so inattentive that I didn't notice it! Damn, I need to be more attentive, or all my plans will go to waste if I miss something! The students, led by the teacher, headed towards the tower. The guy walked ahead, constantly looking at me with disbelief. Zhou Ming walked next to me, constantly wanting to ask something, but never daring to do so.
"You're really a high-ranking hunter, when did you manage it? And you've also become a mid-level mage." - She finally dared to speak. - "I myself became one just three months ago." - She said with slight embarrassment.
"Yes, it just turned out that way. After the catastrophe, Xu Zhaoting and I created a hunter team and diligently trained and hunted to become stronger. That's how it happened." - I answered vaguely.
"But you weren't known for your bravery, how did you decide to become a hunter?" - She asked me, with great doubt in her voice.
"Catastrophes change people." - I answered her calmly.
We then exchanged the latest news. I learned that her cousin had recently arrived with her husband. It was likely Zhou Suiyin and Yang Dei, it would be good to meet them. Soon we were in the tower, waiting for the sun to set and the undead to crawl towards us. I asked for some time and changed into something more suitable for combat, not forgetting to hang a sheath with daggers on my belt.
"Oh, what are these knives? Why do you need them?" asked the guy who didn't want to let me participate in this activity. Zhou Ming also looked questioningly.
"These are not knives, but daggers made from the fangs of three-eyed wolves," I replied calmly. "I'll use them to cut the undead. Do you have any objections?"
"No," he replied, his voice slightly puzzled. "But aren't these daggers of yours weaker than artifacts? How do you plan to wound any undead with them? They look frail, but they are tough."
"You'll see," I answered briefly and began the work that needed to be done. Namely, I took out tools and light stones from my spatial bracelet and, to the great surprise of all the students, began to inlay the stones into the daggers. I'm not so foolish as to not understand that ordinary daggers won't kill the undead. I had long ago devised a way to kill them with daggers. This required light stones of quite high quality and a special magical chain that would circulate light energy throughout the dagger. I finished the work only when the sun had already set, and the students were already fully repelling their attacks.
Approaching the edge of the second-floor platform of the tower, where the students were standing, sending spells at the undead climbing the wall, I looked around. There weren't as many undead as before the attack two years ago, or perhaps the description at that moment exaggerated the real scale. But it didn't matter, it was even better for my test.
"What, finally decided to participate, you pathetic hunter?" asked the same guy when I approached.
"Are you done with what you were doing?" Zhou Ming asked in surprise, breaking off from her attack on the undead.
"I need to warm up first. Don't hit me," I said, approaching the edge, holding a dagger in each hand.
"What are you..." the guy didn't finish before I used a gust of wind to jump off the tower and head towards the nearest zombie, a servant-level one.
The strength and level of the undead largely depend on age. Although undead of different levels are called differently, they do not have a clear species gradation by levels, like other creatures. A corpse chieftain and an ordinary corpse differ only in their strength. However, there are several types of undead: corpses, skeletons, imps, ghosts, mummies, and so on.
Right now, I was attacking an ordinary corpse, aiming the dagger to precisely sever its head. A whistle, a swing of the dagger, the corpse's head fell to the ground with a dull thud. Turning around, I examined the corpse. A burning sensation spread from the cut on its head and body, incinerating the corpse. This was the effect of the circulating light stone energy. I thought I should make the next version of the artifact by adding elemental stones to the small daggers. Although I could use converting stones, then the magic power would be greater than from the best stone I am currently using. However, these are all plans for the distant future.
So, without much thought, I moved on to the next, and then to another. The corpses and skeletons that were mainly attacking the wall were too slow to counter my attack, so I cut them down left and right, using wind boots. Soul shards flowed into my tooth; I wasn't sure how many it needed to evolve, but I knew for sure it had already devoured over a thousand!
After about ten minutes, I was slightly exhausted and returned to the second-floor platform of the tower to catch my breath. I didn't see the students' faces when I fought; I simply didn't have time, but their spells definitely didn't hinder me. But upon returning to the platform, I realized that they had been standing in shock at my actions the whole time. If you think about it, it's probably hard to find a mage who easily kills low, medium, and high-level servant undead with daggers. Higher servants caused me some trouble, but my experience fighting mobile targets helped me kill them just as quickly. You could say that with my daggers charged with light energy, I was their natural enemy, like ordinary light and fire mages.
"You... you... How?" the guy asked in a trembling voice, staring at me. Zhou Ming, like everyone else, looked at me questioningly, only her shock was even greater because she knew me before.
"Did I do something wrong?" I asked, feigning ignorance.
"How did you achieve such speed? You were like a flash, darting from one monster to another! And your daggers only needed one hit to kill the undead! How?!" the guy asked, still looking at me in astonishment. The teacher also showed a desire to know the answers to these questions.
"Yes, I just trained a lot, and I charge the daggers with light energy from the stones I inlaid in them," I smiled. "Light energy acts like poison when it hits the undead body. Of course, a pack leader might not even notice it, but for servants, it's deadly."
"I see, can you tell me how you connected them without creating an artifact?" the teacher asked, deciding to intervene in the conversation.
"I'm afraid that's a secret," I smiled. "I think I'm done resting and can continue killing the undead. You guys shouldn't stand around either; I can't handle them all. Just don't kill me, please," I said, jumping down again.
So I continued fighting, adding various limitations for about three hours, after which I was considerably exhausted. It turned out to be a good training session. My whole body ached from exhaustion, and my wind nebula was practically depleted, even though I took short breaks of five to ten minutes periodically! The other students were also exhausted; a new group had also arrived. Zhou Ming and a couple of others from the old group continued to fight with all their might, trying to kill as many monsters as possible.
She was probably trying to impress me with her strength. But unfortunately for her, I saw much greater potential in He Yu. Although she didn't show mid-level mastery in our battle at the Gu Family tournament, I was sure she had already reached it. Moreover, a couple of months before the duel, she could almost fully construct a star map. I also felt some fluctuating energy from her, most likely the element of chaos, and it is very powerful if developed, almost not inferior to space. So I believe more in He Yu's strength than in Zhou Ming's, because she, initially lagging behind the latter, managed to reach the middle level earlier.
"I'm done. Do you have a place to stay?" Zhou Ming asked, approaching me, very tired, but it wasn't noticeable that she had pushed herself beyond her limits.
"No, I didn't plan to stay in Xi'an for long," I answered honestly. "I wanted to get it all done in one day, but it didn't work out."
"I see. Come on, maybe you can stay at my place if my sister and her husband don't mind," she said, but I found it hard to believe.