After witnessing Kael’s terrifying strength firsthand, Ethan Blake had complained about him several times.
But deep down, Ethan knew the truth.
Kael was stronger than him.
There was no point denying it.
Where did this monster even come from?
Ethan frowned as he continued moving through the Core Region.
He doesn’t even look like an Ability User.
Yet Kael could kill Low-Tier One Ferocious Beasts as easily as cutting through grass.
The thought left Ethan both frustrated and impressed.
Still, he couldn’t afford to dwell on it.
He was currently in second place.
And he intended to keep it.
Ethan accelerated through the ruined streets, searching for more Ferocious Beasts.
During the first two hours, everything went smoothly.
Every now and then, he encountered a solitary Mid-Tier One Ferocious Beast.
Sometimes he found small groups of three or four beasts.
Ethan dealt with them carefully, using his Wind-type ability to maintain distance while attacking from advantageous angles.
His score continued to rise.
But by the third hour, something began to feel wrong.
The number of Ferocious Beasts he encountered had noticeably decreased.
At first, Ethan assumed it was simply bad luck.
But by the fourth hour, he had wandered through the Core Region for a long time without seeing a single beast.
Not one.
Ethan stopped in the middle of a ruined street.
“What is going on?”
He looked around in disbelief.
“Where did all the Ferocious Beasts go?”
Frustrated, he kicked a fist-sized piece of rubble lying beside him.
As a Tier One Ability User, Ethan possessed considerable physical strength.
The stone shot through the air.
Bang!
It smashed into a group of rust-covered metal signs, producing a loud metallic crash.
Under normal circumstances, Ethan would never have done something so reckless.
A loud noise could easily attract Ferocious Beasts.
But right now…
He actually wanted that to happen.
He wanted a beast to hear the noise.
He wanted something to fight.
Unfortunately, the noise attracted something else.
Humans.
Three figures soon appeared at the end of the street.
Two young men and one young woman.
They waved toward Ethan as they approached.
“Hey, Ethan!”
“What are you doing out here?”
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
He recognized all three immediately.
They were students from Rivergate First High School’s elite class.
All three were Low-Tier One Ability Users.
They were also old acquaintances.
In fact, besides Ethan, these three occupied the other positions within the city’s top five rankings.
Ethan looked at them suspiciously.
“How did you three end up together?”
The bald young man on the right gave a helpless shrug.
“You can thank Kael Veyron for that.”
Ethan’s expression changed slightly.
The petite girl in the middle spoke in her soft voice.
“Kael killed so many Ferocious Beasts that we couldn’t find anything worth hunting.”
She adjusted the large saber on her back.
“We’ve been wandering around looking for targets.”
The long-haired young man sighed.
“We’ve been searching for more than half an hour.”
“We heard that noise just now and thought a Ferocious Beast had appeared.”
He looked at Ethan.
“Then we ran over excitedly…”
His expression became awkward.
“…only to find you.”
Ethan’s eyebrows rose.
“Wait.”
“Kael killed all the Ferocious Beasts?”
He looked at the three of them.
“That can’t be right.”
The bald student smiled bitterly.
“You haven’t checked the rankings in a while, have you?”
He activated his smart watch.
A virtual ranking board immediately appeared in the air.
The students gathered around it.
At the very top was a name that made Ethan’s expression freeze.
1st Place — Kael Veyron — 3,435 Points
Rivergate Second High School
Below it–
2nd Place — Ethan Blake — 1,103 Points
Rivergate First High School
3rd Place — Marcus Reed — 945 Points
Rivergate First High School
Ethan stared at the screen.
His eyes widened.
“Three…”
He swallowed.
“Three thousand four hundred and thirty-five?”
His usually composed expression disappeared completely.
He looked as if someone had just struck him in the head.
The bald student gave him a sympathetic look.
“Now do you understand why we said Kael practically slaughtered the Core Region?”
Ethan remained silent.
The student continued explaining.
“A Low-Tier One Ferocious Beast usually gives around fourteen to sixteen examination points.”
“A Mid-Tier One beast gives roughly twenty to twenty-two.”
“Kael already earned more than seven hundred points in the Middle Region.”
The student pointed toward the ranking board.
“Take that away from his current score.”
“That still leaves more than 2,500 points from the Core Region alone.”
The petite girl nodded.
“In other words…”
She paused.
“Kael probably killed close to two hundred Ferocious Beasts in the Core Region.”
The long-haired student added,
“And that’s not even counting the beasts the four of us killed.”
The three students exchanged glances.
Their conclusion was obvious.
“Between Kael’s kills, our kills, and the beasts that died fighting each other…”
“We may have practically emptied the entire Core Region.”
Ethan stood there completely stunned.
He suddenly remembered his conversation with Kael earlier.
Are you trying to take my kills?
At the time, Ethan had thought Kael was being unnecessarily hostile.
Now he finally understood.
Kael hadn’t been worried about someone stealing a few kills.
He had been thinking much further ahead.
He had realized that the Core Region contained a limited number of Ferocious Beasts.
And he intended to kill as many of them as possible before anyone else could.
Ethan’s expression became complicated.
That bastard…
He almost laughed.
No wonder he looked so protective of his kills.
Kael had planned everything from the beginning.
“Three thousand four hundred and thirty-five points…”
One of the students stared at the ranking board in disbelief.
“That score is ridiculous.”
“Kael is almost guaranteed a top-ten finish in Westhaven Province.”
“Top ten…”
The petite girl murmured.
“When has Redhaven City ever produced a student capable of reaching the provincial top ten?”
The others fell silent.
Then the bald student suddenly shouted,
“He broke the city’s record!”
Everyone looked at him.
He pointed at the ranking screen.
“Kael broke Redhaven City’s Combat Examination record!”
Excitement spread through the group.
The thought was almost unbelievable.
For years, Redhaven City had been considered a relatively ordinary city within Westhaven Province.
Its resources were limited.
Its schools couldn’t compete with those in the provincial capital.
Its best students rarely reached the highest provincial rankings.
Yet this year…
An E-rank student from Rivergate Second High School had shattered the city’s record.
And he had done it with nothing more than a spear.
Outside Grayridge Town, the atmosphere was completely different.
The teachers and principals had already noticed the extraordinary score.
The huge projection screens displayed Kael’s name at the very top.
1st Place — Kael Veyron — 3,435 Points
Daniel Carter stared at the screen.
For a moment, he couldn’t speak.
Then a grin slowly spread across his face.
“I really didn’t expect this…”
He shook his head.
“To think he could reach this level with nothing but that spear.”
Martin Cole was equally excited.
His hands were clenched tightly.
His entire body seemed energized.
“Three thousand four hundred and thirty-five…”
His voice trembled slightly.
“That’s the provincial top ten.”
Everyone understood what that meant.
The students who reached the top ten of Westhaven Province were genuine elites.
They were the kind of young talents that major Ability User universities across the country competed to recruit.
Even the nation’s top ten Ability User universities would pay close attention to such students.
And now….
Redhaven City had produced one.
Victor Mason was smiling broadly.
At this point, he no longer cared about Kael’s E-rank ability.
With a result like this, even an F-rank ability wouldn’t completely erase his value.
His combat talent was simply too extraordinary.
“A rare talent emerging from nowhere…”
Victor shook his head with a laugh.
“I never thought Redhaven City would produce someone like Kael Veyron.”
Daniel looked toward him.
Victor’s smile widened.
“This young man is extraordinary.”
Then his expression became slightly complicated.
“But he’s also terrifying.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
Victor gestured toward the ranking board.
“Think about it.”
“In only three or four hours, he nearly cleared the entire Core Region.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
The scale of Kael’s hunting suddenly became much clearer.
Victor continued.
“You and the other principals may not know the exact number of Ferocious Beasts deployed inside the Core Region.”
“But I do.”
His voice became serious.
“We deployed 450 Low-Tier One Ferocious Beasts.”
“And another 40 Mid-Tier One Ferocious Beasts.”
The teachers around him were stunned.
Four hundred and ninety Tier One beasts.
That was an enormous number.
Victor continued.
“Some died fighting one another.”
“Some were killed by Ethan Blake and the other top candidates.”
“But even after accounting for those…”
His gaze settled on Kael’s name.
“Kael alone killed nearly half of the Ferocious Beasts in the entire Core Region.”
The observation area fell silent.
Nearly half.
In only three or four hours.
That number was enough to demonstrate just how frightening Kael’s combat efficiency was.
He wasn’t merely strong.
He was a battle fanatic.
Once he entered a battlefield, he seemed incapable of stopping.
Daniel listened quietly.
Then he remembered something.
“Kael’s parents…”
He hesitated.
“They both died during a Beast Tide when he was young.”
Victor looked at him.
Daniel continued.
“Perhaps that’s why he hates Ferocious Beasts so much.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“I see.”
For a moment, everyone became silent.
Then Victor’s eyes hardened.
He looked toward the distant Grayridge battlefield.
“Hmph.”
“One day, humanity will wipe out every last Ferocious Beast.”
Martin Cole nodded slowly.
“I’m sure of it.”
His voice was cold.
“One day, there will be no Beast Tides left to threaten our cities.”
The teachers looked back at the ranking board.
At the very top stood one name.
Kael Veyron.
And for the first time, everyone watching understood that the E-rank student they had once overlooked had become something far more significant.
He was no longer merely a promising candidate.
He was now the greatest Combat Examination talent Redhaven City had produced in years.
And his hunt through Grayridge Town was still continuing.