Secret Realm Teleportation Grounds

As Great Fireball leveled up, Luo Yu once again felt a qualitative improvement in his control over it.

Although he had yet to test it, Luo Yu was willing to bet that his mastery-level Great Fireball now packed twice the power.

His understanding of Great Fireball's hand seals had also deepened.

The original version of Great Fireball usually required six hand seals to cast.

Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger.

Even with practiced hand seals, casting it took around three or four seconds.

In a life-or-death battle, standing still for four seconds was enough to get him killed.

Unless it was used for an ambush or during the Genin stage, when weaklings were pecking at one another, it was hardly worth the trouble. He might as well throw a shuriken instead.

After all, in the original series, shuriken remained a battlefield staple right up until Six Paths-level characters appeared.

Only after Great Fireball reached the proficiency level were its six hand seals condensed into three.

With enough speed, it could be cast in a second. Only then could Great Fireball fully replace shuriken.

Now that his skill had reached mastery, Luo Yu was confident he could cast it instantly with a single hand seal.

That meant Great Fireball could still serve as a surprise attack or a distraction even in later battles.

This also gave him a little more confidence in securing the Yamato Legacy Fragment.

Having just gained a new understanding of Great Fireball, Luo Yu was itching to give it a try.

But considering he was at home, where a careless mistake could start a fire, he had no choice but to abandon the idea.

Just then, Luo Yu's phone rang.

Seeing that the caller was Principal Wu, whose number he had just saved in his notes, rather than some spam caller selling houses or offering a fortune to father a child, he quickly answered.

"Is this Luo Yu? There's no need to come to school this afternoon. Just meet us at Area Three of the city's Secret Realm Teleportation Grounds."

"Okay, I'll be right there."

After putting down his phone, Luo Yu sank into thought.

Every city's Ninja Association had its own Secret Realm Teleportation Grounds.

Only through the advanced Teleportation Devices there could ninjas reach the various secret realms teeming with mutant beasts.

After all, the entrances to these otherworldly secret realms were scattered randomly across the cities of Blue Star.

Some cities had four or five high-level secret realms. Although they enjoyed abundant resources, they were also responsible for repelling incursions by the mutant beasts within.

Other cities did not have even a single secret realm. Their ninjas had to travel to other cities to explore one, which was highly inconvenient.

That was why Teleportation Devices had been developed using the principles of the teleportation ninjutsu Flying Thunder God, allowing people to reach the secret realms.

This also made it possible to distribute access to the secret realms fairly.

However, a third-tier city like Jiangli City only had one Chunin-level secret realm and two Genin-level secret realms.

As such, Jiangli City's teleportation grounds could only reach those three Secret Realms.

Only powerful cities could obtain the rights to develop more high-level secret realms.

"Looks like this exam has something to do with the secret realms."

After reaching that conclusion, Luo Yu rested until a little past one in the afternoon.

Then he got Luo Qingyu up and took a taxi with her to an enormous stadium-like facility in downtown Jiangli City.

This was Jiangli's Secret Realm Teleportation Grounds.

Quite a few people were coming and going, and they clearly were not there for the Trainee Exam.

The badges on their chests showed that they were all Genin who had already passed their exams.

They had come to enter the secret realms and gather resources.

After all, while the secret realms contained plenty of vicious mutant beasts, they also held many cultivation resources.

Following the map at the entrance, Luo Yu and Luo Qingyu arrived at Area Three.

Site Three resembled a spacious soccer field.

Upon entering, Luo Yu's attention was immediately drawn to a futuristic-looking Teleportation Device.

Then he looked around.

The grounds were full of people who had come to take the exam-more than five hundred, by his estimate.

Some people held signs bearing the names of various high schools.

Those were clearly the gathering points for those schools.

Only about half the people wore student uniforms like Luo Yu's.

The other half carried a worldliness that students lacked.

At a glance, it was clear they had been preparing for the Trainee Exam for years.

There were plenty of these nonstudents who came back for the exam every year, though their numbers were noticeably lower this time.

They had probably heard that the exam had become harder, and many had decided to wait another couple of years until the difficulty dropped again.

Those who remained had heard about the richer rewards and decided to take a gamble.

Take a chance, and a bicycle could become a motorbike!

"Little Luo, you're here too."

Hearing someone apparently calling to him, Luo Yu looked toward the voice.

An attractive older woman was walking over.

Behind her followed a male student wearing glasses and an arrogant expression.

Luo Yu's first thought was, Who the hell is this?

Luo Qingyu leaned close to his ear and whispered, "She's the owner of the hotpot restaurant where I work."

"Call her Sister Yan."

"Hello, Sister Yan." Luo Yu was as polite as a well-behaved child.

Call her "Sister" sweetly enough, and he could live off her generosity.

Sister Yan looked Luo Yu over, then smiled warmly. "This must be your younger brother, Luo Yu, whom you're always telling me about."

"What a handsome young man. I bet you've sweet-talked plenty of girls at school."

Luo Yu felt a little indignant at Sister Yan's words.

It was always the girls who sweet-talked him!

"By the way, what brings you here? Is Little Yu taking the exam too?"

Sister Yan looked puzzled.

Luo Qingyu nodded with a smile. "Little Yu outdid himself this time. He finally gave me something to be proud of."

"Really? Congratulations to you both!" Sister Yan sounded a little surprised.

After all, anyone who could pass the preliminary test could be considered a top student.

"Oh, right. This is my son, Chen Yu. He passed the test too."

"Get to know each other. You can look out for each other during the exam."

Sister Yan nudged the fair-skinned boy with glasses beside her.

Chen Yu curled his lip. "We're competitors. Besides, even I'm not confident about this exam, let alone anyone else."

With that, he headed toward Jiangli No. 1 High School's gathering point on his own.

Luo Yu raised an eyebrow.

Jiangli No. 1 High School was an elite high school.

No wonder the kid was getting a little full of himself.

Faced with Chen Yu's reaction, Sister Yan sounded helpless. "What can I do? He's been talented since he was little."

"He's always stood out among his peers."

"When this morning's test results came out, both his chakra and stamina were over 20. Those outstanding results have really gone to his head."

"Now he won't listen to anyone."

Once Sister Yan started talking, she could not stop, wearing a helpless expression as she explained just how amazing her son was.

Luo Qingyu could only stand beside her, agreeing with a string of "Yes, yes, yes."

Seeing that the two women's conversation had no end in sight, Luo Yu began searching for his own school's gathering point.

Before long, Luo Yu reached Principal Wu.

The other students from Tengyang No. 3 Middle School who were taking the exam stood nearby.

Apart from Chen Qi and Liu Jiajia, however, Luo Yu did not know any of them well.

"Everyone else is here. We've only been waiting for you," Principal Wu complained as he looked at Luo Yu.

"My sister was dragging her feet. Women are such a hassle." Luo Yu shrugged, deftly shifting the blame.