In the battle venue lobby, Shi Yu sat on a public bench with his numbered card in hand, staring fixedly at the big screen on the wall.
There seemed to be quite a few people here. The lobby was packed, and with four lobbies in the battle venue, matchmaking shouldn't take long, right?
Sure enough, Shi Yu didn't have to wait long. He had barely sat down for a minute, his backside not even warm yet, when the machine began calling numbers.
"ID: 4399, Beast Tamer Shi Yu, please proceed to battlefield 11."
"ID: 4401, Beast Tamer Chen Kai, please proceed to battlefield 11..."
[Battlefield 11: Shi Yu vs. Chen Kai!]
When his name and another Beast Tamer's appeared on the screen, Shi Yu immediately got up, turned around, and headed for battlefield 11.
Eleven... Now that's a lucky number.
Looks like this is a home game.
But my pet beast is called Eleven, and the first battlefield I've rented is number eleven too. Don't tell me I'm going to stay single all my life.
Battlefield 11.
After seeing off the previous pair of combatants, a young man in a referee's uniform waited for the next contestants.
He had already received their information and knew they were two low-ranked apprentice Beast Tamers.
Their pet beasts are below level six, and the Beast Tamers aren't very old either. They're still at that innocent, carefree age. Looks like another match between two squabbling rookies, the referee thought.
Before long, Shi Yu and Chen Kai arrived, running straight into each other at the entrance to the battlefield.
They exchanged a glance but said nothing and continued into the arena.
It was an open-air battlefield, laid out much like a tennis court, with a grid-shaped energy barrier surrounding the enormous square arena.
There were indoor fields too, though not many, and they had to be booked in advance. There wasn't much difference between the outdoor and indoor fields, aside from the level of privacy.
Indoor battles were generally more private, with virtually no spectators besides the referee. At an outdoor field, however, people outside could see every detail of the battle through the barrier.
"Hello."
When he saw someone enter battlefield 11, the young referee stepped forward to greet Shi Yu and Chen Kai.
"You're Shi Yu and Chen Kai, the next ones to use the field, right?"
"I'm Chen Kai," Chen Kai, dressed in a blue-and-white school uniform, said first.
"I'm Shi Yu," Shi Yu said after him.
As he spoke, Chen Kai, standing beside him, was deeply conflicted.
Why did I get matched with someone my own age...? My luck is terrible. I wanted to get beaten up by society.
If my opponent is my age, there's even less suspense. I'm a top student at the best school in Ping City, after all. As far as I'm concerned, there aren't many people my age who can put up a fight.
Unless Shi Yu is a senior at my school. But if he were, a pet beast at only level six would be far too weak, so I can rule that out first.
"I'm Bai Shi, the manager and referee of battlefield 11. You'll have temporary use of the field for the next hour."
"You can start the battle whenever you're ready. I'll serve as your referee," Bai Shi said.
Although they could use the field for up to an hour, a battle at this level would usually be decided in just a few minutes.
The extra time was for the Beast Tamers to prepare and talk afterward.
"I'm ready. We can start whenever," Chen Kai said.
"Me too." Shi Yu nodded.
"All right, let's begin at once," Bai Shi confirmed.
Before long, Shi Yu and Chen Kai had walked to opposite sides of the field. They didn't know each other and had no intention of exchanging pleasantries beforehand, so it was simplest to get straight to the fight.
The referee also liked Beast Tamers who kept talk to a minimum. Standing at the referee's station, he saw that both were ready, signaled to them, and blew his whistle.
"Both sides are ready..."
"Battle, begin!"
In battles between Beast Tamers, neither side was given time to summon their pet beasts in advance. After all, how a pet beast entered the field was also a measure of its Beast Tamer's strength.
Some Beast Tamers specialized in assassination. Their opponents couldn't even see how they summoned their pet beasts before the enemy Beast Tamers themselves were beheaded.
Of course, matches where Beast Tamers could be attacked directly were extremely rare in the ancient nation of Dong Huang. At the very least, it was impossible in a match between apprentice Beast Tamers like this one.
Shi Yu and Chen Kai were both newcomers who hadn't reached that level yet. So, when they heard the command to begin, they both performed a basic summoning.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~~
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~
As they opened their Beast Taming Spaces, fierce winds rose, and countless points of light flashed before the two Beast Tamers.
The points of light rapidly connected into lines, forming enormous circular arrays that appeared in midair like star charts.
Transparent ripples like those on the surface of water spread across both arrays, and their pet beasts emerged from their respective summoning arrays.
On Chen Kai's side, a beast with a slender body nearly a meter long walked out of the array. Its entire body was covered in icy blue scales, and it had short, thick limbs and a long tail.
It held up its large, cone-shaped head, its small eyes gleaming.
[Name]: Ice Armor Beast [Attribute]: ice [Species level]: Mid-Level Transcendent [Species skills]: Ice Crack Claw, Ice Armor
Looking at the pet beast that resembled a pangolin, Shi Yu immediately recalled its information.
There were quite a few ice-attribute pet beasts around Icefield City. His Iron-Eating Beast, on the other hand, was rather out of place.
On Shi Yu's side, the one summoned was naturally the little Iron-Eating Beast. Since it hadn't fully grown yet, its build was still fairly close to the Ice Armor Beast's.
"Roar-"
After being summoned and seeing his opponent, Eleven immediately grew curious, because it was a creature he had never seen before...
Its ability is similar to yours. It can cover its body in Ice Armor. Also, watch out for its claws. Don't take an attack directly without using Hardening.
Shi Yu immediately warned Eleven through Telepathy.
Meanwhile, Shi Yu's opponent, Chen Kai, had no need to remind the Ice Armor Beast, because they were very familiar with Iron-Eating Beasts. After all, they were Ping City's signature pet beasts, and this wasn't the first time they had fought one.
In terms of species level, the two sides were evenly matched.
When it came to skill advantages, however, the Ice Armor Beast actually had the upper hand.
The Iron-Eating Beast's Hardening skill was mainly used for defense and had no special effects. The Ice Armor Beast's Ice Armor and Ice Crack Claw, on the other hand, were defensive and offensive skills that, beyond their basic uses, also carried frost power capable of freezing enemies!
As a result, Chen Kai immediately felt he had come for nothing.
He didn't know how he could lose.
Eleven, your opponent isn't weak. Take this seriously and don't mess up. It's 200 yuan, after all... If you mess up, I'll have to take it out of your food money, Shi Yu said through Telepathy.
Eleven: (｡◕ˇεˇ◕｡) What? Cut... cut my meals???
The little Iron-Eating Beast glared fiercely at the Ice Armor Beast. Iron-Eating Beasts were friendly to others, unless someone took their food!