Ch. 331 - Mainly Responsible for... Transport Work

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"Now, summon your contract spirits, leave them in place, and head outside the yellow line yourselves!"

A ring of yellow had been painted around the edge of the drill ground.

Chen Shu's eyes darted. Taking advantage of no one watching, he summoned his own contract spirit — and pulled a little trick on the side.

Wang Jue turned his head and asked, "Bandit Bro, where's your husky?"

"One Slime will be more than enough!"

Chen Shu didn't elaborate. He headed outside the yellow line with the other two.

In an instant, hundreds of contract spirits materialized at once. Fortunately, No. 1 Drill Ground was spacious enough to easily contain them — otherwise, how could it host a grand melee?

Roar!

For a moment, all five hundred contract spirits grew restless, their auras fierce and violent, brimming with hostility.

Especially four contract spirits at the center — their might was so imposing that no other spirit dared approach within ten meters of them.

Those four were the top geniuses of this year's class, the ones with SS-rank contract spirits!

By past precedent, each year typically produced only one or two SS-ranks.

But this year was clearly different. Geniuses had blossomed everywhere.

Up on the podium, Qin Tian nodded. Beside him, a three-meter-tall earth elemental spirit suddenly materialized!

In that instant, the ferocious and restless contract spirits fell silent all at once.

Even the four SS-rank contract spirits trembled, not daring to meet its gaze.

"Goo-gii! Goo-gii!"

Only the Golden Slime remained completely unconcerned. With its level of intelligence, it had never been afraid of anything, ever.

"It ignored my high-tier pressure?"

Principal Qin Tian raised an eyebrow. At that moment, the earth elemental spirit's eyes glowed with a yellow light.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In an instant, a translucent pale-yellow barrier appeared around No. 1 Drill Ground, demarcated by the yellow line.

It was clearly a skill of the earth elemental spirit!

Confidence shining in his eyes, Qin Tian declared, "You need not hold anything back. Fight to your heart's content!"

Just then, a swarm of mechanical insect drones appeared overhead.

They would record the entire examination, and could even intelligently grade performance and rank the students.

"This year's entrance exam: ranks eleven through one hundred will receive fifty academic credits, ranks two through ten will receive one hundred academic credits, and first place will receive three hundred academic credits!"

The crowd stirred, instantly fired up.

Huaxia Academy's academic credits were extraordinarily precious — no amount of money could compare. The academy treasury held practically every resource imaginable.

On one hand, the academy's teachers were immensely powerful — even the dorm manager was Silver-rank, so resources abounded naturally. On the other hand, as a top-tier institution, the academy received substantial national support, with yearly education funding of staggering proportions.

Qin Tian calmly announced:

"Now — the grand melee begins!"

The moment his words fell, the five hundred contract spirits on the drill ground roared in unison.

Though it was a grand melee, they had already automatically divided into squads.

Most grouped by dormitory, with a minority who had known each other since high school.

"Goo-gii!"

Chen Shu's Slime didn't charge in. Instead, it made its way to the edge of the drill ground — at least it wouldn't be attacked from behind there.

Before Chen Shu's eyes, the options appeared once more.

[Option 1: Achieve a rank in the top 100! Completion reward: Large amount of Beast Taming Power!]

[Option 2: Achieve a rank in the top 10! Completion reward: Ten bottles of Black Iron-grade poison-attribute potion]

[Option 3: Achieve first place! Completion reward: Explosion Potion ×3, Death Potion ×2, Invisibility Potion ×1]

[Option 4: Securely claim last place! Completion reward: Elemental Beast IQ +100%]

Chen Shu froze for a moment. He actually hesitated.

Gotta say, that fourth option was genuinely a little tempting.

"A'Liang, Wang Jue — if there was a chance to double my husky's IQ, do you think its combat power would skyrocket?"

Chen Shu stroked his chin and asked.

"Give me a break!"

A'Liang shook his head. "If its IQ is zero, then even multiplying it by ten thousand — isn't that still zero?"

Chen Shu jolted. "Holy crap, that's actually a good point!"

"I don't think zero IQ is the scary part... what if it's negative..."

Wang Jue quietly offered.

Chen Shu's eyes bulged. He whipped his head around. He'd almost fallen for the system's massive con.

Without further hesitation, he decided to go for first place. Six bottles of special potions — they could save his life in a critical moment.

Chen Shu said, "Let's not rush to attack!"

Wang Jue's contract spirit was a tiny grey bird, utterly unremarkable at first glance.

But anyone who made it into Huaxia Academy clearly didn't have an ordinary contract spirit.

And A'Liang's contract spirit was a towering ape wreathed in lightning, its aura terrifying.

It was the Super S-rank — Thunder Ape!

"Wang Jue, what's your little bird's ability?"

Chen Shu could recognize A'Liang's Thunder Ape, but he'd never seen Wang Jue's contract spirit before.

"I'm space-type!"

Wang Jue's eyes held confidence. Space-type was extremely rare — its combat power outstripped others of the same rank by a significant margin.

"Space-type?! Nice!"

A'Liang spoke up. "What exactly can it do?"

"Uh..."

Wang Jue hesitated for a long moment, then said, "It's mainly responsible for... transport work..."[1]

Both of them turned to stare at him, eyes wide.

So that's what he meant by space-type?!

"No teleportation? No space-blade attacks? No spatial lockdown?"

"Uh... not yet..."

"Goddammit! Don't tell us it has zero combat ability?!"

Wang Jue scratched his head, and finally nodded.

"There's no way you got into Huaxia Academy through connections, right?"

A'Liang said. Without combat ability, how did he score points on the Beast Taming Practical Track?

"Uh... back then, I helped over a hundred people transport their spoils of battle. Maybe the teachers figured I was pretty good at hauling stuff."

"..."

"..."

Both men's mouths twitched. They said nothing more.

Yeah, you're definitely good at "loading up," all right.

Huaxia Academy really would admit just about anyone...

While the three of them had been discussing, chaos had already erupted across the drill ground.

Both the Slime and the Thunder Ape were around five meters in size, which made them look imposing enough. For the moment, no one came looking for trouble.

"Watch out! Yu Yi's got his eyes on us!"

Chen Shu said, spotting the look of pure hatred in Yu Yi's eyes at a glance.

Sure enough, the Ice Snow Qilin Beast strode toward them, rings of blue ice radiating naturally from its body. Other contract spirits automatically gave it a wide berth.

The other two SS-rank contract spirits were rampaging through the field — taking on ten opponents at once without breaking a sweat!

Everyone who made it into Huaxia Academy had at least a top-tier A-rank contract spirit, but they still couldn't match SS-rank spirits.

Scree!

Another SS-rank — a white phoenix — turned its head and fixed its gaze on Chen Shu's Slime as well.

Clearly, the two SS-rank contract spirits had teamed up!

"What a shame. Haven't they realized he's Black Iron rank?"

Up on the dais, Qin Tian shook his head. He could tell Chen Shu's beast taming rank at a glance.

But Yu Yi and the others had no detection skills, insufficient combat experience, and Chen Shu was skilled at disguising his strength — he wouldn't reveal his true power easily.

So quite a few people hadn't noticed that hidden among the flock of sheep was a wolf... no... make that two wolves.

"You're finished!"

Yu Yi opened his mouth and mouthed three words silently.

He actually smiled with complete confidence.

Chen Shu shook his head. Damn, this guy really never learned his lesson!

His gaze met A'Liang's. The two exchanged a look and nodded at each other.

In that instant, both of them broke into a run — charging straight toward Yu Yi's position.

"Holy crap!"

Yu Yi's body jolted. His butt twisted. He immediately spun and bolted!

Goddammit, this was supposed to be a Beast Tamer competition!

You two have names that sound like decent people — so why the hell do you refuse to act like it?!

[1] 挺能装的 (tǐng néng zhuāng de): A double-entendre. 装 (zhuāng) means both "to load/carry" (literal, as in transporting goods) and "to pretend/put on airs" (slang). Wang Jue meant his space-type bird literally hauls cargo; the teachers heard it as "you're really good at faking it." The joke lands when Wang Jue innocently says the teachers thought he was "挺能装的" — meaning they thought he was a compulsive poser, while he meant cargo capacity.