The skeleton stared at the images, stunned.
Xu Yuan stood silently beside it.
He quietly straightened his chest and rested a hand on the White Bone Baseball Bat, striking the weathered, iron-blooded pose of a veteran.
Actually...
There was a bug here.
The Waist Token had indeed been with him the whole time.
But he had been switching between different Training Matches!
One moment he was doing this, the next he was doing that. He had even gone to and from school, rested, and slept.
He had not been in Border City the whole time, nor had he accomplished all those feats in actual history!
Who knew the Waist Token had recorded them all?
Perhaps the old man had offered him a chance at advanced training because of the accumulated "merits" in the Waist Token?
...What could he even say?
The skeleton seemed just as stunned. It looked from the images to Xu Yuan and muttered:
"Vanguard Assault, Slaying Generals, Breaking the Formation, Capturing the Flag... What dogshit luck. You actually got Vanguard Merit, one of the four great merits..."
Xu Yuan protested, "Hey, show some respect. I put my head on the line and fought my way in and out to earn that Military Merit, all right?" "Then there's nothing to be done. After returning to Ninefold Nether, this Ordinary Ghost with Vanguard Merit succumbed to exhaustion and grievous wounds..." the skeleton said. It swung its long blade and advanced on Xu Yuan step by step, continuing:
"Before it died, it turned in its Waist Token, hoping its good brother could take its place in the Ninefold Nether Selection."
Xu Yuan froze.
What the hell? You kill loyal soldiers?
I may not be one, but I've acted even more loyal than one, and you'd still kill me?
...Rotten to