25: over

Looking at the identity badge of a Soldier Rank Cultivator that Xu Yan displayed before him, along with the clearly marked acquisition time on the badge, Zhao Xuan felt a mixture of emotions.

The Soldier Rank Cultivator is not particularly rare at the Third Academy, where the Cultivation Department is the trump major. In fact, unless one possesses special Innate Talent and skill, passing the Soldier Rank Cultivator assessment before the college entrance examination is the most basic threshold for entering the Third Academy's Cultivation Department.

One should know that even at those top-tier key universities, being able to pass the Soldier Rank Cultivator assessment before the college entrance examination would secure an extremely generous contract, but at the Third Academy, it is merely an admission ticket.

Among those who meet the basic threshold of the Third Academy, although they are all Soldier Rank Cultivators, there is still a huge gap between different Soldier Ranks.

The most obvious time marker is the Awakening Ceremony.

Before the Awakening Ceremony, the Spirit Beast Talent is unawakened, and Spiritual Power is unavailable. Cultivators can only rely on their accumulated knowledge, experience, feel, and a little bit of luck to face the Breeder assessment. The difficulty is naturally incomparable to Cultivators who have the aid of Talent and Spiritual Power after awakening.

If passing the Soldier Rank Cultivator assessment before the college entrance examination is the admission ticket to the Third Academy, then passing the assessment before the Awakening Ceremony is the watershed that distinguishes ordinary Breeders (from the Third Academy's perspective) from Genius Breeders.

Xu Yan is clearly the latter, and he wasn't someone who achieved it through opportunistic special means close to the deadline. Instead, he passed the Soldier Rank Cultivator assessment fairly and squarely, relying on his own accumulation two years ahead of time.

Such an existence is an absolute standout, even within the Third Academy, which is filled with geniuses.

Previously, I thought that based on the strength displayed by Xu Yan's Little Spider, he had a high chance of passing the Third Academy's assessment and securing a good early contract, allowing me to earn some academic credits from the school by discovering Xu Yan.

However, I didn't expect that he wouldn't need to go through the Combat Department assessment at all.

As long as the other party isn't the type to become complacent and stop progressing after passing the Soldier Rank Cultivator assessment, then passing the Third Academy's early assessment isn't just a high probability—it's an absolute certainty.

Moreover, it would be the kind where the Third Academy's Cultivation Department would eagerly offer various top-tier resources to invite him to enroll.

In that case, the academic credits I was originally going to earn... would be even more!

It should be noted that there is a significant difference in the points earned between discovering a Combat Department genius and discovering a Cultivation Department genius. Naturally, the latter earns more, as the school's trump major is the Cultivation Department.

For a genius of Xu Yan's caliber, as long as he performs normally during the assessment, Zhao Xuan, as the discoverer, will be able to obtain academic credits far exceeding those earned from discovering an ordinary Genius Breeder.

Compared to his own three-digit balance, that huge number made Zhao Xuan drool just thinking about it.

However, Zhao Xuan quickly composed himself and said solemnly to Xu Yan, "For the next three or four days, due to the quantity and strength of the Beast Tide, it is time for the General Rank Spirit Beasts to perform, and it is not suitable for Soldier Rank Spirit Beasts to participate.

Since that's the case, why put off until tomorrow what you can do today? How about you come with me to take the Third Academy's assessment whenever you are free these next couple of days?"

Xu Yan did not refuse Zhao Xuan's suggestion. After all, in the upcoming chaotic battle involving a large number of General Rank Spirit Beasts and Heteromorphic Beasts, taking Zhu Yan into the fray would easily turn them into cannon fodder, susceptible to stray attacks. It is not suitable for training, and Zhu Yan does not currently need this kind of cross-rank life-and-death battle.

However, Xu Yan was still a little confused about the location of the Third Academy's assessment.

"Senior Zhao Xuan, I can go anytime. But where will the assessment you mentioned take place? We don't have to go all the way to the Third Academy, do we?"

Facing Xu Yan's question, Zhao Xuan shook his head and said, "No need. Inside this Secret Realm, there is a specialized training ground used for assessing high school seniors like you who performed exceptionally well during the Beast Tide."

"Here's the plan: go back and get some good rest. Tomorrow morning at nine, wait for me at XXX, and I'll take you over."

"Oh, right, I don't have your phone number yet. Come on, let's exchange contact information."

Saying this, he exchanged numbers with Xu Yan and added each other's accounts on the chat software.

After entering the city, since they lived in different places, the two parted ways.

Returning to his hotel room, Xu Yan fed Zhu Yan some spirit food and then sent him back to the Beast Taming Space to rest properly.

Fighting from morning until nearly evening, Zhu Yan did not suffer significant harm, thanks to Shadow Submergence's concealment effect and the timely change in fighting style, which led to protection from numerous spirit beasts.

However, using various skills, spinning Spider Silk, and directing spirit beasts for various tactics still consumed a large amount of Zhu Yan's Spiritual Power and energy. For a Soldier Rank Spirit Beast that is only a little over a month old, this was still quite exhausting.

Sure enough, based on the feedback from the Beast Taming Space, shortly after entering, Zhu Yan completely relaxed and fell into a deep sleep.

Shifting his attention away from the Beast Taming Space, Xu Yan called room service to order some food. After quickly finishing his meal and doing some simple exercises to aid digestion, he took out a thick book on cultivation studies from his Storage Device and began to read.

This wasn't a case of cramming at the last minute. Given that Xu Yan had ostensibly only passed the Soldier Rank Cultivator assessment but actually possessed General Rank capabilities, he didn't need to do this for tomorrow's assessment.

Reading books was simply his habit.

However, regarding this impending examination, no matter how prepared he was, there was still a slight feeling of nervousness inside.

Compared to other things, learning new knowledge made it easier for Xu Yan to calm down.

As Xu Yan's attention became immersed in the book, scattered thoughts disappeared, and his entire being returned to a peaceful state of mind.

It wasn't until his phone rang that Xu Yan snapped back from the ocean of knowledge.

He glanced at the time; it was already very late. He put the book away, quickly washed up, and then returned to bed, swiftly falling asleep.