MONSTER PARADISE

1-20

Chapter 1: What's the Use of Looking Good!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Prologue: Would You Like To Be A Dimensional-Traveler?

"I have finally gotten the nickname of the Ultimate African Chieftain! The only SSR card that I got was a Two-faced Buddha that accumulated from card pieces, I have never once gotten a Bird Sister or a Goldfinger before... I don't want to play this game anymore!"

Lin Huang was expressionless. He had been playing Master XX for half a year, after obtaining tens of thousands of amulets, he had never gotten an SSR card; not even an SR card Bird Sister or a Goldfinger. He only managed to get those by accumulating card pieces so he did not have any hope for the 10 card draw. He had completely given up on the game since he got the nickname and began losing in battles.

He placed his finger on the game, took a deep breath and deleted the game. Just when he was about to keep his phone in his pocket, he felt a vibration. He then looked at the screen. It was completely black with a gold-colored sentence in the middle.

"Would you like to travel through dimensions?"

There was only one option at the bottom.

"Yes!"

It seemed like an online game commercial.

"Yes, my a*s!"

Since he had just deleted the Master XX game, Lin Huang did not have the mood to download any new games. He tapped on the home button on his phone. Just as he attempted to keep his phone in his pocket, his phone vibrated again. He took a look at his phone, it was the same page.

"Stop it! This mobile game is like some online game with endless pop-up commercials, who would want to play such game?" He frowned and closed the page. Just as he wanted to keep his phone, the same page popped up again.

"Could this be a virus?" Lin Huang frowned.

He was in love with his iFruit7 smartphone that he just bought. He spent one entire month's salary to get it after all. He restarted his phone and looked at the screen for a while. The page did not pop up again, he was relieved. When he picked up his phone, his phone vibrated and the page popped up again.

"Would you like to travel through dimensions?"

There was only one option at the bottom.

"Yes!"

"F*ck, this is not going away!" Lin Huang was furious.

"Since I'm getting it fixed later, I shall see this what kind of stupid game this is and I will report you!"

After some hesitation, Lin Huang pressed 'yes' on the screen. As he tapped 'yes', the screen began changing.

"Dear respectable dimensional-travel candidate, thank you for accepting our request. Please read the terms and conditions carefully. If you agree, please click 'accept' and you will officially be a dimensional-traveler. After obtaining your travel code, we'll send you a Goldfinger and transfer you to another world. Enjoy!"

The words appeared for about 20 seconds before the terms and conditions appeared.

"1. The current death rate of travelers are as high as 73%, please prepare yourself before your travel. Causes of deaths are as below:

Suicide - Death rate: 48%"

Death through battle - Death rate: 33%"

Natural death - Death rate: 10%"

Assassinated - Death rate: 6%"

Failed to activate Goldfinger - Death rate: 2%"

Bad luck - Death rate: 1%"

...

Lin Huang only glanced at the first few pages as there were 118 pages to the terms and conditions. He was too lazy to read the entire thing so he scrolled to the bottom and clicked on the 'accept' button.

"Respectable candidate, you are now officially a dimensional-traveler. Your traveler code would be 142857. Entering Goldfinger page..."

The screen changed again, there was a spinner of 36 columns on the screen. Each column was the same size and there was a golden question mark on each of them with a pointer pointing in the 12 o'clock direction. There were two buttons at the bottom of the spinner, one was 'start' while the other was 'stop'. There was also a description of the rules beneath the buttons.

"Press 'start' and the pointer will start to spin, press 'stop' to stop the pointer. The item that the pointer stops at will be your Goldfinger. If you did not press the 'stop' button, the pointer will stop automatically one minute after the spin had begun.

"Until now, they have yet to show me the name of the game. Let me know what game is this!" Lin Huang pressed 'start' and the spinner started spinning fast. A few moments, he pressed the 'stop' button. After gliding for a while, the pointer stopped at one of the question marks.

It then became a black card and the spinner disappeared. The card was enlarged and occupied the entire screen. Lin Huang raised his eyebrow, the card was nicely designed with metallic black and gold patterns on the edges.

"Not a bad card design..." Lin Huang complimented. However, as he thought of the Master XX game that he spent half a year playing, he became upset again as it was also a card game.

While he was immersed in his thoughts, a black glow shot out of his phone into his forehead. Lin Huang did not notice it at all as he looked at the screen of his phone that began changing.

"Goldfinger has been sent, now randomly picking an initial world for this travel..."

"Am I finally getting into the game?" Lin Huang smirked.

"As soon as I see the name of the game, I'll take a screenshot and report this stupid game!"

Soon, the screen on his phone changed again.

"The initial world that was randomly picked is 'Monster Paradise'."

"Traveller 142857, enjoy your trip!"

"Pop!"

His gold iFruit7 phone dropped on the floor. The screen was destroyed, Lin Huang disappeared from where he was...

...

"Traveller's Serial Number: 142857"

"Name: Lin Huang"

"Gender: Male"

"Age Before Traveling: 25 years old"

"Age After Travelling: 15 years old"

"Initial World: Monster Paradise"

"Travelling Identity Setting: Lin Huang, Male, 15. His 13-year-old sister is the only family member he has left in the world. Born with a broken Life Wheel, his lifespan is 10 times shorter than ordinary people."

"Remaining Lifespan: 91 days."

"Memory Integration: 98%"

"Number of Travels: 1"

"Goldfinger Status: Deactivated"

Looking at the semi-transparent page, Lin Huang was slightly startled. He could not recall how many times he had looked at that very page this week.

It had been a week since Lin Huang traveled to this world and became a 15-year-old juvenile. He was outstanding, bagging first place among the fresh graduates at the Hunter Reserve College where he obtained a full score for almost all his papers. However, he had one fatal setback - his broken Life Wheel.

There was a crack in the Life Wheel which looked like a gray stone in his body. It was almost broken in half. Among the 360 Life Light columns, only three were lit and the third one was quite dim.

To ordinary people, these columns would represent three years of life but as his lifespan loss was 10 times faster, Lin Huang was left with only three months to live.

"I look better now, perhaps the only thing I can be happy about." Lin Huang threw his head back as he laughed at himself in front of the mirror.

He had black, puffy short hair with eyes that were dark and intense. Lin Huang had nice features. Despite that, within a split second, he tightened his fists and frowned.

"What's the use of looking good? Although the Goldfinger that you promised to give me before I began to travel is with me, at least send me a manual on how to use it. It has already been a week and I still have absolutely no idea on how I can activate Xiao Hei..."

Xiao Hei was the Goldfinger that Lin Huang randomly selected before he time traveled. It was a black card and he had tried every possible way he could to activate it but failed. He had no idea what the function of that card was.

"I'm back, brother!"

Just as Lin Huang pointed the mirror, playing the blame game, he heard the voice of a girl from behind the door. The door closed shortly after and he figured that the girl must have entered the password and entered the house.

He then shut the semi-transparent page before him and took stock of his emotions before walking down the stairs. He lived in a small double-story penthouse where both bedrooms were on the second floor.

He arrived at the ground floor and smiled at the girl who was changing her shoes.

The girl seemed like a 13-year-old with short, black hair with a length slightly below her earlobes. Her bangs covered her eyebrows entirely and her eyes were bright and naive. She wore a printed white t-shirt, a pair of faded blue jeans and white sneakers. In all honesty, her clothing made her resemble a boy.

"Xin Er, you're back! Wash your hands, we're having dinner soon."

They sat across each other at the table. While they were eating, Lin Huang's left pinky started to tingle. Soon, a semi-transparent video was projected in front of him. The same thing happened to Lin Xin! Her eyes popped when she saw her ring projecting a video.

The ring was given to everyone after they received their birth certificate. It contained information that included a personal identity account, and a small space for storage. It was also the only tool connected to the Heart Network. Projections like these were rare and if something like this ever happened, it usually meant something big had happened.

"Hmm?" Lin Huang stopped eating and stared at the projection. Lin Xin found it strange as well.

There was a middle-aged man with a serious expression in the video. Lin Huang recognized him, he was the news reporter from No.7 Safety Zone, quite the popular dude.

"Breaking news! Somebody found a new Virtual Eye 310 kilometers southeast from No.7D101. There's a high possibility of a monster invasion. Those who reside in that area, please be aware. Do not leave the foothold, stay indoors tonight."

After watching the video, Lin Huang frowned as the area number, No.7D101 was the official code of Wulin Town, his home!

Based on the area size, Wulin Town was categorized into four grades A, B, C and D which respectively represented an area size that was large, medium, small and a core size, which was the smallest. The number 7 before the letter D was the safety code while number 101 at the back was the foothold's code.

The Virtual Eye mentioned in the video was the portal that the monsters opened to invade the human world. It was named the Virtual Eye because it looked like a semi-transparent giant pupil that protruded towards the sky.

"Brother, the virtual eye is so near to our home, would monsters come to the foothold?" Lin Xin asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about it. Now that the news is out, the Monster Hunters would've received the news as well. In fact, they'd get the news earlier than when we did. There's also a defensive shield at the foothold which cannot be broken so easily." Lin Huang assured both him and Lin Xin and then exclaimed joyously, "Let's eat!"

After dinner, Lin Xin went back to her room to get started on her homework while Lin Huang washed the dishes. The sky was getting darker. Lin Huang returned to his room and looked at the Heart Network's page to check for updates regarding the Virtual Eye. On the Heart Network, ongoing news about the Virtual Eye was being broadcasted continuously after they received the alarming notification during their meals.

"The Hunters have arrived at foothold No.7D101, close to the Virtual Eye to hunt down the monsters."

"Silver Hunter Li Lang appeared near foothold No.7D101!"

"Silver Hunter Li Lang led 18 hunters to hunt down the monsters."

"After more than an hour of hunting and killing, all monsters iron-level and above within 100 kilometers of No.7D101 were destroyed. More hunters joined the hunter troop to continue with the mission within that area."

...

Lin Huang was relieved when he read the news. He sounded so sure when he was comforting Lin Xin but in reality, he was not sure at all. After all, he had just arrived into this world for a month and it was his very first time encountering a Virtual Eye. But from what he read on the Heart Network, there were no threatening monsters from that Virtual Eye.

The time and location a Virtual Eye would open were completely random. The number and level of monsters cannot be predetermined. If the number or the level of monsters were too high, they would definitely be able to kill more than 10 hunters, including the Gold Hunters. The defensive shield in a small foothold like Wulin Town would be insignificant, like paper glue when faced with a massive crowd of monsters. It would be hopeless and useless to try stopping those monsters then.

During Lin Huang's first week since his arrival in this world, although he did not figure out how to activate his Goldfinger, he somehow figured out what kind of world he was in.

There were many history channels that spoke of monster attacks on the Heart Network. Lin Huang was taken aback the first time he saw it.

What he thought was unforgettable was the ruins of a huge foothold. He remembered each and every detail of the video recording.

A giant bloody pupil was opened in the void and countless monsters charged out of it. Within seconds, they broke through the defensive shield of the big foothold. That day, almost a billion people were killed by millions of monsters within a few hours.

The foothold was covered in blood with dead bodies floating on the sea of blood while monsters feasted on their remains...

The foothold that Lin Huang was located in was just a D-grade foothold. This small town had a small population of fewer than 100,000 people. Such a foothold was the least secured within the safety zone. If this foothold was attacked by a strong monster, everyone would perish even before any hunter could even arrive to rescue them. Fortunately, the opening of this Virtual Eye only released small monsters and hunters were able to kill them.

Lin Huang fell into deep thought after closing the Heart Network.

"From the speed of lifespan lost earlier, I'm only left with 91 days to live. The most important question right now was... How do I get the Life Crystals to replenish my Life Light? I have no idea how to activate Goldfinger so I best leave it aside. Life Crystals are up for purchase on the Heart Network but it's too expensive. The minimum purchase, a year's worth of Life Crystals costs 100,000 credit points. I don't even have 30,000 in savings!"

Life Crystals were a unique item that barely dropped from hunting monsters. There is a massive amount of Life Light in each crystal. It must be chewed in the mouths and the Life Light in the crystals will then enter the Life Wheel.

"The fastest way to get Life Crystals is by hunting monsters and selling the materials on the monsters' bodies. It's certainty that there would be Life Crystals achievable from the hunt. However, with my ability now which isn't even at iron-level, the kind of monsters I'm able to fight are worthless... Worry not for I shall try my luck outside the foothold. Perhaps there would be at least one Life Crystal. I shall get ready tomorrow and head out the day after!"

It was late at night; Lin Huang stared at the dark sky from his window. After a short while, he emptied his mind and went to bed.

In the middle of the night, a noise that sounded like glass breaking woke him up.

"Ahh...!!"

Just as Lin Huang woke up, he heard a girl scream in his blurred state. The scream came from close by and he could tell; it was his sister, Lin Xin's voice.

He jumped down of his bed and dashed to Lin Xin's room. He did not even have the time to change; he was still in his pajamas.

He flung the door open.

Chapter 2: Vampire

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang felt his heart beat faster and faster as he entered Lin Xin's room.

The light in her room was switched on and he saw a young, muscular man halfway into her room. He must have crept in from the broken window. He held Lin Xin's foot and a blurred sound echoed from his mouth.

Lin Xin quickly hid behind the head of her bed, her feet was just a few centimeters from that scary being.

She was horrified! She cried and her body was shivering. She was too frightened to even think of running away.

Lin Huang then looked up to the man. He had red hair, his chin and clothes were covered in blood.

What caught Lin Huang's attention was his eyes, it was bloody red. Lin Huang was numb, for a second, he thought that the man could just be a vampire.

He looked around Lin Xin's room and noticed her school bag at the left side of the door. Fearful, he flung the school bag at the 'man's direction.

The vampire's senses were quick to act, he immediately grabbed it, tore it apart.

In that short distraction, Lin Huang ran to the bed, carried Lin Xin and sprinted out of the room. Just when they thought they were safe, Lin Xin screamed to the top of her lungs. Lin Huang turned around to see the vampire's vein-bulging arm on Lin Xin's left foot.

"Close your eyes!", Lin Huang instructed.

Lin Xin immediately did as she was told. Lin Huang saw a lamp near the bed, picked it up and smashed the vampire's arm with full force.

The light bulb of the lamp was made of white light stone which will release high temperature light if broken. It was a cheap but extremely dangerous. The rich would never trust such a lamp but now, it was indeed a life-saver.

The light bulb of the lamp broke once it hit the vampire's arm and a strong white light filled the room. The broken white light stone released an unbearable heat that caused the vampire to groan and let go of Lin Xin's foot.

Lin Huang closed his eyes as he took his last few steps and when he opened his eyes, he was already at the door. He did not waste any time, worried that the vampire's vision would recover, Lin Huang ran down the stairs, panting.

As he ran, he remembered reading from a fairy tale book that vampy's hated lights because it burned their eyes. Vampires are nocturnal creatures, born to hunt in the dark and avoided places with lights and this was precisely why the vampire refrained from entering Lin Xin's room earlier.

From the ground floor, sounds of glass breaking came from upstairs. It was almost as if the hanging lights in Lin Xin's room fell.

"Hide in the bathroom and lock the door!" Lin Huang ordered Lin Xin at once.

"Wh-what how about you?" Lin Xin asked her brother, her tone shaky.

"I can handle him, have you forgotten that I graduated on top of my class from Hunter Reserve College? It would be a distraction if you stayed here with me." Lin Huang explained lovingly to his sister.

Lin Xin nodded and did as she was told. She had faith in her brother.

Lin Huang had an action plan. He first sent out a distress signal to the Heart Network and then he ran to the kitchen to grab a knife.

The lowest level of a vampire was at least an iron-level. Besides possessing 10 times the strength of an adult, with their blood power, they were much stronger than an iron-level monster.

Anyone who encountered iron-level monsters may not walk away alive, hunters from Hunter Reserve College included. Therefore, what Lin Huang had told his sister was merely to comfort her as he knew that there was a probability he could lose to this vampire.

He thought, however, that it was strange that his head was clear when he was faced with the monster earlier although he was in so much fear and anxiety. In that moment, whatever he had read about vampires flashed in his mind.

Vampires were human-like monsters - they blend in with the human lifestyles during the day but their desire for blood arose at nights.

Their food - human blood and the blood of young girls' blood were especially delicious, their favorite. They smell blood up to a few hundred kilometers away.

Even for an iron-level vampire, as soon their blood power is activated, their strength, speed, and defense would amplify themselves. Their bodies would be covered with an energy layer that formed from the gathered blood power. The energy layer could even turn into wings, tails, claws and other weapons which multiplied their effectiveness.

Vampires may hate the exposure of bright lights but it does not weaken them. Their one weakness was a substance called septic divisor that could only be extracted from a rare plant.

In reality, the septic divisor was poisonous to most organisms with flesh, included us humans. As soon as it contaminated a wound, it would penetrate into the organism's blood circulatory system and kill red blood cells. It was sold at pharmacies and some hunters used them to soak their weapons.

The septic divisor had the perfect repression effect on vampires as it would cut open the blood layer on their body if they touched a weapon soaked in septic divisor. The would cause the vampire's body to rot and without an antidote, it would melt to the ground within three hours.

However, the septic divisor was not cheap. Even a licensed hunter would think twice before using it generously - only in times of emergency.

Lin Huang's savings was not enough for him to buy one.

While he was struggling with his thoughts, his ring began vibrating again.

"I am hunter Li Lang, I assume you asked for help to be sent. What happened?" A matured but young voice sounded from the rescue line across him.

"My home is being attacked by a vampire..." just as Lin Huang finished his sentence, he heard a loud thud. Then, a shadow leaped from the second floor and appeared not far away from him.

"I've set the location on my ring, please hurry!" With that, he hung up the phone.

He needed to focus on defeating a 10-time-stronger enemy standing in front of his face.

"Bang... Bang... Bang..."

Heavy footsteps walked towards him and he could barely make out the being in front of him due to the dust in the air. When it disappeared, he starred right into the vampire's red eyes which was also targeting him.

Lin Huang felt a rush of goosebumps.

In a split second, the vampire's focus shifted to the direction of the bathroom. He could smell the odor of the prey that he was hunting. The prey was just behind the door, it was a delicious and irresistible fragrant to him. He was drooling, all the way from his chin to the floor.

The vampire immediately ran in the direction of the bathroom, ignoring Lin Huang.

Lin Huang mustered his courage and yelled "Hey, did you forget something?" at the vampire while he tossed the knife onto the vampire's body!

Chapter 3: Goldfinger Has Been Activated

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

This vampire's senses were amazing. He could sense the knife flying in his direction and so dodged it in time. Almost instantaneously, the knife pierced into the wall, its blade still vibrating.

The vampire stopped walking and stared at Lin Huang. While Lin Huang was relieved that the vampire did not charge at him, he gulped while mumbling to himself, "Let's get this over and done with!"

He tossed out the second knife he had with him at the vampire because he was worried that the vampire would ignore him but attack Lin Xin. Therefore, he chose the classic tactic to infuriate and distract the enemy.

As expected, it worked. The vampire was furious, he smacked the knife away again. Blood was dripping from the crown of his head to his feet and soon completely covered his body.

Lin Huang was breathing heavily. It was his first time encountering a vampire that used Blood Power and he was under intense stress. A vampire that used Blood Power was completely beyond human; it was considered a real monster.

What Lin Huang saw later made his heart skip a beat...

There was a pair of blood-colored energy supply that looked like wings growing out of his back.

They were around two meters long each.

"Oh no! This monster is not iron-leveled, but bronze-leveled!"

Lin Huang remembered clearly that an iron-level vampire could only have one energy supply while those on bronze-level could grow two energy supplies.

Lin Huang's face turned pale; he did not know that it was a bronze-level vampire that invaded his home. As compared to a bronze-level, he was more than 100 times weaker than the vampire.

"That's not right. If this vampire is bronze-level, he wouldn't be harmed by the broken white light stone to the extent he would let his prey go." Lin Huang recalled when he hit the vampire with the lamp earlier; the vampire lets go of Lin Xin due to the burning heat.

He took a closer look at the vampire, and soon he noticed there were two obvious wounds on him. One was on his right shoulder where it was so deep that his bone was exposed while another one was on his left chest where the knife pierced through, almost two centimeters away from his heart.

The wounds started to rot; it seemed that the cut happened earlier than an hour ago. The wounds were not initially noticeable because the vampire's body was out of the window and he was filled with blood. Now that he saw them clearly, he understood why this bronze-level vampire had the strength that was weaker than an iron-level.

"He looks extremely weak now and it looks like even his heart was contaminated with septic divisor and he might not live for more than three hours. No wonder his strength regressed. As long as I stay a distance away from him and try my best to avoid the attack from his Blood Power, I should be safe!"

Now that he was clear about how severely hurt the vampire was, Lin Huang's fear was gone. He had one thought on his mind - to drag the vampire to his death!

The vampire gave Lin Huang a deadly stare, the wings on his back got longer and turned into two sharp cones charging his way.

Lin Huang had expected that to happen. He took a few steps to his right and dived onto the dining table, few meters away.

The first hit was a miss. His wings became long canes and he turned towards Lin Huang. The cupboard and chairs in the way were crushed.

If the hit were to fall on Lin Huang, even if he did not die, his boned would have been crushed too.

Lin Huang jumped and with one hand supported on the second floor, he managed to cross the railings and onto the second floor.

The vampire's second hit smashed the dining table and the pieces were spread onto the ground.

Lin Huang stood, frozen on the second floor as he was worried that the vampire would go for Lin Xin instead. He picked up a porcelain vase and threw at the vampire.

He heard a "Bang". The vase crushed the vampire's wings and the vampire roared in pain in Lin Huang's direction.

There was a limit to the strength and extension of his wings. The vampire noticed that he could not reach Lin Huang anymore, so he jumped to the second floor where Lin Huang was standing.

Lin Huang immediately fled and hid under his bed.

There, he found a wooden box that was one foot long. He opened the box and took out a silver pistol.

It was a Gray Eagle17, the latest pistol from the Eagle Company. Its power was impeccable; it was nothing less than an iron-level firearm.

With Lin Huang's financial situation, it was impossible that he could afford such weapon.

It was a reward for getting number one in his college education.

Lin Huang took out the pistol and put the two remaining cartridges into his left pocket. He then opened the safety catch. Just when he aimed his pistol at the door, the vampire barged in.

"Bang!"

A fire was shot from under the bed and the vampire groaned with anger.

The shot may not have hurt him but as he was caught off guard but that gunshot did dim the Blood Power layer on the vampire.

"Bang! Bang!" Another two shots were fired.

The vampire's Blood Power layer dimmed even more. He flipped his giant wings in anger and plunged towards the bed.

Lin Huang was prepared for that. He kicked the wall hard and got out under the bed. He then ran to the balcony and jumped over the railing.

The vampire was furious. He chased after Lin Huang.

Street101 was under his balcony, one of the main streets at the foothold. There were street lights with moonlight stones shining on the ground.

The vampire could not find Lin Huang as the streetlights were not that bright.

Lin Huang outsmarted the vampire! He had only pretended to jump but did not do so. He used his fingers to hang himself on the balcony floor and when the vampire had jumped off the balcony, he climbed back up.

Lin Huang stared at the vampire and aimed his pistol at the vampire's head.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

In the midst of the shots and the roars of the vampire, the lights in the houses on the streets went off. There was pin drop silence. Only the noise from the gunshots and the vampire's roars echoed on the streets.

He could see the vampire with the street lights and he could also see the Blood Power layer thinning and the vampire's wings contracted back in.

The vampire finally stumbled away in excruciating pain.

Lin Huang did not bother running after the vampire but instead opened fire and shot 20 times.

Seeing as the vampire was not far off, about approximately 200 meters away and so he reloaded a new cartridge, jumped to the ground floor and ran after the vampire.

It started off as a quiet night but sounds of gunshots and vampire groans soon filled that silence.

The vampire's Blood Power layer got thinner when the bullets penetrated through his outer-defense layer and straight to his inner body.

Lin Huang was cautious to keep his distance from the vampire.

With every trigger pulled, Lin Huang felt like a trained hunter.

Bullets were hitting on the vampire's Blood Power layer and soon, it became semi-transparent. At the 18th bullet fired, the vampire's Blood Power layer disappeared entirely.

Lin Huang grinned. He fired his last two bullets at the vampire's wound, targeting at its left chest. He then reloaded the last cartridge and when he was ready to shoot, the vampire fell to the ground. The vampire attempted to get up but he seemed out of breath and badly injured. He crawled forward.

Lin Huang did not open fire but he sprinted to the vampire and stopped 15 meters away as he had calculated before, the vampire could only stretch his wings for less than 10 meters and therefore, 15 meters would be a safe distance.

Lin Huang carefully pointed his pistol at the back of the vampire's head and fired two shots. He was relieved when the vampire's head cracked and brain juice oozed onto the road.

"Ding!"

A notification came into Lin Huang's ears. Soon, a semi-transparent page appeared before him with messages:

"Goldfinger has been activated!"

"Host completed his first kill; one Monster Card is rewarded!"

"Host completed rank-crossing kill; one Advance Card is rewarded!"

"Host completed double rank-crossing kill, one Random Card draw is rewarded!"

...

"Setting of Host's Exclusive Card"

"Host: Lin Huang"

"Gender: Male"

"Age: 15."

"Combat Strength: None (Exceeded assessment limit)

"Skill: None (Mastered basic skills - beyond range of assessment)"

"Summon Authority: Activated"

"Available Number of Summons: 1."

"Remark: You're so weak!"

Lin Huang had a strange expression on his face, "The Goldfinger has been activated, but what do these remarks mean?!"

Chapter 4: It All Depends on The Look

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang took a closer look at his body. He could see three additional crystal cards besides his default black card in his Life Wheel.

His new exclusive card was beside the black card. The card was the white-crystal color with his photo on the front. It looked exactly like him; even the attire was the same.

On the back of the card were the messages.

"Host: Lin Huang"

"Gender: Male"

"Age: 15."

"Combat Strength: None (Exceeded assessment limit)"

"Skill: None (Mastered basic skills - beyond range of assessment)"

"Summon Authority: Activated"

"Available Number of Summons: 1."

"Remark: You're so weak!"

The second card was also a white-crystal color; there were three metal stars at the right bottom of the card. The image on the card was a vampire with red eyes; it looked like it was the same age as Lin Huang.

After that, he turned the card over and read what was written behind the card.

"Monster Card"

"Rarity: Normal"

"Type of Monster: Vampire"

"Combat Level: Iron 3-Star (Bronze 3-Star)"

"Skill 1: Blood Power (Level 2)"

"Skill 2: Regeneration (Basic)"

"Status: Available to be summoned."

"Card Remarks: This is useless!"

"Xiao Hei, based on this rarity, how many levels are there?" Lin Huang figured out that the ranking should be similar with the game 'Master XX' people played on earth which were categorized into 'N', 'R', 'SR' and 'SSR'.

"The rarities of Monsters Cards are categorized from low to high, Normal (white-crystal card), Rare (green-crystal card), Epic (blue-crystal card), Legendary (purple-crystal card), and Mythical (orange-crystal card).

Lin Huang was speechless.

"In the 'Master XX', the game gave out an 'SR' card in the beginning. It was worse in this world because I was given the lowest ranking 'N' card to start with... Since their rarity differed, is there a big difference between their power?"

"For Monster Cards of the same combat level, the Rare ones would be three to five times stronger than the Normal ones."

"How about the Epic and Legendary ones?"

"The host has limited access! Unable to retrieve!"

"If I were to draw a Monster Card from you, what percentage would I have to get something that is above Rare?" From what Xiao Hei described and because he had one chance to draw a card, Lin Huang was excited.

"It's based on one's look."

"What, based on my look? There's no estimated percentage?" Lin Huang thought that was ridiculous. As a person who was always gloomy, he was not a single bit pleased with the answer.

"No, it all depends on your look."

"That's it..." Lin Huang placed his palm on his forehead, "I finished first place in the card game that I used to play. But in this world, the percentage of drawing a rare card was based on my look..."

Lin Huang calmed down and looked further into the page. Soon he found something he was doubtful of.

"Why is there a bracket behind the Monster Card's combat level?"

"When the host's ability is not sufficient, the card's ranking will drop automatically. The level in the bracket was the original ranking."

"The status of the card says 'Available for summoning'. So, does that mean I could summon the vampire to the real world?"

Lin Huang was excited and wanted to give it a try.

Suddenly, he saw there was a monitor bird that was filled with white feathers and it sat on the roof of a house not far away.

He could not tell when the bird appeared so he put his thought to summon the vampire on hold.

The monitor bird was initially called a three-eyed bird as it was a bird monster with three eyes. They had 360-degree vision without blind spots.

They could look for as far as 30 kilometers away. The third eye on their foreheads functions as a projector and projected the things it saw with precision and clarity.

With those characteristics, many capable humans would capture them, tame them, and place them in the safety zone for monitoring.

Lin Huang did not want anyone to know about his Goldfinger.

He squatted down and checked if there was anything valuable on the vampire.

While he was at it, he asked softly, "Xiao Hei, who was the one who gave the remark on the card?"

"It was me!"

"Alright then..."

Lin Huang was speechless for a moment after heading that response. He was already gloomy enough; things could be worse if he were to offend Goldfinger.

It was a gold-crystal card; there was a golden staircase on the front while the description on the back was simple.

"Advance Card"

"Function: One upgrade for Monster Cards, Tool Cards, and Skill Cards respectively!"

"Remarks: Can be used as an overlay. If the card has reached its highest level, the upgrade will be redundant."

"Xiao Hei, am I able to use this Advance Card to upgrade the vampire Monster Card that I have from Normal to Mythical?" Lin Huang asked after reading the description.

"That's right."

Lin Huang thought for a while glancing over at the vampire Monster Card. However, he decided to put his idea of using the Advance Card on hold.

Lin Huang did not find anything from the vampire even after searching for quite some time.

He stood up and was ready to leave when a white shadow appeared before him.

It was a young, good-looking man who looked like he was in his early 20s. He was wearing a full white suit; his hair nicely combed.

"What a narcissist!" Lin Huang labeled that person in his heart.

Usually, most people would not groom themselves in an informal setting. People usually opted for anything comfortable and he thought that those who dressed up were usually narcissists.

Soon, Lin Huang gave the person another label - pretentious!

The man was wearing an attractive red tie. The tie was so detailed that there was a gold ring pattern on it, the rings looked like they were made of small, golden bits.

While Lin Huang was checking the man out, the man was returning the judgment.

"Nice to meet you, I am Li Lang. Did you kill this vampire?", he said while his eyes glancing back and forth at the pistol in Lin Huang's hand and the wound on the vampire's head.

"I guess so. He was already contaminated with the septic divisor earlier. My luck was good." What Lin Huang said was the truth. He did not dare to lie as he did not know how much the monitor bird had recorded.

"It was you who sent out the distress signal?" Li Lang could recognize his voice.

"Yes, Mr Li Lang." Lin Huang smiled awkwardly and nodded; he did not expect Li Lang to recognize him.

"Since you're not a practicing hunter, I will get rid of this dead body for you. You killed this vampire so I'll report this accordingly to the Hunter Association. You'll receive your reward."

Li Huang was not afraid that Li Lang would steal his reward as the monitor bird was there and it did not seem like Li Lang wanted the monetary reward.

After getting Lin Huang's approval, Li Lang took out a leather bag, two meters long made of a shiny monster's skin. Li Lang put gloves on and positioned the dead body into the bag. He then zipped the bag and kept it in the designated equipment space.

"So... Since you're done, I'm going to find my sister so she won't be worried about my safety."

"Let me go with you; I could look at the damage and prepare a damage report. Did the monster make a huge mess?" A damage report was a small matter which was not within the job scope of a professional hunter. Li Lang just wanted to know how Lin Huang managed to kill the vampire and scrutinizing the battleground was the best way to figure that out.

"I don't want to bother you. Tomorrow I'll spend some time recording a video and send it to the division of the Zone 7 Union Government and they'll send their people to inspect our home." Lin Huang knew the procedure for damage reports. It was odd for a Silver Hunter to volunteer his home for the damage report; with that, he knew Li Lang was up to something.

"I prefer to get things done once and for all. Since I'm already here, I'd feel uncomfortable if I didn't help with the damage report. You don't have to do an application for the damage report; I will record the inspection and send it to the Union Government. Did you forget that the Hunter Association is part of the Human Union Government? We should not waste time by sending somebody here. This way you can also get your insurance claims earlier." Li Lang said in a serious tone.

Lin Huang hesitated for a while but since Li Lang did not seem that he would compromise, he agreed.

"Let's go!" Li Lang said when he saw Lin Huang nodded. He then brought him to the house not far away where the lights were on.

"It's not that way; it's this direction." Lin Huang helplessly pointed to the other direction.

Chapter 5: Gold-Rank Equipment

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang brought Li Lang to his home and Lin Huang ran straight into the bathroom on ground floor. He knocked on the bathroom door, "Xin Er, it's safe now, you can come out."

Li Lang was observing the traces of damage. The more he looked, the more surprised he was. From the traces, he could tell the ways that the vampire attacked but he could not imagine how Lin Huang avoided such deadly attacks.

Awhile later, the bathroom door opened and Lin Xin ran into Lin Huang's embrace.

Seeing her teary eyes, Lin Huang did not say much. He ran his fingers through her hair and said, "There, there, everything's okay now."

Lin Xin then quietly wiped her tears off Lin Huang's chest and let go. She looked at him and asked, "Brother, where is the monster?"

"It's settled." Lin Huang smiled.

Li Lang walked towards them and said, "Your brother killed a bronze-level, rank-3 vampire on his own."

Lin Xin looked at Lin Huang in admiration. Although she knew that there were rankings of monsters but she did not have the exact idea of the different abilities each ranking had. All she knew was that a bronze-level rank-3 vampire was powerful, but that her brother was even more powerful!

"Brother, who is this uncle?" Lin Xin just noticed that there was someone else with Lin Huang.

"Uncle..." Li Lang was stunned by how Lin Xin addressed him, "I'm only 18..."

Lin Huang was surprised that Li Lang was as young as he looked mature for his age. He looked at least 25. What surprised him, even more, was that Li Lang was already a Silver Hunter at the age of 18. He was the genius of the No.7 Safety Zone.

Lin Xin had a doubtful expression.

"He could be telling the truth; you should call him brother." Lin Huang nodded to Lin Xin.

"Oh." Lin Xin then turned around and said loudly, "Nice to meet you, brother!"

"Alright..." It was awkward for Li Lang. After some hesitation, he took out a Life Crystal from his storage space and passed it to Lin Xin, "Since you're calling me brother, here's a gift for you."

"Brother..." Lin Xin looked at Lin Huang helplessly.

She knew very well about Life Crystals; it was one year's worth of Life Crystals. If they were to redeem the credit points from the Emperor's Heart, they would need 100,000 points. It was too expensive for her to take it.

"This is too much. We can't take it." Although Lin Huang was eyeing on it, he thought Li Lang was up to something for his absurd kindness.

"These Life Crystals are the most invaluable things that I have. Take it; nobody ever gives me back the things that I give away." Li Lang insisted.

"This guy seems like a tycoon, 99 points for putting up a good show." Lin Huang secretly gave Li Lang another label and nodded to Lin Xin, "Take it then."

He was getting more and more suspicious of Li Lang's intention. There was no way that he could be this kind to them without any ulterior motive!

After seeing Lin Huang's approval, Lin Xin took the Life Crystals and passed it to Lin Huang, "Brother, you keep it."

Lin Huang then kept the Life Crystals in his storage space. He turned around and saw Li Lang was checking Lin Xin out, he then pulled Li Lang away from his sister.

"Don't even think about dating my sister, all you gave were just Life Crystals, even if..."

Before he could even finish talking, Li Lang interrupted him, "Don't think too much, I'm not interested in the little girl. It's just that she's quite pretty, that's why I looked at her.

Li Huang got scared and took a few steps back after he realized he was being scrutinized and exclaimed, "Hey, I'm not interested in men! I'm telling you, not only in this life; I'd only be interested in women even in my next life!"

Seeing that Lin Huang got his guard up, Li Lang decided to tell him the truth, "Actually I'm here to understand how you managed to kill that vampire. No matter how weak the vampire was, it was still a bronze-level monster while you're not even an iron-level. So I guess if you have any special skills or equipment, if you're willing to, I would love to purchase them for a high price."

"I'm just a poor kid, how would I have any skills or equipment. Let me show you the attack trails of the vampire and tell you the complete battle story." Lin Huang realized that he misunderstood Li Lang.

He then brought Li Lang to Lin Xin's bedroom on the second floor. In the chaotic bedroom, Lin Huang explained. While listening, Li Lang was observing the damages in the room. The more he looked, the more he was amused.

Li Lang started to admire Lin Huang. He knew that if such were to have happened to him, his survival would be uncertain as killing the vampire was almost impossible for him.

"I didn't expect you to kill the vampire all by yourself. I have underestimated you." Li Lang patted Lin Huang's shoulder in admiration. He proceeded to say, "There's no way to fix your broken Life Wheel. If you could find a way to make it up to your Life Wheel, I believe you would be a fearless hunter!"

"Unfortunately, I don't have much time left..." Lin Huang shook his head and smile. He did not want to talk about his personal life with Li Lang. "Are you done with the damage report?"

"Yes, I'm done. Let me just take a photo of the house." Li Lang then took out a gold coin with complicated patterns from his storage space. He tossed the gold coin into the air, the coin started to spin and soon, it became a thumb-size ball floating in the air.

Lin Huang stared at the golden ball.

Suddenly, the gold ball cracked open in the center into two hemispheres of the same size while there was a white crystal appeared in the middle.

The white crystal was glowing; the white light spread across the house.

Soon, the golden ball returned to its gold coin form and fell from the air. Li Lang grabbed it and kept it in his storage space.

"It's that a gold-rank equipment?" Lin Huang could not help but ask.

"Yes, that's a toy that I got by accident at a medium-sized foothold." Li Lang was proud of himself that Lin Huang was curious. As they were talking, they got closer to each other.

His true self of loving to flaunt was showing.

"This should belong to some investigative equipment, am I right?" It was the first time for Lin Huang to see an equipment of the gold-rank.

"Yes. In the non-combat equipment, this is considered a valuable! But all I needed was to trade with one year worth of Life Crystals. The guy at the market thought it was just an ordinary antique gold coin; he was afraid that I might come back for him, so he left right after we traded." Li Lang laughed.

"That's such a steal." Although he was not sure how much was a gold-rank equipment, he knew a few pieces of Life Crystals could only get him an ordinary iron-rank equipment.

As they were chatting, Lin Huang saw Lin Xin yawning. She seemed sleepy, so he decided to send Li Lang away.

"Mr. Li Lang, since the damage report is done, I'll have to send you off. You have already seen it for yourself; we don't even have a need right now, I and my sister would have to sleep on the floor tonight."

"Alright then, I won't bother you. I will submit the damage control report; you should receive a reply within 24 hours. If it's approved by the government, there will be people coming to repair within three days. You will have a temporary home while they do the repairing work. You will have to bite the bullet for a few days now." Li Lang explained the process to Lin Huang.

After Li Lang left, Lin Huang stared blankly at the house.

His sister's and his bedrooms were destroyed. Their beds were left with broken pieces.

On the ground floor, there was a big pothole in the living room. They could not even sleep in there. In the kitchen, the cupboards occupied most of the space where only one person could sleep in there.

"Brother, erm... Where will we sleep tonight?" Lin Xin looked helplessly at Lin Huang.

"Let me clear my room. My room is less damaged than yours."

After an hour, they had finally made their temporary beds.

Lin Xin was exhausted; she fell asleep immediately while Lin Huang continued looking at the damaged room.

Lin Xin was in a deep sleep. Lin Huang smiled at the sight of her drooling and thought "This carefree girl..."

He then thought about his uncertain future that could affect this cute little girl, Lin Huang sighed, "It seems like it's not an easy task to be a responsible brother!"

Chapter 6: New Card

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was a sunny morning the next day.

Lin Xin woke up bright and early, a renewed excitement to her behavior. She seemed exuberant and unphased by the incident with the vampire.

However, Lin Huang did not sleep a wink. His mind was preoccupied with the card he had yet to draw.

After all that happened, their dining table and most of the furniture was destroyed by the vampire. They did not put much effort into preparing breakfast with the ruckus all around. While they ate, Lin Huang watched the news he projected from his ring. The news reporter was the same middle-aged man he saw on the news the day before.

"Yesterday afternoon, the Virtual Eye that was opened near foothold No.7D101, closed automatically, one hour after the incident. Currently, more than 30 Monster Hunters are hunting down the monsters within a 300-kilometer radius around the Virtual Eye. More than 3,000 monsters, bronze-leveled and above were killed as of late. Based on reports, monsters that are Iron-levelled in the area will be killed soon enough. It is safe for residents who stay near the foothold to head out now..."

The Hunter Association were at the top of their game that day. They had managed to kill all the monsters that came out of the Virtual Eye in less than 24 hours. Although they had yet to kill the Iron-level monsters in the area, they were not worried. They were confident that such creatures were not a hazard to such a small foothold. Many residents too had taken the matter of killing the monsters into their own hands. They formed teams of six armed adults so that killing an iron-level monster would be a breeze.

"Brother, I'm going to school!" Lin Xin shouted.

"Alright, be careful when you're on the road, Xin Er," he replied.

Lin Xin headed off to school right after breakfast. After following her to the door, Lin Huang finished his breakfast and got ready for the day ahead.

"Xiao Hei, since I still have a chance to draw a card, let me do it now!" Lin Huang said to the black card within his body. He could not wait to draw the card.

"Are you sure you would like you to draw your card now?" Goldfinger inquired.

"I'm sure!" Lin Huang confirmed the request and nodded hard. He was excited to see what kind of card he would get.

"12 cards have been randomly chosen. Please draw one from the 12 cards as your reward card for being the host."

"Warning: You only have one chance. Once chosen, no changes are allowed!"

After the sentences were explained to Lin Huang, 12 black cards appeared floating in front of him. They were arranged in a circle, like the numbers on the face of a clock.

Lin Huang scanned through the cards carefully. They all looked exactly the same to him. Each card was black with a single gold question mark in the middle which looked like a golden flame in contrast to the dark background.

Xiao Hei did not rush him. Not getting any hints, Lin Huang shook his head and mumbled, "It seems like I will have to randomly choose one then..."

He raised his hand and pointed at the card that sat at the 12 o'clock mark on the circle. "I want that one!" he said confidently.

Just as he finished his sentence, the card he chose burst into flames and a new card rose from the ashes.

"Congratulations, you got a Mission Card!" Xiao Hei announced.

He ignored Xiao Hei's notification and looked closer at the card.

It was a golden card with a blonde lady in a black, maid's costume illustration. She had a voluptuous figure and the costume looked incredibly seductive on her body, especially her cleavage. Although the dress was not revealing, a third of her fair breasts were showing. It was hard to not look at.

"Congratulation, you've gotten yourself a Mission Card!" The lady in the card started talking and winked at him. Lin Huang was shocked, but soon he was again distracted by her bouncing boobs.

"Now, let me read you your mission!"

"The Mission: Become a Reserve Hunter in a month's time!"

"Mission Reward: Flawless Card x1"

"If the mission is not completed within the time limit, you will be punished: You will lose Goldfinger!"

"The mission announcement is conveyed, please read the back of the card for more information."

The lady then returned to her original form, motionless on the card.

Lin Huang did not even bother as to what a Flawless Card was. To him, he had to complete the mission or else he would lose Goldfinger! If that happened, there was no hope for him to survive the world alone.

He then turned to the back of the card. The description was exactly the same as what the blonde lady had said to him. He then tapped on the card and it became golden dust that was absorbed into his body.

"To become a Reserve Hunter, I must be at least Iron-level to be eligible for the application. Although I'm not capable yet, I will apply as an Imperial Censor for now and see what happens," Lin Huang thought. He had surveyed into the eligibility of becoming a Reserve Hunter before. He knew there were several occupations that offered exceptions and being an Imperial Censor was one of them.

An Imperial Censor could influence monsters to obey him. Not many people had the talent, therefore, an Imperial Censor was a niche and respectable occupation.

Lin Huang had a Monster Card that he could summon to disguise himself as an Imperial Censor.

"The Iron-level rank-3 vampire was considered the strongest one among all those who applied for the Reserve Hunter position, but its weakness was too obvious. If someone was to use weapons that were contaminated with a septic divisor, the vampire would be at great risk in a battle..."

After some analysis, Lin Huang looked at his second card - the cross-ranking card.

"This cross-ranking card would be wasted if I was to use it on an ordinary card. But there's no other way. I have limited time to collect all the materials to maximize my chances to be a Reserve Hunter! After the rarity of the vampire was upgraded, its ability should be on par with a bronze-level entity. It would definitely strengthen my chances of passing."

With a Cross-Ranking card, the higher the rarity of the card, the higher the value. A normal card can be upgraded to a Rare Card with the use of a cross-ranking card. Likewise, if it was used on a Rare Card, that same card would be upgraded to an Epic Card. If it was used on an Epic Card, it would be upgraded to a Legendary Card of an extraordinarily high value.

Initially, Lin Huang planned to use it when he achieved a better card but it seemed like he had to utilize it now.

"Xiao Hei, how do I summon the monster out of the Monster Card?" Lin Huang asked.

"Focus your attention and the card you want would appear on your hand. Smash the card and the summoning would be complete!" the instructions appeared slowly on the black card just as he inquired.

"Would people see if I summon the card?" Lin Huang questioned Xiao Hei.

"Only the host can see the cards, nobody else would be able to see or sense the existence of your cards."

"That's great!" Lin Huang was relieved. He was worried that Goldfinger would be seen by someone with bad intentions if they could see his cards.

After clearing his doubts, Lin Huang focused his attention on the task at hand.

He imagined the Monster Card he wanted from his Life Wheel and willed it to appear on his outstretched hand.

Soon, a white-crystal card that was the size of half of his palm appeared on his right hand.

The card was exactly the same as the one he pictured on his Life Wheel. Now that it became physically present on his palm, he could feel the cooling sensation that was flowing from the card.

If Xiao Hei did not assure him that nobody else could sense his cards, he would have asked anyone else around him to confirm this, if they could see what happened. However, he knew what Xiao Hei had said was true.

Following Xiao Hei's instructions, Lin Huang crushed the card as hard as he could. He was worried that he did not squeeze hard enough but with just a slight amount of effort, the card shattered into a thousand pieces and soon, it started to put itself back together again. In less than a second, a young man, about his age, appeared before him.

Lin Huang was skeptical at first. It seemed like he had summoned another human being instead of the monster he imagined.

"Your Monster Card has been activated. Do you want to randomly extract the monster's skills?"

Chapter 7: You Are Still So Weak！

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"I can extract a skill?" Lin Huang asked, surprised when he looked at the box in front of him. He then continued, saying, "Can I extract the skill after he has been upgraded?"

"Would you like to extract a skill next time?" The box replied.

"Let's do it next time then," Lin Huang nodded. He started to examine the vampire that he had summoned.

The vampire seemed to be the same age as Lin Huang. He looked like he was about 15-years-old. His features were sharp and neat. If he was in a crowd of people, nobody would be able to tell that he was a vampire.

That was the scariest part of a vampire. The humans in the tiny footholds had been a growing population for more than 800 years but with the vampires disguised as human beings, it was impossible to kill all the vampires that were hidden amongst them, like wolves in sheep's clothing.

As long as they did not reveal themselves, nobody could tell the difference.

"Show me your complete form," Lin Huang instructed the vampire.

Hearing the order, the vampire's eyes turned blood red and veins bulged around his eye sockets. His muscles flexed and he grew a few centimeters taller.

Sensing the terrifying vibe, Lin Huang finally knew how lucky he was the night before. "This iron-level rank-3 vampire is so powerful. Although the vampire last night was a bronze-level rank-3, its vibe was much weaker than this one. Maybe it had been weakened by the injuries it suffered earlier. If it was at full strength, killing me would be as easy as squashing an ant..." he thought, as a chill ran down his spine.

"Activate, Blood Power!" Lin Huang ordered, his second instruction to the beast before him. He wanted to see the vampire's true form.

Following a deep groan, a crimson layer and a strong stench of blood spread all over the vampire's body. Soon his body was covered with Blood Power, which made him grow a few times bigger than he was.

Lin Huang had forgotten that activating the Blood Power would trigger the vampire, and hence, the groans. He was worried that it might wake the neighbors and they would surely notify the Monster Hunters.

However, what he worried about slipped clear from his mind. There were two bloody wings forming at the vampire's back, like a flower blossoming large, dripping red petals. He stared at them for a long time. They were so stunning that he was awestruck, rooted to the floor, motionless.

The vampire stood quietly while it waited for Lin Huang to give him his next instruction.

A while later, Lin Huang snapped out of his trance and said, "Alright, go back to your disguised form!"

As soon as the vampire heard his instruction, the Blood Power faded and his eyes returned to normal. He looked like a human again.

If Lin Huang did not see the transformation himself, he would not have figured that the guy standing before him was a vampire.

"I'm using the Cross-Ranking card on you. Hopefully, you won't disappoint me in the coming Reserve Hunter assessment."

The vampire remained expressionless. Lin Huang was not sure if he understood what he had just said.

"Xiao Hei, I'm using the Cross-Ranking Card!"

"The Cross-Ranking Card is a consumable. You can only use it once. Are you sure you want to use it?" The black card read the warning.

"Yes!"

"Follow the instructions to select your target... Your target is the vampire Monster Card. Agree for confirmation," Xiao Hei continued.

"Confirmed!"

Just when Lin Huang said the word, a bright golden light covered the vampire.

The vampire then became a giant golden sphere as rays of gold shot everywhere.

Lin Huang closed his eyes against the glare. Three minutes later, he sensed the light was not as piercing anymore, he opened his eyes.

The golden sphere that covered the vampire had faded away. The evolved vampire slowly appeared to him.

The vampire's appearance did not portray much of a difference. His hair was black before, but now, it was silver. His hairstyle remained the same, slicked back and neat, maintaining the boyish look he had before.

However, his student attire was now a black cape which covered his entire body.

"Your silver hair makes you look like a character from an anime. If I call you Kaneki, that would be copyright infringement. I shall call you Bai!" Lin Huang decided swiftly. He then walked to Bai and tapped a finger in between its eyebrows.

The vampire's body then broke into pieces and formed a crystal card on his palm.

Lin Huang was excited to see that the color of the card had changed from white to green with Bai's latest look.

He turned the card around and noticed that there were changes to the card's information too:

"Monster Card"

"Rarity: Rare"

"Type of Monster: Vampire"

"Combat Level: Iron 3 Star (Bronze 3 Star)"

"Skill 1: Blood Power (Level-2)"

"Skill 2: Regeneration (Basic)"

"Skill 3 (New addition): Boiling Blood (Basic)"

"Status: Available to be summoned"

"Card remarks: This is still useless!"

As expected, the normal card was upgraded to a Rare card. There was a new skill added in the description. Just when Lin Huang was getting excited, he saw the remark at the bottom and asked, "Xiao Hei, can you give it some better remarks?" he asked, annoyed at what he saw.

"No!"

There was a giant exclamation mark next to the 'No' on the black card. Goldfinger was serious.

"Xiao Hei, your attitude will not get you any friends."

"I don't need friends!"

"Fine." Lin Huang gave up. "Let's see what this Boiling Blood does..."

"Boiling Blood (Basic): The vampire's strength would be multiplied for 10 minutes. After Boiling Blood runs out, the vampire will become weak and will be unable to battle for an hour.

"The skill is great but the after-effect is troublesome," Lin Huang thought. He scratched his head with worry and said," I'll try not to use it then, or else I'd only have myself in jeopardy for the following hour."

"Oh right, I still have one skill to be extracted!" Lin Huang suddenly recalled. "Xiao Hei, if I extract the skill now, would it disappear from the Monster Card?"

"Skill extraction is just a way to gain skill from the Monster Card. It does not affect any attributes of the Monster Card itself."

"That's great," Lin Huang said, renewed hope in his voice.

Lin Huang studied the three skills carefully. "The Blood Power is good, but with my short lifespan, it's not encouraged. The function of Regeneration isn't too great but it's better than nothing while Boiling Blood would just be a temporary help. Now that my basic combat strength is low, even if my strength is multiplied, it wouldn't help that much. Moreover, I would be exhausted for an hour, and that way I would die even faster," he said as analyzed his options thoroughly.

"Xiao Hei, I would like to extract a skill." After some consideration, Lin Huang did not want to hesitate any further.

"Skill extraction activated... Randomly select a skill... Random selection is done... Congratulations, you received Blood Power (Level-2)" Xiao Hei announced.

As he read the note, Lin Huang could sense something had been added to his body.

He launched his Exclusive Card immediately:

"Host: Lin Huang"

"Gender: Male"

"Age: 15"

"Combat Strength: None (Exceeded assessment limit)"

"Skill: Blood Power (Level-2)"

"Summon Authority: Activated"

"Available Number of Summons: 1"

"Remark: You are still weak!"

Lin Huang ignored the last remark and focused on the 'Blood Power (Level-2) on his skill. He was stunned to find out that he had achieved the vampire's skill.

"Now that the vampire is ready, it's time to equip myself."

Chapter 8: Stable Residence

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Good morning! Delivery! Please sign for the parcels!"

Somebody shouted at the door early in the morning.

Lin Huang opened the door to a yellow bird that was about the size of his palm, standing at his feet.

The yellow bird was called the Silvertongue Bird as they could learn up to a thousand languages. Although, their understanding of the languages were similar to the thought capacity of a six-year-old. After they learned a language, they could carry out logical conversation with humans for simple purposes.

People trained the birds not only for deliveries but for their memory abilities too. In each of their feathers was a hidden storage space where it could contain an item that was as big as an ice cube.

The bird saw the house door swing open and turned to face its tenant. It looked up at Lin Huang and said, "Good morning, Mr. Lin Huang. Your parcels are here, please sign your name here!"

The bird then flapped its wings, and a few parcels fell from its body.

A few of them were a few times bigger than the bird itself.

It then shook its head, and a receipt popped out of its mouth. It flew to Lin Huang's shoulder and passed the receipt to him.

The receipt listed all the details of the items in the parcel.

After a quick glance, Lin Huang signed his name and passed the receipt back to the bird. As he returned the receipt, he grabbed a few candies from a bowl inside the house, next to the door.

"For you," he said as he passed it to the bird.

In the world he lived in, desserts were loved by many monsters and candy was the Silvertongue Bird's favorite. Many families would prepare a few types of candy for them to thank them for safely delivering their parcels. Since he knew that he would have deliveries within the next few days, Lin Huang had prepared the candies much earlier.

"Thank you!" The bird swept its wing over Lin Huang's palm, and the receipt and candies disappeared.

It nodded to him and left.

Lin Huang then moved the items into the house, closed the door and started examining them.

"Iron-level sword x1"

"Basic military survival sword x1"

"Basic military water bottle x1"

"Armored bullet (for GrayEagle17) x10"

"500 bullets in 10 boxes"

"Waterproof rain gear x1"

"Night-vision glasses x1"

"Binoculars x1"

"Hemostatic agent x2"

"Bandage x1"

...

He spent 80% of his savings to purchase all the items.

The sword alone cost him 10,000 credit points. The water bottle was made from a monster called a space gerbil. To be exact, it was made from its stomach as it had a space compression feature like no other. It could contain up to one ton of liquid and cost 8,000 credit points. The armor-piercing bullets cost 1,000 credit points every two bullets, a box of them cost him 5,000 credit points. The rest was a total of 2,000 credit points.

It was the first time Lin Huang had ever spent so many credit points in one go. He thought they were worth it as the items might prove useful during the Reserve Hunter assessment.

The syllabus of the assessment varied each time but the last one would always be a survival test in the wilderness. The items were meant for that task.

"I'm impressed! The service was so quick. I just ordered them yesterday and they've arrived today. I was just thinking if I should change the delivery address as we might be staying somewhere else during the renovations to repair the damage, but that's not necessary anymore," he said. After that, Lin Huang kept everything in his space storage unit.

The application for the assessment could be done on the Hunter Association website via the Heart Network. While preparing for the assessment, he would have to participate at a medium foothold. There would be one assessment at each medium foothold every month. The nearest medium foothold would be foothold No.7C87, where the actual assessment would take place a week later. It would only take him two hours to arrive at the foothold if he flew with an eagle. That way, he would have ample time to prepare himself for the challenges ahead.

Just when Lin Huang was thinking about what else he should prepare, someone knocked at the door.

He was surprised! Who could it be this early, he thought. He opened the door and there stood a middle-aged man in a suit and a troop of men in their uniforms were in formation behind him.

The man in the suit shook Lin Huang's hand with a smile, and said, "Mr. Lin Huang, we have received a renovation notice from the Union Government yesterday so we're here to renovate your house. Let me know if there are any comments you would like to add to the renovation order, and we'll start immediately."

"I have no comments to add to the order. Just as long as the cracks and marks on the floor and walls are all sealed and covered properly, I'll be content," Lin Huang replied, still a little taken back at the events that were transpiring. He did not expect them to operate at such a high rate of efficiency. He had just received a notification from the Union that the review was passed that morning and the very same day, their people were here.

"If that's the case, we'll do our best!" The man smiled and nodded while he gave Lin Huang a card. It was a hotel room keycard. He then continued, "The renovations will take around five days. It would not be more than five days, I assure you, so we have booked you into a hotel for the next five nights."

"Thank you." Lin Huang took the keycard and was stunned when he saw the name of the hotel.

The word 'Stable' was written on the keycard, it was a keycard to the Stable Residence, the most prestigious hotel in the foothold! A standard room cost more than 1,000 credit points per night, which was almost the price of a room at bigger hotels in the larger footholds. He thought it was an unusual arrangement by the Union Government, but he did not think too much about it.

"We will be operating out of your house for the next few days. If there are deliveries, we will forward them to the hotel. If there's anything valuable, you can take your time and bring them with you now. Let me know when you are ready." The man in suit informed him.

"Valuable? There's nothing really," Lin Huang said and shook his head. "I'll just grab some toiletries for myself and my sister, and you can come in," he continued, as he stepped aside to allow the men in.

"No it's alright, we will come in when you're done." The man in the suit insisted and stood by the door.

Since the man insisted, Lin Huang shrugged and went upstairs to get their toiletries. After making sure there was nothing left behind, he went down to the ground floor and proceeded to the door.

"Alright, it's all yours now, I'll be leaving to the hotel then," Lin Huang said. He then passed a note to the man in the suit, and whispered, "This is the password for the main door. The room doors are all opened. The room keys are in the medicine box in the second floor's bathroom, help yourself if you need them." He trusted the man in the suit but did not want his troop going about the place unattended.

The man in the suit took the note, nodded, and assured him, "Don't worry, we will get things done to the best of our abilities."

Wulin Town was a small town, with only four main streets. Lin Huang and his sister lived on Street 101. When the foothold was first built, people were hoping that the foothold would be expanded to more than 100 streets and became a B-grade large foothold, hence the reason they optimistically started their numbering at 101.

After walking for 10 minutes, Lin Huang arrived at the Stable Residence. He was glad to see the open yard at the entrance that was embellished with oriental charm.

He stood at the entrance and took a picture of the hotel. He then sent it to Lin Xin with a text, "The renovations on our house has started. We will be staying here for the next five days. I'm in Room 302. Come here after school."

"Brother, is this a prank?" Lin Xin replied immediately.

Lin Xin was familiar with the hotel's location as her route to school was not far away from the hotel.

Sometimes she even came to the hotel gardens just to take photos of the flowers.

She had always wanted to see how the rooms in the Stable Residence looked like, so she thought it was a prank by Lin Huang when he texted her.

Lin Huang did not explain anything. Instead, he sent her an image of the keycard's front and back to prove his statement.

What Lin Huang did not notice was, as he was stepped into the hotel, there was someone watching him with a twinkle in his eye.

"Hehe, here comes an interesting fella..."

Chapter 9: Luxurious Life

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Looking at the open yard at the Stable Residence, Lin Huang knew that the owner of the hotel was a man of style, just like Li Lang. When he met the owner, he then realized that the owner was far from what he imagined.

The owner was an ordinary middle-aged man, who was short and plump. He was bald and look like a simpleton. It was hard to guess his age as he looked like he could have been in his 40's or even his 60's. He had fair skin that was marked with very few wrinkles from stress and age.

He dressed very casually, with a bright, yellow short sleeve shirt that was one size too big for his body. He looked like he was wearing a short gown and beneath it was a large pair of blue pants that dangled a little below his knees. It looked like it too was one size too big.

"Hello there, are you the guest who is checking into Room 302 today?" The bald man who stood behind the counter said with a pleasant smile. His teeth were slightly showing, and they were clean and neat.

"Yes, you must be the owner of this hotel, are you?" Lin Huang took out the keycard for his registration and complimented, "Your yard is magnificent!"

"Thanks. It's just a hobby of mine. I just fool around with the designs," the owner humbly said.

Lin Huang was surprised to hear that. He thought they hired a designer to decorate the yard, but instead, it was done by this man who looked messy, at best.

"Dear sir, your room is on the right-hand side, on the third floor. Walk all the way straight and you would arrive at your room." The man returned the keycard to Lin Huang and pointed to the stairs on the right side of the lobby.

"Oh yeah, the guest in Room 301, across your room has a bad habit. He trains with his sword in the yard at dawn. I would like to apologize if he makes too much noise."

"Alright, noted." Lin Huang did not think about it any further and walked upstairs.

The stairs were made of mahogany. It was a spiral staircase where the right handle and railings were carved with very detailed patterns. The patterns were mainly rattan with leaves and flowers of a variety of sizes. They seemed very real from afar.

There were slight creaks when Lin Huang stepped onto the stairs. He went all the way up to the third floor, following the directions the owner had given him. He turned right and walked all the way straight to his room.

Shortly after, he arrived outside Room 302. He could not help but look at Room 301 as he was curious as to what kind of person stayed in there. Awhile later, he smiled to himself and shook his head, "Why would I care what others are doing. My priority should be preparing for the Reserve Hunter assessment!"

He then slotted the keycard into the door of Room 302 and opened the door. He was stunned when he saw his room. "The Union Government surely provides great welfare," he thought.

It was a luxurious suite. The living room alone was about 100 square meters large. There was a chandelier in the middle of the living room. Apart from the light bulbs, the rest of the feature was made of pure gold. It was gorgeous, and it looked really expensive.

The style of the room was luxurious but low-key. Apart from the chandelier, the rest of the decorations were not flamboyantly constructed. Even the carpet was sewn with gold thread at the edges. If one did not look closely, they might think it was just a pattern made of solid golden strings.

"This owner is so rich, even the carpet has gold edges..." Lin Huang exclaimed as he squatted down to take a closer look. "Damn, that's real gold!" he said upon closer examination.

In the world today, gold was also a rare metal mainly used for luxury decorations. It was expensive and cost 300 credit points per gram. The carpet was made of some unknown monster's skin and the gold edges of the carpet alone might have cost 100,000 credit points.

Lin Huang then looked at the chandelier above him, "Is this lamp made of genuine gold too? If it is, it might cost more than 10 million credit points...." he concluded.

He took a good look at the entire room and sighed in awe. He could now indulge in this luxury hotel. "No wonder it cost more than 1,000 credit points to stay a night in the cheapest room in this hotel," he thought.

The suite consisted of two rooms and one living room. Not only was the living room spacious, the size of the other rooms were not small either. There were two bathrooms in each room.

Lin Huang chose to sleep in the bigger room on the left which had the amazing view of the yard right under the balcony outside.

He pulled the curtain aside and pushed open the windows. There was a set of tables and chairs made of rattan with a hanging rattan bed on the side.

Lin Huang walked to the corner of the balcony and looked beyond the railing. He could see the entire yard. From this angle, the garden was even more stunning.

"When I'm rich, I'm getting a house with a yard and am surely going to get the owner to design it for me," Lin Huang smiled and thought to himself.

While Lin Huang rested on the hanging bed in the afternoon, Lin Xin who had just finished school, ran straight to the Stable Residence.

She could not wait to see how the hotel room looked like.

But, when she reached, she did not dare step into the hotel when she arrived at the entrance.

She then used her Emperor's Heart ring to call Lin Huang. He picked up immediately and said, "Are you done with school?"

"Yes, I'm at the hotel's entrance..." Lin Xin said softly.

"Come in, Room 302." Lin Huang got off the hanging bed, stood on the balcony and waved to Lin Xin.

Seeing Lin Huang wave at her, Lin Xin finally believed that it was not a prank that Lin Huang was trying to pull on her. She waved at him and stepped in through the hotel gates.

Passing through the yard, she arrived at the hotel's reception. Seeing the owner looking at her, she explained immediately,"I'm here with my brother. His name is Lin Huang."

"Oh, the boy that I met just now. He's in Room 302, it's on the right-hand side of the third floor," The hotel owner nodded to her.

"Thank you," Lin Xin said, stuck out her tongue and went up the stairs.

When she arrived at the room, and the door was opened. Lin Xin looked at the room number so that she did not mistake it for another room.

"302, this should be it."

After confirming it, she walked into the room.

"Wow!" She was impressed by the room's decoration.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Lin Huang walked to her with a glass of juice.

"Yes!" Lin Xin nodded her head hard and looked at the juice in doubt. "Do we have to pay for the juice?" she questioned.

"No, everything is included. Even the food and drinks in the room are free, I've confirmed the fact with the hotel owner just now," Lin Huang smiled while he explained.

Lin Xin then took the juice in relief. Her eyes brighten up after she took a sip. She then finished the juice in a few gulps and said, "It's delicious, brother, what is this?"

"I don't know, the hotel owner said he made these drinks on his own. Its called calming tea. The main ingredient was from the juice of a monster plant's root. I think it's really nice too." Lin Huang had had a couple a glasses just that day. He was never a fan of sweet stuff but that drink was irresistible.

"The food here is delicious too. Are you hungry? If you are, let's go for dinner now." Lin Huang had his lunch at the hotel earlier, that was how he knew that their food was so delicious.

Lin Xin was not hungry before Lin Huang asked but now, she was so excited when she heard Lin Huang describe the scrumptious meals they served.

They then went to the restaurant on the second floor.

There were already a couple of guests at the restaurant when they arrived. Most of them seemed like hunters. They must have been part of the team that joined the hunt for the monsters the day before.

It was a buffet dinner. All the dishes were served on small plates. The both of them were not really sure what most of the utensils and dishes were, but they were delighted as the dishes were warm like they had just come out of the oven.

The both of them got themselves a small table and took plates of dishes to the table. Then they started to dig in.

There were not many people in the restaurant. Most of them were chatting among themselves, while Lin Xin and Lin Huang were engrossed in the food.

Suddenly, all the chatter stopped and the restaurant went completely quiet.

Seeing everybody looking at the door, Lin Huang and Lin Xiang looked towards the same direction too.

Chapter 10: Skill Card Pieces

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There was a tall man in black armor, standing in the doorway. He looked like he was about two meters tall. He was also bald like the owner of the hotel. His face was littered with stubble, and there was a long scar that stretched from the left side of his forehead all the way across the middle of his left eye to his chin. There was no white in his left eye too. It was a scar from a cut and his left eye was blinded. The scar and eye added ferocity to his face.

With his height and his face, he gave the people around him a chill down their spines.

When the tall man entered the restaurant, he stared at everyone. The people put their heads down immediately to avoid his gaze. Even Lin Huang avoided making eye contact with him. Lin Huang then patted Lin Xin's back to get her to finish her food a little faster.

Surprisingly, after getting himself a meal from the buffet, the man walked towards Lin Huang and Lin Xin. He then sat down alone at the table behind them. The seat that he sat on was directly across from Lin Huang.

Lin Huang looked up and they accidentally locked eyes. But, neither of them looked away. Instead, they were checking each other out.

Lin Huang then thought the man was very strange to have chosen him. Among the 10 people in the restaurant, Lin Xin excluded, he was sure that he was the weakest and the poorest one. There was no reason for the man to even notice him.

"Perhaps I'm the new face here that he has never seen before," Lin Huang concluded.

Just when they both stood up after they finished their dinner, the man behind Lin Xin put down his cutlery and walked towards them.

Lin Huang pretended he did not see him and pulled Lin Xin along while they quickly walked out of the restaurant.

When they arrived on the third floor, the man was there too. When they turned right, the man followed.

"Why are you following us?" Lin Huang frowned and turned around to question the man while Lin Xin was at his back.

"It's the way to my room," the man said and glared at Lin Huang. He then walked passed them and continued on to the end of the corridor. He then stopped in front of Room 301 and went in.

Lin Huang was embarrassed. He went back to their room together with Lin Xin.

"Brother, that uncle looked so scary," Lin Xin said after the door was closed.

"When I saw him running towards us just now, I thought he was a bad guy."

"Don't worry. In broad daylight, even if he was a bad guy, we don't have to be scared. Besides, there are so many hunters in this hotel, what is there to be afraid of?" he said, hoping to calm her down. Lin Huang recalled the owner had told him that the guest in Room 301 was a strange man who did sword training in the garden in the middle of the night.

"He's really strange!" Lin Huang thought to himself.

After dinner, Lin Huang stayed up watching old clips of the previous Reserve Hunter assessments. The Hunter Association would never release any complete assessment videos, only some outstanding takes. It was meant to be an advertisement to attract more people to apply for the assessment.

Of course, Lin Huang was not there to look at the action. All he wanted was the related content linked to the assessment or the head examiner's way of thinking which might be helpful for the assessment.

He watched more than 20 videos and read some documents. Soon, it was midnight.

Lin Xin went to bed after brushing her teeth. Lin Huang stood up and stretched his body, shut down the Heart Network and went to shower before bed.

Minutes after he went to bed, Lin Huang heard someone closing a door in the corridor.

He looked at the clock projected from his ring. It was 12 a.m.

Lin Huang hesitated. He then sat up and pushed open the door to the balcony. He went to the balcony with his pajamas and looked to the garden beneath him.

There were two lamps near the entrance of the garden which lit up the entire garden.

Noises of bugs chirping came out of the bushes all around.

Soon, the scar-faced man walked out of the hotel door.

He walked to the grassy area on the left side of the garden with a black sword in his hand.

Lin Huang had no idea of the price range of a sword like that. Oddly enough, his concern was for the grass that the man stepped on.

"Does the fella destroy the grass every day, leaving the owner to fix it?"

The man closed his eyes and stood where he was. Suddenly, he raised the sword in his

right hand and swung it in a slanted way.

Lin Huang was stunned. What he lacked right now was a powerful attack skill. He then kept his eyes locked on every move the man made.

There were 18 styles to his technique. From what he performed, the technique seemed incredibly vicious. He did not notice that Lin Huang was watching in secret. He practiced three sets of the same technique, sheathed his sword, and then returned to the hotel.

After memorizing the technique, Lin Huang practiced it with his bare hand. It was very unsatisfying. He then brought up his sword from the storage space and practiced for real.

He had a really good memory and managed to repeat the 18 styles that were practiced by the man earlier perfectly.

As he focused all his attention on practicing, he did not notice that the grass the man stepped on did not leave any trails at all.

When Lin Huang was on the fifth set of training, he heard a notification jingle and a semitransparent box appeared in front of him.

"Congratulations, you have gained a Skill Card 'The Great Sword Scripture' piece x1"

Lin Huang was excited when he saw the notification. It motivated him to practice even more.

"I'm not sure how many pieces I have to collect to combine them into a Skill Card. But, I don't care, I will practice a few hundred times tonight. I'm sure by then I will have a complete Skill Card!"

However, nothing was rewarded after he practiced three more times.

"Maybe I'll be rewarded once every five practice sets?"

He then practiced another two times, but still, there was nothing.

"What's happening?" Lin Huang thought it was strange. "Could this have nothing to do with the amount of practice? Then what could it be?" he wondered.

With the doubt in mind, Lin Huang proceeded to practice until it was his eighth time. Suddenly, the notification box popped up again.

"Congratulations, you have gained a Skill Card 'The Great Sword Scripture' pieces x1"

"I got another one. Could this be random?" Lin Huang could not help but ask Xiao Hei, "Xiao Hei, do the skill pieces come randomly?"

"No, only when the effect of the skill exceeds 80% of the skill itself, that would be considered an effective practice set. For effective practice sets, you would be awarded skill pieces each time. Repetition would not get you more skill pieces unless the effect is 100%. Then you would get the skill pieces with proper repetition.

The reply given by Xiao Hei was a great help to Lin Huang.

"That's it! That means the times when I did not get the skill pieces were due to my performance being less than the basic standard of 80% and I achieved the standard on the fifth practice. However, I did not get anything later on as I repeated the same standard for the next five times," he concluded.

Now that he understood, Lin Huang became serious about his practices. He practiced all he could while recalling what he saw the man do in the garden. He wanted to get as many skill pieces as he could until he achieved the 100% skill effectiveness.

He practiced over and over again.

When dawn broke the next morning, Lin Huang had practiced for more than 100 times.

He then went back to his room, exhausted.

However, his chances of achieving the pieces were only at 20% and he only managed to get 21 pieces by the end of the day.

Chapter 11: The Great Sword Scripture Part 1

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The next morning, Lin Huang slept off most of the day in his room. He did not even notice Lin Xin leaving in the morning.

He only woke up when Lin Xin came back from school. He then went for lunch with her on the second floor.

At the restaurant, they bumped into the scar-faced man who stayed in Room 301. Lin Huang gave him a big smile while the scar-faced man nodded at him, expressionless.

At night, Lin Xin went to bed and Lin Huang started to practice his sword skills on the balcony without waiting for the scar-faced man to appear. Just when he was on his third set, he saw the man practicing in the garden on ground floor.

This time, Lin Huang did not blink his eyes while he watched the man practice his three sets. He got a clearer look at each of the step to perfect his technique.

After the man went back to the hotel, Lin Huang started to practice according to what he just saw.

That night, he practiced for more than 100 times and obtained 36 Skill Card pieces.

Added to the Skill Card pieces he had gotten from the night before, he had a total of 57 of them.

Unfortunately, that was still insufficient to form one Skill Card.

On the third day, Lin Huang slept until the time Lin Xin came back from school in the afternoon.

"Brother, are you suffering from insomnia these past few nights?" Lin Xin asked in concern.

"Yea, a little bit," Lin Huang agreed to what Lin Xin said so that he did not have to explain the real reason to her.

"Then you should sleep more during the day, I will bring dinner to you later," Lin Xin seemed happy she could do something for her brother.

"It's alright, I've had enough sleep, let's go eat together," he said. It was heartwarming to hear Lin Xin's offer, but he did not want to trouble her.

"Oh yea, brother, the hotel owner told me that there was a delivery from our house. I have brought it here," Lin Xin said while taking out the delivered box from her space storage.

"Delivery? I didn't buy anything recently.." Lin Huang said while he looked at the box. It was a package from Division7 of the Hunter Association. He suddenly recalled that it might be the reward for killing the vampire the other day.

"I wonder what reward the Hunter Association gives to people for killing a bronze-level vampire?" Lin Huang thought as he opened the box in anticipation.

It was a black suitcase with an envelope attached to it.

A four-digit code was required to open the suitcase. He tore open the envelope and took out the letter inside it.

As he suspected, it was a thank-you note from the Hunter Association for killing the vampire. At the end of the note, it listed down the reward as well as the code to open the suitcase.

Lin Huang exclaimed, "The Hunter Association is so generous!"

The code was 7101, and Lin Huang inserted the code immediately. An identity verification page popped up. Lin Huang scanned his Emperor's Heart ring to verify access.

The suitcase then clicked open, and the items in it were overwhelming to him.

"Is that a gun?" Lin Xin asked.

"Yes. It's a BlackEagle33, the latest Iron-level gun from the Eagle Company. It can be converted into a pistol or sniper. It's the best iron-level gun on the market. The price is even higher than some of the Bronze-level firearms," Lin Huang said as he took a good look at the black gun.

The rugged look of this gun was nothing less of a marvel, and it was much better than the Gray Eagle17 that he owned. The entire gun was made of black metal with silver stripes. It looked really cool.

After a good look at it, Lin Huang put it back into the suitcase.

A firearm needed Life Power to be effective, especially guns. Sufficient Life Power had to be inserted into the bore of the gun to create energy bullets.

He had to put the BlackEagle33 aside as he did not have enough Life Power until he was a Bronze-level.

"When I'm a Bronze-level, with this BlackEagle33 for long-distance attacks and Blood Power for close-ranged attacks, my power would be increased," Lin Huang said. He was imagining the thought in his head. Although he was not ambitious, he knew his tactics very well.

"But now, my priority would be combining the Skill Card pieces into a 'Great Sword Scripture' Skill Card before the Reserve Hunter assessment. At least I can fight for myself instead of completely relying on the vampire."

After dinner with Lin Xin, Lin Huang had a cup of calming tea in his room.

He then moved the carpet, table, and chairs aside and started to practice with his sword bare-footed

Although the balcony where he used to practice was more than two meters wide, it was still too small for him. Thus, he chose to practice in the living room instead.

He moved the furniture aside so that he would not damage any of them as he knew he could not afford to replace them.

Lin Xin was curious as to what he was doing but seeing him in the zone like that, she did not bother him and went back to her room to do her homework.

Perhaps the living room was more spacious as Lin Huang felt the practice was smoother than before and the chances of him obtaining the Skill Card pieces were rising.

He practiced until dawn for more than 100 times. His performance had greatly improved, and each practice was 60% better and he obtained 68 pieces in one night.

He thought it was strange as the increased probability was unusual. On the first day, he did not even hit 20%. What was even stranger was he was not tired at all from practicing all night.

At the condition his body was in for the past two days, he should be sleepy and exhausted after practice. He would fall right into a deep sleep on his bed. Yet, not only was he not tired, he did not feel like sleeping at all.

"It feels like I took ecstasy pills..." he mumbled to himself. He then thought about his diet as compared to the first day he arrived. He found the difference almost instantly. "Can it be the calming tea?" But I had it a few days ago, there was no effect of excitement and I slept very well that night..." he wondered.

Just then, he poured himself another cup of calming tea.

While the sweet tea was flowing down his throat, he felt energized again,"I think it's really the effect of this tea!" he concluded.

Suddenly, he heard the door across his hotel room close. He then went to the balcony immediately to peek at the the scar-faced man's practice. This time, he memorized everything the old man did.

After the man was done with his three sets of practice, Lin Huang practiced again in the living room by reenacting what he saw.

Until 7 a.m., Lin Huang had again practiced for more than 100 times. There was an increase in his probability of more than 80%. He had obtained 88 pieces that night.

Lin Xin woke up and saw him practicing in the living room. She thought he had just woke up, so without thinking much, she headed out to school.

After breakfast, Lin Huang was still not sleepy. He felt refreshed and his body was not tired at all.

He had another calming tea and continued practicing again. He wanted to know if he could increase his probability even more.

From 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Lin Huang had practiced for more than 100 times.

When he obtained his 87th piece, he heard a notification.

"You have accumulated a total of 300 'Great Sword Scripture' pieces. You can integrate them into a rare skill 'Great Sword Scripture Part 1'. Do you want to carry out the integration?"

Chapter 12: Boss Yu and Gu Yi

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"It's a Rare skill! Integrate it now!" Lin Huang agreed immediately after he received the notification.

Soon, a green crystal card appeared on his Life Wheel. He retrieved the card just by visualizing it.

The card was completely green. There was a strong man, standing against a harsh barren land, with a sword in his hand on the top of the card. It gave off the image that he was fighting to overcome a horrible beast in the desert on his own.

Lin Huang stared at the image for a while before flipping it over to look at the description.

"Skill Card"

"Name of Skill: Great Sword Scripture (Broken)"

"Rarity: Rare"

"Type of Skill: Sword"

"Skill Level: Gold-rank"

"Status: Available"

"Remarks: This skill belongs to special skill without a rank limit, the power changes according to its host."

"Card remarks: Passable"

"Xiao Hei, it says here that the 'Great Sword Scripture' is Rare. Does it mean that this is the complete 'Great Sword Scripture' or do I have an incomplete one now?" Lin Huang could not help but ask.

"There are two parts to the 'Great Sword Scripture'. The complete Skill Card is an Epic ranked card. Now that you only have part 1 of the card, the Skill Card remains broken, that's why it is Rare."

Lin Huang was stunned at Xiao Hei's explanation. He did not expect the 'Great Sword Scripture' that he had secretly learned to be an Epic skill!

He then crushed the card in his hand and it turned into a green energy that flowed into his body.

There were changes to his Exclusive Card.

"Host: Lin Huang"

"Gender: Male"

"Age: 15"

"Combat Strength: None (Exceeded assessment limit)"

"Skill: Blood Power (Level-2)"

"Skill 2: Great Sword Scripture (Sword skill)

"Summon Authority: Activated"

"Available Number of Summons: 1"

"Remark: You are still so weak!"

"Although this 'Great Sword Scripture' skill is so precious, the scar-faced man did not stop me from learning it. With his abilities, it is impossible he did not notice that I was learning it in my room," Lin Huang thought.

There were two possibilities. Maybe he did not think the boy was able to grasp the skill, or he did it on purpose so that he could teach the skill to more people and share the knowledge with an interested 'spy'.

"No matter what, I have to thank him in person. Maybe I can even ask him politely if he could teach me the second part. Hehe..." While Lin Huang was dreaming about how impressive he would be at the Reserve Hunter assessment when he got the complete 'Great Sword Scripture', Lin Xin came back from school.

"Brother, are you thinking about food? You're drooling." Lin Xin said as soon as she saw his day-dreaming face when she entered the room.

"Yes! When we're rich, I will hire a cook from the Stable Residence to make good food for us every day!" Lin Huang said.

"Please do!" Lin Xin was excited to hear Lin Huang's nonsense as she had really grown to love the food at the hotel.

Lin Huang was relieved that Lin Xin believed his nonsense.

After dinner, Lin Huang asked Lin Xin to go back to the room without him while he rang Room301's doorbell.

the scar-faced man had a regular schedule for his meals and he was always at the restaurant at 6 p.m., finishing around 6.15 p.m. While for Lin Huang and Lin Xin, their timing was not fixed, so sometimes they ate earlier and sometimes, later. When they just arrived at the restaurant, the scar-faced man had finished eating so he should be back in his room right now.

Soon, the door swung open. the scar-faced man looked at Lin Huang without expression, and said, "Can I help you?"

"Thank you so much for teaching me the sword skill!" Lin Huang said sincerely while looking into his eyes. He then bowed low with respect to him.

the scar-faced man remained expressionless. "I knew you were secretly learning. I did not teach you anything, whatever you have mastered, that's your own effort. It's none of my business," the scar-faced man answered, with what seemed like a chuckle.

"No matter what, I want to thank you," Lin Huang insisted and stood in the doorway with a sincere smile on his face. To him, it did not matter if the man accepted his gratitude as long as he said what he had to say.

However, looking at the man's cold reaction, Lin Huang gave up his thought of asking him about part 2 of the 'Great Sword Scripture' and went back to his room.

"I should ask him about part 2 after I have completed the Reserve Hunter assessment."

Not long after he got back to his room, Lin Huang's ring vibrated. A stranger was asking to talk to him.

In doubt, Lin Huang picked up the call. It was someone familiar.

"Mr. Lin Huang, we have finished the renovations on your house. You can come back anytime you want to take a look. If there's anything you're not satisfied with, please contact me, and we will sort it out for you," the voice on the phone said. Lin Huang recognized the voice to be the leader in the suit that he met a few days back.

"Sure, I will be back tomorrow at noon. I will return the room keycard to the hotel owner," Lin Huang agreed and nodded.

After he hung up, Lin Xin walked out of her room,"Brother, do we have to leave tomorrow?" she asked with a look of disappointment on her face.

"Yes, our home is done so there's no need to stay at the hotel anymore," Lin Huang answered.

"Okay..." Lin Xin sounded reluctant. She loved the food and drinks at the Stable Residence.

Lin Huang noticed her reaction and said, "If you don't want to, then we shall stay for another day since we do have five days here. We can still stay here tomorrow and go back home the day after tomorrow."

"I'm not reluctant, but..." Lin Xin did not want to admit her reluctance.

"It's me who is reluctant then." Lin Huang shook his head and smiled,"It's set, we shall leave at noon the day after tomorrow."

The days passed so quickly. Lin Huang continued to watch the scar-faced man when he practiced but no matter how much he practiced, he did not get any more Skill Card pieces.

Therefore, he did not spend too much time practicing. Instead, he decided to get more rest before the assessment.

On the morning of the sixth day, after breakfast, Lin Huang and Lin Xin returned to their hotel room and rearranged the carpet and furniture to where they had been before. They then bid farewell to the hotel owner.

Boss Yu smiled while watching them leave. Suddenly, the scar-faced man appeared behind him.

"Sir, I still don't understand what you see in that kid. He was just lucky that he killed the vampire. Moreover, looking at his broken Life Wheel, he looks like he only has two months left," he grumbled.

"Gu Yi, you have known me for so long. Since when did I, Yu Qin misjudge a result?"

"You... never," he admitted. the scar-faced man was stunned and shook his head. He seemed unsettled, "But sir, you are a unique person. You'd never bother about anything that's from this world. Why would you want me to teach him the sword skill?"

"Don't worry, I have my plans. You have spoken to him, what do you think?" Boss Yu asked.

"His attitude isn't bad, but he's not a genius. He's far from the Li Lang we met a few days back," Gu Yi said and shook his head while giving his comment.

"Really? Let me ask you, how long did you take to learn part 1 of the 'Great Sword Scripture'?"

"'Great Sword Scripture' seems easy but in reality, it contains a massive amount of meaning to a swordsman. I practice more than 18 hours every day and I took 103 days to learn part 1," Gu Yi answered, a serious look on his face when he thought of the topic.

"As talented as you are, it took you 103 days to learn part 1. How long do you think he would need to learn that?" Boss Yu looked at Gu Yi with raised eyebrows.

"I think he would need at least two to three years," he mumbled. It was obvious that Gu Yi did not have faith in Lin Huang.

"I've told you that you're underestimating him. He only took three days to learn part 1 of the 'Great Sword Scripture'," Boss Yu said and pointed three fingers in the air as Gu Yi's mouth fell open in disbelief.

A video of Lin Huang practicing in his room for the past few days appeared in front of them.

Gu Yi was shocked when he saw the footage, and said, "How is that possible?"

"Nothing is impossible," Yu Qin answered and waved his hand to dismiss the video.

"Take two days, and clean up. We should leave soon."

Gu Yi nodded without asking any further questions. He just sighed and said, "Alright..."

Chapter 13: I Have Not Registered Yet...

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang did not know what happened at the Stable Residence after they left.

With the luxury hotel experience behind them, the two of them did not know what to expect when they got home. However, as soon as they walked up to the entrance of their house, they were stunned speechless at the sight they saw.

"Brother, is this our house?" Lin Xin said as she pulled Lin Huang's sleeve unsure of the reality that stood before them.

Lin Huang too, was dumbfounded by the house that greeted them as it was completely different compared to their original home.

From it being a small, double-story bungalow, it was now a three-story luxury villa. There was even a half covered, open-air garden on the top floor now, with a variety of flowers that cascaded over the balcony.

Looking at the house number which was still the No.23, Lin Huang confirmed that the new house was in fact, their home. They could not recognize their own house after the major renovations.

They keyed in their password at the door and entered the house.

Most of the original structure in the house remained the same, but the rest of the place was completely different.

The original terrazzo floor now had a wooden finish which seemed very expensive.

The hanging lamp on the ceiling was now a luxurious chandelier.

The cabinets in the kitchen were brand new, with new sets of matching utensils already arranged systematically, in each drawer.

There was a carpet that seemed to be made of monster leather that they had never seen before.

Even the couch, chairs and dining table were new. The toilet bowls in the bathrooms had been changed too.

Furthermore, the surprises continued as they ascended to the second floor. Their room which was meant for two people was now a single room. It was more than twice the original size and the balcony was three times bigger.

The third floor that was added had been designed as a bedroom, with a huge bed and a bathroom.

Above the third floor was the half covered open-air garden they had seen from the entrance.

Not only were there flowers, there was also a complete set of outdoor furniture which consisted of a patio umbrella, a rattan table, and chairs, as well as a hammock.

Lin Huang knew very well that such renovations would have cost more than the price of two or even three houses combined. Now that he thought about it, it was really strange. He then called the middle-aged man on the phone to get to the bottom of this.

Soon the man picked up his call and laughed, "Mr. Lin, are you happy with the renovations?"

"In this foothold, we were not the only ones that had a monster invade and destroy our property and possessions. I've seen the renovations on the other houses and none of them were as privileged as our house. Not only were we given new sets of furniture, we even have an extra floor! This is ridiculous. Who are you really? What is your intention?" Lin Huang asked, his mind buzzing with the thought that this case was not that simple.

"Of course, you are Sir Li's friend, we would have to do our best for you," the middle-aged man answered, not at all minding and revealing the fact that he knew about Li Lang.

"Sir Li? Lin Huang was stunned. "By that, do you mean Li Lang?" He continued.

"Yes, that's Sir Li. He was the one who submitted your damage report. It was important to our superior, which is why when we were told to complete this task properly, we spared no effort and expense," the man explained.

"What kind of status does Li Lang hold exactly?"

"You didn't know? His father is one of the vice presidents of Division7 of the Hunter Association, while his mother is the councilwoman of the Union Government of Division7," the man's said, another shocking revelation to Lin Huang that day.

The man's superior thought that Lin Huang was Li Lang's friend and through this 'act of kindness', they wanted to bridge the gap between them for the benefit of their relationship. What they did not know was, Lin Huang and Li Lang had just met once before, and there was no friendship between the two of them.

Of course, Lin Huang did not tell him that or else he might have to pay for the renovations which he most definitely could not afford.

He hung up the phone and cleared his mind of all thoughts about the renovations. After settling into their new house, he started to prepare for the Reserve Hunter assessment.

That day was a school holiday for Lin Xin. After having lunch together, Lin Huang dropped by the Credit Bureau and traded the Life Crystals given to him by Li Lang earlier for 100,000 credit points.

He then credited 20,000 credit points to Lin Xin and said, "The Reserve Hunter assessment will take about 10 to 15 days. Please take good care of yourself and spend the money if you need to. When I become a hunter, there will be more opportunities for me to make more than enough money for the both of us."

"Yes, brother. You will surely pass the assessment!" Lin Xin cheered. She had a lot of faith in Lin Huang.

Next, they arrived at the Eagle Station. Lin Huang patted Lin Xin's head as they said their goodbyes. He then paid for and rode off on an eagle that he picked from the station stables.

Lin Xin watched Lin Huang take off and stayed until he was high up in the clouds. She then turned around and left the station.

On the eagle, Lin Huang was amazed at the variety of monsters in the world he lived in.

This eagle had four limbs from the feline family, where its claws could extend as it wished.

Its ability to jump and run was stunning too.

Apart from its limbs, the rest of its body was the same as a raptor.

It had the face of an eagle and a pair of wings that were eight meters wide.

Such a creature did not only have the advantages of a superior body structure, it also had full control of the wind, which made it one the fastest moving monsters among the rest.

A few centuries ago, they were major headaches to humans in the lower monster class.

Whenever they headed out, they traveled in large packs. With their agility and powerful attacks, they easily destroyed some of the footholds.

Fortunately, humans adapted to the eagle's combat style and the tables were turned on the monsters.

Once that happened, ever since a few hundred years back, the eagles were captured and tamed by humans and had become one of the most common forms of transportation in the world these days.

The eagle that Lin Huang rode on was not the largest one but it had the best feathers.

The feathers on its abdomen were of a slight golden colored tone. In comparison to the other birds, it was unusually good-looking and also seemed like it was well fed.

The normal flying speed of an eagle was 700 kilometers per hour. At full speed, its agility would multiply! However, it would only fly at full speed when it was running for its life.

Under such flying speeds and conditions, it would have been torture for the eagle to withstand that speed along with a human on it's back. Therefore, there was special defense equipment installed on the saddle pad which would become a transparent defense shield which protected the rider in case of an emergency.

The eagle took less than two hours to fly from No.7D101 to No.7C87.

Lin Huang got out of the Eagle Station, opened the map in his ring and walked towards the Hunter Association division.

Not long after, he arrived at the division. There were already so many people waiting around, it looked a massive crowd waiting for a rock concert to start at the entrance of the building!

C-grade footholds belonged to the medium foothold category where the population was a few million people. Perhaps there were tens of thousands of hunters around. Placing the hunters from the smaller footholds nearby, who were there to submit their missions, along with the ordinary people hustling about their day, the traffic in the area would have naturally been hectic.

After quite a struggle, Lin Huang walked into the entrance of the division. Just when he entered, a young lady approached him.

The lady looked like she was in her 20s. She was dressed in the Hunter Association uniform. She greeted him with a wide smile, and said, "Hi sir, how may I help you today?"

"I'm here for the Reserve Hunter assessment," Lin Huang answered.

"Alright, please follow me," The lady smiled at Lin Huang again, and brought him to a meeting room. She then gestured, "You may go in."

"Thank you." Lin Huang nodded and pushed open the door.

He was stunned as there were more than 100 people in the meeting room.

"So many people have registered today? Looking at the amount of people in attendance, it looks like there might be more than a thousand people by tomorrow," Lin Huang wondered while he found himself a seat at the back.

Soon there were more people coming into the room. A fatty sat on his left with a vacant seat between them.

The fatty was very friendly. He then whispered to Lin Huang with a smile,"It's awesome that you could pass the preliminary round when you're not even iron-level, bro. Did you take a shortcut somewhere to get here?"

"Passed the preliminary round? Do you mean all of you have already registered?" Lin Huang looked at the fatty in disbelief.

"Of course, or else how would we know that we have to be here today at 4 p.m. for the assessment content and rules from the examiner?"

The fatty thought the question Lin Huang asked was strange. He then looked at him with suspicion in his eyes. "Don't tell me you're here without a registration?" he asked.

"Erm..." Before Lin Huang could even answer him, a lady in her heels walked up to the podium.

The noisy meeting room suddenly fell silent as everyone's attention was stolen by the woman on the stage.

It was a lady with a strong aura about her. She had a ponytail with a short skirt that showed her long legs beautifully. She wore a pair of black stilettos that was nearly 20 centimeters high.

She was tall herself, at at least 1.7 meters, and with that pair of heels, she was almost two meters tall, and everyone in the meeting room was beneath her in comparison.

Although, what was most attractive about her was not her height, but her breasts that were hidden in her buttoned-up white shirt. Her breasts were not showing at all, but the jiggling they had when she walked was sufficient to seduce all the men in the meeting room.

This lady could have been described as a bombshell.

"Witch Yi Yeyu lives up to her reputation..." The fatty said, slurping up drool as he spoke.

Looking at his behavior, Lin Huang sat quietly, inching more to his right to avoid any spit-fire from the fatty.

The lady looked over the crowd and stopped when her eyes landed on Lin Huang as he was the only one in the room who was not even an iron-level applicant. She did not say anything, but instead, went on to introduce herself.

"Hi, I am Yi Yeyu, the main examiner of your assessment. In this assessment, there are 133 people who have passed the preliminary rounds. Now, the time that I had set, which was 4 p.m. in the afternoon has arrived, there are now 127 people here. The six people who are not here have been eliminated from the assessment," she said in a loud, stern voice.

"I will be telling you the rules of the assessment tomorrow. I will only say it once so please pay attention. Also, when I'm speaking, please keep quiet. If you have any questions, you can ask after I have finished speaking," she said.

"Tomorrow at 8 a.m., all of you will gather here in this meeting room. Those who are late will be eliminated. You are not allowed to bring any equipment that is more than iron-level, no drugs and no other prohibited items in your storage space. Before the assessment starts, all the prohibited items will be temporarily confiscated by my authorities. If there's anything valuable which you do not trust us to keep an eye on, please keep them with someone else until you leave later on," she continued.

"The concrete content of the assessment won't be revealed at this moment. After everyone is gathered tomorrow, I will reveal that," she said to the anxious hall of eyes that stared at her. The messages from Yi Yeyu was short and sweet. After she was done, she looked at the crowd again and asked, "If you have any doubts, you can ask now."

Everyone in the room looked around at each other. None of them dared to say anything. At the back of the meeting room, a hand rose up slowly and... It was Lin Huang.

"What questions do you have? Do tell me," Yi Yeyu asked Lin Huang with her chin up ready for his question.

"Erm... I haven't registered myself yet. Is it too late to register now?" Lin Huang asked from the back of the room.

Over 100 people who were present in the room frowned when they heard what Lin Huang said.

Chapter 14: The Beginning of the Assessment

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As it happened, the registration for the assessment was not an obstacle to Lin Huang at all. It was just a preliminary screening of sorts to avoid too many participants in the Assessment stage.

Since Lin Huang was already in the meeting room, to Yi Yeyu, his presence did not make a difference to the assessment. From the way he looked, she thought he would definitely be eliminated during the assessment anyway for his abilities were not going to save him. So, to avoid embarrassing him, she let his registration mess-up slide.

Lin Huang did not even have the opportunity to show Yi Yeyu that he was an Imperial Censor and before he knew it, the registration was completed.

"Bro, you're so lucky! When you raised up your hand and said you haven't registered, I thought the f*cking witch would throw you out," the fatty laughed and got even friendlier than before as he shook Lin Huang's hand. He then said, "Let's get to know each other. I'm Yin Hangyi, what about you?"

"Lin Huang, pleased to meet you," Lin Huang replied, as he could not avoid the guy's friendliness and he did not seem skeptical to it anyhow, so he shook his hand.

"You're not even iron-level and you're here for the assessment. Such audacity!" Yin Hangyi patted Lin Huang's shoulder.

"Just trying my luck. Maybe I'll pass, you never know," Lin Huang answered with a smiled. He had no plans of revealing his identity as an Imperial Censor to the guy, of all people, so he kept quiet about it.

After chatting for awhile, Lin Huang said goodbye to Yin Hangyi. If he did not leave, he might have had to talk to the fatty forever.

After dinner, Lin Huang took a stroll at the night market to calm his thoughts. Then he went back to the hotel and slept early in preparation for the day to come.

The next morning, he went to the meeting room right after breakfast. The head examiner Yi Yeyu seemed to despise people who were late, so he did not want to lose his eligibility to the assessment because of tardiness.

As it turned out, the strict warning had everyone else on edge too. Nobody was late on the second day. The 127 people who joined the meeting on the first day were all there before 7:50 a.m.

At exactly 8 a.m., the Head Examiner Yi Yeyu arrived. This time, she wore a pair of long, black pants and a short sleeve white shirt. Her style was a little different from the first day but no matter how hard she tried to cover up her voluptuous body, her curves could still be seen.

All the male members present were young and horny at the sight of her. Most of their eyes followed her movements, but they did not focus on her face. Instead, their stares were centered on her breasts.

Yi Yeyu walked to the podium, looked at the crowd and started to speak.

"Everybody is here. That's great! Now I will talk about the syllabus of the assessment today," she started.

"The theme of the assessment is - Survival. As a professional hunter, we will always encounter horrible environments and powerful monsters. Thus, survival is a topic that all professional hunters should master. One who does not master this will surely die tragically in the end," she warned.

"The location of assessment is a wilderness 330 kilometers away from the foothold No.7C87 - Pure Gold Desert. The objective of the assessment is simple. All you guys have to do is enter Door A to the Pure Gold Desert, walk across the desert that is 1,500 kilometers long and within 15 days, you must arrive at foothold No.7D121 or be eliminated," she said. As Yi Yeyu spoke, she projected a 3D map showing the location of the starting and ending points.

"You are not allowed to bring food and water during this assessment. You would have to obtain them in the desert," she continued.

Everyone was stunned at what she said at the end. Even Lin Huang was upset. He had prepared a ton of water and snacks yesterday for the assessment.

"Later, each and every one of you will be given an emergency communication device once we have inspected your storage spaces. If any of you cannot handle the challenge, press the rescue button to give up the assessment and you will be saved, and subsequently eliminated. Of course, if you're not able to arrive at your destination foothold No.7D121 within 15 days, that will be considered as failing the assessment," she explained.

"That's all for the assessment briefing. If you have any questions, please ask now." Yi Yeyu asked with a sinister grin on her lips.

"Miss examiner, looking at the terrain of the 3D map that you showed us, our destination No.7D121 isn't connected directly to the Pure Gold Desert. Instead, it's blocked. That means, the area of the assessment isn't only a desert, but it will also include climbing the mountain. Am I right?" A man in glasses asked.

"You're very observant, yes, climbing the mountain is part of the challenge and you have to do it with your bare hands. The equipment for climbing in your storage space will be confiscated later," Yi Yeyu said, as her smile widened at the thought.

The crowd groaned again. Yin Hangyi who sat next to Lin Huang was getting more and more upset.

"Do they plan to fail each and every one of us?" The fatty mumbled.

"Are there any more questions?" Yi Yeyu asked. She seemed to be satisfied with the briefing of the assessment that she had presented.

"Miss examiner, I've done some research on the mountains. It's called the Snowy Goddess Mountain, located right behind foothold No.7D121. It's a level-2 wild zone. Based on records of the area, bronze-level monsters have been sighted there. In such a wild zone, isn't it unsafe to carry out the assessment... there?" A voice at the back of the room asked. As it turned out, it was Lin Huang who asked the question.

Everyone was shocked when they heard the fact.

Yi Yeyu was stunned. She frowned and said, "The entire zone of the mountain is in fact, a level-2 wild zone. However, there's one mountain around there that's without bronze-level monsters. So that place is considered a level-1 wild zone. All of you should climb that mountain instead. I'll get someone to mark it down on the trail," she answered.

As it seemed, she had intentionally left out the information to increase the difficulty of the assessment and decrease the passing rate. She did not expect Lin Huang to point it out, but now she had to mark the safer trail for everyone to use. If she did not do that and insisted everyone to take the assessment as it was, the results of the assessment would be invalid if an incident was brought up to the management of the Hunter Association. A level-2 wild zone was prohibited as an assessment field.

"Are there any more questions? Please do not hesitate to ask. If not, we're ready to go." Just when Yi Yeyu was done speaking, a few of them raised their hands but their questions were irrelevant.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang was scratching his head thinking about the difficult situations within the assessment.

"The lack of food and water would be the biggest issue. As we go, we still have look for a source of water. Moreover, in the desert, there are many deadly monsters that we should be aware of. Above all, people are the most dangerous beings that we should watch out for. There will be many of them who will try to steal our food and water. By my calculations, the 1,500-kilometer desert trail can be completed in 13 days. Climbing with your bare hands would take more than a day, I might need to reserve two days for that..." Lin Huang said, in discussion with Yin Hangyi.

"It's now 8:20 a.m. Let me bring you to the assessment point," Yi Yeyu said and waved into the air. Suddenly, a green wooden door appeared. She then pushed open the door.

"Please queue up. After you passed through the door, please wait and don't move around the place!" she warned.

"Ooo! A Dimensional Relic!" the fatty Yin Hangyi exclaimed when he saw the door.

"What's a relic?"

"You're so ignorant. A relic is an extremely rare treasure that surpasses gold-ranked equipment. If one has killed a transcendant monster, there's a possibility that they would get it. A Dimensional Relic's rarity is even more valuable than some weapon relics. It seems like this witch isn't just a hot simpleton after all," Yin Hangyi explained in all seriousness.

Lin Huang became even more curious about the world he knew. The rank after gold-ranked equipment is transcendant? He was impressed at the thought of it. How powerful can the strongest combat rank be?

More and more people passed through the door. Soon the queue got shorter and it was finally Lin Huang and the fatty's turn to enter.

As he stepped into the door, he felt a slight dizziness and in the blink of an eye, he was in a desert.

"That's amazing!" Lin Huang exclaimed.

Chapter 15: Sand Monster

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There were staff members from the Hunter Association already waiting at the entrance to the desert.

When all the members who joined the assessment arrived, the head examiner, Yi Yeyu followed through behind them all.

"Now please conform to the checking of your space storage facilities with our staff," Yi Yeyu said and then nodded to the 12 staff who were there waiting for her instructions.

The 12 staff started to check each and every storage compartments.

"All weapons, combat, defense and other assistance equipment that are above iron-level are prohibited. Aside from healing-related medication, all medicines including septic divisor that have poisonous effects on the human body are prohibited as well. Equipment that has been poisoned must be cleaned. Those who refused to clean them will have your equipment confiscated," she continued.

"Also, all food and water are prohibited. Climbing equipment is prohibited too..."

Yi Yequ announced loudly while walking back and forth in front of everyone.

Soon, the 12 staff members had done their job.

Most of the things that were confiscated were food and water. Some of them brought bronze-level equipment and some of the weapons were soaked in septic divisor. They were asked to clean their weapons on the spot.

The same happened to Lin Huang when they checked his storage space. His food and water were confiscated. The military water bottle that he bought was almost taken away too but he poured out all the water in front of the staff before they did.

They found Lin Huang's armored bullets too. The staff confirmed the item with Yi Yeyu before returning the bullets to him.

Yi Yeyu thought it would not make a difference if he had them or not since the bullets were meant for normal guns. Even at a short-distance, the impact would hardly be of any significance against bronze-level weapons. Moreover, there were only 10 bullets, so the bullets were returned to him.

When the staff returned the bullets, Lin Huang was relieved as it was one of the few ways he had to protect himself.

When the inspection was completed, it was already past 9 a.m.

After all the staff had confirmed that nothing had been missed out, a communication device was given to every one of them.

Yi Yeyu then spoke again, "The stuff that was confiscated will be kept safely with our authorities. When the assessment is over, we will return them to you."

"The time is now 9:23 a.m., I'm giving you guys an extra seven minutes. Those of you who arrive at the destination within 15 days before 9:30 a.m. will pass the assessment."

"Before the assessment officially begins, I have some bad news for the lot of you. During the assessment, the internet connection, communication and map positioning guidance functions on your Emperor's Heart Ring will not be available. The only thing that you can use will be the storage system," Yi Yeyu said, with a hearty laugh once she finished. Her breasts jiggled vigorously, distracting the participants for a few moments, before drawing them back to the harsh truth she had revealed.

What Yi Yeyu said caused the crowd to groan again. Even Lin Huang did not expect her to be that sneaky.

On the other hand, Yi Yeyu as the head examiner seemed to enjoy the torture she inflicted. With a grin, she said, "Now, let the assessment, BEGIN!" she shouted.

Just when she was finished speaking, some of them ran well ahead of the rest. Those who were groaning followed too.

Lin Huang who was the weakest among them all was the slowest. Instead of running like everybody else, he walked at his normal pace. The fatty greeted him and sprinted away following the people ahead.

Soon, Lin Huang was left behind. However, he did not accelerate. He continued walking at his own pace, studying his surroundings as he went.

Watching Lin Huang getting further and further away, the head examiner Yi Yeyu shook her head and said, "I thought there was something special about that kid. It seems like he's just an ordinary person. At this speed, it would be amazing if he could walk 40 kilometers in a day. I don't think he can even finish half of the journey within the given 15 days."

In truth, it was not that he did not want to follow the other's pace as they ran off in the wilderness. The fact was that he was not able to keep up anyway.

He was just an ordinary person. His physique and body structure were completely different from those who were at an iron-level.

If he was to run like those fellas who were iron-level, he would collapse within half a day. The environment in the desert was so harsh, that if he pushed himself too hard, he would have to give up the assessment if he even planned on surviving it.

Lin Huang had been researching the Pure Gold Desert on his Heart Network since the head examiner Yi Yeyu gave out the assessment area and content that morning. He had a plan in mind to survive the desert.

Within the 15 days, he needed at least two days to climb the alps so he had 13 days to cross the 1,500 kilometers desert. That said, he needed to walk more than 115 kilometers per day. That did not include the time he spent searching for food and a source of water.

Lin Huang knew very well that the desert was not a simple flatland.

When he was on earth, he had traveled to a desert before. The fastest an ordinary person could walk in the desert would be four kilometers per hour. A few well trained others could walk five kilometers per hour. Moreover, he would need to rest at night.

He would be pushing his limits if he was to walk 50 kilometers per day.

Within 15 days, no matter how he pushed himself, he could only finish half the journey.

An iron-level person had a body that was a few times stronger than ordinary people.

Their strength and tolerance were better than ordinary people and they could even run up to a 100 kilometers per day. That would be impossible for Lin Huang.

Therefore, he had a plan that involved monsters in the desert. Especially those that moved fast which he could use as a vehicle.

With his ability to obtain Skill Card pieces and his skill of summoning monsters, he had memorized the locations of the footholds where the monsters he needed would reside.

Although the accumulation of Skill Card pieces would take time, the native creatures that resided in the desert could move much faster than humans. The time that he spent on accumulating Skill Card pieces would be made up by the monsters' high-speed movements through the desert.

Lin Huang's headed in a very different direction from those who were ahead of him. His goal was not the destination, but the foothold with a Sand Monster that he had seen on the map.

The Sand Monster belonged to a branch of human giants. They were huge, very fat and they consumed a diet consisting of a variety of flesh and meat very regularly. They looked similar to humans as they walked with two legs. They were more like a deformed human with some of them having two or three heads and some with only one head with additional mouths or eyes.

Iron-level Sand Monsters were at least five meters tall and the tallest one could be up to 10 meters. They were easily a few times stronger than iron-level humans.

Lin Huang had his eye on an iron-level Sand Monster, and as they lived in groups, the monstrosity of that sort would not be hard to find. What he needed to do at the moment was accumulate a complete Monster Card from killing many monsters at once. Another reason that aided his plan was that the Sand Monster's foothold was very near the A-entrance of the Pure Gold Desert.

Lin Huang followed the planned route for half a day without water. Finally, when the sky was dark, he arrived at the foothold where the Sand Monsters lurked. Lin Huang knew earlier that there was a source of water at the location, but didn't see it upon his arrival. Soon after, he thanked his lucky star when he saw a freshwater lake not far from the foothold.

Chapter 16: Changes In The Life Wheel

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang secretly got a bottle of water from the lake. He took a few sips and closed the bottle, feeling energized while waiting for the night to come.

The Sand Monsters had terrible vision. Their body structure allowed them to resist heat and cold so they were not afraid of the sun as well as sandstorms. Because of this, they usually hunt during the day. However, the range of their vision dropped to the extent that they could not see past 100 meters at night. Unless they were hungry, they would prefer not to hunt during the night.

The sky was dark not long after Lin Huang went into hiding.

It was an eerie night and there were barely any stars in the sky. It was perfect for hunting.

Lin Huang ran towards the foothold where the Sand Monsters were moving at full speed. He had observed the foothold for awhile, noticing more than 30 Sand Monsters here.

None of them were taller than 10 meters and they were all iron-level.

The Sand Monsters intelligence was not high but perhaps they had seen the human's foothold, there were fences that surrounded it. Mimicking it, they built simple shacks for the place where they slept. With more than 30 shacks put together, the area looked like a miniature human village.

Lin Huang walked around the fence, some of the Sand Monsters were sleeping and loud snores could be heard.

He locked his target on one Sand Monster that was five meters tall. From the size of the Sand Monster, it seemed to be iron-level. It was playing with its toes in its own shed. It then licked its fingers after playing with its toes, Lin Huang was disgusted.

He started to think that it might be a mistake to summon such an idiotic monster with his Monster Card.

Time was running out, soon he forgot about what he was thinking.

He picked up a stone from the ground and tossed it towards the disgusting monster through the fence.

The Sand Monster was hit by the stone, it then picked up the stone in confusion and looked at the direction where the stone was tossed. He saw there was something behind the fence. Although the distance was not far, it could not see clearly through the fence.

It then stood up with his three meters long bat and walked towards the fence.

The Sand Monsters appetite was huge. They could usually eat a lot so they would never let go of food that was sent their way.

Looking at the Sand Monster approaching him, Lin Huang let out a grin behind the fence.

Soon the Sand Monster arrived at the fence, it looked down and locked eyes with Lin Huang.

It was shocked and immediately, it swung its bat at Lin Huang.

Lin Huang instantly ran towards the dune that was not far away.

The Sand Monster destroyed the fence with its bat and chased after Lin Huang.

To the Sand Monsters, human flesh was tender and delicious. It almost drooled the moment it saw Lin Huang.

Seeing its food run away, it did not want to let go.

Just when Lin Huang passed through the dune, the Sand Monster approached and it swung its bat towards Lin Huang.

Suddenly, blood was spilled. The monster stopped moving, its head fell from its neck.

Blood gushed out all over the place, the headless body fell straight behind the dune.

A shadow appeared next to the Sand Monster's dead body. It was a young man with white hair, his eyes which turned red were now black.

"That's amazing, Bai!" Lin Huang gave the young man a thumbs up.

Bai who was on iron-level rank-3 was near to bronze-level since his evolution the last time. Under the Blood Power boost, chopping off the monster's head was a piece of cake.

"Ding!" A notification came from Xiao Hei, a semi-transparent notification box popped out upon Lin Huang.

"Congratulations, you obtained a Monster Card - Sand Monster piece x1"

At the same time, a huge amount of white Life Light spread out from the Sand Monster's dead body into Bai.

"I almost forgot, Life Light would be given when monsters kill each other." Although Lin Huang knew about this earlier, it was his first time witnessing it.

In this world, the Life Light among monsters could be seized mutually where the remained Life Light of the dead monster would be transferred automatically into the monster that killed it.

As the human body was unique, it would only absorb a part of Life Light from monsters automatically during the upgrade of ability.

Such process was called a Life Light Baptism. Under other circumstances, unless one possessed some technique to absorb Life Light, the Life Light would fade away while nobody could obtain it.

As Bai absorbed the Life Light from the dead Sand Monster, there were changes inside Lin Huang's body.

The third column on the Life Wheel in his body that was dim started to shine. Soon the third column was fully lit up and the fourth one started to light up as well. The fifth one followed, and then the sixth... Until the 26th column was lightened up, the Life Light that was spreading out of the dead Sand Monster stopped. The Life Light on Bai's body faded as well and the changes in Lin Huang's body stopped soon after.

"What just happened?" Lin Huang was shocked. He did not expect the Life Light in his body to increase out of nowhere. Within seconds, his Life Wheel increased from three columns to 28 columns.

One column in Life Wheel usually represented one year of life. Since Lin Huang was born with a broken Life Wheel, the rate at which his life decays was 10 times faster than ordinary people.

He was only left with three columns on his Life Wheel and the third column was already dim. He only had slightly more than two months more to live.

But now, he suddenly had 28 columns on his Life Wheel.

He was relieved from the fear of death. However, the good news was strange to him.

"Xiao Hei, does the addition of my Life Light had anything to do with Bai killing the Sand Monster?" Lin Huang took his guess.

"When you summon a monster from your Monster Card, your Life Wheel is synchronized with your monster. 50% of the Life Light would be absorbed into your Life Wheel when the monster is killed. If the Life Wheel of the monster you summoned is full, 100% of the Life Light would be given to you."

Lin Huang was relieved after he heard Xiao Hei's explanation as now he knew that there was no problem with his body.

"I could get more than 20 columns of Life Light from killing one Sand Monster. So if I were to kill a few more, my Life Wheel would overflow!"

Lin Huang was excited as he thought to himself.

He then went to the back of the dune and walked towards the foothold where the Sand Monsters were...

Chapter 17: Multiple Kills

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After passing through the dune, Lin Huang saw two of the Sand Monsters standing at the destroyed fence from afar. One of them was seven meters tall while the other was eight. The shorter one seemed to be an iron-level rank-2 while the taller one was most probably an iron-level rank-3.

Lin Huang hesitated for a moment but he sprinted towards the direction of the two Sand Monsters.

The duo who was about to fix the fence under the night sky could not see Lin Huang clearly, all they could see was that something was approaching them from afar.

They opened their eyes in an attempt to try to get a better look at what was coming for them.

When Lin Huang was in between the dune and the foothold, the duo could finally see him.

Seeing that it was a human, they imagined how delicious he would be and they ran through the fence to chase after Lin Huang.

Lin Huang turned around and ran immediately.

Just when he ran through the dune, the duo was near him. They did not bring any weapons and they were trying to grab Lin Huang with their bare hands.

Lin Huang got down and rolled down the dune.

Blood splashed through the air. The head of the shorter Sand Monster was chopped off, its body fell straight to the ground.

Bai attacked the second monster without missing.

His height was the same as the Sand Monster. His Blood Power wings were his weapon, which he swung towards the taller Sand Monster.

The death of the shorter monster served as a warning for the taller monster. It saw a red stroke flashing in the air so it used its hand to block the attack although he could not see what was attacking it.

Usually, such a block would work seeing how tough and thick with high defense the Sand Monster's skin was but now that Bai's power was similar to a bronze-level, with the help of his Blood Power wings that were comparable to a bronze-level weapon, the Sand Monster's hands were chopped off.

The attack was not as effective as Bai wanted it to be as the monster's head was still there.

In immense pain, the Sand Monster let out a loud groan.

Lin Huang attempted to stop Bai but it was too late.

The distance between the dune and the foothold where the Sand Monsters resided was less than 10 meters. If the monster were to scream, it would definitely attract the rest of the Sand Monsters. By then, not only would the hunt fail, he might even lose his life.

Suddenly, another slash flashed through the air, slicing through the Sand Monster's mouth directly to the back of its head.

The pupils of the giant Sand Monsters dilated as the Blood Power saber was removed from its mouth. Without any support, its body fell onto the floor.

Bai kept his Blood Power saber, the redness in his eyes faded and he returned to his innocent young look.

Lin Huang was relieved, it was so close. If Bai had been a second slower, they might be dead by now.

If they were to be surrounded by more than 10 iron-level Sand Monsters in such an environment, a bronze-level hunter might not be able to make it.

Xiao Hei's notification popped up.

"Congratulations, you have obtained Monster Cards - Sand Monster pieces x 2"

As the notification popped up, white Life Light spread out from the two dead bodies of the Sand Monsters into Bai's body.

Lin Huang looked at the Life Wheel in his body. The columns started to light up again.

This time, it increased from 28 to 85 columns straight away.

Even with his accelerated decay in his lifespan which was 10 times faster than ordinary people, Lin Huang could now live for more than eight years.

He calmed himself down and started to plan things out.

From his experience earlier, he did not want to risk his life any further.

Bai performance was beyond Lin Huang's wildest expectations. In every fight, he managed to kill every Sand Monster in a single shot before they could even make a single noise.

Just like this, with Bai's help, Lin Huang killed three Sand Monsters.

All the 137 white columns on his Life Wheel were now filled up, the only remaining columns being the gray ones.

In this world, everyone had a Life Wheel within their bodies that had 360 light columns.

However, there were two categories to the columns. The white ones were refillable with Life Light while the gray columns could not be filled with Life Light.

Most people have 100 to 150 white columns which were full of Life Light when they were born. The white columns decided how long one would live.

As time passed, the Life Light in the Life Wheel would disappear and every year, one column of Life Light would be taken away.

The columns of Life Light that were taken away would turn into gray columns which were not refillable. That was how human lifespan decreased every year.

If one was ill or born with issues in their Life Wheel, the loss of Life Light would accelerate.

However, the speed of change of the column would forever be constant at one column per year.

Lin Huang was one of the unlucky ones. He was born with only 152 white columns on his Life Wheel. Now that 15 years had passed, his Life Wheel should have only had 137 white columns remaining.

However, since his lifespan decay was 10 times faster than ordinary people, within the 15 years, 150 columns were gone, leaving him with only two columns.

It was also not feasible to convert the gray columns into white columns as the price to pay was too high.

Each gray column would need 10 years of Life Light to be activated, turning them into white columns. To top it off, each gray column could only be activated once.

To be able to reach iron-level, it required all the gray columns to be activated, filling up the entire life wheel with 360 white columns.

The rich would need to pay an astronomical amount of money, making it impossible for the poor.

One year worth of Life Crystals required 100,000 credit points and 10 years worth of Life Crystals would require one million credit points to activate a single gray column.

For most people, they were born with more than 200 gray columns and the activation of those columns would require more than 200 million credit points, an astronomical amount.

That was the reason why anyone who held the title of a hunter in this world was respected. Even an iron-level Reserve Hunter would be held in high respect by everyone.

With all his white columns lit up, Lin Huang saw hope to achieve iron-level as he had the advantage that most people did not have - absorbing Life Light through Bai.

Witnessing the shortcut to iron-level, Lin Huang's hunger to kill grew more intense.

Chapter 18: Kill Them All!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Using the method he used earlier, Lin Huang lured more Sand Monsters out of their shacks and got Bai to kill them.

Over an hour later, aside from the leader, the rest of the Sand Monsters were all killed.

The back of the dune that was less than 100 meters from the foothold was filled with dead bodies, most of them with their heads separated from their bodies.

On Lin Huang's Life Wheel, 52 gray columns had been turned into white columns and they were all lit up.

He had also obtained 33 Sand Monster card pieces. He could actually integrate 30 card pieces into one iron-level rank-1 Sand Monster but he chose to put it aside.

Standing outside of the foothold, Lin Huang looked at the last Sand Monster from afar.

It was the biggest one in the entire foothold and it was almost 10 meters tall.

From its size, Lin Huang guessed that it was near the bronze-level.

It should be the leader of the foothold, it was in a deep sleep and was snoring loudly.

It had no idea that the rest of its mates had all been killed.

Lin Huang took out the GrayEagle17 in his space storage and put the 10 armored bullets into the bore of the gun and approached the last Sand Monster quietly.

In the low growl of the wind in the desert, a stench emanated of the shacks. It was disgusting.

The Sand Monsters seemed to be quite unhygienic.

Lin Huang bent over and walked in small steps so he would not make any noises as he approached the leader of the Sand Monsters slowly.

30 meters, 20 meters, 10 meters, 5 meters...

Suddenly, the Sand Monster's nose twitched. It seemed to have picked up the scent of something and opened its eyes.

Lin Huang did not have the time to run away, he was seen by the leader of the Sand Monsters leader.

The Sand Monster was stunned, it thought it was dreaming.

Lin Huang was shocked as well but he pointed his gun at the monster as it tried to grab his gun.

Suddenly, two slashes flashed through in a split second. They were like ribbons tying the Sand Monster's arms.

Lin Huang saw the flashes and did not run away. Instead, he took a step towards the Sand Monster and pulled the trigger at the monster's eyes.

In the dark, flares were seen as two bullets were shot into the monster's eyes.

The Sand Monster let out a loud roar from the pain. When Lin Huang attacked, it managed to close its eyes but the impact of the armored bullets was too powerful at point blank.

Although it did not make the Sand Monster's head explode, both its eyes were completely destroyed.

The Sand Monster was badly injured from the hit, it became furious and somehow managed to break away from Bai within seconds.

Lin Huang then rolled towards the left and hid in the side.

The Sand Monster stood up, starting to smash everything around it as it roared.

Its roar could be heard more than 10 kilometers away. The members who joined the assessment ahead of Lin Huang were just settling down, getting ready for dinner.

They were terrified by the Sand Monster's roar.

"It's the Sand Monster's roar, it sounded angry..."

"In the desert, the only creature that dared to invade into the Sand Monsters' foothold was the megalodon wolf pack which also belonged to the giant family. If the megalodon wolf was not famished, they would not attack the Sand Monsters on a whim. There must be some unusual fight happening in the foothold tonight!"

A man in glasses who also joined the assessment explained.

He seemed to know the monsters in the desert better. However, he misjudged the situation as the sound of gun faded too fast and he could not hear that as he was too far away.

Within the 10 kilometer radius of the foothold, the Sand Monster seemed to be in complete madness. It swung its hands everywhere, destroying the surroundings. Meanwhile, Bai was in combat mode as his eyes turned completely red and the Blood Power on his back turned into two bloody sabers.

As he avoided from being hit by the Sand Monster, he was slashing the monster with his sabers at the same time.

The number of wounds on the Sand Monster increased and Bai did not even suffer a single hit.

Lin Huang hid in the opposite direction, somewhere not far from them. He removed the armored bullets and reloaded his gun with regular bullets. He then went into shooting mode and he shot the Sand Monster every time he had a chance. He focused on the Sand Monster's face, including its destroyed eyes, nose, mouth, and even its ears.

Although he missed most of the time, it managed to make the monster even more furious. Lin Huang did not shoot from the same direction. Every time he took a shot, he would change his position.

This 10-meter-tall Sand Monster had superior abilities if it was compared to the rest. Bai managed to chop off the arms of the other monsters' easily but he failed to cut through this monster's body as its bones prevented him from doing so.

Time passed by, Lin Huang and Bai were getting tired as the Sand Monster got weaker, losing blood as the fight continued.

Lin Huang was amazed at how terrifying the monsters in this world were.

He had fired more than 100 bullets from his GrayEagle17 at the monster's face and though he only missed a few shots, the monster was still alive.

It was shocking as the GrayEagle17 was comparable to an iron-level gun. It was even more powerful than an AK47 on earth.

After losing so much blood, the Sand Monster became slow. Though Bai was tired, he did not slow down but instead, he got more aggressive. However, the monster still managed to defend itself.

Lin Huang was exhausted. His actions became slower but he was still opening fire at the monster's face.

Under continuous attack, the monster finally fell to its injuries and though it was still alive, Lin Huang and Bai both knew that it could not last much longer.

Lin Huang became more courageous and he stood in front of the Sand Monster to open fire because he could aim better at such an angle. However, just as he positioned himself and fired a few shots, the Sand Monster who was on the ground stood up and let out a roar as it ran towards Lin Huang's direction.

Lin Huang did not move at all, instead, he grinned. He took out the regular bullets and reloaded his gun with armored bullets.

He then aimed at the monster's wide opened mouth and shot.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three shots were fired and three armored bullets exploded in the Sand Monster's mouth.

Blood started to flow out of the monster and the monster who was initially running towards Lin Huang fell hard onto the ground.

"Congratulations, you obtained a complete Sand Monster Card x1!"

"Host completed cross-ranking kill, an Advanced Card is rewarded!"

"I have been waiting for this for way too long!" Lin Huang blew at the muzzle in satisfaction before he put the GrayEagle17 into storage.

Chapter 19: Repeat Important Matters Three Times

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang had expected the sudden outburst of the Sand Monster. The 30 Sand Monsters who were killed did not always die in one hit from Bai's attack and they had a similar reaction.

The last Sand Monster remaining who happened to be their leader was killed the way Lin Huang had wanted it to happen.

After the Sand Monster's leader was dead, a notification was sent by Xiao Hei.

As the last monster was killed by Lin Huang himself, he was rewarded with an Advanced Card for the cross-ranking kill.

Besides, he also obtained a complete Monster Card.

The probability of obtaining a Monster Card right away for killing a monster was not high.

Lin Huang had done his survey earlier so he was only aiming to collect all of the card pieces. He did not expect to get this lucky.

However, there was a downside as well. Since the Sand Monster was killed by Lin Huang, its Life Light could not be absorbed by Bai so Lin Huang's Life Wheel did not manage to get any additional Life Light.

Lin Huang then called out the Monster Card onto his hand. He was stunned, it was a green card. He looked at it closely.

There was a giant Sand Monster on the front of the card. Its look was considered normal, the only thing was that it had an extra head. It did not have extra eyes and it had four limbs just like ordinary people did.

It looked like an enlarged human with more fats and hair. It looked ferocious and did not have reproductive organs.

He turned the card around to look at the detailed description.

"Monster Card"

"Rarity: Rare"

"Type of Monster: Giant (Branch)"

"Combat Level: Iron-level 3-star"

"Skill 1: Immense Strength (Beginner)"

"Skill 2: Robust (Beginner)"

"Skill 3: Iron Bones (Beginner)"

"Summoning Limit: Activated"

"Card Remarks: This is useless too!"

Lin Huang then looked at the detailed description.

"Immense Strength (Beginner): Passive skill, strength would gain three times more."

"Robust (Beginner): Passive skill - Body physique improved two-fold. (Body physique includes tolerance to poison, strength, tolerance, and adaptation.)"

"Iron Bones (Beginner): Passive skill - Defense is improved three-fold."

After reading the detailed description, Lin Huang finally understood why it was so hard to kill the last Sand Monster.

"No wonder Bai's attack could not hurt it, this fella is a rare species like Bai. Although it did not have any active skills, its passive skills are stunning enough."

Lin Huang was familiar with the Advanced Card. Now that he had two rare Monster Cards, he was not sure if he should use the Advanced Card on Bai or the Sand Monster.

Since he was undecided, he put the card aside for the future when it was needed.

"Xiao Hei, please extract the skill."

The three passive skills were all great. No matter which one he got, it would be helpful for Lin Huang so he did not have any preference.

"Skill extraction has been activated... Choosing a skill for the host... Random selection is done... Congratulations, you have obtained - Robust (Beginner)."

When the skill extraction was done, Lin Huang opened up his Exclusive Card.

"Host: Lin Huang"

"Gender: Male"

"Age: 15"

"Combat Strength: None (Exceeded assessment limit)"

"Skill 1: Blood Power (Level-2)"

"Skill 2: Great Sword Scriptures (Sword skill)

"Skill 3: Robust (Beginner)

"Summon Authority: Activated"

"Available Number of Summons: 1"

"Remark: So weak! So weak! So weak!"

He was initially happy but he got slightly pissed at the last remark, "Was it really necessary to repeat yourself three times? Xiao Hei, I feel that you're becoming meaner now."

"It's necessary to repeat important stuff three times, isn't that a rule on earth?"

"..." Lin Huang did not know what to respond.

"The available number of summons is still one, does that mean I can't summon both my Monster Cards at the same time?" Lin Huang questioned as he noticed that the quantity of summons remained unchanged.

"Yes, no matter how many Monster Cards you have, you can only summon one at a time."

Lin Huang wanted to try anyway. Without recalling Bai, he squeezed the Sand Monster Card on his hand.

The card broke into pieces and was transferred into his body. Immediately, a semi-transparent box appeared.

"You have reached the summoning limit, the action is denied!"

He then recalled Bai and summoned the Sand Monster card. He squeezed the card again and a gigantic Sand Monster appeared in front of him.

He took a good look at the 10-meter-tall Sand Monster. He thought to himself for awhile and said, "I'm going to call you Tyrant."

Hearing what Lin Huang said, the Sand Monster raised its hands up high and let out a loud roar. It seemed to like the name given by Lin Huang very much.

"Alright, Tyrant, let's hunt for a mini monster nearby." Lin Had had breakfast before coming to the assessment. Now that it was late, after an entire day of walking and fighting, he was hungry and tired.

Tyrant who got the instruction turned around and left immediately.

Soon, it came back with a monster that looked like a wild boar. Lin Huang recognized it, it was an Armored Pig. It was double the size of a wild boar on earth, it had black, metal scales on its back.

Although it was quite large in size, it did not belong to the giants. It was a mutated beast, the difference was one could tell what it was by looking at its size. No matter which rank the Armored Pig had evolved into, its size did not seem to change even when it became an adult.

Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he saw the Armored Pig. He tried that when he stayed at the Stable Residence. It was delicious.

Lin Huang's cooking skill was nothing fantastic. He started a fire, sliced a few pieces of meat and started to cook it.

He had thought of this before coming here so he had brought condiments for barbecue along with him. Although he did not handle the fire well which caused the meat to be slightly burnt, the taste was not bad at all.

He saw Tyrant who was drooling as it sat aside, Lin Huang got a few slices for it.

After it was done eating, it wanted more. It looked at Lin Huang in anticipation, Lin Huang shook his head and smiled at him.

"It's for you to taste. If I were to feed you until you were full, I think I might have to stay up all night to cook for you. The smell of barbecue would attract other monsters nearby. They might come soon, we need to leave now."

Lin Huang then stood up. Tyrant seemed to understand what he said, it stood up as well.

"Bring me to the East. At the speed you can move at, we should be able to cover quite a distance within two hours. With your speed, we should be able to leave this area far away in two hours. We will rest later." Lin Huang said to Tyrant.

Tyrant extended its hand, Lin Huang hopped onto its palm and he was placed on its shoulder.

Just as he sat down, he had a strange expression.

Tyrant's shoulders were filled with long, coarse hair that felt like wild boar fur, "Damn it, its hair is so hard, it's poking my butt..."

Chapter 20: Encountering Obstructions

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After sitting on Tyrant for two hours, Lin Huang finally understood what it meant to have to ride the mount through to the end even if it brought him to tears because it was his.

After running for two hours, Tyrant stopped after they ran more than 100 kilometers away.

Lin Huang found a nearby dune and pitched a tent. Tyrant sat not too far away from the entrance of the to-be tent, watching Lin Huang with a curious eye as he built the tent.

20 minutes later, Lin Huang sat inside the tent he had just put up as he planned out how they would keep watch at night. The Pure Gold Desert was so much worse than any desert on earth.

There might be an invasion anytime, so someone who kept an eye on the tent during the night was necessary.

Lin Huang needed Tyrant as his mode of transport so it could not watch over the tent. Bai would be suitable but with the strength he had, Lin Huang did not want him to waste his strength on something like this.

He soon recalled that he still had card pieces he could integrate into a single monster card. Getting out of the tent, he recalled Tyrant and called out to Xiao Hei, "Xiao Hei, I'd like to integrate these pieces into a monster card."

"You have 33 pieces of Sand Monster Cards, integrating an iron-level Sand Monster Card would require 30 pieces. Confirm integration?"

"Integrate!"

"30 Sand Monster Card pieces have been integrated into one monster card!"

Lin Huang summoned the new card to his hand. It was a pure-white card and the Sand Monster on the front of the card was 80% similar to Tyrant. It looked like a smaller version of Tyrant and the description of the card on the back was different.

"Monster Card"

"Rarity: Normal"

"Type of Monster: Giant (Branch)"

"Combat Level: Iron 1-Star"

"Skill 1: Immense Strength (Beginner)"

"Skill 2: Robust (Beginner)"

"Summoning Limit: Activated"

"Card Remarks: Useless"

Another notification was sent by Xiao Hei.

Just as Lin Huang wondered what it was about, a box popped up upon him:

"There are two monster cards of the same type, would you like to carry out Card Engulf?"

"Xiao Hei, what is Card Engulf?"

"If there are two monster cards of the same kind, the one with the rarer card can engulf the one that is a lower rarity and you'll get a random skill upgrade."

"Does that mean I can use Tyrant's card to engulf this monster card and get a skill upgrade?" Lin Huang finally understood the reason why the notification came up. "Yes. This is the first time you obtained a monster card of the same kind so a reminder popped up. Would you like to continue with Card Engulf?"

"Not at the moment, I would need him to keep watch over the tent at night for a few days." Lin Huang decided not to go ahead with the Card Engulf.

Lin Huang did not even bother to give this new Sand Monster a new name as he would use it for the Card Engulf a few days later, a name seemed unnecessary.

The new Sand Monster was much smaller than Tyrant as it was just five meters tall.

"You will be keeping watch outside the tent tonight. If you notice any monsters or humans, scream as loud as you can and wake me up." Lin Huang instructed.

The Sand Monster nodded and sat outside the tent while Lin Huang went into the tent.

He was exhausted and fell asleep straight away.

The next day, he woke up from sleep and realized that it was morning. It was a peaceful night.

He stood up and kept the tent. After washing up, he recalled the Sand Monster that was watching over the tent all night and summoned Tyrant.

He sat on Tyrant's shoulder and frowned. He recalled the two-hour-long torture that he had yesterday and the fact that his poor butt he would have to suffer another 10 hours today.

He got down from Tyrant's shoulder and got it to lie on the ground before the sand got too hot from the scorching sun.

He took his sword and began shaving the hair on Tyrant's shoulders.

At first, it lied down quietly as it did not know what Lin Huang was up to.

Once Lin Huang began shaving it, it's expression changed. Lin Huang thought its expression was dumb but it seemed really adorable.

The hair on its body was a sign of masculinity for Tyrant so naturally, it was quite unwilling when Lin Huang wanted to shave it all of. However, he could not disobey Lin Huang so all it could do was to show a sad face.

After the left side of its shoulder was shaved, Lin Huang who was ready to sit on it looked at the right side of Tyrant's shoulder, "It would look better if they're symmetrical."

He then shaved the right side. After half an hour, he finally took a seat on Tyrant's shoulder to start their journey.

"This is much better!" Without the hair poking on his butt, Lin Huang felt infinitely more comfortable.

Not long after they began their journey, Lin Huang saw traces of people who passed by the place.

Just when he was about to get Tyrant to avoid the area to prevent conflicts, Tyrant's gigantic body attracted five people who promptly surrounded it.

Seeing others approaching it, Tyrant was enraged at the people.

"Tyrant, let me down." After Lin Huang's instructed it, Tyrant put him down on the ground in front of it.

The five people who approached them realized that Lin Huang was sitting on Tyrant's shoulder.

"How can I help you?" Lin Huang looked at the five of them with his guard up.

"So, you're an Imperial Censor. It's no wonder you even dared to join this assessment even though you're not at iron-level." A tall, skinny guy who looked like he was 20 said with a cunning smile.

"Just say what you want. If you've nothing to say, get out of my way." Lin Huang did not bother talking to him any further.

"I seem to recall your name being Lin Huang, right?" A young man who looked like he was Lin Huang's age said with a smile.

He dressed well and when he talked, the rest held their tongue. Although he was young, he seemed like the leader of the group.

"My name is George Kang. Don't be afraid, I'm harmless."

"The difficulty of this assessment is high. It'll be quite hard for you pass the assessment if you're alone so we've teamed up. You are an Imperial Censor and although you're not bad at summoning monsters, you're quite lacking in the strength department. Especially the last part of the assessment where we're required to climb the Alps. With your strength, it would be quite impossible that you could make it. Although this Sand Monster is strong, it isn't that good at climbing. If you're willing to join us, we can help you to climb the Alps." George Kang smiled as he suggested to Lin Huang.

"Thanks for the offer but I'm a lone wolf. Now, will you step aside?" Lin Huang could see that this seemingly kind George Kang was actually very sly. None of them had any good intentions.

"Bro, you should think about it." George Kang said with a smile, he did not plan to step aside at all.

"No. Now please, step aside!" Lin Huang insisted.

"Hey, how dare you! Do you really think that we care about you? All we really wanted is to use this Sand Monster to help us get to the alps. If you get what I'm talking about, do as we say and just maybe, you'll reach the alps alive with us. It's either that or we'll make you do what we say." The tall, skinny guy revealed their real intentions.

"So, you're sure that you're not stepping aside?" Lin Huang did not even look at the tall, skinny guy. Instead, he shot a deadly glare at George Kang.