Chapter 40: Exchanging Weapons

"That's right, Lisa, I'm Xiaole." Liang Xiaole's tone was filled with excitement and enthusiasm.

"Xiaole, it really is you, that's great. I thought you had already left, but I never expected to see you here." After confirming Liang Xiaole's identity, the girl named Lisa was also very happy and hugged Liang Xiaole excitedly.

At this moment, a young man who looked extremely disheveled walked up to the two girls hugging each other and said with a smile, "Liang Xiaole, I never thought we would meet again in the forest after being separated. I'm really very happy."

"Hello, I'm glad to meet you here. I wonder if you would be willing to join our team. I believe that with your addition, our team's strength will become even stronger, and hunting magical beasts will be much easier. Moreover, in this dangerous forest, we can also look out for each other." At this point, another young man, whose clothes were also tattered, came up to Jian Chen and Jian Chen's companion, speaking in a gentle tone. However, when he saw the school uniform on Jian Chen, which was completely stained with blood, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes. He didn't believe that the blood was from Jian Chen himself; otherwise, if someone had lost so much blood, they would be extremely weak and unable to stand there steadily, let alone with such a sharp gaze.

Jian Chen shook his head slightly and politely declined, "I'm sorry, we are planning to leave here, so we can't stay with everyone."

Upon hearing this, the young man's eyes showed a hint of regret, but he still tried to persuade them, "Fellow students, although the magical beasts here are very powerful, we have many people. As long as we all work together, even if we encounter two magical beasts at the same time, it won't pose a threat to us. The two first-grade magic cores each person needs to submit will be quickly gathered." The young man still didn't give up, asking. He had good eyes and had already seen that Jian Chen and Tie Ta were quite capable.

"There's really no way. We have decided to leave here, so we can't stay with everyone. Please understand." In return, Jian Chen's tone was also very gentle.

Hearing that Jian Chen and Tie Ta were leaving, the young man's eyes showed a hint of regret. He really couldn't understand why, with only one day left of the three days, and just needing to submit two first-grade magic cores to pass, Jian Chen and Tie Ta would choose to leave. Were they giving up this opportunity?

The young man thought Jian Chen and Tie Ta were giving up and leaving the forest. He never imagined that when they said "leaving here," they meant leaving the second area to go to the third area, not leaving the forest.

At this moment, Tie Ta's eyes fell on the large axe held by a muscular student, and his eyes immediately lit up. He then walked directly to the muscular student and said in a deep voice, "Hey, I'll give you two first-grade magic cores. Will you exchange the axe in your hand with mine?" As he spoke, Tie Ta took off the axe on his back and also took out two first-grade magic cores, still stained with blood, from his spatial belt.

At this point, everyone was surprised to see that the large axe in Tie Ta's hand was already covered in blood, the entire axe face completely stained red, looking terrifying, as if it were a great weapon that had drunk countless amounts of blood. Even more unbelievable was that the axe, made entirely of hard iron, had become riddled with holes, and some parts of the blade were already bent.

Seeing this, most people found it hard to believe, almost thinking that the axe was already in this state when Tie Ta chose it. They couldn't believe that Tie Ta had cut it into this condition.

The muscular student stared blankly at the blood-red, hole-riddled axe in front of him, looking a bit at a loss. The other students, upon hearing Tie Ta's request, immediately brightened up, looking at the muscular student with envy, as if they wished to exchange their own weapons for Tie Ta's.

"This classmate, I'll exchange my sword for your axe." A student holding a large sword came up to Tie Ta and said with a smile.

Hearing this, Tie Ta looked at the large sword in the student's hand and then shook his head, "No, I still prefer using an axe."

Hearing this, the student looked disappointed. At this moment, two first-grade magic cores were more important than anything else. Not just him, but others would also be willing to exchange their weapons for those two first-grade magic cores, even if their weapons were more valuable.

The muscular student wasn't stupid. After a moment of hesitation, he happily exchanged his axe with Tie Ta. Such a sure win was something everyone would want.

After Tie Ta exchanged his axe for two first-grade magic cores, the way people looked at him changed. Some clever people even thought that the axe might have been cut into that state by Tie Ta, which directly proved his considerable strength. Otherwise, how could he casually take out two first-grade magic cores? After all, this wasn't outside the forest. Before entering the forest, the academy had taken away all the students' storage devices and thoroughly searched them, making it impossible to bring magic cores from outside. The only way to obtain magic cores here was to hunt magical beasts.

However, there was one thing that everyone couldn't understand: if Tie Ta and Jian Chen had the strength to hunt magical beasts, why were they leaving before the three days were up? After all, the academy's rule was that one must survive in the forest for three days and submit two first-grade magic cores to pass, and both conditions were necessary.

"Could it be that he doesn't care about the reward, or is he lying to us, and his real intention is not to hunt magical beasts with us?" Everyone couldn't help but think this. As this thought arose, some people looked at Jian Chen and Tie Ta with a hint of dissatisfaction.

Jian Chen didn't pay attention to the others' expressions. Looking at Liang Xiaole, who was hugging another girl, he said, "Liang Xiaole, now that you've found your friend, why don't you stay with them? More people mean more support."

Liang Xiaole slowly separated from the girl, looked back at Jian Chen and Tie Ta, and nodded lightly, saying, "Be careful."

After that, Jian Chen and Tie Ta didn't stay any longer and left directly.

After they left, the girl named Lisa asked Liang Xiaole with a hint of dissatisfaction, "Xiaole, who are they? Why are they so arrogant and unwilling to stay with us?"

"Lisa, you misunderstood them. They're not unwilling to stay with us; they really need to leave here," Liang Xiaole explained.

"No way!" Lisa looked disbelieving, "Xiaole, the fact that they can casually take out first-grade magic cores shows that they have the strength to kill first-grade magical beasts. They even exchanged two first-grade magic cores for weapons, clearly indicating they want to continue fighting. How could they leave here?"

"Right, Xiaole, you must have been fooled by them," a young man added.

Liang Xiaole smiled and said, "They really are leaving, but they didn't explain clearly. They are leaving the second area to go to the third area to hunt second-grade magical beasts."

"What! Liang Xiaole, are you joking? They are going to the third area to hunt second-grade magical beasts? How is that possible?"

"Could they have reached the Saint level? But that doesn't make sense. If they had the strength of a Saint, why would they need to exchange weapons with us?"

"They are truly courting death by going to the third area."

"This is pure suicide."

...

Liang Xiaole's words immediately sparked a flurry of discussions. Without exception, no one believed that Jian Chen and Tie Ta could survive in the third area.

Lisa, holding Liang Xiaole's hand, asked in a clearly disbelieving tone, "Xiaole, they can't really be crazy enough to go to the third area, can they?"

Liang Xiaole nodded and said, "Yes, they are really going to the third area. Lisa, don't underestimate them. They are actually very strong." Liang Xiaole looked very serious.

"Could they have reached the Saint level?" Lisa asked in surprise. The academy had a clear rule that anyone who had reached the Saint level must go to the third area and could not be in the second area.

Liang Xiaole shook his head, "No, they haven't reached the Saint level because they haven't condensed a Saint weapon."

Hearing this, Lisa's surprise grew. It was already very difficult to survive in the second area without reaching the Saint level, let alone the third area, where the magical beasts were all second-grade, much stronger than the first-grade beasts in the second area. Even those who had reached the Saint level and condensed a Saint weapon found it very difficult to kill second-grade magical beasts and needed to work together to deal with one.

Lisa was a good friend of Liang Xiaole, and Liang Xiaole didn't hide anything from her. Lowering his voice, he said, "Lisa, I'll tell you. Yesterday, I saw them kill more than seventy magical beasts in just one day."

Hearing this, Lisa was shocked and exclaimed, "What! Xiaole, are you kidding? Those two killed more than seventy magical beasts in one day?" Lisa was extremely shocked, and her voice grew louder as she spoke, making the other eight people hear clearly. Everyone's faces changed, and they quickly thought of Jian Chen and Tie Ta, then showed looks of disbelief.

"Lisa, what are you talking about? Who killed more than seventy first-grade magical beasts in one day?" a young man asked, not believing that the "two people" referred to Jian Chen and Tie Ta.

Lisa took several deep breaths, patted her rapidly beating heart, and pointed at Liang Xiaole, saying in a trembling voice, "Xiaole said he saw those two people kill more than seventy magical beasts in one day." Lisa's tone was full of disbelief.