Ke Yunyao and her group landed deep inside the forest, surrounded by hidden surveillance cameras everywhere.
All the instructors leading each class were gathered in a large control room, facing a projection wall divided into countless small screens, each corresponding to a deployed team.
Yan Zhou and the other four combat students stayed alert on the perimeter, while Vashi led the others in the center.
Vashi didn’t waste time and directly explained his plan. “As you all know, our top priority right now is to find the material boxes and medical boxes deployed by the school. So my plan is to split into several groups to search—this will increase our chances of finding them. But not indefinitely. We’ll search for half a day, and if we still haven’t found anything, we’ll return here to regroup.”
The material boxes contained mineral ores, while the medical boxes contained basic healing potions. However, the school was quite sneaky—there were equal numbers of material boxes and medical boxes, and the total number of both types matched the number of teams.
This meant that some teams were destined not to find either a material box or a medical box. In unlucky cases, they might find neither.
At this moment, even Meng Lingling understood the importance of priorities and did not act out. She listened carefully to Vashi’s instructions.
“Sounds fine, but how do we split into groups?” Yan Cixi asked directly, hitting the key issue.
Upon hearing they were going to split into groups, Meng Lingling immediately spoke up without hesitation. “I want to be with the strongest combat student! I’m a fragile potion maker and need protection. I don’t want anyone weak!”
She currently had A-rank mental power and C-rank physical ability. She was still only an apprentice potion maker and hadn’t even become a beginner-level alchemist yet—but she believed she would eventually become a high-level one. Someone as valuable as her absolutely needed to be protected by the strongest combat student.
Anyone weaker wouldn’t do.
Vashi felt a headache coming on, but he also knew how important potion makers were. They indeed needed protection. However, Meng Lingling’s attitude worried him—he feared the combat students might become dissatisfied.
After all, a team needed harmony to win together.
Vashi looked toward Yan Zhou—the strongest combat student in the team.
Yan Zhou was practical. He didn’t mind protecting someone, but only if they had corresponding value.
Right now, all they knew was that Meng Lingling had A-rank mental power, but her actual ability was still unclear. If she wasn’t capable enough, why would he waste his effort?
Yan Zhou changed the subject. “Captain, there are only so many material and medical boxes. We might not even find them, so we should prepare a backup plan.”
Vashi nodded. “True. That’s why I planned that after splitting up, while searching for the boxes, we should also pay attention to any minerals or medicinal plants we encounter along the way.”
“In that case, even if we don’t find the boxes, those materials can still be used by our mech crafter and potion maker.”
As he spoke, he looked toward Ke Yunyao and Meng Lingling. The others followed his gaze as well.
Ke Yunyao had been listening carefully. Seeing everyone look at her, she calmly nodded. “As long as there are materials, it’s fine.”
She wasn’t yet very familiar with mecha crafting, but making weapons was no problem—as long as she had materials.
Vashi and the others immediately brightened up. Simple words, but reassuring.
Then everyone turned their attention to Meng Lingling.
She flinched slightly, then snapped irritably, “Do you think becoming a potion maker is easy? If it were, potion makers would be everywhere!”
Seeing the others’ expressions darken, she quickly added, trying to salvage her image, “Right now I can only make basic healing potions, and my success rate is only 40%! If you want me to make them, you must gather enough materials!”
A trace of disappointment flashed in everyone’s eyes once again.
As expected—random assignment really was random.
Still, they already had a relatively reliable mech crafter. They couldn’t expect to also get a top-tier potion maker.
In fact, the school’s “random” assignment was somewhat balanced. Some teams might get a strong mech crafter and a weaker potion maker; others might get the opposite, or both average.
So it was disappointing—but also not unexpected.
Yan Zhou got the answer he wanted and immediately said, “Captain, let me go protect Ke Yunyao.”
Ke Yunyao looked confused, then shook her head. “I don’t need protection. I can protect myself.”
No one believed her.
Yan Cixi even said directly, “Yunyao, don’t be silly. You’re very important—we’re counting on you to make weapons!”
Ke Yunyao found it a bit funny and shook her head, pointing at Ma Kaluo and Wang Yelin. “I really don’t need it. My physical ability is A-rank too. I can handle those two just fine.”
This time, everyone froze in shock.
Especially Vashi—he wondered what kind of god-tier teammate the school had assigned them.
“So why didn’t you apply for the commander position?” he asked. After all, compared to mech crafting, commanders were easier to stand out in. Most people with her qualifications would choose command.
The admission requirement for command was both mental power and physical ability at double A-rank. Ke Yunyao clearly met it.
She waved her hand. “I like the mech department!”
Alright—personal preference. They couldn’t argue with that.
But this meant their team had gained an extra combat-capable member, making them stronger than many other teams.
Vashi and the others suddenly became even more satisfied with her.
Meng Lingling, unhappy that attention wasn’t on her, jumped in again. “If she doesn’t need protection, then protect me! I need it!”
Vashi didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he looked at the two quieter members—Duan Yang and Jiang Tian.
They were also important. If they failed to find a medical box, Duan Yang would need to gather medicinal plants; Jiang Tian would be responsible for hunting more star beasts to earn points.
“Any thoughts?” Vashi asked.
Duan Yang waved his hand with a smile. “Captain, I don’t need protection either. My physical ability isn’t A-rank yet, but it’s close. I should break through soon.”
Jiang Tian nodded as well. “Same.”
He had originally wanted to enter the combat department, but six months before the exam, his physical ability was stuck at B-rank and refused to break through A-rank. He didn’t want to go to another school, so he settled for the beast research department instead.
Even so, he never stopped training. He was just missing a breakthrough opportunity and was still stuck at B-rank.