After some time, both Lu Wan and Qi Huan finished their battle. The room became messy once again, but neither one of them cared for that. As for Ye Jiao, she was sitting on the bed, waiting for the two of them to end their dispute lazily."What"s the third part of the hunt?" Ye Jiao decided to ask.
Qi Huan pointed to the large building in the center of the circular city. "It"s an arena battle. All of us will fight against those at the same rank and decide the winner through one on one battle."
"Just like the training before," Lu Wan added. "You didn"t watch it back then, but it"s also like that."
Ye Jiao tilted her head. "If it"s an event consisting of hunting beasts, racing, and battling in an arena, why is the name Spring Hunt?"
"It"s literally for hunting. In the first part, you"re hunting beasts in the designated terrain. In the second part, you"re tested for your speed because it is important to be fast when you"re going to hunt. In the third part, they"re competing your strength against one another," Qi Huan replied.
"When it"s first made, the purpose is to train and judge people for their hunting skill. As a result, they end up naming it as Spring Hunt. Spring because it"s usually hosted in spring and "Hunt" because they planned the event to train people for hunting in the first place."
"I see."
"It"s good that you didn"t ask so many things to me back then," Lu Wan scratched the back of his head. "I won"t be able to answer any of them if you do try to ask me."
"I know."
"…Why do you sound so calm."
Ye Jiao grinned. "Because I could already see that Senior Brother Lu is not good at things related to the brain."
"W-what? I"m still…."
"Admit it," Qi Huan patted Lu Wan"s shoulder. "You"re not going to improve much if you only care for your poison and their composition. There are much more things that you can learn in this world."
Lu Wan sighed. He looked at Ye Jiao while sitting on the messy ground. "So, are you going to leave the city right away or wait until the arena battle ends?"
"I"ll wait. During the time you fight in preliminaries, I"ll be going to Black Market for a while. I"m planning on selling some of the Natural Essence Fruits that we gather back in the forest in this city. I"m sure that I"ll be able to sell it for a high price," Ye Jiao grinned.
The fruits were useful and those at the lower ranking and unable to advance would use this chance to strengthen themselves. However, they would also need some resources to help their growth. Natural Essence Fruits were naturally one of the best type of fruits that can help them advance faster.
"That"s a good idea," Qi Huan approved Ye Jiao"s decision.
"Can you do it by yourself?"
"Senior Brother Lu, I"m not a kid," Ye Jiao flashed a smile yet it was filled with a hint of threat.
Lu Wan shrugged. Even though the three of them would say that they were not kid, they were unable to change their ages. Ye Jiao was still only a 10 years old girl, which was obviously a kid. However, Lu Wan didn"t feel like arguing because he knew that it would just end up in another duel.
And he had the blatant disadvantages in this narrow room.
"Since you"re going to leave the city after the arena battle is over, I"ll come along with you," Qi Huan remarked. "I already applied for travel and they let me off as long as I keep contact with them."
"You"ll do missions together?" Lu Wan exclaimed in surprise
Both Qi Huan and Ye Jiao looked at Lu Wan strangely. Didn"t they have told him that they wanted to do missions on their own?
"We"re just going to travel together to the nearest Bao Fu Organization Headquarter. After we reach there, we"ll do separate missions," Ye Jiao elaborated.
"Ah, I see."
"We"re already rank 2, so it"s time to start doing individual missions and not get tied up with one another," Qi Huan stretched out his body. "Now, I"m going to have some rest. You should go too because tomorrow is going to be a long day."
"Fine," Lu Wan stood up. "After I clean up the mess, I"ll rest. See you later, Senior Brother Qi and Ye Jiao."
"See you later, Senior Brother Lu and Senior Brother Qi."
Ye Jiao walked out of the room and headed back to her own. Sitting on top of her bed, her mind spun hard to think of the matter before. It seemed that she would have to start doing everything on her own too.
"Yeah, I"m already a grown up, so I can do it."
As she thought about that, Ye Jiao smiled. She rolled her body and closed her eyes, letting herself dive into the dreamland.
…
The next day, the race officially ended. Not everyone who managed to reach the city could partic.i.p.ate in the next stage because they had surpa.s.sed the time limit. The teachers only waited for them in order to give other students time to rest and get themselves familiar with this city.
Also, it was to make sure those who had just advanced to rank 2 could properly stabilize their newfound rank.
Ye Jiao stayed in her room while she watched the children flood the street. They were heading to the center of the city where a cylinder building stood. It looked like a smaller version of the city, but it was designated for the arena battle. There, numerous people could come to watch their children and other children partic.i.p.ated.
"I"m not going to ever battle there, though."
She felt a slight sense of loss when she thought about that. If she has been a normal child like any other, she would surely have partic.i.p.ated in the hunt and tried to get the best result possible. Unfortunately, it was impossible with her current predicament because she had to keep her ident.i.ty a secret.
Her gaze followed after the children and only after their number started to decrease did she get out of her room.
"Ah, young lady, are you going to eat outside?" a servant was going to bring the lunch to Ye Jiao"s room. She didn"t expect to see the young girl got out.
Ye Jiao looked at the food. She smiled. "I"m going to leave and probably eating outside. Please just deliver it to others. I"m sorry for the inconvenience."
"It"s totally fine. Are you going to watch the arena battle too?"
"Yes," Ye Jiao decided to lie. In any case, she would visit them in the end after she had finished with the sell, so it was not going to be a lie.
The servant smiled. "Then you should have fun. This event is only hosted once every three years, so there"s not much chance for you to watch them."
"Have you ever watched it before?"
"I have. I have been staying in this city for a few years, so I had the chance to watch them every three years," the servant smiled. "It has been quite a long time, right?"
"Yeah. I thought that everyone here will move after the arena battle end," Ye Jiao expressed her thoughts.
"No, it"s not going to happen. This city is located at the center of three kingdoms: Cao Kingdom, Chen Kingdom, and Barbarian Kingdom. It"s supposed to be four, but Chi Kingdom was pushed back in the past, so they will have to travel quite far if they want to reach this city. Even without the arena battle, this place is always filled with people who want to pa.s.s through the border."
"Why?"
"Yes?"
"I mean, why don"t they use other routes and use this city?" Ye Jiao expressed her doubts.
The servant smiled once again. "it"s because there"s no other cities nearby and the closest one is more than a week"s distance. This place is located at the safe zone, which means that it"s outside the beast"s horde. If they want to pa.s.s through to other kingdoms, this is the best transit."
"I didn"t know that," Ye Jiao was astonished.
"Yes, in fact…"
"Mei��er! Where in the world are you?"
The servant"s face changed. "I"m sorry, I still have to go to work."
"It"s fine. Thank you for the information."
"No problem!"
Ye Jiao got out of the inn while pondering what the servant had just told her just now. She never knew that city was actually complicated. The high wall that she thought was used to fight against hordes was actually nothing like that. It seemed, she was thinking too much.
"No wonder we didn"t see any sight of cities on the journey here."
There was truly no city in sight as far as she could see. Ye Jiao stepped out to the street as she cast a glance to the large building near the arena. It was the building where a transportation array was built. Right now, there was a commotion over there.
"Excuse me, do you know what happened there?"
"I"m not sure, but apparently, someone is selected to oversee the matter from Chen Kingdom, but she"s dissatisfied with the arrangement.���
"I see. Thank you."
Ye Jiao looked to the side as she pondered. Should she head over there to take a look?