In the days that followed, Lin Xing and Lumiya were a constant sight in the training grounds.
Meanwhile, Little White spent every day with Snowball, watching as it absorbed the energy from the Talent Ascension Stone bit by bit.
Although the little white dragon’s size hadn’t changed much, the Ice Element swirling around it was becoming increasingly dense, even its breath carried a faint chill.
Soon enough, the day of the Freshman Beast Taming Potential Tournament arrived, and the arena was packed with students.
On the main stage, several Instructors sat upright and dignified, their gazes sweeping over the participants below.
Lin Xing stood in line, holding Lumiya’s hand.
Lumiya had changed into a crisp, short battle outfit, the hem of her skirt ending at her knees—perfect for combat.
“Are you nervous?”
Lin Xing lowered his head and asked her.
Lumiya’s lips twitched.
Nervous? Was there any reason to be nervous about fighting a bunch of kindergarteners?
But she still pretended to try hard, saying, “Not nervous at all! I, the mighty dragon, am sure to win!”
No sooner had she finished speaking than footsteps sounded nearby.
It was Little White, hugging Snowball as she walked over.
“Snowball has successfully ascended!”
Little White excitedly showed off the little white dragon in her arms.
A small ice-blue horn had appeared on Snowball’s head.
Upon seeing Lumiya, Snowball immediately jumped down from Little White’s arms and circled around Lumiya twice.
Lumiya raised her eyebrows—the purity of Dragon Blood in this little fellow had really improved.
The so-called Freshman Beast Taming Potential Tournament was a top-level competition among new students from the main academy.
The rewards were exceedingly generous.
As long as you placed in the top ten, you were essentially guaranteed a direct path to the prestigious First Academy.
Every Champion Beastmaster in the tournament’s history had, without exception, ascended to SSS Potential. Even several of the world’s current top powerhouses had started as Champions here.
It was easy to imagine how such a competition would gather elite freshmen from branch academies all over. For fairness, the venue changed every year.
This year, it was being hosted at the Lincheng Branch of the Advanced Beastmaster Vocational High School.
The tournament was divided into group stages and elimination rounds.
Lin Xing and Lumiya’s first opponent was the Earth Bear, a beast tamed by a robust, dark-skinned male student who looked at Lin Xing and Lumiya with a simple, honest smile.
At the referee’s signal,
The Earth Bear slammed its paw onto the ground. Instantly, a rift cracked open, spreading toward Lin Xing.
The honest-looking boy wasn’t idle, either.
With a swift double slap to the earth, sharp earthen spikes shot up along the edge of the fissure.
“Jump!” Lin Xing called, leaping into the air with Lumiya.
Lumiya twisted in midair, her dragon tail sweeping powerfully toward the Earth Bear.
The Earth Bear roared in pain.
The robust boy’s expression didn’t change.
He wasn’t stupid; the opponents were a dragon-horned little girl and a boy.
Clearly, the dragon-horned girl was the Beastmaster’s tamed beast.
A humanoid beast! He was truly envious!
“Send her flying!” he commanded, though his envy didn’t stop him from giving ruthless orders.
No joke—humanoid beasts weren’t just cute.
They also meant overwhelming dominance among beasts of the same rank!
The bear’s huge paw, like a giant fan, whooshed toward Lumiya midair.
A flicker of disdain crossed Lumiya’s eyes.
Not only did she not dodge, she clenched her small, fair fist, golden light shimmering at her knuckles, and punched straight at the bear’s paw.
A muffled “boom” echoed.
Fist and paw collided, golden light and earth-yellow energy scattering in all directions.
The massive Earth Bear was sent flying by the force,
While Lumiya spun lightly using the recoil, landing steadily beside Lin Xing.
“Now!”
Flames erupted from Lin Xing’s fingertips, and at the same time, Lumiya unleashed her Dragon Breath.
A golden-red fireball surged toward the Earth Bear with overwhelming momentum.
The Earth Bear tried to defend with Earth Shield, but the fireball pierced through instantly, knocking the bear to the ground with a heavy thud—incapacitated.
The Earth Bear’s Beastmaster looked at the delicate little fist hovering over him and his lips twitched.
Defeated.
What was the point of fighting?
He’d lost in sheer strength.
His Earth Bear might not be a power type, but to see a golden-haired little girl punch it flying… the scene was simply too shocking.
He thought, if that little fist hit him, wouldn’t he be scattered into pieces?
Although he hadn’t expected to win when facing a humanoid beast, he never thought he’d lose this badly.
When the focus shifted to Little White’s arena, Group B’s match was in full swing.
Her opponent was a lithe girl, green light flickering at her fingertips, a cold-glinting short dagger hanging at her waist.
Beside her, a Wind Eagle hovered midair, gray feathers rippling with howling gales.
Its sharp beak opened and closed with ear-piercing cries—clearly a speed type.
“Wind Eagle, dive and strike!”
At her command, the Wind Eagle shot toward Snowball like an arrow, the gust from its wings making the flags at the arena’s edge snap and flutter.
Taking the chance, the girl crouched low, swiftly drawing her dagger as she darted toward Little White, her movements masked by the air currents stirred up by the Wind Eagle.
But Little White showed no sign of panic.
She’d already discerned her opponent’s intentions from their positioning. Ice shards condensed at her fingertips as she calmly ordered,
“Snowball, Ice Mist! Ice Spike Guard!”
Snowball raised its head and let out a clear dragon’s cry, unleashing a thick wave of icy mist. Ice-blue fog quickly spread, blanketing the entire arena in white.
At the same time, several half-meter-high ice spikes burst from the ground before Little White, forming a crystal-clear shield.
The Wind Eagle’s dive faltered, the ice mist blurring its vision, and the frigid air seeped through its feathers, making its muscles stiffen with cold.
Its wings faltered, and its shrill cries became tinged with anxiety.
The attacking girl lost her aim in the icy fog, her dagger striking an ice spike with a crisp “clang,” numbing her wrist from the impact.
“Now!!”
Little White pressed her palms together, azure light erupting as her energy resonated with Snowball’s Ice Element.
Within the mist, snowflakes surged, gathering rapidly into dozens of arm-thick ice lances, like a rain of arrows converging on the Wind Eagle.
“Wind Wall!!”
Her opponent called desperately.
The Wind Eagle flapped furiously, cyclones swirling around it to form a Wind Wall.
But the wind element was never great for defense.
Facing Snowball, now at SSS Potential, the flimsy Wind Wall was as thin as paper.
The ice lances sliced through the air with a “shhh” and pierced the Wind Wall with ease, striking the wings dead-on.
The Wind Eagle let out a mournful screech, its wings flapping weakly before it crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust, utterly unable to rise again.
Just as the girl tried to rush to her Wind Eagle’s aid, cold air snaked around her ankles.
Several sharp Ice Crystals appeared at her sides, pinning her wrist and waist with precision, rendering her immobile.
Victory!
With the group stages concluded, Lin Xing and Lumiya, as well as Little White and Snowball, all advanced to the elimination rounds.
In the rest area, Lumiya was sprawled across Lin Xing’s lap, munching on freshly bought meat buns.
Snowball was licking an ice-cream-shaped energy supplement from Little White’s hand.
Glancing at the list for the next round, Little White exclaimed,
“Lin Xing, your next opponent is from the East City Branch Academy, and he’s already at Stage 0, 7 Stars?
Even more impressive, his Thunder Wolf is supposedly a special variant with a trace of Dragon Blood?”
Lin Xing glanced at the match list and replied carelessly,
“Piece of cake! Easy!”
Seriously, just Stage 0, 7 Stars.
Lin Xing himself had already touched the threshold of Stage 1. If he weren’t worried about drawing too much attention, he’d have already broken through and contracted his second beast.
Lumiya was even more ridiculous. Although she always refused to say whenever Lin Xing asked, he suspected she had already broken through to Stage 1!
Because of this, he had specifically reminded Lumiya to hold back and not kill anyone’s beast.
Although as long as a beast’s True Spirit remained, it could be Revived in the Tamer’s Space,
Revival took time—the stronger the beast, the longer it took to return.
Some top-tier beasts were said to require not only lengthy revival periods but also rare materials to awaken!
For low-level beasts like theirs, a week at most would suffice, but it could still affect their results.
The academy’s rules strictly forbade killing an opponent’s beast.
If that happened, it would be counted as a loss!
However, as long as the beast didn’t die, no matter how badly it was injured, it was fine.
The school had brought in high-level healing-type Beastmasters from the First Academy.
With their Healing, curing low-level beasts was just a matter of minutes.
Still… even though the treatment was free,
During the healing process, the school would use an Advanced Secret Art developed by the First Academy’s healing Instructors.
This secret art could greatly enhance Healing efficiency, but the price was that it would synchronize the pain felt by the beast and transmit it directly to the Beastmaster.
Since the introduction of this secret art, the frequency of those extreme acts where Beastmasters recklessly sacrificed their beasts had plummeted.
If the healing team encountered a Beastmaster who didn’t cherish their beast, they would often use this secret art.
Some would even secretly increase the Beastmaster’s sensory sensitivity, making them experience their beast’s pain firsthand.