Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

"So, Mr. Dragon, what level is a freshman capable of creating two locks of strength? A top student?"

"Yes, they can be considered the top students of the new generation of spiritualism. If they are properly nurtured, they will definitely support the future of spiritualism."

"Mr. Dragon, what is the level above the honor student?"

"Top students are the absolute best."

"Isn't that too unfair to the newborn who created the three locks?"

Mr. Dragon chuckled, “Sir, I think your study of spirit possession might be inadequate. I suggest you reread it. Andrei’s basic spirit possession studies do not teach advanced modification knowledge, so the freshmen can at most create second-level lock-type artifacts, which is already the limit for freshmen.”

The gentleman who was being mocked was not a polite person either.

“Mr. Dragon, I suggest you relearn the art of spirit possession.” He generously pointed to a location on the map. “Please look carefully with your eyes before you speak.”

The dragon turned its head away.

A newborn mark: a white skull adorned with a round crown, three bone spikes protruding from the round headband, and bone claws formed from the spikes striking the dragon's face.

"My dragon! What is this thing?"

"Look, the Three Locks Creature is moving! It's so fast! It's about to collide with the two nearest skull markers!"

……

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

The two freshmen who had chosen to cooperate felt the ground tremble; their creation was right beside them.

One of them started to speak.

Did you feel the vibration?

"I felt it. It felt like a stampede of beasts. Maybe some wild animals are migrating around here."

"Are you an idiot?! This is a forest of bones, where would a pack of beasts come from?! Be on guard!"

Before they could finish speaking, a blurry white shadow hurtled into their field of vision, crashing into their creation like a hurricane. The painstakingly assembled skeleton shattered in an instant, and a flash of red light appeared within the white shadow. The red light instantly grabbed the flying bone fragments and swept them away, leaving the two of them sitting amidst the rubble.

……

"Instantly killed two locked creations?"

The speed at which the three locks created things didn't decrease; in fact, the speed at which the markers on the map moved even faster, like a raging monster train charging towards its next victim. All that echoed in the audience's minds was laughter.

"Mr. Dragon, that three-locked skull laughed?"

"That was the rule we set at the beginning: when the creatures defeat the monsters and gain points, they will make a laughing sound as a sign of their existence."

Mr. Dragon sensed something amiss and summoned a ghost.

“Mr. Astonishment, please investigate this strange creation. I need to determine who its creator is.”

……

He maneuvers his enormous humanoid creation alongside adaptability.

"Manipulator, did you hear anything?"

"I heard you. A big guy is coming. Be flexible, I need your creation."

Mr. Flexibility's three bone spheres transformed into armor, covering the giant humanoid figure he was manipulating.

He held the enormous bone sword, assumed a stance, and aimed it in the direction from which the sound came.

"coming!"

Rumble rumble rumble rumble!!!

The operator saw it: a huge, rapidly spinning ring, a ring made of white, deformed vertebrae, hurtling towards them with unstoppable force.

If you can't stop it, dodge it!

Manipulating its humanoid form, it lunged to the side, dodging the white spinal wheel before it could crush its creation.

"Fortunately, this monster only charges around aimlessly; as long as we avoid its straight crushing attacks..."

Before the words were finished, a large, tangled black tentacle shot out from the center of the spinning bone wheel. The tip of the tentacle was wrapped with a sharp bone spear. With the powerful force brought by the rotation, this drill, accompanied by a violent buzzing sound, stabbed fiercely into the chest of the humanoid creation.

Like a broken toy abandoned in mid-air, the black tentacles devoured everything absorbable from the humanoid creation, then tossed the remaining remnants onto the controller's face like a broken doll before flying away again.

He nudged his brother, who was standing still, and the brother looked like a fool.

"Are you alright, Master? Did your brain get damaged?"

He looked at his brother and spoke slowly.

“I saw the Plague Doctor’s pet tentacle monster inside that wheel.”

……

"Instantly killed a two-lock monster?! Isn't that a bit too strong? Is this really a creation of a rookie? Examiner, is someone cheating? Don't you think this is outrageous?! Investigate immediately!"

Seeing the commotion below the stage, Mr. Dragon was also somewhat worried; the fairness of this exam was being questioned. He kept urging Mr. Surprise to go to the investigation site, trying to find out the truth.

"No matter who it is, if they dare to challenge the authority of séance, they will pay the price."

“Mr. Dragon,” Mr. Astonishment, a ghost, appeared before him, “that creation is moving too fast; we simply cannot stop it. Its identity has been confirmed.”

"Who is it!" Mr. Dragon was more anxious than anyone else now; he intended to make an example of someone.

"The soul aura indicates that the candidate is named the Plague Doctor."

Mr. Dragon suddenly stopped being in a hurry.

"Okay, I understand. Let's continue the exam."

“But aren’t we supposed to hold him accountable for disrupting the exam? He did use a sophisticated transformation ritual.”

"Ah, because he's a genius. I taught him advanced training. Don't worry, he's a freshman who just joined this year, so there's no problem with his status."

"...Mr. Dragon, it is wrong to give lessons in private."

"How can you blame me? I just repeated it once, and he learned it on his own. What could I do? Should I blame the student for being too smart?"

The three-locked monster's skull markers wreak havoc on the map, devouring other prey like in the Pac-Man game.

The score notifications were just like Mr. Dragon's mood.

A continuous, arrogant laugh reached the ears of every audience member.

Haha ...

Chapter 151 Graduating with a Perfect Score Ahead of Schedule

The broad joints etched their marks on the earth, and with the rapidly rotating spine, they flung soil high into the air. Within the distorted vertebrae that connected into a ring, were overlapping white bones, which formed the framework of this colossal creation, supporting the complete core at its center.

The pulsating core was a bloated, black mass of flesh. Around it, crimson flesh clung to the white bones, forming a scarlet web, or rather, a spider's nest. Within the pulsating core, beneath the overlapping, writhing flesh, lay a curled-up human silhouette.

Lyle's body was enveloped in the flesh and blood of Nia, as if he had returned to the initial stage of life, slumbering within his mother's womb. His body was soaked in a thick, sticky fluid, which, while acting as a buffer, also drained Lyle's magic to power this rapidly moving creation. The power was transmitted through the crimson, muscle-like tissue to every corner of the spinal wheel.

The muscles connecting the outermost vertebrae constantly contract and relax, keeping the center of gravity of the entire spinal wheel always diagonally below the body, like an eccentric wheel that is always maintaining maximum acceleration. This is also the reason why this creation can maintain high speed and continuously accelerate.

Lyle's main body entered a state of suspended animation, his consciousness guiding the creation forward through Nia's telepathic connection. During this time, Nia's tentacles helped maintain the balance of the massive skeletal wheel, constantly grabbing and feeding on the shattered flesh and bone marrow as they moved—a process that consumed a tremendous amount of energy.

Overall, this is a very successful creation. Absolute high speed, high speed and a hard exoskeleton are transformed into deadly impact force, a perfect combination of power and speed.

……

Outside the examination hall, on the huge stone slab, the ravaging of the symbol representing the wheel of the spine continued, and the audience had become almost numb to the incessant laughter.

Mr. Astonishment's ghostly face was filled with melancholy, a stark contrast to the composed Mr. Dragon beside him.

“Master Dragon, although I know that the Plague Doctor is your excellent disciple, can we please stop him? He is destroying targets too quickly.”

"Why should I stop? I fought the monsters with my own skill!"

"The plague doctor is moving too fast. If this continues, by the time he completes one hundred hunting missions, the other candidates won't have more than twenty points. Our original passing score was sixty. Does this mean that all the candidates this year, except for him, will have to repeat their studies?"

A failing grade is a failing grade, what's there to say!

In the end, Mr. Dragon didn't blurt it out. He knew, of course, that this year's students were quite talented, but when it comes to results, comparison is the thief of joy. The Plague Doctor's creations were simply too advanced. Who could have imagined that a student at the second level of the Locked Realm would create a powerful third-level creation that would then wreak havoc in the beginner village? Even he himself had been humiliated; his many years of teaching at Andrei had almost been ruined. The graduation exam pass rate was linked to his necromancy performance. Although he desperately wanted to cultivate a fifth graduating class, the only one to emerge as a star, what about the next class? With the academy withdrawing funding and reducing enrollment, the Plague Doctor's future path in necromancy would require more cannon fodder and supporting characters, wouldn't it?

Mr. Dragon carefully considered his words, and finally replied to Mr. Astonishment with a heavy heart, "How about we change the assessment results this time to the hunting time of one hundred monsters, and rank them according to the length of time?"

“That’s impossible, Mr. Dragon. There must be some poor students who can’t achieve 100 kills. Our exam time can’t be extended indefinitely because of them.” Mr. Astonishment looked at the dragon’s white mask, a hint of envy and jealousy showing in his translucent, shriveled eyes. “Let’s just announce to all the candidates that Mr. Plague Doctor has passed early because of his outstanding performance. Let’s also show the candidates Mr. Plague Doctor’s powerful creations. They’ve already been ravaged, so they’ll have nothing to say. Let’s use the second-place candidate’s 100 kills as the standard for the end of the exam.”

"That's possible, but we need to have a meeting with Mr. Scarlet to revise the exam rules. We need the consent of the teachers from the three necromancy factions."

“I agree.” From the shoulder of Mr. Dragon’s white coat, a faint bloodstain sprouted like a seed, giving rise to a small lip, from which came the voice of Mr. Scarlet, the representative of the Flesh and Blood faction teachers. “I agree to directly declare the Plague Doctor qualified.”

“Mr. Scarlet, could you please stop appearing and disappearing so mysteriously? You always seem to show up in such strange ways.”

The blood-red lips wriggled into a small red eyeball, giving Mr. Dragon a disdainful look.

"Mr. Dragon, who can just rip a bone out of your body without a word and play with it, please give up your right to complain about me. You've already found my trail." Mr. Crimson turned back into a leisurely pool of blood. He looked at the compilation of the Plague Doctor's massacre of other members collected by Mr. Astonishment and chatted with Mr. Dragon, who was also doing nothing.

"Dragon, let the Plague Doctors study advanced necromancy."

"Of course, that's my disciple."

"I really look forward to the day he takes my class. His handling of muscle tissue is so perfect, it can be called an art. I really look forward to the day I work with him."

"The epidemic doctor is a physician, and his understanding of the structure of life may be no less than yours."

"Is that so?" Mr. Crimson's blood chuckled. "That's perfect. After all, those succubus fools always think that flesh and blood just need to be plentiful. They don't care what surprises different organizations might bring. A bunch of idiots playing with dung in my art class. I really hope Mr. Plague Doctor's medical knowledge can bring me some surprises."

"Of course he can. He has already done it. I have full confidence that he will bring a huge surprise to our spiritualism, and even to the entire Andre Academy."

"I'm looking forward to it. Today's conversation with you was the only one I've ever had that I was satisfied with. At least your stinking mouth won't keep babbling on about a few stupid, inferior creatures."

"No, you idiot! Those cute animals aren't for your bloodletting experiments, you self-righteous scum!"

Mr. Astonishment did not participate in his colleagues' daily conversations; instead, he projected the collected images onto the huge light shield surrounding the examination hall.

"Mr. Plague Doctor, you and your outstanding creation have been recognized ahead of time. Now, please leave the examination room immediately and do not bring any new burden to the other candidates and us."

As they watched the images flashing in the air, the examinees recalled the fear of being dominated by the white bone wheel. Some even trembled because their creation speed was too fast, and they had already been dominated by this fear twice.

Chapter 152 The Choice of the Heart