Sorry About That

In the stands, the other eight examinees sat side by side in the row closest to the arena.

One of the delicate-looking boys asked, "Who do you think will win?"

"The girl, probably. Her pet beast is a Fire Fang Dog," Zheng Yining replied.

When she had gone over to strike up a conversation earlier, she had observed them up close. The Fire Fang Dog seemed to have a pretty harmonious relationship with that girl, nothing like the stories online about rookie Beast Tamers contracting a Fire-type pet beast and basically finding themselves an ancestor to serve.

She figured commanding the Fire Fang Dog in battle shouldn't be a problem.

"Not necessarily. Do you know who that Lu Liangye is?" Li Yang beside them joined the discussion.

"King of pretentiousness."

"That idiot in the group who said true experts were always the last to arrive."

Li Yang: "..."

"He awakened on his own back in September last year. Hanggang Metropolitan News reported on him. If the High School Entrance Exam for that year hadn't already ended, he'd probably be a first-year student at Litan Pet Beast High School by now," Li Yang explained.

"Then how did he end up taking Saint Water High School's special admissions exam?" the delicate-looking boy asked in shock.

It wasn't that he looked down on Saint Water High School. It was just that Litan Pet Beast High School was the only school in Zhehai Province that ranked above Saint Water High School.

With the number one school right there, what normal person would choose number two?

Besides, even if he chose Saint Water High School, he should have been admitted without an exam! Why was he here for special admissions? Didn't that mean one of the five spots was definitely his?!

"I don't know," Li Yang answered.

Who knew what that pretentious Lu Liangye was thinking.

Listening to their conversation, Zheng Yining looked at the girl in the arena with some sympathy.

Even though she had a Fire Fang Dog, her opponent was the person most likely to take first place. Running into him in the very first match—her luck was really something else.

In the arena, Qiao Sang took a pair of dark green triangular sunglasses from her backpack and put them on the Fire Fang Dog.

They were the Fire Fang Dog's favorite color and style.

They had trained for so many days for this very exam. In such an important duel, she naturally had to go all out from the very beginning and bring out her secret weapon.

"Fang!"

After putting on the dark green triangular sunglasses, the Fire Fang Dog raised its head and struck a cool pose. Its whole aura immediately changed.

"The battle rules are one-on-one. Send out your respective pet beasts and battle on my command. Once one side falls or loses the ability to fight, it will lose its qualification to continue the battle," Sun Boyi said.

This sort of match, where no one was designated to attack first, was a relatively popular format at the moment. It emphasized catching the opponent off guard and tested whether a Beast Tamer chose to wait and observe or seize the initiative.

"Running into me in the first round, I can only say sorry in advance!" Lu Liangye said. Though he claimed to be sorry, neither his expression nor his tone reflected it.

Qiao Sang: "..."

This guy really had a punchable face.

As he finished his pre-match remarks, a pale blue pet beast appeared within a white star array.

Its mouth was yellow, and a white ring encircled its neck. It had a pair of forelimbs and tail fins at both the front and rear, and since it had no feet, it supported itself upright on the ground with its tail.

It was a Water-type pet beast, a Water Ring Fish.

"It's actually a Water Ring Fish. That girl's in trouble. Forget strength—the attribute disadvantage alone has her beaten."

"If you faced a Water Ring Fish later, would you be confident?"

"...Mine is Ground Type, so I'm countered too. Oh god, please don't let me run into him next match!"

Several examinees in the stands discussed it heatedly.

Zheng Yining sighed, once again feeling sorry for the girl in the arena.

What rotten luck...

Just then, Sun Boyi gave the command to begin.

"Get close, confuse it, and finish it directly," Qiao Sang ordered first.

The moment she finished speaking, the Fire Fang Dog charged forward.

Not bad speed.

Sun Boyi evaluated inwardly.

Finish it directly? How exactly was she going to do that?

Lu Liangye wanted to laugh when he heard that, and in fact, he really did laugh out loud...

"Haha, use Water Gun. Don't let it get close."

An Entry Level Water Gun was only about two meters long, but the Water Ring Fish's Water Gun reached a full five meters. It had clearly reached the Mastery Level.

The Fire Fang Dog dodged it with ease.

In the blink of an eye, one Fire Fang Dog became two.

The Water Ring Fish was dumbfounded, unable to decide which one to aim its Water Gun at.

The two Fire Fang Dogs swiftly closed in on the Water Ring Fish from either side, surrounding it as they bared fangs wreathed in blazing flames.

"Use Water Ring to wrap yourself up," Lu Liangye commanded calmly.

"Isn't that fire a little too big?"

Li Yang, who had some knowledge of the subject, raised a question.

"Is it? I'm nearsighted." The delicate-looking boy squinted and stared intently into the arena.

Li Yang: "..."

In the arena, the Fire Fang Dog's flame-wreathed fangs had already bitten into the Water Ring. Rather than canceling each other out as they normally would, the Water Ring shattered the next second, and the vicious fangs bit down on the Water Ring Fish's head.

"Ring!! Ring!!"

The Water Ring Fish let out agonized screams.

"How is this possible?! Water Ring Fish!" Lu Liangye lost his composure and called out to the Water Ring Fish in panic.

Elsewhere.

"That's Mastery Level Fire Fang," Qin Wen said.

"That Fire Fang Dog is impressive. Looks like it had already learned it before being contracted," Zheng Guoping remarked.

"This Fire Fang Dog is less than two months old," said the slick-haired man, who had remained silent until now.

"How is that possible?" Zheng Guoping's face was full of disbelief.

"You don't even believe the Vice Principal?" Qin Wen shot him a glance.

Zheng Guoping was left speechless.

Vice Principal Liu Yao had been practically begged to come to their school. Not only was he a Grade A Breeder, but he was also a Senior Researcher who had received the Tong Yu Award.

He worked at the Princeton Advanced Research Institute. If the principal had not relied on their being elementary school classmates and stubbornly camped outside his home for over a month, he probably never would have deigned to come to a pet beast high school.

If he said the Fire Fang Dog was less than two months old, then it naturally was... less than two months old.

Zheng Guoping stared at the Fire Fang Dog in the arena with a strange expression. It had already released the Water Ring Fish and was looking utterly proud.

Though its dark green sunglasses hid its eyes, the way its mouth was tilted up, its chest puffed out, and its head held high made it seem afraid that others might not know it had won...

Was this Fire Fang Dog really less than two months old?

The Water Ring Fish had already fainted on the ground.

After Sun Boyi announced the result, Qiao Sang walked over to Lu Liangye and said, "Sorry about that."

Lu Liangye: "...!!"

Qiao Sang picked up the Fire Fang Dog and went to sit in the stands.

Even before the Fire Fang Dog had trained, she had dared to take it to the entrance of a pet beast high school to challenge high school students—and it had won all three matches.

Now, the Fire Fang Dog's strength was worlds apart from what it had been then, while its opponent had been replaced by a middle school student who had only just contracted a pet beast and had not even taken the High School Entrance Exam yet.

How could she lose?

Winning was only normal.

As soon as Qiao Sang sat down, she couldn't help yawning again.

The examinees beside her all looked over in unison, their eyes filled with shock and admiration.

She had won far too cleanly and decisively!

Winning against an attribute disadvantage so easily was not something just anyone could do.