Strands of Asterite energy were squeezed out, but Qi Yuan was not satisfied. Compared to the enormous amount of Asterite energy in the Energy Heart, what he had squeezed out was just a drop in the ocean.
Qi Yuan himself also had an Energy Heart, so he was very clear about the strength of the Energy Heart, but he was also very clear about its weakness.
The Energy Heart's control over energy was too strong, and the clone's control over energy had perfectly replicated itself. It was almost impossible to snatch the Asterite energy from the clone using ordinary methods. If he wanted to squeeze out the clone's Asterite energy, he would have to cut off the Energy Heart's control over the Asterite energy.
Although the clone had been heavily injured, its steel defense had not been completely destroyed. It was still resisting the invasion of external forces. Even if Qi Yuan kept attacking, he was still unable to destroy the Energy Heart hidden deep in the clone's chest and release all the Asterite energy inside.
To Qi Yuan, it wasn't difficult to destroy the energy heart. What was truly difficult was how to silently steal the star energy from the star energy stones within the heart after destroying it!
There was still a Tier 4 powerhouse keeping an eye on Lu Yin, so it wouldn't be easy for Lu Yin to steal the star energy from the star energy stones in front of that powerhouse.
Qi Yuan absorbed the dissipating Asterite energy while his mind raced, thinking of a way to deal with it.
In Qi Yuan's eyes, the clone had already turned from a strong enemy to a fat sheep. He could not waste a single drop of the Asterite energy in the Energy Heart!
Since waking up, the Blazing Angel had never eaten her fill. She greedily devoured the Asterite energy, feeling an unprecedented satisfaction. Her energy intensity was also slowly but surely increasing as she ate!
Outside the plaza, Kou Haitao's brows gradually furrowed.
Although the battle between Qi Yuan and his clone was intense, with every punch landing on flesh and blood splattering everywhere, he slowly began to notice that something was amiss.
Qi Yuan, who originally had the upper hand, was about to win. However, at the last moment, his clone found an opportunity and turned the situation around. Although he did not suppress Qi Yuan, the two of them were once again evenly matched.
Although this kind of evenly matched battle was how Qi Yuan and his clone should fight, the two of them were fighting too anxiously.
Because the two of them were injured, their strength and speed had been greatly reduced. The exciting battle at the beginning had slowly turned into a fight between two rookies. However, the stalemate did not change at all.
Moreover, judging from the rhythm of their battle, the two seemed to be in a stalemate until the end of time.
Although the clone had perfectly replicated Qi Yuan's abilities, the stalemate would indeed last for some time. However, as the battle progressed, both of them would be injured. Even if they couldn't quickly determine the victor, they would inevitably determine who was stronger and who was weaker. The stalemate between the two of them was obviously abnormal.
This kind of abnormal situation could only mean one thing, and that was that one of the two was controlling the rhythm, deliberately throwing the match and stalling for time.
Of course, the clone would not stall for time.
Therefore, the only one stalling for time was Qi Yuan!
But what was Qi Yuan's goal in stalling for time?
Decisively defeating his opponent, passing the test, and creating a new record that no other rank three could reach. Wasn't that more in line with his interests?
Why was he deliberately dragging the match on?
Did he not want to break the record and wanted to leave some face for the combat division?
Kou Haitao made up the answer in his mind, but he still felt that something was wrong. After all, he had never thought that someone would steal the wool of the Black Steel Shelter right under his nose.
On the screen of light, the other Wilderness Hunters had all been defeated. Only Qi Yuan was still fighting.
Seeing his clone become weaker and weaker, Qi Yuan also realized that something was wrong.
Although he had not recovered from the injuries on the surface of his body and his injuries were not light, the clone's injuries were obviously more serious. His ribs had been shattered. If he continued to fight like rookies, it would definitely arouse suspicion. He could not delay any longer. He had to get rid of this clone as soon as possible!
In the battle just now, he had squeezed out at least a quarter of the Asterite's energy from the clone. This was already a great harvest. He would get as much as he could in the end!
After reminding Blazing Angel, Qi Yuan suddenly shouted angrily and punched the clone's left chest with all his strength. It was like a person risking his life at the last moment!
Boom!
The moment Qi Yuan smashed the clone's chest with his fist, he suddenly grabbed the energy heart inside. A surge of power instantly erupted.
Although the clone was already riddled with holes and was extremely weak, the star energy from the star energy stone within its heart was still incomparably powerful. Even with Qi Yuan's control over the energy, he was unable to suppress such an enormous energy riot in such a short time.
The Asterite's energy riot caused the energy heart to rapidly expand. It looked like it was about to break free from Qi Yuan's grasp.
Blazing Angel!
Qi Yuan shouted in his heart. The Blazing Angel, who was curled up in the energy heart and waiting to attack, suddenly moved. It quietly sneaked into the clone's body along Qi Yuan's arm. The moment the energy heart was about to explode, it cooperated with Qi Yuan's suppression and swallowed it into its stomach.
Qi Yuan slowly withdrew his right hand from the clone's chest. The light in the clone's eyes dimmed. The moment the corpse fell to the ground, it turned back into a ball of light and slowly floated above the stone pillar. However, its light was much dimmer.
He had obtained them all!
Qi Yuan suppressed the excitement in his heart and glanced at the ball of light. He was about to leave the stone pillar and walk toward the door embedded in the void.
Suddenly, the stone pillar under his feet trembled. Then, the sound of a mountain collapsing came from behind him.
This was!
Qi Yuan's pupils shrank. With the help of [Area Detection], he did not need to turn around to see the scene behind him.
Those huge stone pillars suddenly began to disintegrate and collapse, crashing into the bottomless The Abyss.
Huge cracks also appeared on the stone pillar under his feet. It was on the verge of collapse, as if it could collapse at any time.
What was going on?
Only two groups of people had entered. How could there be insufficient energy?
Kou Haitao's eyes focused. He could tell at a glance that the reason for this unexpected change was because there was insufficient energy.
Although he had brought backup energy with him, the accident in front of him still caught him off guard.
Under normal circumstances, a full energy Reality Illusion could support at least twenty groups of wilderness refugees in a row. Now, two groups of people had not finished yet, but there was a warning that there was insufficient energy!
Kou Haitao looked suspiciously at Qi Yuan, who was the only one left. He had also suspected that Qi Yuan was the cause of this unforeseen event. However, Qi Yuan was only a rank 3 ability user after all. The amount of energy that disappeared was too much, enough to instantly destroy ten rank 3 ability users. Even a rank 4 Elemental Domain ability user might not be able to silently take away so much energy.
Reality Illusion had a self-protection mechanism. If a wilderness refugee brought in a powerful item like a plasma bomb, Reality Illusion would copy it, but it would not use it. This was because detonating a copied plasma bomb would waste too much energy. This was one of the few limitations of Reality Illusion.
In the battle just now, Qi Yuan and the clone were basically fighting hand-to-hand. Although the battle was intense, the energy consumption was not too high.
Even if Qi Yuan killed the clone in the end, part of the energy would be wasted. Compared to the total energy storage of Reality Illusion, it was not much.
Could it be that Reality Illusion had malfunctioned?
Kou Haitao was puzzled. Sun Jia and Pei Zongyan also looked at each other. They did not expect such an accident to happen.
Inside the light screen, as the initiator of all this, Qi Yuan suppressed the shock in his heart. He quickly realized that this might be the aftereffect of absorbing too much energy from Asterite. He did not dare to delay any longer. With a powerful stomp, he flew toward the opposite cliff.
Behind Qi Yuan, the last stone pillar that was already on the verge of collapse suddenly shattered into countless pieces and fell into the darkness of The Abyss.
That was close!
Standing in front of the white light door, Qi Yuan looked at the The Abyss behind him with lingering fear. All the stone pillars had collapsed, leaving behind only an empty void of darkness.
What kind of broken thing is this!
So weak that the Blazing Angel could eat you down with a single meal?
Speaking of which, this shouldn't be on my head, right?
I'm only a rank 3 ability user, I definitely can't make such a big commotion!
So, it's definitely not me!
Qi Yuan silently comforted himself as he stepped through the white light door embedded in the void.
With Qi Yuan's departure, the second batch of assessment ended. Kou Haitao could not wait to withdraw Reality Illusion. The nine eliminated Wilderness Hunters stood in the middle of the square in a daze. They were still immersed in the illusion of falling into The Abyss, unable to extricate themselves from it.
Qi Yuan also pretended to be heavily injured. His body swayed and panted with difficulty, as if he would fall at any time.
"What's going on?"
Sun Jia and Pei Zongyan looked at him questioningly. Reality Illusion was not cheap. If there was an accident during the assessment, as the deputy examiners who were forced to participate, they would also be implicated.
Kou Haitao carefully checked for a while and found that there were no traces of damage to Reality Illusion. The accident just now was indeed caused by excessive energy consumption. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
"There's no problem with Reality Illusion. It's an accident caused by insufficient energy." Kou Haitao said.
Sun Jia and Pei Zongyan looked at each other. Although they were on opposite sides, they did not quite believe Kou Haitao's explanation.
Reality Illusion was a precious item. It was usually maintained by professionals. Something like insufficient energy should not have happened at this time.
When Kou Haitao took out a backup energy source to recharge the energy of the Real Illusion and activated the Real Illusion again, the two of them realized that Kou Haitao was not lying.
It really was an accident caused by insufficient energy!
With the reactivation of Reality Illusion, the small disturbance calmed down. The third batch of Wilderness Hunters stepped into the Abyss, full of enthusiasm.
Two rounds of assessment, three people had passed. This passing rate didn't seem to be low.
Just as the assessment was about to continue, Sun Jia suddenly thought of something and asked.
"How was Qi Yuan's result?"
Pei Zongyan looked at Sun Jia and said expressionlessly, "Reality Illusion was insufficient.
"Just now, there wasn't enough Reality Illusion energy, which led to an accident in the assessment. I suggest we cancel the results of this batch of wastelanders and reassess them!"
"Cancel the results?" Sun Jia almost jumped up.
"Why should we cancel the results? He passed the assessment. We witnessed the whole process. It was valid!"
Although Qi Yuan had passed the test, the final battle had been extremely tragic. Looking at Qi Yuan's current state, if he were to enter the illusory reality again, let alone passing the test, he would probably be eliminated on the first stone pillar.
"Who knows if Qi Yuan was the one who did it!" Pei Zongyan said grimly.
"I suggest that we bring Qi Yuan back to the Danger Management Department for a detailed investigation. If there's something wrong with him, we won't be able to hide it. If there's nothing wrong with him, I'll admit that his results are valid."
"You can't wait to play dirty?" Sun Jia sneered.
If Kou Haitao really listened to Pei Zongyan's suggestion and let the Danger Management Department investigate Qi Yuan, with Qi Yuan's identity as a Wilderness Hunter, even if he did not die, he would be skinned alive. Moreover, with Ke Shoulin and Feng Qian's influence, it would be difficult for Qi Yuan to walk out of the Danger Management Department.
"Shut up, all of you!" Kou Haitao shouted.
"Qi Yuan took the assessment right under our noses. His results are valid. There's no need to start an investigation. As for this accident, I'll write a detailed report and submit it to the higher-ups. You two don't have to worry about it!"
After suppressing the quarrel between the two, Kou Haitao's tightly furrowed brows did not relax. Even though Qi Yuan had started to go easy on him during the latter half of the assessment and purposely dragged out the time needed to clear the stage, when he finally left the white door of light, the time was still fixed at eight minutes and eleven seconds. With an advantage of six seconds, he broke the record that had always been held by the combat division.
This record was mostly held by the combat division. Occasionally, someone from the Wilderness Exploration Department would break the record, but no one from the other departments had ever been able to touch this record, let alone a Wilderness Hunter.
Even Fu Qingqing, who was highly valued by a deputy minister of the Desolate Exploration Department and was known as the most talented refugee in the past ten years, took more than nine minutes to pass the test.
If Qi Yuan had not deliberately slowed down in the second half of the assessment, how far would he have broken the record?
Eight minutes?
Seven minutes?
Or six minutes?
Kou Haitao did not dare to imagine the result of this hypothesis.
He only knew that if Qi Yuan had passed this hurdle, even Ke Shoulin and Feng Qian would not be able to stop him from soaring!
Among the six assessments, the first assessment was the most difficult and took up the most points. Qi Yuan had broken the record and passed the first assessment, so he would definitely get full marks. As long as his performance was not too bad in the following five assessments, there was a high chance that he would win the assessment.
Wave after wave of Wilderness Hunters entered the illusory reality. Only a few of them could pass the assessment. Even the few Peak Rank Three Hunters that Pei Zongyan had arranged did not pass the assessment.
By the time all the candidates had finished their assessment, only nine people had passed the screening. In the past, although the difficulty of the real illusion assessment was very high, even in the most difficult year, nearly thirty people had passed the assessment, which was far more than the number of people this year.