Su Hao looked over.
They were at an airport.
Not far away, five large transport planes were parked.
Just from their size, he could tell these transports could carry even a behemoth like a Lava Dragon Turtle.
Carrying a group of entry-level spirits, the largest of which was at most a Back Tower Dragon... more than enough.
The burly instructor called out names one by one. The summoned candidates picked up their backpacks, called their spirits, and boarded their assigned transport planes.
Su Hao boarded Plane No. 3.
He was separated from Liu Ren, Gu Lingyao, and the others.
This was intentional.
To prevent candidates from supporting or helping each other.
The interior of the transport was spacious. Su Hao found a seat and sat down.
There were also "booths" here where spirits could be secured.
"Gu nuo!"
Misty Dream refused.
And flew up to perch on Su Hao's head.
"Ya?"
Flame Crow wanted to repeat the action, but Su Hao's head couldn't accommodate it, so it could only silently crouch to the side.
Water Unicorn, who wanted to gallop wildly—the cabin had enough space—was glared at by a fierce Giant Armor Crab inside and immediately froze in fear.
It instinctively chose to shrink beside Su Hao.
Su Hao, considering it could provide cold air, temporarily forgave it.
"But that Giant Armor Crab is actually Transcendent level."
It made him feel like Transcendent level was becoming less and less valuable.
After him, candidates filed in one by one, each finding a seat and sitting down.
Silent.
But occasionally, glances were exchanged, sizing each other up.
Most of those glances lingered on him.
Thump~ Thump~
A massive figure approached.
Drawing more attention.
It was Back Tower Dragon.
And its spirit master, Yu Jiang.
Yu Jiang also had another spirit with him, a Stone Gargoyle, also at the advanced entry level.
Su Hao looked over.
Yu Jiang was indeed as Liu Ren's intel described—fair-skinned, a boy who didn't seem very old, with a face that looked easy to bully.
But the two spirits beside him were each more ferocious than the last.
As Su Hao looked, Yu Jiang happened to glance back.
He saw a faint blush creep across the boy's shy face.
Then he quickly lowered his head.
Su Hao: "..."
What are you blushing for?!
"Everyone's here. Sit tight, we're about to depart."
Inside the cabin, the spirit master of the Giant Armor Crab spoke.
The cabin door slowly closed, accompanied by a humming sound and a downward pressure.
The transport plane took off.
Inside the cabin, a large screen displayed the shape of the island.
It looked roughly like a piece of bread with a corner bitten off.
Bread... The outer perimeter of the island was marked with small dots.
Those were their landing points.
Each dot was far apart from the others.
Even setting aside the rule against attacking each other, throwing over a hundred people onto such a large island would basically make it hard for them to interfere with one another.
"But the examiner team wouldn't set up a simple test..."
Su Hao thought.
The examiner team probably had a general idea of his spirits' information.
Since candidates could hardly interfere with each other, the only option was to increase the strength of the wild spirits.
He was optimistic, but also cautious.
During the flight.
It was the spirits that couldn't stand the沉闷 and broke the silence in the cabin.
Suddenly, it became noisy again.
Su Hao heard that Misty Dream seemed to be instilling some spirit of self-reliance and perseverance into the other spirits.
That Back Tower Dragon stared with eyes as big as copper bells, occasionally letting out low roars.
From the roars, Su Hao could sense excitement.
"Your spirits know so much." Yu Jiang looked admiring, and when he saw Su Hao glance over, he lowered his head again.
Su Hao: "..."
He thought for a moment and asked, "By the way, why aren't you wearing a school uniform?"
Was it because the power behind this shota had a big face?
Yu Jiang said, "Because I didn't go to high school.
"I didn't go to elementary or middle school either. My family arranged teachers and courses for me. They saw that I had completed the basic courses and passed the battle assessment from the teacher guiding me, and I also passed the spirit master exam, so they signed me up for the college entrance exam."
Su Hao: "..."
If he remembered correctly, Yu Jiang was fourteen years old, by nominal age.
And he had already achieved so much.
How were Liu Ren and the others supposed to live?
Even he couldn't help but marvel.
'Maybe this is what a true genius is like, completely different from someone like me, who relies on hard work.'
...
The college entrance exam adding a practical battle component was the first of its kind.
Whether it was Tiannan TV or other stations, they had started promoting it early.
There would be a two-day live broadcast of the practical battle exam.
Of course, calling it a live broadcast meant there was a delay and selective playback.
That was still enough to get audiences everywhere excited.
Spirits, spirit masters, battles... For most ordinary families, it was still too distant.
Usually, what you saw on TV or online were mostly exhibition matches.
The only real spirit battles you could see were the college leagues.
But the practical battle exam was different from the college league.
At eight in the morning.
That was when the program started airing.
Early on, many viewers were already waiting in front of their TVs.
Most people in Tiannan naturally focused on their own province's college entrance exam.
After the commercials.
Finally.
The program began.
Two spirits' energy balls collided, exploding into a bright burst of fireworks.
From the fireworks, the words "Tiannan Province Practical Battle Exam" formed.
The序幕拉开.
The perspective was shot from a high-altitude aerial view.
The camera slowly zoomed in.
Revealing the appearance of the exam sites.
In the primary and intermediate exam zones, candidates had already entered one by one, carefully exploring the complex terrain with their spirits.
Some encountered wild spirits, and battles broke out hastily.
The candidates used all kinds of methods.
Flames, vines, earth spikes—special moves were unleashed, making people's blood boil.
Occasionally, pre-exam interviews with candidates were inserted.
All very positive.
Many students who hadn't yet reached the age to contract spirits were howling, wanting to choose the spirit track in their senior year of high school.
In the Bay Town.
Old Chen and other teachers from various schools were arranged in a hall, watching the battles through monitors and high-altitude drone footage.
"Hey, what's that?"
A teacher pointed at an image captured outside the island and said, "Why is there a speedboat with people on it?"
"Those are the members of the突击队."
A spirit master from the examiner team said, "We added spirit masters to ambush the candidates in the advanced zone.
"We didn't announce it beforehand to test whether these excellent students could stay calm and handle unexpected situations."
"Examiner Wang, what level are the突击队 members?"
"Each has one Elite-level spirit."
Seeing the expressions of many teachers change, Examiner Wang smiled and said, "But the突击队 members won't go all out. As long as the candidates don't panic, they can escape from them.
"The main purpose is to test the candidates' on-the-spot adaptability.
"Also, the突击队 will only enter the field half a day later."
But his subtext also indicated that if a candidate's adaptability was too poor and they panicked in the face of danger... they might be eliminated by the突击队 members.
The high school teachers didn't know.
But Examiner Wang knew that the three major terrorist organizations were becoming increasingly rampant.
Adding the突击队 was to prepare for the worst, so that if these students encountered a terrorist attack, they would have experience and be able to respond calmly.
————
PS1:
Don't say the protagonist always runs into trouble; it's just that our perspective is fixed on him.
In this world, terrorist organizations aren't pushovers either.
Finally, finally, I wouldn't write it that way anyway, because how could the protagonist show off in front of a Heavenly King level?
Maybe my previous chapter's setup was problematic, but don't stir up drama, sob~
PS2:
Important notice~!!
The release date is confirmed: next Friday, which is... February 7th.
This hand-crippled author is working hard on saving drafts. After release... well, it'll be a bit longer.