Master of the End Times

Chapter 868: Bias

“These youngsters are elects in the making.”

Qin Feng measured their young faces. For some, their glorious achievements in the future jumped into his mind. But now they were only young pups tasting the real world for the first time.

Despite that, Qin Feng had no intention to recruit them. Fengli had not been lacking prodigies. He also did not need more subordinates at the moment.

In contrast, two prodigies from the other regions were enthused when they saw Qin Feng.

They were guessing whether Qin Feng was here to handpick an apprentice.

But the idea only remained in their minds briefly.

Qin Feng was still too young to look for a successor. Besides, among those here, five of them came from Fengli.

They were great combatants. Two of them were even gunners. It was often rare for gunners to reach this stage. Their high-end weapons must be supplied by the corporation.

They wondered whether they would have a similar privilege if they joined now.

Probably not, left alone becoming the beloved apprentice of Qin Feng like how they had imagined it.

After another hour, no one else had set foot into the tenth level.

The tower guard checked the tower for one last time and confirmed the finalists.

As compared to last year, this year’s competition was far more fruitful. The number of qualified finalists was two times the number last year.

“Perhaps your family member or someone you know has told you about the condition inside the dimension. But I will remind you again. Especially those who don’t know anything about the Perished Land, listen closely.”

Some of them already knew what the guard was going to say next. The prodigies from the Fengli Organization even possessed the map drawn by Qin Feng in their hand.

Of course, some had never heard about it. This included the two prodigies that came last. They were all ears.

“Later, a dimension would be opened up. Remember, safety is the utmost priority. Here are three spatial waymarks that would allow you to return to Dragon Capital instantly.” The guard emphasized again. “Remember, your life is above everything. The Huaxia Alliance would need your service in the future.”

The prodigies were inspired listening to the guard’s earnest lecture.

As usual, the guard tower distributed the spatial waymarks. When it was Qin Feng’s turn, he waved at him.

“I don’t need it. I still have it from last year.”

The others were baffled and turned to Qin Feng.

One of the prodigies from Dragon Capital could not help but ask, “General Qin, are you going to join us in the rift?”

The man naturally knew who Qin Feng was. He was a youngster so he closely followed the development of other youngsters too. After Qin Feng gained first place in last year’s tournament, many parents to the prodigies in Dragon Capital had frequently lamented that this guy would dominate the competition for years to come.

Unexpectedly, they did not see Qin Feng throughout the tournament this year. It was his classmate that had joined instead.

The guard explained beamingly, “Qin Feng is qualified to enter the Perished Land. Since he is now B-tier, he is not required to go through the Tower of Dragon Gate. He is thus allowed to standby here as a prodigy while you all underwent the challenge.”

They had no words for it. Qin Feng was shortlisted as a seeded player from the beginning.

“Alright, time is almost up. Get ready.”

When the guard said it was time, he was never wrong. He had been stationed here for years. He would not misjudge the time by a millisecond.

Precisely as he had anticipated, the sky above them began to pour down silver glimmers. A familiar rift soon opened up.

This was the second time Qin Feng witnessed this marvelous phenomenon, thus he was less amazed by it. Still, the vast energy gushing out from the rift was equally refreshing as last time, even though Qin Feng had strengthened considerably now.

The guard who had been here every year in the past decade was also enjoying the shower of energy.

Boom!

As compared to the past, Qin Feng was now more sensitive to the current of the energy. He vividly sensed the energy dashed into the center of the Dragon Capital and could not escape due to the unique topography of the city. It lingered around the capital and energized the atmosphere within.

‘This energy is large enough to spread through the entire capital. Even A-tiers could benefit from it. I guess it’s fine for me to try to absorb it?’

Qin Feng was now B7-tier as compared to C2-tier last year. He reckoned he would not suck in all the energy inside the Dragon Capital.

He did not hesitate for long and activated his ability.

Absorb!

Instantly, the energy that lingered idly around the capital seemed to be pulled in by a large whirlpool with Qin Feng as its center.

Qin Feng’s body was like a gluttonous beast. He absorbed the energy greedily and his power bolstered gradually.

His ability had improved significantly as Qin Feng grew. The extent of energy that his Absorption Ability could consume now was unimaginable.

This was no different from plundering.

“Eh?” The guard tower vaguely saw the energy go into Qin Feng’s body like a giant dragon. He did not know this was Qin Feng’s ability and figured the energy perhaps favored the more talented prodigy. That was why it all went Qin Feng’s way.

What a huge bias!

Prodigies usually benefited greatly from the opening and often evolved immediately. But this year, they could only gain one-tenth of the usual amount.

In contrast, Qin Feng had accumulated a substantial amount of experience during the battle in the Blood River Realm. The influx of energy completely unleashed his potential.

B8-tier!

Both his ancient warrior strength and consciousness were upgraded.

Boom!

His powerful aura pushed the prodigies around him away. They lost control of themselves and rolled away like barrels.

It was simply too intimidating.

The guard tower was rendered speechless.

At the same time, the rift slowly shifted into a round shape. The tunnel linking the Perished Land had been established.

“Get up now and get in!” The guard urged.

The prodigies were anxious to do so, too. They simply could not. Qin Feng’s aura was too powerful and they could hardly raise their fingers under such pressure.

Luckily, Qin Feng quickly came to his senses and retracted his aura. He flung his internal power and carried the thirteen prodigies together into the spatial tunnel.

Then, the turbulence struck them, trying to separate the group.

“Grab each other!” One of the prodigies spoke silently and grabbed the prodigies nearest to him.

As compared to them, Qin Feng was not troubled by the turbulence.

Last year, he could already swim freely inside the whirlpool. Now, he could even counter the turbulence with his internal force alone.

However, he had little interest in babysitting the entire group of prodigies. He gathered the eight prodigies with one last push and dispersed his protection on them.

Without Qin Feng’s protection, they immediately felt the real drag of the turbulence. Three of the eight did not react in time and were split from the group in terror.

Five of them caught each other in time and held on tight in a group.

Qin Fen kept five prodigies close to him—Zhou Hao, Lu Meng, and the three prodigies from Fengli.

The whirlpool pulled them deep into the end of the spatial tunnel.

When they could finally open their eyes, the surrounding was an eccentric place they had never seen before.