Star Odyssey

Chapter 2256: Too Hasty?

Lu Yin stayed near the Tri-Petal for the rest of the time, waiting for the students to exit.

Even though the Tri-Petal was a trial ground meant to challenge youths, the death rate was not particularly high. It was still a place nearly exclusively to train the Wang family’s own descendants, which was why there were higher chances of obtaining resources there than in most trial grounds.

Prof. Wei and Mr. Tang were also present, and off in the distance, Semi-Progenitor Chai, Wang Yan, and several other high-ranking members of the Wang family could be seen. Some of the students would likely exit the Tri-Petal within the next few days.

Even as Lu Yin was thinking about it, one of the flower’s petals shifted. It was the middle petal, which was targeted towards Explorers, Cruisers, and Hunters. About half of the 100 students from Virtue Archives had entered the middle petal, including Bai Nan, the stuttering fatty, and three of the five teams of students with the sourcebox arrays. The other two teams had gone to the lower realm.

Someone flew out from the flower petal. They stumbled and nearly fell down. After the figure rose back up, it was apparent that the first one out was the little stuttering fatty, who was quite embarrassed at the moment.

Everyone stared at the short man.

His clothes were in tatters, and bite marks could be clearly seen on his arm. He limped towards everyone staring at him, and said, "I- I- I ran in- in- into something."

"What did you see?" Wang Yan asked softly. He wanted to put on a show of caring for the little fatty and comforting him. It seemed quite obvious the young man had suffered greatly in the Tri-Petal and that had encountered various setbacks. Wang Yan remembered specifically encouraging this small chubby man to try his best in the training ground.

The little fat man automatically looked at the acting patriarch. "Dog."

Everything fell silent for a moment. Wang Yan's face first went red, and then completely white, only to turn red yet again. He forced his anger down, gritted his teeth, and asked, "What did you say?"

The little fat man was startled by the question. "Don- don- don’t misunderstand! I- I- I got bitten by a dog and was cha- cha- chased for a long time."

Only then did Wang Yan's expression soften once again.

Semi-Progenitor Chai was not in the mood to say even a single word to the little fatty.

Lu Yin stepped forward and examined the student’s physical state. "Fortunately, it's just a flesh wound. You’ll be fine."

Mr. Tang spoke up, "Were you able to gain anything?"

The little fat man blinked, but continued to stare at Wang Yan. "Do- dog."

Everyone was speechless.

Wang Yan's brow started twitching.

The fatty finally continued, "The dog ha- ha- had a tra- tra- training promise."

He pulled out what looked like a metal token for everyone to see. It was not flashy or beautiful, and it seemed to have no hint of quality craftsmanship to it. The only thing that stood out was the number forty that had been engraved on the token.

The training promises that the Wang family offered in the middle petal of the Tri-Petal ranged from twenty cycles for a new Enlighter to the peak of the Enlighter realm. However, the peak of the Enlighter realm was the lowest quality training promises available in the higher petal. Each of the training promises had a number engraved on it: twenty, thirty, or forty for the corresponding cycles of the Enlighter realm. The Envoy level training promises had two, three, four, or five charged on it, which corresponded to the number of stellular tribulations. This meant that the fatty had picked up the best possible training promise available in the middle petal, as better training promises were only available in the higher petal. This token guaranteed that the student would reach the peak of the Enlighter realm

Whether the training promise was the best treasure available in the middle realm was more of a matter of opinion, as one could also find the Wang family’s Sit and Forget battle technique. If the fatty was already confident that he would be able to reach the peak of the Enlighter realm, then it stood to reason that the training promise was not as valuable as finding Sit and Forget.

Semi-Progenitor Chai finally spoke up. "Excellent work. With that, my Wang family will make sure that you reach the peak of the Enlighter realm."

Lu Yin patted the little man on the shoulder. "Congratulations. You must have struggled terribly in there."

The fatty looked up at Lu Yin. "Pro- Professor, I- I- I can reach that level on my own!"

Lu Yin smiled. "I know that you can, but there’s nothing wrong with receiving the Wang family’s help to get there."

"It’s too bad. If you really are capable of becoming a peak Enlighter on your own, then the Sit and Forget technique would have been much more valuable to you," Mr. Tang said.

Though Semi-Progenitor Chai and others were listening in, none of them were concerned. The fatty had only gotten an Enlighter-level training promise, and for a group like the Wang family, it was not overly difficult to raise up a peak Enlighter.

"Si- Si- Sit and Forget? I- I got it too!" The little fatty pulled out a jade slip as his eyes sparkled in happiness.

Lu Yin was taken aback. "Is that really Sit and Forget?"

The student happily handed the piece of jade over to his instructor. "Se- see for yourself, Pro- Pro- Professor."

Semi-Progenitor Chai and others turned to check the piece of jade that the student was holding, and then they glanced at each other in shock.

"That certainly does look like the jade slips that we use to record our battle techniques. Just how lucky is that fatty to have picked that up?" one of the elders from the Wang family quietly commented.

A man standing next to the first man grew jealous of the fatty. "Even my son hasn’t been able to find a copy of Sit and Forget after all this time. At best, there are only two of those jade slips hidden in the middle petal. What a waste for one of them to be picked up by this fatty."

"What a waste."

…

"Hahahaha, good! Very good! Since you’ve managed to get a copy of Sit and Forget, make sure to work hard to master it." The God of Food was delighted. Before the exchange program had started, he had not expected anyone to acquire the Wang family’s Sit and Forget. The family was not run by idiots, and how could they risk letting a copy of Sit and Forget go to an outsider? From the rumors, it seemed that this technique was far more valuable than any of the training promises. The fact that the shorty fatty had found it was a massive surprise.

Wang Yan's expression grew ugly. How had the fatty gotten that? Before the students had arrived for the exchange program, the Wang family had naturally made it a point to hide the copies of Sit and Forget in the most dangerous locations in the Tri-Petal. They could not afford to let that technique leave the family, as it would be an embarrassment if it was leaked elsewhere. They were dealing with Semi-Progenitor God of Food, and there was no telling what the man might dare to do. Still, the Wang family could not take back what the students had found in the training grounds.

Despite it being so well hidden, someone had still found a copy of Sit and Forget. It should have been impossible.

"How did you find it?" Wang Miaomiao was also curious.

The fat little man let out a bleak laugh. "Do- do- the dog fe- fell."

No one said anything further. Only the gods would ever understand what had happened.

Wang Miaomiao let out a loud laugh and patted the short man's head. "Kid, you’re pretty good! Hehe."

The little man felt quite embarrassed, and he blushed furiously. This sister was so beautiful that he felt embarrassed to even look at her. Instead, he turned towards Wang Yan. "Tha- thank you for your encouragement, Senior."

Wang Yan looked like he had just swallowed a fly.

The first student to leave the Tri-Petal had not only picked up a training promise, but they also obtained a copy of Sit and Forget. Such luck made the Wang family as a whole look bad, and yet they were forced to warmly congratulate the student. They had already lost many valuable resources, so they absolutely had to achieve their goal. For example, this little fatty had to join their Wang family.

Half an hour after the fatty emerged, another person appeared. He was a rather talented student, as he was a Hunter. Given his age and cultivation level, he absolutely ranked among the top of Virtue Archives’ students.

Unfortunately, he had been quite unlucky. Not only had he been seriously injured, but he had also found nothing at all.

Mr. Tang felt that luck was an indispensable aspect of strength.

The second student’s luck was a small comfort to the Wang family, but the young man himself was quite frustrated, and it only got worse when he learned of the fatty’s gains. The Hunter really wanted to go hit something.

After that, students started pouring out of the lower two sections of the Tri-Petal

Finally, the first team of students who had entered with a sourcebox array emerged, and every last one of them looked excited. "Professor! We found training promises! More than one!."

"Professor, we found a power vessel!"

"Professor, we…"

Wang Yan started twitching as he listened to the five students list their accomplishments to “Yu Hao.” Where were these youths’ manners? Why were they not thanking the Wang family? They were the ones to provide access to the training grounds and this entire opportunity! These youths were no better than wolves!

Lu Yin happily offered compliments, and he was thrilled that the students had not been idiots. They had not tried to work on their own, but had instead cooperated with other students to gather treasures, using others as scouts to find treasures that the team could collect. After all, there had only been thirty six training promises in each petal.

More and more students emerged from the lower two sections of the Tri-Petal.

Finally, some students appeared from the higher petal.

The Tri-Petal’s higher petal was intended for Enlighters, but the only students in Virtue Archives at that level were Bai Weiwei, Xia Shenguang, Qing Feng, Liu Que, Jin Chongshan, and Nong Siniang.

Bai Weiwei appeared first. She looked calm and unbothered by her time in the training grounds.

"What did you find, Student Bai?" Mr. Tang asked curiously.

Everyone focused on Bai Weiwei, but she just gave a small smile. "I only wandered around. I wasn’t able to find anything."

Awkward expressions appeared on almost everyone’s faces, as none of them were foolish enough to believe her.

Still, the Wang family had no rules requiring the challengers to reveal what they had found in the training grounds, and they were not going to search the students' cosmic rings. They had no choice but to accept Bai Weiwei’s answer.

The higher section of the Tri-Petal held great appeal even for someone like Bai Weiwei. After all, that place hid secret techniques and tribulation crystals, though she had unfortunately not found any of those things. The Wang family must have hidden them well.

Soon, Jin Chongshan, Qing Feng, and Xia Shenguang appeared as well, and all of them also reported that they had obtained nothing.

None of them cared about the Wang family’s training promises, and they had only cared about trying to find secret techniques or tribulation crystals. But if they had actually found such things, how would they admit it?

Liu Que emerged, and so did Wang Xiaofan. Every last person from the higher petal remained silent. Wang Yan stared at them, wanting to slap them. Who would believe that not one of these young geniuses had managed to find a single thing? Was that even possible?

The acting patriarch could not wait to enter the Tri-Petal himself to find out what was missing.

Ultimately, all of the students exited. Not one had gone missing. Even the most severely injured only sported superficial wounds.

As a whole, the students had gained a great deal from the Tri-Petal, especially the five teams of students who had been protected by the sourcebox arrays. The twenty five of them had successfully uncovered a full forty three training promises, and that was out of the 108 that had been hidden. As for the rest of the students, they had managed to find twenty two training promises, for a total of sixty five. More than half of the training promises had been collected.

This was the first time in the entire history of the Tri-Petal that so many training promises had been discovered, and this was not even considering all the other treasures that they had found.

As for the most precious treasures that had been hidden, such as copies of Sit and Forget, secret techniques, and tribulation crystals, no one admitted to finding anything at all, aside from the fatty who had been the first to appear.

Suddenly, the little man's face turned pale, and he looked up at Lu Yin. "Prof- Professor, wa- was I too hasty?"

Lu Yin coughed. He wanted to say yes… "You’ll be fine. Senior God of Food will keep you safe."

The fat little man became so nervous that the skin on his face started to quiver from his shaking.

He suddenly felt that no one from the Wang family was looking at him with good intentions. All of their eyes felt piercing, as though they wanted to force him to return the Sit and Forget that he had managed to find.

The fatty was overthinking things. While the Wang family was certainly unwilling to let rumors about them losing their Sit and Forget technique spread, there was nothing that they could do about it at this moment. Even if they wanted to force him to join the Wang family, they would do so through enticement and offering benefits. If they did anything else, would anyone ever be willing to enter the Tri-Petal again in the future? The Wang family could not afford to offend the entire world.

Many of the students from Virtue Archives had acquired training promises from the Wang family, which meant that they were allowed to request resources from the Wang family for their training at any point in time. This would not only help their cultivation progress, but also protect them if they encountered danger when roaming the world. After all, these training promises meant that the students were already halfway members of the Wang family.