AEKMEM chapter 22

 

After leaving the judging panel hall on the spaceship, Chu Heng headed straight for the C-level assessment area of the Star Beast Forest.

An Qiao had chosen this area.

Upon stepping into the forest, Chu Heng’s pupils suddenly contracted.

The forest before him was eerie indeed.

Flowers bloomed everywhere, green grass carpeted the ground, and fruit hung heavily from the branches—a vibrant scene of life. It was so beautiful and idyllic that it seemed less like the perilous Star Beast Forest and more like stepping into a painting—a veritable fairyland.

Clearly, these plants had been artificially stimulated.

As far as he knew, not even the Empire’s strongest wood-elemental ability user could stimulate the growth of plants over such a vast area or imbue billions of plants with life and vitality.

Chu Heng had initially been somewhat skeptical about the two “elf detectors” deep within the military and palace who had detected elves.

Now, he truly believed it.

Only the legendary elves could achieve this.

Legend has it that elves are children of nature, born favored by nature and possessing the magical ability to make all things grow.

Chu Heng frowned.

An elf had actually appeared in this C-level assessment area.

He wondered what impact the elf’s presence might have on the area.

After all, An Qiao was here.

The thought of potential unforeseen circumstances made Chu Heng feel panicked and irritated.

“Have you seen An Qiao?” After searching for a while without finding him, Chu Heng asked a passing new student without hesitation.

“Huh?” The freshman hadn’t expected to see his idol here—and his idol had spoken to him! He was so excited that he almost fainted.

After a moment of realization, he understood what Chu Heng was asking.

“I… I haven’t seen him before..”

An Qiao? Wasn’t he the crown princess matched by the brain system?

Could something have happened to him in this assessment area?

Judging by the idol’s obvious anxiety, he and the Crown Princess must be very close.

Unsatisfied with the answer, Chu Heng’s brows furrowed.

He continued searching and asked several more people. The last person he asked said that An Yuchun had asked him if he had seen An Qiao and that An Yuchun had gone in a certain direction afterward.

A deep, uncontrollable killing intent flashed in Chu Heng’s eyes.

What could An Yuchun possibly want from An Qiao? Nothing more than to use vicious schemes and tricks.

Chu Heng usually controlled his emotions very well.

But after meeting An Qiao, he found it difficult to control his emotions.

At that moment, the uncontrollable brutality in his eyes was something even Jiang Qi, his adjutant for so long, had never seen.

**

An Qiao was unaware of Chu Heng’s impatience while searching for him. As Chu Heng drew ever closer, An Qiao tried several times to switch from his elf form to his human form, but he still couldn’t.

An Qiao: “!!!”

The usually well-mannered and elegant Elf King was almost about to curse!

“An Qiao!” Chu Heng’s voice rang out again, much clearer than his previous muffled call. It sounded as if he were right next to An Qiao.

The worry and urgency in his voice were unmistakable.

If An Qiao were still in human form, he would have responded without hesitation.

However, he was currently in elf form.

Having just arrived in this world, he was unaware of the Empire’s fanaticism toward elves. After learning about it, An Qiao was even less willing to reveal his identity. He was lazy and didn’t want to be fervently “worshipped.” Nor did he want to deal with people who flocked to him because of his elven identity.

Most importantly, he was quite satisfied with his current life and didn’t want to change it for the time being.

Chu Heng’s footsteps grew closer.

An Qiao gritted his teeth. He had no choice but to…

He had to run!

Chu Heng was busy looking for An Qiao when suddenly, a white figure flashed in the distance:

An Qiao!

Chu Heng’s deep, rose-colored eyes blazed with an unusually bright, ecstatic light.

Without thinking about why An Qiao was running, he chased after the vaguely visible figure.

The Elven King, a first-time “deserter,” wasn’t very good at his job.

Moreover, his magic had only recovered to forty percent. His pale, sickly appearance—coupled with his occasional coughing up of blood and his weakened body—was a hindrance.

From one treetop to another, the silver-haired elf moved lightly and gracefully, weaving through the jungle with indescribable lightness and beauty.

In reality, however, An Qiao was so exhausted that he was almost groaning.

As he watched the distance between himself and Chu Heng slowly close, An Qiao’s breathing quickened and his long, curled eyelashes trembled slightly.

That guy, Chu Heng! Why did he eat so much and still run so fast?

Clearly, exposing his elven identity to Chu Heng wouldn’t be dangerous. Not only did he have self-protection abilities, but his elven identity also held special significance to the Empire. Chu Heng wouldn’t harm him, he’d probably treat him extremely well.

However, An Qiao hadn’t considered revealing his elven identity to Chu Heng at that moment.

Perhaps it was because he didn’t want to change his current life.

An Qiao ran for a while, feeling his fragile, broken body was about to give out, when Chu Heng suddenly stopped for an unknown reason.

Without thinking about why Chu Heng stopped or continued chasing, An Qiao seized this rare opportunity to speed away. Chu Heng stood rooted to the spot, his face showing an unusual expression of frustration and disappointment.

At first, he thought the familiar figure was An Qiao and chased after it without a second thought.

However, as he closed the distance and could see the figure more clearly, he realized that, although the figure was wearing a snow-white robe and had long silver hair, this person’s hair reached their ankles. A pair of pointed ears, a hallmark of elves, were faintly visible through it—

This was undoubtedly not An Qiao, but the elf who had suddenly appeared.

Moreover, even if An Qiao wasn’t as simple as he appeared, he shouldn’t be strong enough to match his speed.

It wasn’t An Qiao.

Chu Heng was disappointed and frustrated. He was also somewhat worried. He wondered how An Qiao was doing.

For some reason, he felt a sense of loss.

He had a vague feeling that he had missed something.

—Soon after, when he learned that An Qiao was the elf the empire was looking for, the elf he had almost caught up with, the one whose silhouette he had only vaguely seen, Chu Heng: “…”

Chu Heng truly regretted his past actions!

**

Chu Heng searched the vast C-level assessment area but couldn’t find An Qiao.

Fortunately, although An Qiao’s assessment terminal’s live-stream camera was broken and his location had disappeared, the red dot indicating his safety was still there, so he was temporarily safe.

Chu Heng recalled An Qiao’s insistence on entering the Star Beast Forest for the assessment and realized that An Qiao wasn’t as simple as he seemed. However, he couldn’t help but feel worried. After failing to find An Qiao in the C-level assessment area, Chu Heng searched other areas.

As for the elf the emperor had ordered them to find—

—it ran away as soon as it sensed human movement, probably not wanting to befriend them. For now, it was best to leave it alone.

An increasing number of people entered the Star Beast Forest to search for the elf. It was unclear if some of them were exploiting the situation or had other motives.

Finding An Qiao was the most important thing right now to prevent those with ulterior motives from finding him first and trying to harm him.

After running away, An Qiao feared another encounter with Chu Heng. Remembering the large number of people in the C-level assessment area and the smaller number in the S-level area, he decided to avoid the crowds and head towards the S-level assessment area.

Having almost been seen by Chu Heng, An Qiao was even more cautious when avoiding others.

On the way, he saw several beastmen who were quite strong and clearly not freshmen.

Strange. What are these people doing in the assessment area? It’s the freshman assessment period, isn’t it? Could they be backup rescue personnel who came after receiving cries for help from students?

An Qiao could never have imagined that the Empire possessed such advanced technology as the “Elf Detector.” These people were here to find him, the elf.

He soon arrived at the S-level assessment area.

By this time, dusk was gradually falling.

An Qiao found a large tree and, with a light leap, landed on a sturdy branch.

He planned to rest there for the night.

Most importantly, he needed to quickly and efficiently absorb and convert the energy from the crystal within his body.

Otherwise, after the three-day assessment period ended—was he supposed to walk out in elf form?

That was absolutely unacceptable!

**

An Qiao focused intently on his “seclusion” in the tree for a full day and two nights. On the third day, feeling ready to transform into human form, he ended his seclusion and climbed down from the tree.

Not wanting to waste this rare opportunity to visit the Star Beast Forest, An Qiao repeated his previous actions and collected a considerable amount of energy crystals from the exotic plants in this S-rank assessment area.

Perhaps because S-rank exotic plants are more sensitive to energy, the energy crystals collected from these plants were far more numerous than in the previous two attempts. Most of them were high-grade S-rank energy crystals, and some were even 2S-rank.

Even the Elf King, who was accustomed to the world and usually calm, couldn’t help but show surprise in his beautiful ice-blue eyes when he saw so many energy crystals, including a significant number of high-grade ones.

He stored this large pile of energy crystals in his spatial storage.

Yes, his spatial storage.

For this assessment, the Empire’s premier military academy generously provided each participating freshman with an expensive spatial glove.

Of course, the gloves would be taken back.

To prevent freshmen from using external star beast cores to inflate their assessment points, the school strictly checked each student for prohibited items.

For convenience and safety, each freshman was given a spatial glove to store essential nutrients, first aid and antidote medications, and other necessities for the three-day assessment.

The glove could also be used to collect the bodies and cores of star beasts killed by the students. Star cores are used for scoring, and star beast bodies are valuable when sold outside.

To prevent accidents involving new students’ assessment terminals, in addition to the live screen display near the judges’ table, the star cores inside the spatial storage are scanned on-site when the glove is returned to the school.

—This is also a display of honor.

Imagine this: Before a large audience, a pile of star beast cores and valuable, fierce star beast corpses are taken out when handing back the spatial storage. This shows the results earned through one’s own strength. How eye-catching and glorious that would be!

Of course, that glory only applies if you are strong and earn a lot.

If you are weak, have few gains, and have a low score, then you will only become a laughingstock.

Therefore, the on-site display and evaluation of the freshman final assessment brings joy to some and sorrow to others every year.

An Qiao stored the mountain of energy crystals in the school-provided spatial storage, planning to transfer them to his own after leaving.

Incidentally, he also stuffed an S-grade star beast core into it.

Before coming to the Star Beast Forest for the assessment, he had planned to hunt star beasts, obtain their cores, purify them, and absorb their energy to restore his magic power.

However, things didn’t go as planned; the Devil Vine gave him a huge surprise!

Having easily collected energy crystals, he wouldn’t waste his energy hunting star beasts anymore.

He got this S-class star beast core from that S-class star beast. When he concealed his aura, the beast probably thought he was too “weak” and suitable as “dinner,” so it excitedly charged at him without hesitation.

The S-class star beast proactively “delivered the star core from afar,” and An Qiao reluctantly accepted it.

It was good that it was delivered willingly.

Otherwise, he would have had to find another star core. If he were to participate in the freshman finals and end up with zero points, ranking last, the Spirit King, whose image weighs eight tons, wouldn’t be able to bear the embarrassment!

**

The freshman finals ended at 3 p.m. on the third day.

Before the exams ended, An Qiao finally managed to absorb and convert the excess energy crystals within his body, switching back from elf form to human form.

On his way out, he encountered two powerful beastmen who were clearly not freshmen.

Using his heightened senses, he overheard their conversation:

“The military and the palace just sent word that the two elf detectors suddenly went silent, meaning the elf in the Star Beast Forest has vanished.”

An Qiao: “??!”

His eyes widened in astonishment.

“Elf detectors”? What are those? Can these things detect the presence of elves? According to their conversation, these “elf detectors” can detect him in the Star Beast Forest and pinpoint his approximate location.

Although unbelievable, the thought of Chu Heng suddenly appearing in the assessment area with numerous other non-assessment freshmen beastmen clearly indicated a purpose. Furthermore, the Empire’s technology could indeed be this sophisticated.

An Qiao felt a slight headache coming on.

How could the Empire possess such a monstrous “elf detection device”?

How could he freely revert to his elf form in the future?

Would he have to be careful to maintain his human form from now on? The mere thought made him frown.

After all, he actually preferred his elf form to his human form.

**

An Qiao left the Star Beast Forest assessment area dejectedly.

As soon as he exited, he saw Chu Heng waiting for him.

Chu Heng had searched all the assessment areas but couldn’t find An Qiao. Seeing that the red dot indicating An Qiao’s safety hadn’t disappeared, he guessed that An Qiao might be hiding his whereabouts on purpose.

Then, seeing that the assessment was about to end, he came out.

He didn’t feel at ease until he saw An Qiao with his own eyes.

When he finally found An Qiao at the exit of the assessment area, he saw that An Qiao’s head was drooping like a wilted eggplant and that he was seemingly in a terrible mood. Even then, he still couldn’t rest easy.

The young man stood alone in a corner, his eyelashes slightly lowered as he lost himself in thought. His bangs were slightly disheveled, his face pale, and he looked weary. His shoulders were thin and slender, giving him a fragile and pitiful appearance.

“You seem so downcast. Is it because your points weren’t great, or is something bothering you?” Chu Heng handed An Qiao a cup of his favorite milk tea.

“My points are fine,” An Qiao said listlessly.

The thought that this world actually had such a bizarre, high-tech “elf detector” made him anything but happy.

“Never mind. They’re about to start calculating points over there.”

An Qiao dragged his tired-feeling body slowly towards the large square.

Because most of the final exams for the freshmen at the Imperial First Military Academy were held in the Star Beast Forest, a large square had been built there.

At the square, there was already a long line of people. With the help of intelligent robots, they took items out of their spatial storage and let the scoring device scan them.

“XXX: no S-class star cores, one A-class, ten B-class, and seven C-class star cores; total points…”

The emotionless voices of dozens of robots echoed in the square.

Soon, the three top contenders for first place in the freshman final exam—Chu Wen from a collateral branch of the royal family, Xiong Yi from a remote planet, and Mo Zhiyuan from the current empress’s family—stood in their respective lines before the scoring robots almost simultaneously.

“Chu Wen, S-rank Star Core, no points… Total points: 103.”

Upon hearing this, the freshmen participating in the assessment in the square couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow, that score! No wonder he’s from the Chu family!”

“Is this the highest score so far?”

Could Chu Wen win the title of Freshman Champion this year?”

“Not necessarily. We don’t know how many points the other two favorites, Xiong Yi and Mo Zhiyuan, have achieved yet.”

“Hey, Xiong Yi, how many points do you have?” a freshman behind him asked.

Xiong Yi didn’t answer, he just scratched his head and smiled.

“Hey, Mo Zhiyuan, what about you? How many points do you have?”

Mo Zhiyuan’s face darkened, and he ignored the question entirely.

At that moment, the scoring voice of the intelligent robot rang out:

“Xiong Yi, no S-class star core… total score 105.”

“Mo Zhiyuan, no S-class star core… total score 99.”

The entire square fell silent for a moment, then erupted into whispers.

“Did I hear that right? Did Xiong Yi really get 105 points, higher than Chu Wen and Mo Zhiyuan?”

“Xiong Yi from the remote planet actually won first place! Although they were all favorites, Xiong Yi should have been the least popular. I didn’t expect him to win in the end!”

“I thought Chu Wen would win.”

“Hey, look at Mo Zhiyuan’s face. It’s so dark. He must be furious.”

“Mo Zhiyuan is such a petty person. He always looks down on Xiong Yi for being from a remote, impoverished planet. I never expected he’d be so upset by Xiong Yi’s points! I wonder if he’ll be furious.”

“Chu Wen has a very good attitude. When he congratulated Xiong Yi, it seemed genuine.”

“So, in this freshman final exam, Xiong Yi should come in first and Chu Wen second.” “Mo Zhiyuan is third?”

“That should be it. After all, no other freshman has their level of strength. Only their near-S-rank strength allows them to hunt A-rank star beasts with relatively little effort. For ordinary A-rank beastmen without much experience, hunting A-rank star beasts is quite difficult.”

“What if a dark horse¹“Dark horse” A person who unexpectedly succeeds or performs far better than everyone thought — someone whose abilities were hidden until a big moment. emerges and pushes Mo Zhiyuan out of third place? That would be interesting. After all, the difference between third and fourth place is only one spot, but it’s actually huge. The rewards alone are on a completely different level.”

“You’re overthinking it. Dark horses don’t appear that easily. It’s practically impossible.”

Just then, the crowd in the square noticed An Qiao moving to the front of the line with them, about to have his score tallied.

“Is An Qiao here to tally the scores too?”

“An Qiao looks so dejected. He seems really down. Maybe he didn’t manage to hunt a single star beast and got zero points?”

“If it were me, I’d hide and not participate in this assessment to avoid embarrassing myself in public.”

“Sigh. Why didn’t His Highness the Crown Prince cancel the match? Such a useless… um, a parasitic plant that can’t do anything, I don’t know what the Crown Prince was thinking…”

The man hadn’t finished saying, “What was he thinking?” when he froze with his mouth agape, utterly dumbfounded.

He saw a huge pile of energy crystals pouring out of An Qiao’s spatial storage.

Yes, there was a huge pile of energy crystals stacked like a small mountain. They lay there as if free, glittering and blindingly bright.

The entire hall fell silent. Almost everyone stared wide-eyed and speechless at the massive pile.

After a long while, an even more heated discussion erupted from the crowd.

“Holy crap! Am I seeing things? A ton of energy crystals! A whole bunch of energy crystals! There are even S-grade and 2S-grade energy crystals! Not even the second-rate families on Imperial Capital Star could produce this many energy crystals!”

“Did An Qiao find an energy mine in the assessment area?!”

“Damn, I was the joke! I was just mocking him, but it turns out the joke is on me. With this pile of energy crystals, even if I got zero points, I’d laugh myself awake in my dreams!”

“Mom, I really want to rob them! I’ve never seen so many energy crystals!”

“If you dare rob them, His Highness the Crown Prince could wipe you out in a second.”

“I suspect An Qiao actually has a hidden superpower of luck. Otherwise, how could he be so lucky?”

At that moment, the emotionless voice of the intelligent robot rang out again.

“An Qiao, one S-grade star core… Total score: 100.”

Another terrifying silence fell over the arena.

“I suspect there’s something wrong with my ears.

“I also suspect there’s something wrong with my hearing.”

“Did An Qiao actually get an S-class star core? Are you kidding me? Could His Highness the Crown Prince have helped him?”

Many people knew that Chu Heng had entered the assessment area because they had seen him there.

“Probably not, right? The Crown Prince isn’t the kind of person who acts without rules or boundaries. Besides, he has been searching for An Qiao in the assessment area and hasn’t found him yet.”

“If An Qiao had only produced that S-grade star core and not that pile of energy crystals, I might have suspected its origin. However, since An Qiao produced that pile of energy crystals, I believe he’s incredibly lucky. It’s possible that he just happened to encounter that S-grade star beast and died.”

“Perhaps we should hear what the judges have to say first.”

The nearby judges also fell silent.

They were first stunned by the large pile of high-quality energy crystals and then astonished by An Qiao’s S-grade star core.

“Your Highness, you wouldn’t have helped your Crown Princess cheat, would you?” The major general from the Mo family asked, his tone full of suspicion. Originally, Mo Zhiyuan, his nephew, had only come in third place, losing to Xiong Yi from a remote planet, which the major general found humiliating.

Now, An Qiao had produced an S-grade star core worth exactly one hundred points, surpassing Mo Zhiyuan by one point and pushing him out of the top three. This made Mo Zhiyuan even more ashamed.

Being outdone by an unawakened good-for-nothing—and this good-for-nothing was Chu Heng’s Crown Princess—was a complete disgrace to the Mo family! It had even disgraced the Second Prince and the Empress.

Therefore, although he knew that, given his character, Chu Heng would almost never do such a thing, he still questioned him.

Chu Heng sneered, “Major General Mo, what are you saying? Are you questioning Qiaoqiao’s assessment because your nephew didn’t do well?”

His gaze swept over the other judges. “Many people know that I’ve been looking for An Qiao in the assessment area, but I couldn’t find him.”

The judges exchanged glances, then nodded in unison. “We naturally trust His Highness the Crown Prince’s character.”

**

The scoring was still ongoing.

An Qiao returned the spatial storage to the intelligent robot and retrieved it. Under the envious gazes of the crowd, some of whom were practically drooling, he calmly stored the pile of energy crystals and the S-class star core in his spatial storage.

Now that the “Elf Detector” was undeniably real, further dissatisfaction was pointless for the time being.

An Qiao strolled leisurely to the side, intending to wait for the scoring to finish so they could all board the large airship back to school together, as they had before.

His gaze swept over the vast yet aesthetically unappealing square, revealing a hint of disdain and criticism.

After waiting listlessly for a while, Chu Heng approached.

Chu Heng looked at An Qiao with a subtle expression.

He had initially assumed that An Qiao was unhappy because of his low score or some kind of injustice.

Unexpectedly…

When An Qiao produced the pile of energy crystals, Chu Heng was utterly shocked as well.

Chu Heng was about to ask An Qiao how he had obtained the crystals in the Star Beast Forest assessment area and why he had looked so dejected earlier.

The adjutant Jiang Qi, who had just finished his work at the military headquarters and rushed over, hurriedly asked,

“Your Highness, have you found that elf?”

Jiang Qi guessed that Chu Heng was injured, and probably quite badly. If he could befriend the elf and heal his injuries as soon as possible, that would be ideal. The Second Prince’s faction was making moves, and Chu Heng needed to recover quickly to deal with them better.

If the Second Prince’s faction found the elf first, befriended it, and gained its support, it would be extremely detrimental to Chu Heng.

Chu Heng shook his head and said calmly, “No, I only saw its back.”

“No,” Jiang Qi said, somewhat disappointed.

“But being able to see the elf’s back is still lucky. Isn’t he exceptionally beautiful? More beautiful than anyone else you’ve ever seen?”

Chu Heng thought for a moment and replied, “It is quite beautiful.”

But Qiaoqiao is still the most beautiful!

More beautiful than anyone else!

His gaze silently fell on the young man beside him. His eyes were filled with a focus and obsession that he didn’t realize he had.

Enviously, Jiang Qi said, “I wish I could see the elf, too—even just from behind! But Your Highness, you’ve already seen their back. Why didn’t you chase after them?”

An Qiao’s feelings were somewhat complicated.

How so?

Chu Heng said he was beautiful, so he should have been happy.

However, Chu Heng didn’t know it was him; he was saying that the elf was beautiful. Thinking about how earnestly Chu Heng had pursued “that elf” back then made An Qiao feel subtly uneasy.

For unknown reasons , An Qiao looked up at Chu Heng and asked, “Do you really think that elf is pretty?”

 

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  “Dark horse” A person who unexpectedly succeeds or performs far better than everyone thought — someone whose abilities were hidden until a big moment.