Several buses pulled up, and Su Hao stumbled off, half-asleep. He patted his cheeks and took a deep breath of fresh air, finally feeling much more awake.
"So this is the Battle Village?"
The village's name sounded a bit odd, but as Su Hao glanced around, it struck him as a tourist-style new countryside. Nestled against mountains and water, greenery was everywhere. Word had it the village even had dedicated battle arenas, training halls, restaurants, and hotels... Yeah, definitely not a tourist spot!
Upon arrival, Su Hao and the others didn't check into the hotel first. Instead... they headed straight for a restaurant to eat! Having left around eight in the morning and spent nearly five hours on the bus, everyone was starving. Luckily, both accommodation and meals were arranged by the school, so they didn't have to worry about a thing.
Once in the hotel room, Su Hao dropped his suitcase and flopped onto the single bed, face up. On the neighboring bed lay Liu Ren. Su Hao felt like leaving a bad review. During the Spirit Breeder exam, he'd had a single room to himself—how had things regressed now?
As he lay down, the silkworm that had been perched on his head rolled onto the bedside table and smacked into the wall with a thud. It wriggled, spotted the suitcase by the bed, and hopped over. It tried to push the combination lock open with its head, but couldn't. It tried to press the numbers with its tiny legs, but its view was blocked. Breaking it open by force wasn't an option either—otherwise, Demon Su Hao would definitely confiscate its allowance!
Thinking it over, it spat out a white silk thread only as long as a palm. The thread hardened, like a thin pen, which it held in its mouth and used to fiddle with the lock. With a couple of clicks, the lock popped open. The silkworm chirped, and the little fire crow in the room quickly flew over, hooking its claws into the zipper, circling the suitcase to pull it open, then grabbing the top half with both claws and flipping the whole case open.
"Guno~" The silkworm carefully dragged out the laptop, bit down on it, and shot a silk thread from its front legs, sticking it to the ceiling. The spiritual thread contracted, lifting both the silkworm and the laptop. It then shot another thread to the wall near the desk, using the tension from both threads to gently lower the laptop onto the table. "Guno~" Mission accomplished.
The silkworm and the fire crow hid behind the computer, their faces lit by the startup glow, looking a bit eerie. Nearby, a little charcoal turtle tilted its head. It felt like it had stumbled into a whole new world.
...
Su Hao enjoyed a nice afternoon nap and woke up around three or four in the afternoon. What could he do? They hadn't finished lunch until after two. It definitely wasn't because he slept too soundly!
With the joint exam approaching, Su Hao didn't plan to assign any training tasks to the two little ones today. He'd just let them play. The more they loosened up, the harder they'd fight tomorrow. Su Hao pondered the known intel for a while. The primeval forest zone, wild spirits, other students... without surprises, it'd be a "confrontation and survival" mode. Strategy was key; going on a rampage wasn't an option unless his spirits could sweep the field. As a tactician who planned ahead, acted with caution, and knew when to lie low, Su Hao thought it over for a long time. "Better just charge in first and figure it out later," he decided.
He leisurely brewed himself a cup of tea, ready to enjoy a half-day of relaxation.
Bang—! The door swung open, and Liu Ren's pancake-like face poked in. "Su Hao, check out what I've gathered!" Su Hao glanced over, lifted his teacup, took a sip, then another sip. He didn't say a word. After holding out for over ten seconds, Liu the Big Mouth couldn't take it anymore. "See this paper in my hand? It's got intel on some dangerous competitors in our batch."
Su Hao perked up a bit. "Where'd you get this intel?" "Just asked around with students from other schools. You think they'd keep it secret?" Was it that those students had no integrity? Su Hao didn't think so. It had to be Liu Ren using his money power—how else could he have gathered so much info in just over an hour? He looked at the paper. The handwriting was a bit messy, but still legible, and packed with information.
"Look at this one, Liang Yuchen. He's from our city, Ancheng, the genius that Yunhua Affiliated School poached before. His spirits are a Little Stone Elephant and a Fire Glow Bug, both with over a hundred spirit power. The stronger one, the Fire Glow Bug, might be over a hundred and twenty... a tough opponent!" Liu Ren's face turned serious. But after speaking, he glanced at Su Hao, then at himself, and sighed in defeat. "Alright, for me, he's a tough opponent." "And this one, Jiang Zhe, the top fighter from Xingyuan High School. He's a super-rich rich kid! His spirit is a Red-Horned Ox!"
Su Hao noticed that Liu Ren had gathered a ton of info on this Jiang Zhe guy. Clearly, he saw him as a major rival. No surprise—the "rich kid" Liu the Moneybags mentioned was probably even richer than his own family. The Red-Horned Ox was also a fire type, like the Charcoal Turtle, and more developed, so it made sense Liu saw him as a threat.
"Give me some more impressive contenders." Liu Ren flipped the paper to the back, where two names were written: Bing Ning and Lin Mingzheng. "Old Su, I'm telling you, these two are real freaks, absolute legends! Take Bing Ning, for example. She's the heir of a top domestic school. Not the only heir, but you know what schools are about..."
Su Hao had heard of it. A "school" wasn't just a simple tweak or a couple of self-made moves. It had to be a systematic, unique style in combat and move techniques that could be passed down. They were usually founded by champions or refined over generations by master spirit tamers. Think of them like ancient martial arts sects. But modern times had fewer rules—school heirs still went to high school and college, and they cooperated with the Alliance and local guilds. They weren't stuck in the past.
Liu Ren continued, "Her school is some ice-type school, and Bing Ning's main spirit is an ice-type White Seal... that spirit's like a symbol of luck for Europeans!" He was super envious. "How strong is Bing Ning's White Seal? Even her classmates don't know, but she has another spirit, a water-type Little Sea Snail. Just that Little Sea Snail ranks among the top at Yunhua No. 1 High. From her spirit lineup, you can tell she's not content to just follow the school path—she wants to blend and innovate. She's an ambitious woman!"
"Old Su..." Liu Ren hesitated, then thought better of it and said, "Our joint exam is survival mode. If you run into her, better steer clear."
To be fair, even though Liu Ren's intel on Bing Ning was sparse—just the types of her two spirits—Su Hao still felt the pressure. The little fire crow's development lagged behind many top students' spirits. Could the silkworm carry the weight? Su Hao didn't know. He asked, "And what's the deal with Lin Mingzheng?"