Lucius coughed so hard that his usually warm, deep voice became hoarse. He clearly showed his intense distaste for the salty seawater environment, immediately using magic power to condense a magical cloud, taking a stride to jump onto it in order to absolutely isolate himself from the liquid beneath his feet.
But in the very next second, the cloud beneath his feet instantly shattered.
"Splash!"
With an explosive sound of water, Lucius fell straight back into the sea.
A few seconds later, Lucius struggled to surface from the water, smoothing back his soaking wet silver hair plastered to his forehead. The harmless smile constantly present on his lips had completely vanished: "...This damned place can suppress magic power, what kind of trick is that wicked jellyfish-head trying to pull?"
The wicked jellyfish-head, meaning their guiding instructor Griffin, was a man possessing a stunningly beautiful appearance but wearing a hairstyle so bizarre it left people speechless.
Jeremy wiped the seawater from his face, coldly reminding him: "Be careful you don’t get written up for talking bad about him behind his back."
Lucius curled the corner of his lips, narrowing his phoenix eyes to look at Jeremy: "Captain, don’t you think my description is extremely close to reality?"
"..."
Jeremy truly could not find a reason to refute. That guy Griffin’s hairstyle really looked no different from a floating jellyfish. As for his personality... haha, it was indeed wicked to the point of being rotten.
Right at this moment, the magic ID card automatically activated, projecting a light screen floating above the water surface.
Five pairs of eyes immediately converged on the light source.
The screen displayed a congratulatory message from Griffin that had just been sent: [The second lesson officially begins. In addition, speaking ill of an instructor behind their back is a violation of the rules and will be penalized accordingly. (^_^ ) I sincerely wish you all can keep your lives to unlock the third lesson.]
"..."
A terrible premonition exploded in Jeremy’s mind. And according to Murphy’s Law, terrible things often loved to become reality.
Sure enough, exactly one second after the notification disappeared, the relatively calm sea surface suddenly boiled over.
Immediately after, grayish-black dorsal fins slashing through the water surface appeared. A shiver of Evil Soul Sharks, with terrifying speed, charged straight toward them like living torpedoes.
Upon seeing the jagged, serrated jaws and bloodthirsty, red-shot eyes of the sea monsters lunging out of the water, a chill instantly ran down Jeremy’s spine.
Level-three magic beasts...
Survival instinct completely overwhelming rationality, Jeremy desperately stroked his arms, swimming wildly in the opposite direction like a madman.
The other four guys also froze for a split second, immediately trying to mobilize their magic power to counterattack.
Failed.
Forcing magic power again.
Still failed.
Only two seconds later, the ranks of those fleeing for their lives on the sea surface instantly gained four new members.
Jeremy swam parallel to Lucius, asking through gritted teeth: "What realm are you currently at?"
"Novice, five stars." Unknown whether due to hating seawater or exhaustion, Lucius’s face right now was as pale as Xuan paper. Lucius lowered his long eyelashes; the pink tint at the corner of his eyes, because of getting wet, became even more bewitching and sharp.
The cultivation system of ten realms corresponded to ten major tiers, everyone was clear on this shorthand.
Jeremy then glanced at the remaining three: "And what about you all?"
Despite being in a fleeing situation, Evelyn’s breathing rhythm remained frighteningly steady: "Novice, six stars."
Phoenix reached up and yanked his soaking, flattened hood back down to his nape, revealing a sharp, masculine face that nonetheless carried a gloomy, depressed look. As Phoenix blinked, drops of water rolled down his angular cheekbones, dripping onto the water surface and shattering the brilliant reflection: "Novice, five stars."
Leon’s physical condition seemed to be the best in the group, however, his appearance right now was not much better. Leon irritably slicked his soaking wet silver-gray hair back, revealing a cold, masculine forehead, his tone nonchalant: "Novice, five stars."
Jeremy frowned, his mind rapidly calculating.
For the level of newly enrolled freshmen, this realm level was truly an exceptionally outstanding foundation. Three five-stars combined with one six-star, if facing a level-three magic beast under normal conditions, they would still have a chance to turn the tide. But right now they were facing as many as five level-three Evil Soul Sharks, which was a completely different concept.
Not to mention that all the magic power within their bodies was being suffocated by this oceanic environment. Worse still, the one holding the captain position—Jeremy himself—was a complete zero in terms of magic power, meaning the actual winning probability of the entire team had plummeted straight into the negative.
Feeling the foul breath of the shark pack tailing closely behind, the muscles on Jeremy’s body tensed even harder.
But fortunately, the heavens hadn’t completely cut off their path of survival yet. Right ahead, hidden behind a giant black coral reef, was the outline of a deserted island.
"Swim to the island first!"
Jeremy roared, signaling the whole team to aim straight for the coast behind the coral reef and charge. Before the boundary between life and death, no one had the mind to speak superfluous words. All five used every ounce of strength they had, swimming for their lives toward land in perfect sync.
Twenty minutes later, on the island.
Finally dragging themselves ashore, escaping the jaws of the sea monsters, Jeremy collapsed right onto the white sand, his soaking wet body sprawled flat. The extreme nervous tension coupled with physical exhaustion made his chest sting as if it were being torn apart.
The other four were equally pathetic. Even Leon, the one possessing the most robust physique in the group, cast aside all of his usual arrogant image at this moment. Leon leaned his back against a hidden rock, his chest heaving violently, trying to suppress his heavy panting.
"Does St. Aetherwing Magic Academy train all freshmen in this beastly manner?" Lucius completely dropped the fake smile on his lips, his expression cold and sharp: "No wonder people always rumor that this academy never harbors trash. It turns out it’s because the trash all drown before they can even finish their first week."
Jeremy felt this summary was so accurate he couldn’t agree more.
Leon spoke up coldly, his voice dry: "That perverted instructor won’t let us off that easily. Don’t be too quick to drop your guard."
Evelyn cast her gaze to observe their surroundings. Not far from the sandy beach was a pitch-black primeval forest, the tree canopies woven so tightly together that not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate. Inadvertently... from deep within the forest, a suffocating pressure transmitted out, making one’s scalp tingle numbly.
Taking advantage of the brief quiet time, Jeremy opened his magic ID card’s screen to check. The global positioning function had been locked, and the island map was completely disabled. The system only allowed receiving one-way messages from Griffin; they couldn’t even type a single character in response.
Clearly, this island had been completely isolated from the academy’s magic power network, causing the card’s telecommunication functions to be frozen. The fact that Griffin could send messages through the blockade proved that he had expended a massive amount of magic power to forcefully break through this spatial barrier.
Jeremy swiped his finger, scrolling up to the content of the very first message in the group.
The title of the second lesson was clearly: [Agility reflex training bearing gravity]. The underwater death race with the sharks just now... obviously had nothing at all to do with these two categories.
To be precise... the so-called "second lesson" had actually not yet begun at all.
Thinking of the hellish scene ahead, both sides of Jeremy’s temples began to throb continuously. He turned off the virtual screen, strode over to the base of a large nearby palm tree, and decisively sat cross-legged down on the sand.
Instead of sitting still waiting for death, Jeremy immediately applied the elemental breathing techniques gathered from the library last night to begin cultivation.
Although the magic power in his body was being suppressed by this space, unable to be released outward, very fortunately the ability to absorb natural elements from the environment into his body still proceeded normally.
Natural elements were composed of ten core attributes: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, along with Ice, Lightning, Wind, Light, and Dark. During the cultivation process, a mage was forced to selectively absorb the attribute compatible with themselves. If the body experienced a rejection reaction, it proved they did not possess an omnipotent constitution. The mage would have to patiently eliminate elements one by one until finding the exact energy current that their soul could accommodate.
While reading, Jeremy had even gotten a headache calculating how long it would take to screen if he encountered a rejection state. But as soon as he entered a meditative state, he was astonished to discover that this body was like a black hole, effortlessly swallowing and harmonizing all ten types of elements without encountering the slightest obstacle.
Jeremy squeezed his eyes shut. Guided by his will, within his pitch-black sea of consciousness, specks of light bearing ten different colors began to sparsely appear. They slowly converged, forming a miniature soul sea.
Ancient tomes stated very clearly: [Every time a mage’s realm breaks through an additional star, a corresponding star will condense within the soul sea.]
Currently, his soul sea was entirely a dark void, with only sparse elemental light specks drifting about, confirming his realm parameter at this moment was exactly level 0.
Jeremy gritted his teeth, using all his spiritual power to forcefully press those differing elemental light specks to collide, fusing them into a central point to condense the first star.
The moment the ten distinct energy currents exploded and crashed into one another, a pain that tore at the soul and ravaged the meridians rebounded, sweeping across his entire body.
Jeremy stiffened his body, his teeth gritted tightly to endure, a metallic taste of blood welling up all the way to his throat. Cold sweat poured out like a bath, soaking his cloak, and the muscles on his body began to tremble violently from the pain.
But he absolutely did not give up.
As long as he could tear through this initial barrier layer, condensing his first natal star would be considered complete.
In the old world, he could lazily live day by day, but in this place where human lives were as cheap as weeds, asking him to accept standing at the bottom of the food chain as a stumbling block for others, he absolutely could not do it.
A faint scent of blood spread through the air. The other four guys immediately noticed Jeremy’s abnormal changes, extreme astonishment flashing simultaneously in the depths of their eyes.
Lucius raised a hand to rest his chin, tilting his head to look over, his tone carrying a hint of deep contemplation: "Our captain actually chose to risk his life to break through right at this moment? Do you all think he can hold up?"
Leon and Phoenix remained silent, two pairs of sharp eyes pinned tightly onto the figure sitting at the base of the tree.
Evelyn’s gaze swept over the pain-enduring face of the young man with ruby red hair. Without even a half-second of hesitation, her calm, resolute voice spoke:
"He will definitely succeed."