Start With Contracting Sprites

"An assessment is necessary in order for one to become an official Sprite Cultivator. The assessment is mainly separated into a written test and a practical assessment…"

The written test was like any other normal examination.

As for the practical assessment… It was said that the examiners would assign the test questions randomly. In addition, real sprites were used as study specimens for the test questions.

Applying for a Sprite Cultivator license wasn't a notion that Su Hao had thought of on the spur of the moment. It had been on his mind for a while now, probably since three days ago.

It wasn't just for the money.

With a Sprite Cultivator license, Su Hao would be able to purchase a lot of restricted items.

He would also be able to freely enter the library of the Association of Sprite Cultivators and read all the valuable books chock full of practical goodness in there. Intelligence Points shooting up would no longer be a dream.

It was just that… The assessment was said to be extremely difficult.

"All the information that I have unlocked using Intelligence Points were transmitted directly into my mind. Although they are just cultivation plans that mainly revolve around Silkworm Baby, sprite cultivation is most likely a similar area of study."

Honestly speaking, there was quite a lot of information there. Even basic cultivation alone consisted of dozens of plans.

Su Hao had chosen the cheapest plan because he was poor, but this didn't mean that he didn't understand the other plans. Every plan had its own corresponding set of knowledge.

Su Hao's self-confidence increased by 10.

Even if it hadn't been that long and he hadn't read that many relevant technical books, he should… probably have an intermediate-level standard too, right?

"Never mind, I'll just apply for it. The application isn't expensive anyway… What if I pass?"

When he looked at those fine and handsome sprites, he would sometimes find himself unwittingly analyzing the sprites' conditions and simulating a suitable cultivation plan.

It was just that he lacked practical experience.

Without a benchmark for comparison, he didn't know how he would fare compared to a real Sprite Cultivator.

...

A Sprite Cultivator assessment was due to be held in half a month's time.

After Su Hao applied for it, he made the most of the time he had and flipped through related texts again.

He didn't neglect his daily training either. Under Coach Xiong's drilling, his abs gradually formed.

It was Tuesday, the battle class.

Silkworm Baby, Little Spring Sprite, and their other pals engaged in their usual chaotic battle.

Their actions were very slow—every single step they took consumed an extremely large amount of energy.

Unable to even ride on the wind and fly, Little Wind Horse was thrown out a great distance by Silkworm Baby's Head Bump.

In the blink of an eye, Kungfu Pup attacked from the back, its paw forming a karate chop slicing toward Silkworm Baby.

"Gurgle!"

Silkworm Baby charged forward before it turned back again. With a bam, it knocked Kungfu Pup away.

At this point, a lick of fire came attacking. Green light covered Silkworm Baby all over again, and it charged out of the flames with another bam.

A Tyrant Bear sat nearby the few sprites. There was invisible energy, which was constantly enveloping the venue, around it.

Unique Skill: Gravity!

Through the use of Gravity, there was a visible improvement in the sprites after every training session.

This was also Coach Xiong's signature training method.

It was hard to say whether or not the Tyrant Bear's Gravity was strong against enemies, but when used in training, it was very experienced indeed.

Not every sprite had the fortune of enjoying these supplementary classes. Only the four strongest sprites got to enjoy this privilege.

Silkworm Baby, Kungfu Pup, and Little Spring Sprite easily took the top three spots. Through Liu Ren's 'power of whaling', Little Charcoal Tortoise edged out the other sprites and took the last spot.

Together with Little Wind Horse, the five sprites battled each other under the influence of Gravity.

Inside the gravity field, the scene was extremely chaotic. Under Coach Xiong's instructions, none of the five sprites held back at all.

The ones who suffered defeat and injuries and lost their ability to fight would be sprayed with Sprite Injury Medicine, which was provided free of charge by the school.

During the monthly Sprite Battle assessments, the top ten would also be rewarded with jade powder as usual.

However, Su Hao already had no use for it, so he sold it to the other students at a 20 percent discount to earn a bit of allowance.

He was very satisfied, but Silkworm Baby had it rough.

Coach Xiong nodded slightly, somewhat astonished. "Your Silkworm Baby is improving very quickly, especially in terms of energy control."

With his expertise, he could tell right away that the "multi-hit Charging" which Silkworm Baby was using wasn't a result of it becoming more proficient in executing the unique skill. Nor was it because the unique skill had been improved. Rather, it was because there was an obvious improvement in the sprite's control of energy. Its spiritual force reserves had also increased significantly.

This was an improvement in its quantitative stats.

"That's because I've made it a point to carry out spiritual force training with Silkworm Baby recently."

Su Hao didn't provide much explanation.

Coach Xiong didn't probe either. Everyone had their own secrets.

However, he wanted to test Su Hao a little.

"Your Silkworm Baby's foundation is already pretty good. But even if you've improved Charging, its battle style still remains relatively unvaried. What are your thoughts with regard to its future development?"

This was a problem that Su Hao had considered before. He dished out a response right away.

"Silkworm Baby's main issue lies in the fact that it lacks long-range attacks. If it's up against a flying sprite equipped with long-range combat abilities, it will only be a sitting duck.

"In addition, although the improved Charging can act as a unique dodging skill, the energy consumption for Charging is too great. Silkworm Baby needs a few more conventional techniques."

Coach Xiong didn't rebut him.

Su Hao went on. "I'm thinking of having Silkworm Baby learn three unique skills—Granule Machine Gun, Energy Ball, and String Shot."

"Why don't you learn some basics, such as Quick Shift, Swift Movement, or Jump Attack, instead? Energy Ball and String Shot are notoriously difficult to master."

Silkworm Baby was just a sprite with 'silkworm' in its name. It wasn't a real silkworm, nor could it really spin silk.

The unique skill, String Shot, was a special unique skill created by a Sprite Trainer who had observed bugs spitting threads for quite a few years. Threads were manifested using spiritual force, and there was even a need to ensure that they were sticky.

There were various complicated high-level elements, such as physical manifestation of spiritual force and changes in the nature of spiritual force, involved in this.

In contrast, Energy Ball was instead easier to master. However, Energy Ball required the sprite to know how to control the balance in spiritual force. This requirement alone stood in the way of several people.

Granule Machine Gun was the only unique skill that was truly suitable for novice sprites.

"These are my thoughts—unique skills like Quick Shift, etc. have aspects that overlap with Charging. String Shot, on the other hand, is different. Silkworm Baby can use String Shot even while it's executing Charging, so this move suits it better."

Coach Xiong acknowledged the truth—String Shot was indeed very suitable. He didn't deny this.

However, this was true only on the condition that it could master it. It was still too difficult for a Sprite Trainer intern to hope for its sprite to master this particular move.

Taking a step back and going for the next best option and learning a few simple, unique skills, so that the sprite could display sufficient battle power, was the most efficiency-maximizing choice.

However, Coach Xiong didn't dissuade him either. Youngsters these days were very stubborn. They needed to be knocked around before they would learn.

"Remember, if there's no development whatsoever within a month, I'd suggest that you give up. Otherwise, it'll affect your college entrance examination progress.

"But… With your Silkworm Baby's current level of spiritual force control, you can give Energy Ball a go."

He gave him some training advice regarding Energy Ball and Granule Machine Gun.

He only hoped that Su Hao, a student he had high hopes for, wouldn't waste too much time on String Shot's training. He had seen too many amazing students end up mediocre because they were too hung up on researching a unique skill that their sprite couldn't master.

Hopefully, Su Hao wouldn't be the next one.

…

"Silkworm Baby, are you done looking at the tutorial for Energy Ball?"

They were at the back of Lake East Hill.

Su Hao had already recorded in detail the tutorials for the three unique skills in a notebook.

There were three types of Energy Balls—Earth-Element, Metal-Element, and Wood-Element.

The Earth-Element Energy Ball was dense and heavy and contained strong pressure.

The Metal-Element Energy Ball could deal damage after it exploded.

The Wood-Element Energy Ball's special characteristic was… that it had no special characteristics. Or rather, one could call it 'pure' instead. However, the stamina of Wood-Element Sprites was higher.

What Su Hao unlocked was naturally the Wood-Element Energy Ball. He spent four points to do so.

The Wood-Element Granule Machine Gun cost two points. The all-elemental String Shot cost five points.

Su Hao pushed the notebook to Silkworm Baby.

"Gurgle?"

"You're already a sprite of culture. You must learn to master unique skills on your own. You can ask me again if there's anything you don't understand."

"Gurgle!"

Silkworm Baby was very pleased by the praise.

It was only after a while that it realized that something seemed a little off, but Su Hao had already walked away by then.

The frustrated Silkworm Baby looked through the instructions of the three types of unique skills closely.

It skimmed through the instructions for Energy Ball and Granule Machine Gun. When its gaze landed on the instructions for String Shot, all of a sudden, the bright and dazzling desire to learn blossomed in its big moist eyes.