The Strategy Department is not located in the administrative district with the headquarters of the Student Union, but has an independent office in the most central part of the square area.

On the first floor of the office is the Strategy Hall for all the students of the Academy, which is laid out like a small bar.

The bar on the side sells not only drinks and snacks, but also various props that you need to go out and play, and even equipment maintenance services.

At this time, there were still several academy students sitting in the hall, and they seemed to be preparing to set off to attack the World Tree, sitting around and exchanging information while sorting out their backpacks.

At the end of the hall is the reception counter, and the reception staff at the counter is not a member of the strategy department, but a professional staff member of the management institute of the strategy team in the inheritor college.

On one side of the counter is a huge quest board, and the tasks released here are all difficult commissions related to the Raiders World Tree, which basically only the inheritor has the strength to undertake and complete.

And after completing the tasks released by the Strategy Hall, the reward you can get is not Thor, but a higher-level currency - merit.

It can be said that the strategy hall in the World Tree is almost identical in function to the mercenary guild in the lower city, and it is equivalent to the "inheritor's version" of the mercenary guild.

Walking through the strategy hall, Catherine led Roy and the three of them to the second floor.

The second floor is the real office of the Strategy Department, and there are all members of the Strategy Department walking around, some of them are talking to each other, and some are working on the desks in front of the documents.

"Look, this is the top-grade spirit weapon-grade long sword I just redeemed recently, with it, I can finally chop the hard bones of those skeletons!"

"Hey, that's right, you've actually saved enough to redeem a high-grade spirit weapon?"

"I just saved it not long ago, although this has spent all my savings, but with this magic weapon, I will naturally be able to earn more merits in the future!"

"Hey, you two! If you have time to chat next to me, why don't you come and help me register the news of the new students, I have been busy since the morning and have not rested! ”

“……”

Hearing the chatter of the members of the department, Roy had a little bottom in his heart, It seems that the atmosphere of the strategy department on weekdays is not dull.

"Is Minister Rantang here?"

Catherine asked a passing member.

"Isn't this Catherine-senpai?" The member laughed, "The minister just came back, and he's in the office."

As the head of the organization department in charge of human resources, there is hardly anyone in the student council who does not know Catherine.

After receiving the news that someone was there, Catherine walked to the door of the minister's office, knocked on the door, and then walked in with Roy.

The office is very spacious, but there are no ordinary office decorations such as calligraphy and painting, flower arrangement, wood carving, etc.

Instead, there were sliced specimens of the tissue parts of various magical beasts, various weapon racks for swords, guns, and sticks, and a blackboard-sized map of the academy.

There was an oversized square conference table in the middle of the office, and a bald man was sitting on the chair of the conference table looking at some documents.

Hearing the knock on the door, the bald head looked up at the viewer, and then his eyes lit up: "Catherine, have you brought a newcomer into the department again?" ”

"You guessed it."

Catherine smiled, "You're lucky today, three of you have decided to join the strategy department, and they are all first-year class leaders, so they are worth your training." ”

At Catherine's suggestion, Roy and the others stepped forward one after another to introduce themselves, and the bald head also stood up and walked over.

He is about 1.8 meters tall, with a strong physique, although he is a minister, but he is not dressed in a good way, and he is simply wearing a white undershirt and shorts at this time, and said heartily:

"My name is Burning Hall Miracle, a fifth-order berserker, and I am the minister here.

"Being able to choose to join the Strategy Department means that you must all be ambitious guys. At the beginning, you have to win the organization department, the research department, and the discipline department, which can't go out a few times a year! ”

"Hey, I'm still here!" Catherine protested, "Departmental discrimination is forbidden in the student union, be careful that I report you?" ”

"Hah, just kidding."

Burning Hall Miracle laughed, then retracted his smile, and introduced to Roy and the three of them solemnly, "Since you plan to join the Strategy Department, then you must clarify the concept of our Department."

"The strategy department does not accept people who are content with the status quo, people who are greedy for pleasure, people who give up halfway, and people who are afraid of the hard."

"What we inherit is the original ideal of the predecessors of the inheritors - that is, to march towards the end of the World Tree and plant the flag of Sidenia at the top of the World Tree!"

His tone became more and more impassioned, "We explore, we attack, we conquer!" Our journey is a sea of stars! ”

"Oh......" Roy nodded imperceptibly, "So, we're already in the ministry now?" ”

"Of course not."

Ran Tang Miracle smiled, "Every newcomer needs to undergo the minister's assessment before joining the department.

"Generally speaking, this kind of assessment is just a process, but the strategy department needs to strictly screen the quality of the department, because we are a combat department, and it is easy to let in a member who cannot withstand high-intensity battles, which will only increase the casualty rate of our department.

"Therefore, this kind of entry assessment is not only good for us, but also good for you, if your talents cannot support you to fight on the front line, then it is also a good choice to go back to the organization department for retirement."

"Hey!" Catherine rolled up her sleeves, "I've been putting up with it for a long time, try to say a bad word about the organization department again!" ”

"No problem." In the face of the cold water he spilled, Roy just nodded calmly, "What assessment the minister has, we will accept it." ”

Rantang Miracle looked at the three of them carefully: "The first-grade class leader actually has the regular strength of a second-year student, so I won't lower the difficulty of the assessment."

"In this way, the three of you, if you can get three slime elemental cores within three days, I will count you as having passed the assessment.

"An elemental core corresponds to a person, I don't know if you know each other, in short, it doesn't matter if you team up or solo, or even bid to buy, I just look at the results.

"Of course, I want to remind you that it is true that it is okay to pass the assessment by playing small tricks, but this is not a long-term strategy, if you are not prepared to attack the World Tree for a long time, I still suggest that you find another place."

In this way, after receiving the assessment from the head of the strategy department, everyone left the office of the strategy department.

"I'm sorry everyone, but Minister Rantang's personality is relatively straight."

Catherine said a little embarrassed, "The style of the strategy department is quite special, and in fact, other departments are still very easy to talk to."

"The reason why their assessment requirements are stricter is because there have been cases of freshmen entering the department before, but they couldn't keep up with the pace of the department because of their poor actual combat ability, and finally died unexpectedly in a mission......

"Every inheritor is precious to Sidnia, so after the rectification, the difficulty of the tasks assigned to the Raiders Department of the Inheritor Academy by the Management Institute of the Strategy Group has been reduced a lot.

"At the same time, the entrance assessment of the strategy department has also become the most difficult assessment of the six departments of the student union."

Roy's mind moved: "When I participated in the competition before, I knew that there was a kind of talisman in the academy that could save the wearer's life at a critical moment.

"Could it be that the Strategy Department and ordinary students can't apply for the use of talismans when they go out to practice?"

"Don't look at this talisman being used by the entire academy, in fact, its production cost is quite high."

Catherine smiled wryly, "Use it once in a while during the competition, or during the class organization test, with the financial resources of the Inheritor Academy, it can still afford it."

"But it is undoubtedly unrealistic to provide it for free to the strategy department or all students who go out to practice for a long time.

Grain

"If you want to apply for a private competition from the academy, then you need to bear the cost of renting the talisman, and when you go out to practice, you also need to buy the talisman in the strategy hall by yourself."

Roy realized that when he had a private match with the Uesugi brothers yesterday, they had already paid for the talisman.

"And the amulet isn't always able to deal with all contingencies."

Catherine sighed, "During the school competition, everyone will stop in time after triggering the amulet.

"But in the wild, if you really accidentally fall into a desperate situation, the presence of the amulet will only make you survive for a few more seconds.

"Because of this, there is a joke circulating in the strategy department, which is called, 'You don't need a talisman for a simple task, and it's useless to need a talisman for a difficult task'.

"But even so, you newcomers, you still have to remember to wear your amulet before you go out.

"Don't worry if you don't have enough merit, the amulet is the only item sold in the Raiders Hall that can be credited."

"Thank you for your advice." Roy thanked.

"It should."

Catherine smiled kindly, "The so-called hardship is the only way to become a master, and the strategy department is known as a gathering place for elites and madmen in the student union.

"If you can really join the Strategy Department, your status in the academy will be very high in the future, Senior Sister looks forward to your future performance!"

Saying goodbye to Catherine in the Plaza District, Roy exhaled slowly, and then said to Arya and Harvey:

"There are no classes in the future, so let's go to the academy to hunt slimes on the periphery, and try to give an explanation to the Minister of Burning Hall before tonight."

"I'm okay with that." Harvey gestured OK, "That bald head gave us three days, it really flattened us, and a mere slime can be regarded as the most difficult assessment in the student union?"

"I can't wait to see his surprised face!"

So, after the three of them went back to straighten out their equipment, they met together at the gate of the academy and rushed to the outside of the safe zone of the academy.

As a characteristic magical beast of the third-level academy leader of the World Tree, the habits and attack methods of slimes are recorded in detail in the textbooks of the Inheritor Academy as a model.

With a little pre-study of the textbook, even a new student can quickly master the method of hunting slimes.

This is a rather peculiar breed of Warcraft, the normal slime is aqua blue, and the whole body is soft and wrapped in a special gelatin.

This special gum allows it to change its form at will—sometimes as a sphere, sometimes as a puddle of liquid, and is largely immune to blunt attacks.

The inner layer of the gelatin is wrapped in a slime condensate containing spiritual power, and at a critical moment, the slime will stimulate the spiritual power in the condensate, making the whole body hard as a rock in a short period of time, so as to hit the enemy.

That being said, this is just a means of self-defense for slimes, and most of the time they are just harmless monsters that wander outside the safe zone of the academy territory.

When eating, it absorbs the aura of heaven and earth, and reproduces offspring by dividing and reproducing, and the desire to attack is also extremely low.

However, because its gum and coagulation are the most commonly used solvents and neutralizers for human beings in the preparation of drugs or experiments, the market has always been in demand, so it has become the favorite hunting object of the freshmen of the college.

After all, who doesn't love slimes who are cute, mild-tempered, and can trade materials for money?

The students were given a copy of the map from the academy, and soon the three of Roy followed the map out of the safe zone and came to a meeting of woods and river valleys.

They crouched over in the grass and saw a few sky-blue slimes lazily lying in the stream, the cool water bubbling past them, sweeping away the summer heat for them.

"I'm going to enjoy it!"

Harvey brushed the sweat from his forehead and then pulled his bow and shot.

A "piercing arrow" slammed into one of the slimes with a sharp cracking sound, piercing the slime's body and nailing it to the shallow riverbed of the stream.

But the slime was not killed by an arrow as expected, its oval body kept squirming, and the cavity in its body due to the piercing arrow was quickly filled by the condensation, and it returned to normal.

"I'm super over, I've worn it!" Harvey's eyes widened.

"It's up to me."

Roy raised the black sniper to shoot, and the specially made explosive psychic arrow exploded violently after touching the slime's gelatinous surface, blasting a huge gap in its surface.

The condensation in its body also splattered out at this moment, like a balloon that had been punctured by a needle, and immediately dried up.

After the same kind was violated, the remaining slimes on the side did not rush over to seek revenge, but scattered in all directions, jumping and running out.

"What a poor slime......"

Arya looked at the backs of these little ones fleeing in a hurry, and she couldn't bear it for a while.

But when I think of these slimes, the gelatin and condensate can be exchanged for merit, and the merit can be exchanged for many things, such as the big bedroom where I live with the young master......

Her hesitant gaze grew firm.

So, the maiden knight drew her sword.

……

The golden light of the Sword of Dawn split the last slime in two, and Arya pulled out the container she had brought with her and began to carefully collect the loot and clean up the battlefield.

With the strength of the three of them, this encounter was not even a warm-up, and of course it ended smoothly with a big victory.

But don't look at the slime's appearance of being slaughtered, in terms of the concentration of spiritual power contained in the body, it is a real second-order demonic beast.

The tip of an ordinary person's knife could not penetrate the gelatinous substance on the surface of the slime, and after the slime hardened in anger, each of their collisions resembled a boulder flying sideways.

Those ordinary people who underestimated the slime and tried to hunt it in vain and make a lot of money all suffered and even died because of it.

So much so that the academy leader specially erected a signboard at the edge of the security zone: "Slime is dangerous, ordinary people are forbidden to hunt!" ”

"Arya, if you toss it any longer, the sun will set."

Roy washed his face with the cool water of the stream, squinted and looked up at the sky, "Let's go first." ”

"Okay."

Arya's side was actually almost cleaned, and the three of them continued to walk deeper into the academy.

Of course, the entrance assessment of the strategy department is not as simple as hunting a few ordinary slimes, and the slime element core required by the Burning Hall Miracle is another special material that only high-level slimes can produce.

This type of slime is collectively referred to as elemental slimes, they are more aggressive and stronger, and they are lord-level magical beasts of the academy leader.

Elemental slimes are found in the vicinity of the final waypoint of the House Territory, and are predominantly grouped.

In other words, being able to hunt a group of elemental slimes and obtain their elemental cores is equivalent to clearing the academy collar.

This is the real assessment index given by the strategy department to the new students in the department.