These teachers placed excessive trust in the intelligence because some of the information matched their own students perfectly.
At one point, they suspected it wasn't the examinees themselves who came up with it, but rather some idle expert within the preparation village.
But Su Hao's silkworm, with a single thread of silk, shattered the accuracy of the intelligence.
"Spinning silk is a move that a rookie spirit 'can't possibly' learn, so it's normal for it not to be recorded in the intelligence. Now we'll see how Gu Mingrui handles this."
Initially, it was teachers like Old Chen and Old Gu from No. 1 High School who were worried.
Now,
it was the attached high school teachers who were worried about Gu Mingrui.
Getting eliminated here... no, having a spirit injured here would be such a pity!
It could very well prevent him from making it into the top ten!
"Little Stone Elephant, charge in, use Roll!"
"Ah-moo!!"
The Little Stone Elephant charged forward, gaining speed, then suddenly curled up, rolling like a giant stone ball.
Wherever it passed, dead branches and rotten leaves were crushed into dust by the stone ball, hurtling straight toward Su Hao in the distance.
"Excellent!"
Inside the monitoring center, the attached high school teacher's eyes lit up.
"Right now, the Dead Leaf Locust is suppressed and can't counterattack, but as long as the Little Stone Elephant attacks the opponent's Spirit Master, the silkworm will have to break its rhythm and fall back!"
As he spoke, he seemed to find it a bit embarrassing and added, "This is a no-rules battle anyway. The Spirit Master is the biggest weak point; getting attacked is their own fault for being too tempting a target!"
Old Chen snorted, seeing at a glance that this was an academic-style teacher.
But she still sneered, "Did you attached high school folks forget that Su Hao still has a Little Fire Crow that hasn't made a move yet?"
"The Little Fire Crow's spiritual power is just over a hundred..."
The attached high school teacher's confidence wavered as he spoke.
But the spiritual power values in the intelligence couldn't be wrong, could they?
...
In the forest,
Gu Mingrui's eyes were fixed on the Little Fire Crow circling above Su Hao's head, simulating in his mind the possible responses his opponent might make.
'I have to attack Su Hao himself, otherwise, I can't force the silkworm to fall back!'
His concentration had reached its peak.
Then he heard,
"Stop playing around."
Playing?
What playing?
Gu Mingrui's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
The silkworm, which had been playing a game of chase with the Dead Leaf Locust in the dense jungle, showed a hint of regret.
Such a good moving target was hard to come by.
It roared, "Gu-nuo-nuo!"
A thunderous sound exploded in the Dead Leaf Locust's ears.
The Dead Leaf Locust, flying around a tree, trembled.
A goose-yellow figure dragged a pale green tail flame, crashing down like a meteor.
Boom!!!
The Dead Leaf Locust was slammed into the tree trunk, hanging there like a piece of skin, slowly sliding down.
It struggled.
A "Spirit Command: Persevere" promptly enveloped it.
But the goose-yellow figure rebounded, and pale green light particles appeared on its short legs, rapidly expanding into a soccer-ball-sized energy sphere that flew over with a whoosh.
Boom!!!
Wood chips flew from the thick trunk, which would take two people to wrap their arms around, leaving a clear gaping hole.
A Dead Leaf Locust was embedded in the pit, knocked unconscious.
And at that moment,
the Little Stone Elephant was only a dozen meters away from Su Hao.
A fireball flew in from the front.
An energy sphere blasted in from the right.
The Little Stone Elephant was battered and scarred, its roll interrupted.
Gu Mingrui watched Su Hao and his spirits approaching step by step.
He backed away, again and again, until there was nowhere left to go.
"Y-you, don't come any closer—!!!"
...
The attached high school teacher staring at monitor 55 fell silent.
"This silkworm..."
"As long as he doesn't run into Bing Ning and Lin Mingzheng, Su Hao from Ancheng is a sure bet for the top ten."
"Not necessarily! The exam site is complicated; anything can happen!"
The most bitter weren't the attached high school teachers.
Gu Mingrui was eliminated, but the attached high school had other seeded players.
It was just a pity.
Anyway, could Su Hao be stronger than Bing Ning and Lin Mingzheng, whose spirits had already reached the entry level?
But the perennial bottom-dwellers alongside Ancheng No. 1 High School, Pingcheng No. 1 High School, were a mix of envy and jealousy.
We agreed to fail together—why did Ancheng No. 1 High School quietly produce such a genius?
Why doesn't ours have one!
...
Strolling leisurely through the forest, Su Hao actually knew that the recent battle might have been captured by cameras.
He hadn't spotted the cameras, but he had an intuition that he was being watched.
It came from his gradually strengthening soul power.
"Anyway, once the joint exam is over, whether my trump card is exposed or whether I get found out as an intelligence dealer won't matter anymore."
I earned my living selling intelligence fair and square; it's not illegal!
Soon, it was the third day of the joint exam.
Protected by the light barrier of his wristband, Su Hao wasn't in a miserable state, but the weariness showed in his expression.
Over the past two days,
sleeping in a tent and sleeping bag, Su Hao had been a bit sleepless.
But he was fine; after the silkworm and Little Fire Crow defeated the wild spirits in the area, no reckless spirit disturbed them all night.
Other examinees weren't so lucky, with some being ambushed by wild spirits at night.
These were tidbits Su Hao picked up from chatting with other examinees after defeating them.
Many examinees were eliminated by wild spirit attacks, exhausted from dealing with them.
Many were eliminated in their sleep by wild spirits.
Quite a few were eliminated by other examinees.
"Ordinary examinees simply don't have the ability to reach the finish line."
Su Hao estimated that over eighty percent of the examinees had already been eliminated.
"Little Fire Crow!"
The crow with a tuft of red feathers on its forehead flew onto his shoulder.
"Caw-caw~"
It called out.
"Not far from the finish line, huh?"
Su Hao rested his chin in thought. "I've defeated quite a few examinees, but since the joint exam has no leaderboard, who knows where I rank in points?
"Making it into the top three is far from certain; I need to rack up... a few dozen more waves of points!"
Reaching the finish line meant safety, but it also meant losing the last day.
Su Hao thought it over, then first veered off toward the nearest supply point.
"Get some more supplies, then camp out on the path to the finish line. I should be able to ambush some moving points... right?"
...
A few hundred meters away, at the base of a supply point tower.
Three dejected examinees were led away by staff from the primitive zone.
"That squad was pretty fat—over a hundred points!"
"Next squad should be our turn!"
Voices came from within the bushes.
Ten No. 1 High School students let out snickers.
"Ambushing here is brilliant. With our spirits' special moves, those fat sheep basically lose their combat ability. If we can catch one or two seeded players, we might even have a shot at the top ten!"
"Right, seeded players are human too. As long as we strike fast enough, they won't have a chance to fight back!"
Just then,
a Wood Cotton Owl flew down from the treetop, cooing twice.
Its Spirit Master's face lit up. "Another fat sheep is coming. Get ready!"
Everyone fell silent, their eyes peering through the grass toward the open space outside the tower.
An examinee approached with two spirits.
Their eyes gleamed.
This one seemed like a big fat sheep!
"Get ready..."
The leader, a boy in a cap among the ten No. 1 High School students, slowly raised his hand.
Before he could bring it down,
the examinee turned his head and looked their way.
And smiled.