"Knowledge in The Way of Savage Beasts?" I asked, feeling the agitation rising inside of me. One must understand that after utilising my Fingers of Knowledge in acquiring the knowledge of every single book currently in the Book Collection Vault, I wouldn't pale much among top-notch geniuses in the Way of Savage Beasts, yet this princess just had to pick that challenge against me.
"Un," nodded she. "Since you've already agreed to the challenge, there's no need for you to think of redrawing, it's impossible... unless you intend to apologise to all three of us princesses, right here, right now—"
"That won't be necessary, let's get on with it," I said with a smirk on my face. She probably took my astonishment for frustration, but I couldn't be bothered to explain myself.
"Humph," she sneered at me, before looking at the crowd and saying, "As we all know, Knowledge in the Way of Savage Beasts is the criteria of passing the 1-star Beast Taming examination...." Turning her head to me, she said, "Whoever passes the 1-star examination is the winner."
I was startled at first. The reason I came to the Beast Hall was to read books, not become a Beast Tamer. Well... since I've gotten myself into this, I'll have to finish it.
"And if we both pass the exam or both fail, what happens then?" I asked.
"Then whoever gets the highest points wins!" Lu Peng replied.
An attendant quickly rushed over. Turning my eyes towards her, I realised that even Bright (the guy who took me to the Acorn Master's office) had been watching amidst the crowd. He had this look on his face as though I was someone who was about to attempt a suicide mission.
"The requirement of passing a 1-star Beast Taming examination is 75 points at minimum, are you sure you wish to proceed with this?" said the attendant who was now standing before us.
"Un." Lu Peng replied with an air, tilting her head upwards in nonchalance.
"Yes, I wish to proceed with the 1-star examination."
Nodding, she began to explain, "The 1-star examination has one major stage and three sub-stages. As Princess Lu Peng has already said, the major stage is known as 'Knowledge in the Way of Savage Beasts'."
I nodded in affirmation.
"Now the sub-stages are: basic knowledge, beasts identification and, lastly, knowledge impartation."
She paused, as though waiting for what she'd just said to sink in, before continuing.
"In the first stage, you'd both be required to answer series of questions that would be posed to you through the Wall of Puzzlement. The Wall of Puzzlement is a low-tier artifact used in the first stage of the Beast Taming Examination to check one's eligibility for Beast Taming through the posing of numerous questions.
"The second stage — beast identification — as the name states, is going to focus on the different types and characteristics of a beast for you to analyze. Here, a 2-star Beast Tamer will be in charge of testing you.
"The last stage is the most difficult of all stages, and that's the impartation of knowledge. You'd meet a wood-made puppet in Stage 3. If you successfully impart to it the required information, it'd acknowledge the worth of teaching, and a hidden artifact would record your performances."
The attendant finally concluded and looked into our faces to discern our reactions. Lu Peng has a confident smile. I couldn't fall out of place, so I exhibited a confident smirk.
Whispers of all sorts had spread throughout the Main Hall.
"Jeez, that lass is in for a grand humiliation."
"Are you telling me? Really, isn't it clear? Some people should know their place!"
"How can a countryside bumpkin from god-knows-where just show up and challenge Princess Lu Peng and the others who've been practicing all their life for this 1-star examination?!"
Ignoring these, I quickly realised something, and turned to face Lu Peng, as we all walked under the lead of the attendant to the Beast Tamers Examination Hall, from the Main Hall.
"Hey, let's make a fair bet then. You mentioned earlier that if I lose to you, I'd have to apologise to all three of you princesses?"
"That's right!" Lu Peng harrumphed, nonchalantly. "And not only so, you'd be banned from ever stepping foot in the Beast Hall."
"Fine. Well here's my end of the deal. If, on the other hand, you lose to me, you and the other two with you would have to apologise to me, publicly. Plus, you'll have to provide me with thirty low-tier spirit stones!"
Indeed, if I just let it go like that, it'd be a one-sided victory to the princesses' advantage. I'd have been the greatest fool if I didn't take advantage of them, instead.
In the books I'd absorbed from the Book Collection Vault, I was able to understand that all cultivators, young and old, need spirit stones to advance and make breakthroughs in their cultivations.
Spirit stones are divided into low-tier, middle-tier and high-tier, respectively.
Since they were princesses, wouldn't it be next to nothing to provide these? By the way, a single low-tier spirit stone costs 1000 P.D. One must remember that I (actually Dorothy) bought a saddle for Roy at 35 P.D, back then at the city centre.
"Thirty low-tier spir-rit s-stone?!" she stuttered with wide eyes. "What non—"
Before she could even conclude her phrase, my voice interjected in.
"Hai, and to think that she claims to be a princess." I shook my head in disdain as though it was the saddest notion I'd ever conceived.
"You...!" Lu Peng was on the verge of exploding. "Alright, I agree to it!"
My eyes lit up automatically, and an indescribable joy gushed through my soul.
'I've made it rich, oh, damn so rich! Oh, I've made it rich! I'm rich, oh, so rich! Thanks to "gambl-ing"! Wooh!'
As though she and the other princesses could read the song playing in my head, they harrumphed again, coldly.
"Don't be so gleeful yet," one of them muttered. I didn't bother to check who.
We finally stopped before a large door.
The attendant turned around and began talking too much like she does.
"The 1-star examination only permits one person at a time. Due to this condition, it means one of you would be going first, before the other. After that one enters through that door, the progress of that person would appear over the door through numbers, in order to keep a fair record. Understood?"
We both nodded. I raised my head to look over the door and noticed a rectangularly shaped box. It was just like the attendant said, no doubt. Under where the numbers are to be displayed, there were also three round circles.
"Which one of you would be going first?" she asked this time.
Before I could even process the words, Lu Peng stepped forward and said, "Let me in."
The attendant nodded with a bow, before asking her to write her name on a square-like object beside the door. She was given a brush to do so. Immediately she wrote her name, it began to glow.
'How amazing! Just what sort of artifact is this?'
The door began to shake before sliding open with a mechanical rumble. One of the round circles over the door beamed with a red light.
Before stepping in, Lu Peng shot me a smile enveloped with sinisterism.
I rolled my eyes in response, agitating her the more.
"Humph!"
She walked in, leaving the crowd to watch her becoming a silhouette, after which the door closed shut as though it never had been opened in first place.
It was clear that everyone, at the moment, were eyeing me. I could feel the heat of their eyes on my body, but it didn't really matter much to me. At the moment, I was actually thinking about how I'd spend my thirty low-tier spirit stones.
'I'll probably use ten stones to increase my cultivation, while the remaining twenty for... chocolate! Jeez, I hope they have sandwiches in this continent, as well!'
While I was yet in my thoughts, a young man's voice sounded amidst the crowd.
'Weng!'
"Look, it's starting!"
Everyone followed his finger to see a number appearing on the top of the door Lu Peng walked through.
"It's a 5! She has a 5 so soon?! How long has it been? Thirty seconds, a minute?"
"As expected of the eighth princess of Tianxuan Empire! She is, indeed, a brainy!"
"Wow, it's a twelve already!"
Agitation spread through the crowd like wildfire.
Stealthily activating my Eye of Insight, I realised that there were quite some formidable beast tamers around. The highest ranked was 2-star, which numbered up to eight. However the 1-star beast tamers summed up to about ten in the room. Their identities (by rank) were pinned on their chests, making it noticeable.
An hour later, I heard an exclamation from the group that had been waiting, patiently, for the results of the competition.
"Look, she's done with stage one, she's moved to the next!"