Becoming a Warrior

Beep-beep!

One heavy truck after another drove out of the town, piled high with monster corpses.

One of the trucks wasn't carrying monster corpses, but the bodies of Quasi-Martial Artists. They were horribly mutilated, clearly having died in the jaws of monsters.

Some people saw their friends' bodies and began to cry, only to be sternly rebuked by an officer.

When Xu Qing came out, he happened to see this scene.

He didn't understand. Everyone who came here to take the combat assessment should have known that people might die. After all, they'd signed an agreement, yet they'd come anyway. Shouldn't they have been mentally prepared?

Why cry like that? Even if the dead were their friends, surely it wasn't worth making such a scene.

It wasn't that they couldn't feel sad, but crying and carrying on like that was just...

Maybe Xu Qing couldn't understand their friendship. He couldn't relate to them and instead found it kind of strange.

"Sir, these are my left ears... No, these are monster left ears... Uh, no, they're the left ears of the monsters I killed." Xu Qing emptied the monster ears from his backpack.

The officers responsible for recording the results had all looked stern and cold, but when they heard Xu Qing say this, they couldn't help laughing.

Was this young girl here to cheer them up?

"Four monster left ears. Not bad. What's your name?" The officers looked at the four left ears, somewhat surprised.

They hadn't expected this seemingly delicate young girl to be able to kill four monsters.

Then they noticed Xu Qing's weapon. "A bow?"

This young girl had actually chosen such a cold weapon. It was much harder to use than a knife. After all, an archer feared having an enemy get close. Once an enemy closed in, an archer would basically lose the ability to fight and be left at their mercy, to be brutalized and slaughtered.

The monsters used in the assessment were the lowest grade, but they were still formidable opponents for Quasi-Martial Artists.

This was especially true for archers. Monsters could move quickly, making them very difficult to kill from a distance.

Yet Xu Qing had managed it, shooting four monsters dead. That was genuinely impressive.

What's more, Xu Qing wasn't injured, and there wasn't even a speck of blood on him.

"My name is Xu Qing," Xu Qing replied.

"Xu Qing... All right, good performance. Next." The officers nodded at him.

After handing in the monsters' left ears, Xu Qing returned his weapons and equipment to the military region staff.

Soon, I'll be a Warrior too. Xu Qing knew he was sure to pass.

He could tell from the officers' expressions. With four monster left ears, his results ranked near the top among all the Quasi-Martial Artists.

After all, three monster left ears were usually enough to pass the assessment.

"Look, it's Luo Feng from the Limit Martial Arts Hall. He's coming out. I wonder how many monsters he killed?"

"He was recruited early by the Limit Martial Arts Hall as a genius, so it should be quite a few."

"Being physically strong doesn't mean you're good at killing monsters. Maybe he did just okay."

"Jealous, are you? You sound so jealous..."

Many Quasi-Martial Artists looked toward the gate as a young Quasi-Martial Artist walked out, covered in monster blood.

Hearing the commotion, Xu Qing went over too. "I think I heard a name that sounds familiar."

Then he looked through the crowd and was surprised. "Isn't that the guy who was always staring at Sister Xin? He took the Martial Artist Combat Assessment too."

"I think his name was Luo Feng. Did he not get into college?" Xu Qing wondered.

He hadn't understood before, but now he did. Luo Feng must have liked Sister Xin, which was why he'd kept sneaking glances at her.

The commotion interrupted Xu Qing's thoughts.

As it turned out, Luo Feng had turned in thirty-six monster left ears, making him the person who had killed the most monsters so far.

From what the others said, Xu Qing learned that Luo Feng had been recruited early by the Limit Martial Arts Hall.

Of all the Quasi-Martial Artists here, only three had been recruited early. One was Luo Feng, who had joined the Limit Martial Arts Hall. The other two had joined the Thunder Martial Arts Hall: Wan Dong and Ma Xiao.

Being recruited early by a martial arts hall meant they were all geniuses who would achieve great things on the path of a Warrior.

"So he's a genius. In that case, maybe he really could win Sister Xin over," Xu Qing murmured.

Xu Xin was the heiress of the Xu Family, with a very high status. Ordinary people shouldn't even dream of it. The world wasn't full of stories about rich girls falling for poor boys, or princes and Cinderella.

People still had to be well matched in status.

Soon, Xu Qing's attention was drawn to someone else: a handsome young man. In fact, "beautiful" was a better word to describe him. His face was so strikingly beautiful it could bring disaster to a kingdom.

"Wow, he looks just like a girl. I knew I couldn't be the only one who looks like a girl. He looks even more like one than I do," Xu Qing said to himself.

From the conversations around him, Xu Qing learned that the young man was called Ma Xiao, one of the two geniuses recruited early by the Thunder Martial Arts Hall.

"Wan Dong: fifty-one monster left ears in total. He's surpassed Luo Feng and takes first place."

When they heard the officer's announcement, everyone was astonished. He'd killed fifty-one monsters. That was incredible.

Xu Qing took a look at Wan Dong. The young man had a purple birthmark on his face and seemed gloomy and sullen. He looked thoroughly unpleasant, as if someone owed him money.

"Ma Xiao: twenty-three monster left ears. Not bad."

The beautiful young man named Ma Xiao had received his result too. Apart from Luo Feng and Wan Dong, his performance was the best.

Xu Qing watched the excitement for a little while, then stopped paying attention. He had already passed. Once his information was recorded, he would be an official Warrior.

Having the status of a Warrior came with many benefits.

On his way back to the Xu Family from the North Military Region, Xu Qing called home. He wanted to share the good news with Xu Xin ahead of time.

"Hello, is that you, Xiao Qing?" Xu Xin's voice came through.

"Sister Xin, it's me. I passed the combat assessment! I'm an official Warrior now," Xu Qing told her.

"That's wonderful! When you get back, we'll have to celebrate properly." Xu Xin was happy for him.

Xu Qing nodded. "Mm-hmm, I'm already on my way back. I'll be home this afternoon..."

After telling her, Xu Qing ended the call, feeling great.

Xu Qing didn't get home until near dusk.

"Xiao Qing, congratulations on becoming a Warrior." Xu Xin gave him a hug.

"Hehe, Sister Xin, let me tell you, there were so many people taking the Quasi-Warrior Assessment—more than sixteen hundred—but forty percent of them were eliminated."

"And guess who I saw, Sister Xin. You'll never guess," Xu Qing said mysteriously.

Xu Xin smiled at him. "Who? What's so mysterious?"

"Luo Feng. It seems he didn't get into college and joined the Limit Martial Arts Hall instead. And he's a genius too—he was recruited early by the Limit Martial Arts Hall. In this combat assessment, he killed thirty-six monsters," Xu Qing said slowly.