……Outside the secret realm, Xing Luo suddenly opened her eyes and got up to look toward the entrance.
“Mentor Xing Luo, what’s wrong?” Ke Luo asked, a bit puzzled.
This sleepy dragon mentor spent at least twenty out of every twenty-four hours asleep, and aside from eating and other basic needs, it was rare to see her awake.
In short, unless something important was happening, she wouldn’t wake up on purpose.
“That pressure feels so familiar…” Xing Luo murmured thoughtfully.
“Pressure? …Is it coming from inside the secret realm?”
“Yeah… seems like it.
White Feathered Dragons.”
“White Feathered Dragons?” Ke Luo frowned.
He hadn’t expected his words to come true—there really were White Feathered Dragons appearing in the secret realm.
“Not sure.” Xing Luo shook her head again.
“It’s too far away, so it’s all very vague… It’s probably just some pressure that’s similar to theirs.”
“True.” Ke Luo thought about it and agreed.
The White Feathered Dragons all stayed in the inner city of Sky City.
Even though it wasn’t far from here, they had no reason to come, and even less interest in interfering with the Lan Yin Academy selection—after all, dragons were proud creatures.
“Could it be related to that legend passed down among your dragon clan?”
“No way.
The Palonai Forest has hosted selection trials for over ten years.
If something was going to happen, it would’ve happened already.
Besides… it’s just a legend, one that most dragons don’t even believe anymore.
It’s been too long—back then, the Yating Empire had only just been founded.” Xing Luo denied it without hesitation.
“It’s probably just my imagination.”
———Palonai Forest Secret Realm, somewhere inside.
A dense forest had been turned into a barren basin, still thick with suffocating magic energy.
Other than the three culprits who caused the collapse, there wasn’t a single thing left here.
No one knew what had happened, but there was no doubt that the commotion had alarmed every group in the secret realm.
“What happened?!”
“Was that an earthquake?!”
“Hurry, find an open place to hide!”
The unknown is the source of fear, especially in a secret realm full of unknowns.
No one knew if it was an earthquake or if some unlucky fool had disturbed the secret realm’s big boss.
“Your Highness, let’s hurry and find somewhere to hide.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Watching some of her followers fleeing, Emilia nodded meaningfully and gave a warm smile to the noble youth beside her, Cain.
“Mr. Cain, you really are a gentleman.”
“You flatter me, Your Highness.
My family has benefited from the Holy See for generations.
When danger comes, of course protecting Your Highness is my top priority.” Cain spoke with conviction, but inside he was thrilled.
While the others scattered like flies, he wasn’t about to miss this chance to score points.
After all, he wasn’t like those useless people around him—he was confident in his strength and believed he could handle any crisis.
“Your Highness, we’re already in the middle of the danger zone.
We should be careful.
Until the earthquake ends, let’s find an open spot to hide.” The other followers gathered around Emilia spoke up.
“Alright, let’s do that.” Emilia didn’t question her teammates’ suggestions.
In fact, even though she was the de facto leader of the team, she’d barely spoken since entering the secret realm, letting her teammates lead the way and leaving all the monster fighting to them.
She really seemed like she was just here for sightseeing.
“That reaction is…” Meanwhile, elsewhere in the secret realm, the veiled girl stood atop a tall tree, looking out with a serious expression.
Because she was far away, she hadn’t been affected much, but the commotion was enough to make her climb up to check.
Even with her elven vision, she couldn’t see what was happening in the distance.
Forget it, it’s not my problem.
She glanced at the prominent number “75” on her gold card—just twenty-five more points to level up.
Now was the time to focus on that, not on things that didn’t concern her.
At that moment, at the epicenter of the quake—
The aftershocks had ended.
The place was a mess.
The once lush forest was now a bald patch, and the ground had collapsed, forming a deserted depression stretching for miles.
The fight was over.
“Ah, it hurts, it hurts!” Lying in the wasteland, the white-haired girl smeared ointment on her wounds, tears in her eyes.
“Those bastards, they really don’t know how to hold back.” Jasmine complained bitterly.
Her tendons were damaged, her head injured, several ribs broken, her arm twisted… If it weren’t for her dragon blood’s resilience, she’d be dead by now.
Luckily, even as a young dragon, her tough body meant that with high-grade healing potions, she’d recover quickly.
Key point: high-grade healing potions.
High-grade.
Even though those idiots who bullied her had been wiped out without a trace, Jasmine herself was exhausted.
Without medicine, just relying on her own healing, she’d still be recovering when the competition ended.
So, she spent a fortune in the ring world to buy all kinds of healing potions, blowing through all the money she’d earned last time.
A huge loss, a huge loss.
Enduring both physical and emotional pain, Jasmine drank her medicine with tears in her eyes.
“Gulp, gulp… Ugh! This stuff is so bitter! Is this really for dragons?” Jasmine’s face was all scrunched up, wanting to throw away the fancy blue crystal bottle, but she couldn’t bear to.
She’d risked her life to buy it, after all—no way she was throwing it out… Wait, is this really a high-grade healing potion? She’d drunk more than half the bottle and still didn’t feel any effect.
Jasmine pouted and turned the bottle, noticing some tiny writing on the side.
“What’s this?” She looked closer.
“Note: For external use only.
Do not ingest.”
“Are you kidding me?!” Jasmine instantly felt like she’d been played.
Why make a topical medicine look like a drink? And this ‘cure-all alchemy set’ cost a thousand gold—don’t they offer after-sales service? Jasmine grumbled under her breath, not that anyone was listening.
Without a clean towel, she tore a piece off her clothes, dabbed on the potion, and started treating her wounds.
“By the way… that woman’s voice just now, where did it come from?”
