Chapter 50: Over 100 Class 1 Monster Cores

The monster cores were quickly counted. The elder in charge of the appraisal said, “There is a total of 98 monster cores here. This is your Space Belt; please return the academy Space Belt now.” The elder handed Jian Chen an emerald green Space Belt; this was the Space Belt that Jian Chen’s father, Changyang Ba, had gifted him when he had left the Changyang clan.

Jian Chen looked at the academy Space Belt in his hands for a bit, and after some hesitation said, “Teacher, for the time being, please take care of my belt here. After this evaluation ends, I will return the academy Space Belt.”

Hearing this, the elder knit his brows, and asked in confusion, “What?” Perhaps it was because Jian Chen alone had gained nearly 100 monster cores, but the elder’s attitude towards Jian chen had clearly changed.

“Teacher, I still have Class 2 Monster Cores in my Space Belt, so I still need to take part in the Class 2 Monster Cores evaluation later.” Jian Chen plainly said. Right now, the evaluation was only being held for Class 1 Monster Cores; the evaluation for Class 2 Monster Cores wouldn’t begin until after this one finished.

“Hm, is that so? You still have Class 2 Monster Cores?” Hearing this, the elder had disbelief written on his face, and he looked at Jian Chen with suspicion. It wasn’t only the elder, the other teachers sitting on the platform were currently looking at Jian Chen with identical expressions.

Jian chen nodded, “Yes, Teacher!”

Hearing this, the elder let out a deep breath. His gaze towards Jian Chen grew solemn. Only now did he realize that he had really underestimated the rumors that had been going around about Changyang Xiang Tian. However, he didn’t bother wasting his breath on this matter, and waved his hand, “Alright, store away these monster cores. You can continue to attend the second round of evaluations.”

Afterwards, Jian Chen placed the 100 or so monster cores back into his Space Belt and left the platform. However now, both the teachers on the platform and the students surrounding him looked at Jian Chen with completely different expressions. Their gazes were complicated, mixed with jealousy, envy, and even some with disdain.

After walking off the platform, Jian Chen didn’t rejoin the crowd. Instead, he walked up to the people waiting for the Class 2 Monster Cores evaluation that were currently lined up in wait. All the students awaiting evaluation had already reached Saint level, and aside from Changyang Hu’s group, all of them looked at Jian Chen with expressions of shock and doubts as he walked up to them. They hadn’t even met Jian Chen in the 3rd region, and it was obvious that they found it extremely abnormal for a person not yet a Saint to be able to show off Class 2 Monster Cores. The really found it extremely hard to believe that Jian Chen had actually entered the 3rd region and killed Class 2 Magical Beasts; in addition, he had at least managed to gain two Class 2 Monster Cores.

Lined up behind Jian Chen was Tie Ta. After Jian Chen walked off, Tie Ta also arrived in front of the appraising elder.

At this point, Tie Ta being the Kargath Academy’s headmaster’s apprentice was no longer a secret; all the teachers recognized him. When Tie Ta walked up, the appraising elder could not help but smile as he said, “Tie Ta, I wonder what your profits were like this time?”

Tie Ta laughed, but did not say anything in reply. Just as Jian Chen had done, he reached his hand into his Space Belt and directly pulled out a large handful of monster cores, before lightly placing them on the table. Tie Ta’s fists were slightly larger than Jian Chen’s, so each one held 14-15 monster cores every time.

Seeing the 14-15 monster cores on the table, the appraising elder began to smile, as he inwardly thought to himself, “As expected of the person that the headmaster has his eye on. Although he has the heart and body of a tiger and seemed to lack shrewdness, his talent really cannot help but make one sigh in admiration.”

After taking out 14-15 monster cores, Tie Ta’s movements didn’t stop at all. He once again reached into his Space Belt to pull out a fistful of monster cores. The students and teachers all stared at the table as gradually, the number of monster cores increased more and more, until there were multiple dozens.

Only after Tie Ta had finally taken out a little under 100 monster cores did he finally stop. Seeing all the monster cores he had gained, Tie Ta laughed in a straightforward manner and happily said, “Teacher, these are the monster cores I have gained.”

At that moment, all the teachers and students in the vicinity were shocked speechless. They all stared at the slightly under 100 monster cores piled on the table with expressions of disbelief.

The appraising elder let out a long breath, and then looked at Tie Ta intensely, and slowly said, “Good, good. Tie Ta, you’ve done very well, and have not lost any face for your master.” Saying this, the elder lowered his head and began to count the monster cores. He did not inquire how Tie Ta had gained those monster cores. In his heart, he had already linked together Tie Ta’s means of collecting the monster cores with Jian Chen’s.

The elder quickly finished counting the monster cores and said, “There are a total of 97 monster cores here.” Saying this, the elder recorded it into his notebook.

After he had finished taking note, the elder took out an exquisite, extremely well-made, black Space Belt adorned with a few gems, and handed it over along with the badge of glory to Tie Ta, and said, “Tie Ta, this is the Space Belt that you had left in our care, as well as the badge of glory that you have earned. Collect your monster cores, and then return the academy Space Belt to the academy.”

It was obvious from a single glance that this high-grade Space Belt had been given to Tie Ta by the headmaster after he had become the headmaster’s apprentice. Otherwise, a child born into a commoner family like him would have absolutely no way of purchasing such a high-grade item like this Space Belt. Although these types of Space Belts were not uncommon in Tian Yun Continent, it was not something that ordinary people could own.

Tie Ta’s gaze was locked onto the black Space Belt for while, before he shook his head and said, “Teacher, I would like to keep this Space Belt under your care. I still have Class 2 Monster Cores.”

“What! You also have Class 2 Monster Cores?” Hearing this, the appraising elder looked at him with an extremely shocked expression, with a hint of disbelief hidden as well.

Hearing Tie Ta’s words, the other teachers that were sitting on the platform exchanged glances of disbelief with each other. They hadn’t imagined that after Jian Chen, there would be another student not yet at Saint level that had managed to gain Class 2 Monster Cores.

That appraising elder hesitated for a bit before replying, “Tie Ta, did you go to the 3rd region?” Although the elder’s question was overstepping his responsibilities, he could not ignore the strong feelings of curiosity in his heart. Even though he had already guessed the answer, he would definitely not dare to believe it unless Tie Ta confirmed the situation.

Tie Ta nodded, and spoke in a muffled voice, “Yes, I went to the 3rd region.”

The appraising elder continued to ask, “Did you gain your Class 2 Monster cores from killing magical beasts?” Despite the fact he was far overstepping his boundaries, nobody tried to stop him, since it was not only the elder that was extremely curious to know the answer. Even all of the teachers on the platform felt the same way, and they wanted a clear-cut confirmation.

“A portion of it was gained from Changyang Xiang Tian and I killing magical beasts.” Tie Ta had no intention of hiding anything, but he only said half of the story.

Hearing this, the elder asked in shock and disbelief, “What! You’re saying that you and Changyang Xiang Tian killed Class 2 Magical Beasts?”

Tie Ta nodded and replied, “Yes.”

This answer made all of the teachers on the platform stunned. Many of them couldn’t believe what they had just heard; for two students not yet Saints to have killed Class 2 Magical Beasts was unprecedented in the history of Kargath Academy.

Afterwards, Tie Ta stowed away his monster cores and walked off the platform. He joined the group of people waiting for Class 2 Monster Cores evaluations, and stood behind Jian Chen. However at this point, Tie Ta and Jian Chen had already become the center of everyone’s attention, and the people who had failed the task that were currently standing behind them looked at the two with quite a lot of jealousy. There were many of them that had been pathetically running all over the place to escape from the pursuits of Class 1 Magical Beasts, and they had never imagined that Jian Chen and Tie Ta, who were not at higher levels than them, would manage to not only gain a hundred Class 1 Monster Cores in the 2nd area, but also gain Class 2 Monster Cores. This made them feel extremely disoriented, and quite a few of the upperclassmen felt embarrassed as well.

Soon afterwards, the Class 1 Monster Cores evaluation ended. The one that had the highest number of monster cores was Jian Chen, with a total of 98 monster cores, while Tie Ta was in second place, with one less monster core. The two of them had many more times monster cores than Mu Tian, who was in third place.

Amidst the crowd of people, Mu Tian’s eyes flashed in astonishment at Jian Chen and Tie Ta, and he murmured to himself, “Tie Ta, Changyang Xiang Tian, your reputation is well-deserved. You two are indeed experts that can defeat Saints. I’d love to have a chance to interact with the both of you.”

Although he had had his spotlight taken away by Jian Chen and Tie Ta, Mu Tian did not show a single trace of dissatisfaction. He was still just as indifferent as before, as if this was an insignificant matter that had absolutely no impact on him.

At that moment, Changyang Hu walked up to Jian Chen with a happy expression, and said in a low voice, “Fourth brother, the two of you are really too abnormal. Within 3 days, each of you managed to gain nearly 100 monster cores.” Changyang Hu’s tone barely concealed his happiness, and he looked at Jian Chen proudly.

Jian Chen smiled wordlessly. Suddenly, his gaze shifted as he sensed something. He looked behind him to see a youth with tattered clothes glaring at him with poisonous hatred. The youth’s gaze did not bother to conceal his strong killing intent, and it was so severe that Jian Chen could not help but furrow his brows.

However, when Jian Chen inspected the youth’s appearance a bit more closely, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. The youth was Luo Jian, who had all of his monster cores plundered by Jian Chen. Luo Jian’s monster cores had been entirely stolen from him mercilessly, and he had even been heavily injured. Although it did not greatly affect his movements, since he and his group of companions had completely lost all of their battle spirit, they had been unable to gather the energy to steal others’ monster cores or hunt magical beasts afterwards. Thus, Luo Jian’s group had ended the task with failure.

Jian Chen smiled, his expression showing a hint of disdain. He paid absolutely no mind to Luo Jian. In regards to people like Luo Jian, Jian Chen had met many of them as a wanderer in his previous world. However, very few of them had the ability to really stir up storms.

The second round of monster core evaluations soon started. The students that had reached Saint levels and finished their task walked up to the platform in succession. However, there were two exceptions among them: Jian Chen and Tie Ta, who had not yet reached Saint level, while everyone else had.

The teacher evaluating the Class 2 Monster Cores was still the same elder, and the assessment progressed quickly. Because of all the stealing that had occurred in the 3rd region, the several hundred students’ monster cores had ultimately been gathered by the 30-40 people present. Thus, all of them had much more than 2 monster cores, and many people had over 10 monster cores in their possessions. There were even quite a few people that had gained 23 monster cores.