"What's this?"
The next day, Xiao Xi, who was being played with by Huohuo, watched Zhou Lu carry in a huge box and asked curiously.
"Huohuo's new pot." Zhou Lu unpacked a large flowerpot from the delivery box and said.
The moment Huohuo saw its new home, it slapped Xiao Xi onto the wall, then arched its body and crawled over to Zhou Lu's side, extending its vines to demand it.
"That hurt~" Xiao Xi rubbed her head and pulled herself off the wall. Looking at Zhou Lu and Huohuo happily repotting, she asked, "What are you going to use such a huge pot for?"
"To carry things. I'm getting ready to take the Exploration Permit exam."
Hearing Zhou Lu's words, Xiao Xi was instantly surprised. "You're taking the Exploration Permit exam already? Aren't you going to train in the secret realm a while longer? The registration fee for the Exploration Permit exam isn't cheap for you. If you fail..."
"Don't worry. I won't fail." Zhou Lu smiled confidently.
Huohuo tried out its new pot and liked it immensely, because it could carry even more things now.
"With this weight, it doesn't seem like something an ordinary Plant Spirit Beast could handle..." Xiao Xi watched Huohuo's performance thoughtfully. "Could Huohuo have absorbed some kind of skill?"
Zhou Lu chuckled.
"Carrying?" As expected of a Knowledge Fairy, Xiao Xi guessed the skill Huohuo had absorbed in one go.
Seeing that Zhou Lu did not deny it, she could not help saying, "The Dream Rain Flower's Racial Skill really is powerful. It's just a pity that the chance of one evolving into a spirit beast is far too low."
Over the millions upon millions of years, only a handful had ever been discovered.
The C-Class Exploration Permit's grass-type special session was held the day after the preliminary combat exam.
Xiao Xi felt that Zhou Lu was being far too hasty.
"Even if you won't have the academy's resources after graduation, there's no need to arrange your time this tightly."
"A D-Class secret realm is already a waste for Huohuo." Zhou Lu stroked Huohuo's leaves. "I don't want to waste Academic Credits on that."
Besides...
Zhou Lu glanced at the system.
Logically speaking, taking the Exploration Permit exam should have been a very important event for him. With how pissy the system was, an event like this would definitely generate a mission for Zhou Lu to stop.
Yet even now, he had not seen a mission from the system.
This might have been like the preliminary combat exam's mission. Because it had a clear time point, the system would issue the mission before the event took place.
In other words, according to the system's timeline, the Exploration Permit exam he was supposed to take was the one seven days from now, not today's.
If that was really the case, then he was seven days ahead of where he had originally been.
The system was dead, but people were alive.
Zhou Lu did not intend to grow stronger bit by bit according to the system's timeline. That would certainly make things easier for him, and he could even fleece the system through failed missions, but it was too slow.
He still did not know who his enemies were, what kind of strength they possessed, or what sort of forces stood behind them.
Ten years?
No. That was too long.
He had to grow stronger faster—stronger than the version of himself from the system's timeline.
With that in mind, Zhou Lu strode out of the dormitory with firm steps.
The large flowerpot still put a little pressure on Huohuo.
Its branches and leaves were pressed lower by the pot. To prevent the pot from tipping over and spilling its soil, it also had to devote more effort to controlling its roots and gripping the pot.
Even so, Huohuo refused to enter the Beast Taming Card and insisted on following Zhou Lu to the Explorer Association.
After only a few steps, Huohuo had to use its vines to lift the drooping flowerpot. Like a little girl wearing an enormous hat, it looked clumsily adorable.
Today's Exploration Permit exam was a grass-type special session, so all the Beast Tamers who had come to take the exam had brought grass-type spirit beasts.
Grass-type spirit beasts were not limited to plants. There were also many animal spirit beasts with grass-and-wood attributes.
It was Huohuo's first time seeing so many grass-type spirit beasts, so naturally, it was delighted, happily greeting everyone amid the crowd of spirit beasts.
Among a pile of animals, a moving flowerpot naturally drew plenty of attention.
At this time of day, most of those taking the exam at this Explorer Association were third-year students who had failed to earn their permits last year.
Only taking the C-Class Exploration Permit exam in their third year meant they had already fallen far behind others their age.
Therefore, although Huohuo greeted everyone enthusiastically, it received nothing but indifference.
Some people also recognized Zhou Lu. He was the genius Beast Tamer who had shone brilliantly in yesterday's preliminary combat exam and earned full marks.
He was taking the C-Class Exploration Permit exam the very next day after the preliminary combat exam?
What an arrogant genius.
Those with malicious intentions had a trace of hostility in their eyes as they looked at Zhou Lu. Some were even planning to mock him thoroughly as upperclassmen after he failed the permit exam.
For now, however, they did not intend to say anything. Beast Taming Academy had never lacked geniuses, and they had been slapped in the face by geniuses too many times. They had experience by now.
At a time like this, they absolutely could not jump out and mock him.
What if this guy really succeeded? Wouldn't that make them clowns?
A master's emotions could affect their spirit pet.
Huohuo was slightly dejected when its enthusiastic greetings received no response, and even its leaves drooped.
"Huohuo, we need to register." Zhou Lu walked toward the front desk and called to Huohuo.
The moment it heard its master's voice, Huohuo perked right back up, arching its body as it followed behind Zhou Lu.
"Hello."
The Explorer Association's receptionist was a very pretty young woman.
The instant she saw Zhou Lu, she gave him a professional yet pleasant smile. "How may I help you?"
Zhou Lu lifted Huohuo onto the counter.
Once it had found its footing, Huohuo politely greeted the receptionist: (*▽｀*)
"I may use some items during the exam, so I need to register them in advance," Zhou Lu said to the receptionist.
It was perfectly normal for spirit beasts to use items. As long as they were not weapons beyond the allowed specifications, the Explorer Association permitted spirit pets to use them in battle, but they had to be registered in advance.
After all, this was an exam. There had to be a certain degree of fairness.
"Certainly. I'll register them for you."
The receptionist took out a scanning device.
"I'm sorry." The receptionist scanned the mushroom Huohuo had taken out. "This is a prohibited item."
"But it's food." Zhou Lu was a little unwilling to give up.
"It was removed from the approved edible list yesterday."
Damn it, that referee had acted really fast.
"Fine, then what about this?" Zhou Lu had Huohuo take out another item.
Looking at the steel canister on the counter, the receptionist fell silent for a moment. "Sir... the opponent in the grass-type special session is a fire-type spirit beast. You brought a fire extinguisher..."
"It's a civilian device."
"But it's a fire extinguisher..."
"Do the rules say that fire extinguishers can't be used during the exam?" Zhou Lu pulled the Exploration Permit exam regulations from his pocket.
Judging by the creases in the paper, Zhou Lu had practically read it to shreds. Many passages had even been deliberately underlined and annotated.
"It can be used," the young woman said, nearly on the verge of tears.
Who brought a fire extinguisher to a permit exam? The key was that the opponent was even a fire-type spirit beast.
In the end, the receptionist still registered it for Zhou Lu.
However, she kindly reminded him, "Ordinary fire extinguishers can't put out the flames of fire-type spirit beasts. You'd better not take the risk."
"I know."
That's why I brought the latest Sticky Baby civilian fire extinguisher! It can extinguish open flames caused by first-rank fire-type spirit beasts.
Li Yi's family actually had higher-spec versions as well, but those were military equipment and counted as prohibited items in the exam.
Sorry! I have to pass the C-Class Exploration Permit exam as quickly as possible.
For that, I can only use a few little tricks.
Before you continue