Chapter 698: The Teaching Assistant Tracking Bounty
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 698: The Teaching Assistant Tracking Bounty
Ninglan Territory.
A dense forest, far from the outskirts of Ninglan New City.
"I told you guys not to run so far out! Does this look like a place where we’d find any hunting targets?"
"Oh, stop complaining. We deliberately came this far to get away from the crowds, didn't we? Where there are too many people, there’s no prey. We only stand a chance where it's quiet."
Three girls were currently trekking through the thicket. One grumbled, another offered soothing words, and the third followed behind, too lazy to speak. It was a miracle of fate that such a trio had ended up as a team.
"Wait! Something’s moving! See? Here comes our chance~" They suddenly heard a rustle and immediately grew excited.
They hurried forward to investigate.
"Hey, hey! Careful! You can't just charge in like that. What if you scare the target away?" One of them grabbed her over-excited teammate to lecture her.
"Sorry, sorry... I almost forgot."
"I swear, you’ve completely forgotten all the hunting techniques they taught us at Afuhemi Academy."
"Whatever, let's just go see what it is. That sound didn't seem like a large variant beast."
The three exchanged a quick glance before agreeing to move in for a closer look.
As they approached—one on high alert, one guarding the rear, and the third moving in to scout—a sudden, dull thud echoed through the trees, like a heavy object slamming into something. A figure collapsed straight to the ground.
"Who’s there?! What happened?"
Hearing the commotion, the girl guarding the rear whipped around, only to be met with the sight of a blood-stained book corner. A spell ritual bloomed before her eyes; the exquisite and rapid casting sequence instantly commanded her attention. It was the first time she had ever felt a spell ritual from such a close distance—so beautiful, and so... searing!
Boom!
As a wave of heat erupted, the girl who had gone forward to scout froze in her tracks.
Between the "corpse" she had discovered—which had a health bar hovering above its head that was nearly empty—and the screams, explosions, and heat coming from behind her...
The sheer volume of events unfolding in that single instant exceeded her brain's processing capacity.
She snapped out of her shock and instinctively turned around, only to lose her balance and fall onto her backside.
There, she saw two figures lying in pools of blood, and a third figure holding a book, standing not far behind her.
"Xiao... Sister Xiao Han?!"
"You recognize me? Well, knowing me won't grant you a pardon from death." I looked at the unfamiliar girl, having no memory of her. "Don't worry, it won't hurt. You'll just respawn in Ninglan New City. Experiencing death and rebirth is a rare life lesson."
With that, I used a Fireball Spell to give her the most dignified "end" possible.
Otherwise, being bludgeoned to death by the Book in the Box would have been a truly painful way to go.
I gave the Book in the Box a light shake to flick off the fresh blood. Immediately after, a mentor appeared beside me—the same one from before.
It seemed every Teaching Assistant had a dedicated mentor assigned to them to handle the resurrections of the candidates they killed.
However, resurrected candidates had to return to their "birth point" on their own—the city they arrived in. For the Witch Academy, that was Ninglan New City; for Afuhemi Academy, it was the Third Sanctuary, and so on.
Until they checked back in, they couldn't earn any points through hunting.
The reason I had bothered to chat with the last girl was that killing those two had just unlocked my second skill.
Ice Shield.
The casting bar for this defensive skill was slightly faster than the Fireball Spell. Given my reaction time and the travel speed of a fireball, my Ice Shield would have plenty of time to deploy.
"Are you sure you aren't going to kill her yet?" the mentor asked.
"No, she's still very much alive. Her greatest utility is dying in an 'accident.'" I walked into the brush and hoisted up the near-death Teaching Assistant.
"You make an excellent decoy. I apologize for my earlier snap judgment; you are remarkably useful at luring in targets other than myself."
"You... demon... just... kill... me..."
"Hmm? You used the last of your self-healing ability just to repair your vocal cords and language processing centers? Don't feel victimized. I know all of you Teaching Assistants who were targeting me. Not a single one of you is innocent."
I huffed and ignored her, turning my attention elsewhere.
The moment I killed the first candidate, I noticed my status had changed to "Wanted."
The Wanted status displayed a notification on every candidate's Knowledge Seed vision, marking my real-time location.
This mechanic hadn't been mentioned before. It seemed to be one of those classic "hidden rules."
After all, our role was to be the hunted. If we just hid somewhere and started counter-hunting everyone, the exam would be ruined.
So, the first kill triggered a one-hour bounty!
Each subsequent kill stacked the duration.
I currently had a full three hours on my head.
Meanwhile, the three students had been resurrected with the mentor's help. Since it was their first death, the mentor guided them, explaining that they needed to return to their birth point to check in before they could start earning points again.
The three were still shaken. Upon respawning, they immediately began checking their bodies to make sure they were still in one piece.
"That really was Sister Xiao Han... I can't believe she played us like that..."
"Huh? What's this? A Wanted Order? Sister Xiao Han is on the bounty list!" one of them noticed.
Having just died by my hand only to be instantly brought back, they were still a bit dazed. They didn't actually harbor much resentment toward me; I had killed them so quickly that there wasn't enough time for their emotions to fester.
"Um... Sister Xiao Han?"
"Yes? Is there something else? You're welcome to come back for revenge, though I'd suggest bringing more people next time." I looked at them, deciding to indulge in a bit of conversation.
"Well... we definitely can't beat you... We were just curious about the person you're carrying..."
"Oh, her? She's a Teaching Assistant too. She was my co-star for the decoy act," I explained helpfully.
"Huh?"
Clearly, they couldn't wrap their heads around that explanation.
"But... she's clearly about to die..."
"But she isn't dead yet, is she? Don't worry~ this is just a little friction between Teaching Assistants at the start of the match. Losers have to act like losers, especially since she failed a sneak attack. A little public humiliation is only natural."
"Friction..."
Hearing my words, the three instinctively shivered. They suddenly felt that their own deaths had been quite merciful by comparison.
"Want to chat more? If you provide valuable intel, I wouldn't mind waiting for you to come back and make a trade. This person is a Teaching Assistant, after all. If you kill her, you'd probably get a ton of points, right?"
"Sorry... we're leaving now..."
"Are you really just going to walk away? That's a..."
"We don't have the lives to spare! What if we get tricked again the moment we come back?"
"Death deducts points! We're already in the negatives! Let's play it safe, play it safe..."
While one of them looked slightly tempted, the other two grabbed her and bolted.
They didn't give me another opening.
Meanwhile, the appearance of my Wanted Order sparked a heated discussion among the candidate population.
However, mine wasn't the first. Several clueless Teaching Assistants had already killed candidates in their rush to unlock their skill trees, triggering bounties. Mine was just the latest addition.
The difference was that many people recognized this particular name.
What shocked them even more was the duration of the bounty and tracking—it was already three hours long!
Since these three hours had been stacked in a very short window, it meant that Teaching Assistant Xiao Han had killed three candidates in rapid succession!
This combat prowess and killing efficiency terrified some, but it made many others eager to try their luck!
Furthermore, the tracking would last until noon today. With such a long duration, she had nowhere to hide.
And that was assuming she didn't kill anyone else.
It was becoming clear that this Joint Exam Hunt discouraged Teaching Assistants from actively hunting candidates—unless they didn't plan on getting a wink of sleep for the next seven days!
At this stage, the newly arrived candidates had only just left the protective range of their respective shelters and sanctuaries. They hadn't even seen many variant beasts yet, so when they saw these Wanted Orders, they accepted them immediately!
Hunting a standard aggressive variant beast only granted 1 point. Large variant beasts required teamwork, and once the points were split, individuals often got less than a single point.
But look at those bountied Teaching Assistants... a single kill was worth a hundred points!
They were basically walking packs of variant beasts!
Plus, there was only one target, their power levels weren't supposed to be that different from the candidates', and the candidates had the advantage of numbers...
When you put it like that, why wouldn't you go for the big prize?
There was nothing to fear. So what if she was a Teaching Assistant? So what if her influence was rumored to rival a mentor's? No matter how high her combat power was, she couldn't use it right now. Even if she had more experience, how could she possibly escape a coordinated ambush?
Thus, the Joint Exam Hunt began not with the hunting of beasts, but with the hunting of Teaching Assistants. The variant beasts were relegated to side characters.
At the same time, the exam organizers began to make adjustments. The various academies started deploying special hunting creatures and opened up tracking information at every shelter and sanctuary.
The more rational candidates chose the safer route of hunting special creatures. After some calculation, they realized that if too many people swarmed a single Teaching Assistant, the final point split would be measly.
Besides, if a Teaching Assistant got desperate, they might take a few unlucky souls down with them. Variant beasts and special creatures didn't have such devastating attacks, and more importantly, monsters lacked the complex schemes and combat intuition of a human.
To put it simply, they only had to deal with animals. Dealing with a person required far too much calculation.
* * *
In an undeveloped stretch of forest far outside Ninglan New City.
"Strange, the tracking says she's in this area. Can't this thing be more precise?"
A team that had arrived early began searching the area once they confirmed they were in the right zone.
However, their casual searching yielded nothing.
"Hey, everyone stay sharp! We're about to face a Teaching Assistant! I heard their strength is terrifying!"
"So what if it's terrifying? We're looking for Yang Yuehan. She's about the same age as us, isn't she? Her power level should be the same. What's there to be afraid of?"
"Exactly. The senior sisters have much stronger physiques and might be able to take us out without skills, but why should we be afraid of someone our own age? Haha~"
As the girl laughed, the person in the lead suddenly spotted something.
"Hey! Wait! Is that someone over there?"
"Where? Is it Yang Yuehan?"
"I'm not sure, but they have a health bar... I think it is? Why do they look like they're dying?"
The group moved forward. Because the forest canopy blocked most of the sunlight, the ground was dim. The shrubs were stunted, and the damp areas were overgrown with ferns.
"Careful. Did someone beat us to it?"
When they saw the figure tied to a tree—and realized it wasn't the Yang Yuehan they knew—they were momentarily confused.
They should have been terrified.
But as they say, "fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
Anyone with a shred of wit would have realized this was a trap.
However, the combination of "Teaching Assistant," "tied up," "abandoned," and "sliver of health" was far too enticing. They didn't even notice my arrival!
"This... she's a Teaching Assistant too, right? She's only got a sliver of health left. Why don't we just kill her and split the points?"
"Yeah, let's do it." A voice that was entirely unfamiliar to them joined the conversation.
By the time they reacted, a crimson fireball had already finished charging.
Boom!
The explosion sent the group flying.
Looking at the kill count ticking up, I realized that such "adorable" candidates could probably only be found in the early stages of the Joint Exam Hunt.
If the Teaching Assistants didn't work hard now, things would get much more difficult in the later stages.
However, killing these few didn't solve my problem.
Since a team like this had already reached me, the main force of hunters wouldn't be far behind. Or rather... the scouts were already here, hiding in the shadows and biding their time.
The moment I made a move to leave, they would strike to intercept me.
Sure enough, as soon as I showed intent to move, an arrow whistled through the air, streaking directly toward me.
As if I had predicted the attack, I sidestepped it without even looking.
A Ranger from the Elf class, it seemed. They really were the best suited for scouting.
"Yang Yuehan, you can't run!"
"I knew you couldn't stay hidden forever. Now that one of you has shown themselves, why are the rest of you still hiding?" Holding the Book in the Box in one hand, I looked calmly at the first girl to emerge. Several more figures then dropped down from the trees.
Among the group, I spotted a familiar face.
Well, a familiar name, at least.
Annie Stephens... if I recalled correctly, she was the monitor of Class 66?
We had met during the confrontation matches shortly after enrollment. She was a girl with incredible luck.
I remembered her luck was great, and her spells... were also luck-based. I hadn't expected her to choose the Ranger class as a scout this time.
"Hi~ long time no see, Annie. I didn't expect our reunion to involve you aiming an arrow at me. That's a bit heartbreaking, don't you think?"