Previously, these students had been busy surviving in the Caves. Due to the intermittent signal, they only had a general understanding of Fang Zhou's remarkable achievements and lacked the energy to focus on the specific details.

Faced with a chorus of praise that placed him at the center of attention, Fang Zhou remained humble and composed.

At his classmates' request, he briefly recounted the process. It started with discovering the Heroic Spirit Battle Banner at the Kobold camp, then accepting a special mission from Instructor Lu Hu, and finally using the senses of his Soul Realm to find General Ning Feihu's remains in the Fierce Ant nest.

Although Fang Zhou's tone was bland, these Seed Students had just personally undergone the extremely torturous Cave Hunting. How could they not understand the significance of his series of experiences?!

It was likely that aside from Fang Zhou, no other first-year student could have accomplished it so perfectly.

After all, the very first step—snatching the Heroic Spirit Battle Banner from the leader of the Apprentice Upper-Rank Kobold Warlocks—was something these Seed Students, who had their Awakening only two months ago, considered an impossible fantasy achievable only in their dreams. This was to say nothing of the series of brilliant maneuvers Fang Zhou executed afterward.

Even the proudest and most inexplicably self-confident student, Ye Fan, praised him with sincerity. "Fang Zhou, compared to you, I admit I still fall a little short. You being ranked first is well-deserved. I am thoroughly convinced!"

As he spoke, Ye Fan shot a sidelong glance at Meng Hongzhuang, who was standing beside Fang Zhou, and said disdainfully, "Unlike certain people who only know how to bully with superior numbers and use cheap tricks to usurp a High-level position. Heh, just wait until tomorrow's arena challenge. I'll be sure to rip off their masks and expose them for what they are!"

Ye Fan's tone grew more and more passionate, as if he was getting himself fired up. He stared straight at Meng Hongzhuang and declared, "I, Ye Fan, have never been second to anyone! Tomorrow, I will prove to the world that I am the true No. 1 Seed of Sea City Military Academy!"

As the words left his mouth, his gaze swept over to the silent Fang Zhou, and he quickly corrected himself, "The No. 2 Seed!"

Ever since the Simulation Battlefield, Ye Fan had been overshadowed by Meng Hongzhuang. The same thing happened during this Cave Hunting; no matter how hard he tried to catch up, she kept him pinned under her heel, leaving him stuck in third place. He had been bottling up his resentment and vowed to have a glorious one-on-one duel with Meng Hongzhuang in tomorrow's arena challenge. He would prove that his personal combat ability was second to no other student—except Fang Zhou.

At this moment, Meng Hongzhuang, the target of Ye Fan's challenge, froze for a second before instantly reacting. She stomped her feet in fury. "Who are you calling a bully? Who usurped a High-level position? Hmph, what a buffoon, daring to spout such nonsense here! Tomorrow, you'll be the one respectfully handing over 10 contribution points to me!"

As the two traded barbs, the tension thickened, igniting the competitive spirit in the other Seed Students as well. Zhao Yuan and the others who had ranked relatively lower in the Cave Hunting were unwilling to be left behind. Their eyes scanned the crowd, searching for suitable opponents to challenge the next day. Some of the smarter students were already on their personal terminals, collecting battle recordings from the past three days of hunting to analyze their potential opponents' strengths and weaknesses.

Looking at the heated atmosphere, one could imagine that tomorrow's competition would be fierce.

As the current No. 1, Fang Zhou remained perfectly composed. It was unlikely any student would want to waste their precious challenge opportunity on someone they perceived as unbeatable. In Fang Zhou's view, perhaps only Meng Hongzhuang, that battle-crazed girl, would want to use the arena challenge as a chance to spar with him and discuss the art of commanding Summoned Creatures. However, to challenge him, Meng Hongzhuang first had to deal with the eagerly waiting Ye Fan.

Just then, a group of staff members drove over with several small carts, bringing the Seed Students' spoils of war. While on the airship, all the loot had been clearly labeled with the owner's name, so there was no risk of it being mixed up or lost.

Compared to Fang Zhou's haul, which consisted of more than ten large bags, the other students each had only a single, pitifully small bag. This was partly because the Demons they hunted were low-level and didn't yield many valuable Demon materials, and partly because they had to lighten their load as much as possible to better evade the hunts of other Cave Demons.

Under the incredibly envious gazes of the other Seed Students, Fang Zhou located his massive pile of loot.

The staff then set up several stalls in the square, laid out some measuring equipment, and gestured for the Seed Students to come forward and exchange their spoils for contribution points. The students all looked at each other, but no one moved. Instead, a silent consensus was reached as all eyes turned to Fang Zhou. They were all curious: just how many contribution points were Fang Zhou's spoils from the three-day Cave Hunting worth?

Seeing this, Fang Zhou accepted the implicit invitation and was the first to step forward. With a light wave of his Magic Staff, he summoned ten Skeletons and commanded them to carry his spoils to the staff members.

After verifying his identity, the staff began to methodically tally Fang Zhou's haul.

First were the 812 Hunting Points, exchangeable for 80 contribution points.

Next were two large bags of Gray Inferior Equipment. These were looted from elite Apprentice Middle-Rank Demons. After a professional appraisal, they were worth 275 contribution points.

Additionally, there were 32 Level-1 Refining Stones collected from the Kobold camp and the open-air mineral veins, exchangeable for 320 contribution points.

Lastly, there were the Demon materials, which were the most numerous and diverse.

"Dogman Mineral Crystals, 1,500 grams, for 150 contribution points."

"Fierce Ant Carapaces, 100 pounds, for 100 contribution points."

"Pointed Goblin Ears, 200 units, for 40 contribution points."

"..."

The staff members rattled off the names of over a dozen types of Demon materials as if reading from a menu, leaving the onlooking students utterly speechless.

Meng Hongzhuang tugged at her pigtails and muttered to herself, "That freak, Fang Zhou! Did he slaughter every single Demon in Cave No. 1?"

Ye Fan's eyes gleamed as he kept muttering, "A real man should be just like that! One day, I will take his place... I will take his place!"

The other students' eyes revealed a mixture of feelings: three parts shock, three parts envy, three parts yearning, and one part admiration.

Forget the students; even the staff members responsible for the tally couldn't help but glance at Fang Zhou as they called out the numbers. They simply couldn't comprehend how a first-year freshman, merely at the Apprentice Middle-Rank, could have harvested so many Demon materials in just three days.

Ten minutes later, the mountain-like pile of Demon materials was finally tallied, totaling 500 contribution points. These were all relatively common Demon materials. Fang Zhou had kept the rarer items for himself, such as the Ice Troll's heart and the Fierce Ant Queen's glands. They would be excellent choices for either his own research or for use in future Cave Hunts.

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