43: Chapter 43 Identifying Spirits Through Pictures

A month passed by very quickly.

Lin Fan's life remained a three-point line: school, Mo Fan Pavilion, and the association.

He attended classes during the day, watched the shop after school, and went to President Ye Wenyuan's place for lessons on Saturdays.

He did not neglect to Cultivate either.

Now that he had money, his supply of meditation fluid was never interrupted. One vial after another, his spiritual power grew rapidly.

After a month, his Rank shot up from 13 to 16.

Xiao Zhuang also benefited, rising from Rank 18 to 20.

However, until Lin Fan achieved a Breakthrough to the realm of an Armor Master, its Rank could only stagnate there.

Saturday morning, the sun was bright.

Lin Fan stood in front of the mirror and straightened his collar.

Today was not a day for lessons.

Today was the Breeder Competition.

He looked down at Xiao Zhuang on his wrist.

Xiao Zhuang raised its head, its vertical pupils staring at him, and flicked its tongue.

Lin Fan smiled.

"Let's go, time to collect that 500,000."

The third floor of the association building was bustling with noise.

When Lin Fan pushed the door open and entered, the hall was already packed with people.

A rough glance revealed at least two or three hundred people.

They were all young people.

At this moment, they were gathered in small groups, whispering to each other.

"I heard there are over two hundred people participating this time?"

"More than that, three hundred and twenty signed up, and at least two hundred and eighty showed up."

"Ninety percent will be eliminated, leaving only fifty to enter the second round..."

"That 'Identifying Spirits from Pictures' round—I was almost killed by it last year."

Lin Fan walked inside slowly with his hands in his pockets.

At the end of the hall was a glass door, and behind it were rows of computers.

That was the examination room for the first round.

Lin Fan found a corner to lean against and began observing the people.

Just then, he noticed Ye Qing standing not far away.

She was wearing a crisp white shirt, her hair tied in a high ponytail, and she held her admission ticket in her hand.

Beside her stood a boy with a sinister look.

Ye Qing seemed to notice him as well and glared at him fiercely.

The boy standing next to Ye Qing seemed to notice her small gesture.

Following her gaze, the boy also glanced at Lin Fan, his eyes carrying a hint of scrutiny.

Then he lowered his head and said something to Ye Qing.

Ye Qing snorted coldly and turned her head away, no longer looking in this direction.

Lin Fan didn't care and just gently stroked Xiao Zhuang's head.

At this moment, an old man with gray hair walked onto the stage and tapped the microphone.

"Quiet."

The whole venue fell silent.

The old man scanned the room and spoke slowly.

"Welcome everyone to this year's Dongyun City Elementary Breeder Competition. I am the chief judge for this competition, surnamed Zhou."

He paused.

"The competition is divided into two parts. The first part is 'Identifying Spirits from Pictures'."

"Ten pictures will be displayed on the screen in sequence. Each picture will show a specific part of an Armor Spirit."

"It could be scales, claw marks, fur, or perhaps eyes."

"You need to identify the species, attribute, and functional characteristics of that part of the Armor Spirit based on these local features."

"Each question is worth five points, out of a total of one hundred. The top fifty scorers will proceed to the second round."

As soon as he finished speaking, a buzzing sound arose from the crowd.

"Twenty questions? I thought it was ten?"

"They increased the quantity this year..."

"It's over, it's over, the difficulty has doubled..."

Lin Fan leaned against the wall, his expression unchanged.

Whether it was twenty questions or ten, it made no difference to him.

The old man tapped the microphone.

"Now, please enter the examination room and find your seats. The exam will officially begin in ten minutes."

The examination room contained hundreds of computers, each with a partition in front of it to prevent cheating.

Lin Fan followed the crowd into the examination room and found his seat.

On the screen was the login interface; he entered his admission number and waited for the exam to start.

He scanned his surroundings.

The partitions were high, so he couldn't see the people next to him.

He could only hear occasional coughing and the sound of chairs moving.

Lin Fan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest.

Ten minutes later, the screen flashed.

【Exam Begins】

The first question appeared.

A picture.

It was a scale, palm-sized, dark brown, with fine concentric circular patterns on the surface.

Lin Fan's left eye felt slightly warm.

A line of text appeared.

【Iron Shield Elephant dorsal scales, Earth attribute, extremely high defense, can withstand attacks of the same Rank, surface patterns can disperse impact force.】

Good heavens, isn't this the standard answer?

Time to copy the answers.

Lin Fan chuckled and began furiously typing on the keyboard.

The second question appeared immediately after.

A blurry photo of a claw print on muddy ground, with three toes and hook-like marks at the tips.

Lin Fan's left eye felt slightly warm, and information emerged.

【Shadow Falcon claw print, Wind attribute, poisonous hooks on the toe tips, skilled at high-speed diving and capturing, the shallow depth of the claw print indicates a light landing.】

He answered quickly, his fingertips dancing on the keyboard.

The following questions became increasingly tricky.

A feather with a metallic luster, a translucent wing membrane, a cross-section of a deep purple fang...

Each picture only showed the most subtle details, but the text in Lin Fan's eyes clearly dissected the full appearance and characteristics of the Armor Spirit.

He answered more and more smoothly, while suppressed gasps and irritable table-tapping sounds came from around him.

The eighth question was a close-up of an eyeball, the pupil in a strange spiral shape, with a pitch-black background.

Lin Fan stared for a moment, and information emerged.

【Psychedelic Demon Butterfly compound eye, Spirit attribute, spiral pupil can release illusion ripples, staring for too long will cause dizziness.】

Just as he finished writing the answer, he caught a glimpse of a boy diagonally in front of him holding his head, seemingly stumped by this question.

Twenty questions, and Lin Fan finished them all in less than half an hour.

He checked his answers once and clicked submit.

The screen displayed 【Submission Successful, please wait for grading】.

He leaned back in his chair, relaxed, and heard many people around him still nervously tapping their keyboards.

Ye Qing was sitting two rows behind Lin Fan.

Ye Qing's brows were tightly locked as she stared at the spiral pupil eyeball question on the screen, her fingers hovering over the keyboard, unable to descend.

She bit her lower lip, but her peripheral vision couldn't help but glance toward Lin Fan's direction.

That person had actually already submitted!

A wave of annoyance rose in her heart.

The sinister boy next to her also noticed that Lin Fan had finished the exam early.

The look of scrutiny in his eyes grew stronger, but he quickly withdrew his gaze and focused on his own screen.

Time passed minute by minute.

The sound of submission notifications rang out in the exam room one after another; some were relieved, some were dejected.

After the last candidate submitted, all screens refreshed simultaneously.

【First Round Results Released】

On the hall screen, a huge ranking list began to scroll.

First Place: Lin Fan, 100 points.

Second Place: Ye Qing, 95 points.

Third Place: Zhou Yuan, 95 points.

Fourth Place: Zhang Chen, 90 points.

...

The whole venue instantly exploded.

"100 points? Got all twenty questions right?"

"Who is Lin Fan? Never heard of him..."

"Ye Qing only got 95 points..."

"Is this guy even human?"

Lin Fan looked up, saw his name hanging at the top of the list, and raised an eyebrow at Ye Qing in a provocative manner.

Ye Qing's face flushed red instantly, and she cursed through gritted teeth.

"Damn bastard!"

The sinister boy beside her—Zhou Yuan, narrowed his eyes and looked at Lin Fan again, his gaze filled with even more coldness.