Lin Li stared blankly at the drained Spirit Stone in his hand, his heart aching terribly.
He'd spent 500,000 to buy ten Spirit Stones, only for them to last a mere ten hours of cultivation. He hadn't expected this at all.
The silver lining, however, was that after using this one Spirit Stone, he felt he was a small step closer to a breakthrough. Once all ten Spirit Stones were used up, he was more or less guaranteed to break through to Tier One Peak.
'Might as well keep going! There's no turning back now. Since I've chosen this path, I have to see it through to the end.'
Lin Li took a deep breath. Once he had calmed down, he reached into the box, took out another Spirit Stone, and held it in his palm.
A faint golden Spiritual Light bloomed in Lin Li's right hand. Wisps of Spiritual Energy seeped out from the crystal-clear Spirit Stone and were absorbed into his body.
His cultivation continued. One Spirit Stone after another was drained, bringing him ever closer to breaking through to Tier One Peak.
One hour, two hours, three hours...
Aside from breaks for the restroom and dinner, Lin Li spent almost all his time cultivating.
At nearly midnight, Lin Li drained the last Spirit Stone.
When he slowly opened his eyes, a faint golden Spiritual Light flashed within them, followed by a look of pure, unadulterated excitement.
Tier One Peak. It had cost him half his savings and over ten hours, but Lin Li had finally broken through. Now, he could move forward with his plan.
As Lin Li prepared to get up from the sofa, he sucked in a sharp breath. Maintaining the same seated posture for so long had made his back sore.
'My back is so sore. I'm not cultivating in this position next time. The principle is the same regardless, and it's more comfortable to cultivate lying in bed. Why bother sitting cross-legged?'
Lin Li grumbled to himself, got off the sofa, and stretched his aching back.
It was past midnight, and most of the people in his residential complex were asleep.
Having just successfully broken through to Tier One Peak, Lin Li was still buzzing with excitement and couldn't fall asleep just yet.
After a moment's thought, a Spiritual Light flashed around him, and he vanished from his home.
...
White mist, clear water, a small island, a small tree, and a person who had appeared out of thin air.
Arriving on the Mysterious Small Island, Lin Li's face filled with astonishment as he looked at its obviously larger surface. 'Th-this island... how did it get bigger?'
Just then, a piece of information materialized in his mind.
Current island area: two hundred square meters!!!
'The Mysterious Small Island can actually get bigger? It doubled in size just like that? What could have caused it to expand?'
Lin Li frowned, deep in thought. Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind, and he arrived at a tentative theory.
'Don't tell me the Mysterious Small Island changed size because I just had a breakthrough!
'Ugh… but it didn't get bigger when I broke through to the advanced stage of Tier One! Whatever, I'll stop thinking about it. I'll find out for sure when I break through to the Second Rank Initial Stage.'
More than the island's size doubling, Lin Li was focused on the Magical Little Tree at its center. After all, the small fruits it produced would determine whether he could become a powerful Cultivator.
He walked around the Magical Little Tree twice, examining it carefully from top to bottom, and even reached out to touch its trunk.
There was no change at all. It seemed that without the flesh and blood of a Mutant Beast, the Magical Little Tree wouldn't change in any way.
"Tomorrow, I'll go to the Exotic Beast Hunter Guild and get my certification. Then, I'll prepare to hunt Mutant Beasts in the wild," Lin Li muttered to himself, looking at the unchanging Magical Little Tree.
Then, with a thought, he left the Mysterious Small Island and returned to the real world.
...
「The next morning.」
The sky was overcast and the air was a bit muggy. According to the weather forecast, there would be light rain in Rongcheng today.
The Rongcheng Exotic Beast Hunter Guild was located in the city's Central District. The complex, consisting of several buildings dozens of stories high, covered an area of over twenty thousand square meters.
The office areas inside were not open to the public; only the service building near the main entrance allowed free access.
Before coming, Lin Li had already done his research online and knew that the Exotic Beast Hunter certification test was held in the service building.
Upon entering the service building's lobby, Lin Li noticed it was mostly empty. 'That makes sense,' he thought. 'After all, very few people can actually become Exotic Beast Hunters.'
Even when people did come for the certification test, they wouldn't all show up on the same day.
"Hello, I'd like to take the test for an Exotic Beast Hunter certificate. What's the procedure?" Lin Li asked at the lobby's service desk.
"Just pay the one-thousand-yuan registration fee, then wait for about ten minutes while we arrange the test. If you pass, we'll issue you a certificate," the staff member explained briefly.
Unlike getting his cultivation level tested and registering as a Cultivator at the government agency yesterday, the Exotic Beast Hunter Guild's certification exam wasn't free.
"Okay. Can I pay with my phone?" Lin Li asked with a nod.
"Yes. Just show me your payment code," the staff member said.
After paying the one-thousand-yuan registration fee, Lin Li took a seat and waited for a short while. Soon, the staff member called out to him, "Mr. Lin Li, your examiner is ready. Please come with me."
'It's finally time.' Lin Li felt a surge of nervousness. He stood up and followed the staff member toward the testing area.
For a Tier One Peak Cultivator to earn their Exotic Beast Hunter certification, they had to fight a match against an examiner from the Guild.
The fight was three minutes long. As long as the candidate could last three minutes against the examiner and remain standing at the end, they would pass.
...
Lin Li's test was held in Testing Area #6.
The testing area was five hundred square meters and contained three combat rings.
When there were many applicants, three examiners would test candidates simultaneously in the rings. Today, however, Lin Li was the only one.
Lin Li's examiner was a tall man in his thirties, a full head taller than the 1.8-meter-tall Lin Li.
The man had to be just over two meters tall, and his body was covered in corded muscle.
He wore a short-sleeved training uniform, revealing terrifying, centipede-like scars across his exposed chest and arms.
This was clearly a veteran Exotic Beast Hunter who had survived life-and-death battles against Mutant Beasts.
...