Audience Stands.

"Your school's Zhou Jing has quite the observational skills."

"She's a diligent one. Most students would head home right after training, but she'd always stay behind to keep practicing." The vice principal of Pinghai High School smiled as he watched Zhou Jing on the field.

Yesterday, Qiao Sang from Shengshui High School had been winning battles with a single move, ending matches in the blink of an eye.

Zhou Jing was the first contestant to analyze her moves and avoid being instantly defeated, which made the vice principal proud.

Zhou Jing had always been a hardworking student, though her academic performance left much to be desired.

This year was her final chance to participate in the National Campus Beast-Mastering League .

Compared to her efforts in the past two years, she had been training far more rigorously, putting all her hopes into this competition.

Even after others had left the training grounds, she would stay behind, tirelessly working with her beast.

Every time the vice principal passed by the training center, he'd catch sight of her and her partner through the window.

If she couldn't secure a good ranking in the tournament, her poor academic scores would make it difficult for her to enter a decent university.

They say hard work can create miracles. Just now, Zhou Jing had used her Sea Gnawer to defeat He Dadao from Shengshui High School, a contestant who had maintained an undefeated streak yesterday and had ranked among the top 30 in the province in the past two tournaments.

Movies often showcase ordinary people surpassing geniuses through relentless effort. The vice principal believed Zhou Jing could create her own miracle too!

As he daydreamed about Zhou Jing achieving victory over Qiao Sang, his internal monologue grew increasingly impassioned.

SCREEEEECH!!

A sharp whistle and a wave of gasps snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Whoa! Was that Fire Fang?! I've never seen that form in real life before!"

"Is this even fair? You’re telling me that’s a first-year student?!"

"How does someone even train for this? Both Ember and Fire Fang are at mastery level, this has to be cheating!"

"This year’s league is going to be intense!"

"Look at Wang Weidou, he’s grinning ear to ear…"

What? Fire Fang? Mastery level?

The Pinghai High School vice principal stared blankly at the field, dumbfounded. His gaze finally landed on the battlefield, and his jaw dropped.

The Star-Spotted Turtle lay unconscious with its eyes closed in the middle of the arena.

It was over already?!

He had just begun mentally praising Zhou Jing’s brilliance and shifted his attention for only a moment, yet the match had ended?

Rewind: 30 Seconds Earlier

On the field, the Star-Spotted Turtle had spun at high speed, circling behind Yabao, spraying water stream jets from its shell’s orange spots.

The streams combined into what looked like a massive, spiraling water blade.

In addition to its increased power, the water jets expanded the attack range by threefold. A direct hit would undoubtedly leave any fire-type beast severely injured and incapacitated.

But Yabao twitched his ears and, as though he had eyes on the back of his head, disappeared just as the spinning water blade closed in.

The Star-Spotted Turtle’s attack missed, but it didn’t immediately stop spinning. Instead, it continued its trajectory, returning to Zhou Jing’s side before withdrawing its limbs and head back into its shell.

Yet, just as it retracted, Yabao suddenly reappeared above it, jaws wide open. Flames erupted from his sharp teeth.

“Harden!” Zhou Jing shouted frantically.

Harden, an elementary skill that increased defense by hardening the body, was a sound countermeasure.

The Star-Spotted Turtle reacted swiftly, retracting fully into its shell. However, its usual training method involved retreating first and activating Harden afterward, creating a slight delay.

The turtle managed to pull its limbs and head inside but didn’t have enough time to activate Harden.

Yabao’s flaming teeth sank into the shell before it could complete the move.

Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t have been a big deal.

The Star-Spotted Turtle’s sturdy defense and water-type advantage should’ve minimized the damage to its outer shell without harming the creature inside.

But just as everyone thought the turtle would emerge unscathed, flames erupted dramatically.

A massive flaming wolf head formed from Yabao’s flames, jaws wide open, completely engulfing the Star-Spotted Turtle.

And that was the scene the Pinghai High School vice principal witnessed: The two giant pig-like pet beasts wearing white lab coats lifting the unconscious Star-Spotted Turtle onto a stretcher.

The match continued.

Zhou Jing took a deep breath and summoned her second beast, the Marine Gnawer.

“Gnaw, gnaw!”

The Sea Gnawer bared its large front teeth at Yabao, its expression openly provocative.

“Yap!”

Not to be outdone, Yabao opened his mouth to flash his sharp fangs in response.

The playful antics of the two beasts triggered a wave of discussion among the audience.

“Whose teeth are stronger, the Flame Hound’s or the Marine Gnawer’s?”

“Probably the Flame Hound’s, look how shiny they are!”

“Scientifically speaking, it should be the Marine Gnawer’s. But skills make a difference. With the Flame Hound’s mastery of Fire Fang, no one would dare claim its teeth aren’t formidable.”

At that moment, Wang Weidou, who had been silently grinning, finally spoke:

“What science are you basing this on? As far as I know, this is the only Flame Hound in the world, and no researcher has published any findings on its bite strength.”

The previous speaker froze for a moment, then laughed awkwardly.

“I must’ve subconsciously compared it to a Blaze Dog.”

Wang Weidou smiled politely but cursed internally.

Nonsense! How could the Marine Gnawer’s teeth compare to the Flame Hound’s?!

On the field, Zhou Jing gave the first command.

All eyes turned to the battlefield, no one daring to blink. After all, no one wanted to risk missing another instant victory.

The Marine Gnawer assumed a ninja-like posture, running toward Yabao. One became two, two became four, four became eight, until sixteen duplicates of the Marine Gnawer filled the arena.

“Wow, Zhou Jing had a hidden card up her sleeve! Creating so many clones at this level…”

The Pinghai vice principal, having recovered, was just about to praise Zhou Jing’s diligent training when he noticed everyone around him frozen in shock, their eyes fixed on the arena.

His heart sank. Slowly, he turned to look.

!!!

What the?! Why are all sixteen Marine Gnawers floating in mid-air?!