Chapter 330 — Still Slaughtering at Will

He had asked in advance so that tomorrow he would not, through some misunderstanding of the rules, miss his chance to copy.

"The rules are simple. Generally these exchange events are one-on-one."

"Team battles drain a beast tamer too heavily — especially tamers with enhancement-type talents, who must strengthen several pet beasts in one go; mishaps in the middle of a battle come all too easily."

"So tomorrow's exchange between Donghuang and Minghua will be 3VS3 singles. As a rule, tamers who reach this level rarely have lopsided strengths; those good in team battles are good in singles too." Chairman Xia smiled.

"Also, this exchange will actually be used to re-rank the Donghuang representatives according to their performance. If you want to climb the Sequence War rankings, this really is a good chance to show what you can do. Director Zhong of the Sequence War Committee will be there as a guest again this time."

"I see." Shi Jin nodded.

But if that was how it was, he had better take the stage early tomorrow. Otherwise, if the Golden Phoenix Dragon Sparrow were eliminated ahead of time by some other Donghuang tamer, he would never get his match — and no amount of weeping would help him then. He did not want to go looking for another way; best to accomplish his aim completely tomorrow, then head straight for Fuguang City, so as not to waste time.

And he absolutely had to save Chitong for that Golden Phoenix Dragon Sparrow.

After all, the condition for copying a skill was to see the opponent use it and then touch them within thirty minutes.

In a 1VS1 singles match, whether he sent out Eleven, Chongchong, Ginseng Baby, or Susu, it would be neither easy nor natural for him to touch the Golden Phoenix Dragon Sparrow.

Whereas if he sent Chitong against the Golden Phoenix Dragon Sparrow, then Chitong could possess him and he himself could become the main fighter — and touching the enemy would be much easier that way.

"These tamers from the Ancient Minghua Kingdom are strong — likely the finest of their country's younger generation. They're different from any tamer you've met before. In a bit, let Old Xia brief you on their basic profiles; tomorrow you can also watch a few of the other matches first," Zuo Heng said. "People like Heavenly King Zou of the Dark Club will be on hand tomorrow as well."

In the eyes of Zuo Heng and the others, Shi Jin was a little on the young side. True, he had fought an exhilarating match against Gao Xuan at the national tournament — but Gao Xuan was, after all, only a level-five beast tamer, and one with a non-combat enhancement talent. This group was altogether different: combat-type talents every one of them, older, with stronger pet beasts and higher levels.

"Rest easy, Aunt Zuo."

"Come on now, eat up. The bugs are going cold."

Shi Jin: "..."

Shi Jin sighed and picked up a fried cicada nymph, about the only thing he could bring himself to accept. He had no idea what the rest tasted like, but this one ought to be edible.

...

In the building where the delegation from the Ancient Minghua Kingdom was lodging.

Nighttime, in one of the conference rooms.

Legendary Katavi, who was in charge of tomorrow's exchange event, looked down at the three men and two women before her and handed out the materials she had prepared on tomorrow's activities as well.

"Tomorrow you will represent the Ancient Minghua Kingdom in the first exchange combat event against seven competitors from the Ancient Donghuang Kingdom."

"There are few of you and many of them, but the more pet beasts you defeat, the richer the resources you will draw from our own kingdom and from Donghuang. So every one of you must be ready to fight in rotation. We will have plenty of replenishments on hand."

"To select competitors for the World Championship, the Ancient Donghuang Kingdom specifically ran a ranking tournament called the Sequence War. The rankings in that tournament represent, to a certain degree, the strength of their competitors."

"The seven beast tamers you will face rank sixth, tenth, thirteenth, fifteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-second in the Sequence War."

"Do not be misled by how modest those rankings look. Donghuang's overall strength is greater than ours. Their top four in the Sequence War, for instance, are Legendary beast tamers, every last one of them, while we have only one Legendary under thirty, and he did not come with us this time. Now you understand the weight those rankings carry, don't you?"

Below her, the Minghua competitors wore grave expressions. Both sides were ancient kingdoms, but the gulf in strength was truly vast. They would not be careless.

"Next, I will briefly introduce their basic profiles. Time is short, so basic profiles are all we have."

"Naturally, they have only your basic profiles as well," Legendary Katavi said. For a cross-border exchange like this, a copy of the delegation's basic profiles had to be given to Donghuang. It was unavoidable.

"Ranked sixth in the Sequence: Zheng Hai, age twenty-nine, beast taming level seven. His ace is a giant kun of Overlord species at Monarch level. He is a quasi-Legendary beast tamer, a disciple of Donghuang's Legendary Overlord Sea. Very strong. His beast taming talent is water-type enhancement... and he has a record of defeating an Overlord of the sea."

"Ranked tenth: Zou Yun, age twenty-seven, beast taming level six, dark-type enhancement talent, top-tier master... with a record of fighting an Overlord-level creature to a draw."

"..."

The five Minghua competitors looked unperturbed. Not bad, not bad. A quasi-Legendary beast tamer, and Donghuang had sent only one this time, while they had two!

They could not tell whether Donghuang was looking down on them or deliberately going easy, putting friendship first and competition second.

The others kept listening.

Soon he came to the last one.

"Ranked twenty-second in the Sequence: Shi Jin, age nineteen, beast taming level five, telepathy talent, top-tier master..."

"What?" At these words, a woman below in a white sari froze slightly. "Teacher, what did you say? Nineteen years old, beast taming level five, a top-tier master?"

"Nineteen, not twenty-nine? Level five, not level six? And a telepathy talent???"

The earlier introductions had been unremarkable, but as Legendary Katavi went through Shi Jin's profile, all five young people of Minghua were struck dumb.

A level-five beast taming space at nineteen was something they could just about accept, since it could be bought with resources. But the title of top-tier master, was that meant seriously? Paired with that age and that talent, it was utterly unbelievable.

Telepathy. With that talent, he could fight two tiers up against an Overlord? What kind of joke was this? It had to be fake. The title must have been faked. An ordinary master, perhaps. And the ranking was inflated too.

"There is no mistake. However, this beast tamer's name was added at the last minute, and the rest of his profile is sparse..." Katavi looked at the five young people. "But I made some inquiries. He is very famous in the Ancient Donghuang Kingdom. He has just taken the individual championship of the national collegiate competition."

"Young as he is, with a non-combat talent and no record of fighting an Overlord-level creature, he alone is suspected to have contracted five Overlord-species pet beasts!"

"Now, do you still have any doubts?"

The moment Legendary Katavi finished speaking, the people opposite her gaped in shock. What was this, five Overlord-species pet beasts???

"How is that possible!"

They exchanged glances. Was this fellow a descendant of a Legendary beast tamer? Even among them, the super elites of Minghua, a person had at most one or two Overlord-species pet beasts...

Five Overlord species. Was that something a human being could do???

Since when had Overlord-species pet beasts become so common?