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n

n

nThe battles went on at the gate.

nSam watched as some puppets came out of the academy grounds. They are far larger and they are much more vague in terms of appearance. They are clearly inspired by the humanoid structure, but they don't have a particular species one could attach to them.

nThey just looked like the puppets.

nAs soon as they appeared with their long staves in their hands, they stuck those spears into the ground. The black sludge started decreasing in pit. It is travelling through the ground and entered these puppets through these staves.

nIt seems like the usage of the sludge has not ended yet.

nThere is more in store for them. Then the puppets stopped moving for a second. From what Sam could see, they are made of more stone than metal. As for why they are considered puppets, they are not made of a single unified piece of stone. Instead he could distinguish the components separately.

nThe sludge started creeping all over their large stone bodies and it glowed as it did so.

nSlowly, but steadily the puppets started absorbing the sludge, creating a pattern. There are many components that now changed color at least on their surfaces because of the sludge. The more these colors increased, the quantity of the sludge decreased on its surface.

nSoon, it completely merged with the puppets.

nAt that moment, the long staves started changing shape. One of them changed into a sword, another into a spear, one into an axe. The last actually disappeared completely. Sam immediately noticed. Those three weapons are the most common weapons among the opponents.

nThese four puppets, the second level of guardians are being controlled by more than sixteen people. All of them are the fourth graders. The instructors are not even controlling the puppet. Instead, they are controlling something altogether.

nAnd they are all doing it together.

nIn the energy barrier that is clearly visible to everyone there, a large eye conjured up. Just one single eye without any other visible enhancements. However, as soon as it locked down on the opponents they felt an extreme sense of unease.

nThe eye looked like it could see through everything about them.

nBut that is not its actual purpose. The puppets were the first to move. They are at least three times the size of a normal human and they appeared very domineering. It is already a big deal to create puppets that could combat with the elder level opponents.

nWith Sam's current abilities, he wouldn't even be able to process that level of metals. That is also the reason the hub was more focused on regeneration type walls and also energy barrier defense instead of pure material defense.

nBut these things… he couldn't even identify the material they are made of. He couldn't understand how they are absorbing that sludge and how the memory transfer is happening.

nHe is very intrigued.

nThe battle continued.

nSam just stayed there and watched. He even prepared snacks for himself as if he is watching movie.

nAlmost as if he forgot that this whole thing started because of him.

nMeanwhile, back at the Hub, the situation is a lot less complicated. Those young elders are not match for the time tested Bloody Chariot. He basically made them eat the dirt in seconds.

nHe didn't kill a lot of them. Just enough to make the rest of the bunch run away like a rag tag bunch. He didn't want to do the dirty work for the Hub. But he was stuck in that stupid contract and he has to do it.

nSo, he is trying to minimize it.

n

"If anyone attacks the hub again. I will not stop just at teaching you a lesson. I will visit your **ing estate and we will see how many lives I can take in ten minutes.

"

nWith that warning, he left.

nSam is positive that there will be no more attacks on the hub. At least from those families.

n

"Tell me, why is Bloody Chariot so passionately defending Hub?

"

nLing Tian asked Sam.

n

"He made bad deal.

"

nThat is all Sam said. He didn't go into details and Ling Tian didn't ask for more.

nHe put his focus back on the academy. The attacks are increasing, but the second level guardians are working perfectly fine.

n

"I don't understand, why is the Gambler academy playing in such a conservative method? I am sure, you guys can just overwhelm the enemy in a single wave of attacks.

nWhy are you not opting for that?

"

nSam asked Ling Tian.

n

"We actually can. But Gambler academy is focused more on efficiency than anything else. So, we try our best to deal with the problems with as little resources as possible.

nAlso, this acts as a great way to test the defensive measures and the researchers that put so much effort in designing and creating these defensive mechanisms get a lot of data.

"

n

"I don't know about efficient. I mean, most of them are consumable resources. You got make the golems again, puppets again and I am guessing even that black sludge takes some effort to create.

nHowever, an attack from a powerful elder? That is easier to recover. All you need some energy boost which they can get from a round of meditation. That is more efficient in my book.

nThe research data on the other hand.

nI can only say that I need to admire the Gambler academy to even utilize the crisis situations like this to gather data and improve the standards of education here.

"

n

"For a guy who only relies on measures like these to defend himself. You are pretty judgemental about this.

" Ling Tian retorted.

n

"Come on, I am not being judgemental here. It was just honest feedback.

nAnd, I am a pipsqueak in terms of cultivation strength. This is the only way I could defend myself. If I am fighting first graders, trust me, I would kick their asses at the first second.

"

n

"Yeah, yeah. Just watch.

nI just don't understand why these guys come here knocking on our doors. What are they trying to achieve here? Do they really think they are going to make it in here and apprehend you? They should be ** scared about Wharton sneezing on them and they would be dead.

"

n

"Well, I could take a guess.

"

nSam said as he stuffed himself with food.

n

"What would that be?

"

n

"If I am not wrong, there should be a bunch of people from the other academies, watching this whole fight. Most probably the upper management, even deans.

"

n

"And what are they looking for?

"

n

"Defensive patterns. Right now, they are getting the full show of how the Gambler academy defensive measures work.

nJust what level of defense reacts to what level of damage. How you deal with the attacks that come from different methods.

nYou can see, the opponents are using different tactics. First, there are a bunch of people attacking randomly like a mob.

nNow the attacks are organized.

nIf my guess is right, they will come with some beasts, puppets or something similar next. Something like assisted attack methods.

nThen, they will try to check with heavy hitting. A single powerful person making attacks.

nThey are going to test your security system. I am not saying they will do it exactly like I said they would, but they will test all of these.

nBy the end of the day, the attacks will stop and they will escape the academy realm. 'Coincidentally', even the city guard wouldn't be able to stop them.

nThey will leave. And you won't face any more attacks today or even for the next few days.

"

n

"Really? I think you are being a bit far-fetched here.

"

n

"Not really. I don't know how well you know the Deans and elders of the other academies, but I do. I have been studied these assholes for weeks. My guess is that you will be attacked seriously in a few more days, by the academies.

nAnd I even know who cooked up this plan.

"

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