Chapter 125: Chapter 113 Special Talent

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Chen Xing hadn’t expected the battle to end so quickly.

Usually, he would let Taotie spar with Sìxiàng.

Since the two beasts didn’t share the same role, if Taotie got close, Sìxiàng would undoubtedly lose.

But Sìxiàng was clever. After being dominated by Taotie once up close, it never let Taotie get close again during their fights.

It always kept a great distance, which made its Thunder Spear increasingly accurate.

However, Chen Xing considered that if the distance was too great, Taotie would just be a target, which would defeat the purpose of training.

So Chen Xing restricted the area for their sparring.

The result was that Sìxiàng flew faster and its spear became even more precise.

But Taotie’s bursts of speed got fiercely faster, and even the little rascal had learned to move in quick bursts.

Usually, Taotie could handle dozens of Thunder Spear strikes and still frolic around energetically when sparring with Sìxiàng.

Unexpectedly, Tian Xuechuan’s beast had fallen after merely two strikes,

If only he had known, he would have let Sìxiàng show a bit more of its strength…

Chen Xing looked apologetically towards his senior.

Tian Xuechuan’s mouth twitched as he said irritably, “Don’t look at me with that disgusting gaze! I’m straight!”

“It’s not that I can’t take a loss, winning is winning, losing is losing. To go easy on me would be the real insult,” Tian Xuechuan huffed coldly.

“So you’re actually a tsundere,” Wu Ju teased, finding Tian Xuechuan’s this side quite amusing for the first time.

Embarrassed by the Goddess’s words, Tian Xuechuan’s face turned red.

“Actually, I have even more hidden cards. Sister Ju, would you like to find out more?” Tian Xuechuan said shyly.

“…Get lost!” Wu Ju flipped him off.

“Your beast is not bad, it’s just a pity that in the high school cup’s 4V4 fight, each person can only summon one beast. But you can keep your beast on standby along with another one, as your beast has a slightly stronger attack.”

Kuang Shiyi keenly noted the considerable difference in roles between Chen Xing’s second and first beast.

In fact, this was normal. A standard Beast Tamer’s beast combination would be balanced, offering both functionality and novelty. Few would choose to train the same species of beast repeatedly.

But a person’s energy is limited; it’s impossible to develop beasts of all roles and attributes simultaneously.

That’s why the team is also very important. In the Exotic Region, many exploration teams are made up of beasts with different types and roles.

Like Chen Xing’s Taotie would be quite popular in the Exotic Region as a rare frontline beast.

Most people wouldn’t specifically cultivate frontline tanks as beasts, because it’s the frontline that takes the hits, and they lack offensive power, depending more on teammates during battles.

So frontline tank beasts are quite rare, and Taotie is exactly this type of beast, which undoubtedly makes it more popular.

And it’s also a Water Element Beast, capable of handling certain special situations.

Beasts like Sìxiàng, which are ranged attackers, are fairly common, although Thunder Attribute ones are rarer.

Standing aside, Wen Jin said with a smile, “I feel like we might be able to reach a higher place this year.”

With Chen Xing getting stronger, they had a better chance of achieving a higher ranking, which was a good thing.

“Indeed,” Wu Ju said with a smile, “I doubt even my Shadow Spirit Cat could beat his Sìxiàng. Junior, you’re truly amazing.”

Tian Xuechuan, defeated by Chen Xing, wasn’t bitter, but hearing his Goddess praising someone else made him feel a bit sour.

In the past, Senior Sister only ever called him Junior…

The final fight was between Zhou Hao and Wang Bing.

Their level couldn’t be called poor. Aside from Chen Xing, they were undoubtedly the top two in the first-year class.

But with Sìxiàng’s performance as a reference, their battle seemed like child’s play in comparison.

All eyes turned to the two of them, and though silent, their gaze spoke volumes.

The battle-ending Sìxiàng returned to stand behind Chen Xing.

There were still lingering arcs of electricity on its body. As Chen Xing got closer, he heard the static electricity crackle uncontrollably on his sweater.

Sìxiàng, noticing the issue, promptly ran off to the side to discharge the static electricity.

After the first day of school, Chen Xing returned home.

He discovered that his sister, who had been missing for the entire winter vacation, had finally come home.

Examining her closely, he noticed that apart from her darker skin, there weren’t any significant changes.

“Did you go to a desert?”

“No, we went to a secret realm, one by the sea with a nice view of the beach. The only trouble was the fierce sunlight,” Chen Lingya said.

Chen Xing curiously asked, “Is there a sun in the secret realm too?”

“You can’t see the sun, but the sunlight just shines down directly. If your beast went, it would be quite suitable. That place is perfect for your beast.”

“How was your training this time?” Chen Xing couldn’t wait to learn more about it. He had heard that many provincial champion teams had gone there, and although he hadn’t gone himself, he had a sister who did.

Hearing her brother’s question, Chen Lingya couldn’t help but sigh, “To be honest, I felt a lot of pressure. I think this year’s high school cup might be the toughest one in recent years.”

“Every time, our teachers also say we are the worst batch,” Chen Xing nodded empathetically.

Chen Lingya shook her head, “It’s different. Not all champions went this time. I heard several people didn’t show up. Those people are said to be core members of both the Old Five Tigers and New Four Schools.”

“If they didn’t come, they must have more suitable places to be.” After going to his rivals’ secret realm once, Chen Xing realized that the real big families of this world had their own “exclusive secret realms.”

His own Taotie had evolved into a rare form in such an exclusive secret realm.

Others might simply have more fitting opportunities.

“Sis, how many spots did your team end up getting in this training session?”

“We didn’t rank,” Chen Lingya shook her head. “From beginning to end, the instructors never ranked us, though they must have records somewhere.”

Every team that had won a provincial championship was filled with exceptional people.

In that environment where talents were commonplace, even someone as confident as her felt like she had become “just another person.”

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“No worries, only a few from families like ours can even get in there. Just by entering, you’ve already succeeded. It would be truly outrageous if you could dominate the competition as soon as you walked in,” Chen Xing said with a grin.

Chen Lingya felt helpless, “I can’t tell if you’re comforting me or mocking me.”

“Of course, I’m comforting you.”

As she spoke, Chen Lingya took out a box from her bosom, “Here you go, I brought you a gift.”

“What is this?”

“Special food from the training camp, they say it’s a high-energy food produced by some secretive laboratory. Just this tiny piece can fill the stomach of a hundred-ton creature and satisfy its energy needs for the entire day.”

“Normally, each Beast Tamer gets one for their beast per day, but Chi Yu has a small appetite and couldn’t eat that much, so I broke it up and fed it in pieces, saving quite a bit.”

“Wow, so it’s the leftover food that you didn’t finish eating!”

“Do you want it? If not, I’ll take it back.”

“I want it!”

Chen Xing took the box and opened the lid. Inside were many pill-like objects the size of walnuts.

Chen Xing leaned in to smell them and detected a faint fishy fragrance.

“Right, sis, you haven’t mentioned which experts I should be wary of.”

“All of them!”

“…That’s as good as saying nothing.”

“How can there be weaklings there? Besides, each person’s Beast Taming Attribute and Species are different, so how do you compare.”

“It’s not about who can beat whom, there might be a situation like rock-paper-scissors where three people counter each other. It mainly depends on actual combat. But one thing is true, those who can enter there don’t have a Beast Taming Level less than 40!”

“Forty levels?”

Chen Xing pondered, so that means I’ve already caught up.

All of Sìxiàng’s levels were already full at 40, which was one of the reasons he was able to resolve the fight with the Fallen Hellhound so decisively today.

“I meant that when they first arrived, there wasn’t anyone with a level below forty,” Chen Lingya said.

“The instructor said at the assembly that this year’s batch is of good quality, with not a single beast with a level below 40.

As for how much the others have improved over the month, I’m not quite sure, but… Chi Yu has made no small progress.”

As she spoke, Chi Yu on the balcony turned its head, hearing its owner call.

Rising from the balcony, Chi Yu walked into the living room with elegant feline grace.

Chen Xing took a deep breath, “Oh my, Chi Yu, you smell so strongly of seafood!”

Chi Yu paused in its tracks, its eyes darkly watching Chen Xing.

After staying by the sea for a month, mingling with seafood every day, fighting seafood during the day, and soaking in a fishy, milky white pool in the cave at night, of course, it would smell like seafood!

It stayed on the balcony to try to air out the smell.

“The breeze won’t help, just airing it out would take forever. I’ll give you a bath later, I bought a bottle of mint-flavored Beast Taming shampoo,” Chen Xing said as he petted Chi Yu’s head.

It wasn’t just for farming skill points, he simply hadn’t interacted with his large feline for a long time.

But Chi Yu had indeed improved a lot; its level had broken through to 49.2.

Chen Xing remembered that the day before Chi Yu went to the camp, its level was only 44.5. In one month’s time, it had rapidly increased by 4.7 levels.

He anticipated it might break through level 50 before the college cup.

Chen Xing frowned, wondering if all the state champions’ teams were filled with monsters of this caliber!

Now Taotie could only gain 0.2 levels per day by eating intermediate pet food, which would amount to 6 levels over a month.

However, its body length continued to grow. After its evolution, it seemed to have unlocked the limits of its species, though it was also possible that the intermediate carnivorous pet food continued to optimize its evolved bloodline.

But its body length was still increasing by 20 centimeters every day.

In the half a month since coming back from his enemy’s place, Taotie’s body length had grown by more than three meters.

With that came an even more exaggerated weight, and now Chen Xing didn’t dare summon it at home.

One reason was that his home simply couldn’t contain it, but more importantly, he worried it might collapse the floor.

He could only take it out for a walk in secluded suburbs or parks every evening, to stretch its legs.

But that wasn’t a permanent solution. Chen Xing worried that if it happened too often, urban legends might start cropping up.

The mysterious giant crocodile of Great Xia’s Jincheng frequently spotted in secluded places at dusk.

He wouldn’t even need to spread rumors in the future; he’d have real-life stories to tell.

Chen Lingya said, “By the way, during the training camp, I heard from the instructors about a new theory from the Great Xia Research Institute.

That is that Beast Tamers also have talents! Some people train Beast Taming Skills faster than average, some have a natural affinity and easily gain the trust of beasts, and others can boost the growth of their beasts.”

As she listed them, Chen Lingya glanced at her brother, “I suspect you have some kind of talent since your beasts grow so quickly.”

“I see,” Chen Xing realized, “So that’s why raising pets felt so easy to me; it turns out I have talent.”

“Actually, this idea has been around before, but it was all lumped under the term ‘genius.’ Now there’s a more detailed classification.”

“Then your talent must surely be among the top tier,” Chen Xing said cheerfully.

Chen Lingya shook her head, “Who knows? Talent isn’t something that can be measured by a machine; at best it’s a rough guess.”

“But if a Beast Tamer with a special talent teams up with a beast of exceptional talent, then indeed, their growth rate would far surpass that of ordinary people.”

“Right, where’s Taotie?” Chen Lingya realized that after Chen Xing came home, he hadn’t summoned his little crocodile.

That was a bit strange.

He used to summon it immediately after getting home.

He and his little crocodile were always so attached, inseparable.

Chen Xing said mournfully, “It’s grown too big to be summoned at home.”

“Huh?” Chen Lingya was surprised. Just how big had it grown that it wouldn’t even fit in the house?