188: Chapter 188 Herbal Treatment? Targeting Me?

As the name of the Assessment emerged, nearly twenty magical beasts appeared out of thin air on the open ground before them.

They were not large in size; some had blood-stained fur, some lay motionless, and others were still breathing weakly. All were low-level magical beasts that were heavily injured and on the verge of death.

"Hmm?"

Gu Changming's expression froze when he saw the name of the Assessment.

Herbal Healing?

Targeting me?

Withdrawing his gaze, Gu Changming quickly glanced at Cui Jingming, who was standing beside him.

Seeing him look over, the other party also retracted his gaze.

They locked eyes for half a second.

Gu Changming finally spoke in compromise, "I'm not very good at this."

Just before entering, he had said he would handle the Assessments once they were inside.

But who would have thought the first Assessment would be this sort of thing?

"Haha," Cui Jingming chuckled. "It's fine, I'm not good at it either."

"But with so many of us, there are bound to be people who are good at it." He jerked his chin toward the crowd behind them.

Sure enough, over a dozen people soon stepped out from the crowd in succession.

There were both men and women, and their attire was clearly different from the combatants in the front row; they were the support or logistics personnel within the team.

They also hadn't expected to be needed for the very first Assessment after entering.

They stepped forward, squatted down, and began to examine the injuries of the magical beasts.

Some peeled back eyelids, some pried open mouths, and some directly used identification skills. Each of them was highly skilled.

After a short while, they had all confirmed the specific conditions of the heavily injured magical beasts.

Then, they each turned their heads and shouted toward the direction of their respective teams behind them:

"Captain, go into the woods and look for Blood-Stanching Grass."

"Also, look nearby for any Cogongrass Rhizome; that can treat toxins..."

"I don't know if the bandages we brought can be used. If not, go cut a few strips of tree bark."

The people in the teams dispersed in response.

But soon, chaos began to emerge.

The team members sent out to find herbs were mostly combatants. Usually accustomed to charging ahead and killing, they now looked clumsy as they squatted on the ground rummaging through the grass.

Some excitedly brought back the herbs they found, only for the support personnel in their team to look at them with a speechless expression.

"How did I not know you were colorblind? This is a different color than what I described."

"Why don't you try it? Maybe it'll work?" The teammate enthusiastically held out the hard-earned herbs.

"..."

The person sheepishly withdrew their hand and turned back to search again.

It was rare to see these support members being so assertive.

After watching for a while, Gu Changming also opened his panel and continued reading the rules for this Assessment.

[First Assessment: Herbal Healing]

[Rule: Use herbs to treat the heavily injured creatures in front of you until they are fully recovered.]

[If all are successfully treated, it will be considered passing this Assessment.]

[No restriction on methods, no restriction on the number of people collaborating. Upon completion of the Assessment, all members pass.]

Looking at these rules, Gu Changming took a deep breath.

Fortunately, he hadn't thought about charging in alone just now, but had instead blended in with the crowd.

This really was an Assessment geared toward organizations and factions. If an individual came in and encountered something they weren't good at, they would fail in the first round.

Gu Changming continued reading downward, and as expected, the words "Hidden Rule" appeared at the very end.

He felt a surge of joy; it was still working.

[Hidden Rule: Herbs are not limited to the herbs within this space.]

After reading the description of the Hidden Rule, Gu Changming's eyes flashed half a second later.

Then he withdrew his gaze and looked at their lush, green space, realizing where the trap of the Assessment lay.

They were intentionally dropped into an area lush with herbs to make them subconsciously think they needed to use the herbs within this space to heal those heavily injured low-level magical beasts.

Once he figured it out, Gu Changming tilted his head slightly and looked at Cui Jingming beside him.

The other man was watching the support personnel squatting on the ground dealing with the magical beasts, his expression relatively relaxed.

"Hey," Gu Changming called out first.

Cui Jingming withdrew his attention and looked over. "What is it?"

"Hmm..." Gu Changming pondered for a moment, then adopted a speculative look and said, "Do the herbs mentioned in the rules have to be from this space?"

Cui Jingming didn't react at first, but after thinking it over for a moment, his eyes quickly lit up as well.

After opening the Assessment rules on his own panel and scanning them, he understood the message Gu Changming wanted to convey.

"You're saying that herbs purchased from the Mall can also be used?"

Their biggest problem right now was a lack of manpower; the support personnel had to treat the heavily injured and dying magical beasts.

The trouble was that the other team members looking for herbs had no knowledge of the subject at all and couldn't find the desired herbs as the support personnel wished.

Furthermore, some required herbs might not be found immediately.

If this point was resolved, then this Assessment could be passed very quickly.

Gu Changming shrugged. "I'm not sure either, but let's give it a try. What if it works?"

...

[Fifth Assessment Passed]

Looking at the words indicating the Assessment was passed that appeared before him, the corners of Horn's mouth curled up uncontrollably.

He withdrew his gaze, turned his head, and firmly patted the shoulder of a young Beast-Eared Clan member beside him.

It was a young man with light brown fox ears, currently looking down with a humble expression.

"Gray, you really do have a way." Horn's voice carried undisguised praise. "You truly are the smartest one in our Howling Wind Country's think tank."

Gray lowered his head slightly and smiled.

"Your Majesty overpraises me. I just happened to think of a solution just now."

Horn patted his shoulder again, with no small amount of force.

After finishing, he withdrew his hand and turned to look behind him.

The team was a dense mass of people, but it was noticeably thinner than when they had entered.

He swept a glance over them.

Before entering, there were nearly fifty thousand people.

Now...

There was less than half left.

All had been eliminated in the previous Assessments.

But it wasn't a big problem.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at the giant light screen floating in mid-air ahead.

That was the progress display for all the participating races involved in this plane's competition.

There were eight races in total, with eight progress bars.

The one making the fastest progress was precisely their Beast-Eared Clan. At this moment, they had already completed the fifth item and arrived at the sixth Assessment.

As for the second place, they were currently still struggling in the fourth Assessment. When Horn's group started the fifth Assessment, the other party had already begun grinding away, and they still hadn't finished by now.

The advantage was theirs.

Horn continued looking down; there were three other civilized races undergoing the third Assessment.

The remaining two were undergoing the second.

The one trailing furthest behind was a race called 'Humans.' They had only just entered not long ago and were still struggling in the first Assessment.

Wait, that's not right.

They seemed to have completed the first Assessment and entered the next one.

Hmm?

He remembered that they had only entered a short while ago.