Nie Yan had zero interest in these sorts of competitions.

“Welp, my bad guys. If I hadn’t slightly messed up there, we could’ve definitely beaten the mech combat faculty.” Fu Guangtao glanced at the several classmates in his team, an arrogant gleam in his eyes.

“The mech combat faculty is only slightly stronger than us. If we raise our levels and get a few more pieces of good equipment, we can definitely beat them. If we had Xia Tianyu, the mech combat faculty wouldn’t have stood a chance. What a shame.” Bai Jun sighed.

“Hmph! So what if we don’t have him? It’s not like the Earth will stop spinning. We just need to try harder next time. Then we can definitely beat them!” Zhao Shiyu felt quite pleased with herself after being voted the leader of the group.

Fu Guangtao started boasting about the weaknesses of the several experts in the mech combat faculty.

Several people in the team couldn’t stand Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and Baijun, but they kept quiet.

Listening to the so-called strategies Fu Guangtao spewed out, Nie Yan couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. They were too vague and general and would have zero practical use on the battlefield.

Against players like Fu Guangtao, even if several dozen came at him, Nie Yan would still wipe the floor with them.

“Tsk, you guys are really good at believing your own bullshit. The mech combat faculty was hardly even trying. You think you could’ve beaten them? Hah! I’ve never seen a group so full of themselves,” Xia Tianyu sarcastically smiled. He was fed up with listening to Fu Guantao stroking his own ego.

Fu Guangtao’s face flushed red with embarrassment. “Xia Tianyu, you bastard! I dare you to say that again!”

“You want to hear it a second time? Sure! Bring out the replay of the match! Why stop at just twice? I’ll say it again a thousand times, ten thousand times, no problem!” Xia Tianyu shot back.

After hearing Xia Tianyu’s words, Xie Yao giggled and turned to Nie Yan. “Your friends sure are interesting.”

Nie Yan shrugged. Even he didn’t expect Xia Tianyu to have such a sharp tongue.

“Fuck you!” Fu Guangtao rushed forward. He wanted nothing more than to give Xia Tianyu a good beating. However, he was held back by Bai Jun and the others.

“Forget it. Nothing to get worked up over. We’re all still in the same class,” Bai Jun said.

With some placating from his fellow classmates, Fu Guangtao finally calmed down. After glaring at Xia Tianyu, he snorted and walked away.

The Top Military Academy’s gathering finally came to a close. Azure Windchime had come out of it the biggest winner. Many students made use of their connections to reach out to Undying Scoundrel and the others for a recommendation into Asskickers United or possibly an opportunity to participate in an entrance test. God Executioner Sword had also gained quite a few new members.

Nie Yan coldly eyed Fang Rujie and Qi Han leading a crowd of new recruits away. He urged Guo Huai to closely monitor God Executioner Sword.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao left the arena together.

Xie Yao resumed her search for the remaining pieces of the Saintess Christina Set and figuring out a way to resurrect her phoenix.[1]

Guo Huai had already done all he could in helping Nie Yan gather items that could increase his Ice Resistance.

After bidding farewell to Xie Yao, Nie Yan went his own way.

Checking his personal storage, Nie Yan found two books for passive skills that increased his Ice Resistance and an item called the Heart of Winter; it was a dazzling snow-white orb about the size of a fist.

Nie Yan examined the item.

Properties: Ice Resistance +50, Ice Magic +20%

Winter Spirit: Invoke the power of the Heart of Winter to become immune to frost damage and even the most extreme cold for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 20 minutes.

Restrictions: Righteous Faction

Seeing the properties of the Heart of WInter, Nie Yan recalled his Kiln Fire Heart. He took it out of the bag and compared the two.

Properties: Fire Resistance +50, Fire Magic +20%

Kiln Fire: Invoke the power of the Kiln Fire Heart to become immune to all fire damage and even the most extreme heat for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 20 minutes.

Restrictions: Righteous Faction

The Kiln Fire Heart and Heart of Winter were identical in size. Both were special items. The Kiln Fire Heart was bright red and emitted a blazing energy. It looked just like a ball of primal flame. The Heart of Winter was dazzling white and seeped out with a frosty aura. It look like an orb made out of the purest ice.

One red, the other white, the two items shone brightly in Nie Yan’s hands.

Something like the Kiln Fire Heart was extremely rare. Nie Yan had only learned about it in the previous timeline purely by coincidence. “Besides the Kiln Fire Heart and Heart of Winter, are there other similar items?”

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. “I should have Guo Huai look for more similar items. Maybe something special will happen if we gather all of them.”

After learning the two passive skills, Nie Yan checked his Ice Resistance. It had already reached 260, meeting the requirements to explore the icy tundra to the far north of the Viridian Empire. Apart from this, he had also stocked up on a few Master Ice Resistance Potions from the Starry Night Potion Shop.

Making sure nothing was out of place or missing, Nie Yan finally prepared to set off. “After finding Sulgata’s Feather and completing Sulgata’s Shadow, I will do the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest.” His eyes shone with anticipation.

Nie Yan walked to the outskirts of Calore and summoned his Darkwing Dragon. He hopped on and flew off toward the north.

The Darkwing Dragon rapidly ascended in altitude. The wind howled past Nie Yan’s ears while the mountains and rivers below flitted past. He realized once more just how frighteningly fast his flying mount was.

After flying for about 15 minutes, the landscape below transformed into a barren tundra. As the polar winds howled past him, Nie Yan felt a bit cold on his cheeks as a layer of frost covered his skin. He was about to be turned into a human popsicle! The Darkwing Dragon’s speed was also dramatically reduced as ice built up on its wings.

Nie Yan hurriedly had the Darkwing Dragon land. Flying at such high speeds in this extremely cold environment was a terrible idea.

The Darkwing Dragon circled in the sky before making a gradual descent. Nie Yan gazed ahead of him. A vast expanse of white stretched out as far as the eye could see. Here and there lone rocks protruded through the snow while further off he could make out the vague outline of mountains.

The Darkwing Dragon finally landed on the ground. Nie Yan hopped off its back.

1. Nie Yan received a phoenix egg in Chapter 518. Since he already had the Darkwing Dragon, he gave it to Xie Yao.