This one's a real expert!

The crowd wanted to approach her and strike up a conversation, but the fact that she was a girl made them hesitate.

"Li Yang, are you sure that Lu Liangye really awakened his power more than half a year ago? You might be mistaken." The delicate-looking boy asked, doubtful.

"Maybe it’s just someone with the same name..." Li Yang replied, equally uncertain.

He had first heard of Lu Liangye when his mom shoved a newspaper in his face, bragging about him.

She’d spent the next ten days sighing and wishing Lu Liangye were her son. Only after that did she finally calm down.

If this really was that Lu Liangye, how could he have lost so miserably?

Thinking back now, this Lu Liangye did seem taller, darker, and, well… uglier than the one in the paper...

At this moment, the suspected impostor, Lu Liangye, was anxiously looking at his Water Ring Carp and asked, "Teacher, will my Water Ring Carp be okay?"

"It’ll be fine; it’ll recover soon." Qin Wen reassured him.

From Qiao Sang's perspective, the only female teacher on the field walked over to the Water Ring Carp and formed a hand seal. An orange-yellow star array lit up on the ground.

That's the mark of a C-rank Beastmaster.

Of course, it’s also possible that her mastery of the Beast Taming Manual had reached the level of a C-rank Beastmaster, even if she hadn’t yet passed the Alliance's certification.

A white pet beast about three meters tall appeared on the orange-yellow star array.

Its head was teardrop-shaped, appearing quite small in proportion to its body. Its tiny, bean-sized eyes and mouth stretched to its ears, with a tongue as long as half its height hanging out.

The beast walked over to the Water Ring Carp and used its thick, long tongue to lick the fish from head to tail.

That wasn’t enough. After licking it once, it used its tongue to flip the Water Ring Carp over and licked it from head to tail again.

How disgusting…

Qiao Sang, still a bit groggy, shuddered and snapped fully awake.

This white pet beast was called a Tonguetip Drip. The mucus secreted by its tongue could rapidly heal external wounds.

If someone wanted to become a doctor in the future, contracting a Tonguetip Drip would definitely be a good choice.

After two rounds of tongue therapy from the Tonguetip Drip, the Water Ring Carp was back on its feet, bouncing in place with its tail, clearly revitalized.

If it didn’t look like it had just been fished out of water, you wouldn’t be able to tell anything had happened to it.

Qiao Sang unconsciously hugged her Fire fang Dog a little tighter.

"Yap?"

The Fire fang Dog turned its head to look at her.

"It’s nothing. I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt." Qiao Sang said.

"Yap~"

The Firefang Dog's eyes, moist and shimmering, showed its gratitude.

"Make sure you don’t get hurt in the upcoming battles." Qiao Sang cautioned seriously.

"Yap!" The Firefang Dog nodded, promising.

With his Beastmaster so concerned, there’s no way it would let her down!

Seeing how touched the Fire fang Dog was, Qiao Sang held back the last thing she wanted to say.

If it gets hurt, maybe I’ll stop cuddling it for a while...

Ten people were divided into five groups for matches, leaving four more rounds to go.

Qiao Sang looked toward the field. Anyone left could be her next opponent, so she had to pay close attention.

Although she had confidence in her Fire fang Dog, underestimating an opponent was the biggest mistake one could make.

That’s why she had the Fire fang Dog wear its sunglasses right from the start.

In the second group, two boys had already summoned their pet beasts.

One had a Short-tail Snake, the other a Sand Burrow Mouse—both were common choices for rookie Beastmasters.

"Who do you think will win, Big Shot?" A female voice asked from her left.

Qiao Sang turned her head and saw the girl with the bobbed haircut from earlier, who had struck up a conversation with her before the match, sitting in the previously empty seat next to her.

"Barring any surprises, it should be the Short-tail Snake." Qiao Sang replied.

"By surprises, do you mean something like what you pulled off?" Zheng Yining teased.

The Short-tail Snake naturally countered the Sand Burrow Mouse, just like the Water Ring Carp’s element countered the Fire fang Dog, yet the Fire fang Dog won, and decisively so—if that wasn’t a surprise, what was?

"My name’s Qiao Sang." Qiao Sang introduced herself, hoping the girl would stop calling her that.

"Got it, Big Shot Qiao," Zheng Yining nodded.

Qiao Sang: ...

"Big Shot Qiao, I’m Zheng Yining," Zheng Yining continued.

Qiao Sang: …Okay.

The match unfolded as expected, with no surprises.

The moment the Sand Burrow Mouse emerged from its burrow, the Short-tail Snake’s fangs sank into its body with precision, causing it to faint instantly.

The third match was Zheng Yining against a boy.

Zheng Yining's pet beast was a Long-eared Cat.

Its back and tail were pale pink, while its belly was cream-colored.

Its ears were longer than those of an ordinary rabbit, standing upright like two antennae, and its emerald-green eyes were lazily half-closed, almost melting what little remained of Qiao Sang’s girlish heart.

The boy’s pet beast, however, was a Sky-piercing Pig, a creature with a gray-white body and wings of the same color. It was a pet beast with both ground and flying attributes.

"Fire fang Dog, who do you think will win?" Qiao Sang asked.

The Fire fang Dog had been watching the match with casual interest. Upon hearing the question, its eyes sharpened, and it began studying the two battling pet beasts with serious intensity.

After comparing them, it picked the Sky-piercing Pig, which looked stronger and could fly.

Sixteen minutes later, the Sky-piercing Pig lay motionless on the ground.

"Yap." the Fire fang Dog growled in frustration.

It had made the wrong choice.

"Although the Sky-piercing Pig seems stronger, it has a glaring weakness—poor stamina. It’s also slow, so as long as you wear it down over time, it’ll eventually run out of energy. See how the Long-eared Cat focused on dodging earlier? Then, when the Sky-piercing Pig was exhausted, it struck." Qiao Sang explained to the Fire fang Dog.

"Yap." the Fire fang Dog’s eyes widened in understanding.

So that’s how it works!

The fourth and fifth rounds were won by two boys with pet beasts—a Fat Dove and a Countertops Wasp, respectively.

Qiao Sang recalled the previous matches and thought about the potential opponents she might face next.

As expected… none of them seemed like a threat...

Realizing her line of thinking, she quickly shook her head.

She had just vowed not to underestimate anyone...

Among the five people who lost, one would have to be chosen for a rematch.

The time for this match didn’t last as long as Qiao Sang had anticipated. It was essentially a one-sided battle, quickly determining the winner of the five-against-one match.

The winner was Lu Liangye.

Now, Li Yang had no doubt that this Lu Liangye was indeed the one his mother had been going on about.

His coordination, techniques—everything was leagues ahead of the other four. You wouldn’t think he’d been utterly crushed in his first match.

Seems the issue was with that girl...

Li Yang glanced at the girl casually walking over and silently prayed.

Please don’t let me face her first!

He still wanted to make it into the top three!

As soon as Qiao Sang stepped onto the field, Lu Liangye approached her and said with determination, "Next time we meet, I won’t lose!"

Qiao Sang obligingly replied, "Let’s hope so."

Lu Liangye: ...

He felt like she was looking down on him, but he couldn’t prove it.

Just like before, they drew lots to form pairs, with those who drew the same number forming a team.

Qiao Sang drew her lot and checked it—it was number 1.

Nice number.

Lucky.

"Who has number 1?" Qin Wen asked.

"I do." Lu Liangye answered.

"Me too." Qiao Sang added.

Everyone turned to look.

Lu Liangye: …!

He said next time, but he didn’t mean this soon!