"You should feed your spider a Dark-type monster sphere Wang Zi." Ji Liu suggested.
"Too expensive. I can't even feed them good food that they have to hunt in the sewers on their own." Wang Zi said while shaking his head.
"Then let's hunt for one later." Ji Liu said while commanding Xiao Su to scout the area.
"We first need to scout monsters right? We need a good spot where there are few people and open space to observe them." Saga Bergman said as she feeds Sugar some waffles.
"I think it would be better if we capture small monsters instead so that we can easily bring them back, this way, we can save more time." Wang Zi then suggested.
"I think we should do the first part individually first, then whoever finishes can help the others." Ji Liu said as Xiao Su descends.
"We can scout more monsters if that's the case while also covering more ground so that when we find monsters we think the other party member needs, we can notify them." Saga Bergman then jumped down preparing to go.
They can only bring one monster and Ji Liu brought Xiao Su so they can ride it while it scouts the area, while Wang Zi brought the Silver Boa he calls 'Yin Yin'.
They marked a tree near the landing spot to know where they'll meet up and started marking trees along their way as they separate.
Morning came to pass and Ji Liu arrived back at the meeting spot at noon. He was surprised when he saw that the other two was already there along with 20 monsters in cages.
"Where'd you get those cages?" Ji Liu asked them since they were only carrying bags when they departed.
"Eh? Isn't it natural to bring along a bunch of portable monster cages since we're going to catch and observe monsters?" Saga Bergman wonders at Ji Liu's question.
"Don't tell me you knock monsters unconscious to catch them? Won't that take time? Did you even bought a portable cage?" Wang Zi followed up seeing that Ji Liu only has his bags with him.
People who hunt monsters have different means to catch them. Normally, a person would set up a trap to lure a monster into the cage without fighting. These portable cages aren't anything special, they are used to confine silver and below level monsters and this method is effective on monsters with low intelligence.
Ji Liu walked towards the two and unloads the content of his bags. 10 unconscious monsters that are tied rolled on the ground.
"Don't worry, I have already noted their type, level, and abilities while Xiao Su was fighting them." Ji Liu then proceeds to take out his lunch.
******
The examiners were surprised when a party of 3 came back to the Souxun grounds located outside the metropolis to complete the first part of the exam. It was not because they were the first one since they are the 3rd to arrive, but because they are an unknown group of people. The 3 were even carrying only 20 cages which were really weird.
The first to arrive was the party of 5 sent by Meiji which were elites that were directly scouted but refused since they work for Meiji. All 5 of them have Legend level monsters, but they only used silver level for this test since silver is the highest level in the area that is easy to find.
The second to arrive was a 10-man party organized by Wanqiang Metropolis's monster hunting club. These are also elites directly scouted but refused. They work for the club as guards to rich club members who wanted to leisurely explore and hunt monsters.
The tool to be used for identifying monsters were still being set up since it was just after lunchtime.
Ji Liu's party entered the waiting tent and was obviously intimidated by the other parties. They just quietly sat at a corner after getting a queue number.
"Ji Liu, are you sure about this?" Wang Zi asks as he looks at the notes Ji Liu wrote and gave him.
"Creates a sand element trailing on its path and bursts on collision." Saga Bergman reads aloud on a note. "I haven't even seen it do this before, how did you come up with these?"
"Relax, I have already encountered all of those monsters you two caught before coincidentally." Ji Liu said as he checks the status of the monsters the other parties caught.
"Maybe you have a spare Gold level monster that you can give me coincidentally too?" Wang Zi elbows Ji Liu while talking.
*Ding* *Dong*
But before Ji Liu could respond, an announcement that the preparations are done for and they should head to the open area.
******
"Next."
Ji Liu's party then head in front, seeing them bring 20 cages confused the examiner as they are a 3-person party, but before he could react, Ji Liu dumped his caught unconscious monsters from his bag.
Tied monsters rolled on the floor, but what shocked people was that some are clearly Silver level.
'These kids have Silver level monsters, no wonder they are fast. They must've come from the richest of the rich.' Though the examiner.
General Electric on the side observing though was quite impressed. He knows that from the 3 kids, only one of them have a Silver level monster. Being able to knock out 10 Silver level monsters that fast with a single monster, the strength of the monster is noteworthy.
After completing the first part of the test, a list of material was given to Ji Liu's party. Each of them has a total of 15 materials to gather.
They immediately departed once they got the list and then again rode on top of Xiao Su.
"Have you really met with those kinds of monsters previously?" asked Saga Bergman.
"I once worked at Meiji as a research assistant back in our city." Answered Ji Liu.
"Oh, is that why you al---"
*BTOOOM!"
But before Saga could continue, a loud explosion rang out the entire forest.