Beastmaster King-Chapter 137 - Alright, Alright, So That’s How the Exam Is?

On the field, Wu Le forcibly kept his expression neutral. After a long pause, he finally uttered a few words.

“Impressive. The candidates from Golden Hill did have some skills. It seemed I underestimated you all. To think you could so effortlessly defeat my recently contracted new favorite.

“Earlier, what I demonstrated was a good example. This candidate cooperated well, immediately going all out, while I, of course, held back a little.

“Either by not using beastmaster skills or by instructing my familiar not to use its special traits, giving you all room to shine. In short, just follow the rhythm of Candidate 0001, and you’ll be fine. Very good. You’ve passed...”

The crowd had strange expressions.

Ah, so that was how it is?

“Wu Le is spouting nonsense again,” the three examiners on the panel said, utterly dumbfounded.

Your familiar, no matter how new, was still a nearly level 30 Intermediate-Champion Species fused with two traits! Sure, compared to your ace or first familiar, it might have been new.

But compared to these fourth-generation beastmasters’ familiars, it was ancient! And was that really holding back? You only held back because you were afraid of accidentally one-shotting the fourth-generation beastmasters’ familiars, leaving them unable to perform, which would have gone against the examiner’s guidelines.

But here was the issue. This fourth-generation beastmaster was unusual. That attack from their familiar could rival the strike of a Champion Species of more than level 30!

Never mind whether you held back or not. Even if you had gone all out, you likely would have been heavily injured. And let’s not forget, the fourth-generation candidate’s familiar hadn’t even used any beastmaster skills.

So, who was this newcomer? And what was up with their familiar? Besides its Red Lightning Trait, what other unique traits had it fused with to deliver such a powerful strike without any visible cost?

The three scoring examiners stared at their tablets, unsure how to comment. For scoring, full marks were obvious. As for remarks...

Wu Le’s rhino charged, and Wu Le’s rhino got annihilated?

Forget it. Let’s just document what happened and leave it at that. The video footage would be reviewed by the school later anyway.

“This is weird,” muttered several third-generation examiners from Rock City.

Watching Wu Le’s awkwardness, they could hardly believe their eyes.

“Were Golden Hill’s rookies this terrifying? Unless it was a young King Species, this level of power from a single strike didn’t make any sense.”

At this point, the medical staff was already carrying away the Giant Rock Rhino. Wu Le stood in place, his expression unchanged as he curtly announced,

“Next.”

Meanwhile, Lu Ran cheerfully retrieved Sudden Death King.

See? If it was willing to take the initial hit, Sudden Death King could perform extraordinarily well.

Captain Doofus’ strike that made teeth tremble paired with Sudden Death King’s near-death, last-ditch effort... It was like the Divine Deer Pendant was a family heirloom tailor-made for us!

“Good luck,” Lu Ran said as he descended the stage, patting Fang Lan on the shoulder as they passed.

Fang Lan wanted to ask if Sudden Death King had taken any performance enhancers beforehand. But it didn’t matter. As she quickly ascended the stage, Wu Le summoned his next familiar: a level 31 Intermediate-Champion Species, the Rock Dog.

Lu Ran glanced over and assessed it, guessing that it was probably Wu Le’s initial familiar. He reasoned so because, first, dogs were rarely chosen as second or third familiars when better options were available.

Second, its level was more than 30, clearly evolved over time, but it was only an Intermediate-Champion Species. This suggested it didn’t have a strong foundation, and its training likely involved numerous detours.

Such cases were most common with first familiars. Thus, the Rock Dog was likely Wu Le’s first familiar, while the Giant Rock Rhino was his third. This pattern was common. Most beastmasters’ aces weren’t their first familiars but newer ones raised with more experience.

“Five Poisons Saintess!?”

Wu Le had intended to perform well this round to salvage his reputation, but a deafening cheer from the audience gave him a foreboding feeling.

Five Poisons Saintess? Who was that? A notable fourth-generation beastmaster from Limitless City #3 or Golden Hill?

He looked toward the stage and saw the purple-haired Fang Lan summoning an enormous Poison-Healing Spider. He deduced she was a Poison-attribute specialist. Wu Le’s heart sank.

Dogs were not well-versed in countering Poison-attribute familiars! And this dog relied heavily on its enhanced sense of smell. It was practically a free gift to a poison user.

Their usual countermeasure against Poison attributes was protective equipment. But this exam prohibited examiners from wearing gear.

Crap!

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The battle commenced swiftly. Encouraged by the previous examiner’s remarks, Fang Lan also went all out, immediately activating fusion and Poison Amplifying!

Connected by a light chain, the Poison-Healing Spider fused with Fang Lan in an instant. Moments later, eight purple-blue spider legs sprouted from her back, transforming her aura entirely.

“Be careful, Examiner,” she warned, her voice echoing ominously.

Then, she began forming a poison gas grenade with extreme precision. With her ascension in the ascension realm and her Poison God Cult training, Fang Lan had mastered energy manipulation techniques like Energy acceleration, external Energy Infusion, Compression, and Formation.

She condensed and released an ultra-concentrated poison gas grenade in one motion! Seeing this, Wu Le knew he was in trouble. His Rock Dog easily shattered the grenade, but it was futile. The detonation unleashed a massive toxic storm that engulfed the entire arena.

“Damn it!”

The explosion made the audience erupt in chaos. Some candidates almost fled the scene, horrified by Fang Lan the Spider Queen’s sheer dominance.

Saintess, why are you even scarier now than before!?

Fortunately, the toxic cloud was contained within the arena’s boundaries. Yet, none were more panicked than Wu Le.

“Alright, alright, so that’s how the exam is, huh? You all want to murder the examiner!” Wu Le cursed inwardly.

If there had been no field restrictions, he would have immediately escaped the range of the poisonous gas. But the arena confined him so tightly that he could only watch helplessly as the toxic cloud closed in.

Fortunately, this level of poison couldn’t penetrate his Rock Dog’s defenses. The familiar used its Energy Acceleration Technique to seal off its nose, mouth, and eyes while also erecting a rock prison to shield its beastmaster from the poison.

But this move effectively separated the examiner from the familiar. At that moment, Fang Lan took out a Poison Crossbow crafted from unique poison-attributed minerals.

Whoosh!

She didn’t aim at Wu Le or his Rock Dog but instead shot the bolt directly into the ground. As the arrowhead burst, it released a surge of Poison-attributed energy that reacted in an almost alchemical way with the existing toxic fog.

Instantly, the purple haze turned a strange reddish-purple, radiating an even more sinister aura. The essence of Poison-attributed attacks lay in mixing toxins! Through external modulation, their potency could be exponentially amplified!

The toxic cloud, which had previously failed to penetrate the rock prison, suddenly began corroding gaps into the walls. The Rock Dog panicked, caught between the need to protect its beastmaster and the urgency to defeat its opponent.

Even if I defeat her, the toxic cloud will still spread uncontrollably...

The beastmaster, unable to issue clear commands, only added to the chaos. The familiar’s mind momentarily overloaded.

Meanwhile, the reddish-purple toxic fog started eating away at the Energy Shroud protecting the Rock Dog. Although the corrosion was slow, it was a dangerous sign of things to come.

“Forget about me! Take her out, quickly!” Wu Le, suffocating inside the sealed rock prison, pounded against the walls and shouted his orders.

But the next moment, the Rock Dog realized Fang Lan had vanished entirely. The poisonous fog continued to corrode everything, but with its vision and sense of smell impaired, the Rock Dog couldn’t locate Fang Lan on the vast stage.

Unbeknownst to it, Fang Lan had enveloped herself in White Spider Silk that absorbed the toxic fog and blended perfectly into the noxious environment, rendering her almost invisible.

“Awoo!!!” The Rock Dog growled in frustration, resorting to indiscriminate attacks.

Yet it couldn’t go all out, fearing it might unintentionally injure Fang Lan, which was a strict no-go under examination rules. It had already forgotten the lesson from the previous round.

The ironclad directive from above was clear. The candidates must not sustain severe injuries. Wu Le and his fellow examiners dared not defy it.

The third-generation examiners understood the rationale behind these exam rules when dealing with fourth-generation candidates. But Wu Le felt on the verge of tears.

What kind of insane opponents were these? If I didn’t treat them as sworn enemies, there was no way to break this stalemate!

“You good-for-nothing! What the hell are you doing!?” Wu Le, growing increasingly exasperated, yelled.

He finally decided he had had enough. With a command, the Rock Dog shattered the rock prison and, in one swift motion, carried Wu Le out of the poison cloud’s range.

“You’ve passed! Now get off the stage!!! And can you clean up this poison!?”

Standing a safe distance from the stage, Wu Le glared at the now-visible Fang Lan, whose radiant beauty only reinforced his internal frustration.

The most venomous of all is a woman’s heart!!!

“Yay!” Fang Lan cheered gleefully at the examiner’s words.

“No problem!”

With that, the eight spider legs extending from her back began performing an unexpected function, acting like vacuum cleaners to absorb all the toxic gas into her body!

Soon, the arena was clear of poison, with Fang Lan standing proudly in the middle of the stage, while Wu Le, far off in the distance, looked utterly disheveled.

The battle had left the audience completely silent. The tension and fear from this round far exceeded the previous one. Many spectators were terrified the toxic cloud might breach the stage and spill into the stands.

“Holy crap...”

The crowd from Green Sea City, along with some fourth-generation candidates familiar with the Five Poisons Saintess, shuddered in unison.

The Fang Lan who used fusion skills was at least ten thousand times more terrifying than the arena-phase Fang Lan without skills! If she had been your opponent, you’d be dead before you even knew it. Heck, even as a spectator, you’d feel like your life was at risk.

Shortly after, Fang Lan left the stage and high-fived Lu Ran before exclaiming with regret, “His familiar’s level was too high. My mixed toxins couldn’t breach its defenses, so I couldn’t defeat him like you did... Do you think I’ll qualify as a seed candidate...?” “You’re already more than qualified,” Lu Ran replied, his lips twitching uncontrollably.

Didn’t you see how you nearly drove the examiner insane? The rules were clearly too restrictive on them. That poor examiner...

But at that moment, the person suffering most wasn’t the examiner. It was the next candidate. As the third candidate stepped up, Wu Le retracted his Rock Dog and summoned a new familiar without a word—his ace.

It was a Low-King Species... the Yak King! No one had expected this third-generation examiner to be such a hidden expert, concealing his trump card until now!

“Bring it on! Let’s see how far you fourth-generation candidates can push me! Come on, bring it! Let’s tear each other apart!”

The Yak King exuded a terrifying King Species aura, causing the next candidate’s familiar to tremble, struggling even to withstand the oppressive atmosphere.

“He’s lost it. Wu Le’s gone completely mad,” muttered the other examiners, half-pitying him.

But seeing Wu Le ruthlessly deploy his level 36 King Species ace to assess a candidate, they knew one thing for sure: This guy was genuinely scared out of his wits.

Later on... should they send out their aces right away and adopt a more aggressive strategy? They couldn’t give these fourth-generation candidates a chance to show off and end up embarrassing themselves!