Chapter 105

After returning to school, Mu Huiyue resumed her fulfilling and busy campus life.

In addition to her battle training courses and practical exercises, she also juggled research tasks for Professor Xie, monitored the growth and development of her three contracted beasts, and worked on accumulating Spirit Spring Drops for the upcoming Harvest Season event card pool.

Mu Huiyue organized her schedule meticulously, ensuring nothing was overlooked.

For her system task, daily points were mainly earned through battles. Aside from on-campus battles, Mu Huiyue also purchased a premium half-month VIP sparring package from the “Stellar Battle Club” in the capital. This package offered training sessions with Beast Tamers who had contracted monarch-class beasts in their growth stages, allowing her to participate in at least three high-quality battles every day.

The Hela Academy exchange delegation stayed at Jingzhou University for a week. During this time, Mu Huiyue had numerous private matches with Fei’er. Since he also had a monarch-class beast in its growth stage, he was the perfect opponent for earning points and Spirit Drops.

In the end, Fei’er didn’t manage to win a single match against Mu Huiyue. He even lost when she switched to her warlord-class Little Cloud Hound. By then, all traces of his initial pride as a so-called prodigy had vanished.

He confided to Mu Huiyue that his grandfather had also once traveled to the Dayan Empire for an academic exchange. While at Jingzhou University, he encountered the legendary “Twin Pillars of Jingzhou,” Su Luo and Xin Wei, only to suffer a crushing defeat.

During the first World Championship, Fei’er’s grandfather once again lost to Su Luo, the White Tiger Illusion Beast Tamer, and he has harbored resentment about it ever since.

Before his departure, Fei’er made a point to meet with Mu Huiyue.

“You’ll participate in the World Championship, won’t you? If not seven years from now, then in the next one,” Fei’er stated with certainty.

The next World Championship was less than two years away. For a freshman Beast Tamer at Level 4, representing their country on such a stage sounded like a far-fetched dream.

But Fei’er knew that Mu Huiyue would compete. She was the first peer he had ever encountered who surpassed him in skill.

It wasn’t just her natural talent or access to abundant resources. Her intelligence as a Beast Tamer, her strategic insight, and her methods for nurturing her beasts were all impeccable.

Fei’er had even heard rumors that she only awakened her Beast Tamer ability shortly before turning eighteen.

Such rapid growth surpassed even that of Su Luo, the White Tiger Illusion Beast Tamer who had once claimed the World Championship title.

Su Luo was only about twenty-five or twenty-six at the time. True geniuses are never constrained by time.

Mu Huiyue gave no direct response to Fei’er’s remark. She had her own plans and priorities.

Whether she could make it to the next World Championship would largely depend on the gains from the current event card pool, the harvest from her “fields,” and the progress of the research projects at the Dark Attribute Institute.

Fei’er took her silence as confirmation. His golden eyes lit up with excitement.

He vowed to push himself to the limit, so that one day he could face Mu Huiyue again on the World Championship stage—and this time, emerge victorious.

…

Two weeks later, Mu Huiyue completed a pop quiz during a theoretical combat class in the Beast Tamer program.

The classroom was filled with groans of despair, and even Wen Li wore a blank expression. Few students in the combat program excelled at theory exams, especially ones given on a whim based on the teacher’s mood.

Mu Huiyue was one of the rare exceptions.

The quiz focused on the combat aspects of Beast Tamer theory.

As modern Beast Tamers, while nurturing their beasts, they must also prioritize their own safety.

Through their ability to sense hidden energies, Beast Tamers awaken their Beast Taming Space and innate Beast Taming Talent, granting them the ability to form contracts with extraordinary creatures.

Thanks to the feedback from these contracts, Beast Tamers possess bodies far stronger than ordinary humans, and their lifespans are also extended.

Most of the time, however, human Beast Tamers cannot directly compete with extraordinary creatures, even the weakest lower-tier elite species. This is due to the existence of skills, which give extraordinary creatures superior combat capabilities.

Some rare and unique Beast Taming Talents allow human Beast Tamers to gain a degree of combat power comparable to extraordinary creatures. Examples include Su Luo’s Contract Fusion as an Illusion Beast Tamer and Wen Li’s family inheritance skill, Burning Blood.

In civilized society, there are complete legal regulations regarding the safety of Beast Tamers. These laws clearly define the criminal penalties for incidents where contracted beasts injure or even kill others.

In official Beast Taming combat matches, any attack directed at the Beast Tamer results in an immediate loss.

However, in the wilderness or unstable secret realms, the safety of Beast Tamers relies on their contracted beasts’ unique skills and abilities.

Some skills are specifically designed to protect Beast Tamers, such as Shared Fate, mastered by Professor Xie’s guardian spirit.

After experiencing the Deserted Island Secret Realm and the Withered Wastelands, Mu Huiyue had considered whether she should enhance her own combat capabilities to better handle potential crises during future secret realm explorations.

However, after careful consideration, she concluded that investing time and energy into this would be inefficient.

Unlike Wen Li, whose Beast Taming Talent could strengthen her own abilities, no matter how much Mu Huiyue trained, it would be difficult to protect herself against wild extraordinary creatures.

In comparison, Ellen in the shadows and the scarecrow substitute provided by Harvey were far more reliable.

The time spent training herself would be better used speeding up her meditation progress and raising the level of her Beast Taming Space sooner.

Perhaps she could consider teaching her beasts some defensive skills in the future. As for herself, it was better to focus on being the strategic command center.

While pondering this, Mu Huiyue continued writing without hesitation. She finished the test early and, under the gaze of her classmates, confidently submitted her paper, being the first to leave the exam room.

Stepping out of the classroom, the noonday sunlight pierced through the clouds and illuminated the bustling, lively campus.

The shadow behind Mu Huiyue stretched long under the sunlight, and she raised her eyebrows in mild surprise—Ellen hadn’t returned to her shadow immediately after the exam ended.

She directed a part of her consciousness into her Beast Taming Space and, as expected, found the Card-Toothed Soldier in the Training Grounds.

Ellen was sparring with White Fang. The two went back and forth, their energy-packed moves clashing repeatedly, creating waves of impact. The battle was intense.

Lately, Ellen and White Fang seemed particularly diligent, seizing every opportunity to spar. Their skill proficiency and growth levels had been improving rapidly.

Although both beasts had always been disciplined about self-training, their recent pace was unusually intense—almost too much so.

This round ended with Ellen’s victory. White Fang had exhausted all its energy and collapsed on the training ground after releasing Moonburst, lying there like a stretched-out ball of cotton fluff.

The Card-Toothed Soldier stopped attacking and sat down, gently patting the little dog on the head.

“Woof-woo…” (I still can’t hit Senior Ellen… even that red bird managed to…)

“Click-clack, click-clack.” (That’s because the Gale Red Falcon possesses the B-tier skill Eagle Eye Vision. Your dynamic vision isn’t sharp enough to catch the moment I condense my shadow.)

“Woof…”

White Fang rolled over, flopping onto its back with its belly facing the sky. It tilted its head and glanced in the direction of the Farmland.

Harvey’s rate of advancement was skyrocketing, like it was riding a rocket—soon, he’d almost catch up to both it and Senior Ellen.

Among Huiyue’s three beasts, White Fang was the only Warlord-tier species. It prided itself on being the most agile of the group… but the alarm bells of crisis were already ringing!

If Harvey surpassed it, it would become the beast with the lowest species rank and growth level… Weaklings don’t get praise from their Beastmaster!!

“Woof-woof…!” (Harvey’s catching up to us fast! If we both get overtaken by the third one, can you even stand it, Senior Ellen?!)

“Click.” (Of course not. That’s why I’m doing overtime training too.)

The Card-Toothed Soldier clicked its jawbones together, speaking with utmost seriousness.

A crow perched on the edge of the Training Grounds—Harvey, watching his seniors’ sparring practice from a distance in his own quiet way.

Meanwhile, the Nightmare Scarecrow in the Farmland swayed gently, its body soaking in the harvest energy that nourished the earth and simultaneously fed back into itself. A soft, contented rustling sound came from it.

Emotionally pure and innocent, Harvey was simply happy. It couldn’t quite form any emotional response to the subtle situation of “it seems like the seniors were talking about me…”

By the way, the term senior was something White Fang had insisted it use.

The moment Harvey called it Senior White Fang, the little Cloud Pup experienced immense satisfaction—on par with being praised by its Beastmaster.

It was a senior now! It had to set a good example for Harvey!

“Cawww!” The crow voiced its response on behalf of the Nightmare Scarecrow.

Keep up the hard training, seniors. I’ll work hard to harvest the crops from the Farmland so everyone can enjoy experience fruits soon!

Over the past few days, Harvey had come to understand how these harvested fruits could quickly enhance its companions’ strength. They were incredibly valuable resources.

“Woof-woof…!”

White Fang’s eyes watered a bit. It had been working so hard to out-train Harvey and maintain its status as a senior, yet the little scarecrow didn’t seem to mind at all. Instead, it was proactively helping by harvesting experience fruits for everyone…

It should be more sincere toward Harvey as well!

When the Farmland harvests came in, White Fang decided it would let Harvey, its little brother, have a few more of the delicious attribute fruits.

Witnessing this scene, Mu Huiyue couldn’t help but chuckle as she stepped into the Training Field.

She caught the fluffy white pup that happily pounced on her, then turned her attention to the Shield-Toothed Soldier and the dark crow that flew over, giving all three of her beasts some gentle attention.

Having overheard their earlier exchange, Mu Huiyue rubbed the white pup’s head and asked, “White Fang, have you already decided to become stronger?”

“Woof!” The little Cloud Pup nodded seriously, fully determined to maintain its position as Senior White Fang!

“Then why not consider learning [Moonlight Radiance]?” Mu Huiyue pulled out the still-pristine [B-Rank Skill Book: Moonlight Radiance].

This was the first B-Rank skill book she had ever drawn, initially intended for White Fang. But to this day, she hadn’t managed to teach it the skill.

At first, Mu Huiyue thought it was an issue with latent energy or growth stage. But judging by Harvey’s situation, White Fang, a Warrior-Class species at High Growth Stage, should theoretically have the energy necessary to learn a B-Rank skill.

Moonlight Radiance couldn’t be taught, likely due to White Fang’s emotions or, more precisely, its personality traits.

Back at the Cloud Pup breeding base, White Fang had always been the bravest among the dark-type Cloud Pups. No matter how many skills and strategies it learned, what White Fang loved most in battle was always charging forward.

Among the skills it had mastered, Dark Assault and Lunar Blast had the highest proficiency, both of which were aggressive, forward-assault skills.

From a tactical perspective, learning the recovery skill Moonlight Radiance would significantly enhance White Fang’s endurance on the battlefield. However, White Fang itself might not yet realize this.

“Woof…” The little Cloud Pup sat on the ground, its tail swishing like flowing clouds behind it, looking a bit dejected.

A B-level skill represents the power of a sovereign-class species—a very potent skill book. For the beastmaster to invest such precious resources in it, only for White Fang to still be unable to master the skill, was a bit frustrating.

“White Fang, you don’t dislike this skill—you want to learn it but just can’t grasp it yet, right?” Mu Huiyue asked.

This was important. If White Fang truly disliked recovery skills, she wouldn’t force her pet beast to master a power it was unwilling to use.

“Woof!” The little Cloud Pup nodded, scratching at the ground with its paw.

Ellen had Remains, and Harvey had Harvest and Scarecrow Substitute. Both possessed powerful recovery abilities. White Fang had suffered plenty during battle training and clearly understood the importance of recovery skills.

But it just couldn’t picture itself using such a skill on the battlefield. Every time it tried to absorb the skill book, its understanding of the skill’s essence remained blurry and elusive.

“Alright then, we’ll try a different approach,” Mu Huiyue said with a gentle smile.

Professor Xie’s recent research project had made some breakthroughs. She was already on her way to the Dark Attribute Research Institute, so it was the perfect opportunity to bring White Fang along and try something new.