"Pei Ze."

Gu Lin had appeared at Pei Ze’s side at some point, her gaze a mixture of surprise and uncertainty.

The young woman leaned in and whispered, "You didn’t actually desert your post, did you?"

It wasn’t her fault for thinking so. No matter how you looked at him, Pei Ze didn’t seem like someone who had just been through a fierce battle.

Pei Ze was a student of High Tower Academy, yes, but once he joined the operation, he fell under the jurisdiction of the City Guard Army. If he had failed to strictly carry out his defensive duties last night, the Military Governors of the City Guard Army would show him no mercy.

Especially with Huo Nan watching him like a hawk.

Before Pei Ze could answer, Su Ya couldn’t stop herself from jumping to his defense. "That’s not it, Lord Pei Ze, he..."

Pei Ze raised a hand, stopping Su Ya. Not wanting to waste his breath, he strode over to the nearby temporary registration desk, took off his Recording Ring, and placed it on the table. "Register my merit points," he told the staff member.

The staff member snapped out of a daze and quickly took the Recording Ring to begin his inspection.

A few seconds later, his eyes shot wide open, his expression one of utter shock, as if he had seen something unbelievable.

Seeing his reaction, the crowd of Wizard Apprentices grew intensely curious.

An apprentice closer to the desk urged impatiently, "What are you spacing out for? Hurry up!"

The staff member finally came to his senses. He glanced at Pei Ze with awe before quickly scribbling a line on the paper. Looking up again, his attitude now deeply respectful, he said to Pei Ze, "714 merit points. Registration is complete."

The moment he finished speaking, the hall fell silent.

An instant later, the crowd erupted into an uproar.

"714 merit points?! Are you sure you read that right?"

"For real? That’s insane!"

"How many heretics did he take down?"

"Unbelievable! That’s more than ten times my score!"

Everyone stared at Pei Ze in shock, momentarily stunned.

Although they voiced their doubt and disbelief, everyone knew the Recording Ring couldn’t possibly be wrong.

Besides, the Recording Ring could also store visual recordings. The number of merit points could be confirmed later by cross-referencing the footage with the actual battle situation, so there was no reason for anyone to fake their results.

In other words, Pei Ze had truly eliminated a massive number of heretics and earned over seven hundred merit points!

Instantly, the way many of the Wizard Apprentices looked at Pei Ze changed.

To earn over seven hundred merit points, Pei Ze must have taken down at least ten or twenty Demon Cultivators!

And that number definitely included more than one Demon Cultivator at the level of a Peak Grand Knight!

If it had been them, they could have never achieved such a feat.

Such strength was, without a doubt, far beyond that of almost everyone present!

Gu Lin was also stunned for a long moment. When she finally came to her senses, her gaze toward Pei Ze had become incredibly complex.

"I was worried about you for nothing."

She muttered, then couldn’t help but sigh.

"And here I was, thinking my two hundred-something merit points was pretty good. Compared to this, it’s pathetic."

"You’re a monster, you know that?"

Beside them, Su Ya pursed her lips, nodding in wholehearted agreement.

She had seen many Third-level Wizard Apprentices at the garrison these past few days and had even watched some of them cast Magic in the square. But not a single one was like Pei Ze. He had mastered silent casting at such a young age, his casting speed was astonishingly fast, and his Magic Power was absolutely formidable.

And he had an unbelievably powerful familiar, too!

Honestly, if these traits had appeared in a full-fledged Wizard, it wouldn’t have been so surprising.

But for them to appear in a sixteen-year-old Third-level Wizard Apprentice was simply staggering.

The apprentices now looked at Pei Ze as if he were some kind of mythical being.

Pei Ze had no desire to stick around and be gawked at like a rare animal. With a wave and a quick, "I’m heading back to rest," he made a cool exit.

The encirclement operation isn’t over. They still had to mop up the remaining heretics, so there was no rush to exchange his merit points just yet.

...

「Back at his residence.」

Pei Ze lifted his hood and tilted his head slightly. Xiaoyi was sleeping soundly inside.

Pei Ze shook his head and chuckled. ’This little one is starting to treat my hood like a dormitory.’

Now, whenever he went out, he would either bring Xiaoyi with him or leave Wuyu to keep her company, just to prevent the little creature from being stolen by some greedy Wizard Apprentice.

The little creature was also very sensitive to danger—or rather, she was terrified of dying. Whenever a fight broke out, she would hide in Pei Ze’s hood ahead of time. As long as the enemy couldn’t breach Pei Ze’s defenses, she was safe from harm.

Only after the battle was over would she pop out, strutting about as if to celebrate her and Pei Ze’s absolute domination.

"Eee..."

Xiaoyi groggily opened her eyes. She stared blankly for a few seconds before rubbing them and waking up fully, then wobbled out of the hood in flight.

"Eee eee..."

"Alright, alright."

Pei Ze responded, taking out some prepared nectar and pouring it into a cup, which he then placed on the table.

Xiaoyi gave a little cheer, flew to the table, and began to happily gulp down the contents of the cup.

Watching the little creature’s blissful expression, a smile touched Pei Ze’s lips.

He went to his bed and sat cross-legged. Pei Ze took out his book of spell models, flipped it open, and began scanning the pages.

Of the seven spell models he had purchased, he had yet to master the Jumping Skill and Weakness Beam.

Last night’s battle hadn’t consumed much of his Spiritual Power, so now was the perfect time to analyze these two spells.

The Jumping Skill, as its name implied, greatly enhanced the target’s jumping ability.

This spell was similar in principle to the Feather Fall Technique.

The only difference was that one was typically used to counteract gravity when falling from a great height, while the other was used to increase speed and mitigate the effects of terrain when pursuing an enemy.