Zoe fixed her gaze on the sharp tip of the spare she picked up, "I see you weaklings need someone to protect you. I don't mind at all."
Jayden clenched his teeth, she was as dense and brutal as ever. He faked a cough, "Let's see who's gonna be protecting who."
Zoe walked past Jayden, heading to the gate, "Don't push yourself too much, weakling, I wouldn't forgive you if you get yourself injured."
"Huu" Jayden froze for a second, unsure of what to feel. That was literally a slap and a kiss served on one plate, totally got him nowhere in knowing how she felt about him.
Most of the other students began entering the farm in large numbers, each with one tool or the other but they didn't even get a chance to use it.
The farm came to life, and vines began crawling at them from all around, and even digging their way from underground.
The students fell into dreadful chaos, that even the best of them could only slash a couple of vines before they got bound to trees or held firmly to the ground.
Jayden's and Zoe's team stood still while watching the marvellous scene play out; for some of them, it was a moral lesson. Although Jayden had told Ryan and Tyler what to expect, they had now seen it firsthand.
Their teeth were clenched, sweat crawling down from their temples, but they had trust in the strategies Jayden had given them to conquer the farm.
Mr Williams immediately blazed into the farm. Wait, was it him? Because Jayden only sew a trail of howling wind.
He noticed the plant vines that held the students snapping with great speed, and in about five seconds or less, all the students were lying on the ground, like piles of bricks outside the farm, with Mr Williams standing in front of them.
'The fuck, he didn't even break a sweat' Jayden's mouth widened. If a B-ranked tamer could move at such speed, Jayden would be walking on water in one year.
But not to forget, Mr Williams' beast's evolved aspect enhanced his speed so maybe with those and antelope legs of his could match the speed of an A-ranked tamer.
Troy's group burst into laughter,
"Ba..haha..haha...pathetic, such weaklings" Benjamin laughed.
"You still call yourself higher animals when you've been defeated by plants." Rowen spat.
"Rowen! Show them how it's done", Troy purred.
Rowen stepped forward, "My pleasure"
He took in a deep breath and transformed into his beast form. First, his life existence core appeared with his grey elemental core above it, just before he materialised as his gorilla beast.
Rowen beat his chest with a roar and rushed into the farm.
He jumped incredibly high from the ground while plant vines followed behind him, but his mobility in those trees was insane.
He jumped from one branch to another, and the next second, he jumped down the tree with a bat in hand, dodging every plant vine until he came out of the farm.
"Nice" Tyler complimented with a smile.
Rowen transformed back into his human form and handed the bat to Mr Williams.
Team one had passed the test in less than one minute.
Other students' eyes were even more terrorised when they saw the bat—actually, the vampire bat.
It was unbelievably just like Mr Williams described in class.
Normal bats had short legs and soft wings and light bones that enabled their flight, but what did mana do to this beast?
It cancelled out its limitations. A regular bat would find it hard walking on the ground, but this bat had long limbs, adapted for walking; it had thick skin, and to emphasise how big the wings were, it could carry its strong bones and a six-pound weight of meat in flight.
"That thing looks dangerous", Ella, one of the girls on Zoe's team, whispered, noticing its long claws.
"Let's go!" Zoe murmured.
They all took another halt at the gate of the farm, watching it return to its usual deceptive beauty.
"If we should go in groups, then we'll certainly end up like the rest of them; we need to split up," Jayden smirked.
Zoe turned to him, raising an eyebrow, "How do you know that, Mr Genius?"
Jayden smiled.
Mr Williams had taught them all about the few beasts in zone one, but he left out the lectures on how to conquer them. That was for the student to figure out.
'I guess it's my moment to live in her spotlight.'
Wait, why am I acting so smart all of a sudden?'
Tyler shrugged, "Yeah, why do you want us to split up? You're trying to match yourself with Zoe for a private honeymoon, aren't you?"
"Huh?" Jayden stepped back, he would have slapped Tyler if Zoe hadn't already done that.
Jayden cleared his voice, "Plants depend on signals like light, touch, vibration, water and gravity to react.
They attack based on where they feel these things."
Tyler held one hand over his face, where he was slapped, and said, "So if we walk in large numbers, we'll create too much vibration for them to sense."
Jayden narrowed his gaze at Tyler. Not only had he stolen his spotlight, but he knew the reason for splitting up all along; he had just decided to set him up with Zoe.
Zoe hummed, "Makes sense. I was planning to charge right in just as Rowen did."
She looked around, "In that case, we'll pair up, a strong and weak person in each team to balance the strength.
Jayden screamed in his mind, 'If we team up like that, I'll end up with her. She's not trying to bring us together, right?
It can't be, she's probably just thinking logically.'
"Who's the strongest in your team Jayden?" Natasha, the second girl in Zoe's team asked.
Jayden's team looked at each other. Inside their room, Jayden was far the strongest, but once they were outside, Jayden's dragon is a screat and...
"Ryan, I guess", Jayden smiled.
"I guess he's with me then", Natasha purred and teamed up with Ryan.
Eventually, Jayden was paired up with Zoe.
At that moment, he began feeling terror, as if he were already on the farm, standing so close to her, which was beautifully terrifying.
She looked at him, "Stay behind me, or just wait here until I'm back Jayden"
Jayden immediately felt the challenge; he didn't back out. This was his perfect moment to show her he wasn't so weak.
Jayden smiled and walked ahead of her, "Try to keep up, princess."