Chapter 77: A Royal-Tier Enters the Competition!!
Baiyue Province, Ice Palace Academy.
Snow fell relentlessly, the air freezing cold. An icy chill spread throughout the Ice Palace Academy territory, adding to the already frigid atmosphere. Meanwhile, the ice-blue elemental figure, emerging from the white-haired girl’s body, clenched its hand, its cold gaze sweeping across its form, savoring its restored state.
In truth, recovering through a contract with a human Beast Tamer was incredibly risky. Because a pet beast could never betray its master…
If that girl regained her senses, it might instinctively shield her from attacks, repenting for its previous disrespect, and dedicating itself to serving her as atonement. However, as expected, facing its Royal-Tier aura, the insect hadn’t even had time to react, let alone share its thoughts, before being frozen and shattered by the pre-emptive, delayed attack.
“Humans…such frail, fleshy creatures…they’re not worthy of forming contracts with us, Royal-Tier pet beasts!!”
“I don’t understand what those beings in the Sanctuary are thinking”
“Why not just keep all humans as livestock?”
“…”
“…”
After grumbling for a while, the ice elemental figure fell into deep thought. A week ago, it would have instantly frozen the entire Baiyue Province upon regaining its strength. But…
Now that the Cycle of Calamity was gone, it didn’t need to continue its path of destruction, right?
It was afraid of attracting the attention of that Ancient Species.
What if that being decided to eradicate all members of the Cycle of Calamity?
Besides, it hadn’t grown stronger at all during its years in the Cycle of Calamity!!!
This meant…
The path to becoming a Fallen Species was a dead end! It didn’t exist!!
They had all been deceived!!!
If their leader was a Fallen Species Emperor, shouldn’t it be the most powerful being in the world? Why was it so easily defeated by a mere Ancient Species!?
“From now on, instead of pursuing that illusory Fallen Species path, I might as well focus on reaching the peak of Royal-Tier and become the ruler of a higher-level region~~~”
“The 10th-level region’s Beast Tamer Association, huh? Very well, I’ll play with you~~~”
“Before absolute power, the schemes of ants are meaningless!!!” Floating above the snowy plains, the Extreme Cold Detonation · Ice King muttered to itself, its cold gaze fixed on the location of the Academy League.
It wasn’t in a hurry to unleash its power.
Because, since that informant knew about its detailed evolution requirements, was there a possibility…
That they also knew something about its second, mutated evolution path!?
Baiyue Province, Beast Tamer Association Headquarters, the first day of the Academy League.
Several teams were battling fiercely on the venue’s screens, the cheers from the audience deafening. However, at this moment, in the Youlan Academy spectator section, Lian Xing, the golden-haired girl, the fourth-ranked Ten Greats, known as Moon Rabbit, was sleeping soundly, a drop of drool trickling from the corner of her mouth.
If she weren’t in the VIP box…
If she dared to sleep so unguardedly in public…she would have been swarmed by her fanatic fans and taken…
The group stage matches in the past few days had been boring, either High-Tier versus High-Tier clown shows or Commander-Tier pet beasts dominating, a complete waste of time.
So, Lian Xing had snuck into the virtual battle space.
[ID: Strongest Moonlight Rabbit]
[Region: Qingyao Sea (8th-level)]
[Followers: 11,218,937]
[Age: 15]
[Pet Beasts: Moon-Embracing Jade Hammer (High-Tier), Red Prison Palace Master (High-Tier), Star Sand (High-Tier)]
Yes, Lian Xing now had access to the 8th-level region, Qingyao Sea!!
To be more precise, Baiyue Province was actually a remote corner of Qingyao Sea, a subordinate region.
After switching regions, Lian Xing immediately opened Challenge Mode and quickly scrolled down the list. As expected, both the instance lairs and the ranking battles were on a completely different level, but…
There was still only one Royal-Tier instance: the Pet Beast Compendium Museum!!!
And she didn’t see any players with Royal-Tier pet beasts.
The only difference was the number of Commander-Tier Beast Tamers…
In the 8th-level region, the number of Commander-Tier pet beasts was significant, and there were even six publicly known peak Commander-Tier pet beasts.
Seeing this, Lian Xing couldn’t help but sigh.
“Hmm, Commander-Tier pet beasts are everywhere. It won’t be long before Royal-Tier becomes common…”
“But…what surprises me is that there isn’t even a single Royal-Tier Beast Tamer in the 8th-level region?”
“It seems there’s no fundamental difference between an 8th-level region and a 10th-level region. It’s just that the 8th-level region contains countless 10th-level and 9th-level regions, hence the difference in numbers.”
“If Tian Quan were here, she could probably make it into the Ten Greats, but whether she could reach the top three is uncertain…”
After pondering for a while, Lian Xing opened the battle records of the Qingyao Sea league, the 8th-level region. She planned to find a suitable throwing characteristic for the Moon-Embracing Jade Hammer from the throwing-type pet beasts in the 8th-level region. She wasn’t picky. Since there were no Royal-Tier throwing-type pet beasts to mimic, any throwing-type pet beast with a high rarity would do.
However, after spending several hours browsing through the records, even going back seven years, Lian Xing, her eyes drooping with sleepiness, finally found the first Rare throwing-type pet beast.
Throwing-type…it’s so unpopular!!!
If there were even a single top-tier expert specializing in throwing, throwing-type pet beasts wouldn’t be so rare…
So, Lian Xing could be 100% certain that the fake Fallen Species boss of the Cycle of Calamity wasn’t a throwing type.
This meant that it couldn’t even utilize Calamity Sun’s characteristics!!!
“Such a waste…” The thought of an unknown weakling squandering Calamity Sun’s potential, causing it damage, made Lian Xing’s heart ache. It was like knowing that your future wife would cheat on you on Valentine’s Day but being unable to stop it.
She had to become stronger as soon as possible and rescue Calamity Sun from its clutches!!!
Lian Xing thought, her heart filled with sorrow.
However, she didn’t know that Calamity Sun was missing. The little fox hadn’t told her. It wasn’t intentional. The fox had simply forgotten about this minor detail…
So, to become stronger as quickly as possible and reclaim her treasure, Lian Xing immediately downloaded the battle recording of that Rare Species pet beast, labeling it [Study Material] and ordering the Moonlight Rabbit to watch it repeatedly.
Baiyue Province, the third day of the Academy League. The group stage battles had reached a fever pitch.
By this point, the difference in strength between the teams was clear.
First, Youhe Academy, one of the former Ten Greats, was slaughtering weaker teams, and the other two teams with Commander-Tier pet beasts were also on winning streaks.
Second, among the teams without Commander-Tier pet beasts, the most popular was Starlight Academy, led by Ziwutong. Ziwutong’s main battle pet beast, the Viral Species Hanging Void, was almost as fast as a Commander-Tier pet beast at eliminating opponents, even exuding a faint aura that didn’t seem to belong to the High-Tier realm.
After achieving seven consecutive victories, Ziwutong left the battle room, sighing.
“With this record, we’re safe in the preliminaries, but why hasn’t the Hanging Void evolved yet…?”
“Could it be that one of the early evolution requirements wasn’t met, or did it become invalid the moment the contract was formed?”
“If only I could become one of the Ten Greats…”
“If I reached the top ten, I could freely access the evolution information of any pet beast!” Looking at the Ten Greats banner on the venue wall, her gaze lingering on the newly added golden-haired girl with starry eyes, Ziwutong felt a surge of longing, which quickly turned into disappointment and frustration.
If the Hanging Void couldn’t evolve to Commander-Tier, she would never become one of the Ten Greats.
But without becoming one of the Ten Greats, she couldn’t access the Hanging Void’s evolution information. Wasn’t this a vicious cycle!?
In this beast-taming world, where evolution paths weren’t standardized and were rarely shared, most Beast Tamers, like Ziwutong, could only rely on guesswork and intuition to train their pet beasts. After all, the evolution requirements were usually just about combat skill quality, combat skill type, attribute and talent compatibility, and the level of opponents defeated.
And there was more than one evolution path. It was just a matter of seeing which one they could gamble on.
As for things like hair color, lifestyle habits, and fetishes…normal people wouldn’t even consider those. This was why Rare Species were rare. They weren’t necessarily scarce, but even if you obtained one, evolving it was difficult.
“Strange…it feels like the Hanging Void is only one or two conditions away from evolving, but it just won’t happen. What could it be? Is it related to diet or clothing? Or…is the lineup incompatible?”
“Sigh, if only someone knew the Hanging Void’s future evolution path~~~” Ziwutong sighed as she left the battle room.
The next match was Youhe Academy versus Ice Palace Academy.
After being defeated by Moon Rabbit Lian Xing, Youhe Academy was now like a raging lion. Under Chilinhou and the Blazing Earth Crimson Poison’s relentless barrage of throws, no team could last even ten seconds.
No matter the mode or the map…
A single throw from the Blazing Earth Crimson Poison would obliterate the entire battlefield.
Facing this overwhelming force, everyone once again realized the true strength of Lian Xing, who had easily defeated Chilinhou.
However…
At that moment—
As Ziwutong and the Starlight Academy members passed by the Ice Palace Academy team…
Ziwutong suddenly turned her head, looking at the five lifeless Ice Palace Academy members with a puzzled expression. Due to the frigid environment of their region, they were all wearing thick winter coats, their faces and figures completely hidden.
But…it was so cold!!!
They hadn’t felt anything unusual when they met yesterday.
But today, the temperature emanating from them was so low that her blood almost froze. It must be caused by one of their pet beasts. What had happened…?
Meanwhile, inside the closed battle room, with no cameras present, the Ice Palace Academy members looked at their captain, their expressions filled with fear. In the next second, as the captain’s heavy winter coat was slowly pulled open, revealing her pale, almost frozen body, an ice-blue, crystalline figure emerged from her mouth, gradually taking shape as an ice elemental humanoid.
“You useless bunch. I’ve already suppressed my body temperature to the minimum, and you still can’t handle it?”
“Are you even Ice-type Beast Tamers?”
“I told you before, what right do you frail humans have to form contracts with pet beasts!?”
“Oh, and don’t forget what I said. If you expose me, I’ll kill every living being in the Beast Tamer Association Headquarters and Ice Palace Academy. Feel free to try calling for help~~~”
“On the other hand, if you keep this secret, you can become the champions of these insects. Remember to thank me~~~~”
“…”
“…”
As the elemental figure finished speaking, it casually removed the captain’s electronic chip from her hand and put it on its own. Then, the Extreme Cold Detonation, with a look of disgust, activated the captain’s appearance transformation.
Normally, pet beasts couldn’t use electronic devices, but…
Royal-Tier pet beasts could!!
Of course, the Beast Tamers of Baiyue Province didn’t know this. Even the Royal-Tier pet beasts themselves didn’t understand why they could use human devices. It was like no one knew why dogs ate “certain” things.
[Youhe Academy]
[VS]
[Ice Palace Academy]
Meanwhile, the moment this battle began, Lian Xing, sitting in the Youlan Academy spectator section, suddenly frowned. In the next second, she decisively logged out of her virtual account, opening her starry golden eyes, looking towards the battle room in surprise.
“What the…?”
“That Royal-Tier pet beast is actually participating in the competition!?”
“…”
“…”
Lian Xing muttered in disbelief after a moment of stunned silence.
Neither the little fox, the guardian of Baiyue Province, nor Baoyu Shuitianliang, the legendary Beast Tamer hailed as the strongest in Baiyue Province, had noticed anything unusual.
But Lian Xing, at that moment, had sensed a strange fluctuation from the Red Prison Palace Master. This frequency…it was a resonance that only occurred when it sensed a similar being nearby.
Rare Species resonated with each other, Ancient Species resonated with each other…
But…
After sensing the intensity of the Red Prison Palace Master’s trembling, Lian Xing’s expression darkened.
What the…? Something that could make the Red Prison Palace Master, with its Red Quality combat skill, react so strongly…how could it possibly be in a critical condition!?
It was clearly… perfectly healthy!!!
After a moment of hesitation, Lian Xing regained her composure, forcing a calm expression.
Well…
Even if the little fox and the little mermaid joined forces, they couldn’t possibly defeat that.
So, she would just pretend she didn’t know anything…
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