bestfiction Chapter 224 Real-world test?
Chapter 224 Real-world test?
A month passed quickly, and basically all the members of the twenty teams had fully recovered. Some exceptionally talented cultivators took advantage of this opportunity to break through their cultivation levels and enter higher realms.
Almost every team has a cultivator at the late stage of Qi Refining. Among the teams tied for first place, there is a terrifying team with two cultivators at the eighth level of Qi Refining and two at the seventh level of Qi Refining. They would be considered an elite squad on the battlefield.
In terms of cultivation level, Young Master Yan's level is still the highest, with his peak Qi Refining realm surpassing everyone else.
In the spacious auditorium, he stood proudly at the front, like a solitary king, standing at the highest point, pointing at the others and saying: "The difference between this level is an insurmountable chasm."
The expensive ancient wooden pillars around the area are inscribed with the names of important meetings that have been held here. Some of the names engraved on them are so indecent that they are painful to look at.
Most people remained silent, heads bowed, whispering amongst themselves. Matt, as always, adhered to the middle ground, standing in the center of the group; a skilled hunter never makes others feel threatened before taking action.
Zhong Ming pushed Chen Dahai silently to the back of the line. Although he wasn't last, and was even quite near the front, he still preferred to stay at the back and observe the situation.
Soon, the host appeared, still the same burly man in the bearskin. As soon as he entered, his piercing eyes swept around the room, and he said with displeasure, "Ahem, you little guys, a month has passed, and you still haven't made any progress."
His voice was loud and clear, echoing in the auditorium with an undeniable air of authority.
"Short guys, you are all top-20 teams, the strongest in this cohort. Previous battles have proven that you possess the most basic combat skills of soldiers, but we still don't know how you will perform when you actually carry out a mission."
He strolled leisurely at the very front.
"By the way, you can just call me Old Bear. Anyway, if I give you any other title, this is the only one you'll remember." He magically produced a... fortune box in his hand.
It's the kind of jar that ordinary Taoist priests use to hold bamboo sticks for seeking good fortune.
Zhong Ming felt a sense of déjà vu, as if his Taoist name had been drawn up by shaking a sign at the old Taoist's request.
"To test your abilities, we have decided to have you participate in real missions for two months. Believe me, the missions here are basically balanced; the time spent and the military merit points earned are proportional. However, the success or failure of your missions will also determine the number of points you ultimately receive."
The rules are clear: within a fixed time, the team that earns the most merit points wins.
This is a completely real-world scenario.
"Alright, short guys, any other questions?"
"Report!" A man quickly stepped forward, disregarding whether he might offend the great cultivator, and asked urgently, "Senior Xiong... did we really receive the military merit points for the mission? And were there any extra ranking rewards?"
“Very good, good question,” Old Xiong didn’t mind his tone, which was somewhat like his own back then—a reckless money-grubber. “The military merit points will naturally go to you. The rewards for this ranking are not much different from before. The first-place team is qualified to enter the military academy, the second to fifth place teams can enter the treasure vault to choose either treasures or cultivation techniques, and the rest will receive military merit points as a reward…”
Old Xiong spoke succinctly, looked around, and asked, "Any more questions?"
"Report, how should we accept the mission?"
“Hey,” a handful of bamboo sticks suddenly materialized from the divination tube in the old bear’s hand, “decide by drawing lots. You think it’s unfair? Luck is also part of strength. Soldiers have no right to complain about luck.”
He shook the bamboo tube with his strong hands, making a "swish swish" sound that was very pleasant to hear.
Seeing that no one was expressing their opinion, he didn't waste any time and immediately ordered several teams to line up and draw lots.
"Hurry up, don't keep me from drinking."
During the last test, Old Xiong had been observing Zhong Ming and the other three very carefully, but he didn't find anything unusual. It can only be said that he is not good at this kind of thing, so let the others do it.
Several barbaric cultivators from Huling County grinned as they shook the divination tube, muttering, "The front lines, the front lines, let me have my fill of slaughter..."
One second later.
No hehe.
It seems I drew a mission that doesn't involve much fighting.
One by one, the group left. Matt picked up the autograph, a slight smile playing on his lips. As he left, he patted Zhong Ming on the shoulder and walked away with a light heart.
Soon most of the people had left, and it was Zhong Ming's turn to go on stage.
The great cultivator casually tossed the divination tube to him, watching Zhong Ming with great interest.
He didn't tamper with anything; the lottery box was truly random.
Zhong Ming looked serious and shook the divination tube vigorously.
He had already figured out the key to this victory. Since the big shots had made arrangements in advance to ensure that the military merit points obtained from completing tasks were the same every day, the key was to achieve a high enough level of task completion. The best option was the doubling system for military merit points.
For example, defeating ten enemies of the same level in a one-on-one fight and killing them all will grant you ten times the reward, just like when you killed the tree demon wolf.
He silently prayed, 'Please give me a good fortune slip, please give me a good fortune slip.'
With a "thud," a skewer flew out and landed on the ground.
Zhong Ming took it out and looked at it; his expression changed slightly.
"Hmph, all done and time to call it a day, let's have a drink." Old Bear stood up, grabbed the jar of tokens, and said magnanimously, "If you don't want to go out and do missions for the last few days, you can come and drink with me. I'll just stay here anyway."
After saying that, he walked to a corner and suddenly gripped the wooden wall.
At this moment, Zhong Ming realized that what was over there was not a wall at all, but a huge table standing upright.
This enormous table took up almost a quarter of the auditorium.
With his eyes closed and open again, countless wild delicacies had already covered the entire table. Senior Bear took out a huge wine vat, placed it on the ground, and began to eat and drink.
For a fleeting moment, Zhong Ming thought about giving up the competition altogether, spending two months eating and drinking with this senior, and steadily securing twentieth place. Wouldn't that be great?
The spiritual energy contained in the food on that table...tsk tsk.
......
Xuan Jing patted Zhong Ming on the shoulder, interrupting his reverie.
"So, what did you draw? Let's set off immediately and get back as soon as possible."
"This... I'm afraid there's no need for that."
Zhong Ming spread out his hand, and several large characters were written on the front of the signature.
"auctions."
Yue Kaishan and the others also joined in, "Hmm? Are they asking us to buy some treasure? Is it some kind of errand?"
"Dream on." Zhong Ming gave them a disdainful look for a second, then turned the signature over. The back was filled with tiny handwriting, detailing the requirements of this mission.
In short...
The auction needs security guards; you can go there.
Xuan Jing was speechless. What kind of shady job did you take? It doesn't look like a mission from the military; it looks like an activity to earn extra money.
Zhong Ming shrugged. "There's no use in being anxious. Going earlier won't mean we can finish earlier. We can't change the start and end times that have been set."
Let's just stroll over there leisurely.