Return I

"What's going on? We clearly saw the two large beams being fired before the drones were destroyed. The little dragons were still fine, in just a second they were seen falling down, while the two big ones were in a different location!"

"That's right! How did they win within a single single instance without an explanation? There's no way anything can move that fast, if they could, why did they only do so at the end?"

The students were rowdy. They all had seen what they had seen, but didn't have an explanation for why one team had lost without reason. All they knew was that Ye Qin and the Nine Peaks academy had won this year and took first place between the top ten universities in China.

Even the teachers and principals of the universities were scattered. They had seen the exact same thing that the students saw, they only felt the powerful lingering effects of the spatial element being used once the two dragons came falling from the sky.

Even with all their knowledge put together through many years, they simply had no answer for what had occured. Only Ye Qin himself knew the answer to everyone's question.

Not even Wang Tao knew what had occured, he knew that his brother had won and didn't seek an explanation.

As for Ye Qin, he heard a notification go off in his mind.

Ding! Ding!

[+xp]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

The Qiulong and Yinglong had gained two entire levels from beating the opponent. Of course, with such a big difference in level, it was no wonder they leveled up even with such a huge amount of xp needed.

Since he had won, the judge who was clueless announced the winner. "The Nine Peaks academy lead by Ye Qin wins!"

"Whooooaaaaa!!!!"

Those from the Nine Peaks roared in excitement. Their rank had gone up to first place this year. With this change, more students would want to enroll into their university in the future.

Ye Qin wasn't excited like the others, of course, he was happy that he won, but for a different reason. He looked into the distance, and looked at 'her'

She looked back at him, before turning around to leave. He sighed and turned around to head up with Wang Tao and to receive his reward.

***********

"Student Ye Qin, what reward do you want. Don't decline, you deserve it, the academy will do anything in our power to get whatever it is you seek."

An old man spoke. He was sitting in a large chair, with his hands on his desk. If one were to look around, they would be able to see a sign that reads; 'Headmaster' on it.

The old man was the headmaster of the Nine Peaks academy. Now that he was in charge of China's top university, he had to do his job properly.

In front of him, were two young men who had represented his academy a couple days ago. The two students were of course Ye Qin and Wang Tao.

"I have some things I need, I don't know if you'd be willing to gather these items?" Ye Qin said, as he sent over a list of items he needed to the headmaster.

Whoosh!

Ding!

The headmaster tapped his smartwatch after receiving the list. As he pressed to open the list, his eyes widened in shock. "This… do you really need this stuff?" he asked.

"Indeed, is it too much trouble?" Ye Qin asked.

"Well, not exactly, it will take some time to get the things listed. I'm not sure if I can even get you everything. But what do you need these for, could it be you plan to evolve your monsters?" the headmaster asked.

When he had enrolled into the Nine Peaks academy, he had provided his Gold rank Breeders license to the academy. As the headmaster, it was obvious that he would be informed of this. Once he knew this, it would be easy to guess.

"Something like that. I may visit the Breeders Association some time to get a higher license." Ye Qin replied.

"... Do you even want others to live? A man with not only a powerful dragon, but even has two of them, on top of being a Gold rank breeder, wants to increase it further?" the headmaster couldn't help but remark.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Alright then, I promise you to collect all the things on this list, I'll get all the other fogeys to help as well. Their collections should have a few items throughout all these years."

"Thank you, headmaster. We will take our leave." Ye Qin and Wang Tao bowed respectfully, as they left the headmasters office.

A while after they left, the headmaster started mumbling to himself; "Hehehe, I wonder how those old fogeys will feel once I show them this list of items."

**********

"Boss, you plan to evolve your monsters further? The list of items don't seem to match well." Wang Tao asked.

"You're right, the list includes things for both of us, as well as others as well. I planned on telling you later, but now seems like a good time." Ye Qin nodded.

"The materials are not only for us, but for Sun Zhan and 'her'. Once we graduate, I want to expand our team from just the two of us into a larger team in the Monster Realm."

"That makes sense, but wait… Her dragons can evolve as well?! Boss, your goldfinger is great!" Wang Tao said.

"You knew? Why didn't you say anything until now?" Ye Qin asked, surprised.

"Haha, I've been reading novels for years. Besides, I saw a shooting star heading for your rooftop one day, then I heard that you collapsed for an entire night, it was an obvious conclusion. I didn't say anything until now, because I thought that you may lose it if I mentioned it, but it doesn't seem so." Wang Tao explained.

"... I see"

"Hehe, let's go, I'm sure the others are waiting." Wang Tao laughed as the two brothers walked towards their dorm.

Upon their return to the academy, Ye Qin and his team were treated like small celebrities within the academy. Everywhere they went, the students would stare at them.

It was no surprise, Ye Qin had led his team and rose through the ranks to reach the number one spot. His fame was almost as great as the twins of the student council. It had now been a few days since their return to the academy.

With this, the end of the year was coming. Soon, their first year at the Nine Peaks academy would be over, making them another year older.

Arriving at the Battle peak, they looked for the peak master but to no avail. Since this was the case, they had no reason to stay and went for the Medicine peak. When they arrived, the peak master and his granddaughter welcomed them.

"Welcome back, I heard of the things you two did. A job well done." the peak master said.

"Congratulations." his granddaughter added.

"En, we would like to stay here for a few days to discuss some things." Ye Qin replied. "Of course, you're welcome to stay." the old peak master nodded in agreement.

************

In the darkness of the night, Ye Qin and Wang Tao sat on wooden stools within the peak master's wooden hut. Across from them was the peak master, who sat down to talk.

"So what did you want to talk about? She's already gone home." he asked.

"Well, first I want to ask how the research is going." Ye Qin spoke first.

"Well, I left it with some people, but so far there has been no progress. In fact, they don't even know how to go about in doing the research. It's been kept and secured, but that's all."

"Hmm, I thought so as well. Since we don't have much of an idea right now, I'll leave it in your hands. We'll need to do some research of our own, if we have an idea, we'll inform you. I have another request."

"Go on."

"I'd like a few items from your garden. Of course, it won't be for free." Ye Qin requested.

"Take it, I'm getting old anyways, my granddaughter doesn't have any use for them, if you do just take all of it. After all my years with them, I still haven't made anything major. Since that's the case, it's better left in your hands." the peak master agreed.

"This…" Wang Tao uttered.

"Then… we'll accept. Thank you." the two brothers said their thanks.

"No problems, I presume the two of you will head off again?"

Hearing this, the two brothers nodded.

"Indeed, we have some things to do, if we find more of them, we will bring them back." Wang Tao nodded.

"That's fine. But I think you should stay until the end of next week."

"Huh? Why?" Wang Tao asked.

"You'll find out then." the peak master replied, as he got up to mash up some plants. As for Ye Qin and Wang Tao, they were puzzled by the peak master's suggestion.

There weren't any events happening within the academy, they had no idea what was happening at the end of the week after, but since it was so, they would stay as they were told.

***********

Roar! Roar!

A large tortoise that resembled a dragon roared. On its back, five different elements erupted all at once, aiming for the nine monsters hundreds of meters away.

In the skies, of a large open field filled with nothing but an endless meadow and mountains, nine figures could be seen in the distance, across from the dragon-like tortoise.

Of the nine figures, seven of them were large, eastern divine dragons that were over twenty meters in length each. The last two, were tigers. A golden tiger with black wings, as well as a tigress that was purple from head to toe.

On the ground, three humans were seen standing next to each other. One of them was an old man, while the other two were young men who weren't even twenty years of age.

"You two have improved since then." the old man spoke.

"Of course, with you helping us train everyday, it would be weird if we didn't." one of the two young men replied.

After that brief exchange, the three humans stopped speaking and looked up to observe the battle above.

The dragon-like tortoise was surrounded in five elements. The seven dragons each held a different element. When the attack of the tortoise was coming, they rotated to cancel it out, by using a stronger element with the advantage.

Of course, this advantage didn't mean much, in the face of a much stronger opponent. The seven dragons worked together to neutralise the five elements, while the golden and purple tigers attacked.

Whoosh!

A dual beam of golden-blue as well as purple, fused together and went straight for the tortoise. In front of it, a wall of earth and wood stood erect in thin air, blocking the beam.

Crack! Crack!

The wall was shaking, as it slowly began to crumble under the continuous flow of energy from the two tigers. The seven dragons roared, they came together and fired off a beam that contained all their elements in one, aiming straight for the tortoise.

Bang!

The wall of earth was pierced through, two beams of energy were now coming for it from different directions. As the two beams gradually came closer, the tortoise moved its body, and tucked itself inside its shell.

Bang! Whizz!

The twin beams hit the tortoise at the same time. In the air, the tortoise's shell was struck. However, even under the combined might of nine monsters, its shell was completely unscathed. It's shell was only pushed back, by a few meters.

Its defence was simply astonishing. It seemed as though no attack could penetrate its absolute defence. Once the two beams of energy dispersed, its legs, tail, and head popped out of its shell, returning to its former glory.