Unlike the slight chill at the Northern Border, Bunta City in late October was only a little cool in the mornings and evenings. As long as the sun was out, most of the day remained quite warm, and by noon, it could even feel a little hot.
That heat was even more noticeable wherever large crowds gathered.
Today, several thousand people had poured into a specially prepared site of less than ten thousand square meters outside Falling Rain Valley, packing it so tightly that there was barely room to move.
The mingled breath and body heat of countless people made the temperature there considerably higher than elsewhere. Combined with everyone's anxiety, it left them all feeling hot and restless.
Mick stood squeezed into the crowd. Apart from occasionally looking up to see whether anything had changed up ahead, he spent most of his time staring at the book in his hands, reciting quietly.
For an ordinary farmer from Plana Village like him, who had received little schooling as a child and could barely recognize a few words, Basic Theory of Professional Skills might as well have been written in an unknown language. He had bought it more than half a month ago, sought instruction from knowledgeable people in the village, and crammed every day since, but he could still only barely read most of it, let alone fully understand its meaning.
There was nothing he could do about that. The Xinfei Merchant Guild had stipulated that the professional skills assessment had to include a theoretical knowledge test. If he wanted an advanced professional qualification, he could not afford to neglect any part of it.
Compared with this material, which he could at least get through by rote memorization, Mick was actually more worried about the practical test.
He had heard