Chapter 109 — The Greenfluff Worm's Airborne Tactics

Having been through wilderness training in the Tianmang Mountains, Shi Jin was confident about the third stage; no matter how the examiners restrained Eleven, he felt he could still romp through it effortlessly.

The Iron-Eater Research Institute.

Since the next stage was the day after tomorrow, Shi Jin would naturally be heading back here.

At the institute, Sister Xiong Qi clearly knew Shi Jin would be coming back after finishing his afternoon exam, but one look at his less-than-cheerful expression and she understood at once—so, it had gone off the rails?

"Going back for another try next year?" she asked gingerly.

"Hardly." Shi Shuo's face darkened; he had gotten plenty of questions wrong, but he would definitely clear the cutoff.

He had already checked his answers against the correct ones in the taxi on the way over.

There was a big problem, and yet not such a big one—it left him stuck in that neither-here-nor-there feeling.

"Then why the long face?" Sister Xiong Qi chuckled.

Shi Jin: "I misread one of the questions. Threw away five points for nothing..."

On went the mask of suffering.

Sister Xiong Qi smiled and said, "Don't dwell on it. As long as you clear the written test, that's enough. High beast-taming rank, strong pets, and good written scores all at once—who could be that kind of superhuman? Most people are just aiming to scrape past the cutoff."

"Oh, oh, oh, our junior's back!!"

As Sister Xiong Qi was comforting Shi Jin, the Seven Heroes of Archaeology happened to return from some errand, and the moment they spotted Shi Jin, their eyes lit up.

"Junior Shi Jin, we heard! Did your Iron-Eater's energy value really hit over three thousand points?!!"

"Badass."

"We're taking off with this one—a top ten finish is absolutely within reach!!"

Shi Shuo blinked and said, "Word travels fast with you people."

Zheng Yan laughed heartily. "Well, with so many people watching the basic test, any absurd figure or two spreads like wildfire."

"Remember that Yu Shu we mentioned to you before, and that legendary Yin fellow's son?"

"That Yu Shu's Netherbone Wyrmling, I hear, comes up just short of three thousand. Your Iron-Eater's amazing—even a notch stronger than a dragon of the same tier!"

Everyone had expected Eleven to be strong; after all—a Perfect-tier Hardening, an Expert-tier Multiplication, an Expert-tier Thunder Palm, and an awakened evolution bloodline. Come on, there was no way it could be weak!

And yet, even with those expectations, data rivalling a monarch-race pet's cub still gave them a small shock.

And this was before evolution! If it evolved—heavens above.

Shi Jin did not pay that any mind; after all, Eleven had even fought a phantom Frost Dragon.

What he was curious about was that twelve-year-old kid.

"That twelve-year-old—did he really take the assessment?"

Senior Lin Yu'er said, "Not only did he take it, his basic test score is currently the highest. Word is he contracted a monarch-race cub, with an energy value approaching four thousand."

"They say he's a handsome little shota. I wonder if I'll get the chance to be his senior. Oh, this old auntie's maiden heart..."

"Pfft, shotacon."

The other six prodigies looked at her with disdain.

"Is that so." Shi Shuo froze, his heart skipping a beat.

A cub of a sovereign species?

Damn, so they really exist.

Its energy value is this much higher than Eleven's...

It surely also commands a super-tier skill, though there's no telling how proficient it is in that and its other skills.

"Feels like taking first place won't be so certain anymore." Shi Jin sank into thought.

Still, if the opponent's talent is beast-space enhancement, Shi Jin wouldn't come off too badly in a fight.

Unlike beastmasters with enhancement-type talents, who can buff their beasts mid-battle.

With a single buff from a beastmaster of that kind, a beast's proficient-level skill can press right up against mastery level—that's the real headache.

"Where's Lin Yun?" Shi Tang asked Sister Xiong Qi.

"She had business and went back to Pingcheng. Why?" Sister Xiong Qi said.

"Nothing..." Shi Heng nodded. Then it was fine.

He had been agonizing over whether to copy the skill Impregnable Fortress; after all, his skill codex had only five pages for now.

Rather than copy it right away, he actually wanted to hold back and see if he might run into other rare skills first—Impregnable Fortress wasn't going anywhere, and he could copy it sooner or later.

Besides, frankly, Impregnable Fortress wouldn't boost Eleven much at present.

Not unless he pushed it to mastery level or above, and by then Shi Yun and his energy would never keep up—no need for that.

Eleven was in a good state as things stood; with one esoteric art under its belt, it might well give even a sovereign-species beast a run for its money.

"Since Junior Shi Jin has finished his exam too and tomorrow's a rest day, why don't we go out for a meal tonight?" Senior Wang Le suggested.

Everyone looked at Cen Yu.

Shi Jin: "I'm fine with anything. Whatever works."

...

On the first day of the professional assessment, the Ancient Capital was astir.

On the local forums, almost every thread was discussing this year's professional assessment.

Those who had scored higher on the basic energy test were naturally the focus of discussion.

Of course, besides talk of the local assessment, there was also talk of assessments in other cities.

After all, the Ancient Capital's beastmastering level wasn't particularly high among the nine first-tier cities.

In places like the capital, where the Beastmaster Association headquarters was located, the clustered beastmaster scions were even more outrageous.

But none of this had anything to do with Shi Jin anymore. He had enjoyed a fine meal, then come back to sleep and rest, and drifted off into dreamland.

The next day.

The moment Shi Jin opened his eyes, his first thought was to grab his phone and open the score-checking website.

He entered his name and exam number, and when the page refreshed, his heart nearly stopped.

Name: Shi Jin

Exam Number: gd1464

Score: 250

Nearly 10 points above his estimate. Out of a full 300, it was a middling score—after all, the professional assessment set high demands on the written test, and passing wasn't calculated at 60 percent.

Still...

"Are you cursing me?"

Shi Jin was speechless. This score somehow felt like a jab at him.

"Heh."

Never mind. Passing the line was enough. Today he was happy.

Smiling, Shi Jin went straight into the ruins space to find Yingying Bear and Jiji Bug and announce the good news.

But the moment he arrived, Shi Jin was even more speechless.

"What are you two doing???"

Over here, Eleven and Bug Bug had apparently figured something out with the phone—Bug Bug had directly transformed into a pair of metal wings and mounted them on either side of Eleven's body, joined by a masterwork-level hardening.

At that moment, Eleven was wobbling through a low-altitude flight, its expression dead serious.

It could not fly steadily at all.

"Eeek."

"Chirp!"

What were they doing? Scaling the skies, of course!

Eleven decided to give the ten-thousand-meter freefall training method a try—thrills were the whole point.

The plan: once its entire body hardened, Buggy would drop it from ten thousand meters, and gravity's acceleration would drive it down onto the enemy. That counted as a super-tier skill, didn't it?

After hearing Shi Jin mention that they might need to research double-battle tactics someday, Eleven and Buggy had not been idle either—they had started brainstorming on their own.

What they had come up with was this: the Eeek-Chirp Sky Tactic!

Good for training and good for combat—perfect!