"Wh-what are you doing!" The Mercenary Team Captain didn't know why, but looking at Jin Bao walking toward him step by step, it felt like looking at a ferocious Spirit Beast. "Then, what were you planning to do? A mercenary squad that was clearly supposed to protect me, yet you tried to attack me in the night." Jin Bao's voice was filled with a chilling coldness.
"If I hadn't been vigilant, I would probably be a corpse by now!"
The Mercenary Team Captain said, "No, we just wanted the spirit tools on you. We didn't want to kill anyone. Please let us go!"
It wasn't that he didn't want to resist. First, the methods Jin Bao had shown and that strange Spirit effect made him afraid to act rashly. Second, although he had two hundred-year spirit rings, his First Spirit Ring was barely over a hundred years old, and the second was less than three hundred. They had previously thought Jin Bao came from a good background, so his spirit rings couldn't possibly be worse than his.
Therefore, Jin Bao's two hundred-year spirit rings naturally made him feel that their age far exceeded his own.
And since the age of a spirit ring affects the power of a Spirit Ability, he was no match for Jin Bao.
This was a judgmental intuition the Mercenary Team Captain had developed after being a mercenary for many years.
"Spare you? If I had truly fallen asleep, would you have spared my life?" Jin Bao said as he raised his fist.
"Th-then I won't make it easy for you!" The Mercenary Team Captain's eyes widened, and both his spirit rings lit up simultaneously.
One of his two Spirit Abilities increased the sharpness of his Spirit longsword, while the other enhanced its penetration.
But just as he guessed, the age of Jin Bao's spirit rings far exceeded his, and their power naturally couldn't be compared to his Spirit Abilities.
The armor transformed from his First Spirit Skill allowed Jin Bao to directly grab the Mercenary Team Captain's longsword with his hand.
"It seems you didn't even break my defense!"
Jin Bao's mocking tone drove the Mercenary Team Captain to complete despair.
After knocking the Mercenary Team Captain unconscious with a single punch, Jin Bao unhesitatingly chose to loot all their money and then cleanly slit their throats.
Driving the carriage, Jin Bao continued toward Spirit City.
Although it was his first time driving a carriage, Jin Bao relied on the physical strength brought by his spirit power to steadily control the horse. As the carriage moved forward, he became increasingly proficient at driving.
However, he soon discovered a problem. When he was looting earlier, he only focused on money and weapons, forgetting that horses had specific fodder.
Glancing at the grass, Jin Bao could only let the horse graze.
Without horse fodder, the horse's speed became slower and slower just eating grass. A journey that should have taken three days ended up taking five.
Fortunately, Jin Bao had plenty of dry rations and didn't go hungry. Looking at the horse that had thinned down, Jin Bao patted its neck.
"Don't worry, I'll sell you in a bit. They'll give you plenty to eat then."
Leading the horse into Spirit City, Jin Bao realized there were differences between cities. A small city like his hometown might only be as large as one district of Spirit City. Inside Spirit City, there were five districts in total.
Civilian District, Commercial District, Academy District, Core District, Pope City.
Among them, the Core District and Pope City were normally not open to the public, and ordinary people could not enter these areas at this time.
Therefore, the Civilian District and Commercial District were the most crowded places. Although there were many people in the Academy District, the environment was relatively quiet overall because it was primarily where the Spirit Hall Advanced Academy's Outer Academy and the Elementary Academy were located.
After finding a carriage dealer in the Commercial District to sell the carriage and visiting a pawn shop to sell the mercenary group's weapons, Jin Bao finally found a restaurant and had a good meal.
Finding a decent inn, Jin Bao booked a room and asked the Waiter.
"Excuse me, when does the enrollment assessment for the Spirit Hall Advanced Spirit Master Academy's Outer Academy begin?"
The Waiter glanced at Jin Bao and said respectfully, "Registration for the Outer Academy's external assessment can be done now and will last for one month. Since you are not a student from within Spirit Hall nor a student from Spirit City, you need to register with a certificate issued by Spirit Hall and pay a registration fee of one gold coin. If you find it troublesome, I'm willing to make the trip for you for just one silver coin."
Jin Bao gave him a gold coin. "Bring me a detailed map of Spirit City as well, along with some information about the exam."
Jin Bao was aware of people like this who worked part-time in inns to sell information.
A more enthusiastic smile appeared on the Waiter's face. "Thank you for your generosity. The items you want will be delivered along with your dinner."
After the Waiter left, Jin Bao took a bath and sat on the bed to begin cultivating.
Although he didn't know the assessment standards for the Spirit Hall Outer Academy, he knew that the stronger his strength and the better his performance, the better.
"I am a Control System Soul Master, so I should demonstrate control methods during the assessment. Therefore, the coordinated use of my First Spirit Skill and Second Spirit Ability is what I should showcase. It would be fine if it's a team battle, but if it's one-on-one..."
Jin Bao recalled every battle he had with Mei Lele and other students in his mind, thinking about what tactics to use against his opponents in the upcoming assessment.
Time passed quickly, and the Waiter delivered the items Jin Bao requested at dinner time.
After dinner, Jin Bao opened the city map. However, just as he thought, except for the Civilian District, Commercial District, and parts of the Core District, the descriptions of other areas were very simple.
In the Academy District, except for large markers for the two academies, there were no internal descriptions at all. There were only some descriptions of shops outside the academies.
Putting down the map, Jin Bao picked up the assessment introduction.
The assessment standards for the Spirit Hall Academy's Outer Academy were simple: those no older than thirteen with a spirit power cultivation of Rank 23 could enter the internal assessment.
Unlike other Spirit Master academies, the assessment content within Spirit Hall Academy varied according to the type of Spirit Master. The materials in Jin Bao's hand showed that Support-type Soul Masters only needed to demonstrate their spirit power and Spirit Abilities and undergo a basic physical fitness test.
The highest assessment standards were naturally for Power Attack System Soul Masters. According to the records in this material, Power Attack System Soul Masters in previous years had to reach Rank 24 or 25 to have a chance of success.
Jin Bao saw the assessment introduction for Control System Soul Masters. As it turned out, besides the standard spirit power and Spirit Ability introductions, there was only a "Spirit Power Control Assessment" listed, without even a bit of detailed explanation.
He sighed. "As expected, I can't place too much hope on this kind of hearsay source."
After packing his things, Jin Bao chose to go straight to sleep.
Before sleeping, Jin Bao looked out the window.
"I definitely won't have any problems!"