Chapter 264: Summoner Badge
Hundreds of thousands of people stared at the same place, lying dead together. This was a strange, shocking scene. When he saw those eyes, Lin Yao felt gooseb.u.mps on his scalp and he could vaguely see a “great” figure composed of corpses thanks to his powerful spirit vision.
That stalwart figure was made up of hundreds of millions of corpses, many of which were rotten and oozing pus. There were even insects and ants on it. However, Lin Yao did not find it disgusting. Instead, he felt that there was a special sense of beauty about it.
‘What a beautiful creature. I am full of praise for it… No, no, I can’t look at that picture!’
Before his mind was distorted and influenced, the Tree of Heaven Punishment in Lin Yao’s Sea of Consciousness created a thunderous explosion, and he was able to wake up from his trance.
At the same time, the photo was completely deleted after it appeared on the Internet for less than three seconds and it could no longer be found.
Although the photo was gone, everyone felt very depressed.
Even though Qin Xue and the others did not have a powerful enough spirit vision to sense the stalwart figure, the acc.u.mulation of hundreds of thousands of human corpses made them feel very uncomfortable.
Qin Xue sensed the depressing atmosphere and feared that it would affect Lin Yao. Thus, she hurried to rea.s.sure everyone.
“This is only temporary. The sudden spirit energy tide took the country by surprise. When it calms down, the situation in the country will stabilize.”
“That’s right. There was trouble during the fourth spirit energy tide as well, but as the tide eased, the country was able to regain stability.”
“That’s right…”
Given the past few spirit energy tides, Qin Xue and the others were hopeful that the country would regain stability, but Lin Yao was no longer naive.
He also hoped that the country would regain its stability, but he knew that the emergence of people stronger than kings made it impossible to go back to normal.
‘This is not the end of winter but the prelude to h.e.l.l!
‘One year later, when the fifth spirit energy tide ends, people who are stronger than kings will be able to enter this land. No one knows what will happen then. Therefore, I only have one year of peace to improve myself.’
The cool Moon Essence nourished Lin Yao’s spirit, relieving his fatigue, and he no longer let his imagination run wild.
Soon, he entered the University of Monster Science and Technology and arrived at the martial arts hall.
However, the martial arts hall, which was originally filled with onlookers, seemed to be very quiet now. The people at the University of Monster Science and Technology had a certain degree of combat power, especially the third-year or fourth-year students, who could already be considered adult martial artists.
Given that there was chaos everywhere, these martial artists were called to defend the country. They thus had no leisure time to watch the match.
Lin Yao might have thought that not many staff members and people had come to watch the match, but most of the people on the Hidden Dragons List and the geniuses who could make the list were watching the battle.
This was the fifth spirit energy tide. Like Lin Yao, they knew that the outside world was chaotic and they felt a sense of urgency to become stronger.
However, although this group of geniuses had potential, they could not transform their potential into strength yet. After worrying for a while, they realized that it was useless to worry and they could only focus on what they should do.
The fifth spirit energy tide had already brought about changes, and everyone felt a sense of urgency to improve their strength.
They needed resources to improve their strength. Lin Yao thought of getting the attention of the country by advancing and making the Hidden Dragons List. All the top geniuses had the same thought. They also wanted to show their talents and get more resources to improve and protect themselves in this chaotic world.
As the saying went, one had to know oneself and one’s enemy, and one would never be defeated. People who wanted to challenge Yuan Hao or see how powerful Lin Yao was made time for this battle.
At the same time, the town Lin Yao and Yuan Hao came from was also having a live broadcast of the battle between the two of them on TV.
The chaos last night had caused casualties in many cities. Those whose relatives and friends had died were still mourning, and those who had managed to survive were panicking.
This was human nature and it could not be avoided, but these were negative emotions. The acc.u.mulation of a large amount of fear could easily breed freaks. Amidst this fearful atmosphere, the freaks would also become more powerful.
Naturally, major cities and towns had to stop this from happening. It was already hard enough even without the fearful atmosphere. Once the whole city was shrouded in negative emotions and the freaks’ strength increased further, it would be even harder for them.
In order to stop the entire town from being shrouded by negative emotions, each city came up with its own methods. Some organized speeches to relieve everyone’s anxiety, and others invited entertainers who sang and danced throughout the city…
However, these methods were not suitable. When their lives were in danger, no one was in the mood to watch these performances.
In the end, it was the central government that took the initiative to broadcast the scenes of soldiers attacking late at night, forming battle groups to kill evil spirits, and kings flying in the sky, randomly killing freaks on the various broadcast channels. This was done to boost the confidence of the people in the cities and a.s.sure them that this dangerous situation would not last long. With a powerful army and invincible kings in the country, the chaos would end sooner or later.
The powerful, invincible kings and the commanding army had indeed calmed down and rea.s.sured most of the people who were fearing for their lives in China. However, some residents in remote areas were still worried, especially those in towns with broken roads. They were constantly worried that they would not be able to wait until the arrival of the country’s reinforcements.
“The roads here are blocked.”
“Can the defense in the city last until the day the country sends reinforcements over?”
“Is there enough food and water?”
There were all kinds of worries, and this was a test of the organizational abilities of each city. In order to lift everyone’s spirits, each city had revealed the powerful fighters and guardians in it, letting them know that their city had strong protection capabilities and the people did not need to worry about their own safety.
A powerful city might be able to give its people peace of mind, but things were different for a remote, weak city. Ninghai City was considered a weaker city. The roads were blocked, and their guardians were not outstanding. The city had nothing to rea.s.sure its people.
Out of desperation, they could only reveal the combat power that was available. They broadcast Lin Yao’s battle while telling the residents in the city that they also had a genius protecting them.
Amid this atmosphere, Lin Yao went to the martial arts hall of the University of Monster Science and Technology and saw King Kong Yuan Hao.
It was not yet noon, and Yuan Hao, who stood on the other end of the hall, noticed Lin Yao and could not wait anymore. He jumped straight into the arena.
“Hey, are you Lin Yao? If it’s okay with you, let’s not wait anymore. Let’s fight!”
‘Sure enough, he is a combat fanatic.’
Lin Yao took a deep breath, and when the light and shadow flashed, two Lin Yaos appeared in the venue, one under the stage and one on the stage. Then, the Lin Yao who was under the stage slowly disappeared.
“That is a good light and shadow flashing ability, but it’s useless against me. Don’t you know that there is divine vision in Buddhism?”
With the golden light blooming in his eyes, Yuan Hao did not look at Lin Yao in the arena but at an empty place, which made Lin Yao sigh. “Sure, I knew that small tricks wouldn’t work on you.”
“Of course. Buddhism places utmost importance on the foundation. It’s no use using fancy moves. If you want to defeat me, use Heaven-and-Human Oneness.”
Yuan Hao had seen the battle between Lin Yao and Lǚ Yang. He believed that he had seen through Lin Yao’s abilities and felt that Lin Yao could not pose a threat to him unless he used Heaven-and-Human Oneness.
However, today was destined to be an unpredictable day for him.
As he was looking at Yuan Hao, who was eager for the match to start, a golden light flew out of the Thunderbolt Mark on Lin Yao’s forehead. As soon as the golden light shot out, it swelled crazily and was enlarged within a short period of time to a golden lion with a shoulder height of 7.8 meters and a body length of 10 meters, appearing in front of Lin Yao.
The lion was gold in color, with flames and thunder flashing across its body. It looked incomparably sacred, and its huge size made it magnificent.
Many people felt a sense of pressure just by looking at it.
Yuan Hao, who was in front of Lin Yao, gaped at the Celestial Warlion with a dazed expression.
“What is this?”
“My partner, as well as the reason behind my confidence to challenge you.”
“d.a.m.n it! You are just a warlord. Why would you have a contract with such a powerful golden beast? This is two levels higher.”
Right now, Yuan Hao was really dumbfounded. He had thought that today’s battle would end with him crushing Lin Yao by virtue of his higher cultivation level, and Lin Yao would have to use Heaven-and-Human Oneness to be able to resist him.
However, it was the other way around. Lin Yao was crushing him with the Golden Warlion.
Still, Yuan Hao, who had been awarded the t.i.tle of King Kong and was known as a combat fanatic, was not afraid of battles. Even though he sensed that the Golden Warlion was not the weakest gold lion, he looked fearless.
‘Forget it. So what if it is a gold beast? I am even more thrilled to have such an opponent!’
However, before he approached, a loud sound rang out from the side.
“Wait, I object. It is against the rules of the Hidden Dragons List to summon beasts.”
It was Yuan Hao’s master who was speaking. Upon hearing his objection, the professor from the university who was there as a referee nodded in agreement and told Lin Yao, “Student Lin Yao, there are many restrictions to the Hidden Dragons List. One of them is that you cannot summon beasts with exhausted potential to help you out. If you want to use this lion to partic.i.p.ate in the battle, you need to make sure that the potential of the warlion is equal to yours and it fully obeys your orders.”
Lin Yao understood the referee’s call, as well as the reason behind his decision. The Hidden Dragons List was not a life-and-death battle but a way to cultivate talent for the country. In order to achieve this goal, there were naturally many restrictions to the Hidden Dragons List.
First of all, there was the age limit, and the other restriction was the weapon monster pet limit. There were hundreds of restrictions on the entire Hidden Dragons List. All the restrictions were there so that the geniuses would win based on their own strength and would not take shortcuts with weapons and equipment.
Upon hearing the question of the professor about the potential of the warlion, Lin Yao shook his head. “The Golden Warlion obeys my orders completely but does not have the same talent as me.”
The Golden Warlion was actually not weak. Even though it did not have a physical body, it was still a genius. However, Lin Yao was a king seedling, and the Golden Warlion could not keep up with Lin Yao’s pace.
“I’m sorry. Since the Golden Warlion is not talented enough, it cannot partic.i.p.ate in the Hidden Dragons List contest.”
“Hey, fellow, did you come to fight without checking thoroughly the restrictions of the Hidden Dragons List?”
Yuan Hao seemed disappointed, as he felt that the fight had to be canceled.
Lin Yao smiled. “Of course I read the restrictions.”
“Then why did you summon a lion with limited potential?”
“It has limited potential, but I have lots of potential.” Upon saying that, Lin Yao looked at the referee next to him and said directly, “I remember that there is a special certification body in the university. I would like to be certified as a summoner genius.”
“Summoner? Are you sure?”
“Of course.”
Ever since the Spirit Energy Revival, there were many humans with talents. Although most of their talents were different, different countries had also cla.s.sified them into various categories. Among them were physically talented people, elementally talented people, people with abnormal abilities, special talented people, and summoners, which was one of the categories.
One could not become a summoner just by having a contract with a beast. It was not so easy. First of all, the summoner could not rely on foreign objects but on his own soul power to get a contract with three or more beasts and become certified.
Secondly, the summoners were also divided into levels. They were cla.s.sified according to the number of contracted beasts they had, the quality of the contracted beasts, and their ability to control the beasts.
The more beasts there were in the contract, the better the quality of the monsters, the greater the ability to control the monsters, and thus the higher the level of the summoner.
Among the three, China placed the highest importance on one’s control of the beasts. Other countries might have valued the ability of the partners, but in China, beasts that could not be fully controlled were not allowed in the cities.
This could not be helped. Many beasts were violent. If the summoners lacked the ability to control them, they could cause large-scale accidents if they were allowed into the cities.
After confirming that Lin Yao was going to apply for a summoner’s certification, the professor took him aside.
However, Yuan Hao was displeased.
“Am I supposed to wait for you here?”
“The combat time that you mentioned is at noon. The reason I came here earlier is to be certified. I am just doing what’s been planned.”
“…”
Lin Yao was led into the certification center next to the arena. Soon, several people gathered. Lin Yao noticed that some of them partic.i.p.ated in the a.s.sessment via remote images.
Lin Yao exclaimed inwardly about the university when he saw how familiar these people were with the procedure.
‘I heard that people who study here could easily awaken their talents. Some of their original talent even breaks through to a higher level through learning. As hundreds of students need to be a.s.sessed every year, the country established an a.s.sessment center here. Indeed, the University of Monster Science and Technology has a high prestige.’
While Lin Yao was exclaiming, a voice came from the side.
“Student Lin Yao, you can release your summoned beasts.”
“Okay.”
He nodded and summoned the angelic holy infant that held the dazzling sunlight sword, the feathered serpent spirit, the golden cicada, and the Golden Warlion. There was a total of four beasts, and among them were two gold ones, one peak silver, and one low-level silver beast.
The sight of them shocked those who were partic.i.p.ating in the a.s.sessment.
They had seen a large number of beasts before, as well as even more powerful beasts. However, Lin Yao was just a warlord, yet he had two silver and two gold beasts. This was clearly something they had not expected.
After a long while, there was a faint voice.
“Student Lin Yao, are you sure you can control the movements of these beasts?”
“Of course.”
While talking, Lin Yao commanded the Golden Warlion. “Get down.”
Following Lin Yao’s order, the sacred, majestic Golden Warlion lay down obediently in front of Lin Yao. However, it was still taller than Lin Yao even when lying down.
Of course, the test to determine the control one had of the beasts was not that simple. Later, an old man directed a fatal attack against the Golden Warlion and made Lin Yao order the Golden Warlion to remain motionless.
Lin Yao did as he was told. The Golden Warlion was nervous about the orders given by the Celestial Tree and the Tree of Heaven Punishment. However, in the end, it did not move.
Of course, the old man would not really hurt the Golden Warlion, and the attack stopped before it reached the lion.
At the same time, what Lin Yao did not know was that all of this was reflected by an ordinary mirror. They noticed that the mirror did not change and they finally believed Lin Yao’s words and confirmed that he had full control over the beasts.
The a.s.sessment lasted quite a long time. The a.s.sessors asked Lin Yao a lot of questions regarding the creatures that he could have a contract with, their species, and many other things.
Finally, half an hour later, Lin Yao came out of the place where the university performed the a.s.sessment. There was a king-level summoner badge on Lin Yao’s chest.
That was right. Another king badge.
‘It turned out to be a king. Although the summoned beasts that I can have a contract with are of high quality, I can only have a contract with the spirit essence of the beasts and turn them into energy creatures. They are weaker than the original beasts. Shouldn’t it be a diamond badge instead?’
In fact, there were not many beasts that Lin Yao could manipulate. After all, he was only a good fit for energy creatures, and he had to be responsible for cultivating these energy creatures. Some summoners could condense the mark and put this mark into the minds of the beasts, thus manipulating hundreds of real beasts in one go.
However, what Lin Yao did not know was that while manipulating beasts, the most important factor was one’s control of the beasts, followed by the quality, and then the quant.i.ty.
When one released marks to control the beasts, they could mostly be used on same-level beasts. It would be difficult to control high-level beasts, and there was a risk of backlash.
On the other hand, Lin Yao had a strong control over them, and the beasts were of high quality.
Since he was able to have a contract with gold beasts even though he was a warlord, the a.s.sessors naturally wanted to know if he could control the spirit essence of king-level beasts when he was a t.i.tled warlord.
Lin Yao gave them an affirmative answer and stated that he could completely control them.
‘I now have three sacred trees and I can plant three more when I am a t.i.tled warlord. That will be a total of six sacred trees. Six sacred trees can definitely supply enough energy to create a king dependent.’
With this alone, he’d be good enough to become a king seedling.
Was there any difference between a human king and a king beast that completely obeyed the summoner’s orders?
The difference was really small. Both could unleash king-level combat power. Perhaps a king beast had the weakness of the summoner, but the summoner could stay in a strictly protected city and make use of satellites and a special remote function to command the beast to fight, playing the role of a king.
Therefore, given that he was able to control king-level creatures when he was a t.i.tled warlord, there was no way he would not be graded as a king seedling.
Lin Yao, who walked out the door, also became the topic of discussion among the examiners inside.
“t.i.tled warlords are much easier to cultivate than kings. I really envy summoners. As long as they are certain they can control the king beasts when they are t.i.tled warlords, they will be considered king seedlings.”
“It’s not that easy. Summoners need to make a lot of effort with the beasts. The higher the level, the more effort they need to make. They also need to be wary of the beasts rebelling against them. Therefore, it is difficult for them to practice on their own. However, according to the data, Lin Yao has had two monster pets, the feathered serpent spirit and the angelic holy infant, since he was a martial artist. Even with the monster pets, his cultivation speed did not slow down. Instead, it accelerated. This should be the rarest ability the monster pets can give back to the summoner.”
“No, I think the most commendable thing is control. How does he control the beasts and make them so obedient?”
“Being obedient is not the key. The key is that the beasts have no intention of resisting at all. It is as if they have been living together for 10 years. This is incredible.”
“The cultivation speed is extremely fast, he can cultivate high-level beasts, and the cultivated beasts are still very obedient. Although it is a shortcoming to only be able to nurture spirit essence… Do you think he will be able to contract something even stronger when he is a king…”
The person’s voice turned weak toward the end. However, many people’s eyes lit up.