When Su Mu returned to the classroom, it was already mostly empty.

Only a scattered few people remained in their seats.

The screen in front of the podium remained lit, refreshing each student's dungeon status in real time, occasionally flashing a green prompt: "Basic construction completed."

Just as he walked over to his seat, the phone in his pocket vibrated.

Taking it out, he saw a message from Li Ming.

"Brother Mu, I'm all set on my end! With a Biochemical Mothership plus three barracks zones, my combat power index has already surpassed nine thousand. I'm heading over to the North Gate Trial Grounds first to test the waters. Take your time; I'll scout ahead for you and send you firsthand intel later. Hit me up when you arrive, I'll wait for you!"

The corner of Su Mu's mouth curved slightly.

Li Ming might be careless in speech, but when it came to getting things done, he was truly reliable.

An A-rank technological civilization theme, coupled with the A-rank card Biochemical Mothership, offered extremely high troop-swarming efficiency in the early stage; with three barracks zones established, his combat power index surged straight past nine thousand.

Among the newly Awakened students, he was already considered part of the hardest-hitting bunch.

There was no need to worry about him.

Su Mu replied with a single word: "Okay."

Putting away his phone, he glanced at the situation in the classroom.

Among those who remained, there were a few whose names Su Mu knew, as well as a few he had no impression of at all.

From the end of the Awakening ceremony until now, barely over an hour had passed, yet most people had already completed their basic construction and hurried off toward the North Gate.

Thinking about it carefully, it was only natural. The Awakened barely had much soul Power on hand to begin with, so what they could add was limited—unlike him, who had a whole 210 points to burn.

Most people simply placed a core card, laid down some basic terrain, and if conditions permitted, slotted in one or two creature or trap cards; those without the resources could only fiddle with terrain obstacles to achieve a preliminary layout.

Whatever could be designed had already been finished; staying behind wouldn't conjure up any miracles.

Su Mu paid them no more mind, sat down in his seat, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness deep into his soul.

The dungeon space remained quiet.

Upon the hazy, gray earth, Flower-Fruit Mountain stood as a solitary peak, the remnant stone of patching heaven atop its summit emitting an extremely faint halo that rose and fell gently like breathing.

Across the entire space, there was no wind and no sound, only a desolation reminiscent of the dawn of creation.

He glanced at his soul Power.

170 points.

"Enough to use," Su Mu calculated silently in his heart.

According to textbook standards, storing a card into a dungeon consumed soul Power tied to the card's Level. An F-rank card only required 10 points, while an E-rank jumped straight to 30 points, and anything higher grew almost exponentially. What he wanted to place now was an E-rank card: Patrol Minor Demon.

Thirty points of soul Power was neither too much nor too little.

With a thought, Su Mu drew out that dark-green card from his soul space.

On the card's surface, the sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked minor demon was depicted lifelike, its short stature leaning forward slightly, a short blade tucked at its waist and straw sandals on its feet—looking not fierce, but rather somewhat comical.

Without hesitation, Su Mu flicked his fingertip, and the card transformed into a streak of green light, shooting into the dungeon space.

The streak of light landed at the foot of Flower-Fruit Mountain, spun in place a few times, and then abruptly solidified.

A living, breathing minor demon appeared there.

Standing less than one and a half meters tall, with a sharp mouth and sunken cheeks, its skin showed an unhealthy greenish-gray hue. It wore a tattered linen vest, carried that short blade at its waist, and had the straps of its straw sandals loosely tied.

Upon landing, it was dazed at first, then sniffled, looked around in all directions, and finally rested its gaze upon the remnant stone of patching heaven at the summit; its eyeballs rolled twice, and it actually took two steps back in some awe and trepidation.

Su Mu looked at the card's information.

Name: Patrol Minor Demon

Rank: E

Level: None

HP: 700/700

ATK: 60

DEF: 28

Speed: 55

Combat Index: 624

Skills: Demon Qi Perception, Mountain Patrol Footwork

The attributes hadn't changed at all.

Su Mu nodded, showing no disappointment on his face.

No change actually proved a good thing... this card did not conflict with the "Journey to the West" theme.

If its attributes had dropped, its skills had failed, or a "rejection" reaction had occurred, that would have been real trouble.

Now that it had simply been placed in intact, it proved that the concept of "demons" was naturally valid under the Journey to the West theme.

Looking again at the dungeon combat power index, it had jumped straight from over a thousand to just past seventeen hundred.

Su Mu was slightly surprised.

A single E-rank card had directly contributed over five hundred combat points.

In other people's copies, the combat power contribution of an E-rank creature card was generally between two hundred and four hundred; those capable of exceeding five hundred were basically cards highly compatible with the theme.

For his, it was merely "not conflicting," yet it had already yielded this kind of figure.

At the same time, his soul Power dropped from 170 to 140.

Su Mu withdrew his gaze and refocused his attention onto that minor demon.

The Patrol Minor Demon stood at the foot of Flower-Fruit Mountain; compared to the surrounding barren mountain and rocks, its greenish-gray skin was conspicuous, but no matter how one looked at it, it felt awkward and out of place.

Flower-Fruit Mountain was a mountain of monkeys, and what would burst forth from the remnant stone of patching heaven in the future was the Stone Monkey of Numinous Wisdom; the creatures that ought to inhabit the mountain were apes and monkeys, spirit foxes, mountain spirits, and wild monsters.

True, you had a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, but in the end, you weren't a monkey; standing here, the entire aesthetic carried the feeling of "lodging as a guest."

Su Mu narrowed his eyes.

The demon did not match the mountain, so it couldn't gain the "Regional Bonus." And to make it match, theoretically, there were only two paths.

First, forcibly rename it, transforming it from a "Patrol Minor Demon" into a simian type, altering its appearance, habits, and skills toward that of an ape or monkey. However, this method belonged to "transformative naming," and the consumed soul Power was calculated based on the degree of transformation, which wasn't cheap.

Second, this demon's inherent foundation wasn't suited for it anyway, so forcibly modifying it into a monkey would take at least tens more points of soul Power sunk into it, offering abysmal cost-effectiveness.

Thinking up to this point.

Give it a mountain.

A mountain that was meant for it to patrol in the first place.

Su Mu barely hesitated.

He had thought of it long ago.

In Journey to the West, Patrol Minor Demons numbered in the thousands upon thousands, yet those who actually had renowned names were only a select few.

And each of these named minor demons was deeply bound to their own mountain territory and their own Demon King.

A name alone came with its own inherent concept.

Among all the named Patrol Minor Demons, who was the most famous?

Little Drill-Wind.