Jia Xiu's Exam Journey

[Deputy Sect Master Contract slots available: 1]

Jia Xiu didn't have much to deliberate over when it came to this one remaining slot.

Rather than wait who knew how long for another powerful creature willing to sign a contract, he might as well go straight to Bubu.

Besides, Bubu was quite powerful in its own right. Even as an Undead, it had a Charisma of 28, so it must have been no ordinary Fairy when it was alive.

At the very least, it must have been a Fairy Lord, with the potential to become a Fairy King.

It was more than qualified to become the Sect Master of a Warlock.

Faced with the contract Jia Xiu had drawn up on the spot, Bubu didn't know what a Deputy Sect Master was, but it knew that following its boss meant getting materials to eat, and that its boss wouldn't hurt it.

Without hesitation, Bubu signed the contract.

And so, an unusual pair of conjoined partners—"my retainer is also one of my Sect Masters"—was officially born.

[Deputy Sect Master contracted: Bubu]

[The following spells are available to learn: Fairy Fire, Misty Step, Speak with Animals, Speak with Dead, Charm, Invisibility, Misty Escape, Hypnosis, Shift the Stars, Phantom Killer...]

[Choose one of the following traits to inherit: Magic Resistance/Elemental Affinity/Magic Regeneration]

A long list of spells belonging to Bubu unfolded before Jia Xiu's eyes.

Unfortunately, he couldn't learn most of them for now. His current abilities only supported spells of up to the second circle.

Still, it would save him plenty of trouble looking for spellbooks in the future.

When it came to choosing a trait, Jia Xiu picked Elemental Affinity without hesitation.

When he'd first met Bubu and seen its traits, there were two he'd coveted: Innate Spellcasting and Elemental Affinity.

More than anything, he'd wanted Innate Spellcasting. Since that wasn't an option, he could only choose Elemental Affinity.

[Inherited trait: Elemental Affinity]

Almost instantly, Jia Xiu felt his senses change.

It was like going from being tone-deaf to having perfect pitch.

He could now clearly sense the presence of elements in the space around him and distinguish their properties.

The whole process took no thought at all. It happened entirely by instinct.

Before, accomplishing this would have required a series of tests, verifications, and calculations.

His spellcasting efficiency and his ability to research new spells had both improved considerably.

So this is what it's like to be a natural-born prodigy?

It seemed Bubu wasn't just a walking pile of high stats—it was a total game-breaker, too!

Having gained the ability to sense elements, Jia Xiu felt like a child who'd just gotten a brand-new toy. He couldn't wait to try it out.

He opened the Magic Grimoire granted by the Devil Pact. It contained the protective spell he'd been studying lately: Mage Armor.

The Saint Dero exam had a written portion as well as several rounds of practical tests. He didn't know the exact rules for the practical portion, but learning some defensive spells couldn't hurt.

After his level and attributes had increased and he'd gained a new trait, Jia Xiu could see many more ways to adjust the runes for Mage Armor.

"Let's see if I can concentrate the armor in one spot..."

A few days passed in a flash. Before long, the day came for Jia Xiu to head to Larven to take the exam.

Before leaving, Jia Xiu went to Aunt Susan's home. She held a family gathering as a farewell celebration for his upcoming trip to the big city.

There weren't many people there. Aunt Susan's husband had died young, and her son had joined the army and was stationed far away on the frontier. He hadn't come home in years. In this era, it wasn't easy for ordinary people to return home for a visit.

So the only guests were her younger sister Peggy and Peggy's family. But the whole family seemed to be a bit talkative, and they soon livened up the house.

Bubu was probably the happiest of all.

Peggy's two children were about the same age as Bubu—well, about the same mental age.

They soon became good friends.

The three of them had formed a knightly order and were off to challenge the big goose kept by the old man next door.

Bubu had challenged it one-on-one before and lost by a narrow margin.

The reason Bubu had lost was that it had too much of a knightly spirit. It hadn't used a single spell or even its "Severance" sword. It had only brought a branch and treated the fight as a friendly spar.

But the goose had fought dirty. When it saw it was losing, it called its friends to gang up on Bubu. No matter how high its Agility was, it couldn't withstand being mobbed with its Strength and Constitution so low.

This time, Bubu had brought two "lieutenants" to back it up. If the goose wanted a one-on-one, that was fine; if it wanted a brawl, they weren't afraid of that either. They were determined to take down the old man next door's goose.

As for Jia Xiu, he was in the kitchen.

He was about to do something he'd wanted to try for more than two years but had never had the chance to.

Kill a chicken.

They were in a town called Creekwood Town, after all. How could he not kill a chicken?

With practiced hands, Jia Xiu gripped the hen by the base of its wings and lifted it. With his other hand, he found the joint where its head connected to its neck and gave it a hard twist.

A quick way to kill a chicken.

A useless life hack.

Then he drained the blood and scalded the feathers.

He hadn't drawn the hatred of the whole town. That was a little disappointing.

Jia Xiu was making chicken stewed with mushrooms. They didn't have star anise, soy sauce, or MSG here. He had to use shallots in place of scallions, and even the salt wasn't very pure. But the chicken really was free-range, and the mushrooms were genuine wild mountain mushrooms. The finished dish turned out pretty well, filling Aunt Susan's home with its aroma.

Of course, it was also possible that living here for so long had ruined his sense of taste.

"Dinner's ready!"

Bubu and its two "lieutenants" returned just then, covered in mud. Judging by the look of them, they'd been through a fierce battle.

"We defeated the evil herd of Deer-Eagle Beasts!" Bubu announced proudly.

"Does the old man know he's raising Deer-Eagle Beasts?" Jia Xiu teased.

"Our Bubu is so clever. It even knows about Deer-Eagle Beasts!" Aunt Susan never let anyone spoil Bubu's fun.

"Go wash up. Dinner's ready! I can't wait. I've never eaten food cooked by a knight in my life..."

Aegni, in the Abyss of Exile.

This was a dark plane filled with Pain and torment. Exiles, the fallen, and followers of evil gods struggled to survive in this twisted world.

Among the shattered, drifting islands, bottomless chasms, and foul, poisonous swamps lay a labyrinth where countless souls wandered.

They were the collection of the God of Deceit and Curses.

Those who had been tricked out of their souls wandered the labyrinth as decorations until they faded away completely.

At the center of the labyrinth stood the temple of the evil god Morpheus.

Inside, he held a wineglass and inspected the faith he had tricked others into giving him.

Suddenly, he noticed that one of his altars had gone silent.

That was perfectly normal. As an evil god who wasn't particularly well-liked, he often had his altars destroyed.

The reason he'd taken note of this one was that it had been around for more than twenty years.

It had lasted a long time. It hadn't provided much faith in all those years, but its rarity alone made it valuable.

He cast a spell, attempting to investigate what had happened to the altar.

"Hmm... The faith was intercepted? Someone actually dared to intercept my faith. Is it a god with a higher divine rank?

"Phew—not one, thankfully. Then who...

"An Undead? An Undead dares to steal my faith? Just let me find you..."

Having identified his target, Morpheus began searching for the audacious Undead.

"Oh? It was a Fairy in life, and not of ordinary bloodline, either. How interesting. It even signed a contract?"

Someone had managed to sign a contract with such an unusual Undead.

Morpheus's interest in the contractor grew considerably. If he could trick that contractor into giving up their soul—

An evil smile spread across his face.

"Let me find you."

Morpheus cast another spell, but an unexpected change occurred.

The guiding runes began to flicker and gradually warped.

[??&&口%#@口?hot, hot, hot]

What was this thing?

Morpheus panicked. In all his long life, he'd never seen anything so bizarre.

He tried to stop casting, but the spell wouldn't obey him. It kept running, drawing on his magic all the while.

Soon, a huge Phantom hand appeared amid the garbled text.

Morpheus was so nervous he felt like he might retch. What in the world was this?

"Smack!"

The enormous hand slapped him squarely across the face.

The damage wasn't high, but the humiliation and intimidation were off the charts.

Then the garbled text changed into a single line.

[This is a warning]

Morpheus stared at the warning, trembling uncontrollably. He regretted it—regretted it so much. Why had he gone looking for them when he had nothing better to do?

The mighty evil god sat on his bed, hugging his knees, looking small, pitiful, and helpless...