My starting summon is a small skeleton

Since both Little Skeleton and Tuantuan had reached three stars, Lu Wu no longer needed to stay in the Underground Cave Secret Realm.

However, before leaving, he still had to claim his reward, after all, it was a Summoning Stone.

Lu Wu had seen information about the Summoning Stone on the internal network before and had a certain understanding of it.

The so-called Summoning Stones are actually from the Secret Realms and are found in the ruins within some Secret Realms.

Their function is similar to the pet eggs in games and the eggs of some Summoned Beasts in reality.

The difference is that Summoning Stones require a ritual to summon, while eggs do not.

Also, the Summoned Beasts that come from eggs are mostly predictable.

Whatever the mother of the egg is, that's what the Summoned Beast from the egg will be, with not much difference in quality; however, the Summoned Beast that comes from a Summoning Stone is much more random and full of surprises.

No one knows what can be summoned from a Summoning Stone before it is summoned.

This kind of thing, filled with randomness and surprise, has always been very popular.

However, Summoners and Cultivation Masters react differently to Summoning Stones.

Most Summoners are rather brainless; they like to bet on luck, and with good fortune, a Summoning Stone worth a few dozen points might summon a Silver Quality Summoned Beast.

On the other hand, Cultivation Masters are more rational; instead of betting, they prefer to study the skills needed to identify and differentiate Summoning Stones.

For them, using their own talents to find a high-quality Summoning Stone among a pile of worthless ones is a more fulfilling achievement.

As an elegant and composed Cultivation Master, Lu Wu would naturally not rely on luck when choosing a Summoning Stone.

So when the staff indicated that Lu Wu could pick a Summoning Stone, he immediately requested a few hours to prepare.

Then Lu Wu took Dudu and bought two cell phones, logged into the internal network, and spent 10 points to purchase several entry-level skills in differentiating Summoning Stones.

The reason why he only bought entry-level differentiation skills is that the Summoner profession is only a little over a hundred years old—development in all areas could not possibly be comprehensive.

As for differentiating Summoning Stones, Cultivation Masters are still at the stage of groping blindly.

Moreover, once someone grasps some tricks in stone differentiation, it's like striking gold, and they won't easily share it; even on the internal network, only entry-level identification skills can be found.

However, for Lu Wu, entry-level identification skills were enough.

After all, he relied on Golden Finger, and if Golden Finger was useful in differentiating Summoning Stones, entry-level skills would be sufficient for Lu Wu to develop further.

If Golden Finger was useless in distinguishing Summoning Stones, Lu Wu would not bother to study the identification skills further, as cultivating Summoned Beasts was enough for him to learn.

"Alright! Let's go collect the Summoning Stone!"

After spending a few hours fully grasping those entry-level differentiation skills for Summoners, Lu Wu took Dudu and found the staff, indicating he was ready.

Without saying another word, the staff led Lu Wu to pick a Summoning Stone.

At the same time, in the Secret Realm Management Backend, several admins gathered again.

"Should we bet again?"

One of the admins, who had just lost 200 Internal Network Points, suggested.

"Bet what? The quality of the Summoning Stone this kid picks?"

"Yeah, let's bet on that! Everyone puts 200 Internal Network Points on a quality level, and the one who guesses closest to it takes it all! Also, if most people get it right, the one who doesn't match has to pay for everyone.

For instance, if there is only one person who doesn't guess correctly, that person has to compensate for four."

"Sounds good!"

Having just lost money, these admins were not deterred and wanted to win it back.

But someone quickly spotted a loophole.

"Um, how will we know the Quality of the Summoning Stones he picks?"

About this, the person who proposed the idea already had a countermeasure in mind.

"Well, don't we have a Summoning Array here at the Secret Realm? We could just provide it to him for free, right? As for the cost of using the Summoning Array, let the winner take care of it."

"That's a great idea!"

The few administrators above all agreed it could be done.

At this time, someone else, with ulterior motives, suggested another proposal.

"Hey, I think we could change how we place our bets this time. We bet in secret, write down the Quality we want to stake on a piece of paper, sign it, put it aside, and then we can check the outcomes afterwards. What do you guys think?"

This suggestion was met with mutual glances among the administrators, their heads nodding in unison.

"Sounds good! Sounds very good!"

And so, their second round of gambling began.

But this time, these administrators didn't start by placing bets immediately; instead, they began to hype up Lu Wu one by one.

"Hey, this kid is said to be a Genius Cultivator. He just learned some Summoning Stone appraisal techniques for a few hours.

With his Talent, he'll surely pick up some results in this area, so I believe his haul this time won't be small."

Administrator number one, while talking up Lu Wu, wrote down the words "ordinary" on his piece of paper and signed it.

"Absolutely, this kid definitely stands out as one-of-a-kind, a real talent whose fortunes are surely great!

How could a child favored by the heavens pick just an Ordinary Summoning Stone?"

Administrator number two, also hyping, wrote down "ordinary" as well.

Administrator number three looked at his two colleagues, didn't say much, wrote down "Black Iron", but then thought better of it and crossed it out, writing "ordinary" instead.

Out of the five administrators, the first four all wrote "ordinary." Only the last, a more honest young guy, thought for a moment and wrote down "Bronze."

Clearly, these four older administrators were intentionally setting a trap for this young guy.

They were all old birds, sharp as tacks, well aware that the Summoning Stones in the Secret Realm had been screened over and over, the good ones long picked out, what remained were basically all Ordinary Quality.

Even though there might be a missed gem, they didn't believe Lu Wu could spot such a hidden jewel from what was left.

Did they really think he could master the art of Summoning Stone appraisal just by cramming at the last minute?

What a joke!

How difficult was it to learn the skills to appraise Summoning Stones?

Even if they gave Lu Wu a few days or months, he wouldn't be able to learn a thing.

So, to call this a bet was somewhat misleading. It was more like a few seasoned tricksters ganging up to con the young guy.

Of course, this was mainly because they had just lost some money and wanted to win it back.

Although they felt a bit guilty, there was nothing they could do about it. Summoners were not as wealthy as Cultivation Masters; they had to save up for a long while for those 200 points, and without winning them back, they would have to tighten their belts in the coming months.

Now it was perfect. If the young guy stepped right into their trap, the 200 points they had just lost would be returned!

As for losing?

Impossible!

Unthinkable!