9: Live-fire exercises

After the excitement faded, Zhou Jin quickly checked the spirit beasts of the remaining students.

This time, there were no more surprises, but Zhou Jin didn't feel any disappointment about that.

After all, having Xu Yan and Zhang Cheng appear could already be considered a stroke of luck for Zhou Jin, so why ask for more?

After examining everyone's spirit beasts, Zhou Jin had a preliminary understanding of the general strength of the students in the beast taming class and made a simple list based on his previous observations.

"Alright, now let's proceed with some practical training."

As he spoke, he raised his hand in a summoning gesture, and a cyan, deer-shaped spirit beast was called forth from his beast taming space.

"This is my spirit beast, the Cyan Spirit Deer. During the upcoming training, it will be responsible for providing you with recovery and healing."

"Don't be timid or fearful of getting injured during combat; just fight with everything you've got. Given the level of your current skirmishes, the Cyan Spirit Deer can handle it just fine."

After finishing, he picked up the paper he had been recording on and called out two names.

"Zhang San, Wang Wu, the two of you will conduct this first battle. The rest of the students, please watch carefully from the side with your spirit beasts."

Having said that, he led the other students to the side and activated a protective barrier, leaving the combat arena in the center of the training ground to the two of them and their spirit beasts.

The names Zhang San and Wang Wu did seem a bit like those of background characters.

However, their strength was actually quite decent.

Zhang San's spirit beast was a Fire-type Flame Hound, with Soldier Rank Lower Grade strength and General Rank Lower Grade bloodline level.

Wang Wu's spirit beast was also a Fire-type Fire-Spotted Cat, also with Soldier Rank Lower Grade strength and General Rank Lower Grade bloodline level.

This was a classic Fire-type internal struggle. Both were evergreens among starting Fire-type spirit beasts, and basically every National Championship would feature a few "Cat vs. Dog" battles between their evolved forms.

This would spark debates among the vast "Cat Faction" and "Dog Faction," making it one of the traffic secrets of the National Championship.

And this was likely one of the reasons why Zhou Jin chose the two of them for the opening battle.

Not to mention anything else, just the spirit beasts themselves and the various "factional struggles" behind them really made the watching students feel very expectant, and the atmosphere was instantly hyped up.

With Zhou Jin's shout of "Start," the battle between the two began.

However, this exciting Fire-type internal struggle that everyone had been looking forward to left Xu Yan and the others feeling a bit disappointed.

Compared to the scenes of dancing flames they had anticipated, other than a few sparks at the start, most of what followed was just clumsy brawling—you bump me, I scratch you.

Although this situation was a bit disappointing, thinking about it carefully, it wasn't particularly surprising.

After all, given their current strength, the spirit energy within their spirit beasts was simply insufficient to support such intense skill-based battles, not to mention the fact that, aside from a very few special individuals, everyone's skill pool was quite shallow early on.

With not enough skills and insufficient mana bars, they could only rely on the simplest and most primitive method: melee combat.

In the end, Wang Wu had the upper hand. Relying on the Fire-Spotted Cat's slimmer build and agile movements, he dodged several of the opponent's attacks and, before both sides' stamina was completely exhausted, successfully wore down the opposing Flame Hound.

Afterward, it also collapsed to the ground, exhausted, having lost its combat capability.

After the battle ended, although it wasn't the fiery clash everyone had expected, the crowd still gave them warm applause, interspersed with a cheer or two, which made the two on stage feel a bit embarrassed.

Without waiting for Zhou Jin to command, the accustomed Cyan Spirit Deer emitted a pale green light from its antlers. A wave of healing energy was released, landing on the spirit beasts lying on the arena floor, restoring their stamina and injuries.

In just a few breaths, the two spirit beasts that had originally lost their combat capability recovered under the Cyan Spirit Deer's treatment and trotted back to their respective owners.

Compared to the arrogant Fire-Spotted Cat, the slightly defeated Flame Hound appeared somewhat unwilling and guilty, leading both owners to shower their respective spirit beasts with praise and comfort.

After the emotions of both the owners and the spirit beasts had stabilized, Zhou Jin went up to the arena, pointed out some shortcomings from their battle, and suggested directions for improvement.

Afterward, he let the two return to the group, called out two new names, and started a new round of combat.

With that battle as an example, the crowd didn't have the same level of anticipation for the subsequent fights.

Sure enough, the following few battles were much the same as the previous one.

Xu Yan and the others found only a small amount of skill usage amidst the mass of clumsy brawling.

The only relatively impressive match was contributed by Lin Yuan and Ma Ye.

Lin Yuan's Cold Moon Falcon and Ma Ye's Wind-Patrol Eagle had bloodline levels of General Rank Upper Grade and General Rank Middle Grade respectively. Both were infinitely close to Soldier Rank Middle Grade, and they had accumulated a certain amount of spirit energy within their bodies.

This battle in the sky was extremely intense, with the Ice-type Cold Moon Falcon facing off against the Wind-type Wind-Patrol Eagle.

One relied on Ice-type defense and deceleration control effects, while the other relied on Wind-type speed and the flight technique enhancements brought by its attribute; it could be said that each had its own strengths.

At the beginning, due to the difference in speed, the Cold Moon Falcon was in a relatively passive state, being "kited" by the Wind-Patrol Eagle relying on its speed advantage, and could only rely on Ice Armor to resist the opponent's attacks.

However, the Ice Armor, lacking proficiency, further reduced its speed, making it even more passive.

Just as everyone thought the Wind-Patrol Eagle was about to win based on its speed, they noticed the Wind-Patrol Eagle's speed beginning to slow down.

The reason for this was exactly the Ice Armor on the Cold Moon Falcon. Under the Wind-Patrol Eagle's repeated attacks, while it dealt damage to the Cold Moon Falcon, it was also subjected to the erosion of the Ice attribute on its opponent.

This erosion was very weak, but it could accumulate with each of the Wind-Patrol Eagle's attacks.

In the end, the accumulation became insurmountable.

Afterward, the situation reversed; the original "kiting" by the Wind-Patrol Eagle turned into the Cold Moon Falcon suppressing its opponent, eventually defeating it.

However, due to the Wind-Patrol Eagle's previous attacks, the Cold Moon Falcon's condition after defeating the opponent wasn't exactly great either.

This battle with the reversed situation, compared to the previous fights, really left a deep impression on everyone.

After the two's battle ended, this practical training was nearing its end, and everyone's eyes turned simultaneously to Xu Yan and Zhang Cheng.

On the scene, only these two remained who had not yet battled.

Coupled with the uniqueness of their spirit beasts, it could be said that anticipation was at an all-time high.