Chapter 6: The Exam

Early the next morning, the whole family gathered to eat breakfast.

Yang Tong asked, “Dad, since the energy from Beast Crystals isn’t as good as Standard Crystals, why does the government still collect them?”

“It’s simple, because Beast Crystals cost less. Right now, most of the Standard Crystals in our Royal Feather Kingdom come from crystal mines. This kind of crystal is a non-renewable resource. Even if it could renew, it wouldn’t happen quickly. So, the government tries to save as many Standard Crystals as possible under these circumstances,” Yang Tong replied.

“But crystal resources have been mined for over seventy million years, so they should be almost used up, right? What will we do if there are no more crystals?” Yang Tong had wanted to ask this question for a long time. What he couldn’t understand was this: human civilization on Earth only had a history of a few thousand years, and even in that short time, dynasties changed frequently. But here, the Royal Feather Kingdom had existed for over seventy million years. It was simply an unbelievable miracle that one dynasty could last so long. It didn’t make sense. Or rather, it didn’t fit Yang Tong’s own understanding of how things should work. In all that time, no one had ever rebelled? Of course, Yang Tong wouldn’t ask that question.

“Haha, a long time ago, the empire above our kingdom researched artificial crystals. So now, crystal mining is selective. They mine part of a vein, then seal it off, and wait for that part to recover before mining again. With this step-by-step, tiered mining, plus artificial crystals and a large supply of Beast Crystals, energy isn’t a worry. Instead, our human Artifact Technology has been stuck at the ninth grade and can’t advance to the tenth grade. That’s why the social status of Mind Masters keeps increasing every day,” Yang Tong sighed, thinking to himself how great it would be if he could awaken and become a Mind Master.

“Come on, Dad. Our family only uses first-grade Spirit Tools right now, and the highest-grade Spirit Tool in the whole county is only third-grade. We don’t even know how powerful tools above third-grade are, so why worry about it?” Yang Tong said bluntly, not sparing his father’s feelings. It was easy to imagine that truly high-tech things were mostly concentrated in military weapons. What civilians could use was just ordinary stuff.

“Wrong. Our family will soon have a second-grade Spirit Tool—a Type B Spirit Energy Rapid-Fire Gun,” Yang Tong argued.

Yang Tong nodded and didn’t ask more. He could guess it was the advanced weapon they had asked that fat uncle to buy yesterday, to deal with the Beast Horde Siege.

After finishing breakfast, Yang Tong didn’t go out. He didn’t ask his family for Beast Crystals because he couldn’t explain what he needed them for. To get Beast Crystals, he had to improve his own strength first. Also, there was the elementary school graduation exam tomorrow. The academic test was easy, but the martial arts assessment was the most important.

Furthermore, the academy offered generous scholarships to outstanding graduates. He heard first place got ten low-grade, high-quality Beast Crystals!

Yang Tong really wanted those ten low-grade, high-quality Beast Crystals. He knew low-grade Beast Crystals were divided into three tiers: low-quality, medium-quality, and high-quality. The energy difference between each tier was about fifty to seventy times. This was mainly because different species of Savage Beasts produced Beast Crystals with varying energy levels, even within the same grade. Standard Crystals were different. Each Standard Crystal had slightly more energy than a low-grade, high-quality Beast Crystal, but not by much. However, the energy contained in a Standard Crystal was definitely much higher than that in low-grade, low-quality or low-grade, medium-quality Beast Crystals.

He spent another day practicing his punches. Early the next morning, Yang Tong rode to school on his dad’s Flying Disc Motorcycle.

“Do well on the exam, understand?” Yang Tong called out to his son.

“Don’t worry, Dad,” Yang Tong replied, waving a fist.

The written exam was simple and finished in two hours.

The main event was the martial exam. Generally, passing the written exam was enough, unless a youth was interested in that direction or had a talent for it. In a county environment like this, such cases were rare. Only in big cities with better conditions would you find various specialized academic disciplines. In the county, they valued the martial exam more. If you failed it, even a perfect score on the written exam wouldn’t let you graduate or advance to a higher-level academy.

The martial exam was held on the school sports field. The field was divided into several areas, and students were tested in batches. First was the fighter grade verification, testing strength, speed, and reaction separately. Besides that, there was the practical combat exam, which took the most time. However, during these exam days, all other grades in the academy were on holiday, so it wasn’t crowded or troublesome.

Yang Tong was now with his classmates, waiting for the exam.

His deskmate, Feng Xiaobo, asked, “Yang Tong, what rank are you aiming for?” Feng Xiaobo had been Yang Tong’s deskmate for years and understood his strength better than other classmates.

“Of course, first place would be best,” Yang Tong said without hiding his ambition. At his age, he wasn’t afraid of standing out.

“Then you’ll need to work hard. You have quite a few rivals. I heard not only does our class have Apprentice Level Three fighters, but Class Seven has a freak who can defeat an Apprentice Level Four fighter while still at Apprentice Level Three,” Feng Xiaobo answered.

“You mean the Class Seven monitor, Di Xuanluo?” Yang Tong had also heard of this somewhat famous king of their grade. Unlike Yang Tong’s usual low profile, Di Xuanluo had extremely high talent. He was close to breaking through to Apprentice Level Three, was physically strong, and was the only son of Di Jinxin, a wealthy merchant in the county.

Don’t think Apprentice Level Three was no big deal. Remember, Yang Tong and the others were only twelve years old, still growing but not yet at their explosive phase. Only upon entering middle school would their strength truly explode. Very few reached Apprentice Level Three at this age.

“Our Class Five only has five Apprentice Level Threes, but Class Seven has six. We’ll meet them in the practical combat exam. I have a childhood friend in Class Seven, and I heard all the Apprentice Level Threes in Class Seven are Di Xuanluo’s followers. They obey him completely,” Feng Xiaobo said.

Yang Tong understood what that meant. Di Xuanluo’s ability to control those five classmates of the same level definitely didn’t rely only on his father’s influence and wealth. It relied more on his own strength.

“Next, Yang Tong,” the exam teacher called.

Yang Tong walked to the teacher and looked at the testing equipment in front of him. He was familiar with this device; it was used to test strength.

“Now you need to use your full strength, aim at this target, and throw ten consecutive punches. Keep the frequency within five Miao. Any questions?” the testing teacher asked, pointing to the testing spot.

“No questions,” Yang Tong shook his head. This testing device was much more advanced than the one at home. It could measure a person’s power data within ten punches, like explosive force, standard force, and so on.