Ice Fang led the way ahead, its ink-black, water-like body coiling through the air. No wild spirits harassed them along the path. After several hours of walking, they reached the foot of the mountain, a relatively open area.
That master-level Spirit Summoner summoned an elite-level Wind-Chasing Pegasus.
The pegasus neighed as it soared into the sky, surveyed the surroundings for a moment, then landed back before the Summoner, letting out two calls.
Ice Fang's Summoner—a calm-faced middle-aged man Su Hao only knew as Lu—looked at Professor Meng and gave a slight nod.
Professor Meng spoke up:
"Set up camp. Prepare lunch."
The research team had ample supplies. One of the Mountain-Moving Apes carried a massive box over a meter in length, width, and height. Another spirit, the Ten-Thousand Vine Tortoise, had several cardboard boxes stacked on its back, tightly bound with vines so they wouldn't fall no matter how it swayed.
With spirit helpers, travel was incredibly convenient.
At the command,
the accompanying Summoners skillfully and smoothly opened the boxes, pulled out supplies, and arranged the camp.
They were all seasoned veterans.
In contrast, the Spirit Cultivators' side had many people leaning on their knees, looking exhausted.
Even Professor Meng's few students weren't much better off.
"Su... Su Hao, how come you don't seem that tired?"
"Because I have two spirits."
"Right, right."
Tang Xin, wearing a knit cap, had her long hair plastered to her face. It took her a while to recover. "I want to contract two spirits too, but I can't afford it, and I don't have that much time."
Tang Xin's experience represented most junior Spirit Cultivators.
They only contracted spirits after passing the qualification exam.
After all,
human energy was limited.
Back when Su Hao took the Spirit Cultivator qualification exam, most candidates didn't have contracted spirits.
They had to learn a mountain of knowledge and couldn't spare time to train with spirits.
Money was also a problem for them.
Even becoming a junior Spirit Cultivator and raising a single spirit to the entry level took one to two years.
As for Su Hao himself, without the rewards from his papers, competitions, and improved techniques, he couldn't have been so lavish in raising spirits.
Tang Xin, for instance, spent most of her income on raising her Slumber Owl.
She was among the better ones.
Many junior Spirit Cultivators' contracted spirits hadn't even broken through to entry level.
But those people weren't in the research team.
They'd all been weeded out.
Spirit Cultivators without entry-level contracted spirits—even if they had professional competence—wouldn't get contracts with the primal zone.
First, they wouldn't receive enough feedback, limiting their stamina.
Second,
if a spirit wasn't at entry level, it hadn't undergone a qualitative change, and the Summoner couldn't solidify the passive Summoner skill "Guard."
A Summoner without "Guard" was fragile. Even with elite-level protectors, management wouldn't dare let such people into the primal zone.
"But even with spirit feedback, without exercise, stamina is still limited."
Su Hao noticed a Spirit Cultivator in his early thirties. His spirit had already been raised to entry-level advanced, and he might have other spirits not with him.
Yet this Spirit Cultivator was still panting.
Unlike Su Hao, who had only warmed up.
"The gap is just that big..."
Professor Meng and that expert surnamed Lu didn't ask the Spirit Cultivators to set up camp, so Su Hao was happy to slack off.
Pretending to be a bit tired himself, he carefully observed the elite Summoners' actions.
He was destined to be a man conquering new worlds. How to set up camp in the wild and arrange defenses were essential lessons.
"Too bad high school didn't teach that."
After all, homeroom teacher Chen and others had probably visited the new world fewer times than he had.
The only one who'd actually left the city was Instructor Xiong.
And that was years ago.
Su Hao secretly guessed Instructor Xiong hadn't done well in the new world. Later, he switched to coaching and trained several master-level Summoners, which made his name.
After observing for a while, he finally concluded.
"So hard!!"
"I'm really only suited for a brute-force approach."
"Maybe I need to find a spirit that can form its own camp?"
...
Lunch was instant noodles.
Water came from a water-type spirit condensing atmospheric moisture, then a fire-type spirit heated it. In no time, a large pot of water was boiling.
Su Hao took a taste. Not bad, actually.
Probably because he was too hungry.
The spirits' meals were also excellent, with high-grade jade powder from the primal zone and even some jade powder sets Professor Meng had prepared.
Su Hao had Dream Moth taste them and give feedback.
"Guno guno!"
"Green Bamboo Jade Powder, Emerald Jade Powder, Hollow Wood Jade Powder..."
Su Hao jotted it down.
A universal jade powder set—learning more never hurt.
But the little one couldn't yet identify all the ingredients.
...
After lunch, the real work was about to begin.
Professor Meng started dividing the teams.
Aside from the three Summoners staying to guard the camp, the rest were split into six teams.
Professor Meng and the Summoner surnamed Lu formed one team. The others were led by Professor Meng's five students to different areas to collect data.
Su Hao was assigned to the third team, following a Spirit Cultivation graduate student named Luo Cheng.
"The area we'll work on this afternoon is around the northern slope."
Luo Cheng held a map, looking at Su Hao and the other two Spirit Cultivators, plus five Summoners. "Introduce yourselves, so I can assign tasks."
A burly man frowned but still spoke, "Zhong Yunrui."
"Huo Lixue."
"Wang XX."
"..."
A young man on the left with a White Feather Moth eagerly chimed in.
"Senior, I'm Tang Qiwen, a junior at Golden Armor University, majoring in 'Spirit Cultivation' and 'Spirit Production and Plants.' I won second prize in the university Spirit Cultivation competition. I'm preparing for grad school now, dreaming of getting into Ink Dragon University..."
Luo Cheng nodded lightly. "Good. Hope you become my junior someday."
Tang Qiwen looked thrilled at the recognition.
Tang Xin, standing nearby, seemed nervous. "I'm Tang Xin, a sophomore at Yunhua Spirit University, majoring in 'Spirits and Environment.'"
Luo Cheng's gaze turned to Su Hao. "And you?"
"Su Hao."
"Uh... just a high school student."
"As for professional knowledge, I know a bit of everything."
"Honors? Resume? Uh..."
Su Hao thought for a moment. "Been on Spirit Light, won an award for a paper, just passed the intermediate Spirit Cultivator qualification exam... That's about it."
To make his words convincing, he deliberately pulled out the brand-new certificate.
Luo Cheng: "..."
Tang Qiwen looked awkward.
Tang Xin had a (⊙▽⊙) expression.
...
My name is Su Hao.
I'm an ordinary high school student.
To show my competitiveness and value, I specifically got the intermediate Spirit Cultivator qualification exam.
I never expected that on my first day of work, I'd already make my colleagues uncomfortable.
I really don't get it.
It must be the world's fault.