Villain's Evolution: Investing in My Minions Yields Crazy Returns!

Ella was initially stunned when she saw the figure, but of course, she recognized him. Among the first-years, few people didn’t know Ryan Carter.

”Are you here to snatch the badge too?”

”Yeah,” Ryan answered directly.

Ella: ”...”

At least he was honest.

”Then why did you stop him?”

Ryan glanced at the student in front of him.

”Because I want to snatch it myself.”

With those words, Ryan suddenly exerted force with his longsword.

Clang!

The student was forced back a couple of steps, and the expressions of the other two beside him darkened at the same time.

”Ryan, what do you mean by this?”

”The meaning is simple.” The youth advanced with his sword. ”You three want to snatch it. I want to snatch it too. Then let’s all fight.”

He didn’t propose the classic ”let’s team up first to deal with the holder” strategy, because that would only make the badge change hands back and forth.

Ryan preferred to be direct.

Whoever could still stand at the end would take it.

”Arrogant!”

The speed-type warrior was the first to charge, but Ryan didn’t retreat despite seeing that his opponent was clearly much faster than an ordinary new student.

His short saber changed angles twice in midair, and the actual target of his final attack wasn’t the chest but the wrist holding his saber.

But Ryan’s sword moved before his opponent’s did.

He didn’t directly clash with the short saber. Instead, he lightly flicked his sword outward.

Clang!

The short saber’s trajectory was deflected, and the next moment, his sword hilt had already struck his opponent’s chest.

Bang!

The speed-type warrior staggered backward, and although Ryan followed up, he didn’t pursue because water magic was already coming from the side.

Three compressed water arrows approached from different angles, and two of them were clearly meant to force him to evade rather than actually hit him.

Ryan only glanced at them once before shifting his footing to the right.

The first missed, the second grazed his shoulder, and the third was struck directly by his horizontally sweeping longsword.

Crack!

The water arrow exploded, and the next second, Ryan suddenly accelerated, switching his target to the water mage in the rear.

”Stop him!”

The student at the front quickly turned back to defend, but Ryan paid him no attention at all. He cut between two rocks and rapidly closed the distance.

The water mage had no choice but to stop preparing his next area-of-effect spell and release a defensive water curtain instead.

Boom!

His longsword slashed down, striking the barrier with bone-jarring force. The thick water curtain bowed deeply inward, absorbing the heavy blow, but held.

The mage’s eyes widened in shock as the sheer kinetic force rippled through the shield and splashed his face. He frantically poured more mana into the defense, his expression shifting to panic as the barrier groaned under the lingering pressure.

Ryan didn’t give him a moment to recover. Shifting his grip, he brought the sword down in a second, even heavier overhead cleave, targeting the exact same weakened spot.

Crack!

The water curtain shattered into a shower of droplets.

”Damn it!” The water mage’s expression darkened when he saw his barrier shatter. He quickly turned around in an attempt to flee, but Ryan’s sword had already stopped in front of his throat.

The cold gleam of the blade reflected in his eyes. If he took even one more step, it would slit his throat.

”You lose.”

Ryan didn’t actually stab him because the screening wasn’t about killing.

Despite knowing this, the man’s expression was still grim because he felt that Ryan might actually kill him right there.

He had no choice but to grit his teeth and back down.

The remaining two clearly began to hesitate. Originally, the three of them surrounding Ella had given them the advantage, but now that Ryan had appeared, the situation was completely different.

However, Ryan didn’t stop attacking just because they had stopped. Instead, he turned around to look at Ella.

”Now it’s us.”

Ella was silent for two seconds before suddenly asking:

”Do you absolutely have to have the badge?”

”Yes.”

”Then take it.”

She took the black-silver badge out of her storage ring, leaving everyone stunned. Even Ryan himself didn’t immediately take it, as he suspected it was a trick by the girl.

”Why?”

”Because at least twenty more people are heading here.” Ella’s tone was very calm. ”I’ve already been chased for almost ten minutes, and I have less than half my mana left. If I keep holding it, there will only be more and more people coming after me.”

She glanced at Ryan.

”Anyway, whoever holds it gets chased. You want it so badly, so take it.”

Her original goal had been the badge, but now the cost of holding it had clearly exceeded what she could bear. If she kept insisting, she would only lose her regular screening points as well.

Ryan looked at her for a few seconds before finally reaching out and taking it.

[You have obtained a mana core badge.]

[Current holding time: 00:00:01]

[The holder of the second mana core badge has changed.]

[Next location refresh: in nine minutes.]

All the students rushing over saw the announcement.

Although they still didn’t know exactly who had taken the badge, the people here knew that Ryan Carter had it.

The two students who had still been hesitating just now almost simultaneously stepped back, not because they were too afraid to fight, but because they were reevaluating the situation.

Snatching the badge from Ella, who had already expended a lot of mana, was one thing. Snatching it from Ryan was another.

The difficulty was completely different.

In the distance, more footsteps began to approach. However, Ryan simply put the badge into his storage ring and turned to leave without saying much.

”You’re not going to keep fighting?” Ella couldn’t help asking.

Ryan didn’t even turn his head as he spoke. ”I didn’t come here to fight.”

”...”

Wasn’t he the one who just said, ”Let’s all fight”?

Before she could complain, Ryan had already disappeared on the other side of the rock valley.

A few seconds later, the first batch of new students rushed into the area.