"Command ability test, begin!"
As Tan Qingsheng's voice rang out, the scene before the helmet-wearing Duan Anxun rapidly changed.
One moment she had been in the classroom; the next, she seemed to be standing atop a cliff lashed by howling winds.
With a vicious screech, a powerfully built, four-legged monster bird lunged straight at her.
That was...
A wind-type Contract Beast, the Wind Rend Griffin!
Having undergone command ability tests many times before, Duan Anxun remained calm and ordered in a steady voice, "Up three meters, Dazzling Divine Light!"
The Rainbow Cloud Parrot poised before her instantly rose to the specified height, its long, slender feathers erupting with dazzling multicolored light.
When this light pierced an opponent's eyes, it not only temporarily robbed them of their vision but also left them dizzy for a time.
A two-star skill, stardust level: Dazzling Divine Light!
The surrounding monitoring equipment recorded every movement of the Rainbow Cloud Parrot and projected them into Duan Anxun's field of vision as a counterattack against the Wind Rend Griffin. The simulated Wind Rend Griffin responded in turn.
Duan Anxun countered each move, handling the situation with composure.
Three minutes later, the Wind Rend Griffin stopped attacking, and the virtual scene faded.
The test ended, and Duan Anxun's final score appeared on the machine.
98.3 points.
The same score as Su Xiaoxiao.
Duan Anxun glanced back at Su Xiaoxiao.
Even if you briefly pull ahead of me, I'll catch up right away and surpass you again!
She headed straight for the second testing machine.
Their scores on the first test were the same, so she had to score higher than Su Xiaoxiao on the remaining six!
The second test... the third... the fourth...
She completed the tests one by one.
Thanks to the Rainbow Cloud Parrot's excellent condition, Duan Anxun surpassed her previous personal best on every test.
Yet her expression was far from pleased.
The outcome she had expected-surpassing Su Xiaoxiao-had not materialized.
At last, Duan Anxun stood before the final test.
She had earned a total of 573.1 points across the previous six tests.
Su Xiaoxiao's total for all seven was 663.8 points.
To surpass her, she needed to score 90.7 points on the final test.
She glanced at the label on the machine.
The final test measured the ability to withstand pressure.
It was a test on which scoring over 90 points was almost impossible.
She had never managed it before, and neither had Su Xiaoxiao just now.
Biting her lip, Duan Anxun stroked the Rainbow Cloud Parrot's smooth, long feathers and placed it in the testing area.
A moment later, an energy construct identical in appearance to the Rainbow Cloud Parrot appeared.
The energy opponent's initial strength exactly matched the Rainbow Cloud Parrot's, then steadily increased at a fixed rate as time passed.
The longer the Contract Beast held out, the higher its final score would be.
A score of 90 meant lasting 60 seconds. By then, the energy opponent would be twice as strong as the Contract Beast being tested.
Taking a deep breath, Duan Anxun directed the Rainbow Cloud Parrot to dodge nimbly around the testing area.
Pressure endurance timer, start!
The seconds ticked by. The Rainbow Cloud Parrot had initially dodged its opponent's attacks with ease, but its movements grew increasingly strained as time passed.
Even with Duan Anxun's skilled commands to assist it, it was still under immense pressure.
At the 45-second mark, the Rainbow Cloud Parrot was injured for the first time, a wound opening on its wing.
This made moving even harder, and its condition rapidly deteriorated.
By the 54-second mark, the Rainbow Cloud Parrot was covered in wounds and no longer had the strength to dodge.
Duan Anxun took a deep breath.
A mere six seconds felt so unbearably long now.
At that moment, images flashed through her mind: her mother's smile while socializing, the oppressive weight of her mother's expressionless face, the suffocating feeling when their eyes met.
I don't want... I don't want things to stay like this!
Watching the Rainbow Cloud Parrot's injuries worsen as it could only helplessly take the blows, Duan Anxun's eyes gradually reddened. The voice she sent into its mind carried a pleading note.
"Hold on, please! Please just hold on!"
She failed to notice the puzzled, astonished looks of the other students standing behind her. Nor did she notice Tan Qingsheng's gaze shift from its initial approval to disappointment, and finally to barely suppressed anger.
61 seconds!
Duan Anxun immediately pressed the stop button and tried to rush toward the Rainbow Cloud Parrot, which had already fallen unconscious in the testing area, but a large hand held her back.
"Enough!" Tan Qingsheng barked, his eyes filled with disappointment as he looked at the top student he had praised time and again.
Beside him, a peacock-like Contract Beast with brilliant plumage and a hazy green glow around its body breathed out a beam of vibrant green light, enveloping the Rainbow Cloud Parrot.
An elite rank earth-and-wind-type Contract Beast, the Resurrection Jade Peacock.
"Your Contract Beast couldn't hold on anymore. Are you blind?" Tan Qingsheng stared at Duan Anxun. "Why didn't you stop in time? Why did you make it keep going for another seven seconds?!"
"Because... because..." Duan Anxun turned pale, at a loss.
As a top student who had always been praised by her teachers, this was the first time she had ever been reprimanded so harshly.
Duan Anxun's score for the final test appeared at that moment.
91.0 points.
The screen calculated her total score.
664.1 points.
Seeing the result, Tan Qingsheng seemed to realize something.
What followed was even deeper disappointment.
"Just to come first in a test?" He looked at his prized student as though seeing her for the first time. "Can't you tell which matters more, your score or your Contract Beast?"
"I..." Catching sight of the Rainbow Cloud Parrot gradually recovering under the Resurrection Jade Peacock's healing out of the corner of her eye, Duan Anxun felt as though a hammer had slammed into her head. Her mind went blank.
What... did I just do?
Duan Anxun's expression slowly grew conflicted.
There was confusion, regret, dejection, and fear at what might have happened.
"I'm giving you zero for this test." Watching the changes in Duan Anxun's expression, Tan Qingsheng gave a low snort and manually changed her score on the seventh test from 91 to 0. "You need some time to clear your head."
Looking at her updated score, Duan Anxun went deathly pale.
"Here, Xiaoxiao!" Lin Yue handed Su Xiaoxiao a can of cola, popped her own open with a hiss, took a large gulp, and burped. "You came first in the class on this practical training test!"
"Mm..." Su Xiaoxiao nodded slightly, but seemed subdued. Looking at the girl slumped over her desk a short distance away, who had yet to lift her head, she suddenly asked, "Yue, do you think... scores really matter that much?"
"Who knows? All I know is I'd never put my Contract Beast through that kind of suffering for a few points." Lin Yue glanced over. "Someone treated her Contract Beast like a tool. She deserved to get scolded."
Su Xiaoxiao fell silent for a moment. "Didn't you buy another can of cola?"
"Yeah, I'm saving it for this afternoon... what are you doing?" Lin Yue blinked as Su Xiaoxiao took her cola.
"Let me borrow it." Su Xiaoxiao stood and walked toward Duan Anxun. "I'll buy you another can later."
"...Hey! Why are you being such a do-gooder at a time like this?!" Realizing what Su Xiaoxiao intended to do, Lin Yue rolled her eyes, then shook her head helplessly.
"But that's what makes you the Su Xiaoxiao I know..."
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