Monster Paradise Chapter 14: The Examination Begins
Lin Huang's registration went surprisingly smoothly. The preliminary selections were a way to whittle down the number of applicants in the first place. Since Lin Huang had already gotten into the meeting room, in Yi Yue Yu's opinion, add one more candidate wouldn't make much of a difference.
To her, a kid who didn't even possess the combat rank of BlackIron has no way of passing the exam. He will get eliminated either way, there's no need to put him in a awkward spot.
Lin Huang ended up completing his registration without a hitch thanks to this coincidence, even without exposing his "occupation" as a Beastmaster.
"Bro, you are pretty lucky. When you raised your hand and said you haven't registered, I honestly thought the demoness would have kicked you out." The fatty (TL: I'm calling him Thightanic from now on since fatty sounds weird…) unreservedly came over and greeted Lin Huang with a handshake. "Pleased to meet you. My name is Yin Hang Yi, what's yours?"
"Lin Huang." Lin Huang politely replied and returned his handshake. While, his outgoing personality was starting to wear thin on Lin Huang, he didn't bear any ill will towards Lin Huang as such Lin Huang had no proper reason to reject the Thightanic.
"You're pretty brave, taking part in the exam with this level of strength." Yin Hang Yi patted Lin on his shoulder as he said this.
"It's worth a try. Who knows, I might just pass it." Lin Huang smiled, he did not intend to reveal the fact that he was a Beastmaster to the Thightanic.
After exchanging a few words with the Thightanic, he bid his farewells and left. The Thightanic would have probably continued chatting till the next day if Lin Huang allowed it.
He went for dinner and toured the stronghold after which he retired to room and slept.
The Second Morning
After breakfast, he rushed off to the meeting room. Head examiner Yi Yue Yu seems to hate latecomers. He definitely did not want to lose his exam qualifications.
With the previous day's precedent, no one dared to arrive late. All 127 participants were gathered in the room with over 10 mins to spare.
At 8, the head examiner arrived on the dot. She wore a pair of black trousers paired with a white short sleeved blouse. A slightly different style but her sensuous curves were still plain to see.
As usual her breasts were the star of the show as the majority of the men became slaves to the jiggliness.
She walked up the podium and with a sweep glance, started speaking.
"Everyone's here. Great! I'll now announce the contents of this exam."
"One word ----- Survive! As a professional Hunter, we are often faced with dangerous environments and monsters. In order to survive, this is a lesson every professional Hunter must learn. Anyone who doesn't, tends to die a horrific death."
"The assessment ground is located 330 km away from 7C87. The One Star Hinterlands ---- Crimson Aurum Desert. As for the exact details of the exam, it's really simple. Everyone will enter the Crimson Aurum Desert from entry point A and traverse the 1500km long desert within 15 days to reach 7D121." As she said this, a map display shot out of her pinkie and displayed the exact entry point and destination. "In this exam, you are prohibited from bringing any rations with you. You must be self-sufficient while crossing the desert."
Various sounds of grumbling, moaning and protests filled the scene as everyone came to terms with her declaration in their own way. Even Lin Huang grimaced at this rule. He spent the previous day preparing rations for the exam.
"We will inspect your storage spaces later on. At which point, we will hand out an SOS beacon. If you are unable to proceed with the exam, please press the button on that beacon and forfeit. Of course, if you are unable to reach 7D121 in 15 days, you will have also failed the exam."
"That's the end of the briefing, if you have any questions, please raise them now." Yue Yu smirked as she finished her announcement.
"Examiner, according to your map, our final destination 7D121 isn't directly linked to the Crimson Aurum Desert. A snowy mountain range separates the two locations. I take it this exam doesn't just require us to cross the desert but also to climb that mountain?" A bespectacled man raised his hand and asked.
"You are right to make that assumption. You are required to climb that mountain. With your bare hands. Any climbing tools in your storage spaces will be confiscated." Yue Yu smirked once more as she said so.
Another round of groaning filled the grounds. The Thightanic standing next to Lin Huang had a grave expression on his face. "Is she planning to fail the entire group?"
"Is there any other questions?" Yue Yu seems to be thoroughly satisfied with the exam she set.
"Miss Examiner, I just looked up the details behind that snowy mountain, The snowy mountain bordering the back of 7D121 is called Goddess Ridge , a Two Star Hinterlands, which means it contains BlueCopper monster." The person who raised this was Lin Huang.
There was an uproar among the candidates as soon as they heard this revelation.
Yue Yu was momentarily stunned by this question. Furrowing her eyebrows, she replied " The entire region of Goddess Ridge is a Two Star Hinterlands but there is a mountain which is devoid of BlueCopper monsters and can be considered a One Star Hinterlands. I'll get people to mark a safe route later on.:
She wanted to leave this as a pithole for the candidates in order to raise the difficulty of the test. However thanks to Lin Huang's question, she had no choice but to mark a route. If she refused to do so and continued with the exam, a flurry of complaints would be the least of her worries as the incident would be reported to the higher ups in the Association. The end result would be that the exam is voided as Reserve Hunter Exams are not to be conducted in Two Star Hinterlands.
"If there are any further questions, please raise them now. We are about to set off." Several candidates raised their hands but they were mostly trivial questions.
Lin Huang was deep in thought at this moment.
The lack of rations is a major issue. I have to look for a water source while rushing to the goal. Furthermore, being a desert, there should be plenty of poisonous monsters lurking in the sands that I need to be mindful of. However, the biggest threat would probably other candidates. They could try to snatch my rations after I'm exhausted from a battle. 1500 km… I have a maximum of 13 days to cross that distance. Climbing the mountain might take more than a day so reserving 2 days is for the best…
"The time is now 8:20 am. Follow me to the assessment ground." As she said, she waved her hand and a large blue wooden door materialized in front of her. She pushed open the doors "Form up in an orderly fashion. After passing through the doorway, do not wander around!"
"Dimensional Relic!" Thightanic Yin Hang Yi exclaimed as he saw the door.
"What's a relic?" Lin Huang asked.
"Don't you know, a relic, is an extremely rare gear that exceeds Gold Ranked Equipment. The only way to get one is to kill monsters that have at least reached the Transcendent rank. And that's only if you get lucky, it's a random drop. A Dimensional Relic is a lot rarer than ordinary Battle Relics. Looks like the Demoness has a pretty influential background!" Yin Hang Yi explained with the look of a senior teaching his junior.
Lin Huang's curiosity was further aroused by this revelation. The rank above Gold Ranked is Transcendent. I wonder what's the highest combat rank in this world.
As more people pass through the door, the queue got shorter and shorter. Soon it was Lin Huang and Thightanic's turn. Stepping through the door, the scene in front of him fluctuated. In the blink of an eye, Lin Huang found himself in a desert.
"Well, that was amazing!" Lin Huang exclaimed.