Chapter 9

“Are you talking about the Spirit Nourishing Stone?”

The staff patiently explained, “This stone was sent here a year ago. According to the research institute’s judgment, carrying it on a mystical beast can slightly speed up the recovery of the beast’s mental power.”

“The effect is good, but the ‘slightly’ is really very slight—kind of useless—so it’s categorized as a Level 3 resource.”

“Do you want to choose this? I suggest you look again. This is mainly used by adventurers exploring other dimensions, so it’s not very useful for students like you…”

But Xia Muqing decisively closed the list. “No, I want this one.”

The Beast Tamer Association completely misunderstood it. In the game, this item is called a “Refining Stone.”

It shouldn’t be carried by the mystical beast but ground into powder, heated into a paste, and fed to the beast!

Its real effect is to boost the beast’s potential, meaning it increases the attribute values on the stats panel!

Xia Muqing was ecstatic.

Refining Stones also have attribute types, and this one happened to be for mental power. Giving it to little Swiftwind Dog would raise its mental attribute.

If it could break through 95, then little Swiftwind Dog would definitely become a divine beast with both speed and mental attributes maxed!

The only pity was that this stone was sent a year ago, so much of its contained energy might have dissipated.

Xia Muqing anxiously waited.

The Beast Tamer Association worked efficiently, an hour later, the Refining Stone was delivered to her.

It was a pebble-sized stone, faintly glowing with a ghostly blue light—not filling the whole stone but shaped like a ping-pong ball inside.

Seeing the stone, Xia Muqing breathed a sigh of relief.

Ping-pong ball size—that was a good amount, so raising Xiao Feng’s mental attribute was basically guaranteed.

And there would be some left over—Xu Ling’s Bright Moon Oriole also had mental attributes, so she could share half with her friend.

—

Back home, Xia Muqing eagerly started “cooking” the stone.

The little Swiftwind Dog watched nearby, blinking in disbelief.

Is the owner crazy? How can someone cook a stone to eat?

“Awooo!”

Don’t worry, master! I’ve gotten stronger—I’ll help you ace the subject division exam!

Xia Muqing looked excited as she stirred the powdered stone in the pot. “Don’t rush, Xiao Feng. I’ll feed this to you soon. Haha, surviving a great disaster must bring good fortune—I guess I’ve just stumbled upon a big jackpot…”

The little Swiftwind Dog: “???”

What the heck? This is for me to eat?

With the master’s order, little Swiftwind Dog dared not refuse. Nervously, it watched as a bowl of strange blue-glowing paste was poured into its food dish and then brought to its mouth by Xia Muqing.

Closing its eyes, little Swiftwind Dog took a deep breath and tried a small bite… Hmm, it’s actually quite tasty?

It soon began to eat greedily.

Unlike the taste of nutritional supplements, this stuff looked like stone but after grinding and cooking, it turned into a jelly-like gel—soft, smooth, and very refreshing to eat.

After eating, it felt as if a cool breeze was blowing through its mind, suddenly clearing up its thoughts.

Skills it had struggled to understand before—like ‘Intimidation’—now flooded its mind, along with many new insights.

“Awooo!”

Master, it feels like I’ve gotten even stronger!

“That’s the way to be.”

Xia Muqing rubbed its little head, watching the mental power on its stats panel rise from 93 to 95, nodding with satisfaction.

Then she packed the remaining stone jelly into an insulated box and opened the door.

“I’m going to Xu Ling’s place for a bit—be a good guard, Xiao Feng!”

—

Xu Ling trusted Xia Muqing completely.

So even when Xia Muqing showed up late at night, carrying a bowl of strange blue goo with a subtle smile, intending to feed it to her beloved Bright Moon Oriole, Xu Ling happily agreed.

The results were obvious. Bright moon oriole swept through the room like a wind vortex, then let out a satisfied burp: “Chirp!”

Xu Ling stared at it eagerly. “How do you feel? What’s it like?”

Bright moon oriole tilted its head, opened its bright red beak, and spat out a translucent bubble.

When the bubble landed on Xu Ling, she suddenly shivered, feeling a warm current flow inside her body, washing away the fatigue of the entire day.

Then Bright Moon Oriole let out a clear, melodious cry.

The song was beautiful and graceful but carried a strange vibration, making Xu Ling’s vision darken and the world spin in an instant.

Xu Ling: “What the heck, you’ve learned both ‘Soothing Song’ and ‘Demonic Resonance‘?”

“I had a teacher train you for seven days and you still didn’t learn, but after eating a bowl of that goo, you got it?”

Xu Ling was overjoyed, grabbing Xia Muqing and shouting excitedly, “What exactly is this miracle stuff? Do you have more? Can I have a bowl too? Sometimes my brain feels slow…”

Xia Muqing: “???”

That’s ridiculous, you!

“Shh,” Xia Muqing raised a finger. “Don’t tell anyone. Just say that little Oriole learned it all by itself.”

Xu Ling nodded repeatedly and gave a thumbs up. “Got it. Quietly making big gains—I understand.”

—

In the following period, Xia Muqing helped little Swiftwind Dog strengthen several skills.

She took it to the training ground to spar with various other mystical beasts, helping it broaden its horizons.

The little Swiftwind Dog basically won every match, and its confidence soared.

With its natural talent, breaking through limits, and having eaten the refining stone, Xia Muqing guessed that among un-evolved mystical beasts, it now had very few rivals.

However, her classmates clearly didn’t think so.

Ten days later, the subject exams were about to start. Someone led the charge by sending a message in the group chat: “Heaven help me, I hope I get drawn against Xia Muqing tomorrow.”

Below, many copied the same message, lined up neatly.

Xia Muqing: 【smile.jpg】

She hoped these people wouldn’t regret it after the exams tomorrow.

The next day, Xia Muqing got up early and, full of energy with little Swiftwind Dog, headed to the exam venue.

Students from across the city gathered there, and opponents were chosen by drawing lots on site. The draw was completely random, and each person had to fight three matches in total.

This was to ensure that students could fully demonstrate their mystical beasts’ potential and their own training ability during the exam. Even if someone lost, if they fought well, they might still pass.

But if someone lost all three matches…

That would be really tough.

Although judges didn’t score solely based on wins and losses, results still mattered a lot.

The exam hall was packed. Xia Muqing checked her exam number and found the B3 area.

As soon as she entered, she saw a familiar face—Liu Pan, holding a Azure Nether Serpent, dressed flashy from head to toe, spitting insults loudly in the center of the hall.

“Your Rosy Core won’t do—my Obsidian Snake can swallow you in one bite.”

“Steel Fang Rabbit? Trash. Believe it or not, one bite of venom and you’ll be down.”

“You’d better pray you don’t run into me—I’m definitely going for the highest score. Instant kill, of course it’s instant kill!”

“Hey, poor guy, you’re here? Ready to die?”

Xia Muqing: “…”

She didn’t even bother to respond and just walked straight past Liu Pan.

Half a month ago, little Swiftwind Dog wasn’t completely confident against the Azure Nether Serpent, but now, after half a month, Xia Muqing no longer even regarded the Obsidian Snake as a threat.

No one else could imagine just how strong little Swiftwind Dog had become.

And today, she was going to show everyone exactly that!

—

After everyone entered, the signal was blocked on-site, and the grouping results were immediately displayed on the screen.

Xia Muqing found her name, then looked down, her expression turning slightly complicated.

First match: opponent Cao Wei, a classmate from the neighboring class.

Second match: Liu Pan, a nemesis.

Third match: Lu Wenshen, the top student in the entire S City No. 1 High School.

It was strange.

Xia Muqing wasn’t afraid to face any opponent, but in the office, when Teacher Li, who had been waiting, saw the list, his face instantly darkened.

“How did they even group them like this? This is so unfair to my student!”

First, Cao Wei—the top student from the next class. According to Teacher Wang from the office, Cao Wei raised a Yellow Tear Monkey, which was very powerful.

Second, Liu Pan—no need to say more. The Azure Nether Serpent was definitely a deadly weapon in this exam.

Third, Lu Wenshen—other students only knew he was the top in the neighboring school’s grade, but Teacher Li knew this kid came from a powerful family. His father was a high-ranking official in the Beast Tamer Association, his mother a CEO of a family enterprise—rich and influential. How could his trained mystical beast be weak?

Frankly, Teacher Li believed Lu Wenshen was the strongest among these students.

He was definitely aiming for the top total score.

For most students, the subject exams only determined if they could choose the Beast Taming major, but those with connections knew an extra piece of news: the top five students in the subject exam would get resource priority from the S City Beast Tamer Association and would join the city team three months later to represent S City in the “New Beast Tamers Competition.”

That was a provincial-level contest with rich prizes, plus bonuses for prestigious schools, early admissions… all kinds of benefits beyond imagination.

“Sigh.”

Teacher Li let out a long sigh.

Although Xia Muqing felt sorry for herself, the match list had already been released and no one could change it — this was fate.

All that could be said was that this kid really had some bad luck.

—

Inside the B3 testing area, Xia Muqing had already found Cao Wei according to the groupings.

The two entered the battle room, and Cao Wei deliberately took a half-step back, whispering beside Xia Muqing, “Hey, I heard you’re raising that low-quality Swiftwind Dog Liu Pan abandoned?”

Xia Muqing: “…Yes.”

Cao Wei, excited, said, “You’ve had it tough too. When the battle starts, let your Swiftwind Dog use all its skills one by one. After you finish showing off, I’ll defeat you—so the examiners can at least give you some extra points.”

Xia Muqing took a deep breath and glanced sideways at him.

“Thanks for considering me,” she said, “But I won’t let you take advantage either. When the battle starts, you let your mystical beast use all its skills one by one first.”

“Otherwise, when my Swiftwind Dog attacks, I’m afraid you won’t even be able to block one move.”

Cao Wei: “???”