Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It’s wasn’t that intelligent monsters didn’t exist, it was just that they were very rare. So the idea of capturing this Dead Leaf Mantis did not occur to Gao Peng.
After all, this was a monster used in a challenge, not a monster in the wild. There were no rules that stated one could bring home a monster from the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination.
The Dead Leaf Mantis moved forward eagerly. It vigilant and found Stripey to be a bit weak.
The Dead Leaf Mantis’ eyes shone brightly. Its favorite thing to do was bully others. However, Stripey covered his head and carefully looked at the mantis.
This kind of display made the Dead Leaf Mantis furious.
In response, the mantis spread its arms. Inside its claws was a sticky yellow substance that clung to it, making it look like some sort of bat.
When it met an enemy in the wild, the Dead Leaf Mantis would open its arms and make itself look bigger to intimidate its prey or enemies.
Stripey just stood there, confused. What was this guy doing?
Stripey grew up in the city, so it had never witnessed such a strange display before. It just thought the mantis was a bit ugly, so it took two steps backward.
This made the Dead Leaf Locust even more arrogant. It thought that the weak little creature in front of it had been scared, and wanted to continue the intimidation.
The Dead Leaf Mantis started to dance, shaking from side to side. It stared intensely at Stripey and then started to move forward.
Stripey thought to itself, Is the Dead Leaf Mantis trying to…
Stripey suddenly loosened the two feelers in front of his head. The Dead Leaf Mantis trembled, and it stopped to look.
It then realized that this spider didn’t have a follow-up action. It relaxed a bit and continued to dance its strange dance while moving towards Stripey. It was looking for an opening to attack.
Stripey’s two feelers moved upright, then slightly undulated. Its limbs swayed sideways, back and forth. It was like a strange dance.
What the hell was it?!
The Dead Leaf Mantis was stunned. Was this spider preparing to attack?
When Stripey saw the dance by the Dead Leaf Mantis, it couldn’t help but be reminded of the dance it saw in the plazas. It thought that the Dead Leaf Mantis was playing, so it started to mimic its movements.
Gao Peng wondered if he had done something wrong…
Stripey, it is trying to scare you. It wants to attack you, you need to strike back, Gao Peng called out to Stripey in his heart.
Gao Peng then saw Stripey had suddenly stopped moving. It stopped the dance completely.
This mantis isn’t playing with me? Stripey felt a very complicated emotion. It was at this exact moment that the Dead Leaf Mantis rushed out.
A yellow-green blur was moving towards Stripey. The Dead Leaf Mantis’ two claws created two arches in the air. One swung in front of Stripey’s head and another swung behind him. The claws created a crisp sound.
Then the vicious mantis flew back to its position and looked at both of its claws. They were trembling slightly.
Two white spots appeared had on the shell on Stripey’s head, but there was no damage. The Dead Leaf Mantis adjusted its crooked neck and then stared dignifiedly at Stripey, realizing the spider’s head was quite tough.
That wouldn’t be a big problem for it! Ever since it was born, it had never met an opponent it couldn’t beat. Except for the ten wolves that captured it the other day… but that was a case of being outnumbered, so it didn’t count.
The mantis spread out its wings. It took to the air and wanted to get to Stripey’s back. From the mantis’ experience, when faced with a huge opponent, it needed to get behind.
Who knew that after it flew up it would get hit in the face by a white substance from the spider? Its wings glued together and it fell from the sky. The spiderweb was extremely sticky, so much that it had no way of opening its wings. It was not used to not being able to fly. Even walking felt a bit awkward.
The Dead Leaf Mantis on the ground was stupefied. It could only look at Stripey in shock. It straightened its neck. It couldn’t believe the result of this fight.
How… how did this happen? it thought.
Stripey was also stunned. He didn’t think that this flamboyant and arrogant mantis would be so weak. He couldn’t help but move forward and look down at the Dead Leaf Mantis.
It seemed like the difference in power between this mantis and Stripey was quite big.
Gao Peng was speechless. However, it was still a reasonable result.
Although there were elemental attributes that monsters were weak against, neither Stripey nor the Dead Leaf Mantis had been promoted to the commander tier, so the elemental weaknesses wouldn’t really play a part in a fight.
Another reason was that Stripey was above the mantis by two grades. It was one level higher as well. The gap between the two was not small.
The vicious mantis lifted up its head hopelessly. Stripey was moving forward in curiosity. It fiddled the mantis with his feelers as if it were playing with a toy.
As it was being rolled around in the ground, the Dead Leaf Mantis was getting used to its body in this state. Getting used to the feeling of not being able to use its wings.
It suddenly moved, and claws went straight for Stripey’s eyes.
Stripey turned its head and avoided any harm, although the claws were able to scratch Stripey’s forehead. In anger, Stripey lifted up its legs and stepped down.
Stripey’s leg went right through the mantis. Then Stripey did it for a second time, then a third…
In the end, the heavily injured Dead Leaf Mantis had to be carried out. Stripey tasted the blood on its legs. Its eyes became as round as a full moon.
“Your exam is finished,” a worker said as he came up to Gao Peng. He returned the Examination Admission Ticket to Gao Peng.
Gao Peng took the Examination Admission Ticket and thanked the worker.
“Don’t dilly-dally around the exam site. Since your exam is over, you should head out,” the worker said.
Gao Peng nodded.
The first round of the exam had ended. Gao Peng brought along his familiars to leave the exam site. After getting out, he let out a long sigh of relief. He wondered if he would be able to pass the first round of the exam. There were only eight people who took the exam in area A.
After walking for a while, Gao Peng took out Silly the jellyfish from his pocket.
Silly was angry for being put away for so long. However, Gao Peng said the words “Drink your juice,” and Silly immediately became happy. It wouldn’t stay angry at the master for such a small matter.
The reason Gao Peng didn’t let Silly out was that he knew that this fellow would definitely get on top of his head.
He noticed a drone flying over his head. He didn’t know why the drone liked to stay around area A, but it would be awkward to be seen with Silly as a green hat.
