The journey back was extremely smooth. It only took us an hour to find the ancient tree without branches that the cat girl had mentioned.
In the middle of the forest, there was a bare ancient tree with a diameter of more than ten meters. The hole in the tree was extremely obvious. We didn't need to guess too much to confirm that this was the exit that the cat girl had mentioned.
It was the time for the hunting trial to end. The people from the other hunting grounds would also leave at this time and return to their respective entrances.
It was obvious that the other end of the tree hole in front of us wasn't the entrance to the hunting grounds, so we had to think of a way to meet up with the others after we left.
Of course, this was under the condition that there was no one on the other end. If there were people from the academy on the other end, then there would be no other way. We could only report to the academy that we had accidentally entered the forbidden area.
As it turned out, our luck wasn't too bad. After walking out of the tree hole, we arrived at an empty space behind the academy.
After identifying our surroundings, Nam quickly confirmed that we weren't far from the hunting grounds. Thus, the three of us quickened our footsteps and soon, we arrived at the forest outside the training area.
At this moment, the other students had already walked out of the forest. We found an opportunity to stand outside the forest, so we didn't attract too much attention.
When the cat race male walked out of the forest, he looked in our direction and furrowed his brows. It was obvious that he felt that something was amiss. However, I didn't pay attention to him and walked over to meet up with the other students. Then, we headed back to the academy.
From a certain point of view, this hunting trial was Thaad Academy's mid-term examination. The number of beast cores that each team obtained would be the final result of the examination.
That's why such an examination attracted an unprecedented amount of attention. When we returned to the academy, almost all of the academy's staff and teachers were waiting in the vicinity of the plaza. However, what was strange was that when I glanced at the rostrum, the five elders that had appeared during the entrance ceremony were all absent. Standing in the middle of the rostrum was a middle-aged wolf-man. After asking Nam, who was standing beside him, I found out that he was the head teacher of the Research Institute.
Thinking back to the situation of the few elders in the forbidden area last night, I could basically guess that the situation in the forbidden area was quite serious, so much so that the elders couldn't attend to the academy's daily affairs.
I didn't think much of it. After all, we had already left the forbidden area. No matter what happened there, they wouldn't be able to contact us.
As for the matter of the Beast Core, because the difference in our realms is too great, I don't dare to have any ideas about that Vicious Beast for now.
As we were thinking about this, we had already reached the registration area for the Beast Pills. Just as Nam was about to walk over, I extended my hand to stop him. I handed him the Beast Pill that I had snatched from the man from the Cat tribe and asked him to keep the Beast Pill that he had taken from the Golden-eyed Wolf Beast's body.
Although the Golden-Eyed Wolf Beast's Beast Core had not reached the Yellow Grade, it was not far away. It should be of great use to Nam at this moment.
Last night, I had already divulged a little of my cultivation to Nam, so after receiving these beast cores, he didn't ask much and just nodded before handing them over.
After all the students handed over their Beast Cores, they came to the square and stood in formation, waiting for the results to be announced.
The teachers and staff of the academy also had their own cultivation bases. It didn't take long for them to finish counting the numbers and tabulating the results.
According to Thadd Academy's usual practice, the results were first announced from the higher ranked students.
Similar to the lower ranked students, the higher ranked and intermediate ranked students all had powers that were obviously stronger than those of the same rank. The number of Beast Cores obtained by one team was almost half of the total.
However, as I had expected, the highest Beast Core obtained by the higher ranked students was only a Yellow Grade Beast Core. Needless to say, there were only two teams that obtained a Yellow Grade Beast Core each. Moreover, the quality of the Beast Core was much worse than the one that we had obtained from the Wolf Leopard's body.
Even though the results of the lower ranked students hadn't been announced, I could already confirm that the final prize of the trial, Jin Yue Leaf, was going to be ours sooner or later.
Very quickly, the werewolf instructor on the rostrum began to announce the results of the lower ranked students.
"Among the lower ranked students, the team that obtained the most Beast Cores was the Cat tribe's team, with a total of 1130 Beast Cores!"
Cat tribe's Luo Ge should be the stern man from the Cat tribe that I had snatched.
I wasn't surprised that he had obtained the most Beast Cores, but the fact that he had obtained more than a thousand Beast Cores surprised me.
Among the upper and intermediate ranked students that had been announced previously, the highest number of Beast Cores was only six to seven hundred. Could it be that this Cat tribe's Luo Ge had snatched all the Beast Cores of the lower ranked students after I had left?
I wasn't the only one who was surprised. Almost all of the other middle and advanced ranked students turned to look at the lower ranked students. Even the werewolf instructor on the rostrum had a hint of surprise in his voice.
I glanced at the Cat tribe man. He didn't seem to care about the gazes of the others around him. Instead, he was staring at me. His gaze carried a trace of arrogance and provocation.
This fellow obviously still held a grudge against me for snatching his Beast Core. He was trying to save his face with the final results.
I couldn't help but shake my head and smile. Poor Brother Luo Ge. The difference in value between each rank of Beast Core was like the difference between heaven and earth. Moreover, this was the academy's trial. Hunting Yellow Grade Beast Cores and hunting Beast Cores that didn't make it into the ranks were completely different. Even if the number of Beast Cores he had doubled, the final result wouldn't change.
After announcing the results of the first place, the werewolf instructor paused for a moment before continuing to announce the results.
"The team with the second highest number of Beast Cores is … Dogman Dunham's team with a total of 271 Beast Cores."
271 Beast Cores. It was only slightly more than Luo Ge's team. There wasn't anything special about it. However, this result was achieved by the Dogman Team, so it couldn't help but attract attention.
The lower ranked students were still fine. After all, they had already noticed me and Dunham when they first entered the academy.
As for the middle and advanced ranked students, they didn't even know that there were Dogmen who had entered Thadd Academy. When they heard the results, they were even more astonished. Their gazes that had just shifted away once again gathered on me.
Dunham was a tall fellow. He was already very eye-catching in the crowd. When he saw everyone's gazes converging on him, he didn't avoid them. Instead, he puffed out his chest. It was obvious that he was enjoying this moment of glory.
I smiled at the side. It seemed that my words from last night had been effective. This fellow seemed to be much more confident than before.
While the audience was discussing, the werewolf instructor on the rostrum continued to announce the results.
"Among the lower ranked students, other than the two teams mentioned above, the other teams obtained zero Beast Cores … All the numbers have been announced. Next, I will announce the final results."
Hearing this, the crowd that had just quietened down instantly flared up again.
I couldn't help but turn to look at Cat Race Luo Ge. I had just guessed that this fellow had stolen everyone's Beast Cores. I didn't think that he would actually do it!
Just like last time, when I turned to look at him, his gaze was also on me. When he saw me turn my head, the provocation in his gaze had already dissipated and was replaced with disdain. It was obvious that he felt that he had used his results to redeem himself from the humiliation of having his Beast Core stolen by me.
While we were exchanging glances, the mid-level and high-level students were looking at Roger with unfriendly gazes.
This was because from the number of Beast Cores they had obtained, it would be difficult for them to compete with Luo Ge. They had basically lost the chance to snatch Jin Yue Ye.
Luo Ge didn't seem to mind the hostile gazes of the audience. He only shifted his gaze from me to the werewolf instructor on the rostrum, waiting for the final results to be announced.
At this moment, the clamor below the rostrum had died down. The werewolf instructor finally announced the final results.
"Among the lower ranked students, the team with the final results is … Dogman Dunham's team!"
The unexpected answer made everyone temporarily quiet down. The arrogant expression on Cat Race Luo Ge's face also froze.