On the other side of the complex, Hongwei and his lackeys had barely made it out of the charging rabbit training base. They would have died if they had not quickly requested help. The knight in charge berated them for moving into the advanced zone when they could have trained in the basic zone like everyone else.
Deep down, Hongwei was furious that even with a party, he had not been able to get to the boss zone. It left him wondering how Yan had cleared it at all.
He angrily slammed his fist into one of his lackeys, because he strongly believed that Yan had cheated.
As if their misery was not enough, the notice board lit up with another notification, telling everyone that the whirlwind wolves training base had just been cleared in a record time of fifty-eight minutes, by Yan.
Hongwei's lackeys were left in complete shock. For Hongwei, it was only more motivation for what he planned to do to Yan. He told them it was time to head to the wolves training base under the pretense of cheering for him. He planned to destroy Yan's legacy, no matter what it took.
Back in the training base, Yan had finally reached the level 10 he was aiming for, where he could finally awaken his second innate skill.
For his new Tinkerer skill, he obtained Durability. For the Farmer, he obtained Plant Grafting.
Yan was glad that he finally had the Plant Grafting skill, and he used his modification skill to change it to Universal Grafting.
Universal Grafting was an overpowered skill that created ultimate contract beasts, and Yan was glad that it was finally his. It was a skill that could graft the genes of two different species, randomly creating a new species that was either superior or inferior. His current chance of creating a superior species was ten percent. But as the skill level increased, the number of species he could graft would also increase, and that would increase his chance of producing a superior species.
Even though the conditions for grafting were restricted, Yan was not worried, because it was one of the strongest skills out there. Monsters that were already powerful could gain even stronger abilities. By combining two A-rank monsters, there was a possibility that an S-rank monster would be created. And by using a beast tamer's skill scroll to form a contract with the monster, Yan could turn it into a loyal battle companion.
In his past life, the big shots had used the results of his power for themselves. This time around, he planned to use the power only for himself.
After he was done, Yan decided it was time to head out. He was impressed by the amount of progress he had made. He had even managed to get a magic crystal, which went for a high price. They had a low drop rate, and embedding them into gear gave powerful effects — but crystals from the training grounds belonged to the association.
He was at level 10, which meant he could finally head out into the wilds of the demon cave, and any crystal or material he found out there would be his alone. With that, Yan was confident that his money problems were about to become a thing of the past.
Just then, he got a painful kick from the claw injury on his chest.
Because the injury was not severe enough to kill him, his resurrection skill would not kick in. To make it worse, he did not even have the money to treat himself at a hospital, which basically meant that his best option was to kill himself and trigger resurrection.
He could not do that in front of the working knights. It would obviously trigger suspicion. He decided that he just had to find a quiet place with no one around, so he could die there.
He put his shirt back on and stepped out.
To his utmost surprise, there were a great many people outside. Mostly students who had been waiting for him to come out, and even seniors who had come to watch, because he had broken the record.
With this many people around, Yan realized there was no way he could easily use resurrection. The worst part of it was that if he took more damage in his current situation and then suddenly resurrected in front of everyone, they were going to notice that something was off. His major concern became how he was going to shake off the crowd that had gathered to watch him.
Suddenly, his wounds started healing.
When he looked up, he saw an S-rank support profession at work on him. Holy Angel.
Everyone was amazed, and when they turned around to see who was responsible, they realized it was a girl named Yao Kexin, who was from the Yao family, one of the great clans. The students were left in complete shock. They had not expected someone of her caliber to come there.
Yan was left in complete awe, because this girl had literally just saved his life. He walked up to her to thank her, since all of his injuries had vanished. He told Kexin that, because she had saved him, he was going to handle her gear repairs in the future. Deep down, he also wished that the two of them could work together later, because her healing skill was something that would always come in clutch.
Kexin acknowledged the gratitude, telling Yan that she would be looking forward to the day her equipment broke.
Everything was going smoothly until Hongwei appeared on the scene to accuse Yan of cheating.
He screamed at the top of his voice, telling everyone not to let Yan deceive them, because he was nothing less than a freaking cheater. He claimed that Yan's speedrun record had been done with cheats. He pointed out that Yan was a dual F-rank trash, and those who were present were shocked to hear it. They obviously knew that awakening with a craft class meant a person had zero combat power.
Hongwei continued by saying that it was impossible to clear the training base solo, let alone create a new record while doing it. He said the only way it was possible was by using some crazy powerful gear — and even that was not possible for Yan, because Yan was poor.
Deep down, Hongwei believed that Yan had resorted to cheap tricks because he could not beat him fair and square.
"And if Yan was able to purchase powerful gear," Hongwei went on, "that means he was never poor at all. It means he did this on purpose to scam the school for financial aid."
The moment the crowd heard this, their excitement about Yan started dying down.
Yan asked Hongwei whether he wanted him to prove that he had not cheated.
Hongwei said that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted Yan to take off his gear and fight him. If Yan was able to beat him, it meant he had not cheated.
Kexin urged Yan not to fall for it, because he did not need to prove himself to anyone. Yan thanked her for the worry.
Without hesitation, he accepted Hongwei's challenge — because he planned to deal with Hongwei once and for all, and stop him from getting in his way in the future.