Douluo Dalu : White God 35 Dream And Determination

As the morning sun was rising, its bright and warm touch carefully nurtured the earth, as if calling for everyone to wake up. At that time, at the center of Paotai Town, in a relatively big two-story building of more than a thousand square meters, an examination was going on.

A vigorous, powerful, and somewhat rough voice rang out. "Tell me, why do you want to become Soldiers?"

"To protect Our Empire! To protect Our Home! To protect our loved ones!" The voices that answered the question sounded young and were coordinated. Clearly, it was not the first time they had answered that question.

That two-story building was the Military Hall of Paotai Town, abbreviated as Fort Hall [1]. It was the place where children with potential were selected to undergo training to become part of the Soldiers of the Empire.

Today, a little more than twenty children were attending the selection test to become the most basic Soldiers, the Private. Only after they became a Private could they continue studying and cultivating there.

The owner of the vigorous voice was a tall, burly, strongly-built, middle-aged man. He was the Chief Instructor Teacher of Fort Hall. Reportedly, he was in his prime and reputed to be very, very close to being promoted into becoming a Sergeant first cla.s.s.

The Chief Instructor glared severely at the bunch of kids ranging from eight to ten years old, "Tell me, what are the standards of a Soldier?"

Once more, the answer was coordinated, "Modesty, Honesty, Pity, Bravery, Fairness, Sacrifice, Honor, Dedication, Love, Justice!"

The Chief Instructor nodded, satisfied, "Good, you have been training for two years. Today is the day of your advancement examination, those who achieve a level of 10th rank spirit scholar or higher, you will advance and can stay to train. Let's start! Jiang Hu!"

"Yes." A youth with a big stature walked forward as he removed the wooden sword that was strapped to his back.

All these youths had the same equipment: a wooden sword that was a meter in length, with a width of ten centimeters and a thickness of six centimeters. The examination for becoming a Private was simple: in front of The Chief Instructor was something that looked like a big crystal block connected to a stone groove. Within that stone-groove was a stone bead. By touching the crystal block, the stone bead would vibrate and the amount of spirit energy one has would be determined by how high the stone bead floated. This could be considered an outdated method to evaluate one's spirit rank, but it was very precise when evaluating spiritual energies below spirit Grand Master.

In this world, spirit energy was the main factor used in evaluating everyone's 'rank', the level of the spirit energy being used was the main factor for a.s.sessing one's strength. For children at their age, five was generally the average spirit energy level for those aiming to become an ordinary spirit master. But, the army doesn't need an average quality.

"Aaah!" Jiang Hu shouted loudly, with both hands clasping the crystal block.

*s.h.i.+uuu!* The stone bead moved up, then down.

The Chief Instructor nodded, satisfied, and registered his name on a sheet of paper as he declared, "Jiang Hu, spirit energy level: 10. You pa.s.s! Next one…"

The examination was quickly carried out and, in an instant, half of the people had already finished. Those who succeeded were about half of them.

"Xiao Chen."

When he called the name, The Chief Instructor unconsciously lowered his head. Before him was the figure of a thin young boy.

In comparison to the others, the young boy looked a little malnourished. He was quite thin, but he had a handsome face.

He had naturally supple eyebrows, big eyes, long eyelashes, a straight nose, white skin, and thick lips. Even though he was only seven or eight years old, he was beautiful enough to make women jealous of him; especially because of his black hair combined with his pair of enchanting blue eyes. If he were to cross-dress, he would become a nation-level beauty.

Long Haochen went up in front of The Chief Instructor but did not touch the crystal block directly like the others. Instead, he placed his right hand on his chest and bowed, saluting The Chief Instructor.

"Teacher."

Balza's originally serious look softened slightly. He nodded, and instructed, "Start!"

"Yes!"

Drawing his sword, Xiao Chen took a deep breath and slowly touch the crystal block. A warm sensation

With a soft thud sound, the stone bead floated; but it obviously did not reach the tenth mark.

The Chief Instructor immediately frowned, "Spiritual energy level: 9. You don't pa.s.s."

From the speed of the fluctuation that he saw from Xiao Chen, he could see that Xiao Chen truly did use all of his power and had gone all out; but he still could not pa.s.s the examination to become a private.

Xiao Chen's pretty face became flushed and, while looking at The Chief Instructor, he said pleadingly, "Instructor, I… I…"

The Chief Instructor sighed slightly and said, "Go down."

Xiao Chen eagerly repeated, "Teacher, give me another chance. I will definitely pa.s.s!"

Balza scowled, saying, "But, that would be unfair to the others who didn't pa.s.s. Go back!"

Xiao Chen clenched his fist hard, he could only walk back home dejectedly. When he neared his home, he saw a Golden-haired figure stood up leaning onto a tree.

"Now you remember the taste of failure, do I have to make you remember the taste of despair too to make you work harder?"

After saying all that, he pointed his thumb to another direction. There, Xiao Chen saw his mother got beaten up by thugs who often asked for his mother to pay up her debt.

"If you slack off, not only you but her happiness also at the stake. Remember, only Might is right."

...

Xiao Chen woke up in shock. At the same time, He scrunched his face and put his hands on his head.

"Argh, my head!" His face was pale, cold sweat drenched his whole body.

He's gone silent for seconds, then tears trickled from his eyes.

"I'm Sorry mother, I've been too complacent and thought with my current strength I can protect you. I'm sorry master, I will cultivate harder."

[1] Paotai mean Fort