"Is it over already?"

Gu Ming had hoped someone would force Cyan Treasure to use its ultimate move, giving it a chance to practice its Mastery of Wood Escape.

But in the end, it only used its Wood Escape Flood Dragon Power—its Origin Power—to enhance its Storm Ball attacks.

Its true trump card was never revealed, but there was nothing to be done about that.

’I can’t just find some rookie to test it on,’ he thought.

Besides, Gu Ming still had his mid-term exams. The real test was yet to come.

His trump card was still being refined. Since no one could force Cyan Treasure to use that move, he would save it for the mid-terms.

By then, with the experience from its Dream Training, Cyan Treasure’s Skill Level would reach a whole new plateau. The laughable spectacle of it taking a full minute to grow a single poison tree would be a thing of the past.

After a full day of competition, Cyan Treasure steadily took first place.

Just as he’d hoped, Gu Ming received Spirit Stones and cultivation materials beneficial to the Flood Dragon race from the school during the award ceremony.

These materials were originally prepared for Beastmasters with Flood Dragon Element Pet Beasts, such as Akagi Shu or Fang Tian Gui.

Unexpectedly, neither of the "promising talents" hand-picked by the school boards made it to the top. Instead, Gu Ming had come in and snatched the prize.

This left the leadership from the neighboring No. 2 High School with grim expressions.

In contrast, the leaders of his own school, though surprised, were delighted that the prize was going to one of their own.

When he went on stage, a smiling school official patted Gu Ming’s shoulder.

"Good kid! You took down both Akagi Shu and Fang Tian Gui. Your Snake Pet is really something."

The man on stage was the vice principal, who had been busy with off-campus affairs and had only recently returned.

He’d heard of Gu Ming’s accomplishments, but the school’s focus was on the handful of other students who already had High-star Potential Pet Beasts and were receiving allocated resources.

Students like Gu Ming, who were largely left to their own devices or had secretly signed with outside corporations, generally received little attention from the school beyond routine updates to their files.

It had been just over half a month since the last monthly exam, yet Gu Ming’s Cyan Treasure’s combat ability had already increased more than tenfold.

It had defeated a Red Flame Flood Dragon and battered a defense-oriented Turtle Wood Flood Dragon. This was enough to prove that Cyan Treasure’s combat ability far surpassed that of any other student in the city.

He could even rank among the very best at the provincial level.

The vice principal was delighted to see it.

’Looks like I can look forward to Gu Ming’s performance in the mid-terms,’ he thought.

"Do you have the confidence to take first place in the province for the mid-terms?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Sir, you’re putting me on the spot." Gu Ming didn’t dare make such a bold claim, lest it come back to bite him.

Cyan Treasure was strong, but the province was teeming with geniuses. Who would dare claim to be unbeatable? At least, Gu Ming knew he wasn’t yet the best in the world.

’It’s best to stay humble.’

"Haha, I think you’ve got it. If you don’t, it’d be a waste of Teacher Zhong’s guidance."

The vice principal patted Gu Ming’s shoulder with a meaningful look before walking away.

Cyan Treasure tilted its head, not quite understanding the official’s words. It flicked its tongue against its master’s cheek, silently asking for an explanation.

Once he was off the stage and saw the official was a good distance away, Gu Ming whispered to Cyan Treasure.

"The vice principal thinks we signed a talent contract with the Duomu Dragon Pharmaceutical Company. In reality, we’re just doing some academic research with Teacher Zhong," Gu Ming said, shaking his head.

Cyan Treasure understood. So that’s what it was about.

To outsiders, Gu Ming’s stubbornness—refusing both extra sponsorship from the school and any official talent contract with a local corporation—made it seem like he was relying on his family’s savings to raise his Pet Beast.

However, with Teacher Zhong’s appearance at school and the arrival of an official cooperation proposal from the Duomu Dragon Pharmaceutical Company, the school’s leadership completely abandoned the idea of persuading Gu Ming to sign a local talent contract.

After all, Duomu Dragon Pharmaceutical was a nationally renowned Fortune 500 company.

The strength of its Beastmasters and the high Star Level of their Pet Beasts were far beyond what the school or any local powers could hope to match.

Gu Ming had latched onto a powerful backer.

Everyone could only feel envy; there was nothing else to think.

A short while later, the announcer also called Lu You’s name.

She went on stage with her Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster to accept her award from the school.

She had her wins and losses, but with only eight defeats in total, her overall rank rose to twelfth in the joint-school friendship tournament.

This was a remarkable achievement.

She was only the second student in the entire school to break into the top twelve with a Basic Type Pet Beast.

And that was with the top ranks being filled with ace students from the rival school.

By this logic, Lu You’s true strength placed her within the top ten of her grade at their school.

Those in the audience paying attention to Lu You began to speculate.

Why was a Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster so strong?

No other hamster had ever shown this kind of power.

Mouse Treasure had a Breathing Technique, the Earth Shifting Technique, and the Earth Dragon Stomp Combat Technique.

The Earth Dragon Illusion only appeared for a moment, but many people had seen it.

When people put together the characteristics of Cyan Treasure’s fighting style, they discovered a commonality between the two Pet Beasts.

When Cyan Treasure used Flood Dragon Tail Swing, a Dragon Elephant afterimage would appear on its tail. The same was true for Mouse Treasure.

Both had learned Combat Techniques of the Flood Dragon race.

Using cross-species Skills wasn’t unheard of. The advanced form of a Snake Pet is a Flood Snake, and a step beyond that is a Flood Dragon.

Cyan Treasure’s aptitude for cross-species abilities was outstanding; its Talent was truly remarkable.

But for Mouse Treasure to have similar traits inevitably raised suspicions: perhaps this was the key reason the Duomu Dragon Pharmaceutical Company had dispatched specialists to mentor these two students.

Duomu Dragon Pharmaceutical must have developed some special technology, or perhaps a new elixir, for its latest clinical trials.

It was also worth noting that neither student had signed a local talent sponsorship contract.

Their contracts must have already been signed with the Duomu Dragon Company.

It was only normal that locals couldn’t find out the details. After all, it was a major national corporation.

「After the tournament.」

The top students from their school, who had left earlier, returned to hold a closed-door meeting in their classroom.

All the top-ranking students were at the meeting, with the conspicuous absence of Gu Ming and Lu You, who also ranked among the best. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

These were the students who wanted to surpass the pair, so naturally, Gu Ming and Lu You were the subject of their study.

Although Wang Zidong was displeased, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy watching Cyan Treasure execute a flawless Flood Dragon Tail Swing in the battle, so he had no choice but to join the discussion.

Tonight, he had to go home and face a debriefing from his family’s ’think tank’.

If he had nothing to report, things would get awkward, and his family would surely reprimand him.

"Have you guys noticed? Both Cyan Treasure and Mouse Treasure have developed the Earth Shifting Technique to an extremely high Skill Level."

"Could it be that the Earth Shifting Technique, like the Green Treasure Breathing Technique, is also a must-learn Divine Technique for Low-star Pets?"

"But the Earth Shifting Technique is only Monochromatic Holy Light tier. It can’t be a Divine Technique. It also requires an Earth Element Spiritual Root to learn, so not all Pet Beasts can practice its Cultivation."

"Then why can Cyan Treasure learn it? It can’t have Three-Element Spiritual Roots, can it? My family said that’s impossible. A Little Cyan Snake doesn’t have the aura of an Earth Spiritual Root."

"Yeah, why is that?"

The students, racking their brains trying to figure out Gu Ming, were lost in confusion.

Zhou Ruoyun closed her eyes, took out an Elixir, and popped it into her mouth, circulating the Cyan Pine Skill.

While the others were still practicing the Cyan Pine Unmoving Technique, she had already switched to the Cyan Pine Skill, the one Gu Ming himself had created.

’These guys aren’t getting anywhere. Now they’re changing the subject, even claiming the Cyan Pine Spiritual Technique is leading students astray.’

’Seriously, I shouldn’t have even come to this closed-door meeting. It’s completely useless.’

’What’s Gu Ming doing right now?’

’He’s probably training hard with Lu You.’

’Sigh... I kind of want to join their little group and see how they train.’