Translator: AnubisTL
Boom!
A tremendous explosion echoed from the depths of the nearby jungle, its roar punctuated by the desperate screams of apprentices and the roars of magical beasts.
With the plane's barrier sealed, the apprentices' landings had been nothing short of catastrophic.
They had been scattered like carelessly sown seeds across this primeval forest, their landing points random and widely dispersed.
As time passed, the entire forest had transformed into a chaotic battlefield.
Some apprentices were ambushed by low-tier magical beasts the moment they touched down, forced to fight for their lives.
Others, while searching for their companions, found themselves surrounded by beasts, their cries for help ringing through the trees.
Still others had the misfortune of falling directly into indigenous traps, sparking immediate conflict.
This vast and perilous forest had become the most brutal "first experience" of their academy lives.
Jieming's group naturally encountered enemies as well.
Strictly speaking, another unlucky apprentice had been the one to provoke the magical beast, and Jieming had merely been caught in the crossfire.
Roar!!!
With a furious roar, the ground trembled violently.
In the distant jungle, towering trees crashed to the ground one after another, creating an unmistakable sense of the approaching giant beast's overwhelming presence.
Jieming showed no intention of fleeing. According to the energy readings from his analysis art, the creature was likely a first-tier creature, well within his capabilities to handle.
"Perfect. Let's test the strength of this world's creatures."
He raised his palm toward the agitated jungle, and a metallic gauntlet materialized on his wrist as if from nowhere.
Embedded in the gauntlet were ten "gems," each glowing with a faint, ethereal light that intensified as Jieming's mental power surged.
Each gem was a rune-imbued magical artifact, meticulously crafted and refined by Jieming over countless iterations.
Since the academy trial, he had abandoned the wizard world's diverse array of elemental attack spells in favor of the purest form of energy: the energy bullet.
While energy bullets might lack the raw destructive power of some elemental spells, their greatest advantage lay in their immunity to magical defenses and biological resistances.
Although energy bullets were composed of pure energy, their unique structure allowed them to behave like solid projectiles unaffected by gravity, dealing purely physical damage.
Due to their specialized construction, whether compressed for piercing damage or detonated for explosive force, energy bullets delivered purely physical impact.
Moments later, a disheveled wizard apprentice burst from the dense forest, the colossal beast that had been causing the commotion lumbering close behind.
"You?!"
The fleeing apprentice startled at the sight of Jieming standing directly in his path. Understanding the meaning in Jieming's eyes, he instinctively ducked and rolled to the side.
Roar!
Crack! Crack!
With the crisp snap of splintering trees, a giant beast over ten meters tall brutally crashed into view. Its rough, thick gray hide was covered in rock-like armor, and two rows of sharp bone spikes ran along its spine, extending to its massive tail. Each unconscious sweep of the tail sent shrubs and earth flying.
Its head resembled that of a colossal crocodile, its murky yellow vertical pupils gleaming with cruel hunger. Its gaping maw revealed rows of jagged, dagger-sharp fangs, and a putrid stench wafted from it even at a distance.
Its limbs were as thick as pillars, each step causing the solid ground to tremble slightly.
"ROAR!!"
The deafening roar seemed to tear through the air itself, carrying primal power and fury as it lunged toward Jieming.
Clearly, it had spotted this new target blocking its path to its "escaping prey."
Jieming's gaze remained unwavering. He steadily raised his arm, and the ten "gems" on his metallic wrist guard lit up in unison, hovering around it like a radiant halo.
Hum...
A low hum resonated from the wrist guard as energy began to flow through its intricate mechanisms, accelerating rapidly.
Not weak. I'll start with the energy level of a third-tier apprentice...
In the next instant, a storm of energy filled the space before Jieming.
Whizz... whizz... whizz... whizz...
One after another, pure white streams of highly condensed energy erupted from his wrist guard at speeds too fast for the naked eye to track, forming an unbroken barrage.
Each energy bullet resembled a cannonball compressed to its absolute limit, its tip glowing faintly red from the intense friction with the air at hypersonic speeds, leaving a brief trail of light in its wake.
The ten gemstones on Jieming's wrist lit up rhythmically in sequence, each pulse representing the launch of several energy bullets.
This was the cooling method Jieming had devised for his rune-imbued magical artifact.
Drawing inspiration from the design principles of Dr. Gatling from his previous life, he applied this concept to the creation of his rune-imbued magical artifact.
When one talisman seal fired an energy bullet, it immediately entered a cooling phase, while another seal instantly took over, maintaining a continuous cycle.
This ensured a sustained high-frequency attack while allowing each rune-imbued magical artifact ample cooling time, preventing overheating and achieving nearly infinite sustained firepower.
In standard combat mode, Jieming typically used ten rune-imbued magical artifacts cleverly embedded in special bracelets on each wrist.
These artifacts were ingeniously designed to occupy minimal space, concealing their presence when inactive. Yet, in battle, they instantly deployed, transforming into two radiant halos.
In this stance, he could unleash fifty energy bullets per second, creating a dense barrage of firepower.
The sheer frequency of the attacks was scalp-numbing, like a blazing white whip of pure physical force relentlessly lashing against the giant beast's massive body!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of a torrential downpour hammering against iron plates erupted!
The first wave of strikes landed precisely on the giant beast's thick chest and the shoulder area.
The beast's tough gray carapace was relentlessly eroded by the pure energy impacts. Each Light Bullet strike detonated, sending visible shockwaves of compressed air rippling outward.
Under the brutal physical assault, the hardened keratin layers shattered and peeled away!
"Aow-hoo!"
The initial roar of defiance instantly morphed into a howl of pain and fury!
The giant beast had never experienced such a relentless, utterly "unreasonable" barrage of pure kinetic force.
The giant beast staggered backward under the relentless barrage of kinetic energy, each step leaving deep craters in the ground.
Its bone spikes, capable of shattering rock with ease, began to crackle under the surging shockwaves.
The creature, which had roamed this jungle unchallenged for ages, was clearly stunned.
Instinctively, it tried to raise its massive forelimbs to crush the irritating speck, but the relentless torrent of Light Bullets battered its limbs, preventing it from mustering any force. Instead, the creature was sent tumbling head over heels.
It twisted its body in a desperate attempt to evade, but the light whips followed relentlessly, like shadows clinging to its form.
Its vertical yellow pupils clearly reflected the human figure standing firmly, wrist steady, and the strange metal ring spewing streams of destructive light. This device was steadily eroding its defenses in a way it couldn't comprehend.
(End of the Chapter)