Time flies, and four years have passed in the blink of an eye. It has also been the fifth year since Ye Chen and his group entered the Cave of Time.
Over the course of five years, through annual auctions, the fat man's side had accumulated a wealth of resources and successfully built a goblin armored army of over a thousand men, which had already taken shape.
Ye Chen has acquired quite a few goblin armors over the years, but most of them have been placed in the Elf capital and the Witch Clan's territory, leaving Hope Academy with only one set as a champion reward each year.
"Sigh... It seems I'll never come up with this idea..." Harold sighed as he sat in the shop, gazing at the goblin armor.
Over the past four years, Harold has kept his eyes on the armor. The naive young man of yesteryear has become much more mature, but his desire for the armor has only grown stronger.
Unfortunately, he was already a junior at the time, and after the battle with the Agodin, he entered his senior year and was preparing to graduate. He no longer participated in the academy's practical assessments, so he never had the chance to obtain the goblin armor again.
Compared to him, Agotin, who obtained the goblin armor, has made a name for himself in the past four years. If it weren't for Ye Ling and Fengdu City blocking him, he probably would have been able to fight his way out of Xiniu Hezhou. His strength is so great that in the current New Aini City, only a few people like Lynn can restrain him.
Of course, it wasn't just him; anyone who obtained the goblin armor displayed exceptionally strong combat power, and fighting against opponents of higher levels became commonplace. The power of the goblin armor continued to be mythologized in everyone's minds.
"Don't even think about it if you can't figure it out. You have to be strong yourself first. External forces are just supplementary!" Ye Chen said irritably. What did he think I was doing, coming to check every now and then? A museum? At least museums charge admission!
“But this isn’t just a little bit of support! If I had this armor, I’d dare to challenge our Principal Lynn!” Harold said unwillingly.
"Heh! Arm wrestling? Do you really think the Princes haven't considered this? Do you think they dare to go? Having the power of a 6th-tier weapon and being able to use it in actual combat are two different things. Even if you were to wear this armor and go to Lynn, you would still be defeated in one move and rubbed into the ground!" Ye Chen said with a look of disdain.
Forget about Lynn at Tier 6, Harold's skills are so weak that he might not even be able to handle a peak Tier 4 opponent, let alone challenge the limits of Tier 6. He really doesn't know his own limitations.
"They went to see Principal Lynn? Tell me about it! What happened?" Harold asked excitedly as he approached Ye Chen.
"Get out! Get out! They know they're dead or alive, that's why they didn't look for them!"
"Alright! By the way, are you really planning to move? Where to?" Harold pursed his lips, not pressing the matter further, but instead looked at the moon elf packing up inside and asked.
"The Elf King's City!"
"Pfft~~~~Where?"
"The Elf King's City!"
Harold's face was filled with disbelief, and he looked at Ye Chen with a hurt expression.
"I was wrong! I thought you were struggling to stay afloat and looking for a place with lower rent. Turns out you made a fortune and got promoted? Tell me honestly, how much money did your shady shop actually make?"
"Not much, maybe a few million gold coins. That's enough to buy several sets of these goblin armors!" Ye Chen laughed, flashing a set of white teeth.
"..." Harold indicated that the conversation had run its course, but he was still very curious about the Elf King's City.
"Speaking of which, what is the Elf Capital like? I've never heard of anyone having been there before!"
"The Elf Capital? It's better than New Aini City, but it's too deserted. It needs you students to liven things up!" Ye Chen chuckled.
After five years of continuous recruitment, the Elf Capital only had a little over seven thousand people. Such a small population is far too few for a city, which resulted in the Elf Capital being completely empty, with hardly anyone in sight, like a ghost town.
Therefore, Ye Chen was right. The Elf King needed students like these to boost the city's popularity and bring some new vitality to the entire city.
Unlike the Silver Moon Elves, who are unable to reproduce, tens of thousands of newborns have been born in the entire New Aini City over the past five years, with an average of two to three children per household.
There's no concept of family planning like on Earth here. This primordial planet is big enough that as long as the population can multiply rapidly, Ye Chen has nothing to fear.
Moreover, after thirty years, once they emerge from the Cavern of Time, they will face a dark war, which will result in many deaths. It is uncertain whether the population can still grow by then. Many lords found themselves with no one left to command after fighting for so long.
"Wait a minute, students? The Elf Royal Academy is about to start recruiting?" Harold immediately grasped the key point in Ye Chen's words and looked at him intently as he asked.
"Yes, it's been five years. It's time for the Elf Royal Academy to start recruiting!" Without deliberately hiding anything, Ye Chen nodded in acknowledgment, knowing that the news would soon spread throughout the entire Xiniu Hezhou.
"Great! I heard that the Elf Royal Academy has a training method to break through to the fourth rank. I must go in!" Harold clapped his hands and said excitedly.
Although the Academy of Hope has mentors at the fourth level or above, the cultivation methods are limited to the peak of the third level. Breaking through to the fourth level is not impossible, but extremely difficult, and only the true prodigies can achieve it.
However, the Elf Royal Academy is different. Students there start at the third rank and eventually reach the fourth or even fifth rank upon graduation, making it a sacred place in the hearts of many.
"Want the acceptance letter? It's not expensive, just 100,000 gold coins. I know you have enough money!" While Harold was still excited, Ye Chen had already taken out a gold-embossed acceptance letter and placed it in front of him, asking sincerely.
This move completely baffled Harold. "I haven't even received any news about admissions yet, and you've already sent me an acceptance letter? Is this how you do business?"
"The Elf Royal Academy will only be recruiting one thousand students this time, under the age of twenty-two. If I remember correctly, you should be older than twenty-two, right? It's all because of the Academy's irregular recruitment practices in the past few years that they recruited such an old student as you!" Ye Chen said with a hint of regret, but the other party had already snatched the admission notice from his hand and threw down a heavy bag of gold coins.
"Money and goods settled, this notice is mine! If this thing is fake, I'll go to the Elf King's Capital and tear your shop down!" Harold said viciously, then turned around and left arrogantly without even glancing at his gold coins.
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