Chapter 252 — A Third Bloom
The Beast-Taming Craftsman Page 2 of 5
Even creatures of overlord races, constrained by their growth level, could not have excessively high energy values.
In fact, for an ordinary overlord-race Commander-level, exceeding a hundred thousand energy was already considered quite good.
Shi Ying's Jiuli War Beast had a very high growth level; it had certainly surpassed a hundred thousand, but it absolutely could not exceed two hundred thousand.
And this time, it was a Master-level assessment—meaning his beast could casually use energy values in the millions, and it would not matter.
Under these conditions, with a one-on-one and an energy suppression on top of that, how could it possibly go wrong!
"Very well, then." Once he had thought it through, Qu Lishi suddenly felt at ease.
[Old Ox, your chance for revenge has come. This time you can play the teacher and give the other side a proper lesson.]
[Shi Jin again, and the Iron-eating Beast again!]
[The Master assessment!]
Although the Ox-head Beast King was Qu Lishi's weakest beast, it was his first, and the two enjoyed the best relationship.
Because of the two previous disasters, this time Qu Lishi thought of Old Ox first.
This grudge had to be repaid, or it would damage his relationship with Old Ox.
[Ox-head Beast King: ???]
[ROAR!!!]
No way.
[The other side has barely two hundred thousand energy. You can use your full power—that is, over a million.]
Inside the beast-taming space, Niuniu froze.
Had the beast tamer finally stopped setting him up?
Outside, Qu Lishi's smile returned. He still believed the saying "a thing should not be done more than three times" held true.
...
Before long, the group entered the battle arena.
The others halted, and only Qu Lishi and Shi Jin continued onto the field before stopping.
Then Qu Lishi began to summon his beast.
On the field, deep crimson flames took shape, and the massive apparition of the Ox-head Beast King slowly emerged, battle-axe in hand, its gaze sharp and grave.
"ROAR!!!"
This time, Shi Qi looked at the towering Ox-head Beast King and was slightly taken aback.
Because with its energy unsealed, the Ox-head Beast King's energy value reached 1.31 million; in every previous match, it had not even used a fraction of that power.
"ROAR!!"
Wielding his full strength, the Ox-head Beast King was thrilled, his expression rather unfriendly.
With 1.31 million energy this time, can you still one-shot me?
Yet across from him, Shi Ying's expression was a little odd.
Why was it the Ox-head Beast King again!
As a top-tier Master, Qu Lishi should in theory be able to contend with overlord-level beings.
Compared with his title, this Ox-head Beast King's strength was clearly a bit lacking.
At the same time, Shi Cen felt a little worried—could it withstand Eleven's burst?
"Summon your beast."
"All right."
At those words, Shi Heng gave a nod.
A ripple of blue space unfurled before him, and a small Iron-Eating Beast, less than a meter tall, padded slowly out.
Watching Eleven, who shrank a little with every meeting and had shrunk another notch since the last, Qu Lishi's mouth twitched at the corner.
"Chirp chirp chirp," Eleven greeted its opponent.
"ROAR!" The Bull-Head Beast King glared back.
At the same time, as Eleven appeared, the expressions of Feng Jin and the other spectators shifted subtly.
Through the energy-value scanners, the numbers on the display began to change rapidly the moment Eleven took the field.
Ones, tens, hundreds...
"One hundred ninety-five thousand, seven hundred sixty-four?"
As Eleven's energy value settled, Bai Chuanqi let out a cry of astonishment.
Holy hell.
Was that the energy value a Commander-rank beast was supposed to have?
Beside him, Lu Heng, Bai Xi, and the others were all briefly stunned.
After all, three months ago, Eleven's energy value had been a mere 110,000. One evolution, and the change was this huge?
What kind of absurd number was that!
"Damn."
On the field, Qu Lishi's ear twitched and his face darkened. It hadn't broken 200,000, true enough, but did it have to be this high? Was that even reasonable?
This energy value was already double that of other Overlord-species beasts of the same growth tier!
He understood at once why Shi Jin had said the Iron-Eating Beast had King-rank combat power.
Because the Iron-Eating Beast's super-tier racial skill, Veiled Edge, had an extremely high energy-utilization rate.
At the cost of severe injury, it could surpass the limits its body could bear and unleash all of its own power along with the extra power stored in its stamina source, briefly displaying several times its combat strength!
However...
Fortunately, the gap between it and the Bull-Head Beast King was still enormous.
"Say, should the Bull-Head Beast King seal off part of its power?"
Qu Lishi asked.
After all, this assessment was supposed to be shaped around Shi Jin and his companions' needs.
Sealing the Bull-Head Beast King's energy down to a million—he didn't mind at all.
The Bull-Head Beast King: ???
Get lost.
"No need, no need..."
At this, Shi Jin scratched his cheek and said, "So, should we test the skills one by one, or demonstrate them in the combat assessment and do a data summary at the end?"
"Honestly, I feel its three new skills are all rather ill-suited to being shown off individually. Only through combination techniques in battle can they display their full tactical value."
"Taken alone, they might not seem like much, but combined, they can fight a King."
Qu Lishi said, "Suit yourself. We... we're fine either way."
Bai Chuanqi, Feng Jin, and the rest nodded as well.
No rush, no rush. Time was long, and today there was plenty of it.
To everyone present, victory or defeat in this battle was not the point.
Nor did anyone expect Shi Jin to win.
The point was to test the potential and combat power of the Three-Inscription Jiuli Battle Beast!
A comprehensive battle and individual tests—both would have to be done!
Still, though the Iron-Eating Beast's energy value was indeed high, was it really appropriate to pit it against an opponent a full major tier above it, with six times its energy value?
If the opponent wasn't suitable, the skills would be revealed haltingly, with the beast holding back at every turn.
"Fine, then let's begin."
Shi Heng nodded, already prepared to command Eleven in a full-fledged battle.
"Come on, let me see how strong you've all become."
"ROAR!!!"
The Bull-Headed Beast King hefted its axe; at this moment, no one was more eager for a real fight than it.
Beast tamer, well done—win this one, and Grandpa Bull will listen to whatever you say.
"What do you all think the outcome will be?"
In the spectator stands, Feng Jin and the others sat pondering.
Shi Tan was maddeningly mysterious—he had not revealed the Iron-Eating Beast's new skill the entire way through...
Just how powerful a skill was it?
Powerful enough that Shi Tan trusted it so, enough to believe it could challenge a Monarch-level spirit beast across tiers...
"Tch, I'm not buying it," Bai Chuanqi chuckled. "I figure the kid's probably just never had the tar beaten out of him—got a swelled head."
"It's not that I've never seen a high-tier overlord species. But trying to leapfrog and challenge a seasoned Monarch at the Commander level with a super-tier skill... that's a tall order."
He had a high-tier overlord species spirit beast himself, and he reckoned that even fused with it at the Commander level, fighting above his tier would be a hard slog.
The gap here was on the order of a million, not a few hundred thousand!
The Iron-Eating Beast did not even reach a fraction of the Bull-Headed Beast King's energy!
"I actually think it can be done," Bai Xi said, licking her lips.
Bai Chuanqi: ???
Was this any way to sabotage your own grandfather's case?
"Why?"
"Isn't strong a good thing? The Iron-Eating Beast's training ground is at our house!!" For a moment, Bai Xi seemed possessed by Sister Xiong Qi.