Chapter 40: Senior

“Ha~ That was more thrilling than the last time Senior brought me here.” Petty patted her chest, her emotions a bit stirred as she said, “Thank you, Connor.”

“No big deal.” Zheng Yichen said quite casually. “You should look for some new summoned creatures. Relying only on that rabbit is a bit too weak.”

“…That’s a bit difficult.” Petty said helplessly. “For summoners starting out, this is the hardest part.”

Summoners are strong and fierce once they take off, but few understand the struggles before taking off… Otherwise, this profession wouldn’t be considered rare. Not only does it take up resources, but the summoned creatures themselves are a big problem!

Gaining the recognition of a summoned creature usually isn’t about reasoning. For them, the simplest reasoning is strength—win in a fight, and everything is negotiable. “How about borrowing power?”

“I haven’t even touched the threshold of Reaching the Tier yet.” Petty said somewhat ashamed.

“…” Zheng Yichen pinched his chin and thought for a moment, then lightly smacked his palm. “I’ve had a pretty good idea recently. It might help you, but it depends on whether you’re willing to try it.”

“Try?” Petty asked, puzzled.

“Yes, a new kind of attempt. To do it well, you might have to learn something else.” Zheng Yichen said. His idea came from learning about summoners and the ‘permanent’ Magic Arms he had created earlier.

“What is it?”

“Trying to learn Martial Arts ahead of time. Summoners dabble in it later on, right?” Zheng Yichen asked. Don’t think summoners only learn Summoning Magic. After Reaching the Tier, when they can channel their summoned creature’s abilities onto themselves, they basically fight alongside their summoned creatures.

So of course they need to learn some combat skills—not the Combat Techniques of Mana Warriors, but… techniques like Martial Arts. These skills are typically used by Battle Qi Warriors, since Martial Arts rely more on physical strength application, unlike Combat Techniques which channel Mana in specific patterns to unleash special power.

Summoners also use Combat Techniques! After all, summoned creatures aren’t just magically inclined; there are many physically inclined ones too. Channeling the abilities of a close-combat powerhouse onto themselves, summoners can turn into melee tanks.

Without mastering some combat skills, they’d be like kids holding guns—full of strength but unable to use it.

“This… sounds possible.” Petty nodded gently and agreed. Learning Combat Techniques early might not be a bad thing for a summoner, since subduing summoned creatures often requires their own strength.

Thus, some summoners who capture creatures by their own means have tempered their bodies similarly to Battle Qi Warriors. Apart from lacking a warrior’s power, they’re quite similar in other aspects. But Petty clearly wasn’t that extreme type of summoner. “It’s just right—in two months, the academy will hold its annual competition. I want to give it my best effort too.”

The academy competition is usually uneventful for summoners, especially lower-year students. Other Professionals at least gain some combat ability once they enter their profession, but summoners? Without sufficiently powerful summoned creatures, aside from having Mana, they’re little different from ordinary people, even losing to stronger ordinary folks.

Moreover, academy-trained summoners do get some practical experience, but since they haven’t truly left the academy, their experiences aren’t extensive, and they lack accumulated summoned creatures. So in the annual academy competition, summoners rarely have anything impressive to show.

Now it’s different. No matter what, she had contracted a dragon. It’d be too disappointing not to give it a try.

“Two months, huh? No problem. I’ll wrap up things on my end quickly. But before that, you still have some trouble to deal with.”

“…” Petty glanced around quickly and unconsciously quickened her pace. Clearly, she had only been watched before, but now she was being treated as prey. Since it was a Black Market, the location definitely wasn’t somewhere proper—seclusion was unavoidable.

She knew very well that once she left here, she would immediately get robbed… If there were few people, Zheng Yichen could handle it, but if there were many, there’d be a risk of exposure. Later, when her strength grew, letting others know about Zheng Yichen’s existence would be fine; it might even make those with ideas think twice.

“Petty?”

A familiar voice from behind made Petty’s shoulders jump, then she looked back in pleasant surprise at a red-haired woman wearing sleek leather armor. “Senior Kaysa!”

“What are you doing alone in a place like this?” Kaysa glanced around and snorted lightly. Many of the previously malicious gazes scattered immediately. She was quite famous in the Black Market, and the way to gain fame here was simple—fight your way to it!

Frowning, she pulled Petty toward the exit of the Black Market. Along the way, Petty kept her head slightly lowered, like a child caught skipping class to go to an Internet Cafe.

“I came here to sell something.”

“Already sold?” Kaysa asked. Seeing Petty nod, she didn’t press further. This was one of the Black Market rules: before a transaction, you could haggle wildly; after it was done, you couldn’t pursue the matter anymore, even if you got cheated. Of course, you could secretly seek revenge, as long as no one found out.

She was a regular here. As a senior student at Olin Academy, her classes were few, with more emphasis on practical combat and experience. Thus, she had many opportunities for adventures, often acquiring loot that needed handling, some of which had to be disposed of in the Black Market.

“Next time you come here, remember to call me. It’s too dangerous for you alone.” Kaysa glanced behind her and snorted coldly again. To thrive in the Black Market, especially as a woman, you had to act fiercer than men!

“Um, Senior… could you teach me some Combat Techniques? I can pay tuition.” After hesitating, Petty asked. Though the academy offered elective courses for other knowledge, following the normal curriculum wouldn’t yield much achievement in Combat Techniques within two months.

The best way was to find a suitable ‘private tutor.’ Even with a private tutor, learning truly useful Combat Techniques from them would be expensive, since those were their livelihood skills. Learning them without paying any price was practically impossible.

“Hmm~” Kaysa gave Petty a curious look. “What’s wrong? Thinking you can’t keep going on the summoner path?”

She knew some things about Petty, like her half-Harefolk summoned creature… Kaysa looked down on that kind of weak, gentle creature the most. What combat ability did it have? At the very least, choose a carnivorous animal or Magical Beast like a wolf or lion!

Petty quickly shook her head. “I just want to participate in the academy competition in two months.”

“Oh? That’s a good approach.” Hearing this, Kaysa nodded gently. If Petty could achieve something in Combat Techniques, within her first-year class, she might score well in the summoner category competitions.

“Sure. I’m about to start preparing too, and I won’t be going out during this time.” Kaysa nodded, leading Petty out of the Black Market’s influence before waving at her. “Come find me whenever you’re ready.”

“Is she the senior you mentioned?” After Kaysa left, Zheng Yichen slowly spoke up. That red-haired woman was a student? Why did she look like someone from the streets…

“Senior Kaysa is really nice.” Detecting the odd tone in Zheng Yichen’s voice, Petty quickly explained.

“How did you two meet?”

“I helped Senior Kaysa copy some books before. Senior Kaysa often goes on adventures, so I’ve also helped her appraise some items. We gradually became familiar.”

“You’re learning from her—are her Combat Techniques very strong?”

“Yes! Senior Kaysa is a really powerful Battle Qi Warrior!”

Battle Qi Warrior… are all the women in this world so fierce? Not to mention Loris, but now the first Battle Qi Warrior I meet is also a woman…