"Name?"

"Huai Shi."

"Age?"

"Seventeen."

"And gender?"

"...Why are you asking so many questions for a delivery?"

"It's a special service requested by the sender. She said you wouldn't be comfortable if I didn't ask..." The delivery man chuckled, looking at him with a gaze that said, 'I've seen many young fellows like you in my years of service, so don't be embarrassed.'

Huai Shi's expression twitched as he took a small box from the courier, sent from Lady Xinhai Wu the day before.

The box was light and seemed to have something inside, making a CLANG, CLANG sound when shaken.

After opening it, he found a keychain and two pieces of paper.

The keychain looked plain. It was just a thumb-sized square metal block with a chain attached and was unremarkable in appearance. However, when he touched it with his thumb, he could feel many intricate lines engraved on the black metal, emitting a dark and cold aura.

This definitely doesn't seem like anything good...

"I heard you're entering the contest, so I especially bought you a love charm for protection. Make sure you keep it on you."

Seeing the message from Raven on the first piece of paper, Huai Shi's expression twitched again. Alright, now I can be certain this thing definitely isn't any good.

Thinking it over, he decided to be cautious and threw the keychain into a trash can.

Who knows what that woman is up to?

When he picked up the second piece of paper, he discovered it was actually a thin sheet of sheepskin that had some age to it. It was densely covered with various ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, complete with drawings of an Angel, the sun, and internal organs in the center.

Without a doubt, this was an Alchemy recipe.

Huai Shi tried to translate it and found that the hidden terms used were common descriptions, just enough to stall those who knew nothing about Alchemy.

He swiftly copied it into the Book of Fate and then translated it, quickly realizing it was a rather simple metal Potion to make.

No, it's more accurate to say... a thermite mixture.

It was a metal fuel of stable properties and exceptional performance, perfect for murder, arson, and disposing of evidence if used correctly.

If he could learn it, Huai Shi would naturally gain another method, and it would even make up for his metal bombs' lack of destructive power.

I have no idea where Raven got this from.

But she has at least done one good thing.

Only the name of the substance made Huai Shi's expression even more helpless once he translated it.

"Wrath of Ramses?"

He shook his head. Such a hopeless chuunibyou.

He flicked the sheepskin, ready to stuff it into his pocket casually, but then he noticed there was something written on the back. When he flipped it around and took a closer look, all he saw was a line of delicate and clear handwriting.

—Spoiled child, what are you throwing away? Pick it up right now.

Shocked! How could she have known this?

Huai Shi instinctively looked around, only to see the busy street with people coming and going; no one was paying attention or looking his way.

After being suspicious for quite a while, eventually, he reluctantly reached into the trash can, picked up the keychain, and shoved it into his pocket.

Fine then. In today's battle of wits, Raven triumphs again.

I just hope this 'sister' of mine doesn't pull any more stunts; I'm feeling a bit worn out recently.

He continued on his way.

The bustling streets of Jinling at eight o'clock in the morning were already swarming with people rushing in all directions. The whole city was as if awakening from deep slumber, pulsing with life and stirring into action.

A hive of activity.

For most people in the Current Circumstances, anything beyond their reality held no significance. Naturally, the rookie contest would not draw their attention; life went on as usual.

But for many Sublimators, this was the day the rookie contest began.

In the Tomorrow News mobile app's event section, Huai Shi discovered that this year's competition had a whopping total of over seven thousand nine hundred official entrants who had passed the preliminaries!

According to the rules, any Sublimator under thirty was eligible to compete, regardless of whether they were from the Current Circumstances or any of the Borders, as long as their Rank did not exceed the Third Stage. Still, doesn't that number seem a bit exaggerated?

But upon further thought, it makes sense.

After all, according to the Astronomical Society's estimates, there were about one hundred seventy thousand Sublimators in Asia alone. A considerable number of these were Whitboard Sublimators, who either didn't possess a Stigma or had no intention of spending a fortune to acquire one.

Most people just wanted to live their lives well; why bother with unnecessary strife and conflict?

If Sublimators wanted to make money, it was hardly difficult. There was no need for a nine-to-five grind. With the right Ability and direction, they had a significant advantage even without engaging in criminal activities. More than half of them were striving for well-earned prosperity.

Out of those one hundred seventy thousand, after the registration and preliminary rounds, it made sense to have seven thousand make it through.

But seven thousand... Just counting them would take days.

How on earth are they going to compete?

The format of every rookie contest was wholly different, even varying by region, so past records held little value. The only constants were the extreme difficulty and the stern challenges and competition for Sublimators. Moreover, there were often unreliable elements involved.

It was said that one year, the participants of the American rookie contest were all taken to a part of Hell that was still a prehistoric region at the time and played out a tribal conflict.

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