I dumped my last wheelbarrow full of pig shit into the field while the bastard Ho Chin looked on with a laugh. He’d been designated as supervisor for the day, but he’d spent most of it doing nothing but hurl insults at Blue Rose and I as we did all the work.
“This would go a lot faster if you helped, asshole!” I shouted at him as Blue Rose dumped her own wheelbarrow full of shit next to mine.
“I’ve got to save my strength for the exam this afternoon,” he said. “You two may want to think about giving it a pass this week if you are too tired.”
He then laughed again the son of a bitch.
The exam day had finally arrived, but like most things in this place, nothing stopped for the odd event or occasion. Or so I was learning. Exam days ca and went, but duties and responsibilities were constant. Even when a few more Tributes had succumbed to the dense gravity of their planet and died in their sleep, their burials were short and swift and tucked in between morning duties and breakfast.
Today was no different, I supposed.
We’d had our duty ti shortened to only the morning with the exam scheduled in the afternoon. And it was about damn ti. For the last two weeks I’d been busting my ass cleaning the stables on a daily basis. It wasn’t hard work necessarily, especially for a High Tier Core Realm cultivator like I was now, but the amount of work for just three people was a lot. Or more like two people as it tended to be most days. Whenever Blue Rose or Ho Chin was put in charge, they took the idea of supervisor literally and did little except bark orders while doing nothing.
When it was my turn, I kicked in with them to get the work done much faster and we earned ourselves a cultivation pill each for finishing ahead of schedule as a team. You’d think with an example like that it would change things, but when it was Ho Chin and Blue Rose’s turns to supervise again, they choose to sit and cultivate the pills earned on my watch instead of working together to earn more.
They were two idiots locked in competition with one another, no doubt seeing cultivating as a ans to get ahead. As for I got plenty of cultivating done loathing the two while getting a good work out shoveling shit in high G’s. As for the two pills I had earned, I gave one each to Lo Ren and Chu Ren.
The brothers were overjoyed and thanked profusely for the gifts, but I was shocked when Chu Ren handed his to Lo Ren.
“It is better that he have it,” Chu Ren had said. “I’ve done so thinking and I believe this life is one I could settle for out here. I may never leave these fields, but I will never have to face death again either.”
His words had shocked , but I suppose after two weeks the reality of loss had settled in for him. He would indeed be literally trapped here, with no way to advance or leave. Perhaps he would beco a lifer brown robe like De Fan. Lo Ren, however, the more ambitious of the two, had a much different response.
“I’ll take as many as you wish to give , Master Iron Bull. I want to be as strong as you one day.”
Master Yun Jen finally arrived in his white robes and called us in from the stables.
“It’s ti,” he said. “You have half an hour to prepare. Change, collect your weapons and be at the edge of the southern barrier before ti or you will be disqualified from the exam.”
That got us all cracking. I used a shot of Frenzy to get myself back to the barracks as quickly as possible. I skipped the cleanup and grabbed both my weapons, and then slung a satchel filled with two water canteens and a canister of dried fish and rice across my back.
I shoveled down another quick al of rice and soup from the ss hall before making my way to the examination area. I was shocked to see almost the full contingent of brown robes gathered at the edge of the barrier just behind the signal towers.
The sea of Tributes parted as I made my way towards the front where I found Blue Rose and Ho Chin already waiting there. Ho Chin had ard himself with a steel club as long as he was tall and Blue Rose I could see had tucked a pair of daggers into her waistband.
Joining us were perhaps a dozen more brown robes from other cohorts, people I recognized only by face that I’d seen in the ss hall at tis but not by na. An anxiety built in my gut with the anticipation of the start.
I’d already been told that the exam was another run out into the wild, but aside from that each exam was different. There was so surprise elent added each ti so that past participants couldn’t give others an unfair advantage.
The [Odds were Against ] a bit in that regard.
Not much Frenzy spewed from the technique, but that was understandable.
I cultivated it anyway, storing the Frenzy within my Dantian for what I envisioned would be a grueling afternoon. The sun was already dead center overhead, burning high from a cloudless desert sky and the heat joining it caused a rivulet of sweat to run down my back. I wasn’t sure if the barrier also lessened the heat from the sun’s rays but I assud it did, else nothing would grow, I supposed.
Chief Instructor Yora finally arrived, riding atop a skiff along with Yun Jen.
It pulled to a hover before us and Yora raised her voice to address the assembly.
“I will now explain the conditions of the examination,” she shouted and then held what looked like a set of dog tags in her hand for us all to see. “Each participant is required to retrieve an emblem such as this from a point out in the wilderness. It will be roughly the distance that you travelled to get here on your first day. That ans you will be travelling twice the distance you did before, but in less ti. If there are any of you who feel unready or incapable of performing such a feat, I give you a last chance to opt out now. There is no sha in it. You should only attempt an exam if you feel confident in your strength.”
She paused and waited. I sensed a wave of fear pass through the ranks and one tribute, a smallish guy with long hair, decided to take a step back.
“Very well,” Yora continued. “Whoever returns first will receive a bonus of a high-tier elixir compatible with their cultivation base. Second will receive a mid-tier elixir and third a low-tier elixir. Additionally, if all emblems are returned, the entire contingent will be rewarded with a cultivation pill each. And finally, there will be a special award given to a single competitor based on their performance overall. For those who can wind walk or possess aerial movent, you will have a clear advantage. For those who can not, you will need to avoid or battle through the predators in the region. You have until the Bloodmoon rises to return safely. Beyond that point and you will be assud dead. Comnce!”
At the shout of the word, Blue Rose took off in a sprint, blinking forward in bursts of Qi like she was using Fia’s [Flash Step] technique. Three other Tributes took directly to the sky, streaming forward like superheroes in gusts of radian Qi or flying on their swords while the rest of us were left to pound the ground the old-fashioned way. There were plenty of people moving faster than , including Ho Chin but I didn’t mind. This was a marathon, similar to my trips back and forth from the city to the wild. But the terrain was much smoother and without having to lug three people, it would technically be a breeze.
Still there was the wildlife to worry about and I’d need to move much faster than normal to not get snared by a Takrid. I gained so distance from the eight or so Tributes keeping pace with , separating from them.
In my solitude, I cycled my Frenzy and manifested [Mark of the Beast]. My limbs popped and grew, my teeth lengthening into fangs. I quadrupled my speed and ground beneath began to be eaten up like I was in a sports car.
After an hour, I passed by one of the Tributes who had taken flight earlier, who was seemingly taking a break or had perhaps run out of gas. He was trotting at barely mortal pace and I blew by him like he was standing still. About a minute later a cry rang out and I looked behind to see a mushroom cloud of desert sand erupting as a Takrid erged from a hole. He leapt to the air again and then overtook in a burst of Qi.
I kept my pace, burning a steady stream of solid Frenzy to both combat the added gravity as well as maintain my speed. Twenty minutes later I passed the sa guy again who gave a dirty look as I waved.
We played leapfrog for another hour or so, until in the distance I saw what looked like the checkpoint for the race. A flag was flying high in the air and as I got closer, I saw it was erected at the edge of a large pit. The pit was fifty feet wide, about the sa dinsion deep and lined completely with tal as if soone had buried an enormous steel pot in the desert sand. The reason for the lining beca obvious when I saw no less than twenty Takrids milling about at the bottom. In the center of the pot was a small tal post where the emblems danged like key chains on a stand.
“So… this is the challenge?” a voice said.
I turned about to see the sa guy I’d been playing leapfrog with touch down on the ground next to . He was short with a bald head and clean shaven, olive skinned, almost red and looked to be in his forties. He folded his arms as he looked down at the Takrids and then spit into the pit.
“I’d be a waste of ti trying to fight all those things,” he said. “Better to just swoop in and out, I say.”
“Nice if you have the option,” I said with a smirk.
“I’m surprised you can’t fly. You were strong enough to get here first. Or are you all body mastery and nothing else?”
First? I hadn’t realized it, but I suppose I had arrived first. I wondered if I didn’t overdo it a bit getting here, but I still had plenty of solid Frenzy left in the tank to get back.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“If we kill all these things, we’ll make it easier for everyone,” I said.
“True,” a new voice said.
We both turned to see Blue Rose standing in between us.
“We do get a bonus cultivation pill if everyone returns with an emblem,” she said.
I was surprised to see her. She looked a little sweaty, but aside from that she seed none the worse for wear.
“When did you get here?” I asked.
“I’ve been here, Bull man,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Been waiting for nearly ten minutes for more people to show up, like the two if you.”
The bald guy chuckled. “Guess you weren’t first after all... Bull Man was it?”
“It’s Iron Bull,” I said. “And your na?”
“You can call Taj Qui,” he said. “And you girl?”
“I’m no girl.” She snared at him. “My na is Blue Rose. Now listen. I have a plan.”
“What plan?” Taj Qui said.
“You two draw their attention to one side. I can slip in and out of there with the emblems if you do.”
“You can?” he said.
Blue Rose perford a quick martial gesture with her hands and she suddenly disappeared in a burst of Qi. A split second later she appeared on the far side of the pit with a smirk on her face.
“Make the distraction and I’ll get the emblems.”
Taj Qui looked to be as if to petition my opinion.
I didn’t really have one.
Taj Qui shrugged. “I suppose it would be faster and safer than trying to kill all those things. Just fighting one of them is bad enough, much less a score of them down in that pit.”
“That’s why this is part of the exam,” Blue Rose said. “This is an academy. They want us to use our brains to solve problems not just our skills. We’re obviously not supposed to kill all those things.”
It personally didn’t matter to . I was always up for an axe fight in close quarters, but I supposed her plan would be faster.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s see if this works.”
I banged on the side of pit with my axe and the sound resonated like a bell. The Takrids reacted imdiately, raising their head up at and chittering with their jaws. Taj Qui joined in by slamming the steel with the base of his jian blade. The things started to grow more agitated, but seed more confused than anything else. So of them even began digging into the tal of the floor, trying to either escape or instinctively burrow into the ground to seek the source of the vibration.
“Try harder!” Blue rose shouted.
“I’ll help!” a new voice said as another ‘fly guy’ touched down from the air and began banging the side of steel pit with a set of claws like Zu Tien used. A few more minutes passed to no avail and a few more tributes showed up, panting and sweating more than the rest of us that were already here.
“What’s going on?” one of them asked.
“Can’t you see?” Blue Rose said testily. “Join in and help!”
The banging turned into a cacophony of clamr and clatter as more Tributes joined, but for the Takrids all it seed to be doing was causing confusion. They milled around in circles even more agitated, digging futilely at the floor.
Ah to hell with this, I thought.
I knew how these things sensed the world and enticing them with sound alone wasn’t going to do it. I leapt from the side of the pit, drawing huge gasps of shock from everyone above. I fell halfway and then hacked into the side of the pit with a massive chop of my axe. The blade buried itself deep into the steel and I hung by the shaft above the Takrids like a worm on a hook.
The live bait did the trick and Takrids shifted to one side of the pit to swarm underneath . They hissed and clattered their chitinous jaws, literally crawling atop one another like crabs in a bucket, trying to reach .
This was probably as good a shot as we’d get.
“Go now!” I shouted.
Blue Rose didn’t waste any ti.
She did her hand shuffling thing and in a burst of Qi popped down into the bottom of the pit. She dashed forward to the post in the middle of the floor, so thirty feet behind the swarming hill of Takrids squirming beneath . She snatched sothing from the post and then with another set of hand gestures reappeared back at top of the pit.
Blue Rose threw one of the emblems about her neck and it was then that I realized that she had only taken one.
“Sorry boys,” she said with a grin. “But first place is a High Tier Elixir. No way am I passing on that. You’ll all figure it out, I’m sure. Good luck.”
Son of a…
With that she sprinted away and disappeared in a burst of Qi.
My Fla roared.
That little bitch!
“Wait!” soone shouted after her. “Don’t we all get a reward if we return them all together?”
But Blue Rose was already long gone.
“Forget together!” Taj Qui shouted and flew down into the pit with a gust of Qi.
Two more fly boys quickly picked up on the idea and flew down with him. Each of them quickly snatched an emblem from the pole and then flew out again, heading off in the direction of the prison.
“Bastards!” one of the Tributes shouted, throwing a stone at Taj Qui. “You wouldn’t even get all of them out of the pit for us at least!”
Taj Qui laughed back at him. “Learn to fly, assholes. You probably won’t make it as a Legionnaire anyway if you can’t at least do this!”
“Son of a bitch!” I cursed as a rage lit within my soul.
This was the cultivator society ntality that I hated the most.
Screw working together. Every man for himself and if you can dick soone over in the anti, all the better. I seethed inwardly at Blue Rose. I still didn’t know her very well, but her personality was starting to spell asshole with a capital A.
Frenzy poured from my Fa and I channeled it through my ridians to engage [Mark of the Giant]. There was only one way we were all getting out of this exam and that would be by brute force alone.
And honestly, the way I was feeling now.
That was just fine with .
I released the axe with a mighty warcry and reached for the handle of my Phalanx Glaive instead. I spun with a downward chop, unleashing an enormous bolt of blue lightning from the sky.
“[Lightning Splits the Towering Oak]!”
My blade exploded with crackles of blue energy as the huge mound of Takrids was decimated by my killing blow. Pincers, claws and thoraxes popped as my glaive cleaved straight through the massive pile of insects and hit the bottom of the pit with a resounding clang!
I wasn’t sure how many of them I’d killed and I didn’t care. My [Bloodlust] kicking in was confirmation enough that I was making so headway. I used the additional Frenzy to fortify my body with [Steel Skin] and [Steel Core] as I tore into the scattering Takrids with abandon.
Claws and pincers raked my skin, drawing blood to add to my [Lust for Battle].
I cleaved into another Takrid, chopping its head in two before it could even reach . Two that were chasing after it tumbled over the body of their dead brethren and I used the opportunity to get two good swings into one of them. I had to admit, fighting these things after only two weeks of being on planet and cultivating in the harsh gravity had done wonders for my strength and resilience overall.
The things were still strong as hell, but I downgraded them to perhaps being high-tier C class monsters in my mind right now. Still, there were a lot of them, close to two dozen and the [Odds were still Against ] indeed!
I used the new fountain of Frenzy to bolster my defenses with [Steel Lightning] as a pair of Takrids attacked from opposite sides. One of them bit into my shoulder, and another stabbed in the leg with its claws. Pain surged from both attacks, but my ablative technique did its job and blew their insect parts to pieces before they could even break the skin.
Then, almost as if their hivemind could sense the presence of a superior foe, they all seed to link together and surged back at en masse in a dogpile. I scread with defiance as their spikes and pincers tore into , threatened to rip apart even through my [Steel Skin].
I was suddenly in over my head.
The swarm of creatures began attacking in unison, not even giving a chance to recover as I was tossed between them like a rag doll. My mind was swimming with disorientation and pain and I partly wondered if their ooze hadn’t poisoned my bloodstream sohow.
The situation began to grow desperate as I nearly lost hold of Glaive.
No! Enough of this shit! I thought. I wasn’t going down as so mutant mantis snack!
“[Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls]!”
A huge detonation of Frenzy erupted from my soul and sent the creatures flying against the walls of the pit in a shockwave of blue lightning. I surged with new vigor as I landed on the ground, finally free of the mass attack. But they weren’t all dead yet. More than half were still alive, albeit now temporarily stunned by my attack.
I looked up and saw all the Tributes staring down at with fear in their hearts.
“Get your asses down here!” I shouted at them with [Struggler’s Resolve]. “We fight these things like n! No fly boy, chicken-ass bullshit like those bitches who left. Co on! Get down here NOW!”
The power of my technique resonated with the Frenzy burning in my soul.
Almost instantly the fear in their hearts turned to lemonade and they all jumped into the pit with while screaming battle cries. Steel sung through the air as they attacked the staggered creatures, hacking away with halberds, swords and spears.
Their fervor encouraged my own [Bloodlust] and I went back at it, sinking my Phalanx Glaive into the nearest Takrid to separate its abdon from its thorax. The creatures began to recover, but with our numbers and coordination we managed to stay on the offense. They kept individual creatures busy while I tore them down one by one.
I wasn’t sure how long it took, but by the ti we had finished, we were all breathing hard and stinking of insect guts.
“Victory!” soone shouted and in unison we all thrust our weapons into the air.
“Victory!”
* * *
We wasted no ti getting to the pole in the center of the pit and each of us claid an emblem. They were indeed fashioned like dog tags, a cheap piece of chain and a thin flap of ntal marked with the academy insignia. When everyone seed to have gotten one, I noticed there was one left on the pole.
I looked about.
I didn’t know who these guys were, but there was one face I hadn’t seen yet.
Ho Chin.
“Where the hell is that asshole?” I muttered.
There was a chance he was still on his way, but the guy was a class A bullshitter. If he was going to make it here and back he should have long since been here by now. I thought for a mont. I could leave it for him, if he eventually showed up, but chances were I’d probably run into him struggling to get here while on my way back.
For the team, I thought as I snatched the emblem.
At least we’d all get a reward if we handed them all in.
“Alright, you guys,” I said, once I had stowed the extra emblem in my robes. “Let’s get the hell out of this hole.”
* * *
I took a few extra minutes to rest and have so water along with a quick bite to eat, once I’d retrieved my axe and climbed out of the pit. It also gave a chance to wait and see if Ho Chin might eventually show his slow ass up.
A couple of the Tributes bowed to in thanks and wished well on my journey back. So of them even encouraged to travel with them and said we might even have a chance to catch up to the fly boys if we left quickly, but I waved them on ahead.
I had no interest in winning or the need of the elixirs if I did.
I also had plenty of fresh Frenzy in my Dantian for the trip back and being completely alone I could double manifest with [Mark of the Giant] and [Mark of the Beast] to get back in record ti. I was still running [Mark of the Giant] in a casual form and I wondered if I hadn’t reached the stage to nearly leave it on permanently at this level. It would certainly be an advantage. People hadn’t taken real note of here as yet, and with half the Tributes being Sullied, seeing a guy my size wasn’t sothing unusual.
I finally set off after waiting an extra thirty minutes and poured on extra speed. I figured Ho Chin had either given up and turned back early or had beco Takrid food a long ti ago. With my combined forms, I pushed through the desert like I was riding the wind and the slightly dimming sky overhead gave no worry at all.
I actually used the ti to reflect.
On how much I’d progressed even this short in my journey.
I had a long way to go still.
Two more weeks as a white robe, before I could even attempt the test to put be back where I needed to be as a black robed Tribute. I wondered what the next Exam would entail or what the duties might be also.
Hopefully I wouldn’t be shoveling any more pig shi—
My thoughts cut short as a shrill cry pierced the air.
I slid to stop, travelling so thirty feet in the process and then suddenly heard it again.
A woman’s scream…
Blue Rose?
I hastened in the direction and found myself scaling a ridge of boulders to overlook a small rocky valley on the other side. I expected to see Blue Rose being the only female taking the exam, but what I didn’t expect was to see the monster towering over her, brandishing a club as big as it was tall, poised to bash her brains in.
A monster nad Ho Chin.
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