The True Young Master Saves the Soul Pet World by Eating Melons – CH10

Chapter 10: The Third Round of Assessment

Three days later, the first two rounds of testing were fully concluded. A total of 135 people advanced to the third round.

Si Er felt that number was a bit small. After all, the Ten Thousand Beast Continent only had four official beast-taming academies, and they only recruited students once every two years.

[Mainly because fewer students come to Black Tortoise Academy. The other three academies have quite a lot.]

[Azure Dragon Academy has over a thousand people entering the third round. White Tiger Academy and Vermilion Bird Academy each have more than eight hundred.]

Si Er was shocked.

[That gap is way too big! The other three academies have eight to ten times as many new students as our Black Tortoise Academy?]

The elders and mentors of Black Tortoise Academy who heard this inner voice all felt deeply stabbed.

[The teaching strength of the Four Great Academies should be about the same, right? Do people really dislike the Longevity Turtle that much?]

[Besides prolonging life, that turtle’s defense is insanely strong!]

[I heard that even if the signature soul pets of the other three academies teamed up, it would still take them half an hour to break the Longevity Turtle’s shield.]

[With that kind of defense, what more do you want?]

The elders of Black Tortoise Academy were deeply gratified. Finally, someone recognized how good their turtle was—though they had no idea what a “bicycle” was.

A cart that didn’t require soul pets to pull it?

But that wasn’t important.

What mattered was that although their Longevity Turtle couldn’t defeat the other three academies’ signature soul pets—the Azure Wood Flood Dragon, the Flame Bird, and the Gold-Seeking Tiger—those three couldn’t break through the Longevity Turtle’s defense either!

In terms of overall strength, everyone was about evenly matched. Who was superior to whom?

Central City was the largest city on the Ten Thousand Beast Continent. At its center was a bustling marketplace, while four massive mountain ranges surrounded it. Each of the Four Great Academies was built atop one of those ranges.

After all third-round students gathered, they headed toward their respective academies.

“Alright, students. From here, you’ll ascend the outermost Black Tortoise Mountain. You must cross this mountain on your own to reach the academy gates.”

“To increase the fun of the assessment, we’ve set up quite a few small traps along the way. Feel free to explore them.”

[Explore what? Every time you trigger one, you lose points. Who’s got the time to ‘enjoy’ that?]

[What ‘increase the fun’? This is obviously just some bored elders satisfying their twisted sense of humor by messing with us.]

The students who could hear Si Er’s inner thoughts secretly gave him thumbs-ups. Well said! That was exactly what they were thinking.

Who needed so-called “fun”? Everyone just wanted to pass safely and smoothly, okay?

“Oh, right. The maps distributed to each of you are incomplete.”

“If you want to find the correct path to the academy, you may cooperate with other students to piece together the map—or you may seize others’ maps.”

“However, to be clear, stealing maps does not earn points.”

[So what’s the point of encouraging people to steal maps? Or is Black Tortoise Academy just too lazy to draw a complete one?]

“……”

The instructor announcing the rules was speechless. Why was this student’s inner monologue so active?

Were Gold-grade geniuses all this chatty in their heads? Such a salty little mutterbox.

He really wanted to pick up a stick and whack him on the forehead.

Just as that thought flashed through his mind, a bird flew overhead. The instructor suddenly had a sharp premonition and dodged to the side—

A lump of bird droppings landed squarely where he had been standing.

He patted his chest in lingering fear. Good thing he moved quickly.

Was Si Er cursed or something? He had only thought about hitting him with a stick, and heaven almost hit him with something far worse.

The thought passed in a flash. He didn’t dare dwell on it.

What if he thought the wrong thing again and got hit by something else?

“Before the assessment begins, we will check your belongings.”

“To be clear, only the following may enter: you yourself, your contracted soul pets, all academy-issued tools, and basic items such as knives, water flasks, and food.”

“No other special tools may be carried. You may not command soul pets that are not personally contracted to you.”

“In the past, some people tried to be clever—bringing elders’ soul pets with them, or even hiring powerful soul pets for assistance.”

“But all of those people had the same ending: elimination.”

“With that said, I hope everyone follows the rules and performs well.”

After all rules were announced, the third round officially began.

Si Er maintained his previous style—

Green mushroom on his head, big white rabbit in his arms, red ostrich beneath him.

He hadn’t even glanced at the map. With Rabbit Guagua around, he wasn’t worried about getting lost—and Ostrich Benben wasn’t directionally challenged either.

Soon, his token flashed with the first task: harvest ten Green Thunder Vines.

These vines weren’t hard to find—they crackled with lightning year-round, making them extremely conspicuous. They were the show-offs of the spirit plant world.

But they were hard to harvest. They constantly sparked with electricity; whoever touched them got zapped. Even many beasts avoided them. The danger level was high.

It was said that only lightning-attribute soul pet masters and soul pets could safely harvest Green Thunder Vines.

Si Er wondered whether this round tested not just individual ability but cooperation as well.

Though he had read the original novel—where the protagonist, Si Ran, also underwent an academy assessment—each academy’s third-round rules differed slightly.

Azure Dragon Academy, for example, emphasized individual strength more. There, stealing maps earned points, and even seizing others’ task results was allowed.

Those rules were clearly written.

Black Tortoise Academy was different. They wouldn’t write such things down or hint that you should steal others’ results.

But if you actually did, it wouldn’t count as a violation either.

Before he found the Green Thunder Vines, his token displayed a second task: collect five Fire Cloud Ganoderma.

Fire Cloud Ganoderma usually grew on cliff faces, flames burning around them. They were obvious—but even hotter to handle. Generally, only fire-attribute soul pet masters could harvest them safely.

Of course, with proper tools, anything could be managed—but such tools weren’t allowed during the assessment.

So unless you plundered others’ results, cooperation was the most reliable path.

That applied to others.

For Si Er, harvesting those items posed no problem.

His light attribute was special—it could encompass all things.

So he never considered teaming up. He planned to go solo.

But when he turned around, he found three boys standing behind him, spaced apart.

One was Yu Beixuan, baring a small tiger fang.
One was the gently smiling Si Xu.
And the last was an unfamiliar face staring at him with admiration.

Seeing him turn, the three spoke almost simultaneously.

“Si Er, may I invite you to form a team?”
“Si Er, could I join you?”
“Si Er, can we piece together our maps?”

Si Er politely declined the unfamiliar boy first.

“This classmate, I don’t actually read maps. If you team up with me, you might—”

The unfamiliar boy’s eyes lit up. “So you’re also directionally challenged?”

Si Er shook his head quickly. “No, no, I’m not!”

The boy’s eyes still sparkled. “So you can find the way? May I tag along?”

“Uh…” Si Er wanted to refuse.

[We don’t even know each other. Why does he suddenly want to team up?]

[And why is Si Xu here? Wasn’t he supposed to go to Azure Dragon Academy?]

[And this big villain—wasn’t he supposed to be a lone wolf, dazzling on his own? Why does he want to team up too?]

The unfamiliar boy smiled.

“My name is Lu Taiping. I’m seventeen, wind-attribute, and born directionally challenged.”

“For some reason, the two soul pets I contracted are also directionally challenged. If it’s just the three of us, we probably couldn’t find the academy gate even after half a year.”

“So we have no choice but to find someone to cooperate with.”

“Luckily, I ran into you, Si Er. You look kind and approachable. I was wondering if…”

[Lu Taiping… that name sounds familiar…]

Si Er thought carefully, then suddenly realized.

[Isn’t he that infamous unlucky background character? That’s way too tragic!]

Lu Taiping’s eyes widened.

What? How was he tragic?

If he was already a background character, how could he still be infamous?

And why did being a background character mean he had to be tragic?

Was there something wrong with his role in this book?

Yes—Lu Taiping very quickly accepted the implications of Si Er’s thoughts.

He concluded that this world was a massive storybook, and they were all characters within it.

And Si Er knew so much because he had awakened!

In storybooks, didn’t awakened characters always know the plot?

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