Preperation

Sploosh! Sploosh!

Three dark figures passed through a deep blue ocean as they headed for a singular direction. Of the three figures, two were human, while the remaining was a lizard with multiple heads on its body.

The three figures swam through the deep blue as fast as they could. It was as though they were being chased by a great predator of the sea and trying to make their escape.

Fortunately, there was nothing behind them besides some harmless fish and seaweed. The three figures swam for dozens of minutes and passed by a large underwater kingdom. As they passed by, they had a quick glance before stopping a few minutes away from the kingdom.

As they stopped, the two humans who were obviously Ye Qin and Wang Tao moved a huge boulder that acted as a gateway. Even though the boulder moved, none of the water passed through the large hole as if there was a barrier blocking the water from going through.

Ye Qin turned to face the hydra that had followed them all this way. "Come in here, we're going to our world," he told it.

The hydra nodded as it turned into a wisp of light before entering the former's storage space. He then passed through the hole and waited for Wang Tao to go through before they both closed it again.

"I wonder when the next time we will come here is." Wang Tao said.

"Well, at least we know the treasure won't run away on its own. Cmon, let's go home." Ye Qin replied.

***********

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two large shadows flew through the air at great speeds. One of the figures was a golden Chinese dragon that was over 20 meters in length, while the other was a silver dragon that looked almost identical.

On top of the dragons, were Ye Qin and Wang Tao. Since they were in a hurry, the two brothers each sat on one of Ye Qin's dragons and headed back to the academy as fast as they could. Despite its large size, the Yinglong flies much faster than the Blackgold Python Tiger does.

It had been a few days since they started this journey. They had ignored all the monsters that they had passed by and only had one goal in mind, which was to return to the academy.

With that in mind, they blitzed through the skies of the Abandoned Lands like no tomorrow. Not only that but the fire and ice that they had left behind in the mazes were also still in effect, it would, however, run out within a few more days at the longest according to their calculations.

On the way, they had contacted their dorm mates Su Guiying and Jia Yazhu for any material they might need as well as the things they had missed during their trip. When the two girls finally received their messages, they were clearly happy as they both sent happy emotes with every message they sent.

Ye Qin was about to send something as he read Wang Tao's message in the group chat. It read, 'We've got a surprise for you'.

He shook his head as he turned off the group chat and downloaded all the material he needed before going through them at a fast pace.

Wang Tao turned off his group chat soon after and began scanning through the material as well while the twin dragons flew through the skies.

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

A couple of days later, they arrived near the military base stationed at the entrance of the Abandoned Lands. Getting off the dragons, they passed by and entered the teleportation gates.

Within a few seconds, they arrived on the other side and got out. As usual, there were people walking around even though they weren't going to the Abandoned Lands. A few of them looked at the two brothers before going back to their business.

They got out the front gate and greeted the guards who they hadn't seen in a few months. The guards were also happy to see them and were especially surprised when they saw Wang Tao's transformation.

"You turned into a human from a donut!" one of them even joked, causing Wang Tao's face to darken.

After a bit, they called for a cab which would take them directly to the Nine Peaks Academy.

A while later, they paid for fare and passed through the gate. A familiar scenery that they hadn't seen in awhile encompassed them as they quickly went to the dorms.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Arriving in front of their dorm, the two brothers pushed the door open. Not far away, Ye Qin noticed Su Guiying and Jia Yazhu who were clearly waiting for their return.

"It's been a while." he greeted.

"Ye Qin! It really has been a while, welcome back." the two of them replied.

"Thanks," he said.

"Aren't you forgetting about someone?" Wang Tao interrupted.

"Ah? Who are you?" Jia Yazhu asked with a puzzled expression. When she looked at Wang Tao, she felt as though she had seen him before but couldn't quite remember where.

"Wang Tao?!" Su Guiying shouted.

"En? How come Su Guiying could tell it was me but you couldn't?" Wang Tao laughed.

"Ah? Are you really fatty Tao? I mean sure your eyes and those lips look the same... But how did you lose so much fat in such a short period?" Jia Yazhu asked.

"Hehe, I'll only tell Guiying since she could tell right away." he teased.

"Hmph, fine then." Jia Yazhu replied, clearly unhappy.

Ye Qin who was listening knew that Wang Tao obviously wouldn't tell them the entire truth and that he would add in some truth and false that sounded believable.

Shaking his head, Ye Qin told them that he would go to his room before heading off. As for Wang Tao, he stayed to talk to the girls for a while before doing the same.

By the time he had returned to his room, Ye Qin had already memorized and sorted out all the knowledge he needed for the exam. Tomorrow is the day of the exam, and after that; the yearly friendly competition between the academies would begin.

In this exam, up to five candidates from each year form a team to battle against the representatives of the other academies in the same year. This applies from the first up to the fourth-year students.

As gold star students, Ye Qin and his group are almost guaranteed the spots in their year. As he thought of this, he remembered a certain student he had seen on the Battle peak just a few months ago.

Even though he wasn't a gold star, his monster was more than enough to be a gold star student even in the third year as a first-year student. Of course, this also applied to Ye Qin and Wang Tao before they went to the Abandoned Lands.

Now that they are both much stronger than before, it's guaranteed that they will take two of the five spots this year.

Waking up the next morning, the group all went to their classroom to take the exam. The exam is a single written exam that consists of multiple subjects related to monsters as well as the peak they had chosen to join. It is almost exactly the same as the exam they had taken at the end of high school just last year, except this one would be more complex and longer.

When Wang Tao entered the room, their homeroom teacher didn't seem surprised at his change. It seemed like she had already known before he entered the classroom. When he thought about it, he realized that the teachers would've known about it else he wouldn't have been able to enter the academy with his ID.

After taking the exam which went on for four hours, Ye Qin and Wang Tao decided to visit the Medicinal peak.

Arriving on the peak, they went straight for the peak master's house. There, they discovered his granddaughter doing some work.

"It's been a while." they greeted her.

"Ah, you two are back. I see that you've changed a bit Wang Tao." she replied.

"Eh? Only a bit?" he asked.

"Well, you were quite handsome already when you were chubby, of course, you would be handsome now that it's all gone correct?"

"Er... I guess you're right." he replied.

"Well, we won't disturb you any longer, we'll go see the peak master." Ye Qin told her.

"Yes, grandfather is waiting for you two over there." she said as she stood up to go inside the wooden hut.

Ye Qin and Wang Tao then jumped down the well and headed for the peak master. A short while later, they arrived to see the peak master picking some of the rare plants.

"Peak master." they both said in unison.

"Ah, you're back. Come, watch me carefully." he replied.

The two brothers watched the peak master carefully plucked one of the plants and put it into a small basket.

Knowing what the old man meant, Ye Qin and Wang Tao pulled their sleeves up and had a go at plucking the same plant.

Following exactly the same movements of the peak master, the two brothers perfectly plucked the plants without damaging them or causing them to lose their potency before putting them into the basket.

"Good, I only need a couple more." he told them.

"En."

After plucking enough, they followed the peak master outside. There, he had multiple baskets filled with a few other plants sitting around a large cauldron.

There, Ye Qin had a glance at all the plants to try and figure out what the peak master was planning to make. Unexpectedly, the peak master spoke.

"Have a go and try making something." he said.

"Er, are you sure? All of these are precious, I mean sure boss might make something useful for others but they might not benefit us." Wang Tao spoke.

"Hahaha, it's alright I can just plant more." the peak master laughed.

"Right..." Wang Tao replied.

Knowing that he was going to have a go, he looked back at the various plants. Within his mind, the system displayed all the information as well as the things that could be made with them.

In the blink of an eye, multiple recipes that could be made with all the plants appeared in his mind.

[Recipe 1: Seven Star Energy Pill]

[Ingredients: Seven Star grass, Elder root....]

[Use: Provides external energy which can be used to recover and slightly improve energy.]

[Recipe 2: Ancient Recovery Powder]

[Ingredients: Elder root, Blueink ginseng...]

[Use: Heals all external injuries instantly, cannot heal lost limbs or damaged organs.]

Recipe 3: Pure Energy Pill]

[Ingredients: Yin energy grass, Yang energy root, Starflame leaf...]

[Use: Purifies and strengthens all forms of energy in the universe.]

The three recipes floated in his mind, knowing this, Ye Qin began giving Wang Tao instructions as the two brothers began the legendary pill making.