Chapter 45: A Metallic Egg

“Xia Fei is best suited to join the command training division. I believe he would love to be a tactical officer who sits in the office and strategizes an operational plan for the entire battlefield. How is that comparable to your reconnaissance work and monkey breeding you guys do?” Qiu Xiangji harrumphed coldly.

Qiu Xiangji was considered one of the best military strategists in the Endaro Star Region. His profession had determined his personality to be someone who would fight for every inch of land, which was why Qiu Xiangji was the most vigorous out of the three supervisors looking to recruit Xia Fei.

Hou Baishan and Ma Jian were also authority figures in their respective fields in Endaro Star Region, and both had their eyes on Xia Fei as well, which only further motivated Qiu Xiangji to recruit Xia Fei. While he might have a chance of making a mistake, having the three top-notch instructors have their eyes on the same person meant he surely must have made the right choice.

Qiu Xiangji was not the only one who thought this. Both Hou Baishan and Ma Jian had also come to the same conclusion. The atmosphere in the office turned tense, as none of them were willing to back off.

“Heh, actually our reconnaissance division also has a position called overall reconnaissance commander. I believe taking command of an elite force that hails from the reconnaissance division wouldn’t be any worse than strategizing the operational plan in battle. Besides, we’ll need to ask Xia Fri himself what sort of position he would prefer. Your words don’t count,” Hou Baishan very calmly countered.

Hou Baishan rarely ever fought with anyone else. His position required him to remain calm and maintain a low profile, but even he could not stand hearing Qiu Xiangji’s apparent underestimation of what his job entailed. Risking his life to collect information out on the field was a job that Hou Baishan found far more interesting than being a desk jockey.

“That’s right!” Straightforward Ma Jian did not falter either, “The exotic beast division also has a post for a beast army commander, giving orders to exotic beasts to battle is far more interesting than commanding… umm… warriors. Beasts… Beasts are clever and beautiful! If Xia Fei joins the exotic beast division, I’ll train him to command exotic beasts!”

Ma Jian was not too good at speaking, so he struggled to express his thoughts, which was he would often be at a loss for words, though his determination to recruit Xia Fei was not any less than the two.

“I just don’t understand what good would it do to let a good sapling run off to play with monkeys,” Qiu Xiangji mockingly said. He did not have an iota of love toward those ugly and smelly beasts.

“Say that again!” Ma Jian exploded. He was at the limit of his patience after hearing him comparing his job with playing with monkeys.

“Shut up, all of you!” Ye Jingshan could no longer hold back his anger and snapped, unleashing his temper on his three subordinates. “Take a look at yourselves! Where’s your dignity as a division supervisor?!”

The three men immediately straightened their backs where they stood, respectfully positioning themselves in front of Ye Jingshan, not at all daring to rebut. None of them expected this 10,000 years old iceberg to be so scary when he erupted.

Ye Jingshan used his hand to massage his temples. Something like this had never happened since he took over as the battalion commander of Heaven Execution Training Camp. No matter who he handed Xia Fei over to, he would still end up incurring the displeasure of the other two supervisors, which would end up fanning the flames of animosity between the divisions. That would most likely affect the overall cooperation in the training camp negatively, so there was no way Ye Jingshan would let something like that happen.

Meanwhile, not recruiting Xia Fei seemed like a waste of potential as well. An important reason why Endaro Star Region’s Heaven Execution Training Camp was able to develop so rapidly was undoubtedly due to their eclectic selection of talents.

Before this, Heaven Execution Training Camp had strict qualification rules: they would not take anyone who looked reprehensible or was born of low status. People with bad character would also not be recruited. But now, anyone would be able to join the training camp as long as they could adhere to the standards of the training camp. Not getting Xia Fei enrolled would clearly be going against the philosophy of the training camp.

Besides, these three subordinates had all acknowledged Xia Fei’s talents, so Ye Jingshan would have to mull over this matter even further.

“This is only the first day of the assessment; it’s still too early to make a judgment. Let’s wait for the seven days for this first round to end. You can all apply again if you still wish to enact your right to enroll him into your division,” Ye Jingshan decided emotionlessly.

Qiu Xiangji’s eyebrows were knitted tight, “Battalion commander Ye, a Crisis grade assessment is unlike the other assessment methods. The candidates could face the risk of death at any time. Wouldn’t it be a waste if Xia Fei were to accidentally lose his life?”

Ye Jinshan sniffed coldly, “If he’s truly as exceptional as all you believe, there’s no way he wouldn’t be able to clear this first round. Alright, you may all leave. This matter has been settled.”

…

For three days straight, the central region of Australia was overcast with dark clouds, yet it didn’t rain. Just looking at the dreary skies made people feel irritated.

Xia Fei and Xiao Yu had been hiding amidst the vegetation the entire time. Fortunately, he had the delightful Xiao Yu with him, so the time they spent together passed by without much difficulty.

By noon on the third day, Xia Fei’s siren had finally blared out the long-awaited sound.

Xia Fei had placed detectors within a 50 kilometers radius, so he would instantly be notified when someone stepped within the area.

Checking out the detector’s display screen, Xia Fei could not help but wrinkle his brow. The display showed that it was not a single candidate who had arrived, but a team of three.

“Xiao Yu, hide here. Remember, you cannot leave this spot no matter what happens,” Xia Fei instructed.

Xiao Yu obediently nodded as Xia Fei swiftly dashed in the direction where the three men were headed and found a patch of grass to hide in as he initiated Breath Control.

After a short while, three men appeared within Xia Fei’s line of sight, and the one taking the lead was a young woman in her twenties. Her speed was extremely fast, moving at approximately 800 m/s, which was more than double the speed Xia Fei possessed!

She was wearing a grey tight fitted combat suit, her face wearing heavy makeup. But after being repeatedly assaulted by all the sweat and sand, her heavy makeup had already turned into a mess of unsightly color with dirt streaked all over her face.

Aside from her, there was a man with a disheveled head of hair. This man bore plenty of wounds all over his body, and from the shape of these wounds, Xia Fei could tell that this person had been viscerally torn into by someone, especially the left half of his buttocks. A good half of it had been ripped off, and the mud and blood were mixed together, looking to be in dire straits.

However, this disheveled man was tough, enduring the pain as he fought with a humanoid over 2 meters tall.

The man was wielding a thick and heavy longsword over a meter and a half in length and was almost 2 fingers thick. Xia Fei reckoned that it should weigh at least 500 kilograms, yet the weapon seemed like a toy in his hands, constantly whirling about as it created the shrill sound of wind being cut. It seemed like this disheveled man was a Strength Ability User.

As for that monster, he was one that looked very human despite his size. Both his arms and legs were moving individually, as he moved them one after another in an orderly fashion.

While he was a humanoid, he was also covered with scales and even had thick eyelids over his eyes that prevented water from leaking.

The disheveled man raised the longsword above his head and yelled, “Hand over that token for the second round, and we’ll let you leave!”

The monster harrumphed, “Don’t waste your breath. Let’s get this fight on the way already. Just the two of you alone won’t be able to harm me!”

The disheveled man was angered as he darted over to the front of the monster and cleaved his longsword downward at his target’s head.

At the same time, that woman circled to strike at its face with the shortsword in her hand. The two of them coordinated their attack flawlessly, with the woman in charge of harassing as that disheveled man acted as the main aggressor, working in tandem made it difficult for the monster to defend himself against them.

The monster flared his nostrils contemptuously as it raised an arm to cover his face and quickly retreated backward.

*Chunk*

The disheveled man’s longsword cut right into the monster’s shoulder, causing the monster’s body to stagger as he almost lost his footing and fell down from the blow.

It was evident just how sturdy the monster’s defense was, seeing as how that 500-kilogram longsword that slashed out toward him only managed to create a thin cut on his body. As for that woman’s shortsword, she appeared to be no more than scratching an itch to that monster, completely unable to injure him in the least. Their attacks only showed just how impenetrable that the layer of scales on that monster’s body was.

As the three of them fought, they slowly backed up toward where Xia Fei was hiding. Though the man and woman couple held the advantage, they were having a tough time even wounding the monster’s skin. The monster focused on defending and rarely struck back, his arm constantly protected his two eyes, which evidently showed that it was a point of weakness for him.

It turned out that the three were not together as a team. Xia Fei promptly relaxed quite a bit, as that meant he might just have a chance to strike.

“Phantom,” Xia Fei shouted for him in his consciousness.

Phantom lazily poked its head out from the Moore Stone and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Xia Fei pointed to the humanoid monster and asked, “What is that monster? Can our Chasing Light harm him?”

Phantom’s gaze followed the direction in which Xia Fei had pointed and dismissively stated, “What do you mean monster? That’s someone who possesses the shape-shifting special ability. There are various special abilities out there, and some of them allow people to transform themselves into a beast.”

“The defensive strength of the scales on him isn’t too bad, but Chasing Light is an agile weapon, so it should not have much difficulty injuring him. It’s just that you will have to expend quite a bit of effort if you want to kill him.”

Xia Fei nodded. As long as he had a way to penetrate the defense of that shape-shifter’s special ability. At worst, he would need to give the shape-shifter a few more slashes to seal the deal. Right now, the primary issue should be handling the duo of Speed and Strength Ability Users.

Different Special Abilities Users could counter each other. Xia Fei had already made his decision after setting up the traps here, resolving to let the other party go if he were to run into a Special Ability User who could restrain him. He did not plan to partake in a fight in which he would have no confidence in winning, only looking to take on enemies that he was confident about winning. After all, keeping his life was far more important than getting into the second round.

Currently, if that woman with her Speed Ability were not around, neither of the men would have been a match for Xia Fei. But it just so happened that not only was that woman a Speed Ability User, she also possessed superior speed to him, making him uncertain if he could kill her in a single blow.

‘Am I supposed to just watch them get away?’ Xia Fei thought to himself, unwilling to accept this conclusion.

The three came to a stop about 200 meters away from where Xia Fei was hiding. The man and woman had the shape-shifter pincered between them though they began panting heavily, looking like they were already exhausted.

The disheveled man stabbed his longsword in the ground with one hand and leaned on the sword handle as he secretly blinked twice to the woman as if he were signaling her about a plan or something.

Xia Fei next saw that woman stealthily place her left hand on the spatial ring that she wore on her right hand with a nervous expression on her face.

The man decisively nodded, presently already at the brink of collapse. If they fail to use their trump card now, they would be falling just short of succeeding.

*Whoosh*

The woman gritted her teeth and tossed out a silver metallic egg from her spatial ring.

This oval-shaped egg was made of metal and was roughly the size of an ostrich egg. It was apparently heavy in weight, since it dropped to the ground with a dull thud, instantly creating a sizable depression onto the sandy soil.

The shape-shifter turned his body and stared at the object post haste, his expression drastically changed when he spotted that metallic egg!