Another bowl?
Lou Lan was stunned. Fatty was stunned as well.
Wait… did he just drink… chili fire oil? Chili! Fire! Oil!
Fatty’s eyes widened abruptly. A blazing flush could be seen extending from his neck upward. His fingers crooked involuntarily as they ended up grabbing nothing but air, resembling someone who was drowning and struggling to stay alive.
He looked at Lou Lan with agony on his face as he felt lava surging through his throat. This resulted in him crying while speaking unclearly. "Rou Ran…"
"Fatty, wait for me!" Lou Lan exclaimed before he turned around and dashed into his room.
Sitting alone on the ground, Fatty wanted to cry, but there were no tears coming out from his eyes. He had realized how stupid he was. Every second was torture to him. Rather than cold tiles, the floor beneath his butt felt like a volcanic crater. His body was burning. Indeed, he felt like a roasted pig now. His entire body was surging with flames.
Fatty never thought that he would one day see flames flowing under his skin.
But now he had seen it.
Flames were seeping out of the pores of his skin, resembling red flaming snakes that slithered across his skin.
Fatty took off the armor on his body in a hurry. The shirt he wore had already been set aflame.
A bowl of clear liquid that was emitting a tinge of frost appeared before him.
At this moment, Fatty was filled with gratitude toward Lou Lan. Lou Lan was such a nice sand puppet. He was always reliable at such critical moments. Fatty did not even bother to thank Lou Lan before taking the bowl and gulping down the liquid.
A chill went right through his body!
Fatty felt that the temperature of his skin dropped almost immediately. He squinted his eyes, feeling so relieved that he wanted to start moaning. However, he suddenly realized that his vision became somewhat brighter. Eh? What was glowing?
He opened his eyes and his face froze.
Voom, voom, voom!
The slithering flame snakes on his skin had become blazing infernos. They shot out from his skin, resembling a stove fire that had been stoked. The augmented and intense heat caused his clothes to burn and vanish in a puff of smoke.
The soothing frosty feeling had disappeared. He felt as if a volcano was about to erupt within his body.
Grasping at his last bit of hope, Fatty asked with a trembling voice, "Wasn’t… wasn’t that water?"
"Nope," Lou Lan shook his head and replied with a serious tone, "that was the Fire Enhancing Soup that Lou Lan specially brewed for Fatty. The fire attribute of the chili fire oil is much stronger than the Dragon Soup’s. Furthermore, its penetrability is stronger than the Dragon Soup’s as well. Not only can it penetrate through your skin, it can also penetrate through the deepest regions of your body. Therefore, the chili fire oil has always been viewed as an excellent enhancer that boosts fire elemental energy. It’s a treasure to fire elementalists…"
Boom!
The flames on Fatty’s body intensified explosively and formed a gigantic fireball. His mind blanked.
"There are very few people who dare to drink the chili fire oil directly. The concentration of fire elemental energy in the refined chili fire oil is 22 times stronger than the chili’s. After the stimulation from the cocklebur, this factor can increase up to 25 times. Fatty, you’re really brave! No wonder you can finish a cauldron of Dragon Soup in one go. Of course, if you can drink the chili fire oil directly, the Dragon Soup is definitely a piece of cake for you. To make sure that you can efficiently absorb and utilize the fire elemental energy in the oil, Lou Lan has specially prepared the Fire Enhancing Soup. There are 17 kinds of herbs and ingredients in it. The clear and ice cold Fire Enhancing Soup can only be brewed through precise and perfect mixing of these ingredients. Furthermore, the grade of the soup is limited by the ingredients’ quality and has reached only 72% of its potential…"
Boom!
Something seemed to have exploded within the fireball, causing the flames to intensify. The size of the fireball suddenly increased twofold.
Lou Lan’s eyes flickered rapidly as he continued, "Sand core, begin the recording. The research on chili fire oil, scene one. One minute and 46 seconds after consuming the Fire Enhancing Soup, the respective fire elemental energy in the chili fire oil and Fatty’s body have harmonized perfectly! The temperature of the flames are increasing, the degree of the flames’ purity is high, and they have been burning for 34 seconds. The fire elemental energy is beginning to stabilize, stabilize… stabilize… Oh, Lou Lan almost forgot about the task that Ai Hui gave him. Lou Lan needs to continue preparing the chili concoction. Fatty, all the best!"
Lou Lan hastily went back and resumed preparing the chili concoction. The chili fire oil that he had just extracted was consumed by Fatty. This meant that he needed to start again from scratch. Time was very limited and he needed to increase his speed in order to not delay Ai Hui’s plan.
"Such a powerful fire elemental energy undulation!"
"Oh my! What’s going on inside? How come there’s such a terrifying fire elemental energy undulation coming from within?"
"I just saw that Fatty went in."
"Fatty is fire-attributed? Isn’t he a shield bearer? A fire elemental shield bearer?"
"He’s definitely fire attributed. You forgot about his fire vat."
It was as if Duanmu Huanghun was able to look through the wall. A shiver went down his spine. Such powerful fire elemental energy undulations should not be released from the body of an Induction Ground student.
Fatty….
He had never taken a serious look at Fatty before. In his vague memory, Fatty was nothing more than an overweight brute that spouted fire for an entire night. Nothing about Fatty left a deep impression on him.
However, the display of such powerful fire elemental energy waves was enough to show that Fatty was not someone to be looked down upon.
Duanmu Huanghun cast a glance at Ai Hui. All of this fellow’s friends seemed to be extraordinary.
So what? Duanmu Huanghun was still the best!
With a proud look on his face, Duanmu Huanghun scoffed and withdrew his gaze. There was no time for him to waste on these insignificant matters. He would not be swayed by these distractions. He truly believed he was a genius that was going to become a Grandmaster in the future. No matter what other people did, it had nothing to do with him.
There was only one person who was worthy for Duanmu Huanghun to spend his time observing.
With intense fighting spirit in his eyes, Duanmu Huanghun looked at Ai Hui, who was practicing his swordplay and gave a cold humph. He then withdrew his gaze and continued practicing his [Viridescent Flower]. Being recognized as the premier genius of the Duanmu c, he began training the [Viridescent Flower] earlier than anyone else. It was as if he was born for this mysterious and complicated absolute art.
From the initial vine patterns to the recently developed cloud and lotus patterns, he had progressed extremely fast.
Time passed silently.
The two sides of Soundwave Street had been almost completely razed to the ground, having just around 10 shops still standing. The resistance from the blood ants had become extremely fierce. Every deployed team returned with only half of its member surviving.
Looking slightly distracted, the supervising elementalist observed Soundwave Street. This was the most brutal and devastating battle he ever experienced in his life. It was as if he had been through purgatory. He could not remember clearly how many students had died on Soundwave Street. If it was any other period of time, the Avalon of Five Elements would never send so many youngsters to the battlefield.
However, no one could escape from this catastrophe. No one could save these students except themselves.
The only thing that gave him hope and confidence was that the situation was turning for the better.
No one had a happy-go-lucky attitude in them anymore as battle would terminate the weak. Compared to the previous battle, where the students displayed disorder and weakness, the performance of the students today had greatly improved.
"Have you heard about it! 100 Heaven Merit Points! Everyone in the A-1 unit was rewarded with 100 Heaven Merit Points!"
"The core members were rewarded with 200 Heaven Merit Points each!"
"Oh my god! 200 points?"
"I don’t even know whether or not I could earn 100 Heaven Merit Points in my lifetime?"
"Hehe, you should rephrase your statement. Can you even earn any Heaven Merit Points in your lifetime?"
The supervising elementalist broke into laughter. He had to admit that the mayor’s move was masterful. Using strict and cold military laws at first, and then followed by generous rewards. Even the supervising elementalist himself was envious of the 100 Heaven Merit Points.
This was really a huge reward.
It was extremely difficult to earn Heaven Merit Points, which made them astonishingly valuable.
Wang Zheng had not become the mayor after retiring as an injured veteran by making use of his connections. Instead, he had accumulated 500 Heaven Merit Points, granting him the qualification to be one of the mayoral candidates. The selection process for the important positions in the Avalon of Five Elements placed a huge emphasis on Heaven Merit Points. Only those who had a certain amount of Heaven Merit Points would be selected.
100 Heaven Merit Points were enough to motivate someone to sacrifice his or her life. Most people would not be able to earn this many Heaven Merit Points in their lifetimes.
Not only were the students motivated, but even the elders in the city were enticed by the rewards and signed up for battle.
Heaven Merit Points would give one the chance to be healed by the top-notch divine physicians of Avalon of Five Elements, allow one’s descendants to enter the best school and enable one to obtain more life opportunities.
All of them had forgotten about the dangerous nature of the blood ants.
If one was to die in the battlefield, his or her family members could claim the Heaven Merit Points.
"They’re coming! They’re coming!"
"It’s the A-1 unit!"
"Such a weird-looking armor. It is terribly ugly and looks like tree bark."
"What do you know? That’s the newly-created Central Pine Armor! You won’t get it even if you want it! The mayor specially allocated this armor to them first."
"Isn’t this too unfair?"
"This is called capability!"
When Ai Hui and his counterparts walked on the street, they immediately become the focal point of everyone on the street. Since when had they ever been looked at in such a way by so many people? All of them felt uneasy.
Luckily, the smokescreen from the helmet of the Central Pine Armor covered their faces, preventing the onlookers from seeing their facial expressions.
The supervising elementalist descended from the sky.
Ai Hui walked forward and bowed. "The A-1 unit is here to report for duty. We are awaiting your orders, Sir!"
"There’s still 20 minute before the next wave of attacks. All of you can take a rest first," the supervising elementalist also replied politely.
With 100 Heaven Merit Points in their hands, these students did not want to die. After they graduated from the Induction Ground, a lot of opportunities would be opened up to them. No matter what jobs they pursued, they were already ahead of everyone else in the rat race.
"Yes," Ai Hui replied politely.
"Eh, where’s that big fellow with the gigantic fire vat on his back?" the supervising elementalist asked upon noticing that Fatty was not present. Fatty’s physical appearance was extremely distinctive.
"He just had a breakthrough in his base level and has not stabilized yet. Hence, I did not bring him here," Ai Hui explained.
Spouting fire should be considered a breakthrough. The fact he had not finished spouting fire meant that he had not yet stabilized.
Ai Hi thought to himself. The absence of Fatty had impacted them significantly on the battlefield. The task of protecting Wang Xiaoshan thus fell onto Duanmu Huanghun’s lap.
Duanmu Huanghun was not happy at this decision. However, he could not do anything as Ai Hui could shut him up with one sentence: "Who killed more blood ants during the last battle?"
The number of blood ants Ai Hui destroyed during the previous battle was far more than the amount Duanmu Huanghun had killed. Hence, how was it possible to assign the person with the strongest fighting capabilities as the caretaker?
Duanmu Huanghun’s face was gloomy and his body was emitting killer intent. He looked as if he did not anyone to get too close to him. Wang Xiaoshan was standing beside Duanmu Huanghun with a pale-white face, but did not dare to wander too far from him either.
At this point of time, a blood-curdling screech sounded from street.
The supervising elementalist turned his head abruptly and his facial expression changed drastically. "Blood-traced ant!"
A red streak surged toward them with lightning speed.