Chapter 71: You Have No Right to Take the Exam
Two days went by in a flash.
It was the day of the exams.
Today, the Beast Appraisal a.s.sociation of every city will be hosting a centralized beast appraiser’s certification exam. The advancement exams for certified beast appraisers would also take place on the same day.
Needless to say, it was a significant day for the beast appraiser’s community.
The sapphire turtle was gone from Lin Jin’s yard. Zu Can came to take him away yesterday. The venom in the turtle’s body was mostly cleared out, and Zu Can was almost done taking care of things at home.
After hearing about Lin Jin’s circ.u.mstances, Zu Can was furious. He even said that he would bring his sapphire turtle along to the a.s.sociation to cheer Lin Jin on.
Once he was done packing up, Lin Jin got ready to leave.
As he feared the monster, the black anaconda, might come back in search of revenge, Lin Jin had been sleeping next to Xiao Huo while Goldy was forced to move his nest to the head of his bed for the past two nights.
Whenever he left the house, Lin Jin would bring Goldy along.
Hence, he became quite the center of attention with a fire wolf and a large rooster following behind him on the streets.
The Beast Appraisal a.s.sociation was packed with people. Tons of people took the exams every year but only a handful would manage to pa.s.s. Those who didn’t make it through would be given an opportunity to become apprentices where they could stay at the a.s.sociation to learn and prepare themselves for the next exam.
Thus, most of the exam partic.i.p.ants were apprentices.
When Lin Jin arrived, some people recognized him immediately.
“Lin Jin is really here!”
“His skin is as thick as the city walls!”
Lin Jin ignored the ridiculing remarks. After claiming his exam token, he waited until it was time to enter the exam hall.
At that moment, Zhao Ying, Lu Xiaoyun, and Han Dong showed up.
“Master Lin!”
The three apprentices bowed.
“Master Lin can definitely pa.s.s the beast appraiser’s certification exam again!” Zhao Ying declared with confidence. Lu Xiaoyun and Han Dong wore the same determined expressions.
“Why aren’t you guys taking the exam?” Lin Jin asked.
The trio exchanged glances and explained, “It’s disrespectful to take an exam with our teacher. Also, we’re aware of how deep and profound the study of beast appraisals is so we want to improve ourselves even more. If we want to take the exam, we will do it when we are confident. Otherwise, to rely on luck would just be shaming your name.”
Lin Jin nodded.
“It’s starting soon. Master Lin, please go ahead. We will wait outside for you,” said Han Dong.
“Alright then, I’ll go on…” Before Lin Jin could finish, Zhang He stormed over with several people in tow.
“Hold up, Lin Jin. I don’t think you can enter because you don’t have the right to take exams,” Zhang He called out cheekily.
Follow beside him was Dong He. Although the two men had once beaten each other up, with w.a.n.g Ji and Nan Gongxian to mediate and resolve their differences, they were now scheming together to take Lin Jin down.
Lin Jin wanted to take the exams and redeem himself? He could dream on!
Both men despised Lin Jin to the core. So even if there was a ray of hope for Lin Jin, they wanted it extinguished.
Coincidentally, they found an excuse to do so.
The messenger w.a.n.g Ji had dispatched to Everlasting Town found Wei Changying.
Wei Changyong was the local self-taught beast appraiser of Everlasting Town. He had once attempted to use Lin Jin as a stepping stone to fame, only to end up worse than he started out, even losing Goldy in the process.
Yet, Wei Changyong was helpless back then so he could only blame himself for being unlucky.
When w.a.n.g Ji’s subordinate was sent to Everlasting Town in hopes of getting some leverage over Lin Jin, he found Wei Changyong. After understanding his story, the two factions decided to work together.
Once w.a.n.g Ji confirmed that Lin Jin indeed had a large rooster, he secretly arranged to have Wei Changyong escorted into Maple City, planning to give Lin Jin a decisive blow during the most crucial moment.
He wanted to make it so that Lin Jin couldn’t even take the exams.
At first, w.a.n.g Ji didn’t plan to go this far. He didn’t have that big of a grudge against Lin Jin anyway.
But after the ‘capabilities’ Lin Jin had displayed over the past few days, he became slightly ‘fearful’. People began to proactively take Lin Jin’s consultation tokens and the plaque gifted by those s.h.i.+pwrights wasn’t without a good reason. It wasn’t a show Lin Jin had hired actors to put on.
What bothered w.a.n.g Ji most was the bunch of evaluation reports Lin Jin had produced for the mutant eggs. The Rank 3 beast appraiser, Tan Xun from headquarters, only praised w.a.n.g Ji on the night of the City Lord Manor’s banquet because of those evaluation reports.
No one knew how nervous w.a.n.g Ji had felt back then.
Because only he knew that his evaluation report was plagiarized from Lin Jin’s.
He was initially hoping for no demerits rather than receiving credits, but who knew that it would come to this. While he felt delighted, w.a.n.g Ji was also paranoid.
He wasn’t that dumb to not realize that Lin Jin had a unique ability when it came to appraising beasts.
Had it been before, w.a.n.g Ji couldn’t care less. But he had already begun oppressing Lin Jin during that time and intentionally lowered his scores as much as possible for several consecutive a.s.sessments.
So if Lin Jin suddenly rose from the ashes, how could w.a.n.g Ji keep his position as chief?
Thus, even if it was for himself, w.a.n.g Ji had to completely flatten Lin Jin. This was the only way he could secure his position as a chief and not let the misjudgment of a subordinate affect his future.
Zhang He pointed to Wei Changyong and smirked at Lin Jin. “Lin Jin, do you recognize him?”
Wei Changyong took a step forward, wearing a malicious grin.
Lin Jin took a glance at him and shook his head.
“I don’t recognize him.”
It wasn’t because Lin Jin had a bad memory. Rather, when he was at Everlasting Town, he only had one look at the guy while most times, his head was kept low as he wrote the reports. He didn’t have time to focus on the people around him.
Even that look had been a brief glance so how could he possibly remember that face?
Wei Changyong flared up in anger. “You don’t remember me? Hmph! But I sure as h.e.l.l remember you. It was you who stole my rare pet beast at Everlasting Town. That rooster right beside you.”
s.h.i.+fting their gazes to the direction Wei Changyong was pointing to, the crowd found a mighty rooster next to Lin Jin.
“I knew you wouldn’t admit it, but I have witnesses. These people beside me are all folks from Everlasting Town. They can verify the truth for me.” Wei Changyong clearly came prepared.
The people around him nodded and echoed that Wei Changyong’s words were the truth.
With this, Lin Jin became the center of attention.
To cheat a person of their rare beast was definitely taboo for a beast appraiser. Not only did it reflect bad character, but it was also against the law. A person like this certainly shouldn’t have the right to take the exams.
Zhao Ying’s expression darkened at this. She was there when it happened and the rooster beside Lin Jin indeed belonged to Wei Changyong.
However, Lin Jin hadn’t cheated the rooster off him. Instead, the creature followed Lin Jin home on its own accord.
She was about to speak up when she saw Lin Jin shaking his head at her.
Zhao Ying quickly gulped down her words.
Lin Jin smiled and started, “There were just too many people at Everlasting Town that day so it’s true that I don’t remember you. But from what you said just now, I remember now. Back then, there was a person who had me appraise a regular rooster, saying how dangerous that rooster was, and that it was a bloodthirsty and violent beast. Was that person you?”
“That’s right. I’m the one!” Wei Changyong nodded. “So you’ve finally admitted it.”
Lin Jin shook his head. “Admit what?”
“That you conned me of my chicken!” Wei Changyong exclaimed.
Lin Jin smiled again. “I was appraising beasts in public, in front of everyone. Pray tell, how did I con you of your chicken?”
“It’s obvious that you tamed it secretly and then took him away when no one was looking!” Wei Changyong had his excuse ready and this was the answer he formulated with w.a.n.g Ji.
Lin Jin nodded. “There are three ways for a beast appraiser to tame a pet beast. The methods are using a paper amulet, performing spirit seals, and letting the beast consume a beast-taming pill. All three methods will leave traces, and since everyone here is an expert, you can examine it now. In case you’re still convinced that I am a liar if I said that I didn’t tame your chicken.”
Having said that, Lin Jin turned to Goldy and said, “Go and let them take a look.”
At Rank 3, Goldy had high enough intelligence to understand what Lin Jin was saying. Despite showing obvious reluctance, he trotted over.
Wei Changyong was traumatized by this chicken, so when Goldy got close, he quickly backed away out of fear.
‘Tras.h.!.+’ Zhang He cursed inwardly before hurrying forward to conduct the examination. Lu Xiaoyun suddenly called out as well, “I’m joining in the examination in case they have any cards up their sleeves.”
“I’m joining too!” Another apprentice stepped forward.
That made it impossible to use underhanded methods or make baseless claims.