80: Chapter 80 The Flame-Spine Tyrannosaurus Rex Stands on the Earth!

Su Qingyuan stood in the valley, which was gradually being soaked in nightfall. The evening breeze brushed against her sweat-dampened temples, bringing a hint of coolness, but it could not blow away the ripples of confusion rising deep within her heart.

Her gaze fell upon the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur, and she furrowed her brows.

It was alike; it was too alike.

Even though the size of this pet beast was vastly different from the one in her memory, she still felt dazed at first glance.

The similar outline of the dragon-type pet beast, the iconic head armor, the same three dragon horns, even the skin color was very close.

But after calming down and taking a closer look, there were many differences between the two.

The biggest point was that this pet beast had the appearance of a normal dragon-type pet beast, while that pet beast was an extremely rare dragon-human form, and its entire body was covered in heavy armor.

But what if they were pet beasts on the same evolutionary chain?

Once this thought arose, it could no longer be suppressed.

Inside the monitoring center.

After a brief shock, doubts also spread among the senior teachers.

"There is no matching record for this kind of pet beast in the Pet Beast Illustrated Handbook." A teacher confirmed after a quick search.

"This is undoubtedly a brand-new evolutionary form. Judging from the energy fluctuations, appearance characteristics, and skill performance, its attributes are Fire and Dragon, and its racial grade is High-level Elite."

Another teacher pushed up his glasses, his eyes full of curiosity: "How did he find this evolutionary path? We are clear about the two known evolutionary chains of the Flame Claw Beast, but this brand-new evolutionary form is being seen for the first time."

"Could it be that he researched it himself?"

Someone proposed this bold conjecture, then immediately shook his head: "Impossible, right? How old is he? Besides, the resources, knowledge, and experimental environment required to research a new evolutionary form—"

"Why is it impossible?"

The old professor, who had not spoken much, suddenly slapped his thigh, his voice trembling slightly with excitement.

He pointed at Lin Chen, who was soothing the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur on the screen, his eyes burning: "A genius! This is a true genius!"

"Not restricted by known paths, able to unearth the hidden potential of pet beasts, and open up new evolutionary directions."

"Such a seedling should come to our Research Department! Staying in the Combat Department will only waste his creativity and research talent!"

There were only a few teachers from the Research Department present, and upon hearing this, they echoed him repeatedly.

"The Director's insight is brilliant!"

"This child is born to do research!"

"This brand-new discovery is enough for him to gain a firm foothold in the academic world!"

Zhao Honggang chuckled upon hearing this, crossed his arms, and spoke slowly: "Old Li, you can't say it like that. Combat power is also a part of talent."

"His commanding level and on-the-spot performance are excellent. Coupled with this pet beast, our academy might be able to win the championship in this year's Freshman Grand Competition."

"Hmph, what's there to participate in that little competition?"

Professor Li blew his beard and stared, but he didn't insist further, just staring at Lin Chen with increasingly burning eyes.

A teacher nearby called up the real-time leaderboard.

On the huge screen, the rankings and data were crystal clear:

First place: Lin Chen, 380 points.

Second place: Ye Zhen, 130 points.

Third place: Bai Lu, 125 points.

Fourth place: Su Qingyuan, 120 points.

"380 points—"

A teacher gasped: "It's only the first day, and his individual points are almost equal to the sum of the second to fourth places!"

"Mainly because the points of these two Molten Armor Dragon Lizards were too high, plus the accumulation from his previous defeat of the Earth-Shaking Violent Bear and other pet beasts—"

The teacher in charge of statistics explained, his tone filled with amazement.

"With this pet beast here, he should have locked in first place in this year's Freshman Grand Competition in advance."

Another teacher concluded, his tone complex.

Opening up such a huge gap on the first day was extremely rare in all previous Freshman Grand Competitions.

In the secret realm valley, night had already fallen, and the stars appeared on the ink-blue sky.

The Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur finished venting the excitement after evolution, its nostrils fluttering, subconsciously wanting to get close to Lin Chen like before.

It just took a step, its heavy claws landing on the ground, making a muffled "thud" sound, shaking the ground slightly.

Only then did it realize that it was no longer what it used to be, and its huge head and body could no longer get close to Lin Chen affectionately like before.

It lowered its head, looking at the seemingly tiny Lin Chen below, as well as the Songsong Dog curled up in Lin Chen's arms, its expression stiff: "Gu..."

It always felt that it was further away from Lin Chen.

Lin Chen looked at its appearance and couldn't help but laugh.

Expansion in body size is a normal phenomenon for Digimon evolution, which also leads to a huge difference in strength before and after evolution.

If it continues to evolve in the future, its body size will be even more astonishing.

Fortunately, it was not as if there were no pet beasts in this world with the same situation, so a special skill that allows pet beasts to change their body size freely was born.

This skill is very common, and it can be learned after leaving the secret realm.

Otherwise, with the current size of the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur, it would be very inconvenient indoors, in cities, and in many specific environments.

"Brother Chen!!"

Zhou Ming ran over in a rush, his face filled with almost fanatical excitement. He circled the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur for half a turn, wanting to touch it but not daring to, and finally looked at Lin Chen eagerly: "This is too cool! Too fierce! Brother Chen, the Flame Claw Beast can actually evolve into this."

"What is its name?"

Lin Chen glanced at him and answered calmly: "Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur."

"Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur..."

Zhou Ming lowered his head and read the name, then immediately raised his head, his eyes excited: "I've decided, my next pet beast will be a Flame Claw Beast, and then I'll evolve it into this!"

The Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur was very satisfied with Zhou Ming's reaction. It subconsciously wanted to reach out its claw to pat Zhou Ming's shoulder, but it scared the latter into a big jump.

"Student Lin Chen, thank you so much this time."

Zhang Xiaoxiao also walked over and thanked him sincerely.

"I remember it was also you who came to help us last time in the Duanshan Mountains. I didn't expect this time too..."

Lin Chen's expression froze.

That's right, the same four people, the same plot played out again.

He immediately cast a wary look at Zhou Ming and the other two.

Who exactly was the problem?

Su Qingyuan did not come close. She stood a little further away to heal the Green Feather Wind Bird's wounds, but she occasionally swept over Lin Chen's calm side profile and that huge beast.

Soon, the four found a leeward and relatively flat place nearby as a temporary overnight camp.

The bonfire was lit, dispelling the night chill.

After evolution, the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur's body size surged, energy consumption was huge, and its appetite was several times what it was before.

Fortunately, Lin Chen had considered this situation long ago, so he prepared enough energy cubes and energy liquid, finally letting the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur fill its stomach.

Watching the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur gobble down its food, Lin Chen clicked his tongue secretly. An average family really couldn't afford these food expenses.

If it weren't for the fact that he now had special cultivation funds, just letting the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur eat its fill every day would be a big problem.

"By the way, Brother Chen."

Zhou Ming pointed to the Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture, which had been shrinking in the shadow of a rock since it landed.

Ever since the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur evolved, the Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture had been even more timid, always keeping a long and safe distance from the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur.

Zhou Ming asked: "What's going on with this Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture?"

"This guy volunteered to act as my temporary mount in the secret realm."

Hearing this, the Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture flapped its wings, stuck out its neck, and its sharp screech seemed as if it would ring out in the next second.

But when those scarlet round pupils stared at it, it immediately felt a vast pressure envelop its whole body, its body stiffened and couldn't move, and even its blood seemed to solidify at this moment.

So it lowered its head and nodded silently.

Lin Chen looked at the well-behaved Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture, and an idea came to his mind.

He took out the "Survival Manual" and quickly flipped to the pages recording known powerful creatures.

Marked with red exclamation marks on it, besides the already resolved Molten Armor Dragon Lizard, there were several other leader-level pet beasts inhabiting different areas.

Before, he relied on his legs to explore, and his efficiency was limited.

But now, he had a temporary flying mount that could not only fly but also knew the secret realm's terrain quite well.

In addition, the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur had just evolved, its strength had skyrocketed, and it needed actual combat to consolidate and familiarize itself with the newly acquired power.

Then—

Lin Chen closed the manual, looked at the Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly: "I have a proposal."

Without waiting for Lin Chen to say the next sentence, the Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture nodded rapidly: "Li~"

Agreed, anything is agreed to.

"Very good." Lin Chen smiled and nodded, "You are a very smart pet beast. We will definitely get along very happily in the next two days."

The night grew deeper, and the stars were bright.

In the quiet forest, the other three fell asleep one after another, and their respective pet beasts began to keep watch.

Only then did Lin Chen have the opportunity to properly study the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur's current data panel.

As he expected, the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur now possessed the extremely noble Dragon attribute, and in the future, it would be able to master a series of powerful Dragon-type moves, which could greatly improve its combat power.

And among the skills.

Since Flame Breath Bullet and Sharp Claws were skills naturally mastered by the Flame Claw Beast, after evolution, these two skills automatically advanced to Mid-level skills, and they directly inherited the proficiency of their predecessors, which was undoubtedly a good thing.

As for Small Explosion and Fiery Charge, they were skills learned later and could not advance on their own.

Lin Chen looked at the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur resting on the ground, and with a thought, he used the Super Explosion move learning machine on it.

Super Explosion is an advanced skill of Small Explosion. The attack method has not changed, but the power is greatly increased.

"Yagu?"

The Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur soon noticed a huge amount of information surging in its mind. It blinked its eyes and found that it had mastered the advanced usage of Small Explosion.

"Yagu!"

The Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur was excited and couldn't help but roar, but noticed that Lin Chen and the others were resting, so it closed its mouth.

It knew that this was the treatment for being a genius.

Heaven always favors geniuses, and at specific times, it will instill skills into geniuses so they can learn them directly.

Now, can it wash away its past shame?

It thought carefully, recalled the powerful pet beast accompanying that Beast Tamer in its mind, and lowered its head in frustration.

No, it was not enough, far from enough.

At the same time, Lin Chen looked at the evolution column of the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur.

It needed one thousand evolution exp to evolve to the next stage, which didn't look like much.

In addition, a function core was also needed.

He pondered secretly: "Sounds like a machine-type resource."

That's right, if it were the most traditional evolutionary path, Greymon would be able to evolve into MetalGreymon in the next stage.

Of course, if he wanted to join the Dark Species camp, he might also have a chance to let Greymon evolve into SkullGreymon.

"Yingwu~"

The Songsong Dog was lying quietly in Lin Chen's arms. It looked at the powerful Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur for a while, then looked at Lin Chen who was immersed in thought, its eyes flickering slightly.

Except for eliminating those weak first-tier pet beasts, it was useless in the secret realm.

Not to mention that the Flame Claw Beast had already evolved and its strength had increased, and its own role would become smaller and smaller.

It seemed it couldn't help much.

Thinking about it, it lowered its head, and its eyes gradually dimmed.

Lin Chen keenly noticed the Songsong Dog's emotions. He patted the latter's head with his hand and smiled softly: "Don't worry, you will evolve soon too."

"After evolution, you will also possess powerful strength."

"By then, you will be able to protect me."

"Yingwu?"

The Songsong Dog raised its head, its eyes shining, and it was unclear whether it was the galaxy reflecting in its eyes or if its pupils were flickering.

It was looking forward to its post-evolution self for the first time.

Could it also be like the Flame Claw Beast, evolving into a powerful and majestic pet beast?

Early the next morning, the morning mist was still lingering in the forest, and Lin Chen and the others got up early.

This was the second day of surviving in the secret realm, and all freshmen had to seize the time to find pet beasts and earn points.

Lin Chen did not know the point ranking, but he had defeated a leader-level pet beast, so he should be at the top of the leaderboard.

He declined Zhou Ming's invitation to team up, climbed onto the Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture, and gave the command: "Take me to find the powerful pet beasts you think are, the stronger the better."

"Li!"

The Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture spread its wings and nodded obediently.

It suddenly remembered that it still had several rivals that were difficult to deal with.

The Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture looked at the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur, which exuded a strong sense of oppression from the inside out, and a bold idea emerged in its mind.

A moment later, the Four-Winged Iron-Feather Vulture carried Lin Chen into the sky, soaring high, and soon disappeared.

Looking at the small black dot that disappeared rapidly in the high sky, Zhou Ming couldn't help but sigh: "I always feel that the gap between me and Brother Chen is getting bigger and bigger."

Zhang Xiaoxiao nodded in deep agreement: "Only Yuan Yuan can keep up with Student Lin Chen's growth speed."

Su Qingyuan listened to the conversation between the two and remained unmoved.

She had long since lost interest in this Freshman Grand Competition, and she was eager to return to the outside world to verify some conjectures.

Ye Zhen, however, attached great importance to the Freshman Grand Competition.

After getting up, he washed simply, summoned the Radiant Bone Dragon, and stepped on the path to earning points.

Yun Chuxiu followed along, calculating the points: "I calculated it carefully, your points should be 130. Plus today and tomorrow, as long as the points can be around four hundred, first place should be stable."

Ye Zhen nodded slightly, his words revealing strong confidence: "The first place must be mine, but I want to try to challenge those few leader-level pet beasts."

"This is a rare opportunity for tempering."

Yun Chuxiu looked thoughtful: "It would be a bit strenuous for the two of us. It would be great if there was another powerful teammate."

"Oops, actually my roommate can, but I don't know where he is?"

"If he is added, maybe the three of us have a chance to defeat a leader-level pet beast."