Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 134: Enraged
On that day, the forty chosen students gathered together again. The instructors herded them onto a flying warship, which began to ferry them to the Goldwater Ruins.
The flying warship flew extremely quickly. The Goldwater Ruins weren’t very far away from the Hidden Dragon Institute in the first place, so they reached their destination in only half a day.
When the students arrived at the Goldwater Ruins, they saw troops garrisoned in barracks and flags waving in the air. Countless armor-clad soldiers were marching in file, and the skies were filled with other flying warships.
There were garrisons set up across from them as well. Countless Ferocious Race individuals yelled barbarically, occasionally combining their voices to unleash a thunderous roar.
When compared to the orderly, disciplined human armies, the Ferocious Race soldiers were much more untamed. They did not line up in an orderly fashion; rather, they still possessed an indescribably wild aura. They were constantly yelling and howling, often wrestling barbarically with one another.
In between these two campgrounds was an unassuming pile of rubble.
The pile of rubble seemed ordinary, but upon closer inspection one would find that the air above the pile of rubble appeared distorted, as if there was a fire burning underneath it.
They were void distortions, implying that there was a void node nearby.
Someone with void-type Origin Skills could even take a peek at what was behind the void node.
A tall stage had been constructed atop the pile of rubble.
A few human and Ferocious Race generals were sitting atop the stage.
By the time the flying warship ferrying all the students arrived, a group of young Ferocious Race individuals were already gathered atop the stage.
These Ferocious Race youths were brawny and clad in animal skins. They were roughly equivalent in size to someone from the Cliff Rac, and their bodies were sharply sculpted and covered in intricate designs and inscriptions.
When Su Chen and the others stepped off the warship, they locked gazes with the Ferocious Race youths. Instantly, the flames of bloodthirst erupted in their eyes.
Both sides knew that they would soon be enemies.
Even though there were no grudges between them, they would take every opportunity to kill the other party.
A tall Ferocious Race captain said, “Since everyone is here, let’s begin the test.”
“No objections,” a Long Sang officer replied.
Both the human and Ferocious Races had lived under the rule of the Arcana Kingdom. Thus, they had developed the habit of communicating in the same language. Even though their development afterwards led to the evolution of a few local dialects, they could communicate with each other without any issues.
The test they were referring to was to inspect whether or not any student had brought along anything worth more than ten thousand Origin Stones.
To avoid pointless squabbling, every item was valued based on what tier it was.
For instance, a Grade 9 Origin Tool was valued around eight thousand Origin Stones.
A common-tier medicine was worth around five hundred Origin Stones.
In other words, students could not possess two Origin Tools at once. Even if a student were to select the most outstanding item from that tier, they would still be limited in quantity.
Origin Rings and a few other survival necessities were not included in this evaluation.
Most of the Ferocious Race students brought along weapons, with the vast majority of those weapons being battleaxes. This extremely violent race enjoyed nothing more than splitting open people’s’ heads like watermelons with their battleaxes.
These axes were hewn out from stone.
In particular, they were made from Bloodiron Stone, a unique resource of the Harvey Plains. They were extremely sturdy and thick, and blood-red inscriptions ran along the body and handle of the axe. These were the result of the Ferocious Race’s unique techniques that increased the power of their axes, giving them the ability to wreak incredibly devastation amongst their enemies.
In comparison, the human students had brought along all kinds of items.
Some had brought weapons, some had brought defensive items, and still others had brought Origin Formation Disks.
The person who had brought the most items was Su Chen.
The Ferocious Race officer opened Su Chen’s Origin Ring and dumped out a large pile of medicinal vials, flowers, herbs, and even a table. He was stunned by what he saw. “What is all of this?”
“This one is a triangular flask, this one is a dropper bottle, this one is a measuring beaker, this one is a long flask, this is Seven Wisps incense, these are pink entrails, these are beast tendons......” Su Chen described them one by one to the officer.
That Ferocious Race officer could feel his head growing larger. He stared at Su Chen fiercely and said, “I’m asking you what you are planning on doing with all of this.”
“That’s none of your business,” Su Chen replied.
“But the issue is that I have no way of determining their value.”
“That’s very easy to determine,” Su Chen replied. “Look at these vials. They have no Origin Energy inside them and are simply common tools that can be bought with just a few coppers. They can be lumped under the category of survival necessities. As for those medicinal herbs, you can determine their market value and count that.
That Ferocious Race officer seemed to understand. “You’re an alchemist, right? Brat, you must want to bring these items in to concoct medicines later. That’s a smart idea; a simple common-tier medicine is worth 500 Origin Stones, but you will be able to multiply that value many times over if you bring them in as medicinal herbs.
“That’s none of your concern. I’m just doing things based on the rules.”
“No, absolutely not. These vials cannot be considered to be under the survival necessities category.”
“That’s just what you think, Mo Lihan!” One of the Long Sang officers walked over. “The way I see it is that this youth is just someone who likes to drink water from different kinds of containers. Based on the rules, any item without Origin Energy and that cannot drastically affect the outcome of a battle can be brought in without restrictions, as long as it’s a survival necessity. These vials must be allowed in without any restrictions based on the rules that we have already set!”
“The human race has always tried to be tricky. Xiao Feinan, do you think that you will win just by taking advantage of this loophole?” Mo Lihan harrumphed.
“Whether we win or not is our business. More importantly, the rules need to be followed, Sir Mo Lihan,” Su Chen said coolly. “If the cowards from the Ferocious Race are afraid, then they can leave right now and avoid losing face.”
As he spoke, he purposefully glanced towards the Ferocious Race youths, the corner of his mouth curling upwards in disdain.
“Watch your tongue, bastard!” The Ferocious Race youths began to howl with rage.
The Ferocious Race was always quick to anger. Their rage began to burn when they heard Su Chen’s incendiary diatribe and saw his mocking expression.
Su Chen ignored it and said again, “I said that you are all just a bunch of cowards. You don’t dare fight us head-on; you are only willing to use these kinds of methods to create trouble for your opponents.”
“Bastard! You’re asking for it!” a Ferocious Race youth howled and charged forward, punching Su Chen.
BANG!
The powerful fist landed on Su Chen’s body. Su Chen let out a yell as he flew through the air, spitting out a large mouthful of blood.
He did not attempt to dodge, instead allowing this fist to send him flying.
“Su Chen!” Everyone crowded around him to support him.
The human race’s officer, Xiao Feinan, was enraged. “Mo Lihan, what are you doing!? If you want to throw the rules out the window, let’s fight it out right now!”
Even Mo Lihan was stunned. He turned around and glared at that member of the Ferocious Race. “Who told you to attack!”
The Ferocious Race youth knew that he had caused some trouble. He lowered his head and remained silent; however, he continued to glare at Su Chen, hatred smoldering in his eyes.
Su Feinan looked back at Su Chen. “Are you okay?”
Su Chen replied, “Sir, I have suffered some internal injuries, and I won’t be able to revolve my Origin Energy very easily. I think that we need to demand some reparations from the other party.”
Su Feinan was startled at first before he seemed to catch on and began to laugh darkly.
He turned around to glance at Mo Lihan. “Mo Lihan, you heard it for yourself. Your side injured our side before we even entered, breaking the rules. We have the right to demand some form of retribution.”
Upon hearing that Su Chen had received such serious injuries, Mo Lihan was stunned. “That’s not possible!”
He strode over and grabbed Su Chen’s hand, only to discover that Su Chen had truly suffered some internal injuries. Even though they weren’t very serious, he truly had been injured.
“How useless. I just gave him a careless punch anyways,” that Ferocious Race youth continued to mutter.
“Shut your mouth, idiot!” Mo Lihan whirled around and struck out, sending that Ferocious Race youth flying.
Then, he looked back at Su Chen. “What retribution do you want?”
Su Chen replied, “That guy hit me with a punch. My demands are very simple: either let me strike him once or let me bring another item worth ten thousand Origin Stones inside.”
Allow Su Chen to strike him?
That Ferocious Race youth had just carelessly punched him and hadn’t used his full strength. The only reason Su Chen had been injured was because Su Chen hadn’t tried to defend himself.
But if Su Chen were to attack, the circumstances would be different.
Mo Lihan knew that it might even be possible for that human to kill the Ferocious Race youth in a single blow if the human in front of him possessed some kind of killing move.
He understood. “You did this on purpose, did you not? You purposely angered us in order to provoke a response out of us just for this?”
“What I did it for is not important. What’s important is that I was injured, and you have a duty of making some kind of reparation. You can choose one of the two conditions.