Trouble Comes Knocking, The Challenge from a Beast Tamer

The next day.

Inside a cafe in Yin City.

There were three or four young people sitting together.

One of the arrogant men said, "Did you know? The gym leader of Starlux Gym went out."

"How could I not know? The news of a Mythic Beast appearing in the Hengduan Mountain Range has long spread. Alice will definitely go."

"Don't you think this is a good opportunity?" the man said slowly as he raised his coffee cup.

"Bart, what do you mean?"

"Bart, we're all close friends here. Just be honest."

The man named Bart took a sip of coffee, then put down his cup.

"In that case, I won't hide it anymore."

"As far as I know, after Alice left, the only person in the gym right now is someone named Giles."

"But this Giles is only a Bronze-rank Beast Tamer."

"Now, does everyone understand what I mean?"

When Bart was done, the others started discussing.

"That's right, there's only one Bronze-rank Beast Tamer in the Starlux Gym now. We can challenge him!"

"That's right. If we were to challenge Alice, we wouldn't have any hope of winning. But it would be easy to defeat a Bronze-rank Beast Tamer."

"We also have to be careful in case Alice left her own spirit beast behind,"

…

While they were discussing, one of the girls said timidly, "Erm, isn't that a bad idea?"

Bart smiled.

"Annie, what's so bad about that?"

"Haven't you always dreamed of participating in the Beast Tamer Tournament?"

"Isn't this a good opportunity? As long as you succeed, you'll qualify to participate in the Beast Tamer Tournament."

"Speaking of which, had you known earlier, you shouldn't have chosen yesterday to set the challenge."

That's right, this girl called Annie was the person who had failed in the challenge against Alice the day before.

"Well… okay."

Anne couldn't resist Bart's coaxing and reluctantly agreed.

Bart's smile widened.

Immediately, the group of them rushed towards Starlux Gym.

…

On the other hand, inside the Starlux Gym, Giles was preparing the daily spirit fruits for the spirit beasts.

Not only were these red spirit fruits the daily food of spirit beasts, but they also contained a special kind of energy. Eating them over a long period of time could improve the body constitution of spirit beasts.

As a result, such spirit fruits were not cheap.

However, there was a spirit-fruit forest behind the gym.

All of the spirit fruits that the spirit beasts ate were harvested from there.

So Giles didn't have to worry about that.

With this thought in mind, he carried a large bucket of spirit fruits towards the spirit beast area.

As expected, as soon as he arrived, he was surrounded by the spirit beast cubs.

It was obvious that they were all waiting for him to tell them a story.

"I still have something on. I'll tell the story later."

Giles turned them down.

He did have something on today.

Three spirit beasts had evolved yesterday.

However, Giles still did not know what abilities they had obtained after the evolution.

He planned to go to the training ground to test it out.

When the spirit beasts heard Giles' words, they stopped pestering him even though they were unhappy.

After what they had experienced the day before, they were filled with respect for Giles.

After the cubs finished eating, Giles went straight to the training ground.

He raised his right hand, and the spirit beast tattoos on his arm glowed.

Three spirit beasts appeared before him.

They were the three spirit beasts that had evolved yesterday.

Swan Beast, King Kong Beast and Little Beetle.

"I want to test you all today. Who wants to go first?" Giles looked at the three of them and spoke.

The three spirit beasts looked at each other.

"I, King Kong, did not lose. Let the Beetle and I complete our unfinished battle!"

"Come on then, I can defeat you with one Super Atomic Ray!"

…

The voice of King Kong Beast and Little Beetle rang out in Giles' mind.

After hearing the content, Giles face-palmed himself helplessly.

Since he told them the story of King Kong versus Godzilla the day before, they began to act like pubescent idiots and placed themselves in their respective roles.

They insisted on fighting it out to see who would win.

However, both were Giles' spirit beasts, so he would not agree to that.

"Enough, don't bring this up again."

"In that case, let's test Little White's strength first."

Hearing this, the Swan Beast straightened its long goose neck.

"Yes, Master."

Just as it was about to use its skills, a voice came from outside the training ground.

"Is anyone here?"

Hearing this, Giles dismissed the idea of the test and walked towards the source of the voice.

A moment later, a few seventeen or eighteen-year-olds appeared in Giles' line of sight.

It was Bart and friends.

"We're here to issue a challenge."

Bart raised his head proudly and said arrogantly.

Challenge?

Giles scratched his head.

"I'm sorry, but the gym isn't accepting challenges now."

Bart was stunned when he heard this.

But soon, a smile appeared on his face.

Giles' refusal made him realize that Alice hadn't left any high-rank spirit beasts behind when she left.

If she did, he would not reject the challenge at all.

"I'm sorry, but Gym Leader Alice told me before she left that Starlux Gym is currently rejecting any Beast Tamer rank evaluation and challenges from Beast Tamers."

"Everything can wait until the Gym Leader Alice returns," Giles continued.

Bart was even more certain of his theory when he heard that.

He smiled confidently and said slowly, "Mr Giles, it's not easy for us to have the time to come over for the challenge. I hope you'll accept it."

Upon hearing this, Giles frowned.

"Sorry, I've made myself clear."

"Please come back another day."

After multiple rejections, Bart was even more confident.

"No, no, no, Mr Giles."

"As far as I know, there isn't a single gym that can turn down the challenge issued by other Beast Tamers."

"If you still insist on rejecting me, I don't mind complaining to the Beast Tamer Association about the situation in your gym."

Hearing this, Giles' gaze swept over all of them.

When he saw Annie, who failed the challenge yesterday, he was stunned. He immediately understood that they were here to cause trouble.

The Beast Tamer Association was an association jointly established by many reputable Beast Tamers. They were responsible for handling spirit beasts, Beast Tamers, and various Beast-taming Gyms.

Previously, when Gym Leader Alice went to the Hengduan Mountain Range, it was the Beast Tamer Association that had sent the news over.

In addition, there was a rule in the Beast Tamer Association.

Beast-taming gyms were not allowed to turn down any challenges issued by Beast Tamers. Violators of this rule would be severely punished.

This was to prevent Beast-taming Gyms from rejecting any Beast Tamer's challenge due to personal grudges or any other reasons, thereby not giving them the qualifications to participate in the Beast Tamer Tournament.

Thus, if Giles turned them down today, even if it was not due to a personal grudge, if it was reported to the Beast Tamer Association, Starlux Gym would definitely be punished.

At the thought of this, Giles' gaze turned icy.

It just so happened that he was troubled about being unable to find test subjects for the newly-evolved spirit beasts.

"In that case, come on then!"