Du Bai woke up before dawn. Although his exam would not start before nine, and he only needed ten minutes to arrive at the exam site, he was in such a hurry that he barely got dressed and rushed out.
"Looks like he's figured it out," said Jin, who was sleeping next to him, smiling as he tried to get back to sleep.
Hours later, Jin felt Du Bai's hand trying to wake him up while he was screaming. "Jin, Jin, I need your help. I just found out something very important. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about your words."
Last night, Du Bai thought about his friend's advice and began to study the topic from all sides. Although some people who are greedy for money have tried to reduce the number of participants, the head of the academy responsible for setting the exam is a person known for his justice and integrity, so it makes no sense that some exams are limited to hunting some weak monsters while others have to fight for their badge, he suddenly jumped out of his bed to try something.
“Jin, I just found out two new things about the mission.” Du Bai said when he saw Jin wake up.
'Two out of three isn't bad.' Jin thought as he listened to his friend's explanation.
“Firstly, the golden badge cannot be stored inside the storage rings, which means that it contains special magic. Second, the owners of hunting missions were not asked to keep their badges, which made me think, what if there was another magic in the gold badge, so I did an experiment and found out that the badge causes normal monsters to run away from the one who is holding it.”
Du Bai said as he opened his hand, revealing three golden badges with great pleasure.
"I've earned two more badges from those with hunting missions."
Jin nodded his head in admiration as he looked at the badges in his friend's hand and said. "Good job. I knew you could use your head a little, so what do you want from me?"
Du Bai, who was waiting for the question, raised his hands. He was holding a cage with an iron-billed crow inside in his right hand and a bowl of nut butter in his left. ٍSeeing that, Jin remembered something similar that Du Bai's sister Luna had done before. He understood what Du Bai was planning, so he laughed.
"The thirteenth technique of your younger sister Luna's techniques, the crow and the butter, ha ha ha ha I can't wait for tomorrow, and as a reward, I'll tell you the third thing you missed."
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A giant wall surrounds the Earth Dragon Academy and the dark forest, and it is more than ten meters high.
Today's participants won't enter through the main gate, but they will have to go around the wall to reach the gate overlooking the forest.
Using high-level magical techniques, all the monsters of the third level and above were isolated within the sixth area. An expert magician would be charged to maintain the barrier that separates the sixth area from the rest of the other areas for the exam duration, preventing any high-level monster from escaping.
Calculating the number of areas and exam times, Jin guessed that the number of participants had reached six hundred. But, of course, this was only the first exam. The real exam would start when they stood in front of the spirits mirror to determine the state and the type of their spirit form.
At nine in the morning, thirty participants gathered in the first region, after the person in charge of the exam, a man in his thirties, checked the participants’ scrolls, shouting, saying:
“The duration of the exam is two hours. Anyone unable to finish their mission after the time ran out has to return here. If you are injured, and in danger, you can tear up your scroll, then we will find you and save you. The exam starts now.”
*ha ha ha*
As soon as the academy elder finished his words, a brown young man started laughing loudly purposely. The young man took a few steps and turned to look at all the participants, playing with the golden badge in his hand, throwing it up, and re-grabbing it.
“My name is Du Bai, and I decided to do something special before joining the academy. I will be the only one who will succeed in this group. None of you will cross me. If you don’t want to die, leave your badges behind and leave.”
The participants' eyes turned red, and a storm of curses fell on Du Bai from all sides, but he only puffed his chest and threw his badge high and said.
“If you want me to force you to tear up your scrolls, then you will get what you want."
Silence fell suddenly, and no one answered him this time. In fact, they were laughing at him, in the end, someone commented saying.
"Hey, strong boy, where is your badge now?”
Du Bai began looking for his badge in his pockets and then looked at the ground to search for it before seeing the boy who asked him the question pointing at a crow in the sky.
"You damned crow, you stole my badge. I'll pluck your feathers and grill you alive. Then I'll find your family and make sure to eat them." Du continued to scream as he ran after the crow. At the same time, the crowd could barely stand up from laughing, except for the elder, who noticed a young man in the back with a cage in his hand.
' Is it possible that he covered his badge with something and let the crow steal it so that no one would target him on the pretext that he had lost his badge? I have to admit, that was the most ridiculous, most effective trick I've ever seen, but what will he do when he encounters the real obstacle?' The elder muttered as he curiously looked at Du Bai, running after the crow like a madman.
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Du Bai reached the third area running fast towards the finish line. He spared no effort to win first place. How could he do that after Jin told him about the third secret hidden in the exam?
"There is a secret written inside the scroll that whoever reaches the finish line first will get some benefits."
There is a prize for the top ranks. Even before Du Bai knew about the prize, he had prepared the crow and butter plan to ensure that the rest of the participants wouldn't go after him. Now that he knew about the prizes, he planned to win and get the prize, so he ran towards the academy's gate at full speed.
Suddenly, three people intercepted him as they looked at Du Bai sarcastically. "Look, guys. Our first victim has arrived, don't think of resisting or ..."
*crack, crack, crack*
Before the boy could finish his words, glass bottles exploded on him and his friends, and the sticky material which was inside it covered their bodies and clothes. The boys were students from the academy.
Although there is a law that prevents the academy students from interfering with the participants, there are always some offenders who sneak out trying to take advantage of the newcomers. The elders of the academy know about this. However, they pretend not to see it, the world is an unfair place, and there are always those who will try to bully you. It is part of life. Also, running in the woods unobstructed will make the exam look ridiculous.
"You bastard, I'm going to break your legs."
One of the three screamed in disturbance while his friend rubbed his fingers and tasted this sticky material before shouting.
"Honey, it's honey, we need to get rid of our clothes quickly, or the toxic bees will chase us."
Du Bai burst out laughing and jumped away to continue his way, leaving the naked kids behind. "The third technique of my younger sister Luna's techniques, the bee and honey scheme, my genius sister, thank you very much."
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When Jin turned to leave the exam area, he started thinking about his friend's ridiculous trick. "My sister Mai has always called Du Bai's sister the mean Luna, looks like this nickname didn't come out of nowhere—"