"...All right." Chen Bo nodded. Forget it, he would let Luo Yu have his way.
As it happened, he could see just how capable Luo Yu was.
Meanwhile, since Luo Yu himself had agreed, Director Zhang said nothing more about it. "In that case, I'll referee your beast battle. It's a spar, so stop before anyone gets hurt."
The four then moved to a new arena. Luo Yu and Bing Liang stood on the land on opposite sides of the water arena and began summoning their pet beasts.
On Bing Liang's side, it was the Cold Mist Lizard again, without question.
On Luo Yu's side... Bing Liang was visibly taken aback when he saw an Earth Penguin appear in a flash of light.
"Is that a Water Penguin? That's a very rare pet beast," Zhuang Feng said from the spectator area.
"Look closely at that red scarf. It's an Earth Penguin!" Chen Bo said. What an ignorant country bumpkin...
After Chen Bo spoke, both Bing Liang and Zhuang Feng looked a little bewildered. Neither had expected Luo Yu's pet beast to be an Earth Penguin. The identity of Luo Yu's contracted pet beast was not yet common knowledge.
They had assumed that, given Luo Yu's status, he must have contracted an incredibly badass pet beast.
"An Earth Penguin... the kind of penguin that can't fly and isn't good at swimming either? Am I... being a bit of a bully here?" Bing Liang mused.
"Wuji!!!" At that moment, July also learned what had happened through his contract connection with Luo Yu, and couldn't help losing interest.
A fight?
How boring...
July had always trained hard to match wits and courage with the prey he fished up, not to spar with people.
"You two, stop before anyone gets hurt." Director Zhang announced the start of the match.
At the same time, he thought, An Earth Penguin will probably get utterly trounced by the Cold Mist Lizard.
In the wild, an Earth Penguin might be able to use Dig to put itself in an invincible position, but the floors of beast battle arenas are made of special materials to reduce repair costs. A Dig ability probably can't break through them.
This material can even withstand a direct attack from a level 10 mutant beast with only minor damage. There's no way a level 4 Earth Penguin could use Dig to hide.
"Whatever..." Although his opponent was weaker than he had imagined, Bing Liang still commanded the Cold Mist Lizard to attack.
Whoosh!
A volley of Ice Mist arrows shot out. The Wave Dog had been agile enough to dodge in a hurry when the mist arrows came flying, but Earth Penguins were not a particularly agile species on land.
The others reckoned the Earth Penguin would probably be hit within two or three exchanges.
No... perhaps even one?
They saw the mist arrow rapidly approaching, yet the Earth Penguin remained unmoved.
July truly hadn't moved.
Because there was no need.
Because in his eyes, that mist arrow... was flying so slowly!
After being stung by Honey Water Bees with the Senior Level talent "Five Senses Enhancement" for so long, July hadn't even noticed that his eyesight had been enhanced to the level of mutant beasts renowned for their vision.
Right now, in his eyes, the mist arrow was creeping toward him. Even if it came a little closer, he would still have time to dodge.
Moreover, the chill he felt from the approaching Ice Mist gave July no sense of danger. He felt that even if he were hit, his body heat could quickly melt the frost.
Neither his sight nor his sense of touch had made July feel any danger...
Why dodge?
Bang!!
The mist arrow flew past the Earth Penguin and struck the ground behind him, rapidly coating it in frost. The reason he hadn't dodged was also that the thing hadn't been aimed precisely at him.
He was too small, unlike the enormous Wave Dog, and the distance was too great. His opponent had missed.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!
A continuous stream of mist arrows came flying at him again.
This time, little July began to dodge. But compared with the Wave Dog's earlier frantic running around the arena, his movements were very small. He merely swaggered along, strolling leisurely around the arena with a penguin's distinctive gait, and easily avoided a great many mist arrows.
To Director Zhang, Zhuang Feng, Chen Bo, and Bing Liang, however, the sight was somewhat baffling.
"Wait, what?" Chen Bo said. "Hey, Lizard, can your pet beast take aim before it shoots?!"
"It is aiming!" Cold sweat ran down Bing Liang's face as he realized something was wrong.
Bing Liang's face flushed red as he continued commanding the Cold Mist Lizard to use its ability and attack July with Ice Mist. But thanks to his exceptionally sharp dynamic vision, little July still easily dodged every attack.
July didn't attack either; he simply kept dodging. The Cold Mist Lizard was not high-level and had limited stamina. Before long, it was panting as it looked at its opponent beside the pool, feeling somewhat despairing.
It couldn't hit him. It simply couldn't hit him at all.
"Out of stamina?" Luo Yu said at that moment. "Then it's our turn to attack."
Counterattack?
Bing Liang was seething. He wondered what means of attack an Earth Penguin could possibly have, and what it could use to counterattack.
Even though they had dodged every attack, he still didn't believe Luo Yu and the Earth Penguin could win.
But then...
The Earth Penguin waddled steadily closer. Once he was within a certain distance, he slapped both wings against the ground!!!
Rumble!!
The arena shook slightly, and cracks appeared in the floor. More frightening still was what happened beneath the Cold Mist Lizard's feet...
The ground where it stood turned to sand, and a large pit split open out of nowhere. It instantly lost its footing, and the entire lizard toppled into the hole, where the flowing sand and soil quickly buried it!
"Roar!!!"
The Cold Mist Lizard howled from inside the hole, but its stamina was exhausted. Like a drowning creature, it was completely unable to burrow its way out. That was also why Luo Yu and July had worn down its strength first.
"I won, right?" Luo Yu smiled faintly. Sure enough, talent was more valuable than species. Even without using his high-temperature power, the little penguin had easily defeated a Mid-Rank Species. The training of the past few days hadn't been for nothing!
"..." Bing Liang was speechless.
The three spectators nearby were dumbstruck as well.
"This..." Director Zhang had the hardest time accepting it. The beast arena's flooring could withstand attacks from level 10 mutant beasts without damage. Even if earth-type skills did have something of an advantage against this kind of floor, surely a level 4 Earth Penguin couldn't dig through it so easily, could it??
No, wait.
This wasn't even fucking Dig!!!
Whose Dig ability made a huge pit appear beneath an enemy's feet with a slap of both hands???
"You call that Dig?!" Chen Bo, who came from a highly educated family, was dumbfounded too.
Precisely because he knew so much about Earth Penguins and the Dig ability, his view of pet beasts had undoubtedly been shaken to its core.
He had never seen such a devious use of Dig!
Sure enough!
Chen Bo suddenly went deathly pale. He had known something was off about how quickly Luo Yu had accepted his challenge to a beast battle.
He hadn't understood before, but he did now.
Luo Yu's Earth Penguin simply wasn't legal. He had been waiting to catch Chen Bo off guard. If he opened a hole beneath Chen Bo's feet from a distance, how would Chen Bo climb out?
He looked at the hole in the ground and at the little penguin, who had handled everything with ease from beginning to end, and fell into thought...
"Damn!!!"
Suddenly, Director Zhang cried out in alarm.
"The arena, the arena!!!"
"You didn't file a report through the proper channels before your battle, and now you've damaged the arena. Worse, it's extensive, deep damage caused by the Dig ability. Our infirmary will definitely hear about this."
"What a mess..."
Director Zhang had a headache. In the future, he must never let Luo Yu and this penguin fight here again.
This little bastard was a walking arena wrecker.
"Uh..." Luo Yu was taken aback. Was it that serious? Weren't arenas made to be damaged? Surely there was a repair budget?
"Then we won't take up another arena?" He looked at Chen Bo and said, "Come on, let's use this one too."
Chen Bo said, "Forget it. My pet beast's ability is very powerful too, so we'd better not cause Director Zhang more trouble. Besides, your penguin just finished fighting. I don't want to take advantage of you."
"No fight?"
Luo Yu was taken aback. He wasn't going to fight?
"It's fine. July didn't use up much stamina."
Then there was even less chance of fighting!
Chen Bo's heart sank. He couldn't understand how Luo Yu had raised his pet beast.
Even if this Earth Penguin had extraordinary earth-type talent, surely it shouldn't have been able to open a hole in the arena in an instant...
Even a mutant earth spiritual root in a cultivation novel wouldn't dare pull a stunt like that.
"I just remembered, I haven't finished the homework my mom left me. I'll head back first. You and Director Zhang can discuss your business..."
He turned to leave... took a few steps, then looked back.
"Um... I'll go home and talk to my parents about what you mentioned."
Chen Bo really wanted to know how to become as outstanding as Luo Yu now.
"He's leaving just like that..."
Chen Bo's "true gentleman" spirit left Luo Yu deeply helpless. July really hadn't used much stamina; he had even saved the stamina to enter his high-temperature state for Chen Bo.
Why had he just left?
Chen Bo had suffered a tremendous blow.
Of course, the two ordinary students, Bing Liang and Zhuang Feng, had suffered an even greater blow.
After the battle ended, the two of them had been in a daze the whole time.
This wasn't the same as what they'd been taught at school by their teachers, was it?