Start With Contracting Sprites

In the security control room of the monitoring building.

There were more than ten examiners from the provincial guilds, as well as official representatives from Yunhua, An City, and Ping City. They were looking at the surveillance footage on the wall.

The situation in the examination hall was shown inside.

Over at the spiritual force examination area, sprites only needed to stand on the round pedals on devices shaped like crescent moons and wait for the indicator lights to light up.

They were able to leave the devices five seconds later.

Candidates from every school and every class lined up according to the order of their admission passes. While waiting, an invigilator checked their identification cards and admission passes. When their names were called, the candidates would command their sprites to go forward and take the examination.

One by one.

The examination was done very quickly.

The spiritual force value also appeared in real-time, and the examiners registered and recorded the information.

Of course, during the evaluation process, there was a backup copy of all the candidates' sprites and spiritual force value data. They would be stored for at least a year.

Some were happy, while others were sad.

Those whose spiritual force were estimated to be below 96 were very sad.

But in the end, they had a clear idea of their sprites' degree of cultivation, and their results were also within expectations.

Only a few were indignant and made a lot of noise. After being warned, the others completely quietened down too.

...

In the security control room…

The examiners' team and the official representatives of each city took a few looks before shifting their attention to the other side.

Power Testing Area.

That was where the outstanding candidates for this year were at.

The head of the examiners' team, a middle-aged man with an extraordinary aura, tilted his head and asked, "How many official Sprite Trainers are there in Yunhua's examination hall this year?"

Standing beside the middle-aged man was the deputy president of Yunhua City's Association of Sprite Trainers, a master-level Sprite Trainer.

He said, "There are a total of 563 people, 259 from Yunhua City, XX from X City…29 from An City, XX from Ping City…"

"Five high-level Sprite Trainers from Yunhua City and one from An City…"

The head of the examiners' team made a sound of surprise, looked at An City's representative, and praised, "An City performed pretty well this year, I hope they can keep up the good work next year."

"Yes, Team Leader Chen."

Luo Jingtian, the deputy president of An City Guild, nodded with unconcealed joy.

"You too!"

The head of the examiners' team looked at the representatives of each city and said. "In recent years, there have been some breakthroughs in the Sprite Cultivation Techniques. The higher-ups are also paying more and more attention to the cultivation of the new generation of Sprite Trainers. There are a lot of funds allocated every year. I hope all of you can use it in corresponding places."

...

Power Testing Area.

Five Attack Strength Testing Machines were lined up in a row.

The machines were entirely black and fixed to the floor. At the very front of the each machine was a target the size of a single round table.

There was some kind of crystal embedded on them, forming a circle.

Every machine maintained a distance of ten meters.

In front of each machine, about ten meters away, a yellow line was drawn. The candidates were lined up behind the yellow lines, and were called forward to command their sprite to use their best unique skills.

Su Hao and the other An City candidates were arranged to line up in front of the fifth machine.

It was in the middle section.

They were arranged in sequence according to the groups, First High students, the other students of the cohort, and repeat students.

The First High students were arranged according to their classes and student numbers.

Behind Su Hao stood Liu Ren. The nervousness on his fat face was hard to conceal.

"Old Su, Old Su, my Lava Tortoise hasn't been tested for three days. I wonder if it has improved? It seems to be a little carsick. Will its condition decline? What if…"

Su Hao was speechless.

You're just short of setting up a testing machine at home, right?!

There were quite a lot of candidates who were as nervous as Liu Ren.

The longer they waited, the more anxious they got, and the more worried they became.

Sometimes, the difference of one point was the difference between getting into a normal university and getting into a key university.

...

Time passed second by second.

The invigilator read out the names of the candidates who were going on stage.

"Next, Xingyuan High School, Wang Hucheng, Sprite Fluffy Monster…"

"Next, Xingyuan High School, Cheng Yan, Sprite Six-Winged Flying Silkworm…"

"Next, Xingyuan High School, Zheng Bo, Sprite Superpower Gibbon…"

Five candidates were tested at the same time across five machines in each batch.

In front of An City First High stood the candidates from the city of Xingyuan High School.

A boy with a pimple on his face asked his Superpower Gibbon to go forward.

The Superpower Gibbon was more than two meters tall, with muscles that couldn't be hidden even with its hair. It slapped its chest and walked towards the test target.

Pimple Boy shouted a little nervously, "Slow down, make preparations first. Just like usual, use your most powerful accumulation punch!"

The Superpower Gibbon raised its arms. The angle between its forearms and upper arms kept decreasing as it raised the muscles of its arms.

It did a few stretch exercises in a row. When the invigilator's face gradually darkened, the pimple boy hurriedly ordered.

"Cough, charged-up punch!"

The Superpower Gibbon expressed its disappointment towards those who didn't know how to appreciate it. It stood still and bent its arm, its sandbag-sized fist started to glow with brownish yellow halos.

The color of the halos gradually brightened.

Finally…

It punched the test target forcefully.

Bang!!!

The target trembled slightly. The energy from its fist was absorbed, and the strength value was shown.

"Ding—"

"155!"

The Superpower Gibbon gathered its strength again and threw out another punch and then one more punch.

He reached 154 and 152.

"Alright, you may leave."

When the invigilator noticed that the Superpower Gibbon was about to show off its figure again, he hurriedly gestured and chased it out of the arena.

The sprites of the candidates went forward one by one to take the test.

Su Hao saw Bing Ning and Lin Mingzheng.

Both their sprites had evolved.

Three ice awls formed in front of Bing Ning's Supreme Seal. The ice awls spun in a triangular formation as their speed increased.

The three ice awls suddenly blasted forward as though they became one.

Bang!!

The broken ice awls exuded a visible cold air.

It came right at them, making the candidates near the front shiver.

The cold air was quickly absorbed by the tester.

The power value kept increasing, finally stopping at 998.

A dark golden ball condensed between the palms of Lin Mingzheng's child-like Hair Puppet.

That was a metal-element Energy Ball.

The Energy Ball gradually expanded as countless spikes appeared on it. In the blink of an eye, the entire Energy Ball resembled a hedgehog as it was forcefully thrown out by the Hair Puppet.

— Both their sprites used improved unique skills!

A piercing buzz spread.

Golden light burst forth.

The test target kept shaking, even the ground trembled slightly.

The speed of the number jumped up at a fast rate.

500, 600…

Finally, it stopped at 1024!

Countless candidates drew a cold breath.

In the security control room, the head of the examiners' team nodded slightly, commenting, "Not bad."

Yunhua City had a strong foundation. Every year, there would be two to three outstanding candidates.

But he wasn't stingy with his praise because of this.

After the test was over…

Lin Mingzheng walked towards the back with his Hair Puppet.

His gaze looked towards An City's team, stopping on Su Hao and the Reverie Butterfly above Su Hao's head for a long time.

"During the joint examination, we didn't have a chance to fight head-on. Now… let me see the true strength of your Reverie Butterfly!"

He thought to himself.

After a while.

Finally, it was Su Hao's turn to step forward.

The Reverie Butterfly flew over the yellow line and stopped in mid-air.

Su Hao looked at the machine in front of him, thought for a moment, and said to the little rascal, "Use the Energy Ball, don't accumulate too much energy."

After all, 600 was already a perfect score.

"Gurgle~!"

Reverie Butterfly nodded.

Instantly, it formed an emerald-green energy ball the size of a football in front of itself and hurled it out with a whoosh.

The Energy Ball, which didn't look very powerful, hit the machine target.

The energy contained within exploded at once.

Amidst the rumbling.

The target shook violently.

Rings of aftershock swept outwards like a gale.

The jumping number suddenly stopped, and the whole display screen turned black.

An abnormal sound rang out.

Wisps of black smoke rose.

The machine… was scrapped!