Dark Moon Era

“Nicely done.” It was rare, but Instructor Thuja praised Tang Ling. He also admired this little kid who seemed to only possess common talent.

After all, any kind of improvement could never appear out of thin air. Being able to raise his overall result to this level must have something to do with his tenacious willpower.

Throughout the training, Tang Ling was the quietest and the strongest in carrying out all the training sessions. He would never run or step down from a challenge.

Thuja did not even hear a single complaint from Tang Ling.

However, the simple days were coming to an end. Watching the teenagers under the glow of the sunset, it was the first time Thuja felt a little reluctant to part with them.

The new warriors could really sense the instructor’s feelings and concern for them. After Tang Ling was praised by the instructor, Orston led the group and kicked up a fuss, trying to coerce Tang Ling into buying them dinner by sharing the nutrition paste for the day.

Ignoring Orston who tried to take advantage of him, Tang Ling wiped his sweat away and walked out of the agility training area to hug Andy, who was the closest to him, with a natural smile. All of them were looking forward to enjoying the upcoming massage and ice-cold bath.

After the enjoyment, it would be the most anticipated time of the day: dinner. What would the uncle in the kitchen prepare for them today? Roast meat with extra special spices? Or soft, fragrant stewed meat?

While joking with each other, the group of teenagers walked towards the resting camp to settle down, but before they headed off, Instructor Thuja spoke after a mild hesitation, “After dinner, gather in the meeting room. A meeting to conclude the training is necessary.”

Everyone else stopped when they heard Thuja’s words, and they suddenly realized that it was already the 30th day of training.

When they first entered the camp and started their devil training, Instructor Thuja did mention that there would be a meeting to conclude the training after the 30-day period.

Then, they would have to face another test and should anyone fail, they would be demoted to the Second Reserved Camp.

As for what the standard or the content of the upcoming test was, no one knew. Nevertheless, the confident teenagers never expected to fail, so they did not take it seriously back then.

However, when the test was mentioned again, everyone could not help but feel a little gloomy. Having gone through all kinds of harsh training proved to them that any test of the First Reserved Camp was not something they could easily pass.

Because of that, the relaxed atmosphere was instantly weighed down. No one recovered from it even during the happiest time of the day which was dinner.

The cook with the bloated stomach who was responsible for dinner every night enjoyed watching the teenagers gobble down the food in the tents while joking and making fun of them.

However, today, they were a little quieter than usual.

“I hope none of the little rascals get disqualified.” The cook, who had been serving food to the new recruits for more than a decade, of course, understood the reason behind their silence. He could not help but sigh and pray for all seven of them.

It was because this year’s new warriors were his personal favorite batch. Although there were a lot more of them than the previous years, they had a youthful bond that united them together unlike the previous years when the new warriors would stray away from each other because of the competition.

All this was possible because of that particular one, Tang Ling, was it?

He might be quieter than the others, but every time they discussed their results at the table and the chat ended on a sour note, he would always speak up and dissolve the situation with his positive influence.

Even though it did not seem intentional, his words were very convincing and filled with positive energy.

‘This little rascal has the charm of becoming a leader,’ thought the cook as he slowly drifted away. He would never say it out loud because it would only sow dissension among them.

At the same time, Christina sat down in front of Tang Ling with her tray. She did not have any appetite, so she pushed her tray to him.

Tang Ling accepted the offering brazenly.

In fact, it was quite a common scene for him to have a big appetite, and the standard food supply of the First Reserved Camp was very scrumptious. The girls could barely finish it, and since wasting food was a huge taboo, Vian and Christina always shared their food with him.

However, there was a little too much food today.

Even though he accepted it, he only took half of what Christina offered and returned the other half to her.

“You should really finish the rest. Food is precious.”

“But I don’t have the appetite.” Christina put her fists to her cheeks and sighed. Her general results and Vian’s were not outstanding, so they were not very confident in the upcoming test.

Then, Vian joined the conversation. She looked at Tang Ling with an envious gaze and said, “Tang Ling, why aren’t you affected at all?”

As she asked him this question, she also pushed her portion of food to him. It seemed like she had also lost her appetite.

Similarly, Tang Ling only took half of it and returned the other half to her.

“I’ll warn you first: you can’t take back what you gave me.” Tang Ling did not even answer Vian’s question as though food was his only concern.

“Cough!” Andy, who sat beside Tang Ling, hacked fiercely all of a sudden, but he also suddenly realized that only Tang Ling was not affected by the upcoming test.

The other one would be Amir.

Amir still behaved like usual. He sat in the corner and ate his meal quietly. He still seemed to be afraid of Yu and Orston and was a little too shy to get in touch with others.

Nevertheless, even though Amir was a little eccentric and disliked mixing with the others, he was a kind person and never caused any trouble.

However, Amir’s calmness could not be taken as a reference by the others because he was the most outstanding warrior among them, second only to Yu. Nonetheless, everyone assumed that Amir would surely surpass Yu. It was just a matter of time.

“Harsheen boar, are there any brilliant ideas running through your mind?” Orston also joined them. He did not assume that Tang Ling was not nervous as there must be some trickery behind his large appetite.

After all, Tang Ling was slick and cunning during the first exam versus the Leceister silverback bear.

Orston was worried about his dodging rate, so he lost his appetite as well, even though that rarely happened.

“Nope.” Tang Ling continued to munch on his dinner.

Orston protected his own portion of food. “I didn’t plan to share my food with you!”

Tang Ling ignored Orston as usual. He glanced over at Vian and Christina who seemed worried. Then, he buried himself in his food and said, “Did you give it your best? If you did and still can’t pass, there’s nothing to be nervous about.”

“As for the results that are out of your reach, you have no need to be worried about them. Rather than draining your emotions, why not set a new target and continue forward? You know, it’s not like you’re going to die tomorrow.” Tang Ling swallowed a big piece of stewed meat with added salt and some wild chicken soup. The meat was really tasty.

“What the hell?!” Orston glared at Tang Ling in disdain. He grabbed his tray away and started to gobble his food.  Damn it! Why the hell am I so hungry all of a sudden?

“I suddenly got my appetite back!” Vian also smiled. That’s right. It’s not like I’m going to die, so why should I be worried, regretful or even nervous after giving it my best?

“Me too!” Christina beamed and looked at Tang Ling. “Give me back some of my food.”

“No, I said you can’t take what you have given me!” Tang Ling chewed even faster.

The atmosphere in the whole dinner tent instantly warmed up again.

The cook tapped on his bloated belly, feeling relieved. He looked at the darkening sky and could not help but think, ‘That’s why I say this kid has the temperament of a leader!’