Depressed Xiaoshan and Desperate Fate

"Nicholas, do you have your own summoned beast?" Fonia was very enthusiastic, and as he spoke, he summoned his own beast.

It was a level-three Iron-backed Spider. Aside from slightly stronger physical defense, all it could do was spit some powerless saliva. But judging from Fonia's expression, Li Junshan could tell he was rather proud of it.

The other students wanted to show off too, and each summoned their own beasts. Li Junshan looked them over from beginning to end. The strongest was a young man named Aaron, who summoned a level-four magical beast, the Flower-skinned Leopard. The rest were mostly level-three magical beasts.

"Take a look at mine." The bearded Jeffrey chuckled a few times and summoned his own beast. It was a level-five Long-armed Fire Ape, covered in long fiery-red fur and standing around two meters tall.

The moment the Long-armed Fire Ape appeared, it opened its bloody maw and let out an angry roar. The other summoned beasts that had been barking and howling wildly immediately tucked their tails and hid behind their masters. Jeffrey patted the Long-armed Fire Ape on the shoulder and laughed smugly.

"Is there a competition being held here today?"

A voice suddenly came in. Before Li Junshan had time to turn around, he saw Jeffrey and the others' expressions change, and they quickly recalled their summoned beasts.

A young man walked in with a young woman. The man was handsome and dashing, the woman gorgeous as a flower. Both were dressed like nobles, their expressions arrogant.

"Who are you?" The young man walked over, and the other students automatically made room. The young man piled on a smile and let the young woman sit down, then sat beside her before asking Li Junshan.

"Nicholas," Li Junshan answered instinctively.

"I'm asking which family you're from." The young man's tone was extremely overbearing, and he frowned as he barked at Li Junshan. The gorgeous young woman beside him watched the scene with great interest.

Seeing that no summoner tutor was there, Li Junshan did not want to stay any longer. He turned and strode outside, too lazy to bother with the young man.

"Stop." Seeing that Li Junshan was ignoring him, the young man felt humiliated and shouted, "If you don't stop, don't blame me for being rude."

Li Junshan still ignored him. Suddenly, he heard a deep, muffled growl. He turned and looked, only to see that a magical beast had appeared in front of the young man. The beast was more than four meters long, crawling on the ground as it swung its strong, powerful tail. Its body was covered in thick keratinized hide, and its mouth was more than half a meter long. Within its open bloody maw stood blade-like fangs.

A level-six magical beast, the Crocodile Lizard!

Li Junshan was slightly startled. He had thought this young man would have, at most, a level-five magical beast. He had not expected it to be a level-six Crocodile Lizard.

Seeing Li Junshan's stunned expression, the young man laughed smugly. "Remember this. Here, what I, Sedern, say goes. Since you're new and don't know any better, I'll forgive you this once."

"Why do I feel like he isn't convinced?" the gorgeous young woman cut in, speaking in a sweet, coquettish voice. "Look, he's still glaring at me."

Little bitch, afraid the world isn't chaotic enough. Li Junshan cursed inwardly, then turned and walked outside.

"Whoosh!" A gust of wind sounded. Li Junshan's heart tightened, and he hurriedly sped up and leaped to the side. He saw the Crocodile Lizard lash its huge tail where he had been standing, striking the bluestone floor in front of it and leaving several cracks. The young man did not have the guts to kill anyone either; the Crocodile Lizard's attack had still been a long distance from Li Junshan.

"You don't appreciate a favor when it's given." Li Junshan turned to look at the young man named Sedern and cursed, preparing to summon a Xenomorph.

"Hehe, pretty quick on your feet. Let my summoned beast play too." The gorgeous young woman smiled, stood up, and summoned her own beast—a level-six magical beast, the Single-horned Fire Antelope.

Two level-six magical beasts!

Li Junshan's heart could not help tightening. The imperial capital really was different from Floro City.

"Release your summoned beast," Sedern sneered. "Putting on such airs, I thought you were something impressive. Don't tell me you don't even have a summoned beast?"

Nancy smiled gracefully and said, "Sedern, why do I feel as if we're bullying someone?"

Sedern chuckled and said nothing.

Hearing their barbed mockery, Li Junshan's face darkened. Just as he was about to release a Xenomorph, the door behind him creaked open, and an old man with a full head of white hair walked in. Li Junshan looked at him and felt that his appearance had something of an otherworldly, sage-like air, except his eyes were especially small and filled with an indescribably lecherous look.

The old man had not even spoken after entering when he raised his hand, and a massive magical beast immediately appeared in the hall. The beast was more than ten meters long, with a thick turtle shell on its back, its enormous body like a small mountain.

Arcs of electricity drifted along its thick tail, and an earthy-yellow glow surged around its body. The instant it appeared, it brought an indescribable, suffocating pressure into the hall.

"A level-eight magical beast, the Land Tortoise!" Li Junshan was greatly shocked. He had seen this magical beast in the Beast Illustrated Handbook. Its physical defense had reached an abnormal degree, and it was also a dual-element magical beast, able to use both lightning and earth magic at the same time. Its destructive power was extremely astonishing.

No wonder the summoner classroom had been built so large. The ceiling and floor were a full hundred meters apart. This had not been built for people, but prepared for summoned beasts.

"Fight." The old man smiled slyly, stroking the sparse beard above his mouth as he said, "I'll hold the line for you. New kid, release your summoned beast and fight them."

Sedern's face instantly changed into a fawning smile, and he quickly recalled his Crocodile Lizard. Nancy, beside him, smiled sweetly and said, "Tutor, we were only getting to know each other and looking at one another's summoned beasts." As she spoke, she also recalled her Single-horned Fire Antelope.

Seeing the old man look at him, Li Junshan tactfully walked over. Without needing to ask, he knew this was Randolph, the summoner class's only tutor.

Li Junshan walked up to him, handed the admission list to Randolph, and said respectfully, "Hello, Tutor. I'm the new student, Nicholas Harriman."

"Tuition. Mm, pay one hundred gold coins first." Randolph recalled his summoned beast, the Land Tortoise, and spread out his withered right palm.

"Hm?" Li Junshan froze and said, "Didn't I already pay tuition when I enrolled?"

"That was the academy's tuition. What you're paying now is the tutor's tuition." Randolph said with a perfectly serious expression, "Since you're a noble child of the Harriman Family, one hundred gold coins shouldn't be difficult. I see you have a spatial ring. You shouldn't be short on money."

Li Junshan was speechless. Fortunately, when he came, Linda had given him quite a few gold coins. He rubbed the dark spatial ring and took out a small pouch of gold coins, handing it to Randolph.

The latter took the coins and shook the pouch. His face immediately filled with joy, and he turned to shout at Sedern and the others, "What are you standing around staring for? Hurry up and go cultivate your spiritual power."

With that, he started swaying away. Li Junshan grew anxious and hurriedly caught up to ask, "Tutor, what should I do now?"

"Wander around by yourself first and get familiar with the place." Randolph tossed out that sentence, then hurriedly ran out of the academy.

Li Junshan turned back and looked at Sedern. The latter was glaring at him. Not wanting to argue, Li Junshan turned and walked outside.

"That Sedern is a child of the Will Family, and Nancy is an outstanding member of the Bart Family. They usually throw their weight around in the summoner class. Just bear with it."

Jeffrey followed him out, walking beside Li Junshan and speaking quietly.

Li Junshan smiled at him and said nothing.

"George Academy is huge. I'll take you around." Jeffrey seemed very enthusiastic, and Li Junshan found it hard to refuse, so he followed him around the academy.

"I still find it a little hard to believe. How can there be so few of us studying summoning?" Li Junshan said with some emotion.

Jeffrey sighed and said, "The size of a mental space determines a summoner's achievements. Most summoners can only summon one or two magical beasts. I've been here almost ten years, and I've never seen anyone who could summon five. Most mages can have magical pets through soul contracts. As long as their mental strength is higher than an ordinary person's, who would still be willing to study summoning? They all go off to practice magic."

"Right, Mr. Randolph took a hundred gold coins just now and ran off in a hurry. What was that about?"

Jeffrey chuckled and said quietly, "There's a hotel not far outside the academy. Mr. Randolph owes quite a bit of money there, so he probably went to pay it back. Heh, most of us have been through that, but he never asks commoners for money."

Li Junshan was just about to speak when he saw a group of people gathered around the garden in the distance. At first, he paid it no mind, but then he suddenly heard a voice that sounded somewhat familiar. He could not help standing on tiptoe and looking over.

With that one look, Li Junshan flew into a rage. Not even bothering to say goodbye to Jeffrey, he rushed over.

Pushing aside the watching students, Li Junshan squeezed his way in and saw Fate cornered against the wall by several people. His face was full of fear and unease, but even more than that, embarrassment.

"Brandon, forget it. What's the point of arguing with these lowly commoners? You, the new one—crawl through here, and we won't hold it against you."

A fat young man dressed in noble clothes spoke smugly, walking up to Fate and spreading his legs as he pointed at his own **.

The surrounding students immediately let out a chorus of jeers. Only a very few looked disdainful; most wore expressions of indifference, watching the spectacle and pointing as if it had nothing to do with them.

Li Junshan was just about to go over, but after hesitating for a moment, he took a few steps back. He was not particularly tall to begin with, and no one noticed him.

Fate's face darkened. For a long while, he said nothing. The fat young man grew impatient and barked, "Don't refuse a favor only to be punished. Hurry up and get over here."

Sweat began to seep from Fate's forehead. He clenched his teeth, and after a long while, lowered his head in defeat, walking toward the young man with a look of despair.

"Gavin, this is going a bit too far. Let it go." A tall young man beside him spoke up. With flowing black hair, he was extremely handsome, his eyes exceptionally clear, and his light-brown skin gave him a sunny air.

"Lei Xuan, it's fine. We're just playing around." The fat young man Gavin seemed somewhat wary of him. Without looking at him, he spread his legs a little wider and glared fiercely at Fate.

By now, Fate had already walked with his head lowered to three steps in front of him. His face was pale, his lips moving as if he were mumbling something no one could hear, and he bent slightly at the waist.

Li Junshan sighed inwardly. For the first time, he felt an irrepressible disappointment in Fate.