Chapter 028: Novices Clashing
Learning Thunderstorm wasn't something that could be achieved in a day or two. There was no point rushing it.
The current priority was Changheng Group's internal selection tournament.
Changheng Group's headquarters was located in Haning City, about two hours' drive from Haizhou City. Making round trips would be quite troublesome.
Fortunately, considering the distribution of subsidiaries and participants, Changheng Group had set up five additional sub-venues across the Jianghuai Region.
Together with Haning City's venue, there were six sub-venues in total.
Haizhou City happened to be one of them, which was convenient for Ming Xi.
8 AM, Haizhou City Cultural Center's auxiliary stadium.
After bidding farewell to Shao Dingding who came to cheer for her, Ming Xi headed to the contestant waiting area to draw her number plate.
At first glance, Ming Xi had one impression - there were more people in the waiting area than in the spectator stands.
Apart from staff wearing ID badges, it was all fresh-faced young men and women.
The air was thick with youthful energy.
However, beast companions were rarely seen. It seemed all participants had unanimously chosen not to summon their beasts yet.
Maintaining an air of mystery.
Ming Xi found a staff member with a pleasant face and inquired about the competition arrangements.
According to last night's registration data, there were 416 participants in Haizhou's sub-venue.
The tournament used a single-elimination format.
Over today and tomorrow, the top 26 from this sub-venue would be decided. Only these 26 would get the chance to go to Haning City for the final competition.
In other words, she needed to defeat at least four opponents to advance.
The first elimination round began quickly.
Each participant was randomly assigned a number plate by computer, with adjacent numbers paired together.
To speed things up, the staff had already divided the stadium into ten competition areas, with twenty people competing simultaneously each time.
Ming Xi drew number 69, which was quite early, so she stayed in the waiting area instead of returning to the spectator stands.
"Classmate, which high school are you from? Local?"
"Local, from A University Affiliated High. What about you?"
"I came from Yuanhe City."
"Yuanhe? Isn't that closer to Haning? Why come all the way here?"
"Ahem, my aunt married into Haizhou, so I feel more familiar here."
"That makes sense. You're practically half a Haizhou local then."
"..."
Sitting diagonally behind them and hearing every word, Ming Xi: "..."
She just wanted to say, how naive can you be?
That out-of-town student definitely didn't take the long way to Haizhou because of his aunt.
Most likely, he thought the competitors in Haning City would be stronger than those in Haizhou, making it easier to advance here.
As the provincial capital of Hujiang Province and one of the three core cities in Jianghuai Region, Haning City's resources and beastmasters' strength were on a completely different level from their remote Haizhou.
To put it bluntly, the two cities weren't even in the same league.
It wasn't unreasonable for others to consider their local competitors weaker.
"Numbers 69 and 70, please proceed to Area 7."
The announcement finally called Ming Xi.
She immediately stood up and walked toward Area 7, only to discover her opponent was that "half-Haizhou-local" boy.
What a coincidence.
The boy with spiky hedgehog-like hair gave her a bright, friendly smile.
"Where are you from, classmate? How old are you?"
Number 70 was quite the chatterbox. Even with the match about to start, he still found time to gather information. Ming Xi thought it was a waste he wasn't working as a reporter.
After this thought, Ming Xi smiled and answered his probing: "Local Haizhou, 14 years old."
She swore she didn't imagine it - the moment she finished speaking, Number 70's eyes lit up brighter than stars in the night sky.
Heh.
Probably thought victory was guaranteed.
"Tweet!"
The referee's whistle blew, signaling the start of the match.
Neither Ming Xi nor Number 70 delayed even a second, both completing their hand seals almost simultaneously as two white spatial ripples appeared - their Beast Spaces manifesting.
Golden Ingot soared out.
"Thunder."
Facing it was a brownish-gray bear-like beast about 1.3-1.4 meters tall.
Looking at the adorably clumsy bear opposite, relevant information quickly surfaced in Ming Xi's mind.
Pouch Chestnut Bear, a mid-tier ground-type beast native to Jianghuai Region. It had a pouch on its chest that periodically produced chestnut fruits. These fruits not only replenished the bear's energy, enhancing its combat endurance, but also served as one of its main attack methods.
First match and already facing a tough opponent.
The Pouch Chestnut Bear was a rare supernatural creature proficient in both defense and close combat while also possessing excellent ranged attack capabilities.
More troublesome was its endurance.
To defeat a Pouch Chestnut Bear of equal level, most beasts needed to act swiftly, preventing it from eating chestnut fruits to restore energy.
Ming Xi remained calm and decisively ordered: "Golden Feather Cyclone!"
Golden Ingot spread its wings and rapidly approached the bear while golden feathers shot out like blades from its wings, forming a one-meter diameter golden whirlwind that swept toward the fluffy bear.
"Pouch pouch!"
The Pouch Chestnut Bear's pained cry alerted Number 70 that he had underestimated his opponent.
That avian beast was also mid-tier.
Though the girl opposite was only 14, she wasn't weaker than him!
"Chestnut Blossom Show, Chestnut Attack!"
He immediately shouted. He was unlucky to encounter a flying-type beast.
Against flying-types, ground-type beasts had almost no advantage.
The elemental matchup was completely unfavorable.
Fortunately, his Pouch Chestnut Bear wasn't an ordinary ground-type.
Ming Xi didn't even blink, calmly continuing her commands: "Lightning Ball, don't stop."
With Golden Ingot's reaction speed, it didn't need reminders to dodge attacks.
Golden Ingot didn't disappoint, swiftly spinning and flying midair to avoid the exploding chestnuts while accurately releasing Lightning Balls.
Of course, not all Lightning Balls hit the bear - several landed on the ground instead.
"Crackle bang!"
The electric flashes and thunderclaps were particularly intense.
"Hey, look at Area 7!"
Although Changheng Group had generously rented the entire venue, there weren't many spectators due to the nature of the competition.
Most spectators were friends and family of participants, sparsely scattered around.
At first glance, they looked like patches of psoriasis.
Originally, they hadn't been very interested in today's matches. After all, for people in this world, beast battles were daily life.
They'd seen at least hundreds if not thousands of beastmaster competitions.
Official and unofficial beast competitions were as numerous as hairs on an ox - high school beastmaster leagues, provincial professional tournaments, entertainment matches, regional contests, national championships, extreme competitions...
Not to mention the Star Sea Cup Beast Championship that attracted nationwide attention in the Alliance.
Which one wasn't more exciting than these novices clashing?
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