Chapter 89: Since You want it, You can Have it

"Bastards, get away from me!" Evan roared as he sent a gust of wind toward the speed type player, knocking him away.

The others quickly dashed toward him as well, refusing to let this opportunity slip by.

Evan kept retreating toward the forest while resisting their attacks. Some grabbed for the badge. Some stopped others. A fire element mage even directly blasted a huge fireball into the center, forcing everyone to scatter at the same time.

Leah was also swept into it. But this time, unlike when she had just entered the hills, she did not constantly search for specific targets because there were too many attacks around.

Three Astral Chains remained around her at all times.

Someone approached from the left, and Leah swiftly sealed that side. Before the first attacker could even close in, another presence appeared behind her.

FWOOOSH!

Her chains swept back without hesitation, forcing them away.

A speed type profession tried to slip through the blind spot created by the attack. Unfortunately for them, the chains changed direction midway and sealed the opening before they could enter.

Leah was still not as fast as Evelyn, nor as strong as that spear warrior, but the narrowest part of the entire exit area was less than fifteen meters. To others, this was a limitation. To Leah, it was a natural control field.

"She’s blocking the road!" someone finally realized.

"Get her out of the way first!"

Two students simultaneously changed their attack targets, one an agility type swordsman, the other an ice element mage. The swordsman charged from the front while ice spikes pressed in from the side.

Before yesterday, Leah would most likely have first tried to use her chains to catch the swordsman, and then missed. But today, she did not. She only took one step back.

The first chain landed to the swordsman’s left, the second to his right. Once both sides were sealed, the only route left for the opponent was the middle, and in the middle, the third chain was already waiting.

The swordsman’s expression changed instantly. He forcibly stopped, but what high speed movement feared most was a sudden stop.

The next second.

Snap!

His waist was directly entangled by the silver chain.

"Got you."

Mana slowly gathered around Leah’s right hand, which had already been raised.

Boom!

The swordsman was directly blasted out of the combat area.

On the other side, the ice spikes arrived at the same time. Leah tilted her body aside. The first grazed her shoulder, the second was shattered by a chain, and there was no time to avoid the third.

Bang!

The ice spike struck her abdomen. A layer of passive astral flare instantly lit up, and Leah slid back two steps. It was painful, but she was not gravely injured.

Without looking at her injury, she glanced up. That ice element mage was preparing a second round of attacks.

She raised her right hand higher, and the expressions of several students nearby who had still wanted to approach changed instantly because they all recognized this motion.

[Starfall]

No one was willing to take an epic level attack skill head on. Several people retreated almost simultaneously, but to their dismay, the girl had not released it at all. She only used this moment to turn and directly leave her original position.

"She tricked us?!" someone shouted. However, it was too late because Leah had never intended to fight everyone here to the end from the start.

What she truly wanted to find was Evan.

Ahead, the wind element scout had already taken advantage of the chaos to rush out of the exit. Less than forty meters remained to the forest, and his speed was growing faster and faster.

Leah stopped in her tracks and simply watched him.

"She’s standing there? Why is she standing there?" Evan muttered to himself after taking a glance behind him.

He had just rushed out twenty meters when a silver chain suddenly shot out from the woodland on the left. His pupils contracted sharply.

When?!

This was a chain Leah had already left there in advance after first circling to the north slope exit.

Evan instinctively dodged right, but a second chain rose from behind a rock. His route changed again, but the girl had already walked to the only remaining exit.

Evan stopped completely, panting heavily.

The two were now less than ten meters apart.

The students behind were also catching up again. He glanced at Leah, then at the increasingly close crowd, and suddenly laughed.

"Fine."

He took the Mana Core Badge out of his storage ring.

"Take it."

"Uh?" Leah was stunned for a moment. "You’re not going to fight?"

"Fight what?" Evan panted, his tone slightly irritated. "I’ve already been chased for twenty minutes. And the way you block routes is too disgusting."

Leah: "..."

That did not seem to be a compliment.

"However." Evan held the badge without throwing it directly. "After you take it, all of them will chase you."

"I know."

"Do you really want it?"

Leah looked at him and then at the approaching students.

Evan stared at her for a second, then, with a grin, directly tossed the badge over. The black silver badge flipped in midair.

Snap.

It fell into Leah’s palm. At the instant of contact, the identity card immediately lit up.

[You have obtained the Mana Core Badge.]

[Current holding time: 00:00:01]

[If you still hold this badge when the screening ends, you will obtain core cultivation qualification.]

At the same time, in the high monitoring area, the long absent system prompt finally appeared before Victor.

[First Direct Confrontation with Fate updated.]

[Stage objective one: Ensure at least one investment target obtains a Mana Core Badge.]

[Completed.]

[Current holder: Leah Vane.]

[The event has not yet ended.]

[The final reward will be settled uniformly after the screening ends according to the degree of fate deviation.]

This was actually very reasonable, because getting it was only half the battle. Whether she could keep it was the real problem.

Cecilia had also seen the badge handover.

"She actually got it, and based on her reaction, there’s no astral contamination on it."

"Yeah."

"You’re not happy?"

"What’s there to be happy about?" Victor watched the monitor, his expression neutral. "Her trouble starts next."

Almost at the very moment he finished speaking, the seven students around Leah had already caught up again, and Evan, who had handed over the badge, ran off directly with absolutely no loyalty. Before running, he even turned back and shouted.

"Good luck!"

Leah: "..."

She suddenly really wanted to throw the badge back, but it was already too late. The spear warrior was the first to block the left, the ice element mage stood on the right, and the remaining few began to spread out.