Yang Ming may be skillful but Lin Jin was no pushover.
Be it Baleful Wind or Bone Decay, the museum had countermeasures for both. In fact, even without using the solutions offered by the museum, Lin Jin could resolve them both on his own.
That, however, would be much more troublesome.
The museum’s solutions were much easier and there was more than one option to pick from. Not only could it break the spells, but it could also use the opponent’s spells to launch a counterattack.
Again, Lin Jin was no pushover. Since the beginning, Appraiser Yang Ming had been verbally hostile against Lin Jin. His stance was clear – he was no friend of Lin Jin’s.
The trap he laid reflected how vicious he was.
Apart from that, to cast a spell so abruptly in the middle of their assessment proved how forceful he was being. If Lin Jin couldn’t break the spell within fifteen minutes, Senior Mo would be doomed. Even if Yang Ming undid the spell later on, irreparable damage might already have been caused to the old dragon.
The damage itself would likely diminish all his chances of attaining a successful evolution. Not just that, death may even come knocking on Senior Mo’s door sooner than expected.
With this, there was no need for Lin Jin to hold back.
Indeed, as a candidate for an examination, Lin Jin should be polite and humble, but that didn’t mean he should just tolerate everything. At least to him, not only should a Rank 4 appraiser be equipped with vast knowledge and proficient beast appraising techniques, but he also had to possess one important trait.
Fortitude.
Without fortitude, how else could one possibly have the motivation to improve themself?
Learning how to overcome obstacles was key to being a Rank 4 beast appraiser. It was equally important for one to possess the necessary determination to overcome these obstacles.
If Lin Jin were to silently accept this humiliation, how could he ever hope to rise above and beyond in the beast appraiser’s community?
After much consideration, Lin Jin made a decision.
He would retaliate.
Invoking a spell, he then made a grabbing gesture with his hand. As if holding onto an invisible force, he forcibly pulled it out of Senior Mo’s body. It was the spell Yang Ming had cast on him.
Many Rank 4 appraisers perked up at this sight, evidently surprised by Lin Jin’s actions.
“What kind of technique is that?”
“Eliminating a spell with another spell? No, it doesn’t look like it.”
“It’s the Spirit Seizing Claw. To think Appraiser Lin knows even this spell at such a young age. How remarkable! Truly amazing,” one of the veteran Rank 4 appraisers exclaimed. Even Zhong Zifeng nodded. “You have sharp eyes, Brother Su. Indeed, that’s the Spirit Seizing Claw. Although Appraiser Lin’s technique is a little sloppy, his mentor must be an expert among experts. While he seems inexperienced with using the spell, it’ll be enough to remove Appraiser Yang’s Baleful Wind. Uh…”
Halfway through his sentence, Zhong Zifeng went silent.
With their naked eye, they watched as Lin Jin pulled out not one, but two spells out of the dark jade dragon with the Spirit Seizing Claw.
“There’s a spell within a spell!” someone exclaimed.
One of them turned to Yang Ming but the latter remained indifferent, clearly unfazed by Lin Jin’s skill.
They all silently agreed that the use of double-layered spells was too much since this was merely a test of spell proficiency. After all, a potent spell hidden within an average spell was incredibly difficult to detect. To expect Lin Jin to remove shifted the bar even higher.
Just what was Appraiser Yang Ming hoping to achieve by doing this? No one knew, but it became obvious that Appraiser Yang was deliberately making things difficult for Lin Jin.
In spite of that, Appraiser Yang held quite a significant status here in Heavenly Spiral Kingdom’s Beast Appraisal Association Headquarters. Among the twenty-odd Rank 4 beast appraisers in this country, he was among the top 6.
Even if they were of the opinion that Yang Ming had gone slightly overboard, they couldn’t do anything nor speak up about it.
After all, an invigilator was free to raise any questions or problems that he saw fit.
Back to Lin Jin. Using the Spirit Seizing Claw he just learned from the museum, he successfully pulled out both Baleful Wind and Bone Decay from Senior Mo. The latter instantly felt much better after the spells were removed. Even so, the dragon remained lying there listlessly for a couple of moments before getting up.
Lin Jin was currently holding two glowing orbs of spells in his hand. “Spells are a condensation of mana and allowing them to disintegrate would be a pity. Allow me to return this to Appraiser Yang Ming.”
Then, with a flick of his wrist, the two orbs darted toward Yang Ming at breakneck speed.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
They mused, ‘Good grief, this lad. What’s all this nonsense about spells being a condensation of mana and them being a waste? You’re just creating an excuse to fight back.’ His actions obviously invited a few frowns but some smiles as well.
However, the number of admirers made up the majority.
The reason was simple really.
Since Appraiser Yang had previously clarified that this was a test of spell proficiency, he did not explicitly prohibit Lin Jin from retaliating. Hence, there was actually no problem with his actions.
After all, the assessment hasn’t ended yet.
More importantly, this was the character befitting of a Rank 4 beast appraiser. Lin Jin was able to face the adversity thrown at him with commendable fortitude. If he had just stood there and accepted the oppression, it would signify that he still had a ways to go before becoming a Rank 4 beast appraiser.
Of course, one would have to be strong enough to achieve this much.
Lin Jin was able to display his prowess perfectly through the execution of his skills. Not only did he remove the harmful spells from Senior Mo’s body, but he even used the spell against the caster. He would never have achieved this had he not possessed the competence of a Rank 4 beast appraiser.
This “problem” confirmed that Lin Jin’s spell proficiency had reached the standard of a Rank 4 beast appraiser.
“The younger generation will surpass us in no time,” Appraiser Su exclaimed in admiration. Delight was clear in his tone, but there was also a hint of helplessness.
At his age, reaching Rank 4 was probably the peak of his career. Advancing to the next rank was practically impossible to him. Lin Jin was different. If he could achieve Rank 4 at such a young age, he had a higher chance of breaking through to Rank 5 in the future.
That’s why he somewhat lamented that fact.
By now, Yang Ming’s facial expression was grim.
Both spells had reached him so swiftly that he had no choice but to handle them.
Lifting his hand to make a grabbing gesture, Yang Ming effortlessly seized both glowing spell orbs using a mysterious technique.
Lin Jin’s alarms started ringing when he witnessed this. No doubt, Appraiser Yang Ming was tremendously skilled. Lin Jin was barely able to remove the spells, even with the help of the Spirit Seizing Claw as described by the museum. To his surprise, Yang Ming was able to handle them both with relative ease.
An attack, a resolution, followed by a counterattack. This process was certainly an interesting one. Even Appraiser Yan couldn’t help but comment, “Appraiser Yang’s spell-casting is remarkable but Appraiser Lin’s ability to resolve it wasn’t bad either.”
It was an attempt to ease the tension in the atmosphere because since just now, Appraiser Yang appeared to be visibly ticked off by Lin Jin.
Thankfully, Yang Ming smiled in response to Appraiser Yan’s remark. “You’re right. He’s truly a remarkable individual for possessing such prominence in spell-casting at such a young age. Alright, that wraps up my test. It’s up to Mr. Zhong now.”
He let it go so easily.
Even Yang Ming knew that if he continued pressuring Lin Jin, it would be detrimental to his public image as a man of great status.
Or rather, it would appear like this was just a part of his personality instead of him purposefully making life hard for Lin Jin.
After all, everyone here knew that he and Lin Jin didn’t have grudges against each other.
Out of the ten Rank 4 beast appraisers, Mr. Zhong was the last one to ask his question.
