Chapter 123

At the end of December, as the weather gradually grew colder, the atmosphere at school, on the other hand, started to heat up.

The most anticipated grand event of the semester—the end-of-term battle exam for the freshman year in the Battle Department—was about to begin: the [University Battle Pre-qualifier].

The Battle Department’s courses had all concluded a week earlier, giving the students ample time for self-training and adjustments, preparing for the upcoming competition.

Mu Huiyue returned to her rented apartment, and her consciousness sank into the Beast Mastery Space. She took a moment to reflect on the gains she had made this semester.

Her Beast Mastery Space had reached level 5, allowing her to contract three mature pets. Additionally, she had unlocked five talent skills through the World Tree: [Combat Resonance], [Energy Enhancement], [One-Way Interaction], [Event Preview], and [Energy Refinement].

[Combat Resonance] instantly boosts the power of a pet’s skills during a battle. [Energy Enhancement] and [Energy Refinement] are long-term status-enhancing talents that continuously increase the dark-type latent energy and skill power of contracted pets, while also refining the skill release paths and improving the understanding of skill evolution.

[One-Way Interaction] and [Event Preview] are features related to the “Spirit Ranch Story” system. The former allows her to bring resources harvested from the Beast Mastery Space into the real world, while the latter is a preview of upcoming event activities in the card pool.

“An event pool can yield a massive amount of resources, greatly enhancing strength, making it very cost-effective.

For this reason, Mu Huiyue has been saving up the spirit spring droplets she obtained this month, without drawing cards immediately, planning to accumulate them until the next event.

Unfortunately, since the last [Harvest Season Special Recommended Summon], the system has yet to release the theme and timing for the next event.

In the Beast Master space, four pasture facilities have been developed so far.

In addition to the [World Tree], which represents the Beast Master themselves, there is a level 2 [Training Ground], as well as level 1 [Farmland] and [Rest Cabin].

White Fang loves staying in the [Rest Cabin], bringing all its favorite toys inside. The [Farmland] is Harvey’s exclusive domain, with all the seeds growing lush and vibrant.

However, over the past month, the most commonly used facility by the beasts has been the [Training Ground].

Mu Huiyue intentionally slowed the progression of her three beasts’ upgrades, focusing on “subtraction” as the main training goal this week.

She opened the [Training Ground] details page and selected to view the latest information on the three beasts.”

[Attributes]: Dark, Undead

[Racial Level]: Low-level Monarch

[Growth Rank]: Mature Phase 1

[Talent Core]: Shadow Stealth (Dark, B-level)

[Skills]: Intimidate (Dark, B-level), Underworld Fire (Fire, B-level), Bone Blade Piercing (Dark, B-level), Undead Summon (Undead, B-level), Corpse (Undead, C-level), Calcification (Steel, C-level), Soul Tremor (Undead, C-level)

After successfully breaking through to the mature phase, Ellen gained two additional B-level skills, and her normal hidden energy reached 150,000P.

The evolved B-level skill [Undead Summon] can summon corporeal skeletal undead from the death fog, using projections of some skills, allowing Ellen to employ diverse tactical approaches.”

Name: White Fang (Frost Night Fighting Wolf)

[Attributes]: Dark, Ice

[Racial Level]: High-level Monarch

[Growth Rank]: Mature Phase 1

[Talent Core]: Polar Night Echo (Dark, A-level)

[Skills]: Eclipse Impact (Dark, A-level), Shadow Hunt (Dark, A-level), Moonlight (Dark, B-level), Frost Slash (Ice, B-level), Frost Blessing Armor (Ice, C-level), Robust Body (Steel, C-level)

White Fang remains in the mature phase 1 state, with normal hidden energy reaching 180,000P under the effect of [Robust Body], already approaching the strength of phase 2 of maturity.

The “subtraction” training has been very successful, as White Fang can precisely control the power and consumption of [Eclipse Impact] and [Polar Night Echo], and the proficiency of [Shadow Hunt] has skyrocketed. During battles, even Ellen couldn’t tell which was the moon shadow.

[Attributes]: Dark, Wood

[Racial Level]: High-level Monarch

[Growth Rank]: Growth Phase 8

[Talent Core]: Scarecrow Avatar (Wood, B-level)

[Skills]: Evil Ghost Face (Dark, A-level), Harvest (Wood, A-level), Malicious Taunt (Dark, B-level), Crow Feather Storm (Dark, B-level), Decaying Fruit (Wood, C-level), Wood Thorns (Wood, C-level)

Harvey is also at Growth Phase 8, and its training during this time has focused on skill proficiency.

The C-level skill [Wood Thorns], which originally required activation when used as a state skill, Mu Huiyue hopes that Harvey can, like Ellen with [Shadow Cloak], turn this state skill into a permanent passive effect.

This way, during battles, there would be no need to issue specific commands to use the skill—whenever the opponent launches a physical attack, they would receive counter damage from [Wood Thorns].

When Harvey is stationed in the [Farmland], it also tries to maintain the [Wood Thorns] state as much as possible.

Unaware of this, White Fang, after finishing training one day, as usual, tried to sneak into the [Farmland] to chew on a wooden post for fun. However, it was painfully countered by [Wood Thorns] and almost chipped its teeth.

Well, now the bone structure can’t even bite properly, and the little wooden post is full of thorns after a single bite. White Fang lost all its fun chew toys.

The aggrieved white wolf ran to the Beast Master, whining and showing the small injury on its teeth.

Mu Huiyue, suppressing her laughter, comforted White Fang for a while. But wasn’t there that little favorite toy in the [Rest Cabin], the complete bone?

White Fang, now a Frost Night Fighting Wolf, declared that the bone toy was the little cloud dog’s favorite, but for it, a lively, moving chew stick would be more fun.

For this, it would have to train harder to improve. Once it could easily catch Ellen in the shadows or ignore Harvey’s [Wood Thorns] counterattack and bite through it, it would be a wolf with happiness again!

…

After preparing everything, Mu Huiyue went to meet her friend Wen Li.

With the help of the [Burning Blood] talent, Wen Li had recently successfully broken through to a level 4 Beast Master. Yanxi Miao had reached Growth Phase 9, and the newly hatched Fire Moth had reached Growth Phase 6.

This growth speed was quite extraordinary compared to other Beast Masters of the same level.

Wen Li’s Beast Master talent was like an extremely specialized student, limiting the attributes of contracted pets while providing unparalleled buffs to fire-type pets.

Soon, the day of the [High School Battle Preliminaries] arrived.

Although called the [Preliminaries], it wasn’t a pre-event for other large tournaments. It was originally planned for a large commercial league hosted by high schools and battle clubs. However, it was later overtaken by national tournaments, evolving into a stage for new high school Beast Masters.

The preliminaries were held in the capital city, Jingjiang City, using the competition venue of the Xingyao Battle Club. More than 600 new Beast Masters from over 15 Beast Master high schools across the country participated.

Mu Huiyue had previously visited the Xingyao Battle Club competition venue with Wen Li. It was a luxurious battle arena used for commercial leagues, capable of accommodating over 10,000 spectators.”

“Looking back, since becoming a Beast Master, she had participated in many battles, but she had never faced a Beast Master battle in such a truly high-profile competition arena.

Not just her, most of the new students who had just entered the battle department hadn’t experienced such a grand stage either. Just thinking about it was enough to make them excited.

This was also the original intention of holding the [High School Battle Preliminaries] in a luxurious commercial battle arena—to allow the truly passionate Beast Masters, those with great potential, to enter the public eye from this moment on and experience the joy of battling.

Upon learning about the venue for the preliminaries, Wen Li also felt a bit sentimental. During the summer vacation, when she and Mu Huiyue went to watch the competition, she had hoped for the day when she could stand on the battlefield herself.

She didn’t expect her words to come true so quickly, and now here was the perfect opportunity.

“Mu Huiyue, good luck in the competition! We’ll meet at the top!” Wen Li extended her fist toward her friend.

“Mm, good luck to you too.” Mu Huiyue also extended her hand, bumping fists with her friend.

…”

“The [High School Battle Preliminaries] used a single-elimination format throughout. Over 600 Beast Masters participated in the preliminaries, with four rounds of preliminary battles to be held until the top 32 were determined. After that, the competition would be open to the public, where the birth of the champion would be witnessed by thousands of spectators.

Considering the differences in strength between schools, the organizing committee had pre-selected a list of seed players.

Beast Masters on this list only needed to participate in the fourth round of the preliminaries, starting from the top 32 and competing for a spot in the top 16.

This system was also designed to protect ordinary Beast Masters from encountering powerhouse players too early, preventing them from receiving an evaluation that didn’t reflect their actual abilities.

Mu Huiyue saw her name on the seed player list.

Most of the names came from the five major universities, and many were familiar faces from the national ranking matches.

However, Mu Huiyue didn’t see Lin Lin or Han Ruoyu; neither of them were students from the battle department, so they didn’t participate in this preliminary.

The first three rounds of the preliminaries would be held on the first and second days, and Mu Huiyue quickly lost interest after watching a few matches.

Although they had entered university, most of the new Beast Masters still relied on brute strength based on race level, growth stages, and normal hidden energy values. Their moves mainly focused on offensive skills, and very few utilized the advantages of attribute counters.

Battles of this level were something Mu Huiyue could easily win in high school.

The ones she needed to focus on were indeed those on the seed player list.”

“She sank her consciousness into the Beast Master space. During the two days before the competition began, she would spend her time meditating in the [Training Ground] for feedback.

Finally, on the third day, Mu Huiyue received information about her first opponent.

She raised an eyebrow in surprise, not expecting it to be someone she knew.

The opponent was He Yu, a Beast Master from the first year of the Battle Department at Hongzhou University.

Mu Huiyue didn’t know him, but she was familiar with his beast. It was the same [Timid Mushroom] that had appeared in the Thunderfruit exhibition event.

Now it had evolved into a [Fainthearted Mushroom], and it still retained its characteristic of glowing in the night, which remained its most powerful trump card in battle.

Mu Huiyue immediately felt a sense of anticipation. She was eager to experience the actual effects of the Thunderfruit’s influence on Beast Master talents in a real battle.”