The third exam was not simply about collecting eggs.

  From the outside and expnation, it looked like that, but it was not in the end.

  There was more complexity in the making of it.

  The first thing to do was to obtain three Bck Centipede eggs.

  The second was surviving in the pins and forest for two days with no guaranteed food or water.

  The third and perhaps most dangerous is defending the eggs once acquired.

  From a strategic perspective, many applicants were already calcuting something obvious.

  Conrad himself did it within his mind too.

  It was easier to fight humans than bck centipedes.

  For applicants, it is a better decision and something they have more experience with.

  The insects were armored and venomous and moved in groups.

  Entering their burrows meant risking death.

  But fighting another applicant?

  Killing was prohibited.

  Knocking someone unconscious to steal their eggs is allowed.

  Considering all of these directions and actions and the fact that most of the applicants would not risk being disqualified by killing another applicant and exam-taker.

  It made sense from a risk calcution.

  There was risk, yes, but far less than facing a nest of meter-long venomous creatures.

  Conrad could almost feel the thoughts forming in others.

  "Why hunt the centipedes…"

  "When can you hunt the applicants?"

  He kept jogging, eyes forward.

  "This exam is more about the applicants than the centipedes."

  "There aren't many here capable of retrieving eggs directly from the nests or fighting against centipedes and living to tell the tale."

  "Which means the ones who succeed in taking the eggs first will become targets."

  "Which also means that people who are capable of taking the eggs from the centipedes, the ones that have the capability to defend themselves."

  "If they are weak, they should not be able to gather the eggs in the first pce."

  "Interesting..."

  Conrad crossed into the tree line of the Bck Mist Forest.

  The forest lived up to its name.

  Conrad allowed himself a small exhale.

  Then he activated his En.

  Simultaneously, he released his three orbs.

  They drifted outward like silent satellites, spreading in different directions.

  Each orb fed him subtle information about terrain shifts, vibrations, and movement patterns.

  "The first thing I need to do is locate the eggs and bck centipede nests."

  "Observing before engaging is the best course of action I can take."

  "If it's manageable, I'll retrieve the eggs myself."

  "If not…"

  His gaze sharpened.

  "I'll wait."

  If someone else risked their life penetrating a nest and emerged with eggs, exhausted and possibly poisoned, that person would be vulnerable.

  At that point, a clean ambush would be safer than brute force against armored insects.

  A hunter should be versatile and capable of pnning different approaches to its target.

  He stepped over a fallen branch and paused briefly, extending his hand a little further.

  His lips curved slightly.

  "Found them."

  Charging blindly into a burrow of group-forming predators would be foolish.

  Even with teleportation, even with his defensive ability, poison complicated everything.

  He knew that he was not prepared to deal with any kind of poison.

  In the series when Uvogin was bitten by the Rabid Dog, one of the Shadow Beasts, even his monstrous physical capability was not great enough to protect him from the poison.

  Which made him drop on the ground due to the relevant poison on the mouth of the rabid dog.

  Machi even commented that if Rabid Dog were to use lethal poison, Uvogin would die and the battle would end there.

  From a direct perspective, Rabid Dog, tens of times weaker than Uvogin but with a great strategy and poison, had the chance to kill Uvogin.

  But of course, due to the sick mind of Rabid Dog, which, it is said by Shalnark, more than likely he must like torturing his enemies, he used a rexant and incapacitation poison instead of lethal poison.

  After some thought, Conrad crouched behind a thick tree trunk and focused through one of his orbs.

  Through shifting leaves, he glimpsed it.

  A centipede.

  Over a meter long, its shell is glossy bck like polished obsidian.

  And it was not alone.

  Three more moved behind it.

  "So they defend outer territory too," he noted mentally.

  That meant nests were deeper inside.

  He leaned back against the tree, thinking carefully.

  "I could teleport in and out."

  "But if poison is injected even once…"

  He considered the timing of his ability.

  Teleportation momentarily reduced his defensive aura before restoration.

  A half-second vulnerability against venomous mandibles was not ideal.

  "If I rush and miscalcute, I risk paralysis or death."

  "My defensive ability only protects me against one lethal attack."

  "One lethal attack per day."

  "And paralysis equals capture, which would then have freedom to poison me even more, and then my ability would not work and I would die."

  His gaze hardened slightly.

  "Which I cannot allow."

  -

  Note

  -

  If you want donate and read thirty more chapters in advance and get two chapters per day, you can check out my page.

  The price is set to 3 usd.

  Thank you people for helping me out to reach thousands of chapters in this series in the future.

  https:///c/Adenlia