Chapter 32: Monster Core Hunt
Jian Chen looked outside at the sky from his window. The sun had been out for a while, so Jian Chen knew that it was no longer early in the morning.
Today was a special day for Kargath Academy since this was when they would hold a large scale event where all the students and teachers would take part in. This event was called the Wilderness Survival. Every student would have to leave Kargath Academy to live in the forest 20 miles away for 3 days. Within the 3 days, every student had to have at least 2 Class 1 Monster Cores. For those who reached the Saint level, then they would need 2 Class 2 Monster Cores. The amount of Monster Cores wasn’t limited, but whoever got the most Monster Cores would be gifted with a rich reward–an earth attribute Class 4 Monster core as well as a Space Ring.
The reward was so tempting, that if put under the nose of the children from rich backgrounds, even they would become emotionally moved from it.
At the same time, any student that had reached this standard could also access the books about various battle skills and cultivation methods on the library’s fourth level. This reward was especially enticing to those from average commoner families.
Battle skills were techniques that could create strong attacks. Along with the distinct uses of Saint Force, it could boost one’s power to 120%, making them techniques that would completely surpassed one’s original abilities.
On the other hand, cultivation methods could only be used when one reached the Saint level. Some commoner families didn’t even know the lowest level cultivation methods and so children born in these families have to rely on the superficial breathing method given to them to cultivate Saint Force. These breathing methods were circulated around the entire Tian Yuan continent. Their steps were extremely simple, so most commoner families knew everything about these methods. The only downside was that these breathing methods could only help them cultivate to the 10th Saint Force layer, and were completely useless to people who had already reached Saint level. Thus, battle skills and cultivation methods were seen as unattainable treasures to commoners.
On Tian Yuan continent, all the battle skills and cultivation methods were divided into four levels: Human Tier, Earth Tier, Heaven Tier and Saint Tier. Every Tier were then split into 3 separate levels: Primary, Middle and Advanced.
After leaving the dorms, Jian Chen headed straight for the sports field. The event had already been announced three days ago and by now, almost all the students had finished their preparations for it by sharpening themselves to the peak of their abilities.
By the time Jian Chen had arrived at the sports field, the place was already swarming with people. However, it was still obvious to see that the people were split into two groups; one of the groups was a gathering of all the nobles and the other group was entirely made up of commoners who did not have any major backgrounds.
All the students that had not yet reached Saint level were holding a steel weapon that were glistering under the sun. Since they were facing beasts, the school administration had allowed them to choose their own weapons.
Jian Chen walked over to the weapons rack. However, when he saw all the weapons there, his brows could not help but knit together. The good weapons had pretty much all been chosen by the students already and the only ones remaining that were of decent quality were the heavy type weapons that required a lot of strength to use; they were not at all compatible with Jian Chen.
Jian Chen swept a glance over the entire weapons rack. When he noticed a fractured iron rod that was about the thickness of his finger, his eyes suddenly lit up. He exerted all his strength to pull it out, only to discover that the iron rod was about three inches long and its surface was already completely covered in dark yellow rust marks. One of the ends had an extremely sharp point.
Jian Chen weighed the rusted iron rod in his hands and then tested its sturdiness, before nodding in satisfaction. This iron rod seemed somewhat unsuitable at a glance, but its heaviness and length were compatible with Jian Chen and amongst the remaining weapons, only this iron rod would be able to bring out most of Jian Chen’s abilities.
At this moment, Tie Ta walked out from the crowd. On his back was an enormous axe that was practically as large as him. It made Tie Ta seem even more impressive and powerful.
Tie Ta walked up to Jian Chen and his gaze rested on the stained iron rod in Jian Chen’s hands. His eyes could not help but show confusion as he asked, “Hai, Changyang Xiang Tian, what are you doing with an iron rod?”
Jian Chen laughed, “What else could I do with it, of course its to be used as a weapon.”
“No way, Changyang Xiang Tian, you’re actually using this lousy iron rod as a weapon? You….you….is your brain ok?” Tie Ta asked in shock.
Jian Chen chuckled and did not explain any further.
Although Tie Ta could not understand why Jian Chen would use such a lousy iron rod as a weapon, he did not continue to pursue this question. Instead, he said, “Changyang Xiang Tian, how about the two of us team-up? If we join hands, then none of the Class 1 magical beasts can obstruct us. We would even be able to overwhelm a Class 2 magical beast. Moreover, I’ve been hunting wild beasts in these types of forests since I was young, and I’ve gradually learned quite a bit of experience about surviving in the wild. If you’re together with me, I promise that you won’t have any hardships.”
Jian Chen considered it for a while. Finally, he nodded his head in agreement at Tie Ta’s offer. The school did not prohibit students from forming groups of 3-5 people to kill the magical beasts, so many students ended up moving together as small groups.
At that moment, a handsome noble carrying an arrogant air walked up to Tie Ta and smiled, “Hello Tie Ta, my name is Xiu Mi Si. I’m at the peak of the 10th Saint Force layer. Do you want to become partners with me? I believe that if we join hands, hunting magical beasts will be much easier for us both.”
Tie Ta glanced at Xiu Mi Si and shook his head, “No need, Changyang Xiang Tian and I together are enough. We don’t need anymore people to join.”
Faced with Tie Ta’s rejection, Xiu Mi Si did not show any despair. He turned to look at Jian Chen, and his face immediately turned haughty, “This person must be Changyang Xiang Tian, the fourth lord from Lore City’s Changyang clan. My father is the leader of the Xiu Mi clan in Forbidden City. Does junior Changyang Xiang Tian welcome me into your group?” Although Xiu Mi Si’s words were still in a relatively respectful tone, his words hid a threatening force behind them.
Forbidden City was a King City, and when it came to the Gesun Kingdom, Forbidden City was considered to be an Imperial City because the Imperial Palace was situated in Forbidden City.
Hearing the forcefulness behind Xiu Mi Si’s words, Jian Chen knit his brows. He swept his gaze over Xiu Mi Si’s handsome face, and coldly replied, “I apologize, but we no longer need any additional people. After all, we’re only facing Class 1 magical beasts, so we don’t have the time to spare babysitting others.”
Hearing this, Xiu Mi Si immediately turned the color of pig liver. His face darkened at Jian Chen’s meaning, and it was obvious that Jian Chen was looking down on Xiu Mi Si’s abilities.
Xiu Mi Si’s face grew stormy, and he maliciously glared at Jian Chen’s indifferent expression, before coldly snorting and walking away.
After Xiu Mi Si left, quite a few people from complex backgrounds approached. These people did not want to greet Tie Ta, but only wanted to join his group. However, all of them were rejected. Tie Ta had no feelings for any of this people, and he was unwilling to interact much with them.
After everyone had left, a youth around 20 years old, with a tall and sturdy stature, not very different from Tie Ta’s, walked over from the distance. He walked straight towards Jian Chen, and reached his hand out to strongly pat Jian Chen’s shoulder and laughed, “Fourth brother, you’ve become the school’s celebrity now. Amongst all of Kargath Academy’s students, I’m sure that at this point, there is nobody that doesn’t know of your reputation. Not bad, not bad. You haven’t lost Changyang clan’s face, and your older brother has been able to draw on some of your spotlight too.” The sturdy youth was Jian Chen’s older brother, Changyang Hu. He was currently sporting an extremely happy expression, and it was clear that his excitement was genuine.
Jian Chen smiled, “Big brother, stop joking around. Oh right, you’ve come at a perfect time. Why don’t we join groups for this event?”
Changyang Hu shook his head as he seemed to have thought of something. He happily replied, “Fourth brother, if you had asked me a week ago, perhaps your older brother would have agreed to form a group with you. However, I can’t right now, because a week ago, your brother finally broke through to the Saint level, thus becoming a Saint. This means that during today’s event, I will be entering the third layer to kill Class 2 magical beasts, so I can’t be together with you.” While saying this, a powerful Saint Force was emitted from Changyang Hu’s body, his hands glowing with a yellow light, forming a large, double-edged battleaxe. The battleaxe was about as large as a washbasin, and gave off a yellow glow.
“Fourth brother, not bad, right? After I broke through to Saint level, I was shocked to discover that I actually have the earth attribute,” Changyang Hu said proudly. Saints that had attributes normally had huge advantages when fighting Saints without attributes. If the two had the exact same levels of strength and fought each other, under normal circumstances, the Saint with attributes would ultimately be the victor.
A person could only discover if their Saint Force had attributes after breaking through to the Saint level. Thus, anyone that had not yet become a Saint were not able to detect if their Saint Force had attributes or not. However, the chances of having an attributed Saint Force were extremely low. On average, 1 out of 1000 Saints could use attributes in their Saint Force.
In addition, pretty much all of the ones gathered in Kargath Academy were the ones that had the highest potential in all of Gesun Kingdom. That’s why it was perfectly normal for many Saints to have attributed Saint Force amongst a group of a thousand students.
Seeing the double-edged battleaxe in Changyang Hu’s hands, Jian Chen could not help but happily smile, “Big Brother, congratulations for successfully breaking through and becoming a Saint. You even have an attribute.”
Changyang Hu’s expression was extremely happy, and he reached his hand to point at a few youths that were with him, “That’s right, fourth brother, I must introduce these people to you. These are the relatively outstanding children directly under my command. Their names are Changyang Ao Jian, Changyang Feng, and Changyang Xiao Tian.”
“We greet the fourth master!” The three youths simultaneously bent over in greeting, their attitudes extremely respectful. The hierarchy in the Changyang clan was extremely strict, so although they were the more outstanding members of the Changyang clan, their statuses were much lower than Jian Chen’s. Even though they were all older than Jian Chen, they still had to treat Jian Chen with a respectful manner.
Moreover, while saluting the younger Jian Chen, the three of them did not feel any traces of unfairness; on the contrary, they actually felt a sense of pride. After all, Jian Chen had managed to defeat the Saint, Ka Di Yun, when he was only at the 8th Saint Force layer, and had managed to fight to a standstill while bare-handed against Luo Jian. Finally, he had even forced Luo Jian to use his Saint Weapon. All of Jian Chen’s achievements made the entire Kargath Academy sigh in admiration.
In the presence of the other members of the Changyang Clan, they couldn’t help but feel proud. Not just because Jian Chen was a member of their clan, but that because he was the fourth lord of the Changyang Clan.
