Chapter 433: Small And Fragile Soul
Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
“Excuse me, doesn’t everybody have three chances to sign up? I’ve only signed up for one match so can I still use the remaining two chances?” You XiaoMo waited till the female clerk finished updating her records before asking.
Qiao WuXing had said before that every person had three chances to challenge. They were generally understood as opportunities for every student of the Institute to make a comeback but for the stronger ones, if they win on the first try, then won’t the remaining two tries be wasted? Hence, You XiaoMo’s question.
Clearly the female clerk was not surprised at his question at all.
“You can, but you have to wait till the match is over before you can continue registering for the next one.” She said plainly.
In fact, it didn’t matter if one won or lost, they could continue signing up. It was just that XiaoYao institute needed to arrange a reasonable date and time for competition and there were also some people who only used up one or two tries. Hence, the need to register separately.
“If I have something going on and I know I can’t make it for the competition, is there any way I can not participate in the challenge?” You XiaoMo asked further.
The female clerk slightly raised her eyebrows at his words.
“Yes, there are ways to do that, but you have to apply for it five days in advance. There must also be a valid reason. Only after your application is approved, then we can remove your name from the list.”
You XiaoMo was so delighted to hear that. This way he could go to the Southern Continent together with Ling Xiao. When he thought of this, he immediately gave Ling Xiao a smug look.
Ling Xiao received his look that intended to provoke him and smiled. You XiaoMo, like a thief who had evil intentions but no guts, immediately shrunk back. As expected, to rule him over was just a dream.
When they walked out from the crowd, the rest had already completed their registration. As they had only just signed up, their names and opponents’ names immediately appeared on the lit screen. There were several familiar and unfamiliar names on striking display on the huge screen, and some couldn’t help but gasp.
The few familiar names belonged to those who were generally regarded as the strongest in the twentieth floor. Normally if a person wanted to rise up to the twentieth floor, he or she would pick a weaker opponent. Few would challenge those familiar names, so when their names appeared, it immediately caught everyone’s attention.
“Where did these guys come from? How come I don’t even recognise a single one of them?”
“So many of them appearing at once! I don’t remember there being any exceptionally outstanding person below the twentieth floor…”
“If I remember correctly, the past few days were XiaoYao institute’s admission and enrollment drive.”
“Oh, so it’s the new students. No wonder they’re so bold. Every year there will be one or two powerful ones among the new students. Looks like this year is no exception. But the numbers are greater than previous years.”
……
The surrounding started to buzz with discussion as the crowd looked at You XiaoMo and the rest with admiration and envy. Every year, these gifted individuals climbed up the floors extremely fast.
Furthermore, this year happened to be the year of the challenges. So after this, one could expect those gifted individuals to rise up to the fiftieth floor or above at one go. Compared to them, who could only floor up one floor at a time, the difference was as great as the distance between heaven and earth.
A single file of people walked out of the fifteenth floor registration office.
“The time for the competition will be released the day after tomorrow. Please remember to come over to take a look.” Qiao WuXing announced.
After that, they dispersed.
You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao didn’t try to find out about Giganticus like everyone else. Instead, they returned to the first floor.
Previously, TianXin told them there were all kinds of good stuff in Giganticus but she left something out. Among the hundred floors, there was one floor that had absolutely nothing. That was also the reason why the first floor was so bare. After they came down, it was almost like there wasn’t even a single person in sight.
It wasn’t until nighttime that people people started to return one after another.
You XiaoMo stared intensely at the stone bed meant for sleeping. The stone bed was two and a half metres long, but only half a meter wide. For a strong and healthy person, half a meter in width might not even be enough to sleep, let alone two people.
“How do you even sleep on this?” You XiaoMo threw the question to Ling Xiao.
There were a few extra sensitive guys next door, so going into their dimensions to sleep was out of the question. Having one person sleep on floor was even more impossible. The floor was only briefly swept during the day so it was as dirty as one could expect. All that’s left was to meditate.
With a hint of laziness in his expression, Ling Xiao smiled devilishly and offered, “You can sleep on top of me, I don’t mind.”
He knew he was going to say that. You XiaoMo took off his shoes and sat cross-legged beside him. “If you want to sleep you can sleep alone. I’ve decided to cultivate tonight.” He declared adamantly.
“You can cultivate. I’ll accompany you.”
Ling Xiao must have thought of something because he started to laugh roguishly. By the time You XiaoMo opened his eyes in surprise, Ling Xiao had already lunged towards him, wiping the shock off his face.
“Hey…”
The next day, You XiaoMo crawled out of bed with dark circles under his eyes. He had been tormented by Ling Xiao the whole night but this time it was different from the other times he had been tormented by Ling Xiao. After all, they had neighbors and even if he had more guts he wouldn’t do that sort of thing with Ling Xiao here.
At this instant, someone knocked on the door.
You XiaoMo walked over to open the door and found Yan Hui and Cheng XiangRong. The rest were nowhere to be seen, most probably off doing their own things.
“Oh it’s you two. What’s up?”
“Did you not sleep well last night? Your complexion looks bad.” Yan Hui asked in concern.
“Yeah!” You XiaoMo yawned.
“Then you better rest. The competition is in two days, better not let the it affect your performance. If you lose, that’ll be bad.” Cheng XiangRong added.
After he saw them off, he slapped his face forcefully. There was no water here to wash up and Ling Xiao had gone off somewhere. He could only use the spiritual water from his dimension to wash his face. After he was done with his washing, he felt refreshed.
After a while, Ling Xiao finally returned. You XiaoMo told him he was going into his own dimension and Ling Xiao, not wanting to be left waiting alone outside, followed him.
The lush green dimension had expanded a bit since the first time You XiaoMo got it. It was just that the rate of expansion was so slow he didn’t notice it when he frequently entered and exited the dimension.
“This dimension is completely tied to you. And it’s not an ordinary pocket dimension, so it’s most likely growing together with your growth.” Ling Xiao walked towards the little wooden hut.
You XiaoMo didn’t think too much about that. The area within the dimension as it was now was already enough. Even if it expanded he had no use for so much land, so he wasn’t pleasantly surprised.
Taking note of his expression, Ling Xiao continued to explain, “Your dimension is rather unique. It’s expansion is also accompanied by an increase in spiritual energy, so the spring at the center of spiritual lake can produce more spiritual water.”
You XiaoMo froze for a moment before he dashed towards the spiritual lake.
It was a pity SheQiu and the rest weren’t there. If they were, he could ask them about the volume of spiritual water produced daily by the spring. It was impossible to tell the change in a short period of time so he could only give up. Anyways, it couldn’t run away.
As he turned around, he saw Ling Xiao already walking towards the magic herb fields. Choosing to ignore him, You XiaoMo retrieved the water basin from the little wooden hut that he had used to soak the seeds he bought at center city. After soaking for a few days, the seeds were plumper than before.
You XiaoMo scooped the seeds out and walked towards the magic herb fields. Ling Xiao, who was squatting in the Dipper Herb fields, strolled over and asked out of curiosity, “What are you doing?”
“They’ve evolved.” Ling Xiao prodded the bugs on the ground.
You XiaoMo craned his neck to see. On the ground were two golden beetles munching on the leaves of the Dipper Herb. As for the Hidden Dipper Stink Bugs, they were nowhere to be found. The two Hidden Dipper Stink Bugs actually completed the third metamorphosis without him knowing about it! Alright, he’d admit he didn’t pay them much attention in the first place.
One thing that the Metal Swallowing Beast and the Golden Wing Bug had in common was that both of them could not take on the human form. That was the reason why despite being high level demon beasts, they only existed in the bug form.
They must have sensed his presence because the two Golden Wing Bugs stopped munching on the Dipper Herbs and crawled towards You XiaoMo slowly. Suddenly, they flew and landed on top of You XiaoMo’s head.
You XiaoMo’s scalp immediately went numb. This feeling reminded him of flying cockroaches.
Seeing that the expression on You XiaoMo’s face had stiffened, Ling Xiao looked thoughtfully at the Golden Wing Bugs resting on top of his head. He rubbed his clean-shaven chin and chuckled, “Can it be that you are afraid of bugs?”
“No…no, I’m not.”
You XiaoMo tried his hardest to suppress the goosebumps that were forming on his skin and pretended to be calm.
Ling Xiao took one Golden Wing Bug from his head and lifted it up to his face.
“I thought so too. Look at them, aren’t they very cute?” He smiled.
You XiaoMo’s expression went stiff. Ling Xiao went on as if he didn’t see that, grabbing You XiaoMo’s hand and placing the bug at the center of his palm.
“This is also one of your contract demon beasts. It may be small and easily overlooked, but you must be unbiased and treat them equally. Or else you’ll crush its small and fragile soul.”
To hell with their small and fragile souls! Who would comfort mine? You XiaoMo thought.
You XiaoMo didn’t dare to show a disgusted expression. He was stuck in a dilemma and all he could do was let Ling Xiao put the two Golden Wing Bugs in his hand. It definitely didn’t feel good to have those tiny insect legs brushing his palm but he couldn’t back down either. Or else it would, in Ling Xiao’s words, hurt their small and fragile souls.
Two minutes later, You XiaoMo took a deep breath and shoved the bugs back to Ling Xiao.
“I think their small and fragile souls have been taken care of very well already. I’m going to do some work now.” You XiaoMo quickly added before running off.
Watching as he fled the scene, Ling Xiao smiled happily.
