An Expert Level skill on an Iron-Eating Beast cub that looked no more than two years old was obviously unscientific.
Iron-Eating Beasts were not particularly fond of training to begin with, so their skill proficiency generally wasn't very high. In battle, most of them flattened their opponents through sheer physical prowess rather than technique.
Even if this Iron-Eating Beast had started training in the womb, this was still a little too absurd. It would have been one thing if it were an adult, but the point was, this was a cub!
"Shi... Yu..."
"I think that's his name. Do you know him? I remember you trained at the Bamboo Stone Dojo, right? Is he from your dojo?"
A person beside him held a list and asked the security guard who had wanted to know who Shi Yu was.
"I don't know him... I haven't heard of him," the guard said.
The group exchanged glances. So what was the story with Shi Yu and this little Iron-Eating Beast?
"A Green Silkworm?"
Just then, another sight appeared on the screen that left them dumbfounded.
On Shi Yu's side, Eleven had successfully taken down all four Long-Spined Wild Boars.
Now it was the Green Silkworm's turn. It crawled out of Shi Yu's backpack and strained with all its might to spit silk, tying up the Long-Spined Wild Boars one by one.
"Isn't he an apprentice Beast Tamer? How does he have a second pet beast?"
The group was even more astonished at the sight of the Green Silkworm.
"Maybe he didn't contract it and is just raising it separately?"
It wasn't as if no Beast Tamer had ever done that before, but for an ordinary Beast Tamer, it was far too difficult.
Raising one as a pet, like a pet cat or dog, was fine. But without a contract, it was extremely difficult to raise one into a battle pet that understood commands and was willing to fight. It was roughly the difference between a pet dog and a police dog.
It was only because Shi Yu had the Telepathy talent that he could get the Green Silkworm to understand him somewhat. Otherwise, this Green Silkworm definitely wouldn't have been as obedient as it was now.
"This examinee is impressive. Not only does he have such a powerful Iron-Eating Beast cub, he's actually raising a Green Silkworm on the side too."
"The level of this Green Silkworm's Worm Silk doesn't look low either. It's bound to evolve into a Wind Crystal Butterfly."
"Guys, I'll bet a pack of cigarettes they'll place in the top three in this assessment."
The security guards in the safe zone's monitoring room broke into a noisy discussion.
"All right, all right."
"Leave him alone for now. Someone's already been hurt."
Soon, however, the discussion stopped when a conscientious security guard reprimanded them.
They were on duty now and couldn't focus all their attention on Shi Yu. It was enough to know he wasn't going there to court death. The other Beast Tamers needed some attention too.
Sure enough... although the training exercise had only just begun, Beast Tamers and pet beasts had already been injured. They had to hurry and deal with it.
Wild Boar Forest.
"What a haul."
Shi Yu and his companions had no idea that some of the security guards had already noticed their results.
At that moment, he was happily looking at the Long-Spined Wild Boars tied together in a string. He was in a great mood. Excellent, 1,750 points in the bag.
These points didn't seem all that hard to get.
More than the points, Shi Yu was craving the Long-Spined Wild Boars' meat.
He had once been fortunate enough to eat wild boar stir-fried with chili at the Icefield City breeding base cafeteria. He wondered how it would taste if he prepared it himself...
"Come to think of it, we can eat the spoils, right?" Shi Yu looked at Eleven, who shook their head.
"Roar!" Eleven didn't know, so don't ask.
Eleven was only responsible for fighting and had no interest in wild boar meat.
Compared to wild boar meat, Eleven was more concerned about the bamboo shoots in Shi Yu's backpack.
"Rumble..."
After the battle, Eleven's stomach began to rumble.
Fierce as Eleven was, they were still a cub, and fighting like that took a lot out of them.
"I know, I know." Shi Yu took out two cut sections of Iron Bamboo shoot and tossed them to Eleven.
At the same time, Shi Yu placed the Green Silkworm on a tree trunk and said, "Go find some leaves to fill your stomach first. I don't think I've seen any spirit plants in this Wild Boar Forest..."
The Green Silkworm had spun so much silk that it had surely exhausted itself just as much as Eleven.
The Green Silkworm: "..."
Shi Yu and his companions rested where they were for about twenty minutes before continuing deeper.
This time, dragging five Long-Spined Wild Boars was a little strenuous even for Eleven.
Shi Yu happily lent the bear a hand, treating it as exercise for himself.
Next, they would continue through Wild Boar Forest and reach the nearest safe zone.
After passing through that safe zone, they could head to the Magnetic Mountain area, where there were Electric Slimes.
At the front, Shi Yu and Eleven pulled two ropes woven from Worm Silk, while the Green Silkworm lay in the backpack behind them, recovering its strength. There might be more wild boars for it to tie up later.
After they had walked for roughly another five minutes, Eleven suddenly stopped.
"Wild boars?" Shi Yu asked.
Eleven nodded.
Then Shi Yu heard a clamor coming from not far away.
But when he heard it, his expression turned odd.
The sound resembled the squeals of wild boars, but not quite.
In fact, it sounded more like human screams!
"Ahhh, run! There are trees ahead, hurry and climb one!"
"Holy crap, how did ten Long-Spined Wild Boars suddenly show up? How are we supposed to fight them?"
Before long, Shi Yu saw clearly that a group of wild boars was chasing two people.
Running beside the two were an Icefield Dog at growth level six and a Snow-Patterned Ferret at growth level seven.
Using the terrain and their skills, the Icefield Dog and Snow-Patterned Ferret slowed the herd from time to time, creating chances for their side to retreat.
As for the Long-Spined Wild Boars behind them, their average level was above growth level six. Two against ten was probably extremely difficult. After all, these two pet beasts weren't Eleven, so it was no wonder the two Beast Tamers were fleeing like mad.
They didn't dare face such a large group of Long-Spined Wild Boars head-on, but they didn't want to give up the assessment and call for help either. It looked like they could only try running away.
The trees nearby were all thick, and the Long-Spined Wild Boars couldn't knock them down in a short time. As long as they climbed a tree, the boars would be helpless.
"Wait, I think there's someone ahead." One of the running Beast Tamers suddenly spotted Shi Yu in front of them.
"Urrgh, oink, oink, oink!!!"
"Oink! Oink! Oink!!!"
It wasn't just the two of them. The herd of Long-Spined Wild Boars had also caught the scent of their companions.
"Ten at once?" Shi Yu and Eleven stood there as Shi Yu calculated Eleven's chances of winning against ten Long-Spined Wild Boars...
Ordinary Long-Spined Wild Boars couldn't break through Eleven's defenses when their whole body was hardened. Even if they did, Eleven still had High-Speed Healing, so the only thing being tested was Eleven's stamina.
"Forget it, what am I even calculating?" Shi Yu quickly shook his head. After seeing their companions lying in a heap, strung together in the distance, the pragmatic wild boars scattered without another word and turned tail, with no intention of fighting at all.
"Urrgh, oink, oink, oink!!!"
"Oink! Oink! Oink!!!"
Time to scram.
Behind them, the wild boars scattered in every direction, leaving the two apprentice Beast Tamers, the Icefield Dog, and the Snow-Patterned Ferret they had been chasing standing there in a daze.
"They ran? They're not chasing us anymore?"
Immediately afterward, they saw Shi Yu and the little Iron-Eating Beast slowly approaching, dragging five Long-Spined Wild Boars as spoils.
It was an extraordinarily spectacular sight.
"Holy mother."
The Icefield Dog's Beast Tamer exclaimed and stared in disbelief at the spoils Shi Yu was dragging.
He had some impression of Shi Yu. They had entered Tianmang Mountain through the same entrance, and so little time had passed. What was with the pile of Long-Spined Wild Boars behind Shi Yu???
At that moment, the Snow-Patterned Ferret's Beast Tamer also understood why the herd of Long-Spined Wild Boars had run. Shi Yu and his companions, dragging a pile of Long-Spined Wild Boars along, had a particularly powerful presence. Never mind the boars-even he had gotten a fright.
"If you want to find lone Long-Spined Wild Boars, go to the outskirts. Don't go deep into the forest."
After passing them, Shi Yu casually gave them a word of advice and continued on his way with Eleven, dragging the pile of Long-Spined Wild Boars.
"Got it. Thanks, big shot."
The two hurriedly thanked him, but after being chased by the wild boars, they weren't in the mood to hunt for the time being. They planned to rest at the safe zone first.
After catching their breath, they chose to follow Shi Yu at a distance. After all, the path he was taking was the one that led through Wild Boar Forest to the safe zone.
After that, because they were dragging five Long-Spined Wild Boars as spoils, the wild Long-Spined Wild Boars regarded Shi Yu and his companions as top predators. No matter how easy Shi Yu and Eleven looked to bully, not a single boar dared approach.
And with so many Long-Spined Wild Boars in tow, Shi Yu had no intention of going out of his way to pick a fight with more for the time being. It was almost afternoon, and he still hadn't had a moment to eat lunch. He might as well go straight to the safe zone and leave the boars there.
After spending some more time, Shi Yu and his companions finally reached the little safe zone. It was surrounded by a fence of wood and thorns and looked like a small stockade.
When Shi Yu arrived, five or six people were already there. He didn't know whether they had come through Wild Boar Forest or taken another, safer route straight here.
The safe zone had no extra buildings, only a monitoring room and an infirmary, so examinees could only sit and rest briefly beneath the thatched shelter outside.
Of the examinees sitting outside and resting, half looked fairly normal, but the other half were all disheveled and filthy.
Shi Yu also saw a young man whose clothes were stained red and whose arm was wrapped in white bandages. Had a wild boar gored him?
There was also a Beast Tamer with a scab on his face. The scab looked quite a bit like a blade scar. Damn, had a Broadsword Mantis disfigured him, only for him to be healed afterward?
Thanks to the existence of healing-type pet beasts, as long as an examinee didn't die on the spot, the chances of saving them were still quite high... That said, when Shi Yu saw the two or three Beast Tamers wrapped in bandages, he still swallowed instinctively.
How miserable... Don't scare me like that.
Shi Yu felt that this group of wounded people was dampening his enthusiasm for continuing to hunt a level-ten boss.
"This..." When Shi Yu entered and swept his gaze over the examinees who had already reached the safe zone, they were also watching him as he came in.
When the six people saw Shi Yu and the little Iron-Eating Beast drag five Long-Spined Wild Boars inside, their eyes immediately widened, as if they had seen something unbelievable.
One, two, three, four, five... Had they counted wrong? Five?
After looking more closely, they were sure that Shi Yu had come in alone. In other words, Shi Yu had hunted five Long-Spined Wild Boars by himself?
Where had this expert come from...!
Long-Spined Wild Boars weren't the most formidable ferocious beasts on Tianmang Mountain, but not just anyone could easily hunt five in succession. After all, a pet beast's stamina was limited, and not much time had passed yet.
"You finally made it."
At that moment, a security guard in a blue uniform came out of the monitoring room and said, "We've been watching you on the monitors for a while. Your Iron-Eating Beast is strong."
"Want to register your points? I'll do it for you."
Shi Yu looked over and nodded. "Yeah, please register them for me. By the way, can I eat these wild boars?"
The security guard was taken aback. "How do you want to eat them?"
"Roast wild boar?"
"I'd advise you not to. Long-Spined Wild Boar meat is tasty, but it has to go through several stages of preparation."
"This..." Shi Yu was deeply disappointed. Did that mean he could only eat the braised beef instant noodles in his backpack?
He had been planning to eat well before going to copy the Size Alteration skill that afternoon...
Tianmang Mountain training base.
Main monitoring room.
Unlike the safe zones on Tianmang Mountain, which only needed to monitor fixed areas, this place had to keep an eye on the entire mountain, so it couldn't keep a very close watch on individual examinees.
However, by watching the points uploaded in real time from the safe zones, the five professional Beast Tamers here could quickly tell which contestants were performing well.
At present, the big screen showed an apprentice Beast Tamer named Xie Fei in first place with 1,500 points. Shortly after entering Tianmang Mountain, he had successfully hunted a Rock-Backed Lizard at growth level nine and had held first place for a long time.
At that moment, the points finally changed again. Shi Yu's name suddenly leaped into first place with 1,750 points.