After digging up the medicinal plants, Ke Yunyao looked up and saw Yan Cixi staring at her with admiration. A trace of confusion flashed in her eyes.
What now?
“You…” she started.
“Yunyao, you’re amazing! You can do everything!” Yan Cixi exclaimed.
“I…” Ke Yunyao tried to respond.
“I really admire you! From now on, I’m following you. If you ever need a fighter, you must call me!” Yan Cixi said earnestly.
Ke Yunyao didn’t know what kind of mental image Yan Cixi had created in her head, but she also didn’t know how to refuse. So she nodded in agreement.
Besides, she thought that future exams would also require team cooperation. Yan Cixi seemed decent enough, and compared to choosing a completely unfamiliar teammate, she would rather choose her.
“Ah! You agreed? That’s great!” Yan Cixi was overjoyed.
Then she said seriously, “From now on, I’m sticking with you!”
Ke Yunyao could only give an awkward smile and nod.
In fact, Yan Cixi didn’t make this decision blindly. First, from Ke Yunyao’s entrance exam score, it was clear she had talent in mech crafting. Combined with her high spiritual power, her upper limit was higher than most mech students. Second, the fact that she worked so hard to earn money just to study mechas showed her determination and resilience.
From these two points alone, getting close to her was clearly a very wise decision.
And lastly—Ke Yunyao’s “cold face act” that still politely responded to others made her seem very different from those arrogant mech students. She was clearly much easier to get along with.
“So where do we go next?” Yan Cixi asked, leaving the decision to Ke Yunyao.
Ke Yunyao once again released her spiritual power, walking this way and that. Yan Cixi said nothing and quietly followed her.
Half a day passed quickly, and they still hadn’t found a single box. Yan Cixi couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
“Where did the instructors even drop those boxes? We haven’t seen a single trace of them.”
Ke Yunyao also wanted to know the answer. They had been wandering randomly all morning, with no clear direction—just relying on luck.
Unfortunately, their luck wasn’t good. They only found some medicinal plants, but no boxes at all.
“Let’s go back,” Ke Yunyao said. “It’s almost time.”
“Alright.” Yan Cixi nodded.
The two headed back toward their original coordinates.
……
On the way, they didn’t encounter any other teams. It only showed how vast the forest was—new students dropped here were nothing more than tiny specks.
When they returned to the drop point, Vashi and Yang Qi had already arrived.
“How was it? Did you find anything?” Vashi asked eagerly.
Yan Cixi shook her head. “Nope. Not even a shadow.”
A trace of disappointment flashed in Vashi’s eyes.
“What about you two? Any results?”
“We didn’t find any boxes either,” Vashi said, then added, “but Yang Qi and I did find a few mineral stones. Yunyao, are they useful to you?”
Ke Yunyao’s eyes lit up slightly. “Let me see.”
“Here.” Vashi took out the minerals from his spatial ring.
There were five pieces: two A-rank, one B-rank, and two C-rank. Some were large, weighing around ten pounds, while smaller ones were about the size of a fist.
Ke Yunyao squatted down to inspect them and nodded. “Not bad.”
Seeing the minerals, Yan Cixi suddenly remembered their own harvest. “Captain, we also found some medicinal plants!”
“Really? That’s great!” Vashi said happily.
But Ke Yunyao raised her head after checking the minerals, her expression hesitant. She didn’t want to discourage them, but she also didn’t want Meng Lingling to ruin the medicinal plants she had worked hard to find.
So she decided to speak the truth.
“Captain, don’t be too happy yet. The medicinal plants we found aren’t used for healing potion formulas.”
Vashi’s smile froze. “How do you know?”
Yan Cixi quickly explained, “Yunyao is amazing—she identified all of them herself!”
Ke Yunyao added, “My mother is a potion maker. She told me.”
That single sentence hit Vashi hard.
But he still held onto a trace of hope. “Maybe… Meng Lingling can use them to make other potions?”
Ke Yunyao sighed internally. He really wouldn’t give up until he hit a wall.
“Basic healing potions are the simplest formulas. If she only has a 40% success rate with those, do you really think she can handle anything more complicated?”
She didn’t even mention Meng Lingling’s name directly, but everyone understood her implication: her ability was far from reliable.
Alright then.
Even though they didn’t fully understand potion-making standards, they did know that potion makers usually charged 50% of the material cost, and profit depended entirely on success rate.
With only a 40% success rate, Meng Lingling would actually cause losses rather than gains.
So… she really wasn’t very dependable.
Fine—then they’d better not waste the materials.
Vashi’s original idea was completely dismissed.
Ke Yunyao didn’t immediately start working on the minerals. She decided to wait for the other teams to return first.
They didn’t wait long before the remaining three groups gradually came back.
“How was it? Any results?” Vashi asked as he went to meet them.
Duan Yang smiled and took out the box everyone had been hoping for.
Everyone’s attention was instantly drawn.
Vashi quickly stepped forward. “Is it a material box or a medical box?”
“Material box,” Duan Yang said.
“That’s great!” Vashi exclaimed.
If he had to choose which box to find first, it would definitely be the material box.
With weapons, their team’s strength would increase immediately. And with strength, everything else would become easier.
The other two groups also had no box, but Jiang Tian’s group found some mineral stones.
As for Yan Zhou and Meng Lingling’s group—they focused entirely on searching for boxes and found nothing else.
Now that they had the material box and additional minerals, everything depended on Ke Yunyao’s performance.
Under everyone’s expectant gaze, Ke Yunyao suddenly patted her stomach and changed the topic.
“My weapon crafting isn’t that fast. How about we find a place to camp and eat something first?”
I’m hungry.
Yan Cixi suddenly slapped her forehead. “I almost forgot—you used a lot of spiritual power this morning. You really need to replenish your energy!”
Then she turned to Vashi. “Captain, let’s follow Yunyao’s suggestion and find a place to camp first.”
Vashi nodded.
Now that it was mentioned, he also felt a bit hungry.