Fang Zhou estimated the distance. At his speed, he should be able to reach it by afternoon.

Clearing out the Goblin cave would not only widen the gap in Hunting Points between him and the other cadets, but also provide a place to spend the night.

After a short rest to restore his Spiritual Power and stamina to their peak, Fang Zhou commanded his Skeleton Team to set out on their hunting expedition.

Before he knew it, a dense fog had risen within Cave No. 1.

AWOO!

Suddenly, a wolf's howl echoed from ahead.

Then, a massive wolf-like creature emerged slowly from the fog. Even on all fours, it stood nearly as tall as Fang Zhou's chest.

A Fierce Wolf?

Seeing the giant wolf before him, Fang Zhou immediately ordered the Skeleton Team to encircle it.

ROAR!

The Fierce Wolf's blood-red eyes stared intently at Fang Zhou and his horde of Skeletons. It snarled, baring its fangs with extreme ferocity.

CRUNCH. CRUNCH.

No matter how terrifying the Fierce Wolf appeared, the Skeletons knew nothing of fear.

Under Fang Zhou's command, they shot forward from all directions.

A guttural bark erupted from the giant wolf as it charged Fang Zhou's Skeletons!

As the two sides clashed, it was clear that even though this Fierce Wolf was only a Lower-Rank Apprentice, its strength was on par with the Middle-Rank Apprentice Skeletons.

Gazing at the Skeletons, the giant wolf's front paws shimmered with a dark light as it seemingly activated a Skill before swiping down.

The first Skeleton to charge forward failed to dodge and was sent flying, landing beside Fang Zhou. Although it wasn't shattered, its left arm bone had been snapped in two.

Observing the intense battle, Fang Zhou remained completely unfazed.

Skeletons were inherently expendable Summoned Creatures. If they were destroyed, he could just summon more.

But no matter how strong this Fierce Wolf is, how many times can it use that Skill?

In fact, Fang Zhou only needed to use his [Skeleton Shackles] and [Skeleton Flying Spear] combo to instantly kill this ferocious beast.

However, to conserve his Spiritual Power, he chose not to.

It would just mean his Skeleton Team would take a bit more time and suffer more injuries, which was of no consequence. After all, this Cave Hunting event was scheduled to last for three full days.

Unlike the speed runs in the Simulation Battlefield, Cave Hunting was more of a test of a cadet's combat endurance. Therefore, Fang Zhou wasn't in a rush to determine the victor right away.

Just as he expected, the Fierce Wolf used its Skill again, sending another Skeleton flying.

However, it immediately weakened when faced with the siege from the remaining Skeletons. It seemed that using the Skill twice had consumed a massive amount of its stamina.

As the Skeletons' fangs and Bone Claws tore open wound after wound, the Fierce Wolf began to lose steam. Two Skeletons ripped large chunks of flesh from its hind legs. This caused its once agile body to slow down considerably.

Seizing the opportunity, two more Skeletons lunged directly at the Fierce Wolf's waist.

There was a saying: "copper head, iron tail, but a waist of tofu." The Fierce Wolf's greatest weakness was its midsection.

Its speed greatly reduced, the Fierce Wolf had no time to dodge and was pinned to the ground by the two Skeletons.

Subsequently, all the other Skeletons swarmed it. Their Bone Claws waved, completely dismembering the Fierce Wolf.

Hunting Points +4.

Soul Power +0.1.

This Fierce Wolf was clearly much stronger than the previous Fierce Rats and Fierce Rabbits, awarding a full 4 Hunting Points. This propelled Fang Zhou directly into the top ten of the Hunting Points leaderboard.

After confirming the giant wolf was dead, Fang Zhou instructed several Skeletons to pull out its sharp fangs.

According to the Sea City Military Academy's request list, a single fang was worth 0.1 contribution points.

Every little bit helps!

「...」

At the Sea City Military Academy, nearly ten thousand first-year cadets were gathered by their instructors to watch the live combat stream of the 180 seeded candidates with rapt attention.

The cadets participating in the Cave Hunting were the crème de la crème of the freshmen class. Their performance, good or bad, would serve as a great source of inspiration for the other students.

Therefore, under Su Tiankuo's orders, the curriculum for all first-year cadets for the next three days was to watch the Cave Hunting live stream and summarize useful combat experience from it.

Inside one of the connected classrooms, a cadet exclaimed, "Quick, look! Gu Zhiqiu's [Chain Wind Energy Missile] just instantly killed a Stone-Skinned Lizard! His power has improved so much!"

"What's so special about that? Look at Ye Fan! He didn't even use a Skill. He just kited several Burrower Monsters to death with his Blade Bow."

"Zhao Yuan's performance is pretty good, too. He's using his tough defense to hunt Fierce Rats. Even though they aren't worth many points each, there are over a dozen in a group."

However, another cadet sounded puzzled. "I've been watching Fang Zhou, and his performance isn't as amazing as I expected. Despite having the strength of a Middle-Rank Apprentice, he's just been steamrolling everything with only ten Skeletons. It seems to lack any technical skill."

"Yeah, exactly! Half a day has passed, and his score has only just barely cracked the top ten."

"Look at how he handled that Fierce Wolf earlier. He clearly could have finished it with a single [Skeleton Flying Spear], but he dragged it out by letting his Skeletons slowly wear it down. It looked so inefficient."

Just then, the oval-faced female cadet who had asked for Fang Zhou's contact information couldn't help but retort, "Hmph, this Cave Hunting lasts for three full days. Do you think it's like the Simulation Battlefield where your status is reset after every fight? Look at how flashy Gu Zhiqiu and Ye Fan are right now. Do you really think they can maintain that high hunting efficiency in two days when their Spiritual Power and stamina are nearly depleted?"

Another female cadet agreed, "Exactly! Fang Zhou is being frugal with his Spiritual Power and fully utilizing his Profession's advantage. He summons a small number of Skeletons for a steady advance, always paying attention to recovering his own status. *That's* the proper way to approach Cave Hunting."

Their rebuttals left the cadets who had been questioning Fang Zhou speechless. Others, who had been puzzled by his low hunting efficiency, had a moment of sudden realization.

The instructor standing on the podium also nodded slightly, secretly approving of Fang Zhou's approach.

For freshmen who had their Awakening only two months ago, their Spiritual Power and stamina were still low. Persevering inside the Cave for three days without being eliminated was an incredibly difficult task. Some cadets might be energetically hunting Demons now, but if they didn't manage their condition properly, it was questionable whether they could even survive the Demons' counterattacks on the third day.

「...」

「Deep within the Cave, in the opposite direction from Fang Zhou.」

Meng Hongzhuang sat astride a snow-white giant bear, looking down at the rankings on her Hunting Recorder.

Seeing Fang Zhou enter the top ten, she murmured to herself, Looks like Fang Zhou is finally getting serious.

She patted the giant bear beneath her and said encouragingly, "Vini, we need to pick up the pace. Even if we can't keep first place from Fang Zhou, we have to at least secure second."

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