The candidate who walked out of the bushes was wearing an Affiliated High uniform. Like Su Hao, he also had two sprites with him.

They were a Little Stone Elephant, and… a Dead-Leaf Locust.

This particular Dead-Leaf Locust was the length of an adult human's arm. It was dull yellow, like the color of dead leaves throughout. It was hidden among the heaps of fallen leaves, the environment becoming its best form of protection.

As Su Hao looked at the Dead-Leaf Locust, its data also surfaced in his eyes.

[Sprite: Dead-Leaf Locust]

[Element: Wood]

[Spiritual Force: 134 (limit point reached)]

[Special Training: Jumping training at the legs, flying speed training…]

[Summary: I'm not a dead leaf, I'm a locust!]

[Other Stats: Omitted]

He had already seen this particular Dead-Leaf Locust's stats the day before.

After he recognized the sprite, Su Hao knew at once who he had run into.

"An ace student in Affiliated High, and also listed as one of the seeded candidates… Gu Mingrui."

"You're… Su Hao from An City First High."

A hint of wariness flashed across the depths of Gu Mingrui's eyes when he noticed Silkworm Baby and Little Fire Crow.

He wasn't afraid. However, Su Hao was also someone whose level of difficulty to deal with was second only to seeded candidates. Little Fire Crow was even a natural enemy of Dead-Leaf Locust, his main unit.

It wasn't so bad if he could take Su Hao down without any loss to himself, but should his sprites suffer injuries here, it would be rather disadvantageous during the battles in the later stage. Gu Mingrui didn't want to battle someone of Su Hao's level for the time being.

As such, he asked, "Are you going to flee by your own will, or do you want me to chase you away?"

Su Hao was puzzled.

…

The central monitoring facility of the primordial forest area was located in the depths of the massive forest. At the same time, it was also the finishing point that the joint examination candidates needed to head to.

As the joint examination went on in full swing, part of the team of judges and the Sprite Trainers in charge of the students had already made their way to the monitoring center in advance, either by helicopter or by riding their flying sprites there.

In the surveillance monitors, they could see candidates being attacked by wild sprites, or candidates battling fellow candidates after encountering each other. There were also candidates fleeing in a panic and even situations where candidates were separated from their sprites.

Heavenly King Zhou Weiping, the other Sprite Trainer judges, the teachers from each school, as well as the staff of the monitoring center, watched and took in all of this.

Once in a while, Zhou Weiping would also give a few comments.

"It hasn't even been three minutes since the examination started, and almost 10% of the candidates have been eliminated."

One of the judges shook his head.

There were students from every school among those who had been eliminated.

As the base quantity of students from Affiliated High and Yunhua First High was very high, the number of students eliminated from these two schools was also rather high.

The teachers of each school searched the surveillance monitors constantly for the forms of the students they taught. Every time they saw a student they knew being eliminated, they would sigh with regret.

"Lin Wen shouldn't have been eliminated here. He's still too lacking in his observation skills, and ended up walking right into a wild sprite's ambush."

Old Chen shook her head. All of a sudden, she noticed one of the monitors. "That's… Su Hao."

As a student of An City First High whom they had high hopes in, the moment Old Chen said that Old Gu, Coach Xiong, and the others couldn't help but look over.

In the monitor, Su Hao, together with Silkworm Baby and Little Fire Crow, defeated everyone he came across.

"Although it looks a little reckless, in the case of candidates with stronger abilities, doing this can save them some stamina instead," remarked Old Chen approvingly.

"That's right. Moreover, he reacts very quickly. The way he handled the Vine Snakes' ambush earlier was done very well," replied Coach Xiong.

As he spoke, his gaze suddenly focused on something. He said to the staff in front of him, "Zoom in on Screen 55."

"That's…?" Miss Chen looked over as well. "Gu Mingrui, one of the seeded candidates? They've actually bumped into each other!"

Even though the list of seeded candidates was just a ranking that the examination candidates had made up in private, the ranking itself was supported by a lot of data. Not only were the teachers leading each school poring over the collector's edition intel report repeatedly, but even Heavenly King Zhou Weiping had also complimented it, saying that it was done pretty well.

In the intel report, Gu Mingrui was ranked within the top ten while Su Hao was ranked between the 10th to 20th positions.

Gu Mingrui's Dead-Leaf Locust was already at its spiritual force limit. His Little Stone Elephant was also approaching its limit. On the other hand, Su Hao only had Silkworm Baby at its spiritual force limit. Based on the report's information, the analysis was that there was a pretty big gap between the two of them.

"He's too down on his luck," said Old Chen.

Old Gu nodded. "It all depends on whether Su Hao can retreat intact now. Putting ourselves in their shoes, they shouldn't get into a battle that easily… Uhh?"

…

A huge ball of fire crashed into the ground. Dead-Leaf Locust flew into the air hurriedly. Nevertheless, its wings were still burned a little.

Gu Mingrui was filled with disbelief.

The other party was clearly at a disadvantage. How was it that he had the guts to take action against him, and so promptly and decisively at that?! And he had even discovered where his sprite was hiding!

After summing up both parties' data, Gu Mingrui believed that Su Hao would launch a sneak attack to dispose of his main unit.

But he had failed!

"You'll pay for that!"

As he spoke, information on Silkworm Baby and Little Fire Crow constantly flashed across his mind, including what the two sprites were skilled in and the unique skills they had mastered.

For example, in the case of Little Fire Crow, what he needed to be wary of was its Fire Ball. Even though Flaming Claw was also a fire-element unique skill, it was impossible for Little Fire Crow to hit Dead-Leaf Locust, which was adept at speed, with it.

Speed was also his biggest advantage.

"Wander around and look for a chance to use Wing Slash!" ordered Gu Mingrui.

Dead-Leaf Locust flitted here and there, showing up and disappearing every once in a while.

Its speed far surpassed Little Fire Crow's.

The other sprite, Little Stone Elephant, stood in front of Gu Mingrui and protected him.

At this point, Dead-Leaf Locust charged out from a tricky angle. With its wings spread, it was as if a sharp blade was slashing through the air.

Little Fire Crow got such a fright that it thrashed its wings about and flew up further, barely managing to evade the attack.

Dead-Leaf Locust charged into the forest at the other side. A pale yellow figure followed after it.

"Charging!"

Silkworm Baby leaped high into the air and lunged at Dead-Leaf Locust. However, it accelerated in this instant, causing Silkworm Baby to miss.

"My Dead-Leaf Locust's wings have gone through special training. Even Little Fire Crow can't catch up with it. How is your Silkworm Baby going to catch up to it?"

Gu Mingrui took a couple of steps back and maintained a safe distance from Su Hao. If he wore them down slowly, he would be able to defeat both of Su Hao's sprites.

At this point, he heard Su Hao give another order. "Chase after it and use String Shot."

They still had the guts to continue their chase? Wait, what String Shot?

In mid-air, Silkworm Baby, which was gradually landing, suddenly shot white threads out with great force. The threads clung onto a large tree. The pull from the threads allowed it to appear with a whoosh in front of Dead-Leaf Locust right away. A beam of light wrapped in pale green hurtled toward Dead-Leaf Locust.

"Use Gale!"

"Sprite Commandeering: Accelerate!"

As though a gust of wind, Dead-Leaf Locust weaved about in the forest constantly.

However, Silkworm Baby, which was as big as a domestic cat, was even faster. Thread after thread clung to the trees, linking with each other seamlessly. It constantly caught up to Dead-Leaf Locust, causing Dead-Leaf Locust to become worn out as it dealt with Silkworm Baby time and time again.

"How can this be!? It has actually mastered String Shot! And it's so practiced too!

"This is clearly a unique skill that even a lot of entry-level sprites find difficult to master, and yet!"

How did this Silkworm Baby… No, how did its Sprite Trainer manage to do it!

And why wasn't this recorded in that collector's edition intel report!?

…

In the monitoring center, a teacher from Affiliated High also happened to witness this. Able to distinguish the skill in this even more, he couldn't help widening his eyes.

"Not only has this Silkworm Baby mastered String Shot, but it can also use the skill while in the state of Charging! Its level of spiritual force control is quite something!

"In addition, Silkworm Baby is too nimble and its reactions too swift. It must have undergone an immeasurable amount of practice… Gu Mingrui's Dead-Leaf Locust is completely being suppressed!

"Su Hao from An City is actually so much more powerful than what was stated in the intel!"