Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“What is it?” Gu Fenghua did not hold back and enjoyed Luo Enen’s service happily.
Luo Enen blushed somewhat sheepishly before she finally said, “I spent all my money, so I can’t pay for food. Do you mind if I live off you? No, wait. What I meant was… I can work for you in return.”
Gu Fenghua felt somewhat puzzled when Luo Enen unintentionally blurted her intentions to live off her. Her initial impression of Lu Enen had completely collapsed. She was no cool beauty. Instead, she was an absolute ditz!
It was wrong to judge someone by the cover…
In the next few days, Luo Enen started to live off Gu Fenghua since she was completely broke. Gu Fenghua did not mind helping. Ever since Gu Fenghua discovered Luo Enen’s true personality, she warmed up to her even more.
Gu Fenghua felt Luo Enen was particularly handy when she kicked aside a dandy who attempted to flirt with her. Luo Enen swiftly solved the problem with brute force and Gu Fenghua did not have to lift a finger. Luo Enen was totally her style!
Word quickly spread in the academy that Gu Fenghua had found herself a strong backer and it was none other than the formidable Luo Enen. However, it was just how things appeared on the surface. In time, everyone would come to know that the roles of protector and protected had gotten reversed.
In three days, Celestial Academy’s exercise would commence. It was located at Mysterious Mountains which was 100 miles away from the capital on a mountain range spanning over a few countries. It was named as such due to its diverse terrain and creatures. It was no ordinary forest and was filled with all kinds of unusual sights and organisms. The heart of the mountain was the most dangerous, but also contained the finest resources.
Celestial Academy’s training would take place on the periphery of the Mysterious Mountains. Since it was just training, the academy would not send them into the depths of the mountain to court death.
Students from well-to-do families could ride to the mountain with their own unicorns. Those who did not have the resources could rent a unicorn or use a normal horse. They simply had to arrive in three days. Since it was about 100 miles away from the capital, it took about three days’ travel to get there.
Gu Fenghua and Luo Enen naturally rode there on their own unicorns. Gu Fenghua discovered that there were a lot of hawkers peddling their wares at the mouth of the valley when they arrived at the location. They had come when they heard of the exercise.
Some of them could be paid to take care of unicorns or sold supplies. If any of the students forgot the things they needed, it was a good place to stock up. A lot of hawkers also sold food. Luo Enen walked up to a stall selling kebabs.
“Fenghua, I think we should get off on a good start,” said Luo Enen with a serious look on her face.
Gu Fenghua speechlessly glanced at the kebabs at the stall before looking at the way Luo Enen’s eyes glinted while she spoke solemnly.
“And?” asked Gu Fenghua.
“We should have our fill of food and drink so that we can go brimming with energy.” Luo Enen was on the verge of drooling.
Gu Fenghua took her flare and stored it into her interspatial bracelet. She had only one use for the flare and that was livening the atmosphere during the Chinese New Year.
After reporting to their teachers, each student was given a signal flare. If they encountered any danger they could not handle, the flares could be released for assistance. The teachers would hurry over as soon as they could once they were released. If the teachers did not get to them in time, they were on their own. Also, anyone who released the flare would have zero marks for the exercise. The exercise had a duration of two months.
Luo Enen was deemed a talent for phrasing her greed with such creativity. Gu Fenghua twitched her lips before she quietly took out money and bought a few sticks of kebabs to share with Luo Enen. Luo Enen ate with great satisfaction.
The rules of the exercise were simple. It was a point system and there were two ways students could gain points. The first way was to obtain any sort of resources from the mountains. These included herbs, ore, and beasts. Anything worked as long as they were valuable. Their resources would get evaluated, and tallied before converting them into their corresponding points.
The second method was more exciting. Each student was given a small square token before they entered the mountains to prove their identity as freshmen students. Each token was worth ten points. In other words, students could vie to be champion by snatching these tokens from fellow students without looking for resources.
After all, each token was worth ten points. All other resources like herbs and ore were scored based on their quality, so even rare nine-grade resources were only worth nine points. It was impossible to make up for numbers by securing more low-level resources. How could they carry such a huge number of resources back even if they found it? Not everyone possessed an interspatial bracelet like Gu Fenghua.
Points were tallied from the tokens and resources that students came back with, and the top three students would stand to receive a reward. The students were allowed to resort to unscrupulous methods, but they were not allowed to hurt or kill each other.
After Gu Fenghua and Luo Enen registered themselves, they headed into the mountains. Many people looked from behind as Gu Fenghua left with evil intentions in their minds. Zhong Wanying stood in the distance as she watched Gu Fenghua leave with her eyes becoming increasingly cold. No one noticed when a sinister look swept across her eyes briefly.
It was autumn and the weather was good. Gu Fenghua leisurely walked as she ate some shelled dried fruit. It was delicious and crunchy. Luo Enen was also happily eating the dried fruit Gu Fenghua had given her and felt life was simply blissful.
“Fenghua, where shall we go?” asked Luo Enen as she ate the dried fruit.
“Deep into the mountains. There aren’t any good resources outside the mountain.” Gu Fenghua glanced behind her. Although she was mentally prepared that there would be some company during the exercise, she did not expect so many people. Far behind them, there were not one but three waves of people following her.
“Sure, sure.” Luo Enen agreed. She opened her eyes wide as she looked at Gu Fenghua’s interspatial bracelet and said with her eyes gleaming, “Fenghua, I didn’t expect you to bring spiced melon seeds, charcoal-grilled pine nuts, milk almonds, cheese raisin, spiced beef jerky, spicy beef jerky, rose cake…” Luo Enen was now eating the milk almonds that Gu Fenghua had given her.
Gu Fenghua did not expect Luo Enen’s nose to be so sharp. She was capable of identifying every snack she had even though they were stored in her interspatial bracelet. Gu Fenghua rolled her eyes. Luo Enen was certainly eye-opening. She could not believe someone could have such a powerful sense of smell.
“Mistress, Luo Enen is so talented.” Even the bitchy Little White Flower cowered in respect.
The two of them entered the mountains unhurriedly. After Luo Enen placed the last milk almond into her mouth and relished it, she whispered to Gu Fenghua, “Three groups of people were following us earlier and now only one is left. They are all waiting for us to get into trouble before attacking us. Shall we stop somewhere and finish them off?”