The bitterness of wild grass spread in his mouth, and Ethan Brooks felt a bit dazed, and also a bit envious.

The envy flashed in his eyes and quickly disappeared; his gaze returned to normal, indifferent and calm. Thinking of the boss, thinking of the laborers who had fallen in the wild jungles over the past three years and turned into piles of white bones, he realized he was already lucky enough.

Being alive is more important than anything else; being alive is the greatest fortune.

Even the chatter of the fat guy by his ear sounded much more pleasant now.

The towering gate slowly opened. Ethan Brooks patted the dirt off his body and stood up, his unruly face showing determination. He knew that behind the gate was a brand new path, a road he had never imagined before.

What lay at the end of that road, he did not know.

Just as he had stepped into the wilderness three years ago, he now took a step forward, not looking back as he said to the fat guy, “Let’s go.”

Chapter 3: Fury

“My name is Ethan Brooks, I’m sixteen years old this year. I’m glad to be in the same class as everyone, please take care of me.” Standing on the podium, Ethan Brooks tried to make his tone as gentle as possible, reminding himself that this was not the wilderness.

He took in every corner of the study hall at a glance, finding no danger. After introducing himself, Ethan Brooks hurried off the podium as if fleeing.

Some of the students below were surprised at how old Ethan Brooks was, and buzzed with discussion.

“He’s so old and can still enter the induction field? Also, his name is kind of strange.”

“Must be from the Old Lands…”

Mr. Bennett by the podium coughed lightly, “Students in the back, don’t be so brief. Introduce a bit more about yourselves. That way, your classmates can get to know you faster and better.”

Back at his seat, Ethan Brooks let out a sigh of relief. Compared to fighting, the scene before him made him feel even more at a loss.

Sensing his own uneven breathing, he slowly inhaled and exhaled, the feeling of unease gradually fading, and his body returning to its optimal state.

At this moment, Ethan Brooks looked exceptionally calm. No one noticed that the boy in the corner of the schoolhouse, as deep and still as a pool of water, was actually a dormant beast, ready to erupt with astonishing power at any moment.

Three years of life in the wilderness had left too many marks.

For example, how he chose his seat.

He sat by the window, with an unobstructed view outside, able to guard against attacks from outside the window. If an attack came from inside the schoolhouse, he could jump out the window at the first sign of trouble.

For example, his observation—he secretly watched everything around him: the teacher on the podium, the classmates nearby, the structure of the schoolhouse, the arrangement of the seats, and so on. Many times, these seemingly unnecessary details could determine your life or death. Never think you have too much information.

He didn’t do these things deliberately; it all came so naturally.

There were more than two hundred students in the class, most of them quite young, as could be seen from the greenness and innocence on their faces. A few were dressed in luxurious clothes and looked proud—probably from big families. One of them Ethan Brooks remembered; he was the noble young man who had stepped down from that top-grade Fire Floating Cloud outside the gate, the one he and the fat guy had seen.

Logan Smith, he looked a bit arrogant, but his strength was decent. Ethan Brooks made a mental note.

This guy was appointed class monitor. What was a class monitor? The leader of the group? Having an arrogant guy as the leader was not a good thing. The experienced Ethan Brooks watched coldly from the sidelines.

But this had nothing to do with him.

Unfortunately, the fat guy wasn’t assigned to the same class as him.

Thinking of this, Ethan Brooks felt a bit regretful.

But in the next second, that slight regret was shattered by Mr. Bennett’s words, replaced by overwhelming fury and endless killing intent.

“Next, I’ll introduce the fee standards for the induction field. All the schoolhouses in the city require payment. You can feel that the yuan force concentration in the city is quite high, right? Training in such an environment yields twice the result with half the effort. The annual fee for a single room is fifty thousand yuan. In addition, we have prepared even more high-end luxury dormitories for you, where the yuan force concentration is nine times that of the outside, at a cost of seven hundred thousand yuan per year. Those who can afford it may consider it. As for meals, the food here is very cheap, with a daily standard of two hundred, including one portion of yuan food…”

Ethan Brooks’s cheek twitched almost imperceptibly; he had no desire to listen any further. He struggled to control his expression, but the fury in his chest nearly burned him up, the veins bulging on his fist under the desk.

The induction field includes room and board? Ha!

Why didn’t he chop up that damned fat guy when signing up?

On the podium, the teacher droned on, spittle flying and sticking to the blackboard, as if nailing sparkling “money” characters onto it.

A full half hour! The guy was still talking about fees! Suddenly, Ethan Brooks felt an urge to rush up and finish off Mr. Bennett; the Mr. Bennett on stage was like a beast that had just threatened him—no, a beast with whom he had a blood feud!

Ethan Brooks narrowed his eyes, his gaze icy cold. Ha, he had no idea how many such beasts he had already finished off.

An hour passed…

Ethan Brooks’s fury had completely dissipated, his cold gaze turning vacant and dull. He felt he was about to be finished off himself, and in the most miserable way.

Right now, his greatest impulse was to turn around and escape back to the wilderness.