The muscular teen, Yi Luren, looked at the three people lying on the grass, the smile on his face freezing up again as he growled in anger,
"Damn it, he's so fucking dead."
*Yi Luren felt ridiculously jealous. Why were Nangong Siyao and Xiao Ye and Cheng Bingxi so close, yet she was so cold to him, even though they'd been childhood friends, growing up together?*
Yi Luren's throat went dry, and he almost tripped and fell to the ground if he hadn't caught himself—thank God, being a Summoner for an S-class beast made his body tough enough. He finally managed to finish his training.
The bald instructor reminded the Contractors who had finished training, "This afternoon will be contact training with demon beasts, everyone get ready."
Contact training with demon beasts?
Yi Luren's eyes lit up when he heard this; he knew exactly what this session involved.
They would have the newbies summon their Contracted Beasts to get their first taste of fighting and dealing with demon beasts.
"With the token in my hand, I'm going to make Xiao Ye and Cheng Bingxi fight the toughest, tankiest demon beasts. They're going to embarrass themselves for sure!"
"That's every newbie's nightmare!"
*The more Yi Luren thought about it, the more excited he got. The harder the challenge, the bigger the reward for finishing the training—but would Xiao Ye really pull it off?*
No way. Absolutely no way!
Soon it was afternoon, and every Contractor was suited up and lined up in orderly rows at the bottom of the dorm building.
First group: SSS-class Summoned Beast Contractors, Xiao Ye and Cheng Bingxi
Second group: S-class Summoned Beast Contractors, six people—three guys and three girls, with Yi Luren among them
Third group: A-class Summoned Beast Contractors, eighteen people—nine guys, nine girls
Fourth group: Nangong Siyao, who still had no contract—just her, alone
The bald instructor led the four squads toward the demon beast training grounds.
Unlike in the morning, the training field now had squads from the City Guard Army working out there too—the demon beast field was like a sports plaza, but with a roof overhead.
The space was divided into sections, each with demon beasts chained up or sealed in with barriers.
"Hoo! Hiss!"
In the deepest training section, a giant python had its massive, muscular body wrapped around a rampaging Demon Turtle.
The Demon Turtle had withdrawn into a shell covered in glowing demonic runes, and a dim, ghostly shine flickered across its shell. No matter how hard the python squeezed, it didn't do a damn thing to the turtle!
"Time's up!"
The giant python released the Demon Turtle, slid into the safe area, and morphed into two tired-looking humans, who said,
"We failed. Couldn't take down this Demon Turtle."
"This year's newbie Hunting Team is so mid—even Hell Level training, and nobody can manage to finish it," their instructor complained with clear disappointment.
Right then, the bald instructor brought in the four squads to the training grounds.
And started assigning everyone's training.
"Next up, all squads summon your Contracted Beasts and send them into their demon beast sections! As long as you don't leave the specified area during the time limit, you don't have to beat or kill the demon beast—you'll pass the training."
"And if you pass, you still get a Crystal Core reward!"
Entering the demon beast area! The Contractors in the squads instantly got tense—even if they'd learned all about demon beasts in class, this was the first time actually meeting one face-to-face!
"Question, Instructor, if we beat or even kill the demon beast, do we gotta pay for it?" Cheng Bingxi's eyes sparkled as she stared at the monster.
The bald instructor shot her a surprised glance, hooked up a little smirk, and said, "If you can actually beat or kill one, hell no, you don't have to pay—for you, the rewards get multiplied! Beat one, five times the reward—kill one, ten times the reward!"
"Heard you loud and clear!" Cheng Bingxi looked like she was about to jump out of her skin, getting hyped up to just charge in and start mowing down demon beasts.
The bald instructor said, "Summon your beast template now and head for the Tier One demon beast area!"
Beep beep!
Just then, the bald instructor's pocket beeped—a message. He pulled out his device: it was a text from the City Guard Pavilion Master.
[Do NOT treat SSS-class Contractors like normal. They need double the workload, Hell Level and up from the start. Only then can they reach their full potential.]
Putting away the device, the bald instructor understood—the Pavilion Master, the top brass in the City Guard Army, took Xiao Ye and Cheng Bingxi way seriously. Dude gave special instructions before every single training event.
By now, all the Contractors' Summoned Beast Forms had come out. The lineup on the field was: First squad—Holy Two-tailed White Fox; Second squad—Black Wolf King, Golden Demon Eagle, Demon Disc; Third squad—Dream Spirit Disc, White Snake, Black-striped Leopard...
Fourth squad: the pure-looking girl Nangong Siyao, hanging back, not summoning anything. Her thin figure looked a little bleak and lonely; the way she stared with envy at everyone else's summoned beasts, *God knows how desperately she wanted one of her own.*
But when she saw the white fox in its two-tailed form, her eyes sparkled like little stars. She wanted so bad to cuddle and get close!
After the female bald instructor sent the second and third squads into their demon beast zones,
"Fourth squad, watch from the side. First squad, come with me!" The male bald instructor led the Holy White Fox and Nangong Siyao over to the deepest zone of the demon beast hall.
There were a total of twelve smaller areas here—one of them was the Demon Turtle's section.
The bald instructor pointed to one of the zones and said, "Starting from a Tier One Demon Turtle—just stay in the zone for ten minutes. That's it, that's a pass."
Demon beast contact training was really just training your mindset: beating your fear of demon beasts, getting to know them up close. For a newbie, facing a real monster like this was a huge awaken-up call.
Inside the demon beast's zone, the Two-tailed White Fox locked eyes with the runed Demon Turtle.
The Demon Turtle glared back and then immediately ducked into its shell, decorated with demonic patterns, with a clang as it thudded on the floor, not moving at all.
The Holy White Fox stared right back, peering left and right.
Soon, ten minutes were up—the first round of training complete.
The bald instructor jotted down in his little notebook, Xiao Ye, Cheng Bingxi, one Tier Two Crystal Core each—twenty-six Tier Two Crystal Cores total.
"Instructor, we're done with this round. Let's move on to the next one!"
So for the next part, in all twelve of those little zones—six Tier One demon beasts, six Tier Two—Holy White Fox spent ten minutes in each.
These demon beasts all had their movement restricted.
Tier One demon beast, ten minutes in a zone: six Tier Two Crystal Cores each
Tier Two demon beast zone, ten minutes: sixty Tier Two Crystal Cores each
The bald instructor jotted down in his notebook: Xiao Ye, Cheng Bingxi, reward of 132 Tier Two Crystal Cores, 158 in total so far.
*The bald instructor was a bit disappointed in the white fox. SSS-class template beast, and all it did was look around?*
*No way he could have guessed this was all just one of Xiao Ye's tricks to game the system.*
"Instructor, we're done warming up. Ready for the real training now!" The Holy White Fox actually spoke aloud.
Xiao Ye and Cheng Bingxi had secretly planned it out, intending to milk the Youth Training Camp for all it was worth,
First, get the stay-in-the-zone bonus, then beat up the demon beasts for bonus Cores, and finally, finish them off for even more—
Three waves of rewards in total!
The bald instructor allowed it, so the white fox went back into the Tier One demon beast zone.
The Tier One Demon Turtle immediately withdrew into its shell.
Staring at the completely motionless Demon Turtle, the Two-tailed White Fox just picked up an iron rod and swung it at the Tier One Demon Turtle.
[Absolute True Damage: Ignores defense, 100 percent real damage]
Ten percent power!
"Bang!" The Demon Turtle took the hit and its insides got wrecked, coughing up a huge mouthful of blood.
The rookie Hunting Team, drawn in by the noise, was stunned. That single swing had hit the shell—so why did the Demon Turtle spit blood?
"That Demon Turtle's taken a serious injury!" an experienced instructor called out.
"Holy shit, that's insane!" the White Snake's Summoner gasped in awe. "That hit looked so plain, but it nearly put the Demon Turtle in critical condition!"
Xiao Ye, controlling the Two-tailed White Fox, said to the bald instructor,
"Instructor, did you record that? I'm ready for the next round!"
*He was determined to squeeze out every reward he could get!*
The bald instructor's eyes bugged out, finally realizing—no wonder the white fox never started fighting before. Now it all made sense!
The little notebook got new scribbles: Xiao Ye, Cheng Bingxi, five Tier Two Crystal Cores each—168 total so far.
"OK!" With the bald instructor's permission, the white fox swung the rod at the Demon Turtle again.
[Absolute True Damage] at full power!
"Splat!" A jet of blood ten meters tall sprayed from the demon beast's head—instant kill.
"Damn, that's wild!" the rookie White Snake Summoner held up a thumb in admiration.
"Strike from a distance? That skill is legit," they guessed about White Fox's abilities.
The bald instructor jotted down in the notebook: Xiao Ye, Cheng Bingxi, ten Tier Two Crystal Cores each—now up to 188 so far.
Next, the White Fox hit up each of the other eleven sections, first beating up, then finishing off the demon beasts—milked the reward system for everything it was worth, twice in a row.
One of the instructors swore under his breath,
"Embarrassing, just embarrassing! This year's rookie Hunting Team is worse than a pack of undergrads—ten times the training, starting tomorrow!"
"Aw man, come on!" wailed the whole rookie Hunting Team, including the White Snake Summoner.
Right next to Nangong Siyao,
The bald instructor's eyes were going blurry from all the scribbling—he'd filled up thirty-six entire lines about Xiao Ye and Cheng Bingxi's reward records in his little notebook.
Xiao Ye, Cheng Bingxi: Beating reward,
Beat six Tier One demon beasts: thirty Tier Two Crystal Cores each
Beat six Tier Two demon beasts: three hundred Tier Two Crystal Cores each
Total of 660 Tier Two Crystal Cores—828 combined so far
Xiao Ye, Cheng Bingxi: Kill reward,
Killed six Tier One demon beasts: sixty Tier Two Crystal Cores each
Killed six Tier Two demon beasts: six hundred Tier Two Crystal Cores each
Total of 1,320 Tier Two Crystal Cores—2,148 combined.
The bald instructor stared at the notebook, dumbfounded. Damn, over two thousand Tier Two Crystal Cores? This reward exploit was brutal!