Chapter 79

With the referee’s announcement, the spectator area erupted in astonished murmurs.

No one had expected that a freshman with a pet beast in its growth stage would win the battle in this manner.

This couldn’t even be called a tough fight. After the initial combination move that forced the Bone Fang Soldier out of the shadows, the Force纹 Gray Bear never had another chance to land a hit on its opponent.

“That was so smooth! I’m not a combat major, so I don’t know how to describe it, but the Bone Fang Soldier’s fighting style was just so smooth…”

“I get it, that feeling of seamlessly executing tactical commands!”

“The opponent didn’t even have a chance to fight back. The Force纹 Gray Bear only got caught in the opponent’s rhythm once and never regained the advantage.”

“On paper, Vice President Zheng Lin should have had a complete advantage.”

“Senior, through actual combat, has shown us that paper strength is nothing.”

“……”

“Is Bone Spike Assault such a strong control skill?”

“Isn’t it like a bone club strike? Theoretically, it only causes a paralysis effect if it hits a vital spot?”

“This is the first time I’ve seen Bone Spike Assault consistently hit vital spots in a battle…”

“Who would’ve thought that the Force纹 Gray Bear, with its thick eyebrows and big eyes—no, with its tough skin and solid build—would have so many vital points?”

“Truly, the Bone Fang Soldier from the monarch species…”

“……”

At this moment, Zheng Lin on the field was also a little stunned.

He understood the battle more clearly than the ordinary students in the spectator area. The smooth fighting style of the Bone Fang Soldier was based on a tacit cooperation with its Beastmaster, a keen insight into the battlefield situation, and an experienced combat awareness.

Mu Huiyue didn’t even need to order the use of [Intimidation], the signature skill of the monarch species pet beast.

She had already determined that, when facing a matured Force纹 Gray Bear with the [Impulsive] trait, the Bone Fang Soldier’s [Intimidation] effect would be far less effective than directly causing mental damage with [Soul Tremor].

“[Soul Tremor], [Bone Spike Assault], [Bone Ghost], [Calcification]…

These are all C-level skills. In battles at the matured stage, these skills alone wouldn’t be considered powerful, but under the premise of [Shadow Stealth], they exhibited powerful combined effects.

His Force纹 Gray Bear also uses combination effects like [Earthquake Wave] and [Rock Smash], which are combat techniques developed through countless battles.

However, compared to the Bone Fang Soldier, the gap between the Gray Bear’s skills and the Bone Fang Soldier’s is even larger than their usual hidden potential values.

Only after personally trying it did Zheng Lin understand how difficult it is to display such near-“silky” or even “pleasing to the eye” combat techniques.

It’s not something that can be achieved purely through effort; it’s a talent for Beastmaster battles.

Fighting against Mu Huiyue, the constant pressure of not being able to slack off for even a moment—knowing that any flaw exposed would lead to a slide into failure—made Zheng Lin feel as though he had returned to the national tournament battle stage.

Facing those monster-like, immensely talented elites, the sense of having no chance of victory, despite racking his brain, was something he never thought he’d experience again in a club recruitment test battle.”

How far could Mu Huiyue and her beast grow with time?

As the vice president of the battle club, Zheng Lin couldn’t help but feel anticipation.

“Xu Xun mentioned there would be a very talented freshman joining the club. It’s you, right?”

Zheng Lin recalled the Force纹 Gray Bear into his beastmaster space, waiting for the treatment to begin, and then walked toward Mu Huiyue.

An incompetent club president had previously handed him the recruitment work, claiming it was to let him personally experience the feeling of discovering a good seed.

Zheng Lin had originally thought this was just an excuse for Xu Xun to avoid club activities, but now, he somewhat understood.

He was genuinely glad to do this entrance test and witness Mu Huiyue joining the battle club.

“I lost,” he extended his hand to the quiet girl in front of him.

“Welcome to the battle club. I’m really looking forward to your future performance, Mu Huiyue.”

“Mm, thank you, Vice President,” Mu Huiyue also reached out and shook his hand.

This marked her official membership in the Battle Club of Jingzhou University.

As an official member, in addition to the qualification to be selected for the school team, the university also provided many other benefits: a substantial number of extraordinary resource subsidies, as well as professional training fields and battle arenas available for free use.

As for resources and training fields, Mu Huiyue wasn’t lacking. She could purchase some rare resources, hard to find in the market, through the affairs bureau’s channels, and the [Training Ground] facility in her beastmaster space was more effective than most real-world facilities.

But after joining the club, there would be regular battle practice sessions, which would effectively help her accumulate the [Spiritual Spring Drops] in the system task bar.

In the spectator seats, Chen Jiashu, who had witnessed the battle, was now filled with excitement.

His contracted beast, [Chaotic Thundercloud], was also a low-tier monarch species in the growth stage. Since Mu Huiyue could win this battle, there was no reason why he couldn’t succeed if he took the challenge!

Chen Jiashu stood up, ready to be the second challenger, but Wen Li was quicker than him.

The girl, accompanied by her flame-strike cat, had already jumped onto the arena. She clapped her hands together, fingers snapping, her eyes shining.

Forget about the afternoon test; it was time to fight, just like Huiyue!

A member from the battle club, who had a contracted wood-type beast, walked over and had their beast cast a healing skill to help the Force纹 Gray Bear quickly recover to its optimal condition.

Mu Huiyue returned to the spectator seats, and upon seeing this, couldn’t help but smile, preparing to watch Wen Li’s battle.

As she sat down, she noticed a young man approaching, holding a worn-out rabbit plushie, with a very youthful face.

The boy looked at her nervously: “Uh… Is it Mu Huiyue, right?”

Mu Huiyue nodded and shifted slightly to make room for him.

“I—I’m…” The boy stuttered, then suddenly took a deep breath and quickly blurted out the rest.

“My name is Feng Le. I’m a third-year student in the study department of latent energy attributes. I was wondering if I could invite you to visit our research group.”

Having successfully conveyed his purpose, Feng Le seemed to relax slightly. The rabbit plushie in his arms raised its fluffy little hands and patted his arm, as if encouraging him.

Mu Huiyue realized that the rabbit plushie was not an ordinary one, but a special extraordinary creature.

[Name]: Vengeful Spirit Plushie
[Attribute]: Dark
[Race Level]: Low-tier Battle General
[Growth Stage]: Stage Seven of Growth

[Core Talent]: Soul Dissolution (Dark C-Class)
[Race Description]: Extraordinary creatures formed when dark attribute latent energy resonates with a special object. They mostly take the form of plushies, with the race level and core talent skills dependent on the resonance emotion, resulting in significant individual differences.

[Normal Latent Energy Value]: 55,611P

This was actually a low-tier Battle General Vengeful Spirit Plushie.

Most Vengeful Spirit Plushies are of elite races, with a well-known example being Kumasi, the YouTuber who previously did a video review, which featured a large plushie bear with stitching marks.

Of course, that was likely just the outer shell, with a human speaking inside rather than an actual Vengeful Spirit Plushie.

In the eyes of most mainstream Beast Masters, the status of such dark attribute extraordinary creatures is about the same as the Red-eyed Raven that roams on tombstones—slightly better than the small skeletons, but still considered a creature that few would bother to contract and cultivate.

It was rare to find Beast Masters willing to contract dark attribute pets. Occasionally, one might encounter pets with dark attribute skills, but dark attribute creatures…

Since awakening as a Beast Master, besides herself, this senior named Feng Le, a third-year student, was the first Beast Master Mu Huiyue had met who had contracted a dark attribute pet.

She thought for a moment and asked, “Is your research group… focused on studying dark attribute latent energy?”

“Yes!” Feng Le nodded. When it came to a topic he was familiar with, his demeanor and tone became much more confident, no longer as stammering as before.

“I’ve never seen a Monarch species Baoya soldier before! Dark attribute pets have a relatively unique way of absorbing and using energy, as well as their method of evolution. The higher the rank, the rarer they are. Most known dark attribute extraordinary creatures are from elite or battle general species.”

“Even high-rank dark attribute extraordinary creatures usually have the power they are born with, and very few have evolved from lower ranks. Not to mention the evolution path from small skeletons to Baoya soldiers. This shows that you’ve already…”

Feng Le spoke faster and faster, and the rabbit plushie in his arms once again extended its fluffy little round paws and patted his arm.

“Ah, sorry, I just can’t stop once I start talking about the research topic…”

Feng Le scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that you and your pet have experienced something extremely rare, and it could potentially help us break through in our research. I hope you can meet my mentor, Mu Huiyue.”

“It would be even better if you could join the research. If I’m not mistaken, your Baoya soldier’s core skill should be the B-grade skill Shadow Stealth, right?”

“This is a core skill with an upper-tier advancement ability, which means that if we find the right method, it might evolve into a whole new Emperor species.”

Feng Le paused, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “…A dark attribute Emperor species!”

Just imagining that possibility already made him unable to contain his excitement.

It was because of this one-in-a-million chance that Feng Le pushed himself to overcome his communication difficulties and proactively approached Mu Huiyue.

Mu Huiyue looked at her shadow.

She had indeed accumulated many questions about Ellen’s evolution. After this, she would also need to find a direction for Baiya’s evolution.

One of the major reasons she chose Jingzhou University was that it housed the most outstanding dark attribute research institute in all of Dayan.

Starting with Feng Le and further engaging with the expert in dark attribute research would be a good way to approach it.

Mu Huiyue had originally planned to directly bring Ellen to recommend herself.

She remembered that the expert was the head of the Dark Attribute Research Institute at Jingzhou University, an honorary professor at Jingzhou University, and a national authority on dark attribute research… Wasn’t their name Xie Qingwei?

Feng Le’s voice continued, “…Professor Xie will definitely be very interested in you and your Baoya soldier!”

Hmm?

Feng Le said something else, but Mu Huiyue was momentarily distracted, as if she had heard a key name.

She looked at the young man holding the rabbit plush, still looking excited, and asked, “May I ask what your mentor’s name is, Senior Feng Le?”