C7: Fight!?

Stones?

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"Before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer with slow Internet to see who they really are."

—Will Ferrell

—----(4500)

Another 2 days of training Ben and Eleven have been visibly improving. Their growth was a little too fast, so Shi Yu spared daily with Eleven. 

[Name]: Eleven 

[Race]: Iron Eater 

[Growth Level]: Level 10

[Attribute]: Metal, Wood

[Race Level]: Mid-Transcendent 

[Skill]: Hardening(Perfected +40), Absolute Sleep(expert +16), High-Speed Healing(Perfected +36), Super Vision(Perfected +23)

Hardening after reaching Perfected Proficiency has undergone qualitative changes. Apart from increased durability Eleven could also apply it on external objects. 

It does require a medium of touch. It was basically a rip off of Armament Haki. 

As for other non-racial skills they had also attained high proficiency. He also taught Eleven Super Vision. 

It was a mid-level spiritual type skill. Using spiritual energy for better vision. The skills had also increased the growth in certain aspects. 

Increasing proficiency of Super Vision increased the spiritual energy in both quantity and quality. While High-Speed Healing being wood/recovery type skill increased the vitality of Eleven. 

Absolute Sleep increased the growth of stamina. Hardening increased physical strength. 

As for growth level it could have been higher. But Eleven was limited by Shi Yu's BTS. 

Shi Yu could in fact let Eleven Breakthrough to transcendent rank and it would not affect him much given his physique. 

There was a thing called the above Level contract that usually no one used. To contract a pet above your level is mostly a death wish. 

Beast Tamers don't have the physical energy to sustain the development of the above level pet.

Also if the pet had a grudge against the person, he could forcibly break the contract or absorb all of the Tamers energy essentially killing him. 

The growth of Eleven had been too fast. So Shi Yu chose to slow down and let Eleven first stabilise his growth.

It would also give Shi Yu enough time to increase his BTS. 

As for Ben he was still at Level 10. Shi Yu told it to suppress his Breakthrough as he wanted it to evolve first. He had not put any points in his skills. 

Green Silkworms were a highly malleable race. There were tens of different evolutionary routes for them. Shi Yu wanted the best he could get. 

After the worm silk reached transcendent, it would usher in a qualitative change.

That was the change in attributes.

Depending on the food it ate during a period of time, the Green Silkworm could use the Max Level Worm Silk with different attributes.

If it ate thunder-element resources for a period of time, the worm silk would upgrade to a worm silk with electricity, with a little paralysis effect.

If it ate ice-type resources for a period of time, the worm silk would change into a frost-type worm silk that could freeze the enemy after binding them. 

Although it seems strong, you have to remember worm silk was a levelless skill even if someone managed to take it to expert level, which was very hard given Green silkworms lifespan, it would at most be comparable to low-level skill. 

But Shi Yu had brought a space type resource, space spirit stone, to give the bugs worm silk space attribute. 

It was a rare and expensive level 2 resource. But Shi Yu had enough money to squander. 

There were only three ways for a pet to grow. Food, training and battle. 

Converting nutrients from food into what was needed to grow was the easiest.

Training was slightly more difficult, but through training, one could hone their racial abilities to a higher level, thereby promoting growth.

Battles were the most dangerous, especially in life-and-death battles where one's willpower and spirit had to be highly focused. This type of training for pets was the greatest. The growth experience gained from using abilities in high-intensity battles, after all, was also not something that some basic training could compare to.

In fact, it was impossible to nurture a powerful pet without all three: sufficient and nutritious food, reasonable training, and appropriate battle training.

At the moment, Shi Yu planned to bring Eleven for an evenly matched battle. Of course, it wasn't a battle of life and death, but a battle of beast control under the restrictions of the rules in the formal venue.

Although Shi Yu and Eleven spared a lot these days, it was not that effective as they could not go all out in their small courtyard. Eleven was also not willing to hurt Shi Yu. 

At this stage, they had yet to come into contact with a battle of life and death. Moreover, there was no such place in the city for them to undergo life and death training.

Even if he did, Shi Yu wouldn't be so bored as to seek death. He was a normal person.

With the skill index in hand it is better to develop steadily.

That afternoon, Shi Yu put the Little Iron-Eating Beast back into the Beast Taming Space and went out again.

For a city with good development, a few key areas were essential.

For example, the administrative unit of his profession, the Beast Tamer Association.

Or the Beast Tamer Corps that was stationed at the edge of the city and protected it.

There were also schools, breeding bases, training halls, and dojos in every city.

Apart from that, there was also the battle hall that was indispensable to Beast Tamers for training their pets.

The battle hall was basically managed by the officials. This was the only place in the city where Beast Tamers could battle. If Shi Yu wanted to find an opponent to battle, this was one of the choices.

In fact, he could have headed to a wilderness area to look for creatures with more combat power, but that would be a little dangerous. Considering that he and Eleven weren't at a high level yet, Shi Yu temporarily gave up on this option.

However, if he wanted to become a professional Beast Tamer, he would need to have full survival skills in the wild.

According to what Shi Yu knew, in the assessment of a professional Beast Tamer, apart from the basic assessment and combat assessment, there was also the Wilderness Survival assessment.

If they wanted to get that certificate, this seemed to be very difficult to avoid… Well, in the end, they were still too weak at the moment. If they could overcome any danger, they wouldn't have to be afraid anymore.

If Shi Yu didn't remember wrongly, the Beast Tamer Association seemed to organize field training for the Beast Tamer trainees regularly. The Beast Tamer trainers could register on their own.

In such an activity, high-level extraordinary creatures in the training area had basically been removed. Furthermore, there were high-level Beast Tamers and rescue teams stationed at the back to deal with any sudden danger.

Although it was said that one had to spend money to register, if he could harvest some rare materials in the wild and replicate some rare skills, it might not be a loss.

Then, after spending some time, Shi Yu arrived at a battle hall relatively far from his home.

There were 130,000 permanent residents in Ping Cheng District, and there were a lot of Beast Tamers. Among them, the number of Beast Tamer trainees was even higher.

There may be very few professional Beast Tamers in every city, but there would be a lot of Beast Tamers who were trainees, so there were also a lot of battle halls.

…

Ping Cheng District Battle Hall, Yuyang Road Branch Hall.

"Hello, welcome."

After Shi Yu entered the venue, a young female receptionist at the side greeted him with a smile.

Following the voice, Shi Yu looked over. There were a total of four receptionists. At the moment, only the receptionist who had just greeted him wasn't handling any business.

The other receptionists were all registering Beast Tamers of various ages. There were more people here than Shi Yu had imagined.

"Hello," Shi Yu immediately replied and walked over.

The receptionist looked at Shi Yu and said, "May I help you?"

Shi Yu said, "I want to battle, but this is my first time here. Can you give me a brief introduction?"

The receptionist smiled and nodded. "We provide battle venues below transcendent-level at the battle hall. You can choose to fight someone or fight at random here.

"The arranged battle is with the battle candidate you've arranged in advance. We only provide venues, judges, and medical services for that.

"As for random battles, you would need to fill in some basic information. We will then randomly choose opponents for you and provide other services.

"Among them, random battles are divided into groups of two categories: level one to six, and then level seven to ten, depending on the level of the Beast Tamer's pet. We will randomly match opponents for you in the suitable range according to your pet's level.

"Regardless of the model, the cost of using a battle arena is a hundred yuan per person."

One hundred yuan per battle. It was an acceptable price. 

"Oh right, there's also the bet battle," the receptionist added. "The bet can be made before the battle between the two parties. The loser will pay the usage fee for both parties. In other words, the person who loses the battle will have to pay two hundred yuan, while the winner will pay nothing."

"I choose the random bet battle. The range of the pets' levels should be below level ten." Shi Yu immediately chose.

At the moment, the Little Iron Beast's growth level was at level 10. It had mastered the hardening ability to perfected level and even had a few mid and high-level skills. 

Even if the opponent was a high-ranking transcendent level pet, they might not necessarily lose. Now that he thinks about it Eleven was becoming a Monster. 

"Alright, please fill out the form here…" The receptionist handed him the form.

Shi Yu took it and looked at it carefully. Then, he picked up the carbon pen beside him and quickly filled in the form.

Names, ID numbers, type of pet, and the growth level of the pet were basically the key information to fill in.

The rest were some options, such as whether it would be a random battle and whether it would be a bet battle…

After filling it all in, Shi Yu handed the form back.

Then, according to the information filled in by Shi Yu, the young receptionist began to input information on the big-assed computer in front of her.

At the same time, she said, "This is your card number. Next, you can wait in the hall. After matching suitable opponents, the hall screen will display your name and the battle venue number."

"Alright, thank you." After taking the account card, Shi Yu nodded. Then, he walked to the chair in the hall and sat down to wait for his opponent.

….. 

In the hall of the battle hall, Shi Yu, who was holding a card number, sat on a public seat, his eyes fixed on the big screen on the wall.

There seemed to be quite a lot of people in this hall right now, and three other halls were also available for battles.

The matching shouldn't be slow, right?

Indeed, Shi Yu didn't have to wait too long. He had only sat down for less than a minute, and before his buttocks could even warm up, the machine had already begun to call out numbers.

"ID: 4,399, Beast Tamer Shi Yu, please head to battlefield number 11."

"ID: 4428, Beast Tamer Zhou Ming, please head to battlefield number 11…"

[Ground #11: Shi Yu vs Zhou Ming!] 

As his name and the name of another Beast Tamer appeared on the screen, Shi Yu immediately got up, turned around, and walked towards battlefield #11.

Number 11… was really auspicious.

…

Ground 11.

After sending away the previous batch of competitors, a young man in a referee uniform waited for the next group.

At this point, he had already gotten the information on the next contestants and knew that they were two low-level Beast Tamers.

Beast Tamers below the tenth rank are usually not very old either. They are still at their naive and innocent stage then.

 Looks like it's going to be another showdown, the judge thought.

Before long, Shi Yu and Zhou Ming arrived while the judge was waiting. The two of them bumped into each other at the entrance of the venue.

The two of them looked at each other and didn't talk. They continued to walk into the arena.

This was an open-air battlefield. The scale was similar to a tennis court. Outside the huge square field, there was a grid-shaped energy isolation net.

Actually, there were battlefields that were indoors, but there weren't many of them. If one wanted to use one, they had to book it in advance. The difference between outdoor and indoor venues wasn't that big. The difference was in the degree of privacy.

Usually, indoor battles were relatively private. Apart from the referee, there were basically no other spectators. As for the outdoor arena, through the isolation net, outsiders could completely see the details of the battle inside.

"Hello."

Seeing that someone had entered the battlefield of the 11th match, the young judge walked forward and received Shi Yu and Zhou Ming.

"You guys are Shi Yu and Zhou Ming, right?"

Zhou Ming, who was wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans, spoke first. "I'm Zhou Ming."

"I'm Shi Yu." 

As he spoke Zhou Ming who was beside him felt conflicted.

Why was the opponent he was matched with someone lower than his age…?

This person's luck was too bad. He clearly came here because he wanted to be beaten up by society. If his opponent was someone his age, there was even less of a doubt. After all, he was one of the top senior students in the best school in Ping Cheng. In his opinion, there weren't many people his age who could put up a fight against him and his pet. 

Yet looking at Shi Yu who was clearly younger than him he fell silent. He had to admit Shi Yu was a genius he might even be some prodigy. 

After all reaching level ten at such young age is quite a feat in itself. 

"I'm the administrator and judge of venue 11, Shiroishi. Please note, you only have a temporary right to use venue 11. The time available is an hour.

"When you're ready, you can start the battle at any time. At that time, I'll be your judge," Shiroishi said.

Although the usage time limit was an hour, in a battle of this level, the winner could be determined in a few minutes.

The extra time was for the Beast Tamer to prepare and communicate before and after the battle.

"I don't have any more questions. The battle can start anytime," Zhou Ming said.

"Me too." Shi Yu nodded.

"Alright, then let's begin immediately," Judge Shiroishi confirmed.

In a short while, Shi Yu and Zhou Ming walked to the two sides of the arena. The two of them didn't know each other, nor did they have any intention of exchanging pleasantries in advance. Therefore, it was best to fight directly.

The judge also liked this kind of Beast Tamer who spoke little. He stood at the judge's seat. When he saw that the two were ready, he signaled to them and directly blew the whistle.

"Both parties are ready…

"Battle, begin!"

The battle between Beast Tamers didn't give either party time to summon their pets in advance. After all, how the pets appeared also concerned the strength of a Beast Tamer.

Some Beast Tamers who were proficient in assassination summoned their pets in ways where the opponent couldn't clearly follow… Then, all of a sudden, their opponent would have already been beheaded.

Of course, there were very few competitions where you could directly attack the Beast Tamer in the nation of Dong Huang. At least, in the current conditions, it was impossible for such competitions to happen between Beast Tamers.

Shi Yu and Zhou Ming were both newbies and had yet to grow to that level. Therefore, after they heard the command to start the battle, they were only carrying out the basic summoning.

Hu hu hu ~ ~ ~

Hu hu hu ~ ~

As the two of them activated their Beast Taming Space, a strong wind rose, and countless light dots flashed in front of the two Beast Tamers.

The light dots quickly connected into a trajectory, forming a huge circular diagram that looked like a star map in mid-air.

Immediately after, transparent ripples appeared on both sides of the array. Their pets appeared from the summoning array.

On Zhou Ming's side, a familiar beast appeared, standing nearly 1.5 metres talls. It had snow white fur and the shape of a wolf. A beautiful and proud Snow Wolf. 

[Race]: Snow Wolf

[Growth Level]: Level Ten

[Attribute]: Ice

[Race Level]: High Transcendent

[Skills]: Ice Crushing Fang, Ice Splitting Claw, Snow Concealment, Cold Breath

In Icefield City, there were quite a lot of ice-element pets. On the contrary, his Iron-Eating Beast was very out of place.

On Shi Yu's side, the one summoned was naturally the Little Iron-Eating Beast.

"Howl—"

When Eleven was summoned and saw its opponent, it was immediately intrigued because its opponent was a creature it had never seen before…

'The other party's ability is similar to yours. It can cover its body with Snow concealment to increase its defence. Also, be careful of the other party's claws. Don't directly take the attack in the non-hardened state,' Shi Yu immediately reminded Eleven through telepathy.

At the same time, Zhou Ming , Shi Yu's opponent, didn't need to remind the Snow Wolf at all because they were already familiar with Iron Eaters. After all, this was a unique pet of Ping Cheng District. It wasn't the first time they were fighting the iron-eating beast.

In terms of race level, Snow Wolf was much better. 

In terms of skill advantage, the Ice-Armored Beast was also naturally better.

Because the Iron-Eating Beast's hardening skill was mainly used for defence, its skills didn't have any outward effects. Instead, for the Snow Wolf's Snow Concealment and Ice-Splitting claw were both defensive and offensive skills, it also had another offensive skill Ice Crushing Fang, and apart from the basic usage method, the accompanying frost power could also have a freezing effect on the enemy!

Therefore, Zhou Ming immediately felt that he had come for nothing.

It would be hard for him to lose.

'Oh, right, if you lose I will reduce your meals.' Shi Yu said telepathically. 

Less food!? Eleven looked at the Snow Wolf fiercely. It was usually kind to everyone…except for the times they snached his food. 

… 

"Ah Yue, there seems to be a battle over there, and it hasn't started yet."

Outside the 11th battlefield, two young girls were walking on the path outside the arena.

Through the grid isolation net, the two of them were suddenly attracted by the pet summonings inside.

They instinctively looked over and happened to see the Snow Wolf and Iron Eater that had just appeared.

"That person… is Zhou Ming?"

The girl called Ah Yue was very surprised when she saw the appearance and pet of the boy in the school uniform.

"Someone you know? Ah… he does seem to be fimilar."

"Yes, that person is my senior. He's very strong…"

"Who's better?"

"I can't compare to him. There aren't many people in the whole grade who are better than him…" Zhuang Yue immediately said."His Snow Wolf has already reached level ten, and it's already very proficient in using its racial skills, Ice Splitting Claw and Snow concilment. "

"Oh, oh, I didn't know he was a genius. Do you know his opponent? His pet is an Iron-Eating Beast, just like yours."

"I don't know, but based on my experience raising Iron-Eating Beasts, that one's level should be at level ten… It's probably going to lose. Unless it has mastered expert-level Hardening, it's very difficult to break through the Snow Wolf's defense, and the Iron-Eating Beast is a classic example of laziness… For an Iron-Eating Beast at this young and this level of growth, Hardening is most likely still initial-level."

Zhuang Yue was deeply regretful. She sighed helplessly. Only by contracting with an Iron-Eating Beast could she understand how painful it was to train one.

If she could choose again, she would definitely not choose it just for the reason that the Iron-Eating Beast was cute.

This kind of pet was too lazy!!!

Zhou Ming himself made the same judgement as the passers-by. 

Usually there were very few iron-eating beasts that could train their hardening to expert level. And this one in particular looked very young. 

Even if Iron-Eating Beast's hardening was at expert his Snow wolf will still win given its higher race level and much more diverse skills. 

Snow Wolf, Use Ice Splitting claw.ʼ

Beast Tamers and contractual pets could communicate mind-to-mind, similar to telepathy. At the start of the battle, Zhou Ming ordered Snow Wolf to initiate an attack. 

Swoosh!! 

Show wolf suddenly erupted, its snow white body charging towards Eleven. At the same time, frost spread on its front claws. 

Under the lingering cold air, the places it stepped on were all frozen with a layer of white frost.

Then it leaped up, waved its sharp ice claws in the air, and tore at the Iron-Eating Beast.

"Not bad, your cultivation is very good. As expected of a student from an elite school."

The judge, Shiroishi, discovered that this Snow Wolf's strength was extraordinary.

'Harden.'

On the other side, Shi Yu issued an order.

Shi Yu was confident in their victory. Even he could beat this Snow Wolf with his bare hands, not to mention Eleven. 

Eleven did not even flinch at the charging Snow Wolf. He was getting beaten up by his beast tamer on a daily basis, so he had developed a strong will. 

As Eleven used his hardening, a dark coloured substance covered its full body like an armour. In almost an instant, a metallic lustre filled its whole body! Its aura suddenly turned fierce and bloodthirsty. 

Eleven let out a roar and immediately completed its full body armour!

Crack!!!

In the next second, Snow Wolf's Ice Splitting Claw made contact with the hardened Eleven.

The ice crystals on Snow Wolf's claw immediately decentraged as it encountered something very hard. 

At the same time, heartbreaking pain transmitted from its front claws to the Snow Wolf's brain.

'Counterattack.'

Almost instantly, Little Eleven looked at its opponent. After sensing its opponent's power, it was at loss. The Snow Wolf was weak,very weak. He didn't even feel the attack. 

Under Shi Yu's command, Eleven's gaze turned cold, and the confusion disappeared. After letting out a cry, it maintained its hardened state and swung its arm, hitting with all its might!

The change in second was completely unexpected for Snow Wolf and Zhou Ming. Their expressions changed. 

Dodge! 

Zhou Ming transmitted his thoughts with a panicked expression. 

The Snow Wolf tried to dodge and even use Snow Concealment. The fur on its body became more creastline. 

Apart from the fact that its fur had become harder, the energy that gushed out could also freeze its opponent on touch. This was the effect of the Snow Concealment.

However,

As Eleven's bear paw hit the Snow Wolf, there was a crack sound. The Snow Concealment was like a piece of paper. The outermost layer, like the frost that filled the Ice Splitting Claw previously, quickly collapsed. Then, the frost that was supposed to freeze the Iron-Eating Beast also shattered messily under the impact.

Bang!

Under the huge force, the Snow Wolf was sent flying by Eleven almost in the blink of an eye. It flew back a few metres and then rolled on the ground for a few more before everything stopped.

After this round of exchanges, everyone present fell silent.

Upon seeing this scene, Zhou Ming's heart stopped, and his vision turned black.

As the Beast Tamer of Snow Wolf, he could see it had been injured severely with just a single hit! 

This… this didn't make sense! This was so unscientific!

The flawless Snow Wolf he cultivated lost just like that??

How was this possible?!!!

"You…" Zhou Ming was in disbelief. 

"Yo, your pet is injured. Why don't you take him to infirmary before it's too late." Shi Yu kindly advised. 

That is right!! Zhou Ming quickly took Snow Wolf back in his BTS.

BTS can help stabilise the condition of the injured pet giving a tamer enough time to bring it to safety. 

Looking at Zhou Ming who rushed out of the battlefield, the passers-by and the referee were silent. 

Eleven had only used Hardening to crush the Snow Wolf. It had even reduced the force of his punch in the last second, otherwise the Snow Wolf would have been dead. 

Was it over just like that…?

This didn't match the requirement of an evenly matched battle that he wanted. It looked like if he wanted to further test its strength… he would have to find a stronger opponent.

"It's… over?"

Judge Shiroishi was also stunned. He rubbed his eyes hard and then opened his mouth wide.

What just happened…?

He looked at the violent Iron-Eating Beast cub with extraordinary strength and felt that it was somewhat different from the naive and innocent look he had surmised at the beginning. The strength of even an adult Iron-Eating Beast was only so-so.

Shouldn't that have been the case?!

This was…

"Expert-Level Hardening?" Zhuang Yue, the Iron-Eating Beast Tamer outside the isolation net, said with a shocked expression.

They were flabbergasted. They completely didn't expect that such a young Iron-Eating Beast could develop its hardening ability to such an extent.

"Your genius student lost…"

"Sorry, I got the wrong person. He's not my senior," Zhuang Yue said after a moment of silence.

Grasping the concept of an expert Iron-Eating Beast was ridiculous.

This talent was too strong…

Also, could that person be a hidden high-level Beast Tamer who was training a new pet?

Otherwise, he might be some rich second-generation heir or royal second-generation heir with top-notch nutritional supplements and special training methods.

From Zhou Ming's expression, Zhuang Yue could tell how exaggerated Shi Yu and Eleven's performance was. At this moment, she only hoped that this outstanding senior in school could bear the pressure.