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Competitions were often exhilarating, filled with excitement and adrenaline. Battles between pet beasts and the tactical matches between Beast Tamers always managed to ignite the crowd's emotions.
Among them, the most thrilling moments were either the underdog triumphing against overwhelming odds or a fierce duel between equally matched opponents.
For the school administrators in attendance, who had watched countless competitions, most matches lacked novelty.
The predictable outcomes of preliminary rounds rarely elicited reactions from them.
They only paid close attention when it involved their own students, analyzing the opposition with great focus.
Yet, this match, which was neither an underdog victory nor a neck-and-neck battle, left Section B eerily silent for a brief moment before the crowd erupted into a frenzy.
“Did you see that? Did you all see that? What’s up with that Flame Hound? Does it have eyes on the back of its head?!”
“How did it do that? How did it teleport onto the Marine Gnawer’s back?!”
“That Flame Hound’s combat awareness is off the charts!”
“When the Torrent trait activated, I thought we had a real fight on our hands. But Shengshui High’s Qiao Sang didn’t give the opponent the slightest chance to turn things around...”
“To be fair, Pinghai High’s Zhou Jing isn’t bad. She just had terrible luck running into such a monster.”
“I don’t recall Zhou Jing making an impression in the past two tournaments. I only remember her using a pet beast from another region. But she’s doing surprisingly well this time.”
“That’s normal. You probably only started attending the tournaments in person in the last two years.”
“How’d you know?”
“Because high schoolers only get three chances at the National Campus Beast Mastering League. By the time they’re in their final year, many give it their all and rise to prominence. If you followed a student from freshman year to senior year, you’d notice this pattern.”
“What about someone like Qiao Sang? Do students like her suddenly emerge during their senior year too?”
“… Do you think prodigies are that easy to come by?”
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The next four matches were completely one-sided.
Even though Pinghai High sent out water-type pet beasts, Qiao Sang’s Flame Hound had not only fire-type abilities but also formidable psychic powers.
While water types typically counter fire types, such advantages only mattered if the attacks landed. Without hitting their target, it was all for naught.
Thanks to its mastery of telekinesis and teleportation, none of the water-based skills even came close.
Eighteen points secured.
Qiao Sang sat in Shengshui High’s competitor section, waiting for Xu Yixuan’s match to finish.
Beside her, He Datiao was intensely focused on his phone.
“What are you looking at?” Qiao Sang asked.
“Tomorrow’s opponent.” He Datiao replied without lifting his head.
“I’m checking the forums to see if there’s any information on their team members.”
Losing twice today had clearly gotten under his skin.
“Who’s our opponent tomorrow?” Qiao Sang asked casually.
All the schools participating in Group A2 had been listed, but she only ever looked up her next opponent after finishing the current day’s matches.
“Hanggang Sixth Beast Taming High School.” He Datiao replied.
Qiao Sang blinked.
“Which school?”
“Hanggang Sixth Beast Taming High School.” He repeated, turning to her.
“You’ve never heard of it? It’s a local school here in our city.”
He paused for a moment before adding, “Then again, it makes sense. That school doesn’t rank high and isn’t very well-known.”
Qiao Sang: …
How could she not know? She had almost ended up as a student there herself…
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“You guys don’t know this, but Qiao Sang almost became a student at our school!” exclaimed Chen Shengtang, the vice-principal of Hanggang Sixth Beast Taming High School, with a mixture of regret and bitterness.
“Chen, don’t joke like that.” Someone beside him said skeptically.
“Do you know who Qiao Sang is? Her brain domain reached the green star matrix level in her freshman year. She’s contracted a Flame Hound, as you just saw, and her strength is unquestionable. Even Shengshui High might only have gotten her because of household registration constraints. How could she have ever attended your school?”
“I’m serious!” Chen Shengtang said, his voice rising.
“When she came to our school for her brain domain assessment, she was considering a special recruitment offer. It was our teacher Zhao who handled her evaluation! I was there the entire time!”
Qiao Sang was the only independently awakened recruit in their school’s history! How could he possibly forget?
When she came for the evaluation, he’d spent days excited, dreaming about her enrollment. But then, she chose Shengshui High instead.
Seeing her compete in the senior division of the National Campus Beast Mastering League today had shocked and devastated him.
It was like having a goddess suddenly propose marriage, only to find out she married someone else at the last minute.
Worse still, he had to admit, any sane person would’ve made the same choice she did.
“Maybe you’re mistaken.” Someone next to him suggested.
“It’s possible this Qiao Sang just looks like the student you evaluated, or they share the same name.”
Chen Shengtang: …
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Back at the dormitory in the training base, Qiao Sang clasped her hands together and summoned Little Treasure.
Unbeknownst to her, Little Treasure had learned about competition rules from somewhere and insisted on entering the Beast Taming Codex early in the morning, thinking it was his turn to compete.
“Xun!”
As he emerged, Little Treasure twirled mid-air with flair, landed with his claws on his hips, and grinned smugly.
But his confident expression froze the moment he spotted Yabao standing in front of him.
“Xun?!”
Why was Yabao here?!
“Yap?” Yabao tilted his head, confused. Was there something wrong with him being there?
“Xun…” Little Treasure looked around, finally noticing he wasn’t in the competition arena.
“You’re competing tomorrow.” Qiao Sang said lazily from her bed.
“Tomorrow hasn’t come yet.”
Little Treasure: ???
“Xun! Xun!” He protested vehemently.
“That’s impossible.” Qiao Sang said matter-of-factly.
“A day is 24 hours. When you told me it was past 3 a.m., which was just the start of a new day. Today has to finish first before we get to tomorrow.”
Little Treasure: !!!
His body wavered mid-air, his expression filled with existential doubt.
Feeling a pang of guilt, Qiao Sang sat up and patted his head gently. “Make sure to study hard in the future.”
Little Treasure: …
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