CHAPTER 103: CHAPTER 103 THE HUNT BEGAN

The masked guard activated a mini-teleporter and sent Zane somewhere within the First Zone.

Zane felt the familiar tingling sensation for just a few seconds before finding himself in a dense forest. He glanced around and realized it was the same place he had arrived at when he first came from Earth.

Moving forward, he soon encountered a herd of Corrupted Wild Bulls. Each of them had dark gray fur, and their horns were shaped like tridents. There were fifteen of them, and Zane quickly scanned their stats — all barely at the early stage of One-Star.

Without hesitation, he darted forward, flicking each bull squarely on the forehead.

Each beast let out a single cry before collapsing. No blood. No resistance. A clean, merciful slaughter.

Unbeknownst to him, a bee-sized drone had already locked onto his figure, transmitting the live footage back to Earth.

Back in Fresher Meet Village, the footage was quickly highlighted and replayed for all to see.

"Is that for real?" one teacher asked, astonished.

"Yeah, the footage came from one of the drones," another responded, eyes fixed on the screen.

"Could be a new technique," suggested a martial arts instructor, his gaze thoughtful.

"Interesting. A flicking technique, huh?" another said with a smile.

For the next five minutes, everyone’s attention was glued to Zane’s performance.

A short while later, Zane encountered a troop of large, mutated lemurs. Once again, a simple flick to the forehead was all it took. The beasts fell instantly, as though death itself answered his touch.

He dug his fingers into their skulls and retrieved their mana core stones. Then, pulling out his green-ranking card, he brought the stones near it. A suction force activated from the card, devouring all the cores instantly. On the screen embedded in the card, his rank jumped from #24,937 to #21,486.

"Too many things happened after I got here. I’ve spent more time elsewhere than I should have. My ranking’s far behind the others now... At this rate, getting into the top 600 is just a pipe dream." He frowned, then sprinted off again.

Soon after, his latest hunt — a group of corrupted apes — was also featured in a "Best Fight Scene" montage back on Earth.

His method remained the same: one flick per beast. Instant death.

Almost every awakened student was watching the live tournament broadcast. Slowly, people began to recognize who he was.

Zane Carter — the son of the infamous Zorro Carter, a name drenched in controversy.

Public opinion shifted. The admiration faded into bitter commentary. Hatred returned.

"Pfft. We were almost misled by that showy nonsense," muttered a third-year student. "Anyone can flick. Watch this."

He raised his hand and aimed a flick at his girlfriend’s forehead.

She slapped his hand away and glared at him. "Are you stupid? Don’t go using some devil-spawn’s technique on me."

"Nah, babe. I’m just joking around," the youth replied with an awkward laugh.

"Oh really? Then how about this?" She flicked him hard on the forehead.

He winced in pain, his forehead throbbing, but forced a grin to save face.

"Look at you," the girl scoffed. "If that flick were from Zane, your skull would’ve cracked. That guy’s a monster."

People around them nodded in agreement. Zane might be despised by many... but his flicking technique?

That was something to be reckoned with.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Director Aaron was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.

"Sir Director, why are you ordering me to feature Zane’s latest footage?" Gemini asked. "Look at what happened. Now everyone hates the kid even more."

"Shut up, Gemini. It’s your job. Just do what I say," the Director snapped and cut the link.

He leaned back in his chair, a wide smile spreading across his face as he watched the massive screen replaying Zane’s highlight—him executing the flicking technique with precision and flair.

"You all want to know my intentions? That kid... he’s a monster. My academy’s little monster. And to think he’s only an early-stage One-Star, pulling off such a classy attack..." he murmured with admiration. "Only my brother and I understand the true beauty of that technique."

He paused.

"No... there’s someone else too."

His eyes drifted downward to the deans’ cabin, where Pudge was smiling faintly, also watching the footage of Zane with glowing eyes.

"Maybe he sees what I see in that boy," Aaron muttered. "Is he planning to snatch my little monster? No... Pudge is a visionary. A selfless man. And he’s part of my academy now, whatever his reasons. Betrayal? That’s the last thing I’d expect from him... Still—I’ll keep an eye on him."

His thoughts shifted suddenly, his brows furrowing.

"Still... how the hell did my little monster get transported into the Forbidden Apple Garden? If the Shadow Guard over there had informed me earlier, I wouldn’t have missed such a classy fight."

Meanwhile, Zane continued sprinting across the wild terrain, hunting every corrupted beast in his path.

But after hours of effort, he glanced at his ranking—still behind Rank 18,000.

Dropping to a halt, he panted and muttered, "I’ve been at this for three hours, taken down everything in my path... and I’m still far behind. This is bad. I know there’s still a week left, but a good beginning is already half the battle."

Frustrated, he began brainstorming, and a memory surfaced—his adventure in the other world.

"System," he asked, "can I still use the All-Seeing Almighty Vision skill?"

Ding!

[Yes, Host. But you’ll need to rent it using 10 Two-Star Stones per activation.]

"Ten two-stars stones? Hey, I didn’t pay anything the last time I used it!"

[The first time was a free trial. Subsequent uses require beast mana cores or equivalent stones.]

[Do you still want to rent the skill? Y/N]

Zane sighed. He had no choice. This was the only way to gain an edge in the first phase of the tournament.

"Fine! Take them. Just open the damn skill for me," he said, reaching into his silk pouch and pulling out ten two-star stones.

As soon as the stones left his palm, they vanished into thin air. A second later, golden light flared from his eyes.

[All-Seeing Almighty Vision Skill Activated!]

[Mana Consumption: 50 per second.]

Zane’s perception shifted dramatically. He could now see the flows of mana dancing around him—through the trees, the ground, the beasts.

His lips curled into a wide grin.

"Ah... this feeling is great!"