A Card In Hand

Chapter 14: Unsure What to Do?

Tie Zheng, only sixteen years old, possessed a towering height of two meters, his appearance as defined and formidable as if he were a steel golem endowed with flesh and life.

The future head of the Iron Clan family was of a reserved disposition, usually sparing with his words.

When Fuxi approached to make conversation, he merely nodded in acknowledgment.

It wasn’t arrogance.

Rather, it was just his inherently reticent nature.

Li Ao remembered his talent was Tempered Steel.

From a certain perspective.

Tempered Steel was somewhat similar to Li Ao’s own Talent, Tempered Steel, except unlike his talent which didn’t initially augment anything, Tempered Steel directly enhanced physical prowess and defensive capabilities tenfold, made one resilient against blows, and dramatically boosted the will to fight, ensuring he would never concede in battle.

In other words, Tie Zheng, with his Tempered Steel talent, was an opponent difficult to defeat among his peers without overwhelmingly superior strength, as ordinary strikes would hardly faze this young man endowed with such a talent.

Conversely,

Tempered Steel was initially imperceptible as a good talent because it didn’t enhance physical fitness or combat power at all.

Not only was it incomparable to Tie Zheng’s Tempered Steel, but it also fell short against Fuxi’s Strength of Nine Bulls.

Li Ao remembered his own talent was considered quite ordinary within the Iron Clan family.

Not highly regarded.

Only after Li Ao had gone through a series of battles and slowly grown did he realize his Tempered Steel talent was actually a divine-level talent. Initially deemed worthless, it proved to be more formidable than any other talent.

“By the way, Big Brother Tie Zheng, this is Li Ao, also from our Silver Light City branch, my younger cousin,” Fuxi introduced enthusiastically to Tie Zheng.

“His talent hadn’t awakened before, and I brought him along to gain some experience. Surprisingly, he proved to be sharp, seizing the opportunity to contract a Stone Bear. I forgot to mention, Li Ao’s combat skills are quite good. He trains extremely hard, so if his talent awakens, joining me in the family’s Elite Hall shouldn’t be a problem!”

As Fuxi spoke, he secretly winked at Li Ao, implying that he had introduced him to the big shot and it was now up to him to prove his worth and perform well.

Li Ao could only accept his cousin’s kindness and greeted Tie Zheng with a bow.

Tie Zheng nodded in response.

Glancing at the Stone Bear beside Li Ao, who wore a face full of eagerness to please, Li Ao remarked, “I’ll get you a bronze one when we return.”

The Stone Bear’s face, filled with anticipation, instantly fell.

Fuxi was extremely excited, slapping Li Ao on the back so hard that a loud bang resounded and rock fragments cascaded downwards. “Hurry up and thank Tie Zheng, the big shot!”

“Thank you…”

Li Ao said nonchalantly before turning to protest to Fuxi, “Big shot, can you lighten up? You almost killed me!”

“What? Us descendants of the Ironclad Clan being so delicate? Regular hardening toughens the body naturally!”

Fuxi, unfazed, slung an arm around Li Ao’s shoulders and gave him another hearty slap.

Li Ao was speechless.

So, my talent for Tempered Steel is something you’re beating into me?

Tie Zheng was slightly surprised by Li Ao’s Stone Body Protection, a talent awakened?

Before Li Ao could start his bluff, Fuxi interjected, “Big shot Tie Zheng, this is an ability brought by the Stone Bear. Though it’s just a Black Iron, the protective power it brings to Li Ao isn’t half bad!”

Tie Zheng nodded slightly.

Silently, he patted Li Ao on the shoulder as a sign of approval, then turned and left.

Once Tie Zheng was out of sight, Fuxi stealthily pulled Li Ao aside, ensuring no one was paying attention, and whispered, “Li Ao, don’t call me ‘big shot’ in front of Tie Zheng; it puts me under a lot of pressure. I know you’re used to it, but Tie Zheng is the future head of the family. We need to show him respect, got it? When no one’s around, you can call me ‘big shot’ again.”

“What if I don’t understand?”

Li Ao blinked innocently.

“How can you not understand something so simple? When Tie Zheng is here, call him ‘big shot.’ When he’s not, you can call me ‘big shot.’”

Fuxi explained patiently.

“Big shot, what should I call you when he’s around then?”

Li Ao asked earnestly.

“You call me ‘cousin’!”

Even if Fuxi wanted to be the big shot, he couldn’t in front of Tie Zheng.

“I get it, cousin big shot.” Li Ao nodded seriously.

“…” Fuxi suddenly felt an urge to vomit blood.

The rookie trials consisted of six parts.

To graduate, one must pass at least three out of the six tests to become a standard summoner.

The first of the six tests was a basic knowledge assessment.

Li Ao had already taken this test before and performed quite well, scoring eighty-five points, earning a rating of “excellent.”

The second test involved completing a hunting task in the Trial Grounds, which was the content of this trial.

When it was Li Ao’s turn to register,

The supervisor responsible for checking the scores of newcomers, Dou Guang, glanced at Li Ao’s registration form in his file and realized this guy was just a minor branch of the Iron Family, instantly losing interest.

He casually asked, “Where’s the nameplate of your hunting target?”

“The hunting target didn’t appear in the hunting area,” Li Ao shook his head.

“I don’t care about that, without it, you only have 50 points, which is not passing,” Dou Guang dismissed the excuse.

“I have contracted a war beast in the Trial Grounds,” Li Ao said, kicking the Stone Bear beside him, which stood up and roared in understanding.

“A Black Iron level?” Dou Guang scoffed, unimpressed by Black Iron level beasts.

“Yes,” Li Ao hoped everyone would continue to misunderstand.

“Black Iron level can only add 10 points,” Dou Guang casually marked Li Ao’s score sheet as passing with a flick of his wrist, gesturing for him to leave without giving him another glance.

Not just Li Ao, whose status was unremarkable, even the elite offspring of major families wouldn’t escape point deductions without the hunting target’s nameplate. After all, Lei Bao, the chief supervisor, had instructed so, and he followed it meticulously.

Why?

Since when did the Trial Temple need to provide reasons to newcomers?

Of course, he wasn’t worried about the elite offspring of major families ending up unqualified because even if their points were deducted to 50, they could still score enough to pass or even do well by contracting war beasts.

Contracting a Black Iron level war beast added 10 points, and a Bronze level added 20 points, so the elites entering the Trial Grounds could at least contract a Black Iron level beast, ensuring they wouldn’t fail.

“Li Ao, let me tell you a secret!”

Fuxi leaned over, hand on Li Ao’s shoulder, lowering his voice conspiratorially, “I heard that it’s not just us without the hunting nameplates, even Tie Zheng and the big shots didn’t get them, it seems very few did. There’s definitely something fishy going on!”

“As long as I pass, it’s fine.”

Li Ao laughed, his attitude more laid back than in his previous life, now knowing what the truth was.

“You could have scored ‘excellent’, now you can only get ‘good’… You don’t know, but if the trials were all ‘excellent’, the Pantheon on the other side would give a higher score, ‘good’ won’t qualify for superstar status,” Fuxi sighed.

“That’s something for Tie Zheng and those at his level to worry about.”

Li Ao was content with just passing.

“That makes sense,” Fuxi slapped Li Ao’s shoulder vigorously.

Stone chips flew into the air again.

This time, Fuxi paused and then apologized, “Sorry, Li Ao, it’s just a habit!”

Li Ao accepted his apology calmly, “No worries, it’s mainly because I make too much sense, I’ll try to change that!”

Fuxi stood dumbfounded for a while, still unable to grasp the situation.

Huh?

Something seemed off?