Please be my partner.

Well, while the information in the wolf-shaped pendant has not been unlocked yet, you can also learn about other professional inheritances in the academy.

There are two types of education methods in Kingdom Mystic Academy: one is open classes, and the other is mentor-apprenticeship.

Open classes are easy to understand. The college’s instructors will teach universal esoteric knowledge, and students can learn according to their own interests and needs.

The mentor-apprentice relationship is similar to that of a master and an apprentice.

The tutors in the college are all from different professions. If a student chooses the same profession as a tutor, he or she can apply to become the tutor's apprentice.

Of course, the tutor can choose to accept or refuse, everything is voluntary.

In addition to these two educational methods, students can also enrich themselves by going to the library to read books.

After all, the Kingdom Mystic Academy trains extraordinary people. If you want to give up, no one will force you to improve yourself!

Thinking of this, Melen called Spike and returned to the teaching area again.

There is a notice board here, which will announce the time, instructors, teaching content, etc. of the open classes within the next week in advance.

After taking a few moments to write down the information he needed, Mellen patted his shriveled stomach and smiled at Spike, "Are you hungry, dog?"

Spike rolled his eyes.

Young man, I haven't eaten for a whole day. Are you hungry?

Chapter 25 Hunting in the Arena

In the early morning, the sun rises.

Mellen stretched his muscles and walked outside with Spike.

The door of Sora's lounge was closed. He seemed to have come back very late yesterday.

After jogging around the academy for half an hour, Mellen arrived at the training area.

Even though it was early in the morning, there were still quite a few people in the training area, all doing their own exercises.

He found the staff of the arena and put forward his request.

"You want to buy some ferocious beasts with extraordinary bloodlines and an extraordinary life to train as your own pets?!" the staff member asked in surprise. He didn't expect that there would be such a big 'business' just after the school started.

Mellen nodded in confirmation.

The staff member swiftly took out a notebook and placed it in front of Mellen, saying, "This records the current inventory of our arena. You can choose according to your needs."

Melen took the notebook and skipped over the ordinary beasts, looking at the records of ferocious beasts and extraordinary life forms.

After a moment, he locked onto three targets...

Rock rats have a slight poison in their claws and fangs, are compatible with earth-attribute powers, and are good at digging. There are sixty-seven of them left, and they are sold for five gold coins.

The maned lion has strength and physique close to that of a first-level knight, and its claws have a weak armor-piercing effect. There are five remaining and the price is ten gold coins.

The horned python is an extraordinary life form that can spit out extremely strong poison and has extremely tenacious vitality. The remaining one is sold for 250 gold coins.

Melen said to the staff: "I need five rock rats, a maned lion, and a horned python."

Of course, there is a reason why he chose these three.

Both rock rats and maned lions are classified as ferocious beasts. Rock rats are social creatures with weak strength and small size; maned lions are almost at the top of the ferocious beasts.

Although the horned python is nothing among extraordinary life forms, it has an extremely tenacious vitality.

By letting Spike hunt these three, he can visually compare the amount of spiritual energy he gains, so that he can find the most cost-effective way in his future choices.

As the staff member registered the items, they said, "Alright, the prey is ready and will be delivered this afternoon. Are you planning to make this fight public? If so, we can announce it for you now. With the allure of a battle between extraordinary beings, you might even make a small profit."

Melen thought about it and shook his head slightly to indicate that he should not make it public.

He didn't want to expose Spike's strength, and this time it was mainly an experiment to verify some of his ideas, so it was better not to cause any trouble.

After recording everything, the staff saw Mellen waiting there quietly, so they asked, "Do you need anything else? If not, you can leave first."

Mellen was stunned by the question and asked, "Don't you need me to pay a deposit first?"

A total of two hundred and eighty-five gold coins, this is not a small amount.

The staff member responded and said with a smile, "No wonder you look unfamiliar. You're a freshman this year, right? Prey selected for the arena don't require a deposit. They usually wait for the prey to arrive, and then you can pay after you're sure it's okay."

Melen only thought about it for a moment and suddenly realized that those who could enter the Kingdom's Mysterious Academy must be either rich or noble, and they are also future extraordinary professionals. It is natural for them to receive such treatment.

After coming out of the training area, Melen went to the teaching area.

An hour later, he was sitting in the classroom, listening attentively to a second-level hunter instructor on the stage explaining the basics of the Hunter profession.

"...Hunters mostly use bows or crossbows, though some excel at melee weapons. The more complex the terrain, the better suited the hunters are. The two foundational skills, [Precision Shot] and [Steady Shot], can ensure that even novice hunters can quickly become expert archers!"

"...Traps are also hunters' forte, but if you want to master the art of trapping, I recommend studying psychology."

"...[Animal Companion] is the most important basic skill for a first-level Hunter, bar none! Generally speaking, when using ranged weapons, Hunters are always lacking in close combat capabilities. If you can't defeat your opponent from a distance, your Animal Companion will become your last line of defense."

"...A hunter's core ability is [Concentration]! While it provides relatively little bonus to physical fitness, it significantly enhances perception. This often allows hunters to anticipate their enemies, even predicting their next move and countering it in advance."

At the end of the course, the hunter instructor said, "If you're interested in the hunter profession, you can get a training manual from me. It contains information on how to cultivate your perception abilities, as well as some knowledge about [Animal Companions]."

Mellen naturally stepped forward to receive one.

However, unlike other students, the hunter instructor seemed to pay special attention to him.

The hunter mentor looked at Spike who was following Mellen, and seemed to want to go up and touch the latter, but when he saw Spike's alert and resistant look, he stopped.

The hunter mentor said to Melen, "You have a good partner. It's excellent and loyal. Perhaps you are more suitable to be a Hunter than others! If you are interested, you can become my apprentice."

As he spoke, he handed over a training manual. Melen keenly felt that his copy seemed to be thicker than those of other students.

He said calmly and respectfully, "I will seriously consider it, Master Gaspar."

Perhaps influenced by his 'empiricism' from his previous life, whenever a stranger was kind to him, he would unconsciously develop some doubts, wondering whether the other person was truly well-intentioned or had other motives.

However, considering that this is an academy, the instructors naturally hope that outstanding students will become their apprentices, so I feel a little relieved.

After returning to the lounge, Melen carefully read the training manual given by Instructor Gaspar, and finally sighed helplessly.

The training manual is certainly useful. It records many methods for improving perception and increasing sensory acuity, as well as ways to train animal companions and cultivate mutual understanding.

However, these are of little use to Mellen.

[Hunter] is similar to [Knight] in that they also need to change their job before they can come into contact with spirituality. However, the tacit understanding between him and Spike does not need to be cultivated through other methods.

Eat and take a lunch break.

In the afternoon, Mellen took Spike and walked excitedly towards the training area.

When we arrived at the arena, the staff member who received Melen in the morning had been waiting for a long time.

Then, the two entered the Colosseum, which was a building similar in style to the ancient Roman Colosseum, but with a much smaller area, and could only accommodate about four to five hundred people at most.

The outer circle is a grandstand, and the middle part is hollowed out underground to serve as the battle field. After the battle begins, a layer of protective light curtain will condense above the battlefield to prevent prey from escaping.

Under the guidance of the staff, Melen saw the prey in the cage.

Among them, the rock rat was 30 to 40 centimeters long and huddled in the corner of the cage, looking shivering.

The maned lion had fierce eyes and kept walking around in the cage. When it saw Mellen and the others, it would let out a demonstrative growl.

The horned python lay quietly in the cage, looking at Mellen with a cold gaze, looking quite intelligent.

The staff member said to Mellen: "As you can see, they are all full of energy and are qualified prey."

Mellen nodded and paid on the spot.

Three gold notes of one hundred denominations issued by the Kingdom Bank.

The staff member apologized and left quickly. He returned a moment later and handed Mellen fifteen gold coins and eight small wooden sticks.

Fifteen gold coins were naturally the change, but these eight small wooden sticks...

Seeing the puzzled look on Mellen's face, the staff member explained, "Since you've chosen to keep it private, naturally no one will be allowed to stay in the arena during the hunt, including us."

"Those eight prey are cursed. As long as you crush the corresponding wooden sticks, they will immediately lose their ability to resist. This will prevent any accidents."

Melen nodded suddenly, thinking that the arena was really well thought out.

Soon, everything will be ready.

After informing everyone how to operate the arena, the staff all left.

Mellen stood in the stands with the easy-to-use buttons at his fingertips.

He smiled at Spike and said, "Go ahead, have some fun today!"

The corners of Spike's mouth cracked, revealing a smile that was both honest and cruel.

It seems to be saying... this should be a hunt that is enjoyable for the dog!

Chapter 26 Test

Spike walked into the battle field along the passage as if strolling in the garden.

Mellen pressed a button at his hand, and soon a rock rat was driven into the battlefield.

Spike already understood what Mellen wanted to do. He pounced and tried to dig a hole, but because the ground was too solid, he held down the rock rat with his claws broken.

Following Melen's instructions, it brought the rock rat to a position about ten meters away from him and then killed it.

That’s right, Melen’s first purpose was to test the maximum distance at which the wolf-shaped pendant could absorb spiritual energy.

With the death of the rock rat, Melen felt the wolf-shaped pendant absorb a weak spiritual energy.

Next came the second one. Spike killed the rock rat at the same position as before, but Mellen retreated ten meters away, which was a distance of twenty meters.

When the rock rat died, Melen's eyes fixed, because the wolf-shaped pendant did not show any movement of extracting spiritual energy.

He walked quickly forward until he was about twelve or thirteen meters away, and then the wolf-shaped pendant began to extract the energy that escaped after the rock rat died.

This made Melen make a judgment in his mind.

Next came the third one. This time, Melen deliberately retreated to a position where the wolf-shaped pendant could not extract spiritual energy. He waited for a minute after the rock rat died before quickly moving forward.

The fourth one did the same thing, but the wait was two minutes.

After silently calculating for a moment, Melen concluded that the spiritual energy released after death would quickly dissipate. If it could not be extracted in time, based on the dissipation speed, it would not take more than ten minutes for everything to disappear.

This conclusion made Melen feel helpless. One of his original plans was that if spiritual energy could exist longer, then his mid-term goal would be to go to the battlefield after the war and harvest a large amount of spiritual energy.

Unfortunately, at this rate of dissipation, if he wanted to get the spiritual energy for free during the war, he would have to personally join the battle between the two armies.

Let’s forget about such a dangerous thing!

Although he only got two rough data, it was enough for Melen now. He did not conduct experiments on the fifth rock rat, but let Spike kill it directly.

The five rock rats each gave less than 0.02 spiritual energy. Taking into account the gains from meditation over the past two days, I could only barely accumulate 0.1.

Seeing Spike, who was so bored that he was about to yawn, Mellen pressed another button.

As the iron cage opened with a rumbling sound, a low beast roar was heard, accompanied by a wild and murderous aura filled with savagery.

Then I saw the maned lion walking slowly towards me, its claws stretched out, and even the solid ground that could break the rock rat's claws was scratched with deep marks by its sharp claws.

Even though it deliberately lowered its body slightly, it was still nearly two meters tall and looked very majestic.

Spike's lazy expression faded. Finally, he had a decent opponent that could warm him up!

Armed with a sharp weapon, murderous intent arises!

This doesn’t just apply to humans!

After evolving into a [Fighting Dog] and changing his job to a [Knight], Spike's power rapidly increased, and the wild side of his heart was gradually activated.

However, since he was always with Mellen, his violent and crazy desires were naturally locked away by him.

But, when the battle comes, these emotions will be fully released, giving it greater power!

This isn't some extraordinary skill, but rather the instinct of hunting and fighting that has been passed down from generation to generation and integrated into the blood of carnivores!

"Roar!~" x2

After two dull growls, Spike and the Maned Lion rushed towards each other at the same time.

There was no mutual testing before the duel between masters as seen in martial arts novels. They started with brutal pounces and bites, which was primitive and bloody.

As a ferocious beast captured from the wilderness, the maned lion carries a wild and savage aura. The scars under its fur are medals of victory after countless battles.

As a dog, although Spike inherited the appearance of a bulldog and looks ferocious, he lacks the wildness and looks a little silly and cute.