Jiang Kai and this woman were walking on the way back to Taiping Mountain Road.
The woman cleanly and sharply split open the bushes in front as she asked, "What's your name?"
Jiang Kai was stunned for a moment. Looking at the back of that tomboyish woman, he stammered and replied, "Ruan Yu."
That woman didn't mind, just repeated once, "Ruan Yu… soft as in soft and hard? Is there such a surname? Ah, no offense meant, but, as a man, do you feel troubled by this surname?"
Jiang Kai had a head full of black lines, hurriedly said, "Big sister, it's not soft as in soft and hard!"
"Big sister?" The woman turned her head, fiercely stared at Jiang Kai, "Who are you calling big sister! I have a name!"
Jiang Kai helplessly shook his head. This woman was really fierce.
"What is young lady's name?"
"Chang Siyao." The woman answered straightforwardly, "My dad gave it, I hate this name, too girly."
Jiang Kai frowned, thinking to himself, the name is quite gentle, but it doesn't match her fierce style.
But although Chang Siyao had a fierce personality, her appearance and temperament didn't lean toward a neutral style; instead, she was a stunning beauty that made people's eyes light up.
Probably not a T.
Given Chang Siyao's bad temper, Jiang Kai decided to provoke her less. Once back to Taiping Mountain Road, he would go his own way.
Maybe because the journey was too boring, Chang Siyao turned back and asked, "Little Ruan, I thought about it. You actually don't need to go back with me."
"The Endless Abyss is extremely dangerous. Even seasoned wanderers with outdoor experience often fail. Someone like you, it's unlikely you can get through the first layer. If you die, you'll blame me."
Jiang Kai sighed. He also didn't want to go back. A round trip would waste several days.
Moreover, probably many people were now very dissatisfied with him.
But this matter had to be resolved. At least he should explain to Luo Shen and the others, to see if there were still any rewards.
The difficulty was random. The Huaxia National Soul wasn't something he wanted—he was the only one in front of the relic back then, and the system directly gave the state to him.
"Miss Siyao, I will act within my means."
"By the way, Miss Siyao, why do you always refer to yourself as 'laozi' (old man)?"
"What? Do you think I don't look like a woman?" Chang Siyao frowned and looked at Jiang Kai.
"A little bit." Jiang Kai said truthfully.
Chang Siyao didn't care and said, "Can't help it, ever since I was little, my parents sent me to… sent me to other places, surrounded by boys, so I became like a boy too."
Jiang Kai suddenly remembered what Yuan Zhu once said: a girl acts like a boy because she hasn't met a boy she admires yet.
In front of others, even the most tomboyish girl would turn into a delicate, clingy girl in front of the one she likes.
Probably this Chang Siyao was also single.
During their idle chat, Jiang Kai learned that Chang Siyao was actually a reserve member of the Temple of War, only here in the Unknown Region to complete her final trial.
She had been here for over seven months, but after exploring more than thirty kilometers beyond the border, she was killed by a beast. She re-landed half a month ago and hadn't had time to go deep into the Unknown Region.
No wonder she knew so much—she turned out to be an experienced adventurer.
"More than thirty kilometers, what kind of strength is that?" Jiang Kai asked.
Chang Siyao thought for a while, "Among wanderers, that's mid-to-upper level. During exploration, every ten kilometers is a threshold—the strength of beasts increases with each one."
"Most wanderers are level-four max martial disciples or level-four max soldiers—i.e., national warriors or kings of soldiers. Although being able to become a wanderer means the military recognizes your strength, there are still tiers among them."
"We have our own grading standard among wanderers—combat power is judged based on exploration distance. Those who pass the ten-kilometer line and have elite kill records are called 1-star national warriors; over twenty kilometers are 2-star; and so on. The highest are those who passed fifty kilometers and still have elite kills, called 5-star national warriors."
"Few can go beyond fifty kilometers. They are collectively known as Peerless National Warriors."
"The same goes for Kings of Soldiers. There are 1-star to 5-star, and over fifty kilometers is called Peerless King of Soldiers."
Jiang Kai frowned and said, "The current furthest explored distance is over seventy kilometers. That person must be a transcendent profession, right?"
"Those who go beyond fifty kilometers are already few, and 90% of them are transcendent professionals." Chang Siyao said. "They don't want to join the Temple of War too early, and they also found their fifth-tier transcendent class material, so they just directly broke through."
Chang Siyao's statement matched what Luo Ping said. It seemed this was the general situation of the Unknown Region.
No wonder Chang Siyao was so confident. She had only been here for seven months and already broke past the thirty-kilometer mark. Even if her current strength wasn't the strongest, her potential was enormous.
Chang Siyao added, "Actually, another reason why they choose to break through here is because sixty kilometers outward from Taiping Mountain Road, battle pets that can be captured and tamed will appear."
"Several people have already caught them. Laozi also really wants one!"
"Battle pets?" Jiang Kai asked in surprise.
"Yes! Kings of Soldiers can catch mounts, but the combat ability of mounts is relatively weak. You've probably seen cavalry mounts, right? They mostly use them for travel, rarely for battle."
"After all, if the mount dies, they'd feel heartbroken."
"So that's how it is." Jiang Kai nodded in sudden realization. Indeed, he had rarely seen cavalry unleash mounts in battle.
"Battle pets are different!" Chang Siyao seemed very concerned about battle pets. "Think about it—if you raise a battle general-level battle pet, it can duel with a beast of the same level!"
Battle pets could even reach the level of battle generals. Jiang Kai was also moved.
"Can anyone catch them?"
"No. First, battle pets aren't beasts. Creatures that can become battle pets are very rare and usually get killed by beasts before growing up. Second, young battle pets are hard to tame—unless you have some kind of skill, item, or method, even if you catch them, you can't tame them."
Jiang Kai frowned, "Then how to get battle pets?"
"Find pet eggs!" Chang Siyao said confidently, "Laozi must own a battle pet!"
Jiang Kai slightly narrowed his eyes. He also wanted a battle pet!
After rushing through half the night, luckily that high-level Night Patrol didn't notice them. By dawn, Chang Siyao and Jiang Kai had arrived at Taiping Mountain Road.
Since Chang Siyao was a military person, the military provided her with a special military carriage. She could take the shortcut directly to Huaxia City.
"Hey, Little Soft, it'll take you at least four or five days from here to Huaxia City. Come with me, only two days to reach there." Chang Siyao said happily.
Jiang Kai was a little hesitant. After all, he had hidden his identity.
However, the temptation of the shortcut was too strong.
At worst, he would separate from her after reaching Huaxia City.
Thinking of this, Jiang Kai jumped onto the carriage and rode the military vehicle toward Huaxia City.
......
In front of Huaxia City, there were still thousands of people gathered in front of the Endless Abyss.
The Endless Abyss had appeared for a week now, but so far, no one in Huaxia had passed the first layer!
On Huaxia's Double Dragon Ranking, the Dragon List was still empty. In contrast, the more difficult Heaven List already showed players from twelve countries. The 1000 slots had long been filled!
Experts from various countries were chasing each other. The list of 1000 names was constantly changing.
Seeing this, a military officer couldn't help but sigh.
Huaxia players were almost being treated as jokes by other countries. Crossing tribulation, oh, crossing tribulation—if not for the difficulty of the tribulation, how could the Heaven List not have a place for Huaxia?
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