As time went on, and the awakened gradually retreated, this place transformed into a forest.
Since the monsters in the central and outer parts of the forest hadn’t absorbed too much lightning, it became an excellent leveling ground for newcomers.
Only the core area of Regos Forest remained a forbidden zone for the awakened.
Even Wales and the other three mentors displayed serious expressions when talking about the core area of Regos Forest.
Once the Dragonhawks had descended with Howard and the other students, the nearby awakened training in the area were alarmed.
However, as soon as they noticed the uniforms of Howard and his group, their expressions shifted subtly.
Although they didn’t distance themselves, they couldn’t help but continually size up Howard and the other students.
It was unavoidable; the reputation of Holy Abyss Academy was just too illustrious.
Wales, Tana, and the two new mentors, Tracy Lynn and Cantini Albert, surveyed their surroundings and exerted their influence to intimidate the other people present.
Then, with a wave of their hands, they signaled for the official start of the qualification exam.
With their previous experience in the Valley of Fierce Winds, the students were familiar with this mode of operation.
Although points were not being counted this time, they still split into dozens of directions as teams.
Fortunately, Regos Forest was vast enough.
Not long after Howard and the hundreds of students entered, they had completely blended in, making them almost impossible to encounter.
Monsters gradually began to appear, starting at around LV30, eliciting exclamations of surprise from the students.
Aside from Howard, it was not an easy task for the other students to take on level 30 monsters.
And this was just the outer periphery!
It was only Howard’s team that, leveraging Howard’s terrifying attributes and the hit rate of his control skills, bulldozed their way through, annihilating all the monsters they encountered.
This left Morgan Augustine, the new addition to the team, utterly astounded, his heart brimming with increasing gratitude.
Joining Howard’s team was undoubtedly the best decision he had ever made!
However, what surprised Morgan and the others was that Howard didn’t choose to venture deeper; instead, he found a place backed by a mountain wall to take out the Soulcharm Incense.
Howard was no fool. Using the Soulcharm Incense recklessly could very likely lead them into an ambush.
There were only six of them in total, and only he, Morgan, and Nick had the capacity to resist the monsters.
The other three were all in fragile professions; a surprise attack could very likely lead to instantaneous death.
Therefore, it was imperative to find a suitable location to prevent the monsters from attacking Abby, Judy, and Mike.
Moreover, to ensure that his teammates could withstand the monsters’ onslaught, they couldn’t venture too deep into the map.
The outskirts were indeed the most appropriate place to use the Soulcharm Incense.
The moment Howard took out the Soulcharm Incense, Judy, Nick, and the others recognized it instantly.
Their pupils contracted sharply, and they hurriedly rushed forward to grab Howard, exclaiming in alarm, “Boss, have you lost your mind? Once the Soulcharm Incense is lit, it will attract a never-ending stream of monsters here. We could very well be besieged to death!”
“This is the outskirts. Those monsters can virtually be wiped out by us in an instant. What are you afraid of?” Howard rolled his eyes, responding indifferently, “Besides, even if the monsters are drawn here, it will take time for them to gather in formidable numbers. As long as we kill them quickly enough, there’s nothing to worry about!”
“Uh, that actually makes sense.”
“I was wondering why you didn’t continue going deeper. So, this was your plan all along.”
Hearing this, Nick and Mike finally caught on, laughing awkwardly, “We were just thinking… back in the Valley of Fierce Winds, you couldn’t wait to press forward into the depths. This time, you’re only operating on the outskirts. So, it turns out you were planning on killing even more monsters, huh?”
“This could be fun.” Even Judy chimed in, “These LV30 monsters can hardly breach your defenses. Plus, I can keep you all in prime condition. Even if their numbers are overwhelming, we can handle it!”
While speaking, Judy took a glance around, laughing lightly, “Besides, with the mountain wall at our backs, no monster can attack me, Abby, and Mike. We won’t be in any danger.”
Hearing Judy’s words, Nick, Mike, and Morgan stopped trying to obstruct Howard.
As the fireball skill was cast, the Soulcharm Incense was immediately ignited. A sinister smoke quietly rose, dispersing silently in all directions.
What followed was a long wait.
Meanwhile, high in the sky, Tana, who was responsible for overseeing Howard and his group, grew visibly serious.
“Sss… Lighting up Soulcharm Incense during a training session? Has anyone ever done that in the last few centuries?”
“This young fellow… if he manages to pull this off, wouldn’t he be breaking yet another record set by his predecessors?”
Even as a mentor, Tana couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration for Howard.
She admitted to herself that, if their positions were reversed, she wouldn’t have been able to reach such heights.
She couldn’t help but marvel, “Worthy of being the one Daniel has his eyes on. Truly extraordinary!”
Watching Howard ignite the Soulcharm Incense, Tana dared not leave.
Fearing that Howard and his team might face a crisis, she quickly sent a message to Wales and the others, asking them to pay extra attention to the other students.
Before long, under the effect of the Soulcharm Incense, groups of monsters started charging toward the location of Howard’s team.
The first wave to arrive was a type of hunting dog with its fur standing on end, resembling steel needles.
They were incredibly fast, moving like lightning.
Fortunately, their bodies were quite large, and no matter how fast they were, they couldn’t get past Howard, Morgan, and Nick’s defenses.
They either collided with the shields or were blocked by Howard’s MP Shield.
The next moment, Howard swung his Soul Nurturer, casting the Frost Arrow Spell.
A burst of chilling cold instantly froze the hunting dogs in front of him.
Nick, serving as a warrior, didn’t use any shield-related skills.
Fortunately, his positioning was quite adept, and he managed to use his shield to block the hunting dogs in front of him.
And what about Morgan?
A knight’s primary equipment is indeed the shield.
As Morgan lifted his shield to fend off the hunting dogs’ assault, the shield suddenly started to shimmer with a silver-white radiance.
Immediately afterward, a dazzling and splendid burst of thunder erupted from the shield, striking the hunting dogs with a mighty force, propelling them backward through the air.
By the time the hunting dogs hit the ground, their bodies were convulsing uncontrollably.
Not only that, but after the monsters’ initial wave of assault was repelled, Abby and Mike also launched their offensive.
Green glimmers sparkled on Mike’s dagger.
Each time his figure materialized, he could inflict a poisoned state on a hunting dog, reducing its attributes.
Abby, on the other hand, drew her bow and nocked her arrows, releasing a succession of sharp-feathered projectiles that cut through the air and struck the hunting dogs, inflicting considerable damage.
This was when Howard’s advantages truly began to show.
Now in his possession were numerous low-level skills.
Almost as soon as he had finished casting one skill, the cooldown time for the first skill he used had already ended.
In other words, Howard could endlessly cycle through casting those skills.
Fiery fireballs, chilling frost arrows, sharp wind blades, the invisible force of gravity…
Originally, Howard’s damage output was terrifying in its own right.
However, as various elements cycled through the vicinity, the elements in the surrounding space became erratic, even triggering an Elemental Reaction, dealing astonishingly more damage to the hunting dogs.
To the point where, even though their health bars were still more than half full, they were suddenly and utterly obliterated under the effect of the Elemental Reaction!
For a moment, the monsters attracted by the Soulcharm Incense were actually not enough for Howard to slay.
This left Judy and the others with their jaws dropped in astonishment; they couldn’t believe that Howard, a fellow freshman, had surpassed them by so much!
However, this also stirred up a competitive spirit in Judy and her teammates, and they all gave it their all.
Judy, in particular, consecutively cast buffing skills on Howard and the others.
Especially when new monsters appeared, attacking even more ferociously, a golden shield materialized out of thin air, single-handedly protecting Howard and the team.
Even more astonishingly, Judy’s shield only blocked the monsters’ attacks but didn’t hinder Howard and his teammates from attacking the monsters.
No one wanted to be a mere bystander; everyone wanted to play their part. 𝘳𝑎.𝗇t
For a time, Howard and his team were like gods descending upon the earth, swiftly slaying any type of monster attracted to their location.
Time slowly passed amidst the slaughter.
Under the influence of the Soulcharm Incense, more and more monsters were attracted, yet all of them were transformed into experience points for Howard and his team of six.
There was nothing they could do about it; Howard had chosen the outer area where the monsters had comparatively lower attributes.
Some of them were even slain before they could reach Howard and his teammates.
[Ding! Congratulations to awakened Howard on leveling up!]
[Ding! …]
[…]
The clear ring of the system bell continuously fell, as golden light flickered beneath Howard, Abby, Judy, and the others.
Before leveling up, Howard and his team were already easily slaughtering the attracted monsters.
And now, after leveling up and gaining enhanced attributes? The task became even simpler.
The only thing bothering Howard was the overwhelming number of monster corpses.
Unable to pick up the spoils of war in the heat of the moment, they had no choice but to set the carcasses ablaze, preventing them from compressing the living space of Howard’s team.
Keep in mind, the corpses of these monsters were valuable materials that could be sold for money!
In that moment, Howard felt a deep sense of loss and heartache.
Updated from 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝘮