Flame Salamander (Please Read On)

The numbers on the big screen changed at a painfully slow pace.

Having yet to see his own number, Chen Wei could only sit in his chair and look around boredly. To his surprise, he spotted several familiar faces—students from Beastmaster Class Two.

"Looks like they made the same choice as me. Rather than studying under Teacher Zhou, they felt cultivating on their own would be more efficient."

Watching the classmates in the distance laughing and roughhousing, Chen Wei had no interest in going over to greet them.

After all, Chen Wei had once had a conflict with Ding Wenhao among them. As a result, the two of them barely interacted in class and were practically strangers who merely recognized each other's faces.

Going up to greet them for no reason would inevitably be awkward.

Chen Wei sat waiting in the hall for over half an hour. As the number of people seated in the hall gradually dwindled, he began to grow restless as well.

Chen Wei started grumbling inwardly, "This is what she meant by sitting down and waiting for a little while? It's been almost an hour!"

Sure enough, the prettier a woman was, the better she was at lying.

That bright-eyed, white-toothed receptionist had looked quite pretty, yet she had actually duped an innocent student like him just to sell a sparring package.

Time was money, after all! His part-time job today had only taken an hour.

Forget it. He could only blame himself for not asking clearly about the exact waiting time.

With nothing else to do, Chen Wei took out a notebook, then summoned Color Spirit, preparing to continue teaching her Blue Star's basic writing by hand.

Color Spirit might be proud and haughty, but having only been born recently, she was curious about every novel thing in the human world and more willing to give them a try.

She had only learned the two characters for "Color Spirit" that morning, yet she could now smoothly write out her own name with telekinesis. The characters she wrote were even more proper and forceful than Chen Wei's.

She was clearly learning by copying his handwriting, so why had Color Spirit's writing become so neat?

Chen Wei looked shamefully at his own scrawled handwriting, as though a dog had crawled across the page, then decisively pulled out the phone in his pocket and searched for the video lessons of [Donghua Basic Language Enlightenment].

It would be better to let Color Spirit learn from the videos. He should not lead a child astray!

While she was young, learning more knowledge could only be a good thing. Maybe Color Spirit would need it someday.

More than ten minutes later, Chen Wei finally saw his own number in the notification displayed on the big screen.

"Beastmaster Chen Wei, No. A9527. Area A battle arena, Battle Platform No. 13."

It was finally his turn. It seemed he would have to go somewhere else for battles next time. The Beastmaster Association's battle platforms were far too popular!

On Battle Platform No. 13, the referee was tidying up the field while chatting with the sparring partner, Guo Cheng.

"Be careful in the next fight. That junior beastmaster seems pretty fierce—a rare beastmaster prodigy. Don't capsize in a ditch, Old Guo."

Guo Cheng shot him an irritated look. "Are you kidding? You think a student who's only contracted his initial pet beast for a week can make me lose? How is that possible? I'm a junior beastmaster who's been tempered in secret realms."

Then he sighed. "Still, I have to say, it hasn't even been that long, yet the extraordinary pet beast he contracted, a Cold Jade Snake, has already reached Level 10 of the juvenile stage. That advancement speed is honestly ridiculous."

"Back when I first contracted my pet beast, it took me a whole year to get it to Level 10 of the juvenile stage. That kid was obviously born with a golden key in his mouth. If I had that too—"

Referee Xia Zhe quickly cut off his long-winded speech with a laugh. "Yes, yes. If you had his resources, maybe you'd already be an advanced beastmaster by now."

Guo Cheng frowned, somewhat displeased. "Don't assume that just because the pet beasts are both Level 10 juvenile-stage beasts, they're the same. My pet beast's strength was built through steady, grounded training. That kid's pet beast probably relied entirely on resources to level up quickly—its foundation is unstable from the start!"

"With my battle-hardened experience, if I get even a little serious, believe it or not, I can defeat him within a few exchanges."

Having finished clearing the dust from the battle platform, Xia Zhe turned and said, "Then I'll wait and see."

Following the signs, Chen Wei arrived at Battle Arena No. 13 in Area A.

"Hello, are you Beastmaster Chen Wei, No. 9527?" A young man in a referee's uniform walked over and asked politely.

Chen Wei replied, "Yes."

Xia Zhe said, "I'm Xia Zhe, the referee for Battle Platform No. 13."

He then looked toward the young man in black-and-red sparring attire standing at the edge of the battle platform and continued, "That is your sparring partner, junior beastmaster Guo Cheng."

Chen Wei looked at Guo Cheng and nodded. Then he said, "Understood. Can we start right away?"

He had wasted so much time waiting in the hall that he did not want to keep dragging things out.

Whoever it was, they could fight first and talk later. He was thoroughly irritated from all that waiting.

"Of course. Please take your position on the battle platform to the left. The battle may begin at any time." Referee Xia Zhe pointed in the direction.

"Both sides, prepare for battle!"

"Three... two... one..."

"Battle begins!"

The moment Xia Zhe's voice fell—

Pale cyan light intertwined before Chen Wei, forming a cyan rune array, and Color Spirit's figure swiftly appeared in front of him.

At the same time, Chen Wei looked at the pet beast across from him. After the blue rune array vanished, it stood in place with its head raised, spewing flames.

He immediately used Appraisal.

[Pet Beast Name]: Flame Salamander

[Pet Beast Attribute]: Fire

[Racial Level]: Medium Extraordinary

[Racial Skills]: Explosive Fireball, Blazing Charge, Venom Spray

[Introduction]: A vividly colored Flame Salamander with an extremely violent temper. It will spit devastating fireballs or venom at enemies that approach it. Cherish life; please do not approach it casually.

Chen Wei narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the large lizard over a meter long in the distance, its body covered in interwoven black-and-red patterns. Heat and anticipation rose in his heart.

This Flame Salamander looked mighty enough on the outside. He wondered how strong it actually was!

Looks like he would have to test it first. Chen Wei commanded Color Spirit through his mind, "Use Frost Breath!"

Color Spirit's crystalline body began to emanate a faint blue source energy. The ice crystals on either side of her head flickered with a cold blue glow, while the sphere of light gathering in her snake mouth transformed into a surging beam of energy.

"Meet it head-on with Explosive Flame." Guo Cheng folded his arms across his chest and confidently transmitted the command through his mind.

He intended to use the simplest possible clash of energy to prove to Xia Zhe just how terrifying the strength of his Flame Salamander was, forged through arduous training.

The Flame Salamander's eyes sharpened the instant it received the order. It lowered its body, opened its massive jaws with unhurried calm, and suddenly inhaled.

Surging fire-element source energy condensed into a crimson fireball within its mouth. Rolling waves of heat radiated from the fireball, its blazing temperature seeming ready to evaporate every trace of moisture from the air.

Boom!

When Color Spirit's Frost Breath, transformed into an energy beam, collided with the fireball, a vast cloud of smoke instantly erupted across the battle platform.