Chapter 42

The few officials in the examination office were familiar with the characteristics of the Guava Flower. However, the fact that Lu Ai was able to quickly gather companions and build a base-like puppet area centered around wood-type resources clearly showed his exceptional leadership at Li Shang High School.

“If no one breaks through in the early stages, the number of Guava Puppets will continue to grow, and Li Shang High School’s strength will only increase,” one of them said.

The head of the Xingyao Battle Club stroked his chin, appearing quite interested in Lu Ai.

The Guava Flower is a high-tier elite species, with its evolutionary form being a battle general species. While it is not an especially rare or powerful beast, battle clubs favor competitors who use ordinary beasts to achieve extraordinary results.

The “Vision System V-Type” continued to play key highlights from the following segments.

Ranked second on the leaderboard was Fang Xuyang from Hongzhou Shengshuitan High School.

He and five companions had successfully gathered, and their tactical strategy was simple and brutal: directly engage in battles with all encountered competitors and high-level extraordinary creatures.

The footage from Shengshuitan High School mostly showed battles. While most participants were still observing, Fang Xuyang had already eliminated over ten people, including the participant ranked “11th” from Capital Beast Master High School.

Equally noted was Lin Fei from Xingzhou, who had a rather mediocre performance on the first day.

He rarely took the initiative to attack, effortlessly defeating all the extraordinary creatures and participants he encountered.

Ranked fifth on the leaderboard was Lin Lin from the Yunzhou Original Wood Research Institute.

Her contracted beast was not the mushroom from the highlight video, but a particularly frail, grass-leaf-like small creature.

The crowd was familiar with this contracted beast—a common wood-type creature in Yunzhou, a low-tier elite species, the Wangye Grass.

At this stage, a beginner Beast Master could never reach the fifth spot on the leaderboard with a truly low-tier elite species.

The next scene showed Lin Lin and her Wangye Grass encountering a Mud Marsh Giant Crow, a wild extraordinary creature at the Monarch level in its growth stage.

This was one of the most dangerous wild extraordinary creatures in the secret realm’s exam.

The Mud Marsh Giant Crow also had poisonous attacks that could restrain plant-type beasts. Under normal circumstances, the Wangye Grass would be defeated in less than half a round.

Lin Lin said something to the Wangye Grass, and then the scene paused, as if some mysterious force field expanded around the Wangye Grass.

The Mud Marsh Giant Crow roared and charged toward the human Beast Master, but in the next instant, it seemed to have seen a terrifying enemy. It retracted its limbs and the mud it was scattering, retreating two steps in fear.

Upon witnessing this scene, the Beast Masters in the proctoring office straightened in their seats.

With the combat experience of everyone present, none of them could recognize what kind of skill this was.

Lin Lin did not give the Mud Marsh Giant Crow a chance to escape. The Wangye Grass‘s root system snapped apart, extending more thick roots, which combined to form an entirely new beast.

The new creature resembled a giant, oversized King Flower. Its petals were enormous and thick, with a bright red color. In the center of the petals was a constantly expanding and contracting large mouth, surrounded by sharp tusks along its 360-degree edge, and thorny vines extended from inside its mouth.

This King Flower also had a robust body, with its roots fully uprooted to form walking legs.

The roots were rough and jagged, making an ear-piercing friction sound as it moved. Combined with the mouth full of tusks constantly opening and closing, the plant-like appearance of the creature was enough to send a chill down the spine of anyone who saw it for the first time.

The special evolution of the Wangye Grass, a Wood Elemental Intermediate General Rank creature: Wangye King Flower.

Even after evolving into an Intermediate General Rank creature, in theory, the Wangye King Flower does not have an advantage over the Mud Marsh Giant Crow, a Monarch Rank creature.

However, the Mud Marsh Giant Crow became even more terrified. Its black, bean-like eyes were filled with despair. It hardly fought back and was struck on the head crystal by the Wangye King Flower‘s extended vine whip, losing its points.

The bizarre nature of this battle left the proctoring office in silence for a moment.

“Disguise ability?” The head of the Xingyao Combat Club analyzed.

Earlier, the Wangye Grass hadn’t shown any signs of evolution, so it couldn’t have evolved on the spot. This was likely a rare ability that disguised itself as a pre-evolutionary stage.

“And that skill earlier, which seemed like a force field, must be an unpublished new skill, right, Elder Kang?” The Vice Chancellor of Jingzhou University looked towards the president of the Beast Masters Association in Jingzhou.

“The new discovery from the Wood Research Institute, said to be a special spiritual skill that only wood-elemental beasts can learn,” Kang Yao nodded, his information channels more extensive than those of everyone present.

“It’s expected to be published in next month’s journal of the Affairs Bureau. At this stage, I don’t know the exact effects of this skill.”

In the video, a young girl dressed in field training clothes, chewing bubble gum, was earnestly lecturing the Wangye King Flower.

“Your eating posture is too rude, Flower.”

“If you want to be a lady, at least eat elegantly.”

“Glub glub glub…” The Wangye King Flower made strange noises in response. Its thick roots straightened a little, and the whole flower appeared to be standing up, not necessarily more graceful, but certainly livelier.

Its massive roots wrapped around the unconscious Mud Marsh Giant Crow, slowly swallowing the large clump of its muddy-colored body.

…

When the time on the wristband jumped past 0:00, a small-winged terminal appeared beside Mu Huiyue, projecting a semi-transparent frame that displayed the results at the end of the first day.

Her ranking had advanced by one position from what she had expected, now standing at 20th place.

Currently, there are 146 participants still alive on the island. The top of the leaderboard is Lu Ai from Li State’s Li Shang High School, with a total of 3466 points.

Mu Huiyue was not surprised by Lu Ai taking the top spot. She was familiar with the characteristics of the Bala Flower, and in a dense forest environment, it was indeed easy to gain an early advantage.

The participants ranked in the top ten were mostly well-known figures who appeared in the Kumasi video reviews. However, Mu Huiyue’s alma mater performed rather poorly on the first day. Lin Fei didn’t even make it into the top ten, with only Chen Jiashu, ranked 8th, representing her school.

The wild survival competition lasts for five days, and each participant has their own strategy for accumulating points.

Points are awarded for defeating other participants, and the daily ranking determines the points. The points of the defeated participant will not change based on how many points they earned themselves.

In other words, defeating the 10th place participant yields the same reward as defeating the 1st place participant.

Therefore, apart from people like Fang Xuyang, who are absolutely confident in their strength and openly start fighting to gain points, there are also types like Lu Ai, who need to accumulate enough advantages early on.

They are even willing to serve as bait, drawing other participants toward them, and will go all out on the first day to secure the top spot.

On the other hand, the alumni from Changning City seem to be like Mu Huiyue, not wanting to enter the top ten too early and become a target for others.

However, having eliminated over fifty participants on the first day, the competition might be even more intense than she had expected.

Mu Huiyue closed her eyes to rest in the tent she set up, while Baiya lay next to her, also with eyes closed, though its dog ears were upright.

No one would let their guard down in the wild at night.

However, the temperature difference between day and night on the island was quite large. In the latter half of the night, Mu Huiyue felt a slight chill in the tent and couldn’t help but pull the fluffy little Baiya onto her lap.

The warm, fluffy little dog ball was not only a loyal guard but also the best hand warmer for a Beastmaster.

As dawn approached, Mu Huiyue felt a fluctuation in her shadow.

She opened her eyes, gently stroked the little Xiaoyun Dog who had already fallen asleep in her arms, and placed it back beside her.

Ellen, who had been out gathering information, had finally returned.

Mu Huiyue looked at the shadow cast on the bottom of the tent and softly asked, “How is it?”

The space inside the tent was a bit cramped, and Ellen didn’t separate from the shadow. Mu Huiyue saw a faint, eerie blue flame light up at the position of her right eye in her shadow, followed by the familiar sound of a click.

“Click, click, click-click.”

(I swam north to the edge of the island, which took about four hours. Most of the secret realm is covered by forests, with the exception of the area near the center of the island.)

(There’s a hidden presence of some powerful creature there. I tried to infiltrate through the shadows, but I couldn’t break through that area.)

(It feels very similar to the secret realm of the Count’s mansion, so I suspect this is a part of the secret realm that hasn’t fully merged yet, and it’s likely where the master of the secret realm resides.)

“The master of the secret realm at the center of the island…” Mu Huiyue stroked her chin.

Ellen’s shadow infiltration essentially allows him to move through the shadow space beneath the shadows. Ordinary barriers cannot stop Ellen.

However, before the secret realm fully merges, it exists within an independent overlapping space, an area that shadow space cannot directly pass through.

But Ellen is already a mid-growth stage of a monarch-level creature. Even he sensed a dangerous and powerful presence, which suggests that the master of the secret realm is likely far more formidable than originally anticipated.

“Click-click.” (I also encountered human beastmasters from Hongzhou on my way.)

Mu Huiyue nodded. Ellen had watched the Kumaxi summary video with her, and he remembered every person who appeared in it.

“Fang Xuyang from Shengshui Tan High School?” she asked.

“Click.” (Including him, six beastmasters from Shengshui Tan High School are searching for your whereabouts, Huiyue.)

“Looking for me?”

Mu Huiyue was a bit surprised. She didn’t even know Fang Xuyang, so why were they specifically looking for her?

“Click-click…”

The blue flame in the shadow’s right eye flickered, as if Ellen was considering his words carefully.

(I heard your name during my stealth, so I followed them for a bit longer.)

(The lead beastmaster asked everyone he defeated if they knew your location. He was angry with his companions and said, “This time, I’ll make you truly experience what a real beastmaster is, and take revenge for the previous humiliation.”)

Mu Huiyue: “……”

Not only are they looking for her, but it seems like they’re also seeking revenge?

She didn’t even need to guess; it was obvious that Ellen had softened the wording, making it sound less aggressive.

Mu Huiyue fell into deep thought. The words seemed to hint at a past grudge, but after carefully reviewing her memories, she was sure she didn’t know Fang Xuyang at all.

She had never been to Hongzhou, and the only commonality between them was that both their fathers were legendary beastmasters, right?

“Click-click.”

(Don’t worry, I’ll protect you, Huiyue. I’ll never lose to that Thunder Lion.)

The blue flame in the shadow flickered again, and Ellen’s click sounded reassuring.

The Thunder Lion is the evolved form of the Electric Light Lion. It seems Fang Xuyang’s boldness and ability to rise to second place on the scoreboard on the first day are also due to his beast’s evolution.

Upon hearing this, Mu Huiyue smiled faintly. Fang Xuyang was indeed strong, but she was just as powerful.

She had enough confidence and had prepared numerous strategies to ensure that Ellen wouldn’t lose to any opponent in this assessment.

If they wanted to avenge their previous defeat, let them come. It would actually save Mu Huiyue the trouble of searching for high-scoring targets.