NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 173 - Training Exercise 21
On the second day after entering the desert area, they encountered such a serious incident. Mai Dongzi immediately adjusted the formation of the Phantom Team and required every level five team member to bring a level four team member along.
Originally, the formation was Mai Dongzi at the front, with Yu Guangxi at the rear and everyone else in the middle. If the formation had been more organized, Yu Lan wouldn’t have fallen into the beast’s mouth while lagging behind in the middle of the group.
Since Yu Lan was still scared and always closely followed her after the incident, Mai Dongzi didn’t need to remind her to take care of Yulan. The other three level five fighters were responsible for looking after one level four member each.
Wang Yiyi immediately went to stand beside Zhuang Huaiya. She wasn’t familiar with the two seniors, so it was better to stay close to a classmate, especially since they had fought in several cooperative battles before and were more familiar with each other’s strategies.
Durant called Chen Xinhe over to his side. Although their bloodline connection was distant, they could still be considered cousins. Given the situation, it was natural for him to choose to look after his cousin.
Tony, who had been closest to Zhuang Huaiya, found his spot taken by Wang Yiyi, so he had no choice but to move next to Yu Guangxi.
Due to his outstanding family background, abilities, personality, and appearance, Yu Guangxi had a lot of admirers. It was even said that Princess Mary had feelings for him.
However, Yu Guangxi always politely declined these advances. He was the type of person who was so immersed in cultivation that he couldn’t extricate himself from it, and thus was more willing to team up with Tony.
Although the girls in this team weren’t like others, always trying to get closer to him, it was better for him not to be in their team.
On the third day of traveling, the Phantom Team lined up in a single file and continued their journey.
The leader, Mai Dongzi, no longer remained silent like she did yesterday. When she noticed the desert beasts lying in wait ahead, similar to the ones from yesterday, she warned the team and taught them how to observe and counter these desert creatures’ traps.
The desert beasts lie motionless beneath the sand, and due to their ability to blend in with the sand, it’s not easy for someone without psychic abilities to detect them.
After experimenting, the Phantom Team discovered that unless they were very close, they could only sense the beasts through their martial instincts. However, by that time, they were often already in danger, and those who were less careful might have already stepped into harm’s way.
Mai Dongzi used her psychic power to observe that these desert beasts, hidden under the sand, could actually sense their movements by detecting the vibrations caused by their footsteps.
The solution was simple: they could throw stones ahead at intervals to probe the path.
The Phantom Team saw how the desert beasts under the sand immediately swallowed the stones they threw, then quickly retreated. Within three seconds, they all admired their leader’s swift reaction when she had saved Yu Lan earlier.
Yu Lan, seeing this scene, shuddered slightly and couldn’t help but move closer to the leader again.
“I never expected stones could have so many uses,” commented Instructor Li, watching from the hovercraft. He had seen the Phantom Team make such creative use of stones every day and couldn’t help but be impressed.
In the hilly region, the Phantom Team picked up almost every stone they passed. As long as the stones weren’t severely damaged, they could always pick them up and use them again.
So even in the desert without larger stones, they never lacked stones. As long as they had stones in hand, they essentially had weapons.
With the method to prevent desert beast traps, the Phantom Team felt much more at ease. Throwing and collecting stones didn’t take up much time, so their pace of progress increased significantly.
The abilities team, however, had it a bit worse. The only advantage they had over the Phantom Team was that they encountered the desert beasts hiding in the sand dunes on the third day after entering the desert.
After Yu Lan’s near-death experience, Instructor Li reported the unknown desert beast species encountered by the Phantom Team to their vice principal and chief instructor, so all the instructors were now aware of the dangers posed by these desert beasts.
However, due to regulations, they couldn’t share this information with the students, which led to the team leader, Wang Yelan, and another teammate unknowingly falling into a trap.
At this moment, the instructors guarding them acted promptly to rescue them, unlike before when they hesitated and assessed the situation first.
Wang Yelan, as expected of the top member of the abilities team, reacted quickly as soon as she was caught. Being a metal-type ability user, she immediately formed a protective layer of metal around herself.
This action prevented the desert beast’s venom from harming her, and she didn’t fall unconscious from poisoning. She even managed to retrieve a metal knife from her spatial device.
By the time the instructor reached her to rescue her, she had already cut open the desert beast’s body and crawled out, successfully saving herself.
After all, it was only a level-three desert beast, and Wang Yelan’s metal knife was sharp enough to cut through its flesh in just one swipe. This all happened in less than three seconds, and the desert beast hadn’t even fully burrowed into the sand yet.
However, the water-type ability user who also fell into the trap fared much worse. Without anyone capable of tearing apart the level-three desert beast to save him, he was rescued by an instructor. As a result, the water-type ability user was eliminated.
In the desert region, especially on this water-scarce planet, it was truly unfortunate for their team to lose their water-type ability user.
Fortunately, Wang Yelan was a very capable girl. Throughout their journey, she had each person form a metal water bottle, requiring the water-type ability user to condense a set amount of water daily. Everyone was only allowed to use it for drinking and not for anything else—not even to wipe their faces.
Her decision had caused quite a bit of complaints among her teammates at the time.
It wasn’t until they saw the unconscious water-type ability user being taken away by the instructors that they realized how wise their leader’s decision had been.
Because their leader had forced them to conserve water, everyone’s metal water bottles were still filled with a good amount of water. As long as they drank sparingly, they could last for ten to eight days without a problem.
This length of time should be enough for them to find a water source. After all, the Phantom Team didn’t have any water-type ability users, and they had still managed to live well, their bodies even cleaner than theirs.
After the abilities team fell into the trap of the desert beast and lost one member, the remaining seven became much more cautious.
They no longer relied on their abilities the way they had before. Instead of leaving the weapons their team leader had made for them in their spatial devices, they took them out and held them in their hands.
This change in approach saved them from the fate of being eliminated just an hour later.
This time, it was Wei Bangdi who fell into the trap. Though his temper was fiery, his reaction was quick. When his foot slipped, he instinctively thrust the large knife in his hand forward and then pressed down hard, using the leverage to jump out of the beast’s mouth.
The rest of the abilities team reacted swiftly as well, attacking the exposed desert beast.