Upgrade Specialist in Another World

The call out had surprised Bai Yunfei. He turned his head to the side to see a twenty-three or twenty-four year old young man with four ‘servants’ accompanying him. The one up front had a disgruntled look on his face, so Bai Yunfei knew that it was him that had called out to him earlier.

Quirking an eyebrow, Bai Yunfei said, “What? You got a problem?”

“I was asking you a question, and this is how you answer? Everyone else here got through the examination fair and square, but you’re going to just waltz on over? Patooey, you trying to pull some strings and enter through the backdoor or something? Since when did the Crafting School allow that…” The short-haired youth glared in disdain at Bai Yunfei.

It was no wonder he was annoyed. In his clan, he was touted as a genius, but out here, he was pushed around and treated almost tyrannically by those around him. Forced to wait for several hours, he was annoyed to see someone else just walk into the area where the ones who passed went. Therefore, when the student guiding Bai Yunfei was gone, the kid decided to vent his anger on him. Bai Yunfei looked like a pushover in any case.

Bai Yunfei opened a single eye to look at the male. He was a late-stage Soul Warrior—which by all rights, wasn’t half-bad for his age—but his personality was definitely lacking. Far too lazy to respond to the male, Bai Yunfei turned his head to look back at the other examinees.

“Hey brat! Our big bro is asking you a question. You really have the balls to not answer him?”

“Our big bro Li Jianren is a genius! He’s a late-stage Soul Warrior, and his affinity for the elemental fire is the highest ‘best talent!’ He’s on his way to become a Soul Sprite and make his own soul armament, becoming the student of one of the elders won’t be impossible. Are you still going to ignore him!?”

“Hmph, you’re an arrogant one. Don’t think we aren’t afraid to teach you a lesson and show you who the top dog is in this new group of students?”

“That’s right…”

When the servants of Li Jianren saw how Bai Yunfei was acting, they immediately began to kiss ass and jeer out loud. Of course, they were kissing Li Jianren’s ass and threatening Bai Yunfei.

Bai Yunfei turned his head in surprise. Staring at the group with his mouth twitching slightly, he couldn’t help but smile, “Li Jianren? Could he be the brother of Li Jiannan?”

The look of shock on Bai Yunfei’s face had been mistaken for submission by Li Jianren. Waving his hand in satisfaction, he managed to shut the mouths of everyone there. Pointing his finger at Bai Yunfei, he pompously said, “I can forgive you for your ignorance. Now hurry up and answer my question and call me ‘big bro.’ I’ll let you follow me maybe!”

There surely were plenty of birds in a forest, but even men like this were able to enter the Crafting School? Bai Yunfei was further amazed, but he managed to say two words to him, “Not interested.”

“You—!”

“Eeeh? Aren’t you brother Bai!?” A happy voice suddenly cut into Li Jianren’s sentence before a group of four made its way over to where Bai Yunfei was. Leading at the front was Zhong Xuhao and Liu Mang.

Bai Yunfei was surprised to say the least. He hadn’t expected the two of them to pass the examination at all, but he managed to smile and nod anyways, “Ah, so you two passed the examinations as well. Haha, not bad…”

“Heehee, I didn’t think I would either, but as it turns out, I’ve medium talent! That’s good enough for me. As long as we can pass the crafting examination, we can become students of the Crafting School!” Zhong Xuhao ran a hand through his hair in excitement.

Looking at the two youths behind them, Bai Yunfei asked, “And these two are…?”

“Oh! Let me introduce you!” Zhong Xuhao piped up right away, “This is Mo Xiaoxuan and this is Xi Yan. They’re both late-stage Soul Warriors with high talent!”

“Is that so?” Bai Yunfei looked at the two youths with even more surprise than before. To be blessed with this strength and talent at such a tender age meant they’d surely be successful in the future. The fact that the equally young Zhong Xuhao had managed to make friends out of the two wasn’t bad at all either.

Mo Xiaoxuan was a short-haired youth that gave a cheerful and friendly greeting to Bai Yunfei. Xi Yan on the other hand was far more reserved, but he didn’t seem to be a bad person either. After giving Bai Yunfei a nod of his head, he turned his back to watch the rest of the examinations.

Liu Mang took this opportunity to walk up to Bai Yunfei and speak for the very first time since they met one another. Craftily, he whispered, “Brother Bai, I saw you speaking with a beautiful student earlier, you’re amazing! You’ve only been here for so long and you managed to strike it already. In the future, please remember this little brother, heeheee…”

Bai Yunfei grew speechless; it was true he gave a greeting earlier to Lian Lingmin, but had Liu Mang really seen that? And furthermore—that little kid had been quiet for so long, but who would’ve thought that the very first thing he’d talk about would be something so wretched!?

“Oh, brother Bai, are these people your friends?” Liu Mang pointed at Li Jianren and the others, who had been pushed off to the side by the arrival of Zhong Xuhao and the other three.

“Don’t know them at all…”

……

As the group continued to talk to one another, Li Jianren’s face began to flash in alternating colors of blue and white. Being ignored by this group for so long had started to make him so angry that his entire body began to shake as if the group had done something to him.

At last, he stamped a foot down onto the ground and shattered a piece of stone as he pointed an indignant finger at Bai Yunfei. Barking with anger, he cursed, “Fuck your mom! Kid, how dare yo—”

“Bang!”

A sudden thump cut into Li Jianren’s final words before his entire body was sent flying high into the air. His body spun several times in before he finally fell back to the ground with blood and several broken teeth falling after him.

From where he used to stand, Bai Yunfei widthrew his right fist to stare icily at the crawling figure on the ground. “There’s some things you just can’t say to people. If you try it again, I’ll pull out your tongue!”

“……”

This development had happened far too fast; practically everyone who saw it was stunned into silence. Bai Yunfei had just been smiling happily as he talked to Mo Xiaoxuan and the others, but had suddenly turned into a terrifying person that had struck a late-stage Soul Warrior so hard that he flew through the air! Such an event would be too hard for anyone to really respond to.

“Mmmghhhh!” It took Li Jianren several seconds to register what had happened. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, some more blood and teeth came falling out. Nearly mad with anger, he pointed yet another finger at Bai Yunfei and howled, “You—I’ll… I’ll fu—”

“Fwomph!” Bai Yunfei’s right arm flew up to reveal a bright red flame over his palm. “Don’t think I’m bluffing with you, I dare you to try me!” He spoke icily to him.

“A Soul Sprite!!”

Bai Yunfei’s usage of soulforce had once more led people around him to grow shocked once again. This time, everyone was looking at him in respect.

“He’s a Soul Sprite, with an affinity for fire! No wonder he was able to skip the first examination…”

“He’s already a Soul Sprite, so why does he want to join the Crafting School?”

“To be so powerful at such a young age, which house is he from?”

“……”

Faced with the icy glare from Bai Yunfei, Li Jianren didn’t even know what to say anymore. Shock and reluctance filled his face, but he no longer knew what to do. His group of ‘brothers’ had long since abandoned him as well.

“Fighting is prohibited on the examination grounds, what is going on here!?”

Just then, the voice of the heavens itself was heard by Li Jianren. Turning his head, he could see a group of students come toward them; at the very front of the group was Zhang Sanxian.

Zhang Sanxian’s eyes looked to the swollen face of Li Jianren before to Bai Yunfei in surprise. Quirking his eyebrows, he asked, “Junior Bai, what’s going on here?”

Extinguishing the fireball over his palm and withdrawing his soulforce, Bai Yunfei adopted an apologetic expression on his face. “Brother Sanxian, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause trouble, but this person was being very rude so I just had to teach him a lesson.”

“Ah? Alright…” Zhang Sanxian nodded his head without asking anymore questions. Turning to Li Jianren, he said, “Go off to the side and heal yourself! If you start trouble again, consider your rights to joining the school revoked!”

This student was clearly favoring Bai Yunfei, causing everyone to start to wonder about Bai Yunfei’s status once again. Why would the students of the Crafting School give such ‘consideration’ for him?

“Junior Bai, the first round of examinations are almost over. Wait a little longer and we’ll take you to the next round shortly.”

Zhang Sanxian spoke to Bai Yunfei without caring what the audience was saying before leaving again.

As Bai Yunfei started to talk with Zhong Xuhao and the others, everyone began to look at Bai Yunfei differently again. Mo Xiaoxuan and Xi Yan were both looking reverently at him.

Power—what makes you stand out to others.

……

At the third table from the right of the examination grounds.

“Failed, next!”

One student called out after looking at the barely lit stone.

A dejected late-stage Soul Personage left the examination and was replaced by a long-haired young man of the age of twenty-two or twenty-three. He looked rather frail, but his body was straight in posture and his lips were curled in a faint smile. Clearly, he was a youth that carried himself with an elegant manner.

When he walked forward, the youth didn’t even bother to put his hand on the box. Instead, he smiled at the student overseeing him, “Brother, I don’t believe I’ll be needing this examination.”

“What? What do you mean by th—”

Just as the student was in the middle of questioning the youth, the youth raised his right hand up.

“Bang.”

A ball of flame immediately materialized over his palm. In the bright red flames, there was a faint green light.

Dispersing the flames, the youth continued to speak—

“I am Ye Zhiqiu, twenty-two-year-old citizen of Freesia City in the Yellow River Province. I am a late-stage Soul Sprite with a dual affinity for wood and fire!”