Chapter 35: Iron Rhinoceros
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
For the next two days, Gao Peng stayed in his office, but customers were scarce. Maybe his reputation for charging exorbitant fees was spreading. Whatever it was, he only managed complete one job in those two days. That job was to help a customer promote a level 7 Giant Pasteur Rat from excellent grade to perfect grade. Gao Peng had spent a total of two days in order to successfully evolve the Giant Pasteur Rat.
No one was born wise or learned. Such people only existed in stories or fairy tales. Gao Peng was an ordinary person. What set him apart from others was that he would work extremely hard. Every time he did something he would make the effort to be even more prudent. Although he could have finished that job in just two hours, he chose to be more low-key about his abilities.
His customer was still satisfied overall by the success of the job; just that the paying of Gao Peng’s fees pained him quite a bit.
After the two days, it was back to regular school life. From the previous week of training, Da Zi had gotten stronger. Its body length reached a total of nine feet, and its girth had increased too. Because of the tough training every day, Da Zi’s appetite also increased substantially. Its carapace had also turned a deeper color with an increase in its defense. Its limbs were also thicker and stronger.
The busy classes practically filled up all of the students’ time. Even after school, they had to put in extra hours of training in order to catch up with the progress of the lessons. Within the last few days, citizens of Chang’an City noticed that there were suddenly many more 17 to 18 year old teenagers training their Familiars around their neighborhoods and within secluded open areas.
“Say, what are we actually working our butts off for? Even if we do pass the test, we might not make it into a top school anyway. After we graduate we would probably end up doing a nine-to-five job all the same. Actually, who knows if we could even find a job then, let alone become Monster Trainers,” someone secretly said to a person beside him during training.
That person agreed. “You’re right. Why don’t we ask the instructor if we call pull out?”
“… Didn’t the instructor say before? If we leave now, he’ll treat us like deserters. Why don’t we just slack off for this month. After all, they said they would only be choosing 1,200 people. After a month, we can go back to studying for the literary exam. We can just treat this one month as a holiday,” The first person smiled while replying.
“Mmhmm, that makes sense.”
There were many amongst the students that thought that way. These few days of boring and repetitive training made many of them want to quit.
This was a natural thing and also an embodiment of laziness in human nature.
Monster Trainer cadet classes were not as easy as they thought, and definitely not as fun as they thought. Many of the students were beginning to give up. After all, there was still the literary exam that could be taken. They did not need to work that hard and get so tired every day.
As the saying goes, even if the sky falls down, there will be people taller than you to withstand it first. Being a combat Monster Trainer meant braving the wilderness. It was hard to say that whether or not they could simply die a horrible death in the wild.
When one decides to give up, there will be thousands of reasons one can think of to do so.
All of these behaviours were all clearly seen by the instructor, who had no intention to give the students any reminders. He simply stood at the side observing the students train, without trying to interrupt them to convince them otherwise. He only spoke when the students themselves approached him for questions.
Even if there were students hiding in a corner, skiving off, he would turn a blind eye to them.
Gao Peng was working hard at the side, enjoying the tough training. Training was naturally boring, but as long as he had an ambition to work towards, even the most boring tasks could be transformed into motivation to carry on.
Gao Peng was holding a timer in his left hand. Before him, Da Zi was racing its way through a row of stone pillars with extreme agility. Gao Peng stopped the timer the moment Da Zi made its way through all of the pillars. “7.47 seconds. 0.4 seconds faster than the last time,” said Gao Peng while wiping the beads of sweat off his brow. The temperature had risen these few days and it was rather hot standing under the sun for long.
Completing the shuttle run, Da Zi scuttled over with his many little legs for a reward. Gao Peng patted its head, then took out a few giant mealworms from a box he kept on him and fed them to Da Zi.
Da Zi gobbled them up with saliva flowing everywhere. It was eating them like noodles.
Petting Da Zi’s ice-cool head, Gao Peng’s mood also gradually cooled down.
Mealworms were Da Zi’s favorite type of worms. They were rich in nutrition and proteins.
Especially these giant mealworms that were mutated after the cataclysm. They were as long as chopsticks and their bodies were filled with nutrients. They were also fat and juicy, making them delicious.
“Gao Peng, you seem to have trained your Familiar well,” said a voice that sounded like barbells.
Yup, the voice was masculine and strong. Barbells was the right word to describe it.
Gao Peng turned around and all he saw was black, as though the sky had suddenly turned dark.
He took two steps back in order to get a better look. Standing in front of him was a girl in a ponytail who was a full two meters tall, wearing grey sports attire. She had an angular nose, wide eyes and thick eyebrows. If all these features were on a boy, it would definitely make him look like really manly.
With such a tall frame, just standing there alone brought an immense feeling of pressure to anyone around her.
“Thank you for your praise,” Gao Peng nodded. Beside him, Da Zi noticed that a stranger was talking to its master, so it lay down on the ground obediently without moving.
Given the girl’s striking appearance, there was no way Gao Peng would not have heard of her before.
This was Mu Tieying. She was Seventh High’s bell curve wrecker, who was constantly among the top three students in the level in terms of results. After the two schools merged, she had chosen to be a Monster Trainer.
In the eyes of many, she was a weird person along with the likes of Gao Peng.
This was because among the students that scored as well as her and Gao Peng within the two schools, only she and Gao Peng chose to apply to be Monster Trainer cadets. They already had a bright future ahead of them with their results but they chose to walk such an uncertain path instead.
A lot of people did not understand their actions. Would it not be just as feasible to get into a good college before developing as a Monster Trainer? Why choose to be a Monster Trainer cadet now?
“I am here because I wish to form a group with you,” said Mu Tieying in a forthright manner.
“Forming a group?” Gao Peng was a little surprised. But he also recalled that the instructor had brought this up before. After choosing 1,200 students, they would be split into groups with two members each. Each member needed to have a different type of Familiar, in order for them to train their cooperative skills.
Towards the end of the training program, battles would be carried out between these small groups. Their scores will also be given based on group performance.
“Why look for me?” Gao Peng was a little perplexed. After all, he did not know her at all.
“Because the rest of them are all plebs when it comes to studies. I have no common language between them,” answered Mu Tieying with brutal honesty.
This Mu Tieying… really has a way with words! Gao Peng sighed.
“Where’s your Familiar?” Gao Peng saw Mu Tieying standing alone without her Familiar around and asked out of curiosity.
“Lotus Seed!” Mu Tieying turned around and made a whistle.
In the distance, a small hill that was silently standing there suddenly came to life. Bright eyes looked over in their direction and two little ears popped up. Then with its thick and strong limbs, it ran over in a mad rush. The cement ground that it passed shook under its movements as though a tank was cruising across the open plain!
The 6’5 tall Mu Tieying looked petite next to it.
Snort –
It made a loud snorting sound.
Mu Tieying gently rubbed the Iron Rhinoceros’ head. This behemoth seemed to enjoy it a lot. It gently closed its eyes and rubbed its head on Mu Tieying’s body.
[Monster Name]: Iron Rhinoceros
[Monster Level]: 12 (Elite tier)
[Monster Grade]: Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Metal
[Monster Condition]: Healthy (Happy)