At the same time Moss was covered in sweat watching the five walk toward the "Ironbox residence district," Ayrin and Bello were already standing outside the walls behind the Beast Training Field.
The front half of the Beast Training Field was a small hill inside Holy Dawn Academy, with spectator stands carved out from this small hill. The construction on the rear half faced these stands, then a pit had been dug out in the middle, shaping the whole thing into an outdoor arena. The foremost row of the spectator’s grandstands on the hill was more than a dozen meters above the field. During this kind of exam, there would be teachers from the academy at the foremost rows keeping watch, so that the spectator in the stands wouldn’t need worry about monsters and beasts becoming a danger to them.
Ayrin watched Belo’s sparking eyes. Remembering the other day when he said he was bringing him to breakfast but actually went for the sake of pushing class tyrants around, an ominous feeling immediately crept inside his heart.
"Why would we watch the Beast Battling Exam if we don’t come first to the rear. You help me keep watch. If there’s a teacher coming, immediately alert me, or else we’re finished."
Before Ayrin could say anything, Belo left his instructions behind and already jumped on the wall in front of them, exceptionally excited.
"…"
Ayrin watched on speechless as Belo took out a very thin iron bar and drilled it into the wall.
The walls of this Beast Training Field were entirely made from unusually hard cyan granite. Ayrin knew clearly after spending many years in a mining area that even if you used all your strength and smashed it with an iron drill, you could only poke out a small white dot. But now many stone debris fluttered down, and Belo didn’t even look as if he’d used a lot of strength.
There was only one possibility there. That was, Belo had already drilled out a hole in the wall some time in advance already, then he’d sealed it with powdered talc and hidden it from sight.
Ayrin’s sense of danger became ever strong and he couldn’t resist saying, "What are you trying to do?" But Belo had already pulled the iron bar back.
"Puff!"
The moment he pulled the iron bar back, Ayrin felt a gust of hot air spray out from the tiny hole. He immediately felt as if there was a monster with an enormous body thundering inside the walls.
His small face paled.
The impulsiveness on Belo’s face only thickened harder.
"Quickly!"
He fished out something with even more excitement, faced the tiny hole, and forcibly shot it inside with his finger
"Roar…"
This seemed to have stirred the monster inside into restlessness.
Belo very quickly grabbed some gravel from the ground and mixed it with some hardened soil, then once again filled back the tiny hole.
"Done!"
Belo waved his hand at Ayrin after finishing these. He left quietly and softly, even signaling Ayrin to imitate him, so they wouldn’t leave any footprint behind on the wild grasses.
Ayrin felt he’d once again become an accomplice despite himself, after going back to the main road leading to the the Beast Training Field in front of the hill. He couldn’t refrain from asking dejectedly, "You’re the one who made the hole in that wall? What the hell are you trying to do, what did you stuff inside?
"Relax." Belo pushed his glasses and said excitedly, "I sneaked around a full two months to complete that hole in the wall in all secrecy. I’ve been recuperating inside the academy’s infirmary during those two months, and I sneaked out only at night, so absolute no one will suspect me. As to you, a freshman who just joined the academy for a short while, no one will focus their suspicions on you either."
Ayrin felt even less reassured when he heard this. He watched Belo, very much at a loss for words. "I’m not worried about being found out, what I want to know is what you’re trying to do."
"Nothing, I just want to make this Beast Battling Exam a little more realistic, help the monster put on a display closer to its level." Belo snorted. "Beast Battling Exams can only be considered genuine and entertaining Beast Battling Exams when this Belo is present in the academy."
"Help the monster better display its level?"
"Exactly, I already told you everything, you’ll understand everything in just a little bit."
Ayrin had the nagging feeling things weren’t as simple as Belo made them out to be. He followed behind Belo toward the stands in the hill, bitterness across his face.
As soon as they reached the stands, Belo said to several students in the front who’d sent a few glances his and Ayrin’s way, "What are you looking at, is there anything interesting? If you keep looking at my great lordly self, be careful of getting kicked down to the training field after the Beast Battling Exam begins."
These few seemingly very obedient students immediately shivered and ran elsewhere, their heads lowered.
Initially, the seats in the stands seemed all more or less filled already, but some spots freed themselves after these students went away. Belo sat on them with great swagger.
Ayrin wanted to cry a little but had no tears to shed. He felt as if he already looked like an evil tyrant just by hanging out with Belo.
…
"What kind of monster is the Ximos?"
"I don’t now, the only thing I heard is they discovered this monster only very recently during an investigation led by arcane masters about the disappearance of a small team inside some especially barren drainage basin. It seems it’d never formally shown its face before that."
Holy Dawn Academy was very big. Students of the four different grades were split into a total of thirteen school districts. There were usually very little opportunity for most students to meet face to face, hence even if the Impulsive Freshman and the Ayrin who was the hottest news these two days already had a little fame in the academy, the majority of students gathered there had at most heard of their names and never seen them. That was why Ayrin’s and Belo’s arrival didn’t attract any attention from most people. The greater part of the students gathered their focus on the field below them.
This sunken field was shaped like a rectangle. The total surface area was roughly five hundred square meters. It hadn’t been renovated, and short weeds had naturally grown on it in sparse patches.
Two academy teachers stood at the foremost edge of the grandstands. One was a male teacher around thirty that only wore the tight inner suit, as if deliberately trying to highlight the muscles on his body. He had a tall stature, and the outlines of his muscles were indeed very outstanding. They looked like hard rocks when looking from behind. The other one was a female teacher. Her brown hair was parted in the middle, hanging down like a waterfall to the exact level of her shoulders. A red scarf wrapped around her. She stood with her back to the stands so her face wasn’t visible, but to borrow Notebook Teacher’s words, one very much had a feeling of youthful liveliness merely looking at her back.
A male teacher also stood in the center of the field below, holding a small black flag.
This teacher didn’t have a very tall stature. His short gray hair was faintly curly, looking like small flabby swirls pasted to his skull. His face looked very young. Only, his skin was a little dark, and his face never went through any great change, so he naturally gave off an extremely stern feeling.
Four students wearing their inner school uniform stood in front of this teacher with short curly hair.
Ayrin sat down beside Belo just now. He already knew without asking that the once a year "Beast Battling Exam" was soon to begin, seeing the ready appearance of the teacher and students.
"It’s teacher Minlur, teacher Ciaran, and teacher Rui."
Belo swept a glance up and down the field, his voice chilly. He said in a muffled tone, "Now that’s something. These three are all elite teachers of our academy just like Liszt, they’re merely just a little worse compared to teacher Liszt."
"That Hawthorne guy is indeed in the first batch of people to come out."
"What’s the difference between elite teachers and normal teachers?" Ayrin still didn’t know which teacher was which among the three Belo talked about, but he couldn’t resist turning his head and ask nevertheless, "Who’s Hawthorne now?"
"Elite teachers are all arcane battlemasters with unusual fighting experience, who can carry out difficult missions. The greatest difference is that even two ordinary teachers like teacher Huston joining hands together aren’t a match for one elite teacher." Belo snorted and once again glanced at the center of the field below. He added, "Out of the four students who came out first, Hawthorne is that guy with a little silver in his hair and who looks the most self-conceited. This guy probably has only a tiny of elven blood, far worse compared to Rinloran. But he’s ordinarily incredibly rampant. He’s the boss of a gang and also someone I have to beat up, then ask a protection fee from."
"He’s at it again…"
Ayrin looked on speechless. He indeed saw a tall male student with white silvery hair. Only, this boy’s hair seemed a little gray compared to Rinloran’s, not as bright or shiny. Moreover, this boy’s hair was tied with a headband, so Ayrin could clearly see that his ears were very ordinary, when Rinloran’s ears were a little like "fox ears."
Belo’s mutter once again came to his ears at this time. "Word is, the strongest one among these three elite teachers is that teacher Rui."
Ayrin couldn’t resist asking, "Which one is teacher Rui?"
"That’s the one below, I heard he already comprehended a secret arcane skill none of the other teachers could comprehend. Rumors have it he’s the one leading the teams who caught all the monsters and rare beasts inside the Giant Beasts Enclosure." Belo pointed at the teacher below with the short curly hair, then once again threw a glance at the two teachers standing at the foremost front of the stands. "That female teacher is teacher Ciaran. I heard she has a little dragon blood. I heard that that other teacher Minlur has very pure barbarian blood. These two teachers are probably about the same strength."
"Dragon bloodline, that powerful?!"
"That also depends on how much power she inherited from the bloodline. Like that guy Rinloran, his elven blood accounts for at least half. Either he’s from a clan with a pure elven blood inheritance, or else he obtained an inheritance from a holy item. On the other side of the spectrum, this Hawthorne only has a little bit of elven blood. Teacher Ciaran’s dragon bloodline can’t be very pure either. Someone in her family must have obtained some dragon blood a very long time ago, then transmitted it down to later generations afterwards."
"Then that teacher Minlur has very pure barbarian blood? He doesn’t look very wild no matter how I look at him."
"Idiot, who told you barbarians looked wild. This isn’t the age of the War of the Dragons. Back then the barbarians used to wear grass skirts and live inside the forests, or they’d rub some mud on their bodies when they had nothing better to do and throw themselves on some rocks, draw some stone painting. But that’s only back then."
"Look, it’s about to begin!" A burst of cheers suddenly rose in the stands just when Ayrin was making Belo a little speechless. They saw that below, teacher Rui was lifting his small black flag, signaling the imminent start of Holy Dawn Academy’s once a year "Beast Battling Exam."
