The simple chat with the woman had given Xiao Lin quite a lot of information. That woman was named Anna, and was the one in charge of instructing the archers in their mercenary group. The name of the mercenary group could not be translated to any Earth language, so Xiao Lin ignored it. However, the mercenary group was not small. According to her, there were over a hundred of them who came to hunt. They had been separated after being attacked by a group of beasts, and the team that followed her was mostly long-ranged attackers; they had all been killed by the speed of that Arachne.
Anna also tried to learn who Xiao Lin was. To that woman, someone who could kill that Arachne with one strike was very rare in her country, and would be an outstanding person. That sort of person could not possibly be unknown, but forget recognizing Xiao Lin, even Xiao Lin’s name led her to reveal a strange expression, as if a Chinese name like that was very unique.
Anna’s country was not large, and the name of the country was even harder to translate from Normese than the name of her mercenary group. However, Xiao Lin had heard of it before. No, more accurately he had learnt of it before. The land Dawn Academy was occupying had originally belonged to that country, and they had been briefly introduced in his history lessons.
However, the country was not exterminated by Dawn Academy. After all, Dawn Academy still did not have that power during the early stages of colonization. They were instead eliminated by the orcs when that race had been expanding.
Xiao Lin recalled that the small and weak country had been exterminated around 20 N.C., and since that woman said she was part of that country, it meant that the examination was set before 20 N.C.
They had not been provided with any information on the examination. Other than the information that everyone was concerned about, such as the composition and information on the wild beasts, the timeline and backdrop of the examination might also be one of the questions they needed to figure out.
Xiao Lin thought of the strange expression on Anna’s face when she looked at him, and did not directly answer any of Anna’s questions about himself. He casually asked, “Have the mermen to the east settled down a little lately?”
Anna’s eyebrows furrowed once again. “I don’t really understand that question. Oh, what I meant is, those lowly mermen just disturb the fishermen a little at most. Surely they wouldn’t dare to attack us.”
Xiao Lin paused. “Aren’t they at war right now?”
“The mermen? Going to war?” Anna could not help but laugh, but taking note that the person in front of her was much stronger than her, she quickly composed herself as she joked, “Are you talking about their inner conflicts? The mermen would fight each other for mates during their reproductive periods, but they usually go back to their normal ways. There’s nothing strange about that; even the orcs don’t care about that race. Who could they beat in a fight?”
Xiao Lin found it even stranger, and tried asking a few other questions that only caused Anna to look at him with a weirder expression, as if he was looking at an alien.
During the earliest periods of colonization, Dawn Academy’s earliest opponents were the mermen. Due to fighting over their territories, the war that happened then never stopped. Thankfully Dawn Academy’s only foes were the mermen, as the orcs did not participate in the war back then. Even though the colonists back then were only normal people, the mermen were not a very strong race, so they fought on an even playing field, and were able to gain an advantage through their intelligence.
If it was during the first twenty years of colonization, then if their history lessons were not wrong, the mermen should be intensely fighting the colonists. As the nearest Normese country, and even being a part of a mercenary troop that went all over the place, there was no way she would lack that information.
That meant Anna could be lying to him, but that possibility was not that viable. When Xiao Lin had shown his absolute power to her, that woman had lost any advantage she had, and she had no reason to do so since she did not stand to benefit from it at all.
If Anna’s words were true, then there was only one possibility left, which was that the forest had been set at a time in Planet Norma before colonization had started, which meant that, at that point in history, no one from Earth had appeared yet.
That hypothesis shocked Xiao Lin. After all, up till now all the examinations had been set during the colonization periods. This examination would be the only exception. Of course, from the examination’s perspective, the exam was focused on the various beasts in the forest, so the timeline and background were not important matters.
However, was that really true?
Xiao Lin could not help but feel a sliver of doubt in his heart, but the moment quickly passed. The most important thing he had to focus on should be the upcoming beast tide, but Xiao Lin could not casually believe in Anna’s words. He repeatedly asked for information regarding the beast tide, especially the part where Anna mentioned that the beast tide had come earlier. However, based on her words, the expected date had been predicted based on astrology, and Anna herself did not know why the date was wrongly predicted this time.
However, the process was unimportant. After making sure that Anna’s information was accurate, Xiao Lin started to think about his own decisions. Anna’s people had planned on leaving the forest as soon as possible. She did not hide the fact that she did not plan on looking for her missing squad members because she believed that, as long as her troops were not stupid, they would be planning on leaving as well. If they did not leave in time, then when the beast tide fell, the even more horrifying beasts would arrive and no one would be able to save them.
Anna had been hinting to Xiao Lin to leave with her. That way, her life would be even safer. After she left, she would give him even more rewards; it was just that she did not have the rewards on her at that moment.
The examination stated that they had to survive for a month in the forest, but it did not mention the method of survival, nor were there any restrictions. However, the examination did not specify if the area would be limited to the forest as well, so Xiao Lin did not know if leaving would end with him failing.
Furthermore, Xiao Lin could not leave just by himself. A pretty and cold face surfaced in his mind; he would not throw Gu Xiaoyue aside and leave. Even with the beast tide coming, even if he might not be able to deal with those terrifying beasts that were going to be waking up from their slumber, he would only lose ten years of his lifespan if he died, but Gu Xiaoyue could not even afford to die a single time.
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