What the Hell Is This, Food?

After confirming the Gale Wolf's condition, Yu Fei set it down.

Gale Wolves were an exceptionally proud species.

If he forcibly stopped it from continuing the fight now, it would only sink into depression.

It could accept defeat, but it could not accept others forcing defeat upon it when it still had strength left to fight.

"Sorry, Junior." Yu Fei looked at Zhou Lu. "I'll treat you to a meal after the exam."

As a Beast Tamer, he naturally knew how much effort it took for Zhou Lu to train a blade of grass to its current level.

But that was simply how battles went. Not only was the third round meant to be more difficult, but even for the sake of his own Gale Wolf's mental state, Yu Fei had to let it continue fighting.

Zhou Lu was somewhat disappointed that Huohuo had failed to win in one blow, but when he heard Yu Fei's words, something passionate in his heart was stirred awake.

He had already felt a faint sense of guilt over defeating Wu Xiaoqing so easily in the second round.

Passing the exam too easily had instead made all his effort and hard work seem utterly meaningless.

He had already achieved his expected goal. If the third round gave him a battle where he could fight with everything he had, then even if he lost, he would have no regrets.

If he won, he would gain Academic Credits.

If he lost, he could also learn Huohuo's shortcomings through this defeat and train it accordingly.

With that thought, Zhou Lu's gaze hardened. "Bring it on, Senior."

The moment Zhou Lu finished speaking, Huohuo used the Vine Step it had long buried beneath Zhou Lu's feet to yank itself back from Yu Fei's side.

It had learned to walk, but against a speed-specialized Gale Wolf, it was still at a disadvantage.

Though the way it returned was exactly like using a headbutt, Huohuo could slow itself down mid-flight through the pre-buried Vine Step, allowing it to land steadily before Zhou Lu.

"Your spirit pet is very strong. Very interesting." Seeing this, Yu Fei could not help praising it. "Even the second-tier Plant Spirit Beasts I've encountered in competitions weren't as nimble and intelligent as it."

Hearing someone praise it, Huohuo proudly raised its branches and leaves: o(￣▽￣)o

"Then let's continue!" Yu Fei withdrew his gaze and rapidly gave an order:

"Gale Wolf! Use Wind Blade!"

Earlier, he had looked down on Zhou Lu's spirit beast because it was only first-tier.

First-tier Plant-type Spirit Beasts were publicly acknowledged as the weakest beings.

But now, he did not dare keep underestimating Huohuo.

It seemed to possess some method of burying offshoots underground. Combined with its Entangling Vines, getting close to it was an extremely unwise strategy.

Against such an opponent, the best approach was ranged combat—using Wind Blades to steadily wear down the other spirit beast's condition.

At the same time, the nimble Gale Wolf could easily evade any surprise vine attacks.

Most importantly, the opponent's primary offensive method was undoubtedly that headbutt skill.

As long as the Gale Wolf did not leave his side, it could use other skills to block the headbutt instead of using its own body as a meat shield to take it head-on.

Yu Fei was indeed an elite member of the School Team.

In such a short time, he had already seen through Huohuo's weaknesses.

Once the battle resumed, the Gale Wolf no longer approached Huohuo at all. It merely stood by Yu Fei's feet, continuously firing Wind Blades at Huohuo.

Whenever Huohuo tried to use vines to entangle it, it leisurely dodged away.

And after being hit once, Yu Fei clearly had no intention of giving Huohuo another chance to launch a surprise headbutt attack.

Wind Blades could effortlessly sever the vines Huohuo used for either attack or defense.

With ranged attacks and nimble movements, Huohuo had no way to inflict any damage on the Gale Wolf.

A stifled frustration inevitably rose in Huohuo's heart.

Zhou Lu also understood that he probably could not win this battle.

"It's okay. We've already come this far. We're both very impressive," Zhou Lu said to Huohuo.

Hearing its master's comfort, Huohuo recalled its master's expectations.

No! I have to fight for these last points!

Thinking this, Huohuo extended its vines into its flowerpot, rummaging around inside as though searching for something.

Deng deng deng deng!

Three white mushrooms appeared on Huohuo's vines.

Holy shit? Why do these mushrooms look so familiar?

The moment Zhou Lu saw the mushrooms Huohuo had pulled out, he froze.

Waving the mushrooms, Huohuo smacked them straight toward the Gale Wolf's face.

The Gale Wolf thought nothing of it and directly used Wind Blades to cut them apart.

Under Huohuo's deliberate control, the three Wind Blades slashed toward the three mushrooms.

As though sensing some kind of threat, the three mushrooms instantly swelled.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

The Wind Blades landed, but what they struck were three enormous white humanoid figures.

Three towering mushroom muscle men appeared before the Gale Wolf.

They stood before the Gale Wolf in three completely different poses, the savage muscles across their bodies displayed to the fullest by those stances.

"What the hell are these?!" Yu Fei's eyes widened as he pointed at the three mushrooms in the field and shouted.

Zhou Lu coughed twice guiltily. He did not even know when Huohuo had snatched those three mushrooms from Sister Xiaoqing's laboratory.

The three enlarged mushrooms chased after the Gale Wolf and gave it a brutal beating.

Fortunately, the Gale Wolf was fast and barely escaped, but it was clearly helpless against those three mushrooms.

"They should... count as food, right?" Zhou Lu said cautiously.

Yu Fei stared in disbelief. "The hell, this is food?"

He glanced at the referee beside him. "How does this count?"

The referee pushed up his glasses and used the equipment beside him to look it up.

With the modern Beast Taming system so fully developed, using Beast Taming equipment during secret realm exploration was already perfectly normal.

But whether in examinations or competitions, such equipment was forbidden.

Still, there were exceptions to everything.

Considering that some spirit beasts needed to eat in order to activate their skills, while others needed to use their own weapons, exams and competitions exempted food and ordinary weapons that had been declared and approved beforehand.

The referee naturally did not think these three mushrooms were food.

What kind of fucking food was this?

Yet the information he found left his eyes wide open.

"Uh... these really do seem to be food..."

"What?" Yu Fei said in shock, leaning over to take a look beside the referee.

Name: Enlarged Delicious Mushroom

Application Category: Natural Food (Second-tier Restricted)

Special Effects: Weight Loss, Fitness

Description: A food that makes you unable to resist exercising.

Applicant: Wu Xiaoqing

What the fucking hell did "unable to resist exercising" mean? If you wanted to eat them, you had to fight the mushrooms first?

After reading it, Yu Fei fell silent for a long while. Then he turned and looked at the three mushrooms still hunting down his Gale Wolf. "Is this reasonable?"

"I don't think it is," the referee said helplessly. "But it does have a legal application. You can apply for a review afterward, but this time... there really doesn't seem to be a problem. It's food."

Yu Fei's mouth twitched slightly.

Seeing Yu Fei and the referee's reactions, Zhou Lu almost felt embarrassed. "How about... you count me as failing?"

The referee looked at Yu Fei.

Yu Fei shook his head. "Legal and compliant. A loss is a loss."

Then he paused and asked Zhou Lu with a broad smile, "Junior~ do you have any more of these mushrooms?"

But the referee beside him mercilessly shattered Yu Fei's fantasy. "Don't even think about it. Once this exam is over, I'll submit an application. This is an item that can destroy the fairness of a duel."

Yu Fei sighed in disappointment.

Then he recalled his Gale Wolf and released his main spirit pet, the Berserk Gale Wolf King.

A wolf king was indeed a wolf king. Three Wind Blades later, the three mushrooms were directly split in half.

While Yu Fei was busy slicing mushrooms, the third-round results gradually came out.

"Zhou Lu... that's Zhou Minghai's son, right?" Wu Sicheng asked thoughtfully as he looked at the list of perfect scores, turning to the assistant beside him.

"Yes. His spirit pet is a Dream Rain Flower."

"A first-tier Dream Rain Flower actually got full marks? Interesting." Wu Sicheng seemed to think of something. "Perfect scores should be rewarded. Take out a few Ancient Books from my collection."

"Aren't those volumes your treasured collection?" the assistant asked in surprise.

"They're useless to me."

"Understood."

"Wait!" Wu Sicheng glanced at the photo on the table and suddenly spoke. "For the reward, choose some materials or Spirit Beast Skill Cards instead. As for those Ancient Books, find a student to list them for sale on the forum. Just say they're a few old books."

The assistant looked at Wu Sicheng in confusion. Was there any need to go through so much trouble?

Wu Sicheng gave a bitter smile and said nothing more.

Perfect-score rewards had to be made public.

I nearly dragged your child into this too, Old Zhou.

Forget it. We'll see whether your child has that fate.