Huh? Can't I Say This?

"If you need to team up later, feel free to find me," Xu Wuhu said with a smile to Zhou Lu and Li Yi after they left the examination hall.

They had already received their scores.

Because of their perfect performance in the first round of the exam, they received 40 Academic Credits. Ten of those points were bonus points for a perfect performance.

Of course, it was impossible to know how much of this score was due to Liang Quan's unsportsmanlike conduct.

The second and third rounds of the exam were all standard one-on-one duels.

You would generally face first-tier Spirit Beasts controlled by teachers or senior teaching assistants.

Although they were first-tier Spirit Beasts, the lack of teammate cooperation and prior intelligence, combined with the gap in combat experience between the two parties, often made these rounds more difficult than the first.

It was also very possible to encounter an elemental attribute that countered your Spirit Beast.

Zhou Lu drew a lot from the teaching assistant and walked to the corresponding arena.

Opening the door, he found a small competitive arena.

He knew this place; it was usually where the academy's school team practiced.

However, Zhou Lu wasn't very interested in the school team—to be precise, he wasn't interested in Beast Taming competitions at all.

His most urgent task was to help Huohuo grow quickly to confront future enemies, and he didn't have time to waste on matches.

Zhou Lu swiped his student card on the machine by the door, and his candidate information immediately popped up.

"Here it comes!"

A familiar voice came from the backstage on the other side.

The next moment, Wu Xiaoqing, dressed in casual clothes, appeared before Zhou Lu.

"Huh? Sister Xiaoqing?" Zhou Lu was stunned when he saw Wu Xiaoqing. He instinctively took a few steps back and glanced at the sign by the door.

After confirming multiple times that this was indeed his examination venue, he walked back in with a sigh, "Why are you the examiner?"

"Oh~! I forgot, you have an exam." Wu Xiaoqing fumbled to adjust her clothes, which were clearly ill-fitting. "I don't know what the school was thinking, but they suddenly announced that the examiners for the last two rounds of the combat preliminary exam needed to be reselected. Since they couldn't find anyone, they roped me into being a helper."

As she spoke, Wu Xiaoqing couldn't help but complain, "Damn it! They said I couldn't wear my lab coat outside and insisted I wear casual clothes. I searched my closet for a long time to find clothes that fit."

"They used to fit..." Wu Xiaoqing muttered, glancing at her chest again, and murmured, "Did I really gain weight?"

"How long ago is 'used to'?" Zhou Lu asked speechlessly.

"When I was in junior high."

Zhou Lu's lips twitched. So, you haven't worn anything other than your lab coat since junior high?

"Alright! I'm an examiner now!" Wu Xiaoqing quickly composed herself and said to Zhou Lu, "I'll be very fair! I won't go easy on you just because of our relationship!"

With that, Wu Xiaoqing took out a Beast Taming Card.

As the card was activated, a small rhinoceros appeared beside Wu Xiaoqing.

"Lixiaoxi, a first-tier Rock-element Spirit Beast. It possesses defense far exceeding that of Spirit Beasts of the same tier. Its abdomen is its weak point..."

Wu Xiaoqing began to introduce her Spirit Beast.

However, after talking for a while, she noticed Zhou Lu's lack of reaction and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Zhou Lu hesitated for a long time and then asked softly, "Is that something you're supposed to say?"

"Huh? I'm not supposed to say that?" Wu Xiaoqing's eyes widened, and she looked at the referee beside them.

The referee's mouth twitched. "There's no explicit prohibition, but people generally don't go into such detail..."

Who would reveal their Spirit Beast's weakness right at the start of a Beast Taming duel!

It was such common knowledge that it wasn't even written into the rules!

"Hmph! Regardless, I will absolutely not hold back!" Wu Xiaoqing waved her hand and said confidently to Zhou Lu.

With that, Lixiaoxi charged towards Zhou Lu with a stomp.

Huohuo was all too familiar with this kind of bull-like charge.

Driving its vines into the soil, empowered by Mad Growth, the vines suddenly appeared under Lixiaoxi's feet, tightly entangling its hooves.

"It's useless! Vines of this caliber..."

Before Wu Xiaoqing could finish speaking, Lixiaoxi, in its high-speed state, was tripped by Huohuo's vines and fell heavily to the ground.

"Your grass is not normal!" Wu Xiaoqing shouted in disbelief.

Although her experience in Beast Taming duels wasn't extensive, she still possessed common sense.

The vines of a first-tier Grass-element Spirit Beast were generally not very strong. How could they trip Lixiaoxi's full-speed charge? Shouldn't these vines have snapped during the charge?

Wu Xiaoqing's thoughts were not wrong, but unfortunately, she was facing Huohuo.

This was the Huohuo that had been strengthened after sacrificing over three hundred chipmunks!

Lixiaoxi's fall instantly made it a lamb waiting to be slaughtered in Huohuo's eyes. Countless vines surged up, binding Lixiaoxi tightly.

Zhou Lu also had his own principles.

Since Wu Xiaoqing had revealed Lixiaoxi's weakness, he would deliberately choose not to exploit it to win!

Wrapped in several layers of vines, Lixiaoxi couldn't break free no matter how strong it was.

After confirming that its Spirit Beast had lost the ability to fight, the referee declared Zhou Lu the winner.

Wu Xiaoqing wasn't disappointed by her loss. She looked at Huohuo with interest, "Your Dream Rain Flower is quite interesting. Can I borrow it to study sometime?"

"No," Zhou Lu refused outright.

Recalling those mushrooms, Zhou Lu highly suspected that Huohuo might undergo some mutation in Wu Xiaoqing's hands.

Wu Xiaoqing was about to say something else, but the subsequent examinees had arrived, forcing her to interrupt the conversation.

As Zhou Lu walked out of the examination room, he heard Wu Xiaoqing still reporting her Spirit Beast's information.

It was as if she was afraid students wouldn't pass the exam.

Zhou Lu even suspected this was Wu Xiaoqing's scheme. If the school found her actions too excessive, they wouldn't assign her similar tasks in the future.

As he exited the examination room, other examinees were also coming out one after another.

That fast?

Zhou Lu immediately spotted Li Yi in the crowd.

"I don't know why," Li Yi said with a sigh, "but the examiners for the second round seem to be going easy. This year seems particularly easy to pass. 70 Academic Credits, easily earned! I can ask Dad for a reward when I get back."

"Oh, right," Zhou Lu suddenly remembered something and asked, "Did the samples I asked you to get last time arrive?"

"They did," Li Yi replied. "I'll bring them to you another day. But what do you need this stuff for? Are you preparing for the dormitory inspection?"

"For the exploration permit exam," Zhou Lu revealed simply.

Before the exam, he had applied to the Explorer Association for the C-Class Exploration Permit exam.

Since Huohuo's attribute was grass, it needed to be scheduled for an examination site with Fire-element Spirit Beasts.

Along with the exam schedule, a thick Field Setting Collection, as thick as a dictionary, was also sent.

The collection detailed the attributes, skills, and precise parameters of the examination site for battling Fire-element Spirit Beasts.

According to the guides Zhou Lu had found, this collection was extremely important.

The examination site included terrain that could restrict the opponent's Spirit Beast, as well as terrain that was advantageous to one's own Spirit Beast.

Beast Tamers needed to formulate suitable tactics based on the collection and their own Spirit Beast's characteristics, using terrain or other means to defeat opponents of a disadvantageous element.

The exploration permit exam tested not only the strength of the Spirit Beasts but also the skill of the Beast Tamers.

Seeking collection! Seeking follow-up reads!