Final Exam

Lin Qi didn't take Haolin's threat seriously. Although he became more cautious, he truly didn't consider Haolin's threat to be a big deal.

The Pavel family, would they risk everything and mobilize their family forces against him because of the Black Horse House? Lin Qi didn't think the Pavel family would do that. A military noble family's power wasn't something they could easily wield. As for retaliation from the Black Horse House? If it was just personal revenge from the Black Horse House, what did Lin Qi need to be nervous about?

The matter was just dropped. The tavern fire incident that had alarmed the Empire's high command was simply over.

The Black Horse House and several core members of the Round Table Knights remained safely at the Army Academy, only receiving stern warnings from certain levels. As for the Round Table Knights members who were knocked out by the stun potions in the tavern that night, over eighty of them received severe punishments. They were forced to leave school early and joined the Empire's toughest and highest mortality rate unit, the North Sea Border Guard.

The North Sea Border Guard, primarily stationed at 'Norman Fortress,' the main battlefield of the Land-Island War, was responsible for defending against attacks from the Orcs, Giants, and other evil beings from the Five Great Islands. It was the true front line.

Originally, as students of the Imperial Army Academy, if these eighty-plus individuals had successfully completed their studies, they would have at least held junior officer positions even if they joined the North Sea Border Guard. However, being forced to leave school early, they could only become members of the North Sea Border Guard as ordinary soldiers, and their records were marked with a significant black mark.

In this world, Lin Qi had gained a group of enemies who hated him to the bone. But Lin Qi still didn't care. Did he need to care about a bunch of unlucky souls who could be chopped into meat paste by the Battle Axes of rampaging Orcs at any moment?

"Oh, the North Sea Border Guard? Bribe some intermediaries with ten gold coins, and these bastards will be chopped to death in an Orc landing raid! No need to worry about them, they'll die quickly!" This was Yu Lian's first reaction upon hearing the news. Even Enzo agreed, the North Sea Border Guard's daily casualty rate of forty percent wasn't a joke.

So, the matter just passed. Lin Qi was wary of retaliation from the Black Horse House but didn't really feel any tension.

Time passed day by day. Two weeks later, the final exams for the various universities in Berely began.

The Army Academy's exams included not only strategic aspects but also practical combat drills. Enzo, along with the Blood-Clad Seven Swordsmen, formed a small team and, under the supervision of a dedicated teacher, left Berely for a week-long wilderness survival exercise, a mandatory part of their final exams. Under the teacher's watch, they would survive for seven days in a randomly chosen wilderness, hunting at least ten qualifying wild beasts and one extremely powerful magical beast in the ice and snow.

As a third-year student majoring in accounting at the Fifth University, although he had developed an excellent personal relationship with Mr. Grong, and Lin Qi and his group of friends had been promised perfect scores, a formality still had to be observed.

Slouching over his desk, Lin Qi stared blankly at the beautifully printed exam paper before him. The final exam papers were more than ten times better than the Atonement Talismans sold by Father Balin. Not only was the paper supple and smooth, but the printed characters were also very clear. Lin Qi held his goose quill, gently tapping the tip on the exam paper, slowly drawing a small, monstrous head.

The monster's head was snake-shaped, but its mouth was filled with sharp teeth. It was the strange beast Lin Qi had seen on the robes of Jiang Yong and others. Lin Qi seemed to have some impression. He felt like he had seen this strange beast somewhere before, knowing it held a unique status in the East, representing some special power or authority.

But what was this monster called?

His classmates around him were writing rapidly. The exam paper didn't have many questions, only five, but each one was a killer comprehensive essay question. For example, the first question was: 'What was the destruction of the continental economy caused by the hundred-year Land-Island War, and the subsequent changes in the Empire's post-war tax laws?'

Lin Qi thought the people who set these troublesome questions had serious problems with their brains. They were accounting majors; they only needed to know how to earn gold, how to earn more gold, and at the same time, not let anyone earn a single coin from them. Why should an accounting student know about the issues during the Land-Island War?

The Land-Island War, which ended thirty years ago and had lasted for a hundred years! God, strike the professor who set the exam with lightning! What did the destruction of the continental economy caused by the Land-Island War have to do with Lin Qi? Lin Qi only knew that during the hundred-year Land-Island War, his family's wealth had increased thirty-fivefold under the leadership of his grandfather, his grandfather's father, his grandfather's grandfather, and even more ancient ancestors.

Did the Land-Island War damage the continental economy? Lin Qi truly lacked that awareness.

On the contrary, Lin Qi clearly remembered his father, Blackbeard, complaining to him when he was a child—A hundred-year war? That was a truly good era for a man to make big money. In the late stages of the war, a piece of black bread could be exchanged for five silver coins. Dear Lin Qi, a piece of black bread for five silver coins! There was no easier era to get rich than the Land-Island War.

If black bread alone was so profitable, let alone the human slaves sold to the Five Great Islands through the port of Dunkirk controlled by his family, and the Orc and Giant slaves trafficked from the Five Great Islands.

It was truly a booming, good time when good men could always get rich easily.

But what about now? Thirty years after the war ended, Lin Qi's father even had to worry about the wheat in the warehouse not selling!

The Land-Island War, truly a wonderful term. Lin Qi sighed softly. When would the next hundred-year Land-Island War break out? Would he live to see such a wonderful era for a true man?

Pushing aside the various emotions that suddenly surfaced in his mind, Lin Qi slowly traced his memory and drew the strange, snake-like creature from the robes of Jiang Yong and others. He frowned, grinned, and sighed. That damned Jiang Yong, he was actually a Heavenly Knight.

What bad luck, he was actually a Heavenly Knight. Well, if Jiang Yong was a Heavenly Knight and his retinue were all Earthly Knights, then Lin Qi's small Iron Fist Brotherhood would be no match for them at all. The strongest forces in the entire Iron Fist Brotherhood were Lin Qi, Yu Lian, and Enzo, plus the Blood-Clad Seven Swordsmen. The outer thugs were competent at bullying civilians and ordinary students, but against Heavenly Knights? That would be suicide.

It seemed he had to give up on this big fat sheep.

What a pity, such a plump, tender big fat sheep.

Amidst Lin Qi's week-long lamentations, the final exams for the Fifth University's accounting department concluded.