Soon, Su Yanjing arrived at the Astral Pet combat stadium.
Su Yanying did not wear the academy uniform but the guard recognized her. He let her in before she presented her student card.
“Pyro Cut!”
“The Pyro Canine has used the Pyro Cut!”
“Such a shame that the Pyro Cut did not hit its target. The Fire Warmonster dodged the strike. Wait a minute. No! The Pyro Cut is turning around. Good heavens, the Pyro Cut is traveling back!!”
Su Yanying heard the judge shouting in excitement as soon as she stepped into the stadium. His voice could be heard throughout the entire venue; it was loud enough to wake the dead.
At the same time, people were thrilled and shouting on the spectator seats on the sides of the entrance corridor.
This was of no surprise to Su Yanjing who kept her calm. Such a view couldn’t be more familiar to her.
She looked around and found the seats of her class.
Class Two, Grade Three.
She hurried over. Halfway through, she suddenly remembered that her pet Lightning Rat was still behind her…
That little guy… she had never brought it to such a grand event. Would it be scared by this magnificent scene with tens of thousands of people shouting their lungs out?
Su Yanjing turned around at once, only to find the Lightning Rat was still close behind her. When she stopped, it stopped as well and the Lightning Rat raised its head to look at her. She could see confusion in those small eyes that were only as big as a crack.
It was unaffected… Inside, Su Yanying felt she could breathe again. Pets weren’t like the average wild animals. Pets had basic thinking and awareness abilities. A pet that was more timid would most likely be immobilized from fright in situations like this.
Time was pressing. She had just picked up the Lightning Rat. She didn’t have time to train with it or give it some time to adjust.
Su Yanying was gladly surprised to see that the Lightning Rat was courageous and fearless.
“Ying Ying, where have you been? I couldn’t find you anywhere. You frightened me there!”
Lan Lele, Su Yanying’s friend, had spotted her as soon as she arrived at her class’ seats. The former ran over at once.
“I went to pick up my Astral Pet,” Su Yanying said as she followed Lan Lele to the seats of their class. Su Yanying threw a glance at the games and asked, “Which one is it now?”
“The fourth one. You’re almost up, just after Ice Jiang finishes her match.” Lan Lele pouted her lips to point at the back of someone with black hair in front of them. Both that person and Su Yanying were the center of attention in the class. Over time, due to the influence of such an environment, those two students had grown to be quite competitive.
Since Lan Lele was Su Yanying’s friend, she naturally didn’t have nice feelings about that student.
“Oh.” Su Yanying nodded. She didn’t mind this and kept her gaze on the matches.
Then, Lan Lele noticed the Lightning Rat that was eating the fruit peels on the ground near Su Yanying’s food. “This is the Lightning Rat that you sent out for pet boarding, right? Is it starving? Why is it eating anything it can find?” Lan Lele sounded surprised.
Hearing her words, Su Yanying turned around. Her expression changed as she saw the Lighting Rat that was holding a piece of fruit peel, eating happily.
“Drop it. It’s too dirty,” said Su Yanying while she used the power of the contract to send across her instructions at the same time.
As a person with a morbid fear of getting dirty, she could never tolerate seeing her pets eating garbage on the ground.
In the meantime, this reminded her of that pet store!
“That vicious businessman!”
When the matches were over, she would go to the Association of Astral Pets to file a complaint against that store!
Sensing Su Yanying’s orders, the Lightning Rat stopped, blinking its googly eyes.
Lan Lele took a look at the Lightning Rat. Something came to her mind. “Are you going to have it join you in this match?” She looked at Su Yanying, stunned.
“Of course.” Su Yanying remained composed.
Lan Lele opened her beautiful eyes wide. “Have you lost your mind? This is the annual Pet Tournament. The pets that can join in the matches should be at the second rank or higher. Aren’t you sending the Lightning Rat to its death by taking it with you?”
“The academy has rules that no casualties are allowed in the matches. The judge will call it off in time in case of potential danger,” Su Yanying replied.
“Even so, say the Lightning Rat doesn’t lose its life, but what would be the benefit of sending it in? This is just a pet at the intermediate stage of the first rank. Any pet out there can defeat it.” Lan Lele was baffled.
“I know.” Su Yanying was determined and resolute. “But, don’t forget about the battle pet warrior special skill I mastered, third-rank strength augmentation!”
“The lower the rank of the pet, the better the effect of my strength augmentation will be. I should be able to boost the strength of the Lightning Rat to the intermediate stage of the second rank. With my skills and instructions, the Lightning Rat can fight other pets!”
Lan Lele, naturally knew about the capabilities of this friend of hers to a tee. “Didn’t you say that you asked your family to get you an advanced healer to help you recover the strength of that ‘Fanged Tiger’? Why don’t you work with it instead?” said Lan Lele, still puzzled.
“Everyone else believes it was injured during the previous battles. It is my ace card now. I cannot expose it so quickly.” Su Yanying lowered her voice.
Lan Lele finally understood. She heaved a sigh. “Speaking of which, you are so unlucky this time. You’ve met too many difficult opponents at the beginning of this tournament. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be in such a predicament.”
Su Yanying kept silent. She didn’t offer a reply.
At the same time, this round of matches had just ended. The one that was using the Pyro Canine won. Both parties went off the stage.
In the meantime, the girl that was called “Ice Jiang” by Lan Lele stood up slowly. She was immediately on the receiving end of the passionate stares from the boys of their class, as well as some glares from some that were gnashing teeth in hatred.
“That girl sure is lucky. All her opponents are rookies!” Lan Lele said, resentfully.
Su Yanying frowned a bit. Still, she kept silent.
A few minutes later, the battle on the stage had finished. The girl that looked as cold as ice stepped off the stage slowly.
Su Yanying felt when that girl threw her a glance.
That glance spoke volumes, as if Ice Jiang was telling Su Yanying to not to let her down…
Hmm!
Su Yanying clenched her fist. She looked even calmer on the outside.
“Time to go,” Su Yanying said this to Lan Lele and the Lightning Rat with her.
The Lightning Rat noticed that its master’s mindset seemed to have been altered. The Lighting Rat stood up straight and a keen look flashed in that pair of small eyes.
And yet, nobody would throw a look at the eyes of an inferior Lighting Rat. Not a single person noticed that dangerous aura hidden within.
Along the aisle, Su Yanying walked to the stage in the middle of the venue. She made her way up, step by step.
The Lightning Rat jumped and hopped behind her.
She stood quietly in the spacious stadium, amid the looks thrown at her from all sides.
There was no trace of fear on this girl’s face. In her eyes, there was pride and composure.
“Su Yanying from Class Two, Grade Three!”
The judge announced her name at once and continued in a thrilled tone, “Now, let’s shift our attention to the screen and find out who will be Su Yanying’s opponent!”
Everyone shifted their looks to the huge score screen hung above the ground. A string of images flashed past and then stopped in one.
“Sh*t!” Lan Lele’s expression changed the moment she saw the image. It was Zhang Xiao from Class Seven, Grade Three. That was quite a formidable opponent. Zhang Xiao could be counted as one of the best in the class!
Su Yanying was surprised as well.
How bad her luck was. How come she had to compete against another tough opponent?
Soon, her opponent was also up on the stage.
That was a young man of about one meter and seventy-five in height, with black hair and a fierce glance, wearing a valuable wristwatch. This was a rare mix of a wild and refined young man.
“Su Yanying from Class two?” Zhang Xiao could not help but chuckle as he saw his opponent. “I must be in luck. I heard that all your pets have been injured during the previous battles. Tsk, tsk. Is the little rat there all that you’ve got now?”
Su Yanying’s face was clouded and her heart was weighed down.
By the stage, the judge announced the commencement coldly, “Best two out of three. Each party can only send in three pets to participate. No malicious wounding is allowed. Now, begin!”
Zhang Xiao smiled. He reached out his hand and made a grasping gesture to mobilize the contract power. All of a sudden, the space in front of him began to twist slightly. Right after that, a figure that was burning in black flames landed on the ground.
“Second rank, power of the blast!” A faint white glow emitted from Zhang Xiao spanned around like a vortex on the four limbs of that figure surrounded by black flames. This skill was the most basic augmenting skill that a battle pet warrior should master.