42 Future Plans 1
Everyone got a little more cheery than before. Hong Yao was quick to have Li Tian a noogie on his head. "Next time, don't just leave the team like that! You scared the living crap out of everyone."
Li Tian shook his head while smiling relaxedly. "How can I do that? You guys are my closest friends I have. I wouldn't want anything to happen to any of you."
Seeing a twelve-year-old say something so charismatic, the three youths all blushed slightly.
Ding.
[You've completed the mission 'School Life (2/3)'.]
[Hidden Mission: School Life (3/3)]
Now that you have successfully formed bonds with your close friends, the next step in your high school journey is to get Top 10 placements in the 'Survival Of The Fittest' Examination.
Reward: Receive the 'Chaos Annihilation' Cultivation Manual (Part 2/3) (After completing all three parts of the mission)
Failure: Death.
Deadline: 2 months.
Li Tian secretly cheered when he saw that he was finally done with the second mission. With his keen senses, he had already predicted that this was the most probable last mission for 'School Life'. After all, he required a team of four to participate in this examination, which coincidentally matched with the three close friends requirement.
He opened his profile to check his current stats.
Name: Li Tian
Age: 12 Years old
Body Type: Perfect Unity of Elements
Cultivation Realm: Peak Stage of Qi Refinement Realm
[Stat]
Strength: B tier (320000/500000 to next level)
Stamina: B tier (320000/500000 to next level)
Agility: B tier (320000/500000 to next level)
Intelligence: SSS tier
Perception: A tier (60000/1000000 to next level)
[Skills]
English Proficiency: A tier (500500/1000000 to next level)
Mandarin Proficiency: A tier (600300/1000000 to next level)
Strategies Proficiency: B tier (100000/500000 to next level)
Martial Arts Proficiency: C tier (60000/100000 to next level)
Sword Arts Proficiency: C tier (4000/100000 to next level)
Overall, all of Li Tian's Stats and Skills had increased slightly. The main Skill that improved was Strategies as Hong Yao enjoyed those types of conversations the most. The main Stat to improve was his Perception as he regularly checked his surrounding even before the joint exercise.
On the side of Jiu Lian Xiang, the gold-rimmed glasses youth angrily threw his army knife into the trunk of the tree. The knife vibrated vigorously from the great force.
"Lucky runt!"
Just as Li Tian had instructed, Jing Tie Ba had explained that a teacher passing by had noticed something was wrong with the Iron-toothed Beavers and had come to the rescue to Li Tian's group. This foiled Jiu Lian Xiang's plan and he did not realise that Li Tian had made a deal with his lackey.
"The next time I get a chance to interact with him again, that little boy shall not escape my grasp!"
Jing Tie Ba listened to the side. In his head, he sneered at the clueless ex-boss of his in despise. 'You do not even realise who you are going up against.'
The remaining two days in the Joint Exercise of the Year 3s went by peacefully. Li Tian's group did not encounter anything too dangerous in this time. Li Tian had given them a short introduction on his skill set. Everyone was surprised by the number of things the 12-year-old had mastered. In the end, everyone tried to improve their teamwork ability so that they had a better chance in the examinations.
On the last night of their stay in the Red Iron Forest, the group of four found a large canopy that could comfortably act as bedding for them. As they looked up at the cloudless starry night sky, Hong Yao asked everyone where they wanted to go after high school.
Kong Huo Yu was the first to answer, "Honestly, I did not have any plans to continue studying into University. It was only because of the pressures of my family clan that I was mandated to enrol in one of the big five Universities. If not, I'd be kicked out of my home."
"Wow. That's really harsh. I never heard about smaller family clans having such a rule imposed on their children. It's usually people who are born into larger family that have a high chance of inheriting their family's genes that would have this elitist mindset." Hong Yao voiced his dissatisfaction. The Kong Family was not a large family in the Land of Hua, which was why Hong Yao thought that it was unfair for Kong Huo Yu.
"That is true. The Kong family name is indeed not well-known. However, 'Kong' is actually not my current family's name, but rather, the family name of my mother. My mother had remarried into the Zhuge Clan and as such, their rules are now imposed on me." Kong Huo Yu did not hide any of his family history from his teammates. Since that afternoon, he knew that he was able to trust everyone here.
"Holy, the Zhuge Clan? I can see why you are in such a predicament now." Out of the four major clans, the most elitist and traditional was the Zhuge Clan. Their patriarch Zhuge Ming Yu was the oldest living patriarch out of the four clans and he believed that results are the most important in everything. If one was not able to produce results, they do not belong in the Zhuge Clan.
"Yeah…" Kong Huo Yu smiled wryly. "The Zhuge Clan are actually not bad people. At least, they do not mistreat my mother even though she entered the family with her own son. They treat both their descendents and people like me the same way. If you cannot meet the clan's requirements, you are considered useless. Alright, alright. Enough of me, Hong Yao, why not you share a little bit about yourself?"
Hong Yao took the mantle and started telling his story to the rest of them. Unlike Kong Huo Yu's messy family history, Hong Yao was born into a regular military family, The Hong's have been serving the Land of Hua's military ever since the last Emperor times. Unlike, the four major clan's ancestors which held key positions under the Emperor, the Hong's were ordinary foot soldiers that slowly climbed the ranks in the army. As such, for Hong Yao's family, all they asked of their son was to join the army and serve the country well. Yet, this time, the family had birthed a genius and so, Hong Yao became the first in their family to enter a big five university.
