Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
For most of the candidates, the end of the first round was the end of the entire Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination. But for a small number of monster trainers, the end of the first round was just the beginning.
Gao Peng received a call from the examination office in the morning.
“Hello, is this Mister Gao Peng?” asked the voice on the line.
“This is Gao Peng speaking.”
“Hello, you are qualified to take part in the second round of the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination. Please go to the venue where you took the first round exam on June 27th at nine o’clock in the morning. The exam will last for fifteen days. You do not need to bring keys, clothes, or toiletries. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Gao Peng thanked the person on the phone, double-checked the time, and hung up.
This was the second round exam that Instructor Chen told us about. But Instructor Chen didn’t tell us the details of the exam, Gao Peng thought. He wasn’t sure what to expect.
It was already the 26th, so the exam was nine o’clock the next day.
Gao Peng hadn’t signed the Blood Contract with Flamy yet, so Flamy wouldn’t be able to take part in the second round exam.
Gao Peng planned on putting Flamy in Uncle Liu’s house for a few days. Flamy was a young Lord tier familiar after all. If it were stolen, Gao Peng would be heartbroken. He took Flamy next door.
“Little Peng, what’s the problem?” asked Uncle Liu, who was laying down on a rocking chair facing the sun. He squinted his eyes, looking very happy.
“Uncle Liu, I don’t know if you have the time, but can I ask you to take care of my crane for half a month?” Gao Peng asked, feeling embarrassed. Although he knew Uncle Liu had been sent by his grandfather to take care of him, he still felt embarrassed to ask Uncle Liu to do something like this for him.
Being a sweet talker would help no matter where one was.
Uncle Liu lifted his eyelids and said, “Why are you being so cordial with me? Just leave it here. Relax, I will feed it so well that it gets fat.”
Oh…
Gao Peng muttered to himself. He turned and look at Flamy, who was quite fit. When Uncle Liu said that he would feed it until it became fat, he was definitely not just being courteous.
Flamy looked at Uncle Liu in confusion. The old fart turned and smiled at him, showing a few white teeth. He said, “You can rest easy by leaving it with me.”
“Well, I can always trust Uncle Liu’s words.” Gao Peng nodded and handed Flamy to Uncle Liu. He urged Flamy not to cause trouble, to listen to Uncle Liu, and not to run around.
Flamy wasn’t dumb. It understood what its master said and flapped its wings twice to show it understood.
…
Da Zi had been promoted to the Commander tier the previous day.
If a familiar were of a certain grade and level, being promoted wasn’t a very hard thing to achieve. Although it might need an opportunity to get promoted, it was not necessary for a familiar to be in a battle to do so. It only needed to reach a peak in order to break through the promotion barrier. When the conditions were correct, getting promoted was a very natural process.
On the dawn of the second day, Gao Peng rode Stripey to the venue where he took the first round exam. He didn’t know how many people were there or how many people had made it to the second round.
Gao Peng thought that there would at least be a few hundred people, but when he arrived, he saw that there were only a handful of people there waiting for the exam officials to arrive.
It seems like I arrived quite early, Gao Peng thought as he smiled.
After waiting half an hour, the exam officials arrived, but no additional candidates had come.
A jeep with a military license plate drove toward them from a distance. When it arrived, it parked by the roadside.
“I am your handler,” said the short-haired, spectacled man who exited the jeep. “That’s enough, everyone, quiet.”
Eight. There were only eight candidates. Gao Peng was speechless. How could there be a second round with only eight people? Would they just be assigned their ranking in the top ten? Gao Peng couldn’t help but ridicule the situation.
“The second round will not take place in or anywhere close to Chang’an City. It will take place in Taiyangshan National Forest Park, within the base city of Jiangnan. I am telling you this to let you mentally prepare yourself. This exam won’t take part in a ring, and it won’t be a one-on-one battle. It will take part in the forest, and you will be fighting against real monsters out in the wild!
“Taiyangshan Forest Park has been scouted by top monster trainers. They have ruled out the possibility of the presence of Lord tier monsters,” the spectacled man said. Then, after pausing for effect, he said, “However, there are no less than 500 Commander tier monsters in the Taiyangshan Forest Park, and some of them are peak Commander tier monsters.”
Base city of Jiangnan? Taiyangshan Forest Park?
The crowd was stunned. Why did they need to go so far?
“In principle, the government and the Monster Trainer League will ensure your well-being, and we will give you guys a flare gun to use in emergency situations. However, it will take time for rescue workers to reach you. So, you guys will have to know when to use the flare gun. Of course, others will go through the specific details later, so I won’t talk too much about this.
“The second round is not mandatory. If you choose not to take it, it will not affect the results of your first round exam. Okay, you guys can make a decision now. We will give you half an hour to decide. In half an hour, an airplane will be here to take you guys to your destination.”
After he finished speaking, he ignored the eight candidates. He quietly walked to the side, took out a cigarette from his pack, and started to smoke.
A large figure suddenly appeared in front him, blocking out the sun.
He lifted up his head and saw Dumby staring down at him.
“What?” the spectacled man asked, puffing out smoke at Dumby in confusion.
Dumby lifted up its right hand. Beneath the black robe were white bones.
The spectacled man frowned. He then hesitantly extended his right hand to shake Dumby’s hand. “How are you?”
Dumby remained still. It looked at the cigarette in the man’s left hand.
The spectacled man then realized that Dumby didn’t want to shake his hand. It wanted the cigarette. He said in annoyance, “You are so thin that only bones are left, and you still want to smoke? How are you so addicted?”
It wasn’t that the man was stingy; smokers just value their smoking time.
Dumby’s right hand was still stretched out, and its posture of asking for the cigarette remained unchanged.
It was just a skeleton; it didn’t feel any embarrassment.
In the end, the man had no choice. He took out a cigarette from the box and gave it to Dumby.
Dumby took the cigarette, put it into its mouth, and started to chew.
“Hey, that’s not how it works! You didn’t even light it!” said the man. He couldn’t help but shout when he saw Dumby wasting the cigarette, which was a special cigarette made by the military that used a different kind of herb.
What happened next stunned him. Smoke that carried the smell of the cigarette came from Dumby’s mouth.
It can actually be used this way?!
